Ted's mummy.

I made this mummy for the fun of it a few years ago. His hands, boney arm, face and ribcage are sculpey. The body is an ordinary wire hanger layered up with duct tape. The wrapping are strips ripped from an old pillow case and dyed in a strong cup of coffee.






He now belongs to my brother. The hand was broken for awhile and I just fixed it. He'll soon return to the top of Ted's fridge soon.

H is for HMMM?

Here are 2 more additions to my alphabetical series of kid sound effects...



Only 20 more to go. The above designs and others are available at LOWE DOWN STUFF!

Kid's stuff at LOWE DOWN STUFF!


I've added 4 new designs to my gift shop. I'm starting a childrens line of stuff to buy, with a few things for grown ups. They will be an alphabetical series of sound effects. Here are the first of the future 26 . My hope is all the designs (22 still to come) captures a good sampling of the ever changing attitudes and mood swings in all little kids.







Designs might include...

OOOM!
WHAAA?
MMM!
BLECH!
MOOOSH!
HMMM!
UGH!

I hope you visit, mention to a friend and even better buy something at LOWE DOWN STUFF.

Am I Crazy?

A friend stopped by my office/studio. He asked, pointing at some of the paints on a shelf...

"What's with the upside down thing"?


I explained that all the tops are often the same color. The colors are easier seen upside down...


I've had the "upside down thing" pointed out by numerous people as odd over the years, even from experienced artistic types. My reasons make sense to me and surprised is such a surprise to others ...am I crazy?

Valentine Cartoon - the movie

So yesterday and this morning I got a few e-mails and phone calls from friends saying they just didn't get my valentine's day cartoon. For the most part it seems to be a generational thing. I guess the movie Say Anything is not the well known classic I thought it was.

Well, to help jog some memories and because my sister Monica requested it I present you this silly little video I made....



To see a larger version click on the google video button.

Fox Family Channel: Morning Scramble

In the late 90's I worked on a kid's show called The Morning Scramble for the FOX Family Channel which had been the Family Channel a year before and is now known as the Disney Family Channel...still with me? OK, when it was FOX, the Morning Scramble was an interstitial show in the AM between cartoons hosted by Mati Moralejo and puppet characters.

The set was designed by Wayne White, production designer of Pee Wee's playhouse, Beakman's World and Shining Time Station. I was first hired to make some of the unique set dressing needed. Working with Wayne was one of the best professional experiences I've ever had. It got better when asked to stay on as the day to day art director once Wayne's job was done. It was a dream job. Everyday I had to design and make some crazy and fun things.

Foamcore, hot glue, acrylic. Click image to enlarge.


Foamcore, hot glue, acrylic. Click image to enlarge.


Click image to enlarge.

Cereal boxes became a usual prop for segments and gags. Because we could not see or say brand names the show producer, Marrisa, made up some funny fictional product names. Captain Fructose was one. At first he was just a generic superhero character I painted on a box. Over time Marrisa began to write Capt. Fructose cereal into the shows as our host's "favorite" breakfast food. I got to develop him, even making an action figure for one gag.

One bit needed a Capt. Fructose comic book. Even though the details of each page would never be seen, I went ahead and drew a small adventure for the fun of it. Far from my best work. It was drawn in haste with magic marker and no concern for punctuation or spelling (as usual). Reminds me of the comics I did for classmates in grade school.

Click pages to to enlarge.






Six Million Dollar Monday Blues fix.

Busy day yesterday, meant to post Monday. When I was a kid missing an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man was unforgivable. When the T.V. promos teased the "Steve Austin meets Bigfoot" episode it became the big buzz in the school yard. It did not disappoint with sasquatch, aliens, androids and ending in a surprise cliffhanger!

This scene alone has it all...with Steve Austin using every bionic ability he has. I won't ruin the end of this clip but know it was a shock to see with 10 year old eyes that our hero might of met his match!

Loved this show. Many hours were spent fighting my brother in slow motion making our own sound effects..."Ba da da da da boo boo boo boo".




My art director/propmaster note; love the one faux sasquatch footprint shot from 2 angles and used 3 times in this clip...



I understand tight budgets but come on...would it have broken it to make two footprints especially after sasquatch jumped over the river?

The Police Reunion.

Providence Civic Center May 2 1984 - click picture to enlarge.

I'm excited to see the Police reunite on the Grammy awards this year. So much of their music was the soundtrack of my teenage years. One of my best memories was in 1984. I was a college freshman at RISD. The Police were going to play the Providence Civic Center on the Synchronicity tour. My brother had become a Sting fanatic by then. It was hoped he would come up for the weekend and I would try and get tickets for the show. It was a big event concert and unless I had hundreds of scalper dollers to spend they were impossible to get.

By some miracle my Dad had secured us and a few of my college friends tickets! He knew a guy who knew a guy and so on. It got even better when I went to the will call window. Our seats were, if I remember right... 6th or 7th row center on the floor! I'll bet even today my Dad still owes favors for them.

The pictures above were taken that night...long ago in the days before security would strip you of everything. Most of the show was spent looking at my brother's butt. He would stand on top of the chair back in front of him in bouts of excited frenzy. I'd grab his belt to keep him from falling over. This only helped him to lean foward swaying to the music looking like Leo Dicaprio on the bow of the Titanic. This went on the whole concert. My arm went numb.

Oh man...wow, that was 23 years ago. Come to think of it...does anyone know who the Police were anymore? For any younger readers I should explain they once ruled the music world and imagine a time when...


Madonna was Gwen Stephanie.
Michael Jackson was Justin Timberlake.
Star Wars was Lord of the Rings.
Miami Vice was 24.
Bill Murray was Will Ferrell.
Dunkin' Doughnuts was Starbucks.
Truman Capote was Paris Hilton.

"Hey mighty brontosaurus, don't you have a lesson for us?"

Devin's 5th Birthday- Episode II

I meant to post this one yesterday but I ran into last minute hassles from the studio over distribution rights, but here is the "director's cut".

WARNING: Those subject to rashes or irritation from 70's pop music, poorly edited videos or cheeseball sentiment seeing other people's family photos should not click play.

Devin's 5th Birthday- the trilogy

My niece Devin turned 5 years old last Sunday. Being a milestone birthday I was curious to see her age evolve in photos. Well, one thing led to another and I ended up making 3 lame and sentimental videos with my "Imovie" program. The first year I'm posting today. The next 2 videos are her last four years.I will post those tomorrow and Thursday.

These posts are more for the family who checks in on my blog...

WARNING: Those subject to illness seeing overblown hokie nonsense watching family photo's who are not their own should not click play.

Monday blues fix.

Opinions from arm chair critics are the norm in my profession. Too bad they can't always be Mel Brooks. Enjoy...