Animation Drawings

I love animation drawings. You really see the artists hand and how they think and convey action. I picked up a nice group of drawings from some Dr Pepper commercials which featured a pair of dogs. Enjoy

Dr Pepper Animation Gallery

Art Show in February

The Otis Board of Governors and the Ben Maltz Gallery are pleased to present on February 10 – April 15, 2006
From the Island of Misfit Toys: an exhibition of artwork inspired by toys
Curated by Meg Linton, Director of the Ben Maltz Gallery & Public Programs
Artists: Elizabeth Berdann (blu), Deborah Brown, Nathan Cabrera, Jonathan Callan, Jeroen de Vries, Dan Goodsell, Kelly Heaton, Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz, Anne Walsh, and 8 Bit Weapon.

Friday, February 10, 7-10pm Reception for the artists with live music by 8 Bit Weapon, model car dancing performance by Jeroen de Vries (Jevries), and special guests Mr. Toast from The Imaginary World and Santa Claus.

From the Island of Misfit Toys looks at how fine artists are manipulating toys to create sculpture, video, and music that push the boundaries physically, emotionally, or conceptually to address larger themes of consumerism, the surrogate, and death. Through exaggeration of scale, excessive use of material, and do-it-yourself methods, this exhibition introduces a set of artists who are blurring the lines between creative fields and taking toys to humorous, thoughtful, and poignant places.

Lectures and Events:
Sat, Mar 11, 1pm, & Thu, Mar 16, Noon, Gallery: Dan Goodsell: The Imaginary World

Location: Otis College of Art and Design, 9045 Lincoln Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Parking: Free visitor parking in structure on La Tijera and on street
Gallery Hours: Tue – Sat: 10a – 5p / Thu: 10a – 7p. Closed Mondays & major holidays.
Gallery Admission: Free
Information: 310.665.6905
www.otis.edu

Play-doh

A few years ago a friend of mine decided to sell his Play-doh collection so I went ahead and I bought it. My main interest was in the advertising materials that included a lot of cool sales brochures and b/w photos. But the collection was mainly comprised of sets ranging from the 1950's up to the 1980's. I ended up only keeping a few of the nicest sets but I did take photos of all of them but forgot to ever put the link to the photos up on my site. So here for the first time is that gallery of the sets.

PLAY-DOH GALLERY

Website to Return

Well I have changed from My Yahoo to Yahoo Business and it seems that everything is OK but I had to back up all my files and now re-upload them - UGH - it might take a day or too.

7 Years Bad Luck

Feet Really Fly

I am pretty busy today so I thought I would throw up these cool little Poll Parrot Shoes signs. I like them, hope you do too.

Dynamints

Dynamints were Dentyne gums answer to Tic Tacs. Their big improvement on the small mint concept was to orient the box the other way. Thanks to Randy Jones for his contribution of this piece.

King Kong Cartoon

I had never seen the King Kong cartoon show as a kid but I became a fan of it when I saw some of the toys they had produced when the show was on. Mattel made a cool talking doll and puppet and MPC made a jungle playset. But today we are shining the spotlight on a syndication folder from the late 1960's. This material would be sent out to TV stations to try to sell the show. This one makes great use of only 2 colors and a great diecut design. It definitely sells me on the show.

Merry Christmas

and Happy Holidays.

Christmas Morning

It is finally here and the anticipation is over. The presents are open and hopefully everyone has gotten what they wished for. Mostly I get clothes now which actually makes me very happy. When I was a kid all we got were toys which most definitely made us happy. But now I spend all year buying toys so it is nice change to get things that are more practical. It is funny how life shifts in these ways.

Flying Saucer Santa

I think the one image that epitomizes Christmas more then any other I have run across is this one from the Shell Fertilizer 1958 calendar. Santa Claus, Mr High Nutrient fertilizer and the NH3 guy traveling the night skies in their flying saucer. Oh what joy they will bring to the soy bean crop around the world.

Christmas Greetings from Rudolph

Space Dust & Cosmic Candy

Ahh the 1970's, first Pop Rocks then came Space Dust and Cosmic Candy. I am sure there is a story out there as to why the name was changed perhaps it was a little to close to angel dust. Certainly the graphics on these packs seem pretty drug inspired.

Department Store Santa

Space Duck in 3D

One last bit of the Space Duck pitch, a 3D model of him. Roughly carved it captures his rough and tumble demeanor. Actually I just like the folksy look of rough carving and it saves me a lot of finish work.

3 Shopping Days til Christmas

My Life In Collecting Part 1 - Comics

The first comic book I remember owning was Incredible Hulk #165 (July 1973). There may have been others that I had read or seen but Hulk #165 was the first that was mine. As I remember it, we were on a family trip and we stopped at a convenience store and I got it. I don't remember picking it out but I do remember sitting in the car reading it. It is one of my earliest memories. My second comic memory is of me being with my grandmother and her buying me Amazing Adventures #21 (Nov. 1973) starring Killraven in the War of the Worlds. I still remember the life and death struggles that played out in these comics.

By the time I had bought Fantastic Four #143 in 1974, I had begun to understand the concept of collecting. Each month the new issues would appear at the El Rancho or Tick Tock markets. I would spend my $1 allowance and buy a couple .20 cent comics. This actual issue of FF #143 is the one I have had since childhood. As you can tell I was rough on my early comics and a lot of them are missing pages and covers.

With Avengers #118, I really began to see the depth of the Marvel Universe. In addition to all the lead characters, there were all these other characters running around and each of them had powers and histories that could only be explored by buying more comics. Spider-Man #129 was also significant to me. Even as a child of 9, I understood that it was new and unusual to have someone trying to kill Spider-Man with a rifle. I still marvel at the intensity of this cover.

The final event in my childhood collecting was the arrival of the X-Men. I was introduced to them in Captain America #173. But it was X-Men #97 that reintroduced them to me as the All New, All Different X-Men. I am sure my experience of discovering this comic was similar to kids seeing Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four for the first time. I quickly went on to trade with friends at school to get Giant Size X-Men #1 and X-Men #94-96. By this time I was buying all the new issues and collecting the old ones by going to local comic conventions. Later I would collect the toys of my childhood, Krazy Kids Food stuff and theme park items but it all began with comic books.

The Christmas Toad

(click to see larger)

Linus the Lionhearted

Post cereal did not do alot of premiums in the 1960's instead they tried to make the box itself the selling point with games and comics. This series of box back comics coincided with Linus cartoon on CBS and co-starred all the other Post cereal characters including Billie Bird, So-Hi and Sugar Bear. They contain some of my favorite cereal box back art and quite a bit of fun to boot.

Matchbooks

I find that when I am working on this blog, I like to dig around in my boxes of stuff and see what jumps out at me. Today it was an old cigar box full of matchbooks, actually matchcovers because all of them have had the matches removed. Each one is like a tiny mass produced painting. I love anything that was meant to catch the eye and then be discarded once it was used. it seems like everything now is sold on brand name or by the power of commericals and this artistry has to a large extent been lost. In the 30's a matchbooks tiny graphic image would go out into the world and hopefully secure new customers for a business. So they tried to be bright and flashy, often employing metallic inks. So enjoy this small look at some of my old time favorites.

Happy Holidays

Cracker Jack paper Prizes

In the 1960's Cracker Jack produced a number of great little paper prizes. The booklets and comics were 16 pages and had color printing inside. They are pretty fragile with just a glue binding so often front and back cover are detached. The little put together animals are just great. It would have been fun for a kid to put together their own little paper zoo.

Mr Toast Button Set

Buttons, buttons, buttons. Everyone loves buttons and now you can have them of the most popular Imaginary World characters. They are $1 each or $5 for the set of 6 (add 50c for shipping). Buy one million sets and get free shipping (limited time offer).

Space Duck

I am not sure where Space Duck came from. The first time I drew him was for a series of comic book ideas I was working on. Since that time his look changed and I gotten to know him a little bit better. Somehow he just slipped into the Imaginary World and sat down and we can't seem to get him to leave. He is not really like my other characters in that he is not a piece of food or an inanimate object. He can be a little obnoxious at times but he is out there being a space hero which is something good I think. In October I pitched him to Disney as part of their amazing shorts program. As part of the pitch I did 17 acrylic paintings and a number of drawings in about 2 weeks. It was an amazing outpouring for me, it usually takes me a couple weeks to get 3-4 paintings done and then can't paint anything for a month. Luckily this material just came out. The short ended up not getting made but it was a great experience and fun to work with Mike and John at Disney. To see the rest of the paintings click here - SPACE DUCK.

Christmas in 1966

(click to see large)

"Just one more look at it before we take it down. 1966" reads the back of this great photo. That tree really is looking pretty dry....

Granny Goose Cheese Nibbles

(click to see large)

In Praise of Seth

I was introduced to Seth while reading Comic Art magazine. In the article they visited him in his studio and talked about his influences and process. One of his projects was that he was building a 3D cardboard city in which his comic book "Clyde Fans" takes place. I was convinced and went out and bought his graphic novels. They were great. His line work an dbook design are amazing and at the same time very subtle. "Bannock, Beans and Black Tea" was my favorite with it's tales of Seth's father in depression era Canada.

Well yesturday the new Seth book "Wimbledon Green" appeared at the comic store. I had read about it a few months back and so eagerly snapped up a copy. I was not ready for what was inside. It is an understated masterwork. It deals with the life and times of Wimbledon Green, the Greatest Comic Book Collector in the World. He persues those rare and elusive comics in his own autogyro and spends his days studying their arcane secrets. The story is told from the many points of view of his friends and competitors.

What really made it work for me was that Seth creates another world not unlike are own and it is a world I would love to visit. In this other world a whole new slew of comics exist including comics like All Bedtime and Mighty Orbit which are shown only as thumbnail covers. He takes us a little deeper into the hobo comic "Fine and Dandy" and even reproduces a few tantilizing pages in the end papers. The artwork is throughout the book is stunning with everything done in loose ink wash sketchbook style and the design is top notch as it is with every Seth project.

But the thing that really stands out is how personal and intimate the entire book is. This gets back to the core of what comics are to me, a place where stories are told and where the artwork serves those stories. And the stories in this book are ones worth reading over and over again.

Cereal Box Spotlight - Corn Crackos

This gem of a box comes from the late 1960's. Corn Crackos was not a long lived cereal and this was probably the last box design they produced so they tried to spice it up with a rock and roll theme. Great simple design with just enough line work to get the point across. And an offer for Mr Potato Head on the back makes this one classic cereal box.

Maypo Pancake Mix

As a collector I am always surprised at the things that turn up. Finding this Maypo Pancake Mix box was definitly a pleasant surprise. Nice classic design with little Marky Maypo in the corner and a big plate of pancakes in the middle. YUM!

Dubble Bubble Comics - part 3

Well a little more digging turned up a couple other characters that for a short time shared the Pud spotlight, Muscles and Bulgy. I only found 3 comics with these characters and it seems that perhaps they were meant to be counterpoints to one another. The humor does not seem to be centered around their names or physiques. Also here is a comic for the Chattering Skull prize. It must have been truly painful for the workers at the fufillment house that had to open all those kids letters and count the comics so that the chattering skull could be sent on its way.

Pud Comics - part 2

Well I dug into my candy and gum collection and found a few old Pud comics. These are probably from the late 1930's or early 40's with artwork that is pretty consistant with newspaper comics of the times. Also a bit of racist imagery in the baseball comic.

Elsie the Cow

Elsie the cow was one of the original advertising characters getting her start in the 1930's. As her popularity grew she began to travel the country making appearances at county fairs and other events. This shot from 1957 was somewhere around Chicago, IL. Elsie had just given birth to twins which were eventually named by the public. I just love the way that the barn is invoked with the 2 floating signs. A crowd has gathered to see Elsie and it is not just a bunch of kids but instead adults. Maybe they were giving out coupons or recipes.

Below is a picture of the guys that probably ran the booth. It is from a few years earlier when Elsie was traveling with her son, Beauregard and the set up seems alot more primitive. My favorite is the guy with the black tie and the tipped back hat. These guys really remind me of all the characters in the Coen Brother's film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?".

Pud Comics

Starting way back in the 1930's when you bought a piece of 1c Fleer Dubble Bubble gum you got a Pud comic. By the 1960's, Pud had evolved into a round headed kid with a stripped shirt and rolled up jeans. I love the color palette with the light green and light yellows. This was quite counter to Bazooka Joe comics which always hit you with primary red, blue and yellow. Pud comics were much more subtle. They were also more visual and played with the tiny space they were allowed. Sometimes the comics were just a single panel or the panels were turned vertically. And of course if you saved up hundreds of comics you could send away for some crappy prize. I am just glad every kid didn't do this so I can occasionally find a little stack of these gems.

Fear the Egg Nog

(click to see large)

Colargol the Bear

I did not have the plesaure of seeing Colargol when I was a kid. The show was shown all over the world in the late 60's and 70's under different names (Jeremy in Canada and Barnaby in the UK) but didn't really make it to the US. But at this late date I was able to buy a second generation DVD off of ebay and it is well worth seeing. Great 1960's designed stop motion with some hand drawn elements. It really felt like it was coming from the same place as all the great Rankin Bass specials but with a special European feel. For more info search Google or read a great article by Jason Vanderhill in FPS Magazine online.

Fan Art

(click to see large)

I love getting fan art from kids. This top one is from David Tovey and it is his take on the eggs that lead the circus parade from "Mr Toast at the Circus." Someday he will probably put me out of my job.

Below is a two page list of suggestions for Mr Toast merchandise from Mac Maley. In a perfect world all these things will be on store shelves in the next couple years especially the toaster that toasts Mr Toast's face into a piece of bread. Brilliant!

Kids Saving.....

Way back along time ago spare change meant something. And to help kids save that change banks would give out Dime and later Quarter Savers. They were little folders with slots inside to hold coins. Then when full the kid could take their saved up coinage and deposit it in a bank. So sad, if only that kid had spent that money on comic books which would be worth much more money by now!

Shaky Bacon on Mercury

Here we have Shaky Bacon taking a little walk on Mercury and using a mushroom umbrella to keep the heat off. This set up was based on a drawing I did a couple years ago. I am still working on Shaky's expression, it doesnt have quite the right look of confusion and bewilderment just yet.

DINOSAUR!

This beauty was at St Georges Island Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

To see MORE DINOS

Flea Market Finds

It is amusing that today's "Flea Market Find" has something to do with fleas! it is an old aerosol spray can of flea powder. Great 1960's stylized dog and color palet of red, blue and brown makes this can just pop.

Painting Studio

When you live in an aprtment and you are an artist it seems that every part of your living space becomes an art making space. This is the breakfast nook in our kitchen. It has been converted into a storage space for paintings and a place for me to set the drying paintings. I do most of my painting either in the kitchen, sitting on the floor or sitting at the coffee table. We have an easel but I have never used it. Amazingly I get more excess paint on my shirts then I ever do on the floor.

Island of Lost Rolls

A casual boat tour turns into a castaway adventure when Mr Toast and friends run into a storm at sea. As modern day Robinson Crusoe's they must eke out an existence on the island that is until they meet up with the islands residents, a group of primitive dinner rolls.

Just 2 weeks til christmas

Mary Blair's The Little House

Well the new Walt Disney Treasures "Disney Rarities" DVD just came today. In addition to Toot, Whistle, Plunk & Boom and Adventures in Music: Melody, this DVD includes The Little House which Mary Blair art directed. There is even a short with Ranger Woodlore which I am sure will be incredible.

Mr Toast in Outerspace Poster

I had this poster printed up for the San Diego Comic Con this year and I still have a bunch - they are full color 14x18" only $2 + $2 shipping (I take PAYPAL - use button below) - a great Mr Toast stocking stuffer for the whole family.

Christmas is Coming,,,,,

Paint Tubes

These tubes of paint
are happy to see
themselves being used
for creativity.

Odd Fast Food

This great little Smaks Delicious Pie container comes from a now defunct fast food chain in the Kansas City, MO area. They get Smaky the Seal's Seal of Approval.

This Yummy Mr Lesterburger cup is one of many mysteries that I have in my collection. This was probably from a fast food burger joint but an internet search turned up nothing. But you have to love this kids haircut!

Japanese Cereal Boxes

(click to see large)

I don't have alot of Japanese cereal boxes in my collection but this Tony the Tiger Cornfrost is one of my favorites. It is from 1980 and just has a great feel to it. Below is a graphic from the side panel and another Japanese box which is pretty odd.

A Christmas Gag

(click to see large)

Ice Cream Goodness

(click to see larger)

Every once and awhile I find something that blows me away. This box is one of those things. For years I have had the vinyl headed puppet of Mr Cool and I always figured kids ordered him through a sunday comics newspaper ad. Well it turns out you could order him off of the ice cream wrappers that came in this box. The top of the box has a great image of Mr Cool and the side of the box has a picture of the puppet! Yea! And then the wrapper also has Mr Cool and on the back is another line art pic and info on how to get him. All this aside the Peanut Butter Bars look delicious and I wish I had one right now.

Illustration Art

(click to see large)

As a collector I am always on the lookout for cool old original pieces of illustration art. This one turned up at the flea market. Signed L. Chase this great cartoony guache has kids, a bear and ice cream, my kind of subject matter.

(click to see large)
This second piece came off of ebay and features flying saucers over a modern city. The cool thing is that the saucers are piloted by Air Force pilots. Signed Munson, it was probably used in a magazine to illustrate out that our military would soon have its own flying saucers.

Kids Food Animation cels

Goofy Grape animation cel (click to see large)

This Goofy Grape cel was probably from the first year of production 1964.

Mr Wiggle cel (click to see large)

To simulate his wiggling they used multiple clear layers of red acetate

Puddin Head concept art (click to see large)

Wheat Chex Dragon (click to see large)

Mr Waffles animation cel (click to see large)

Mr Chips animation cel (click to see large)