Archive for March, 2008
Pooch Café Nomination
Monday, March 31st, 2008
The nominations for this year’s NCS Awards were officially announced today, and Pooch Café is up for best strip. For those who don’t know, the NCS is the National Cartoonists Society, and they hold an annual awards weekend which I have attended in the past much to the detriment of my liver and where I’ve had the great pleasure to meet many of my deliriously fun peers. This year the host city is New Orleans, and I will be there with beads on.
The awards are split into about a dozen categories covering various types of illustration, animation and cartooning. Pooch very proudly and humbly shares this year’s Best Comic Strip nomination with two other great strips, Monty, by Jim Meddick, which I have been a fan of since back when it was called RobotMan, and the new beautiful Cul De Sac, by Richard Thompson, who I’ve been a fan of since before he was syndicated doing Richard’s Poor Almanac for the Washington Post. Being up against two strips I greatly admire will make winning more difficult but not winning much easier, as this is top notch company. Richard and I have already promised to buy congratulatory/condolence gumbo-martinis for each other post ceremony (and plenty of ‘em).
It Can Happen To Birds
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Believe it or not today’s strip was actually based on a real experience. I was jogging along the sidewalk last summer and a pigeon saw me coming and moved off onto the grass. He stepped on a small twig that was shaped like a tiny rake and whap! Right in the kisser. I’m not too proud to say I had the same reaction as Poncho and doubled over in hysterics. Thank you, bird, Now, if someone can explain to me why you never see a bird with bird drop on it I’d really like to hear it. How come that never happens?
Friday, March 28th, 2008
Ebbett submitted by Paddy
I didn’t think we’d ever get a “Boomer” on this look-alike page, but damn if this guy doesn’t fit the bill. Paddy says “he’s a hyper, goofy, strange little Boston.” Those huge ears, the big black nose, the long white front legs…even eyes that seem to point in different directions. I think he’s got it!
Character Models
Thursday, March 27th, 2008
We’re starting to work on some character models for the Ringtales shorts. Some of the characters have a bit of design issue when rotating. For instance, no matter which way Poncho’s head turns his ears always remain the same and there’s some concern this might look odd, but then animating them architecturally correctly might look odd too. A test run will tell us more, I guess. Also, viewed from directly behind Poncho becomes nothing but a white cylinder with ears and a tail. Boomer has some problems too, I’m not sure how his eyes and ears will work in a full spin. Of course we might be able to skip these issues with creative camera cuts.
These are some quick character models I did to give the animators an idea how they are in my mind. They’ll be coming up with more precise “on-model” guides.
Is He Strong? Listen, Bud, He’s Got Radioactive Blood
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
A while back I posted some superhero art I was hired by Penguin to do for the cover of a book tentatively titled “Batman in the Boardroom” (I think the name has changed). Anyhoo, they hired me to do some little b+w hero guys for the innards, and here are a few of them. Despite much effort in my early days of art I never managed to land a paying gig drawing superheroes in comics, but this was almost as fun.
Invisible Fence
Monday, March 24th, 2008
Here, MFA, as referred to by Poncho in the latest “Straight Poop”, is the strip with Poo Poo and the shock collar. I did one other invisible fence strip about a year prior to this with a non-entity named Rudy, who turned out not to actually have a shock-collar invisible fence but was in fact merely dellusional.
Very First Pooch
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
After marking strip number 3000 some folks wanted to check out strip number 1 for comparison. This strip isn’t the first Pooch I ever drew, or even the first Pooch I drew that was published, it was probably more like the 20th strip, but I liked it and thought it introduced the characters nicely so I tapped it for Launch Day. I’ve been meaning to post some of the early strips and character drawings from the pre-syndication design phase, which I’ll get to at some point. Poncho was a lot more scrappy in the early conception.
Pooch Hits 3000!
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Today, Mar 20, Pooch Café celebrates its 3000th strip. Pooch Café debuted with Copley News Syndicate over 8 years ago (moving over to Universal Press Syndicate in May of 2003). I’ve always called it the first comic strip of the new millennium, but because it had to debut on a Monday its launch date was actually Jan 3rd, 2000. Factoring in 3 leap years the strip hits the 3000 mark today. That poor dog, all these years living with the cats and no end in sight.
New Straight Poop
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
Poncho answers questions in The Straight Poop.
It’s Better To Look Good Than To Feel Good
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008Dear Poncho,
Recently my owners got me a neat brand new collar. But now I’ve noticed every time I want to go out in the street to play with my buds I get a nasty shock. What gives?
Major
PONCHO:
I’ve heard about this before. A little Bichon Frise associate of mine relayed a similar experience. He was also convinced there was a giant “invisible fence” around his house. Now this little chap is quite erratic, and fluctuates wildly between fits of Napoleonic rage and quivering fear of floating leaf debris. We’re not entirely sure of the state of his mental health. So by way of comparison I ask you this: are you seeing any giant invisible rabbits as well? I don’t ask this to sound glib. But we could find no evidence of this “invisible fence” my associate spoke of and so I wonder if this is a related malady. Of course there’s always a chance you just got a bee stuck under your collar.
Husky?
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008Dear Poncho;
I have one blue eye and one green eye. Does that mean I’m part Husky?
– Chimo, Alaska
PONCHO:
Nope, that just means you lost a contact lens.
Poncho Fights Illiteracy
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
A while back I was entreated by a middle school teacher fan of Pooch to come talk to the kids in the school. They divided the kids into three groups, Kindergarten to grade two, grades three to six, and grades seven and eight. Terrifying experience, but rewarding. I was most amazed when I asked each group how many of them liked to draw. Virtually everyone in groups one and two put up their hand. But not a single kid in the third group did. One kid finally did when prodded by some others. Is it not cool to draw or something?
I was reminded about the visit recently when I came across this art. The whole 3rd grade class had drawn their own versions of Poncho. Great to see the individual interpretations. Here’s the article on the Universal Press board.
Monday, March 17th, 2008
“Fast Eddie” submitted by Allyson Greene (possibly an assumed name)
Allyson writes that when she adopted this dog from a kennel there was “white-out in her passport obscuring her original name. Of course, Fast Eddie would have had to have had a sex-change as well. Still the witness protection program did come to mind.”
Allyson prefers to keep this dog’s current name anonymous.
Pooch Movie Treatment
Friday, March 14th, 2008I spoke with the lawyer at Sony today about the next step in the movie process: the treatment. For those who don’t know, a treatment is the basic story for the movie outlined in paragraph form. I created a treatment and pitched it to Sony a few months back, and on the strength of that pitch they are now contracting me to revise and improve that treatment. I should probably keep the details of the story hush hush for now, but the pitch was about 20 pages long including some art I threw in to spice it up (which I don’t think is usual for pitches, but I thought in this case it might be appropriate), and does revolve in some part around plans for the giant cat-catapult. Tremble, felines of the world!
Labelling Action
Thursday, March 13th, 2008
I found an interesting blog item about ways to show movement in comic strips. The writer has brought up a little comic device that I love to use from time to time, which is to use a sound effect which is actually a word. I recall reading a children’s book back in grade one called “Captain Ecology” or something like that and in background of one drawing a character was pitching forward with the words “TRIP! FALL!” emanating from him, and I went into hysterics.
I’ve loved that sort of thing ever since. Rob Harrell took it a step further in his strip “Big Top” by using actual words not as sound effects but as emotions. The mute clown character Stucco would have his emotions labeled like a word balloon, ie “Sad” or “Proud” (I couldn’t find an example).
My favorite for some reason is Peter Bagg’s use of the device in his fantastic “Hate” comics. Characters often enter a room to the word “BARGE!” “Barge” is such a funny word. Makes me laugh every time.
Advance Panel Viewing
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Like a trailer for a summer blockbuster, you my privileged blog readers get an advanced preview of the strip inspired by my recent trip to the laser eye clinic (and a remark by valued regular Mailman).
Podcast Interview
Sunday, March 9th, 2008
I have an accent?
Apparently I do. Here’s a podcast interview I did with the guys at Comics Coast To Coast.
I Can See!
Friday, March 7th, 2008
Good news for all you who prefer the idea of me chronicling the adventures of certain mutts aided by the power of sight: the laser treatment seems to have been a success! Still a little fuzzy but the doc says the swelling should go down by tomorrow and I should be back to work soon. Thanks for all the encouraging words, all. And extra thanks to Mailman; I’m now pondering which one of the pooches is going to get “laser nose surgery.”
Laser Eyes! Zap Zork Zurk!
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
Being an absent-minded artist type I left my glasses in a cab recently, so before I spent money on a new pair I thought I’d look into this crazy laser eye surgery voodoo I’ve been hearing about. Well, bingo bango, it’s all set up for tomorrow. I sort of thought they just shone a laser beam into your eye and zapped away the bad parts, but it turns out they actually use a laser to peel away the top layer of your eyeball and “flap” it to the side, laser some more, and then flap it back. Eghad. Anyway, if the strip suddenly becomes about a pack of seeing-eye dogs, you’ll know why.
Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle Article
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008Well, some of those bloggers in the Florida News survey saw fit to hurl a few discouraging words about poor ol’ Poncho (I like to toss Poncho in front of the bullet if someone’s shooting: If it’s a complement, it’s about me, if it’s an insult, it’s about Poncho), and some of you guys were kind enough to make counter-statements (for which I thank you). Another reader with impeccable taste in comics who bats for Team Pooch is the editor of The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle, who published this sweet glowing review about me (see? see how it works?) last fall, reprinted here.
Odds and Ends
Monday, March 3rd, 2008
Alert blogger Warchild has notified us of a survey the Northwest Florida News is holding to select a new strip. Pooch doesn’t exactly seem to be setting their worlds on fire, not overly surprising as the samples on display are quite random and cut from the middle of a variety of story lines. I’ve made an enquiry as to how the sample strips are chosen for these purposes, as strips with ongoing adventures can sometimes suffer against more gag-a-day types, especially if they’re not from the same stories. Anyone who cares to vote for Pooch can do so here. (Thanks, Warchild!)
In other news, I think the problems with error messages and log-in troubles have been taken care of. If anyone has any more difficulties please let me know.
And the first Ringtales voices were tested. Nobody felt too right at this point, but it was a good start and fun to hear the characters speaking the lines. More to come!