Archive for May, 2009
Courage The Cowardly Dog
Sunday, May 31st, 2009Any of you watch this show when it was on the air? I used to love it’s fantastic design, colors, and extreme facial expressions. The villains were other-worldly too, often literally. Dog never said a work, either, just screamed a lot.
He’s Everywhere!
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
Here’s a wierd look-alike from Susan (the Neon Nurse). Writes Susan:
“While my son was fishing at the John Martin Reservoir in SE Colorado
Saturday, I was taking some pictures. This rock on the edge of the
stilling basin looked cool set up next to the dam. When I looked at
it at home, though, I suddenly noticed that the outline kinda looked
like Poncho in profile. You can see his nose, and a mouth line…even
sort of eye spots, though they are too far forward.”
Advance Panel
Friday, May 29th, 2009
You can probably guess which upcoming Sunday this one is related too.
When Pooches Dream….
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
This idea seems to be catching on! And we here at Pooch Cafe central will be reporting on every version we come across.
Hooray For Howlywood!
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009Back from the most amazing 5 day weekend ever (and not just because it was 5 days long).
On Wednesday I met with the good people at Sony for a brief meeting. Whew! With business taken care of it was time to have some fun!
I met up with Mark Tatulli (who was mere days away from winning best comic strip award for Lio) and some others for drinks. On Thursday Tom Gammill – a writer on the Simpsons and creator of the hilarious comic strip The Doozies – took some of us on a tour of the Fox lot. We had lunch with Matt Groening, David Silverman, and some other Simpsons writers, and we then got to watch Yeardley Smith recording some Lisa Simpson lines. That night we drank at the oldest bar in Hollywood (something & Franks) on Hollywood Blvd, built in 1919 and loaded with Hollywood History (rumor has it Fred Mertz of “I Love Lucy” fame keeled over dead out front after a night of drinking. Whether he was face down on his own Walk-Of-Fame star or not was not determined). B-level sightings: Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller’s friend), Connie Stevens (!) from the old Beach movies, and some dad from a sitcom I’d never heard of.
The next day Lalo Alcaraz (La Cucaracha) interviewed me on his radio talk-show along with John Lovitz (who had a cold). The following days were filled with drinking and swimming and seminars. JJ Abrams showed up at the general meeting to ask cartoonists to put references to volunteering into their work, very solid of him. Michael Fry and Jim Cox of Ringtales (the guys behind the short Pooch animations on YouTube) took me out for a dinner of gargantuan proportions. Saturday night was the awards ceremony where the great Dave Coverly took home the Cartoonist Of The Year prize for Speed Bump. A worthier recipient there never was. Here’s a view from my hotel room window, and a pic of me and “the man with the plan”, my pal and editor John Glynn.
Sunday evening we were all cordially invited to the home (estate? How big does a home have to be before it’s an estate? This one has a swimming pool and a tennis court and used to be owned by Andy Griffith or Andy Griffin, can’t remember which one) of Cathy Guisewite, who does the strip “Cathy”. By this point my body was screaming for vitamins and chicken soup, so I ignored it and went drinking with the cartoonist crew for one more night. I love the whole gang, this annual event has become like a family reunion, except a family where you like everyone and they’re all hilariously funny. Inspirational in every way.
Pooch Movie Poster
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
Little Movie Update
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
Nothing major to report, just continuing to work on new versions of the treatment and getting feedback from the producer, and will be meeting with some of the Sony folks again while in L.A. for the Reubens. Above is a bit of art from the initial story proposal. Did everybody see Sony’s Surf’s Up, btw? I know it got burried in the Penguin avalanche when it came out (March of, Farce of, Happy Feet, Madagascar, etc), but if haven’t seen it check it out, it’s up there with Pixar’s best work.
Doodle
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
Just a rough for an unrelated job I’m working on. Deadlines galore, leaving for Hollywood on Wednesday for the Reuben award weekend. I can already hear my liver wimpering.
Guest Doodle
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
The latest guest drawing continues with the theme of creating Poncho outside the parameters of pen and ink. Carlos Mejia gives us: the dirty-window Poncho. Appropriate, since dogs are so often responsible for window smears of their own.
“I’m Bionic!!”
Saturday, May 16th, 2009Poncho beat him to the bionic punch by a number of years….
… but here’s a tale about a “battery powered dog” named Hoover, who is apparently a rescue dog with a pacemaker. (!). Story is here.
Sorry, (still) successful Judd!
Friday, May 15th, 2009Looks like I should have checked my IMDB before tossing this Judd into the Cafe:
I got a few notes from folks informing me Mr. Hirsch’s career is still kickin’ on a show called”Numb3rs”. I’ve tossed in career-slump references before to the other Judd, monsieur Nelson. I think I just find the name “Judd” inherently funny. I personally hadn’t seen him since he gave his son Jeff Goldblum the answer of how to kill the alien scum in “Independence Day.” Thanks for everything, Judd!
Angriest Dog In The World
Thursday, May 14th, 2009In the first year of Pooch Café Poncho had a neighbor dog who was called “The Angriest Dog In The World” (or variations of that title).
At a party an acquaintance who read my strip asked if I’d based the character on the David Lynch dog. “What David Lynch dog?” I asked. He told me about a comic Lynch had done with the same name. “How weird,” I said, “I’ve never heard of it.” I looked it up, though, and upon seeing it I was struck with horrible realization that in fact I had seen it before, probably many years earlier, and like George Harrison being sued over “My Sweet Lord” by the writers of “He’s So Fine”, it must have percolated in my subconscious and bubbled up unceremoniously.
As years went by I told people it was an homage, and quietly morphed the character into Thanos, who now takes over when a dog so barbaric-ly angry he can’t talk and walks on all fours is required. This here is the final appearance of “Angry Dog” from 3 or 4 years back:
Poncho’s Travels!
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009CHATTANOOGA
Pardon me, Pooch…. Our boy’s got his fare, with just a trifle to spare… Here he is Chattanooga way, enjoying the bridge from the North Shore; pondering the titular choo choo; at the Tennessee Aquarium; at the interior dome inside the Chattanooga Train Sation; interacting with a local piece of sculpture; at the historic Edgeworth Inn at the Monteagle Assembly (Poncho stayed there one night…now it really IS historic!); with the Delta Queen moored at Chattanooga’s Coolidge Park on the North Shore; a vantage point of Lookout Mountain; and gazing toward the Hunter Museum of Art. Thanks soooo much to Peggy and Stuart for giving Poncho such a dedicated tour!
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
Blog regular Doug Newman of Columbus, MS has had some fun again with another Poncho movie poster. Ponchbo? “First Bark”, good one, Doug!
Poncho Play Stance
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
Not overly convincing.
Evolving Stuffed Poncho
Friday, May 8th, 2009A couple of plush toy companies are hard at work coming up with a stuffed Poncho. I thought perhaps it’d be interesting to peek in on his evolution. The top two pics are company #1’s first attempt:
A good first try, although the fact that Poncho’s design is simple might deceive one into thinking he’ll be easy to replicate, but in actual fact I think it makes it more imperative that the little details are just right. I gave some notes about the overall shape, the feet being too close together, the ears needing to have some volume, etc. They got back to us with round two:
Getting closer. I responded with some more notes about the black eye shape being too small and the three dots needing to go on the side, etc. But they’re definitely on the right track. I’ll keep you posted on when Poncho will be heading for the production line.
Fish Walkies
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
Looks like Poncho isn’t the only one who thinks a fish might enjoy a view of the world that goes beyond the 12 inch oval of their fishbowl. Someone has come up with a way to broaden their scope that isn’t quite as recklessly dangerous as Poncho’s wagon method.
Character Sketches
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009Here are some other character sketches from that same Nirvana Animation show called “Fusers” that I doodled on that didn’t make it to air.
Dog Parties
Monday, May 4th, 2009Dear Poncho,
I’m going to have a party. I have lots of friends but we don’t know how to act around the girls….I want the party to be a woof woot! Any suggestions?
–Archie
PONCHO:
Yes, I do have a suggestion: invite a border collie. They have this built-in herding instinct, so if all the guys are on one side of the room and all the girls are on the other the collie will push everyone together into the center and everyone will have no choice but to sniff butts and get to know each other. Do not try to play Jenga, though. Dogs stink at Jenga.
The Poochshank Redemption
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
Here’s another Pooch movie poster from a Sunday side panel.
Looks Like Poncho, But Only From The Left
Friday, May 1st, 2009
Deedee - submitted by Bob Clayton, Kershaw Cnty, SC