Uncle Grandpa Boards

Here are some recent Uncle Grandpa boards I did.

China IL Storyboard

I tested for China IL a little while ago. Now that the episode has aired I figure I can post my boards. They wanted the final sequence to be presented as an animatic and provided me with a vocal track so that's why there's no dialog notes indicated.

Here's  animatic:

Studio Update #4

OK. Quick update before I really dive into the days' work. I've noticed that if we set the agenda things roll a little more smoothly. Doesn't matter when it happens but deciding what to do next seems to be the most important factor in allowing ourselves to dive into the work. Today Jim is teaching me how to revise boards based on other artists work. I also nailed down some shorthand tips for drawing the characters in boards.

Studio Update #3

Hey there. Sorry that updates are still sporadic. I have to commit to this thing better. Believe me I'm trying! I went up to the Drawing Academy last week. I got to hang out with Stephen for a little while and pick his brain about getting organized and being more productive. Hopefully some of his insight will rub off as we go forward.

We got out of Internet timeout last week or maybe even the week before that, ugh! I setup the YouTube channel but I haven't recorded any content for that yet. Hopefully next week. I have been doing lots of other recordings so maybe they'll turn up sometime.

Last night Jim and I finalized the first BG design. It's going to be the opening shot of the short. It may need one more pass but it's pretty nailed down. We have a lot done story-wise. Been spending a lot of time figuring out the poses and acting. We're right at the climax.

Today's been another heavy scan day. Jim keeps bringing in all of these boxes of amazing art so I'm trying as best I can to preserve it digitally for him. I wonder if any of this stuff will see the light of day?

Studio Update #2

OK, these aren't happening as frequently as they should. I'm trying to make more time.

Earlier this week, Jim showed me some Bruce Timm storyboards and they had this really nice texture on them. Jim said Bruce would keep a board of some sort around and do his graphite fills over it. I wanted to make sure to note that for reference.

Yesterday I worked on Pat's character design and it's starting to get there. I need to finish getting all these designs done and put them in poses. That way I can get some nice finished designs up on the wall.

I did a lot of scanning at the studio today so not super productive for me. I spent more time going through reference photos too. Jim started working on the little den's main setup so I pulled as much as I could for that. We didn't have a lot.

Jim's been bringing in his portfolios so we can archive the work and try to find something to frame since Jim liked the work Paul did on my pieces so much. Today he brought in this big beefy bastard of a portfolio that had a bunch of his super early work in it like technical illustration that he had done, I think when he was working in Houston, and some old school slides he had taken of some of the larger pieces.

So towards the end of the day he busts it out and starts going through it again, organizing it a little bit. Then he starts going through some comic pages which, at first, I thought were studies he had done. Nope. Wrong. Original Jack Kirby pages followed up by John Buscema and Gene Colan pages. Just chilling. So yeah, I think we found stuff for him to frame.

Studio Update #1

I have recently started a studio with Cartoonist Jim Smith. I'm going into production on my first short and Jim is helping guide me through that process.

One of the things that I'm working towards doing is documenting the process so I can share my experience and what I learn via a weekly vlog on youtube. I've decided to start to briefly journaling my time so as to have an account to refer back to as I make my recordings.

Today was a pretty good day despite not getting a lot of drawing done. The past few days I've been culling through reference material since Jim and I are trying to lock down the background style of the cartoon. Jim's done a few sketches and I think we know where we're going with it.

A couple of weeks ago I brought some art down to Paul at House of Secrets in Burbank to get framed and he called me today and said it was ready to be picked up. It just so happened that Jim got a call from Cartoon Network today. A few months ago he did a gig on Over the Garden Wall doing background designs. CN made up some really cool swag and called to let him know that he had a shirt waiting for him, which I thought was kind of them.

So we made a Burbank trip, hit the network and got to chat with some friends we had made during OTGW. We grabbed some Indian food and hit the bookstore Jim likes buying magazines at. After that we headed to the comic shop and I picked up my art and got to hear a few good stories in the process. I also picked up my pal Marley's new Vertigo book "Effigy" that came out yesterday. I haven't read it yet but I can't wait!

No trip would be complete without a stop in over at the Regal Beagle (if you know where I'm talking about about, we're friends.) We chatted and watched this video of Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks offer an amazing interview. I'm not a huge football fan but I like this guy.

We came back to the studio and I got a call from my buddy/producer and I updated him on how things were going. Then me and Jimbo looked at a Woody Woodpecker cartoon Tex Avery directed for bg design inspiration. We learned that an artist by the name of Raymond Jacobs did the layout but I haven't found a lot of his work online just yet. What I have seen makes it seem as if they worked together to find the style and Tex was pushing him.

So, yeah, good day. The frames came out better than I could've imagined. Seriously, if you ever need any art or, really anything framed hit up Paul at House of Secrets. I can't wait to hang them in the studio. I think it'll really help tie the room together.

Oh and btw, Jim's pro tip for today is when you're drawing the chunks of chicken in your chicken curry be sure to include lines indicating the grain as well as the Alex Toth dots.