My Little CrockPot of News and Thoughts

I just recently filled the little 5.5" x 8.5" sketchbook that I carry around with me. In the tradition of all good things that pass on, I thought I would hold a visual eulogy or tribute for it. So sit back, light a cangle and join me in celebrating a great sketchbook... - My Little Crockpot's First Annual Sketchbook Dump - Amanda and I will leaving for home this afternoon for Christmas. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas full of fun times and great memories. See you next week...

One for a cold, rainy Wednesday: "Hey guys! Where ya going? Can I come too?" ... Zoinks! The rare Beatles' Christmas records from 1963-1969! (link via I Like) Golden Book illustrations and other illustrations from the 50's and 60's. (again, I Like) Howtoons, one page comics teaching kids how to build things. Give me this and this and I can take over the world. ... So Christmas is coming up soon and I haven't gotten you anything yet. Hopefully that will change and I will give you the gift of "My Little Crockpot's First Annual Sketchbook Dump"! Why give you such a plain and boring gift as that? Because things you make with your hands mean more than anything you could buy... I don't have your mailing address.

Thursday Morning's Treats: "Mule and Man" ... Hope everyone is having a grand week. The image above is a rough idea sketch for a slightly grander illustration. I thought I'd post it. That is one ugly mule. ... I got a very nice email from Ward Jenkins yesterday evening. Ward is super talented artist as well as an animation director at the Atlanta based studio Primal Screen. On top of all of that, he is also the owner of a mighty fine blog full of great links and even better commentary. It's called The Ward-O-Matic. Check it out. ... Animation Studio Alligatoon. The 2004 "Best of" webcomics have been announced! Scary-Go-Round is one of selected comics... I'd never heard of this comic until I saw the "Best Of" list, but have been reading it here and there whenever I can. It's pretty funny. I like I Like. (link via Ward-O-Matic)

"Wool sweaters was Nimnoy's favorite thing about Earth" and "Appleseed Jackson was really bad news" ... I'm sorry. I don't have much of anything to post tonight; just this picture... there will be more soon, as well as an update to my website.

Tuesday morning yawns: "His smile is perfect; yours is not" ... LINKS! Illustrator Michael Slack Make your own origami video game characters! The paper Apple Collection (very cool) Everyone's favorite holiday-special-producing-studio, Rankin/Bass (may be a re-post) ... Let me once again sing the praises of Paul Giambarba's 100 Years of Illustration and Design blog. It's wonderful. Everytime I visit I learn something new. Recently he has been posting some terrific thoughts on Norman Rockwell's Pretty Women. Blur has a few more offerings to watch on their site. First off, two new trailers for their new shorts, In The Rough and Gopher Broke. When you're done with that, close your mouth and prepare for yourself for dessert; watch the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War game cinematic. (link via Josh) Recently discovered stories on NPR: Interview with the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, Tom Kenny Chuck Jones Interview

Thanksgiving Leftovers: "If I were an Alien, this would be my ship" ... Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I know we did. We're now frantically preparing for the next holiday... ... Recently, Amid at the Brew posted a link to a John Sutherland industrial film, at archive.org, called WORKING DOLLARS. It's a fun little film with a great charm and a wonderful style. After watching this film, I began to poke around the archive a bit to see what else I could find. My treasures are as listed below: - Another Sutherland film called It's Everybodys Business - A 1940's behind-the-scenes look at the making of an animated Chevrolet car commercial - Siggraph's Animation Screening Room and Electronic Theater (both from 2001) ... AWN has a nice tribute to Frank Thomas up on their site. It features personal thoughts and stories about Frank and his impact on the artform from different industry folks. (link via Elisa) ... Tonight, for the 40th year in a row, the Rankin/Bass classic 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' was show on TV. In honor of the big birthday, NPR featured a story on the holiday classic on Morning Edition this morning. Listen to it here. ... Recently, an interesting thought was posted on John Martz's RobotJohnny site. Blurkers, as he put it, are people who frequently visit a site, but never make their presence know. In an effort to meet new people and to see if anyone even reads this blog, I invite you post a comment and introduce yourself. I'll put a pot of coffee on and get a batch of cookies in the oven.