Rings and Mysterious Things

Okay, I'm finally around to posting my next drawing challenge step. The fifth challenge was to combine my favorite cartoon character with a mysterious device. I had a difficult time deciding between Courage the Cowardly Dog and Invader Zim. Both shows are utterly amazing and both contain many mysterious devices. 

I had this drawing started, then my amazing other half proposed to me so I had to say yes. (Duh) So the last couple of weeks I've been a bit distracted with all sorts of wedding nonsense. Here is a picture of my perfect ring! I had no idea what style I wanted, but I could find a thousand I didn't want. I believe he picked one wonderfully, nevermind he spent ten months looking for 'the one.' 

Beautiful and simple, traditional and unique, sapphires, I can show it off but it won't be in the way.

Anyway, back to the art. This is my drawing #5 in my level two drawing challenge. I got lazy because it's not quite a finished drawing and there is no background, but I hope to come back to this one someday. I have a bad habit of getting bored with a piece of work if I don't finish it soon enough or if I leave it sit for too long.

Either way, ta-da! I hope you enjoy the image and look for a redesign of a book cover that isn't a movie combined with a monster doing a mundane task!

Courage the Cowardly Dog is trademark of Cartoon Network, this is just fan art.

My Spoon is Too Big!

This guy; he is awesome.

Have you ever seen the Pop-Tart commercials on television about people tricking those delicious pop-tarts into toasters? I have and it was NOT Don Hertzfeldt. Kellogg's used a very similar style and humor, but Hertzfeldt has stated that he would never do commercial work.  I did not know this until I began writing this blog, so I felt I had to inform you of this. Several other companies have also borrowed his style for their products. He has stated that he will not be involved in the commercial world. He makes his films because that is what he enjoys doing, not because he can make money from it. 

Born on August 1st in 1976, in California, he taught himself animation when he was only 15. All he used was a small video camera and his pen and paper. Before then, he spent his time attending animation festivals and drawing comic books.  While he attended film school at the University of California in Santa Barbara, he found he was drawn to animation rather than low budget live action films. 

Hertzfeldt has never held a job other than his animation, even when he was in school. His 16mm student films found festival exposure from the beginning. These included Lily and Jim and Billy's Balloon. His short films include an array of slapstick humor, trajicomedy and black humor. His videos feature hand drawn stick figures with tradition media for the effects. He uses very little technological aid. He uses 16mm or 35mm film cameras and techniques such as multiple exposures, in camera mattes, and experimental photography. 

Intro & Billy's Balloon

Hertzfeldt often single-handedly creates his entire films. This means he alone he writes, directs, produces, animates, edits, voices, and makes the sound for the entire film. At times, this process takes years. I single film may require tens of thousands of drawings. He will often include classical music in his movies. Music of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Strauss have appeared in films. He has also composed some of his own music. 

His film, Everything Will be OK, has been acclaimed as his greatest feature to date. It has gotten the best critical reviews and the Boston Globe called it a "masterpiece." The film is based off of one of his early characters, Bill, and follows his mundane life until it begins to grow dark as we learn Bill may be suffering from a deadly disease. This is the first film in a trilogy telling Bill's story. The other two are I Am So Proud of You and It's Such a Beautiful Day. The trilogy is a moving event, something very cardiac; in your chest. It may be odd that a stick figure can cause these emotions, but when a man really knows how to tell a story, it doesn't matter what the figures look like. 

Everything Will be OK

Hertzfeldt has won many, many awards for his animations, even being the youngest to win them in the history of the award. He resides in Santa Barbara and has produces all his videos from there. Although many bootleg versions of his films have been put on the internet, he is not going to hassle his fans. He feels that a true film should be seen in a dark room with the viewers undivided attention.

"I like paper and pens and paint...I need to angle real lights on my artwork and work with my hands and build props. Computers just take all that fun out of it."

                                                                                                                         -Don Hertzfeldt

**I do NOT own any of these images or videos**

Tim Burton's Imagination

Enter into the fantastical horror filled mind of Tim Burton. He is probably the first artist to inspire me, besides my Mother. My brother and I used to rent A Nightmare Before Christmas (produced by Burton), over and over again from the local video rental store. There was a gap in time when I had forgotten about the movie, and when I re-watched it, I couldn't believe that I hadn't been scared of the characters. They were fabulously terrifying, yet welcoming.  Over the years, I've been enthralled with his artwork. Not only his movies and short films, but also his drawings and other personal art. 

Tim Burton

Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California on August 25, 1958. He grew up being inspired by horror films of Roger Corman, many featuring the well known on-screen villain Vincent Price. He enrolled in the California Institute of Arts, majoring in animation. He graduated in 1980. He worked for Walt Disney Studios for less than a year and stuck out on his own. In 1982 he released his award winning short, Vincent, which was a tribute to his childhood idol. Burton currently resides in London with Helena Bonham Carter and their two children.

Victor and Sparky

His second popular short was entitled Frankenweenie, a twist on the classic Frankenstein. Frankenweenie  is now a full length movie, released in 2012. After he left Disney, Warner Brothers Pictures decided to have him direct Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.  Burton went on to other well known films such as Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and Batman (1989). 

Beetlejuice with an upset stomach.

He's had a tremendous amount of success in many of his movies. He also tends to work with some of the same people in many of his works. Not because he is using favorites, but because their skills fit with Burton's works at the time. Danny Elfman, an American composer, has music in many of Burton's films. Helena Bonham Carter is also the chosen actress in several films. Probably the most associated actor in Burton's films is Johnny Depp. Although some people criticize him for the recurring actors and composer, I feel that it works well for his work.

Teenager: an awkward period of life.

His website  begins with his character, Stain Boy, in which you use the arrow keys to explore the site. He has a public gallery of works as well as a private gallery. To access the private gallery, one must enter an email address to receive updates.

Stain Boy

Throughout his artwork there is a deep sense of horror and fantasy. The sketchy quality of his works on paper makes them childlike. He was known to convey that people only stop being artists when they start expecting something. His instructors at the Institute told him that "if you like to draw, just draw." This is something I can relate to, since I've been drawing since I could hold a crayon. Even if your stuff doesn't turn out the way you wanted, or you hate it when it's done, the point is to do what you like to do.

Burton has also written a handful of poems, the most famous one entitled Victor, which is about a little boy named Victor Malloy whom wishes to be like Vincent Price. He has turned it into an animated short narrated by Vincent Price, himself. Be has also has several books published, one being

Time Burton married a German artist in 1989 named Lena Gieseke. They split shortly after the filming of Batman Returns. He was then left her for Lisa Marie whom he dated for a few years and placed in four of his films. During the production of Planet of the Apes, he met Helena Bonham Carter. Burton resides in London with Bonham Carter and their two children. They have been involved since 2001, and their son and daughter were born in 2003 and 2007, respectively.

Helena Bonham Carter, Nell Burton, Billy Raymond Burton, Tim Burton

To keep an updated tab on Tim Burton and his works. you can find most of it on the Tim Burton Collective.

*I do NOT own any of the above images*

Gublernation!

Matthew Gray Gubler is on my list of people I would love to meet. He is well known for acting as Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show Criminal Minds. He was born on March 9, 1980 in Las Vegas, Nevada to an attorney father and a rancher/politician mother. He attended the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts where he majored in drama. He never imagined he would end up with a career in acting, he simply thought it was fun and that it would help him succeed in other areas, especially public speaking. 

Right after graduating New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, he was approached by a modeling agent on the street. According to Gubler, the agent only saw potential because of the emaciated looking male models in fashion magazines. He accepted and quickly became one of the most sought after male models in New York City. He noted posing for ads and participating in runway shows for designers such as Marc Jacobs, Lois Vuitton, and Tommie Hilfiger. 

Gubler was always focused on making films, and in 2004 he took an internship with Wes Anderson. He was then cast in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou as Intern #1 and right after, he was cast as Dr. Spencer Reid, whom is a genius FBI BAU (Federal Bureau of Investigation Behavioral Analysis Unit) agent with three Ph.D. degrees in his twenties. Gubler has also had several other movie roles.

Matthew Gray Gubler has also directed multiple episodes of Criminal Minds, including Mosley Lane, Heathridge Manor, and The Lesson. He has also directed and written Claude: A Symphony of Horror, The Cactus That Looked Just Like a Man, and MGG: The Unauthorized Documentary. Many of these and a few more can be found on his YouTube channel.
 

The "Gub" as he is sometimes called, has stated that he shares a few things with his character Dr. Reid. He is quick-witted, slightly OCD, and interested in odd things, but Gub doesn't have the eidetic memory of Dr. Reid.

Why would I write about an actor in an arts blog? Not only is a model, actor, writer, and director, he also draws. Mostly caricatures and self-portraits, but also some monsters.

He has a multilayered website entitled Gublerland, which is the universe in which his creations reside. It is packed with doodles and drawings and fun things to do. Urban Dictionary describes Gublerland as the "all-amazing, fascinating land where you, an intense fan of MGG can live your wonderful all-around-Mr. Gubler life."

In this wonderful land, one can get their own passport to be a well rounded citizen of Gublerland and explore all its wonders. You can write letters in which Geeselund the Mail Monster of Gublerland may respond to you per The Gub's request since he is a busy, busy man. From here you can access his photographs, finger puppets/small creations, and his art on his webpage. In which has an audio of him reciting Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe.

Kermit and Vincent Price by MGG

Matthew Gray Gubler has a magic touch with a magic smile. I am enchanted each time I see his picture, not just because of his dashing good looks, but the genuineness behind them. He has many talents and his thankful for them and his fans.

The mustache isn't so bad.

*all images were taken from the internet. I DO NOT own any of them*