Those wacky guys at Indy Mogul are back just in time for Halloweening with a new season, a new look, and a new gatling gun.

–Fred

Next New Networks on Vimeo.
I’ve mentioned director Jon Kane before (he made the great Oh Yeah! Cartoons bumpers for us) and I wanted to share with you the awesome tape he just made for Channel Frederator’s parent Next New Networks.

Eric Robles has pointed out it would be foolish to post his and Chris Near’s Fedora Man without showing Steve Lambe’s terrific character expressions. He was right. (Click through to Flickr for HUGER versions.)

– Eric (Homan)

I was always a big fan of the animated web series Murry Wilson: Rock and Roll Dad, created by cartoonist Peter Bagge and comedian Dana Gould. Its production was funded by Icebox, which was one of those famous dot com boom-and-bust concerns that burned through about 15 million dollars in a short amount of time. Well, after the company went under, the name and creative assets were bought at auction in 2001 by five guys from the original team (plus some secret investors).

Imagine my surprise when I found that Icebox still exists as a re-launched website. Seems the company has downsized considerably and is now run out of some guy’s house, but if you go to the site, you can watch all the web series that they used to host in the good(?) old days when everyone had enough money to pay for scores of Aeron chairs and animated webisodes written by real Hollywood writers. It’s free!

Zombie College by Eric Kaplan is my favorite. Queer Duck, Hard Drinkin Lincoln, Starship Regulars, Migrane Boy…they’re all here, including the still controversial Mr. Wong. So enjoy opening up this time capsule from the pre-Web 2.0 days by going to the “shows” page .

After the jump, three more Murry Wilson episodes. (From YouTube, since I can’t embed the vids from the Icebox site!) [Read more…]

Design by Eric Robles.

Color by Chris Near.

From episode 107, “Hard Sell”.

– Eric (Homan)

I was going through the web yesterday, looking for great cartoon character art, and found the website of Patrick Owsley.

I really like the dimensional treatment of the characters in many of his illustrations. They look like they have just jumped off of a cereal box or out of a Golden book.

Patrick’s blog is a great read as well, with art from many like minded artist, and links to all kinds of great artists and places around the web.

-Floyd Bishop

I am honored to be the October “Cartoonist in Residence” at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco this coming Saturday, October 11, from 1pm to 3pm! I am excited at the opportunity to promote “Thom Cat” and the “Infinite Goliath,” to show the cartoons at the museum, and to talk about my work with the Museum patrons! If you have never been there, I highly recommend that you go, the Museum has a fantastic permanent art collection along with terrific, special shows! Here is the press release from the Museum:

“The Cartoon Art museum hosts Mike Gray, artist and creator of Thom Cat, (which will air on Nickelodeon in December 2008 as part of the Random Cartoons cartoon series) on October 11, 2008, 1:00 to 3:00 pm, as part of its ongoing Cartoonist-in-Residence program. Museum visitors will be offered the chance to watch Mr. Gray at work, watch his cartoons, chat with him about cartooning, and get a free sketch!

Thom G. Cat is a genius inventor, a brilliant scientist, and a fashion trendsetter…not bad for a cat! The smartest cat in the world that is! Thom Cat makes his animated screen debut dealing with a young bully…who will never, ever pick on little girls again after enduring Thom’s unique form of justice! Thom Cat first appeared in the first issue of Mike’s self-published comic book, Fluff, which will be available at his presentation.

Mike Gray is an award–winning writer, cartoonist, animator, director, and stand-up comedian who lives and works in Northern California. His cartoon, Thom Cat, which he created, wrote, and co-produced, will appear on Random Cartoons in December 2008, along with the cartoon, The Infinite Goliath, which he wrote, storyboarded, directed, co-created, and co-produced. Thom Cat’s awards include: Honorable Mention and Official Selection of the 4th Annual Brooklyn Kidsfilmfest of 2008, Official Selection of the 2008 San Diego International Children’s Film Festival, and Official Selection of the 2008 Fire Island Festival. Mike was also the Head Writer and Script Editor for the upcoming Nicktoons series, Ape Escape, based on the hit video game from Sony. Mike’s work and updated news can be found at his website: www.pencilforhire.com.”

http://www.cartoonart.org/
http://cartoonart.livejournal.com/

Hope to see you there if you are in the area!

–Mike

While the video is nothing new, this YouTube version is quite funny. They replaced the song with one which explains what is literally happening on screen.

This was a-ha’s only #1 hit in the United States. The video, directed by Steve Barron, was inspired by the animated short “Commuter”, created by Michael Patterson. The video also draws from the film “Altered States”.

Steve Barron went on to direct the live action “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Coneheads”.

-Floyd Bishop

“The holy grail is to spend less time making the picture than it takes people to look at it.” -Banksy

E3E/v

Ralph Sutter

Sean Patrick Sullivan

SUNCHIRP

Daisy

Trish

-angie

We’ve wrapped up and delivered all thirty-eight two-minute Ape Escape shorts to Nicktoons Network. They should let us know soon how they plan to air them. In the meantime, here’s a slick piece of fan art featuring Specter. Thanks, Claire.

– Eric