Griffin's Tea Room

Hello World

2007-04-16T22:54:36Z

Sorry about how long it has been everyone but I was just appointed a Full Professor at the Art Institute and I am handling a course overload so I'm pretty busy with that, but here is an update:
-I'm the Project Coordinator/Art Director for an animated short film in conjunction with the United States Department of the Interior about Crab Orchard Refuge in Illinois.

-I'm also storyboarding an independent film called "Children of Fleeting Light."

In my down time I'm sleeping, and I have finally started getting "Fragments" together. My sprawling theological science-fiction epic that will take years to finish... I'm probably going to self-publish it, that way I can keep full creative control. Anyway... gotta go.

Oh you Congress...

2007-02-25T23:24:59Z

New favorite quote:

"The military appears to be more afraid of gays than of terrorists... let's hope the terrorists don't get their hands on this knowledge or they could use a platoon of lesbians to chase us out of Baghdad."

-a Democrat from the current Congressional hearing on the Armed Forces "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

I hate the Blue Man Group.

2007-02-25T04:18:04Z

There... I said it.

A New Post!!!

2007-02-23T18:18:48Z

Hello to the internets. Sorry it has been a while, but I have been swamped with work from the Institute and freelance assignments. Mara was flown up to the NY Comic Con this weekend all expenses paid by one of the companies she works for, unfortunately I have been left behind to grade Storyboarding assignments over the weekend... this is like San Diego all over again.

In brighter news, I just finished work on a solicited proposal I can't really talk too much about, but I thought I would share some images. All work is on bristol with sable brush and india ink, ya know... the usual.

The Cover/Title Page:

Interiors:

Films... and children...

2007-01-29T16:14:08Z

I saw Pan's Labyrinth last night, and I am still in the process of digesting it. Needless to say, like my favorites of Del Toro's films (Devil's Backbone and Chronos) it was violent and challenging... a wonderful allegory, beautifully told and rendered in a children's fairytale... I don't have the time to give a full review right now, maybe later...
For those who haven't seen it yet, please do. I was surprised at the packed house, considering it's a foreign film and this was a Sunday afternoon. This film deserves your money. Even if you walk away not liking the film, you will adore sequences and ultimately will not view your time as ill spent.

However, this is not why I am ranting today. An old evil reared it's head yesterday at the cinema... an evil which has not been spoken of since my days in the South... those of you who were there during my time in school will know where this is going... I talk of the height of selfishness, a ridiculous thing that I now take as a personal spite. Of course I mean, BRINGING YOUR INFANT CHILDREN TO FILMS THEY SHOULD NOT BE SEEING BECAUSE YOU WERE TOO LAZY TO POP A CONDOM ON YOUR HORRIBLE MISTAKE AND FEEL THAT EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE NOW A MOTHER THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU STILL CANNOT SEE R RATED FILMS... I MEAN, REALLY, I DIDN'T WANT TO HAVE THE BASTARD ANYWAY, WHY DOES MY SOCIAL LIFE HAVE TO BE PUT ON HOLD JUST BECAUSE I'M SOMEONES FUCKING MOTHER!!!! huh-huh, whoooo... (heavy-breathing, with slight asthmatic wheeze)... Sorry about that guys, but it just pushes my buttons.

Sure, some of the blame should be placed at the feet of advertisers, this movie certainly isn't for young children, but from some of the TV spots I've seen you would think this was a Disney film... However, a quick perusal of the newspaper, movie poster, or Box Office WHERE YOU BUY YOUR TICKETS, would reveal Pan is rated R for Graphic Violence and language... so there you have that. But that is not my sole complaint, for I am no prude and were I a father of I dunno... maybe a ten year old with enough understanding of violence and fantasy, remember, if Mara and I were raising this kid, they would be surrounded by this stuff, I would love for my child to see this film.

The problem here, is that the oldest kid was two at best, and mom was carrying him around like a nappy handbag under her arm, seemingly more concerned with her XXXXXXXL bucket of Popcorn and her 2 gallon DIET soda. I dare say her friend was faring no better with her 1 year old. So right away, you have two kids way too young for this film, when I was there age I was freaked out by Labyrinth (plain ol' from Henson studios... even then I knew why I was a fan of Jennifer Connolly.. but I digress...) and Pan's Labyrinth makes (old) Labyrinth look like a particularly tame episode of Blue's Clues.

Beyond that, they would not stop screaming and running about, but they're KIDS that's what KIDS do. The fact that their mothers did not seem to give a single dollop of shit unless someone else in the audience said something is what really aggravated me. By the way, all this was just during the previews, we haven't gotten to the feature yet.

So let's recap, kids who are too young in the audience for a film they won't understand, seemingly already bored after the Spider-Man 3 trailer, however; I will admit their ridiculously positive reaction to seeing Spider-Man gave me a bit of a thrill. Having a bit of knowledge about the film, I know the violence is going to freak these kids out, in fact, another audience member warned a mother of this to which she scoffed, "D'ell be fine..."

Wondering how this could get any more out of hand(as the older of the two children stood on his chair in front of me pointing at the projector behind us and screaming, "I CAN SEE THE MOVIE!!!", to which his mother mumbled, "That's fine." between herculean shovels of popcorn, if she's as good with snow as she is with food, I can only hope she works for the DPW), I have a clear moment of realization(clarity if you will), look over to Mara (by this point ready to smack the innocence off the mug of the menace hopping on his chair in front of us... ahh maternal instinct) and I realize this entire film is in Spanish... the whole thing is subtitled and these kids are too young to know how to read...

Luckily, before this farce could get anymore out of hand, the manager of the theater came to the same realization we all did, well except for those two loving mothers..., and asked the brood to leave. And you know what, they did.

My Christmas Gift To All of You!

2006-12-23T17:01:51Z

Online demo

2006-12-10T22:08:47Z

My car broke down over the weekend and I had to cancel my Saturday "Sculpture for Animators" class. In response, I decided to do this quick online demo here (which I linked to my students):

http://profjgriffin.livejournal.com/534.html

Let me know what you think. I think I might make this a regular thing for all my classes next quarter so students can stay up to date if they miss class, or can reference the demo if they need help outside of class. (Of course I probably won't have the time to do this, but I can dream.)

New Stuff

2006-11-19T00:25:34Z

God it has been awhile. Between teaching and finishing up freelancing gigs I just don't have that much time. I thought I would share this with you though. I am offering this Daredevil illustration I did as an incentive to my Storyboarding class to get the best possible work out of my students for their final. Highest grade=the winnah!

San Diego 2006

2006-07-20T14:08:06Z

Well, I dropped Mara off at the airport this morning. TokyoPOP is flying her out all expenses paid to do a panel discussion and some signings at Comic-Con this weekend all related to her very hush-hush project in conjunction with the Make-A-Wish foundation. I could not be prouder of her. If you are going to the Con, she will be at the TokyoPOP booth and part of the TokyoPOP panel tommorrow.

Meanwhile, I sit alone in my studio trying to keep up with my inking for the DgtlFuse project. The oppressive heat in NY for the last couple of days has made working a real bitch. The ply of the bristol is actually starting to separate due to the high humidity, so I find that I have to go back and forth with various pages as each continues to dry so that no one page will split further.

I will be in Artist Alley at WizardWorld Chicago again this year, first weekend in August. Stop by and say hello if you are in the neighborhood. I will have some BoyZERO minis on hand, as well as some pencil preview copies of DgtlFuse and tons of original art for view and for sale.

The Amazing Screw-On Head!!!

2006-07-14T15:56:47Z

I don't know if you guys have seen the animated pilot for this Mike Mignola book yet, but it is brilliant. It is available at this link right now, http://www.scifi.com/amazingscrewonhead/ And take the survey after the show, let's get this thing as a regular series on Sci-Fi!!

Alex Toth

2006-05-28T04:52:23Z

Apparently Mr. Toth passed away Saturday morning. Who will step up to replace him?

More Dgtlfuse...

2006-05-25T18:18:56Z

Here's an older splash I did from the beginning of the story, it's a character sitting in a Correction Chair, kind of a behavioral/brainwashing device ala Clockwork Orange. I don't know why I didn't post this one sooner... enjoy!

New Spot Illustration...

2006-05-14T18:04:45Z

Just finished a new spot illustration for Billboard. They wanted an anime girl talking on the phone, a style I have never drawn before. I was pretty happy with the results and I thought I would share it with you:

DgtlFuse

2006-05-10T23:25:05Z

I had promised to show some of the penciled pages from my new gig, so here they are. The layouts are horizontal, rather than vertical, to make it easier to view on the web. This was a bit of a challenge, but was fun as well. The pencils were all approved by editorial this morning. Since I am inking myself, the pencils are loose in places, and some of the finer detail work is missing. Pages are in no particular order. Enjoy:

I don't no why this one is so small, I'll try to fix it:

These images belong together, but they wanted a separate background so that they could do fades in FLASH:

sorry its been a while...

2006-04-28T13:51:00Z

Hello to the tens of people who eagerly watch this space for more news on my exciting endeavors into the grown-up world. I know it has been a while, but I have been ridiculously busy doing a comic for dgtlfuse... it's turning out awesomely awesome, I'll post some pencils soon... When it is finished, dgtlfuse.com will use the comic as a nifty way to navigate their site, complete with flash animation and live voice-overs where appropriate, it should be pretty cool! And even if it isn't, I am getting the equivalent of five months of Parker's pay to do this!!! ahem... I mean, they are paying me well...

Another interview...

2006-03-21T23:51:35Z

So I have an interview on Friday with a design agency looking to do some comics... they need something like 45 pages in six weeks... but the pay is pretty good, so I'm all over it. The book they want to do is a noir meets 1984 type story where none of the characters have any faces. Here's the illo that got me the interview:

Bush on Iraq: "If I didn't believe we could succeed... I wouldn't put [the soldiers] there..."

2006-03-21T23:33:07Z

Well, he also believes it's pronounced "NUKE-YOU-LAR"...

Starting a website...

2006-03-14T18:30:52Z

Well, I am currently putting together my website, fully immersing myself in the world wide web. Once the domain name gets registered, I am going to use this image as a spacemaker until the page is done. It should do alright:

here ya go...

2006-03-11T20:52:25Z

better quality version of previous page, as well as the page that comes before it:

Page tinkering...

2006-03-10T22:20:27Z

Here's a page with some recent corrections, including a completely redrawn third panel. Pardon the quality of the image, it is a digital photo, necessary as my scanner is down at the moment. Enjoy!

Freelance Storyboarding....

2006-03-02T18:17:17Z

Just got back from my meeting... I'm getting fifty dollars an hour, plus materials expenses (which since I am working there will be few and far between) they will also pay for my dinners when I stay late and will provide a private car to get me home for after the trains have stopped running! Pretty damn sweet!
I'll probably get my first assignment within a few weeks!!!

New York Comic Con: Walking With Kim Deitch

2006-03-01T18:18:44Z

Well, all the big news is about Saturday's disorganization, 20,000 people!!! WOW!, but to be honest, I still don't have the energy to describe the frustration. I will however write about one of Saturday's more whimsical moments.

the Raw panel:(from l-r) Bill Kartalopoulos, Charles Burns, Mark Newgarden, Gary Panter, Kim Deitch

Having attended the RAW Revisited Panel Discussion, which was awesome, I went over to Mara, who had just finished her press conference for TokyoPOP/e-frontier(which we were late for... great start to her first press conference, but the con officials were being jerks and wouldn't let us through, I explained, to no avail, that Mara wasn't going to see the panel, she WAS the panel... but they still made us wait) and handed her my bags to hold at the e-frontier booth. I kissed her good-bye and walked around to find another interesting panel, oblivious to the growing numbers of fans lining up in and outside the Javits Center to get into the Con. Finding no panels of interest, I walked the pavillion floor waiting for Charlie to show up. Getting restless I returned to the exhibition hall where I found that I and many other professionals (by this I mean, that we all had registered Professional Passes) were being blocked from re-entering due to crowd problems. In my search for a back door to the floor, I ran into Bob Smith from Archie Comics and Karen Berger, the EIC of Vertigo, all experiencing the same problems as I, and all finding the same results. If we wanted back in, we had to go wait with the fans at the back of the line... a 3-5 hour wait. Now, I've only been published a few times... pretty low on the pro totem poll, but the Editor-In-Chief of Vertigo has to wait 5 hours... C'MON!!!

It was then that I decided to go to the upper pavillion again to call Charlie back, who had just informed me that he had lost his pro-pass the night before in a drunken stupor on 82nd Street, to find out his arrival time to the Con... the crowds were getting worse and I had somehow managed to get a very accomodating Con employee to reprint Charlie's pass. Finding no answer on Charlie's end, I hung up the phone and scanned the pavillion to see if he was already there.

It was then that I noticed Kim Deitch packing up his rolling luggage in a far corner in front of the bus drop-off. I pretty much dropped everything I was doing and walked over to say hi. He was increasingly friendly and pretty much what you would imagine him to be, saying "pad" instead of apartment... a situation was "hairy"... you know, that pseudo-hippie lingo that you think is bullshit until you meet someone who actually continues to use it in his daily lexicon.

We got to talking about the panel, which he seemed to really want to know my reaction to as he kept on asking my opinion of it in the ten minutes or so we walked the Con together. Everytime I would respond in the affirmative he would reply, "Really, did you really enjoy it?"

We soon got to discussing the crowds and how I, and many others, couldn't get back in. He then invited me to walk around with him to try and find a way back on the floor. As we walked, we discussed art in general and his work specifically, etc.. We finally found a con official who said that Kim could get in because his publisher was pressuring the Con to get him in for a book signing, but that I would have to stay outside. Kim, god bless him, tried really hard to get me in with him and seemed genuinely upset that it didn't work out that way. We shook hands and said our goodbyes, and he went off into the infinite fan-boy abyss. (An abyss so abyssmal... that when Charles Burns walked in for his signing, he stopped at the door, turned around and never came back!)

I'm still kicking myself for not having my camera with me, or even a sketchbook for him to sign, as they were both locked away on the exhibition floor with Mara at the Manga Studio Creator booth where she was doing demos for e-frontier and TokyoPOP... oh well. I'll always have the nice memory though, definitely the highlight of that crappy Saturday.

the RAW panel again!!!

Finally!!!!

2006-02-27T20:38:50Z

I have a meeting with John Doepp, Director of Print Services at Devito/Verdi in NYC on Thursday. He had seen some of my comics and is interested in me doing some storyboards for the firm. I'll keep everyone abreast of the situation.

Also... NBM and Slave Labor Graphics have expressed an interest in BoyZERO, so we will see what happens.

And a little sumpin' for the kids...

NY ComicCON

2006-02-27T04:12:36Z

Well... it's late and I really don't have much energy to write about my weekend at the con... so a preview of what's to come. I will regal you with:
-My adventures at MoCCA with Todd Mcfarlane.
-Chatting up Dean Yeagle.
-Meeting Neal Adams.
-Spending ten minutes with Kim Dietch trying to find a way back into the con.
-All this plus Jim Steranko coming up right here tomorrow.

Some very interesting news for fans of animation in TWO DIMENSIONS!

2006-02-13T15:51:19Z

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=22456