Another Sheridan Year Wraps Up!

Here's a few pics from this year's 2nd Year of the BAA Animation course at Sheridan College. As the year was winding down to its conclusion last week, the students started to smile with joy once more as the shackles and chains were removed from their ankles and a window or two were cracked open to let in a whiff of fresh Oakville air:
Here's Vanessa and "Shoeless" Johnny from Class 'A' enjoying the way I've made fun of their faces.

Agnes, Nicole and Jen seal their pact to be Best Friends Forever with a caricature from me of all three on one page. You girls better stay friends now, because I'm not drawing you again separately, y'hear!

Here Class 'E' would seem to be a very sensible group of earnest young animation students...

... before showing their true colours as the wackiest class of all!

Earlier this evening I uploaded a bunch of the caricatures I've drawn of my students this year which can be seen in this Facebook Album. (I hope everyone can access that album - I'm not sure how these Facebook things work!)

For all of you crazy 2nd Year students reading this blog, thanks for a fun and lively year. I've enjoyed my classes with you and seeing all the talent on display in your assignments. Mind you, the endless hours spent grading them I didn't enjoy so much....

Anyway, I hope you all have a great summer and a well earned rest. See you next September, 'ya rascals! :)

"The Man in the White Suit"

I watched the 1951 film, "The Man in the White Suit" the other day. It had been many years since I'd last seen it and it was a real pleasure to view it again. It was one of the handful of comedies that Alec Guinness starred in at Ealing Studios in England, and is part of a boxed set of DVDs currently available. In this film, Alec Guinness plays the mild-mannered chemistry genius, Sidney Stratton, who invents a fabric that is impervious to dirt, water, tearing, or wearing out with time. Unfortunately, this puts him in bad standing with both the garment industry and the labour union, who count on clothes needing to be regularly replaced in order to maintain their jobs!

Alec Guinness really was a chameleon as an actor, being able to play so many diverse characters, usually looking so different in each role. Almost unrecognizable as Fagin in David Lean's "Oliver Twist", rather hideous as a bank robber in "The Ladykillers", and playing multiple characters in "Kind Hearts and Coronets". Then of course, later in his career he played an Arab sheik, Prince Feisal in "Lawrence of Arabia". My favourite role of his though, is as Colonal Nicholson in "The Bridge on the River Kwai", particularly in that wonderful scene where he completely turns the tables around on his Japanese captor, convincing him that he will only be able to build his bridge by utilizing British know-how, and that he himself will assume command of the project.

It's unfortunate that many filmgoers today may only know of Alec Guinness as Obi Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars". As far as I'm concerned, that role is only a small footnote in such a long and illustrious career.

Happy Birthday James Garner!

Here's a guy I never get tired of sketching, and I've done quite a few of him over the years. As I've mentioned before, James Garner is my all-time favourite actor. Last year on his 80th birthday I wrote a more detailed tribute to the man, which can be found here. When I'm looking to just relax in front of the TV and put on an old series from my youth, nothing beats watching an episode of "The Rockford Files". Garner was just so great as Jim Rockford, the LA private detective who lived in a beat up mobile home permanently parked on the beach, never quite sure whether he'd get enough work to cover that month's expenses.

I did this sketch a couple days ago while watching a "Rockford Files" episode, though I had hoped to ink it and colour it up like what I'd done last year. Instead, I opted to leave it as a pencil sketch and just fool around with some Photoshop textures and brushes to approximate the look of a pastel drawing. It's not entirely successful, but I need to practice with those tools some more before I know what I'm doing!

I remember hearing sometime last year that Jim Garner had suffered a stroke that required some surgery to correct, but that he seemed to be recovering. I sure hope he's doing better now and I would love to see him back on screen again someday soon. By the way, in honour of his birthday, Turner Classic Movies is running a bunch of his films today including "The Americanization of Emily", Jim's personal favourite of his films. Though generally light in tone, it has a very serious underlying message about the insanity of war - a sentiment that the liberal-minded Jim Garner shares. I've already got that film in my DVD library, but I'll be setting my recorder for "36 Hours", which I have never seen before.

So, Happy Birthday Jim! I hope you're doing well!

Here's a speech from "The Americanization of Emily" that's very dear to Jim Garner's heart. Please celebrate the man by watching it:

Party Caricatures!

Since last summer, I've been getting more and more into doing "Party Caricatures" again. I used to do these types of events regularly years ago, prior to when I moved down to work for Disney in Florida. I'm real happy to be doing them again, as I enjoy the spontaneity of working from life, as well as being essentially a "performer" with paper and marker. Some caricaturists start out right away with the marker, but I must admit that I need to lightly rough it out with pencil first before finalizing the sketch in a black, flexible tip Markette. That's the only way I feel I can maintain control over the likeness.

Since last summer I've been working through a very good agency called CaricatureCan, based in Ottawa and created and managed by a great guy by the name of Pablo, who's a very talented caricaturist himself. The subjects with their caricatures pictured here are all from an event I did this past Wednesday at a private party in downtown Toronto put on by the TD Bank. There were actually four of us working the event and we had a terrific time with it.

For the record, I am available to work at corporate events, trade shows, weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc. in the greater Toronto area, including points west like Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville and Burlington. If interested in booking me, please get in touch with Pablo at CaricatureCan to inquire about availability and rates.

One Of My Reeses Pieces

Well, actually, my ONLY Reese piece, at least in finished form anyway, although I went through several rough attempts before I thought I was getting closer. Reese Witherspoon was the NCN birthday subject about a week ago, but I didn't get my picture done on time to post it on that day. I watched my DVD of "Legally Blonde" in order to do the sketch, although it went through several revisions at the pencil stage before I committed it to the ink and colour version you see here. She was actually much harder to draw than I thought she'd be, and I'm still not sure it's as good as I'd like but I'm posting it here anyway.

Natasha Richardson

Such sad news with the tragic death at 45 of Natasha Richardson yesterday. A lovely, elegant woman with a rich lineage of movie/stage royalty. She hadn't made a lot of films, but I made a point of watching my favourite tonight in order to do this sketch in tribute to her. This drawing depicts Natasha as she appeared in 1994's "Widows' Peak", a sly little tale set in Ireland, in which she costarred alongside Mia Farrow and Joan Plowright.

Goodnight, sweet Natasha. You'll be fondly remembered....

Happy Birthday Albert Einstein!

Just a quick post today, as I'm too busy to write much. Anyway, once again I did a caricature for the NCN forum which acknowledges the birthdays of notable people. Today, March 14 happens to be the birthday of Albert Einstein. I haven't read much about him but I gather he was pretty smart. :)

Trivia: Did you know that comedian Albert Brooks is the brother of comedian Bob ("Super Dave") Einstein, and that the family name is actually Einstein? Yep, Albert Brooks' real name was originally Albert Einstein! No foolin'!

Happy Birthday Al Jaffee!

Over at the National Caricaturists Network, Jan Op De Beeck's birthday pick for today is Al Jaffee, the veteran MAD Magazine cartoonist. Al is celebrating his 88th birthday today, and I'm happy to see that he's still one of "The Usual Gang of Idiots" contributing to MAD on a regular basis. There aren't too many still there of the artists who were big in the 1970s, when I was a regular reader. Aside from Al, there's still Mort Drucker and Sergio Aragones, maybe a few others, but mostly there's been a newer crew illustrating in this millennium, including the wonderful Tom Richmond. My favourite was Jack Davis, but I don't believe he's been active at MAD for awhile now.

Even after all these decades since starting as an artist with the magazine in 1964, Al Jaffee is still coming up with his famous "MAD Fold-In" for the back inside cover every month. Frankly, I don't know how he creates those things - they're brilliant visual puzzles! Incidentally, he was also recently named "Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year" at the 2008 Reuben Awards, presented by The National Cartoonist Society.

In order to draw this caricature of Al, I checked out what was available on YouTube, so here are a couple of neat interviews with him that I found. Happy Birthday Al!

"Arr, Step Lively There, Jim Lad!"

Today is the birthday of Bobby Driscoll, who had a memorable career as an impish child actor, but whose life ended all too soon and tragically in 1968 at the young age of 31. After some years of drug and alcohol abuse as a young adult, Bobby was finally able to clean himself up, yet found himself shunned by the entertainment industry and unable to get work. How different it is nowadays, when even repeat offenders like Robert Downey Jr. seem to get welcomed back into Hollywood's arms for an infinite number of second chances. Bobby Driscoll was never given a second chance though, and he died impoverished after having shown such promise so early on in his young life.

Bobby will always be closely associated with Disney for such films as "Song of the South", "So Dear to My Heart" and "Treasure Island". But I like to believe that he has also achieved a cinematic immortality as the voice and live film reference model for Disney's animated classic, "Peter Pan". As you can see in this still from the film, Pan was essentially a caricature of the then teenaged Bobby Driscoll, with his pixieish face and smile.
I watched "Treasure Island" again a few nights ago in order to draw Bobby Driscoll, and he really was something as the brave Jim Hawkins, who wouldn't go back on his word, even if it meant acting in good faith with the wily but charismatic pirate, Long John Silver. Long John was played by British actor, Robert Newton, who coincidentally also had a problem with alcohol abuse and died at the relatively early age of 50. Newton is a joy to watch in his role as Silver though, with his bright eyes glinting in both menace and mischief, and speaking in a Cornish accent that became the stereotypical pirate "voice", still imitated to this very day. His final role was playing Mr. Fix, the inspector who doggedly pursues Phileas Fogg in "Around the World in 80 Days".

So let's celebrate both Bobby Driscoll and Robert Newton on this day - two actors who left us far too early before realizing their full potential.

Happy Birthdays, Ted and Joe!

I don't normally do many caricatures of political figures, as my preference is for showbiz entertainers. However, over on the National Caricaturists Network (NCN), our esteemed senior member, Jan Op De Beeck, has come up with a daily challenge for us to draw a celebrity he has chosen who is celebrating his or her birthday that day. That's what led to my recent caricatures of Lee Marvin and Ellen Page, by the way. This past Sunday was Senator Ted Kennedy's birthday and, since he's a politician I quite admire and respect, I thought I should do a caricature tribute to him. (Don't forget - we have him to thank for being one of the major players to endorse Barack Obama in the presidential race!)

Admittedly, I have somewhat mixed feelings about Senator Joe Lieberman, who celebrates his birthday on Tuesday. Though a Democrat, Joe also seems to have one foot firmly planted in the Republican camp, being somewhat hawkish in matters of defense and foreign policy. Still, I do respect him for speaking his mind and voting accordingly, as I don't believe anybody should slavishly adhere to the party line on every issue.

Incidentally, I have to share this funny YouTube clip I came across, as it turns out that somebody else agrees with me in noticing the similarities between Joe and the "son" of Stimpy in an episode of John Kricfalusi's "Ren and Stimpy":