Toren Atkinson’s Absolute Blog

As soon as I got off work today I biked off to my studio and RX Comics. People from The Express on Shaw TV were coming to interview Jeff about the Cloudscape Comic Collective, of which I am part. We’re publishing a comic anthology, and that’s what the Rhinosferatu origin story is for. After the interview everyone went to The Grind where they continued to film us all working on our comics. I’m told that it airs Monday at 6pm, 8pm, 8:30pm, and 10:30pm, and it will probably be about a 2 minute segment.

Here’s some roughs:

and also some studies from the various comics I bought at Sunday’s Comicon.

This morning I had a dream that I was supreme overlord of the universe. I walked into a dance studio and told the instructor I wanted a short haired girl to have sex with. There was only one. We went into the office but before anything could happen I noticed a large, middle aged woman sitting completely still in a corner. I knew she was a monster so I used my super powers to chop her up into several pieces, and then focus my energies on withering away the pieces, which would otherwise regenerate. The rest of the dream was battling various other monsters with my supreme overlord powers, I can’t really remember the specifics. Good times!

Jonathon Dalton is the creator of Lords of Life and Death which I’m told Scott “Understand Comics” is a big fan of. He’s also working on the Cloudscape Collective anthology in which the terrible origin of Rhinosferatu will be revealed.

Jonathon’s site is http://www.jonathondalton.com/
Thanks Jonathan, I love the stiped pants.

As noted in yesterday’s post, Maxine Frank teamed up with Bougie for Maximum Supercitement! Here site is http://dandydevildog.livejournal.com/ and it’s also not safe for work.

Thanks Maxine! I bought the book!

Now I bet you’re wondering what Toren’s hero in marine biology, Dr. Steve O’Shea – you know, the guy to whom The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets’ album “The Shadow Out of Tim” is dedicated, sounds like? Specifically if he was lecturing on results of the dissection in April of the colossal squid in Te Papa, New Zealand?

Here is a

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

It gets more interesting further on when the audience start asking questions about how it tastes, how it hunts, whether it can change colour, etc.

Robin Bougie is well known in the Van comics scene as The Grand Duke of Smut. He publishes Cinema Sewer and his most recent project is Maximum Super Excitement with Maxine Frank. His website is http://bougieman.livejournal.com/ BUT IT IS NOT REMOTELY WORKSAFE!!!

Thanks to the Boug!

Geoff presents:

Slackademics – Writing Fiction

Three hours is just enough time to scratch the surface of writing fiction, but in that time, I hope to pass-on some of what I learned during my year in SFU’s The Writer’s Studio. I’m going to focus on three main areas: how to improve your writing practice, how to improve your narrative, and how to get inside your character’s heads. The evening will include practice exercises, lecture, reading, and small but delicious portions of fun.

Where: Geoff’s place in Kitsilano (Details to be provided to confirmed attendees)

When: 6:30pm, Thursday, June 19th.

Kolja, you comin’? I know I’ll be there.

Caution: Educational.

Sadly, I have never been able to work on films with a Hollywood-level of staffing, schedule or budget… outside of my advertising work that is. I have attempted to do this in my time of course but in my experience ‘artistic integrity’ and ‘creative independence’ do not go hand-in-hand with mainstream funding. Consequently, every film I’ve produced has been short and infused with a ’stone soup’ philosophy… i.e. working from home, often entirely alone, with no time or money to play with. Partners, friends and students have been so supportive when help has been most needed. But essentially, everything you’ll see here has been achieved through a great deal of personal self-sacrifice, passion and stubbornness… in addition to an intense love of the traditionally animated artform! I therefore hope you will enjoy what you see here and will appreciate the ’stone soup’ ethic that went behind it all.

See also…
http://youtube.com/user/TonyWh iteArchive

http://blog.animaticus.com

Name: Tony

I am a British Academy Award-winning animator, living and working in the Seattle region of the USA. I have made over 200 TV commercials (many award-winning), directed several short films, was responsible for The Pink Panther Strikes Again movie titles (thru the Richard Williams Studio) and have written two best-selling books on animation… ‘The Animator’s Workbook’ and ‘Animation from Pencils to Pixels ~ Classical Techniques for Digital Animators’. I am Chair of the art/animation department at the DigiPen Institute of Technology, WA. I am also founder of the ‘Animaticus Foundation’, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, education and evolution of the traditional 2D animated artform in the digital age. I also host the ‘2D OR NOT 2D Animation Festival’ in Seattle each November.

Country: United States
Occupation: Animator/Director/Educator/Writer
Companies: DigiPen/Animaticus Foundation
Interests and Hobbies: Animation! Animation!! Animation!!!
Movies and Shows: All the classic Disney films that were made when Walt was alive (and making films the way they should be made)… especially PINOCCHIO, BAMBI and FANTASIA! Hayao Miyazaki’s SPIRITED AWAY, Sylvan Chomet’s TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE and Brad Bird’s IRON GIANT. ALL Pixar movies… especially Brad Bird’s! Many independent films outside of the Hollywood mainstream ’straight jacket’, such as Chris Landreth’s RYAN… but really too many to mention here!
Music: All!
Books: Read? Who has time to read? There’s just too much drawing to be done! I do believe that Richard Williams’ The Animator’s Survival Kit is the ‘bible’ for all animators though! :^{)}=-
Website: http://www.animaticus.com

Good t-shirt design? Should I go the other direction and do one of these http://www.davenetics.com/picts/ipod.JPG with an isopod silhouette instead? Is this just asking for an Apple lawsuit?

Rusty Beach draws the interiors for Outnumbered, the comic by Critical Hit Comics for which I recently did a back cover. I was quite impressed with the portfolio he had on him at the con. Afterwards we stopped in at Church’s Chicken and played Wii at Todd’s place.

He didn’t write his website on the sketch, but I reckon you can find something at http://www.ghettotoons.com/