FRANK WOULD OF LOVED THIS

He really would of ...

Maybe it was the reality that an age had passed. That something that you really enjoyed would never be the same. Maybe Frank's passing gave me a longing ... for those shared moments ( ... Did I say moments? Hours ... Days ... Years? More like lifetimes) gaming. 

Our most often gaming sessions involved D&D. Dungeons and Dragons to the uninitiated. Before you start rolling your eyes. Of all the kinds of games out there, RPGs (Role Playing Games) are the most creative. More than just the strategy of chess, this takes more than a few pages from "The Prince" and "The Art of War." Acting can be involved as well as a communal effort in storytelling. The very principles of J.R.R. Tolkien's sub-creation are at it's very core. Art and music are added in for good measure.

At one time, I was a professional Dungeon Master. Perhaps the only one ever employed by the City of St. Petersburg, and most certainly the first. And what they didn't know ... Anyway ... I certainly had my moments, but I loved the games that Frank Tona rolled up. He had a talent for creating and D&D was just one of the outlets he expressed himself through. At out best we were dueling DMs. Alternating between adventures, honing one another's skills. One that still gives me nightmares was his twist of turning the Eagle's "Hotel California" into a nice little visit to Ravenloft. Oh the horror of it all! We all had sour stomachs as we sat around the table.

One of the things that we discussed together as DMs, as we moved from paper to spreadsheets, was how cool it would be to have a way of using this new technology to display the fantasy surroundings. I thought about using Photoshop, but we both didn't have the program. If we had the code chops I have no doubt that we would of come up with something all those years back then. 

But now there isn't a solution ... but multiple choices of solutions. They are called TTS (Table Top Simulators.) And the best thing is you can game over the internet and play pretty much like we use to around the table. Except for stealing the last piece of pizza. 

I'm hoping for an upgrade.

Frank would of loved this. I know he would of. And he would of made the most of this. I miss him so ... on this and so many other levels. My deer friends David and Kevin Wilson added fuel to the fire after a post saying about missing gaming with Frank. For both Christmas and my birthday they gave me 5th edition books. Thank you two for understanding.

Oh yeah ... to all of you reading this blog ...

SAVE!!!

M

This is another inking test. The subject is Peter Lorre from the Fritz Lang film "M." I don't know if this is a step forward or backwards. But I think Lorre was perfect to play a child molester/murder.

HERE KITTY KITTY!!

I am once again behind in my attempt to catch up with my posts, as Yoko and I went on a short vacation to Key West. I think it took longer to prepare for the trip than it did to go. While there, one of our favorite adventures was the Hemingway house. A modest estate filled with a ton of history and 5 toed cats. The superstitious Hemingway kept them there as they were suppose to be lucky. While I was there, I was glad to pop in and see and old friend.

I've already told the tale of the Picasso/Hemingway Cat in an earlier post. And as much as I like repeating my stories I won't here and leave it to those who are in need to catch up to speed by redirecting you to to the earlier part of the story.


http://thegalleryonthefridgedoor.blogspot.com/2015/08/i-want-to-go-to-heaven.html




But as that was only half the story I will continue here. 

Apparently, more than a few years back the cat was stolen with the idea of returning for a reward. Yoko and I discussed how simple this would of been as after the guided tour, you are encouraged to examine to grounds at one's own pace. When I first saw the cat, some 28 years ago, it sat on a shelf of a curio case in the living room of the house. Somewhere along the way, they moved it to a more prominent position in the bedroom. It was from there, while on a tour, that one Robert Joseph Naughton lifted the Picasso. Using several aliases Naughton attempted to collect the reward, but this failed. When caught, Naughton revealed that his next plan was to try and sell it for a lower price ... or give the cat to his mother as a Christmas present. 


The cat ... or should I say ... a replica is back in Hemingway's bedroom behind glass staring at all the tourists passing by. It was good to say hi to an old friend ... or at least ... his cousin.

While this is not related I thought I would add a picture I took at Key West, at the Audubon House. It was taken with my cell phone but came out pretty nice, if I do say so myself. I like the way the light plays off the water and the abstractness. 

   

DAISY ... DAISY ... GIVE ME YOUR ANSWER TRUE ...

My Yoko is a sweetie. 

No brag ... just fact. 

She is very supportive and understanding. She doesn't ask a lot of me. But every once in a blue moon, I get a honey-do list. So the other day I had to smile. 

"Hon ... Can you draw Daisy Duck?" 

I turned with a grin and say, "Why yes I can." And then walked away.

She sighed and rephrased her question, "John will you draw me a picture of Daisy Duck? I need something as a going away card for Stephanie. And Daisy is her favorite character."

I turn to my task but not before she adds a caveat. "Oh yeah ... can you do it without the computer."

"What???"

"Well some of the girls at work don't believe you draw what I bring in."

So ... is that a compliment? I mean that your work is so slick it doesn't doesn't look like you could of done it? Well they are right in a way. After all this just copy work. I used a model sheet (a series of posed drawings) I gathered from the new Mickey Mouse Cartoons. It's nothing original or design from me. 

 I really like these cartoons. The style is what if they had Flash animation in the 1930s and John K. did Disney. The best thing about these cartoons are they make Mickey and pals ... funny again. Kudos to producer and director Paul Rudish. 

Kudos sir.  

So ultimately I did what every good husband would do ... I ignored my wife and used the computer. It is quicker ... Yes I finally admit it ... it is quicker if only by the the lettering alone ... and I hate lettering. And they are right. I didn't really do this drawing. 

I hope Stephanie likes this.

BEFORE MICKEY

It is almost here.


But not quite.

I have been waiting for this movie, "Walt, Before Mickey" since I first read about it on the Cartoon Brew site. "Walt" is a movie based on the book of the same name by Timothy Susanin. It tells the tale of Disney from childhood to the Mintz days and is the only family approved book. In fact, Diane Disney Miller wrote the forward.  Thomas Ian Nicholas plays Walt and Armando Guetierrez is Ub Iwerks.

My concerns are more than a few. First ... considering this is about the founder of a major entertainment company ... that still makes movies ... this isn't made by them. It's what you would call an independent. So this could come off as something you might see on Lifetime. It could be really stinko!!!

 Secondly ... they sold the DVDs before the movie came out. That's right. Took my money. And ... then ... they finally said ... that the DVDs that people ordered ... sight unseen would be sent after the release. And that release has been so sketchy that it was only as I'm writing this that I could tell if the movie was playing one day on the 14th or through the weekend. So far I only know it will play as long as Sunday. And it's only showing at Downtown Disney. And then again in general release, in September ... sometime.

My last concern is the old chestnut. The story of how Walt looses Oswald and comes up with Mickey on the train. ( See my earlier post, "I love Waldo".) This was the publicity story told ... for ...ever. It got me in trouble 33 years ago, when I started working at EPCOT. We were going through orientation, and this pixie dusted cast member started going into the story and I was greatly surprised. I guess it was obvious that my mind had wandered. I kept shaking my head and wondering why we weren't getting the real story. I mean now that we were working for the company ... aren't we now in the inner circle? Why aren't they telling us the truth? I then became aware of her stare and that everyone in the room was dead silent in horror of her anger.

 "DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!?!" she spat at me.

I answered, "Well I just can't understand why your telling me that story? Why aren't you telling us the REAL story?"

She smiled at me and said, "If you know so much why don't you tell us."

And so I spoke for ten minutes. As I sat down she was stunned and asked me where I heard this. I answered Walt's offical bio.

At that time there was just the Roy Thomas book. Now there is enough tomes on Walt to fill a major library and I know a lot more than I did then. Neil Gabler's work is great as long as you were raised on the Amplified Text Bible. It goes into such detail that you can probably find out what he had for breakfast on any given day. There is even a book that traces the rental properties of Disney of his Kansas City days. The problem is that except for the Gabler book, they only gives a piece of the puzzle. Blind men describing an elephant ... in this case a mouse. I have at varying times considered of trying to put a more manageable volume. 

I know ... I know ...  just what I need another project. 

So with a little luck ... good or bad ... we're looking forward to seeing this movie.

Thank you Yoko for indulging me.

FLY YOU FOOLS!!!

Maybe it began with the fairy stories that my Mother read to me at bed time. Those fanciful tales with colorful illustrations that came from the Childcraft books that Dad had bought me. But I remember as early as age three, trips to the Tyrone Branch Library, to select books. My two favorites were "Robin Hood' and "D'Aulares Book of Greek Myths." The later I checked out every other visit. And when I reached school age, I would alternate sources so the book was almost always in the house. I was attracted to the pastel drawings as much as the tales of wonder. It developed a taste for folklore that has lasted all of my life ... even to the point of being my minor in college. 

Somewhere, in 12th grade my best friend from school days, David Wilson, introduced me to a series of books that were gaining in popularity. "The Hobbit," and "The Lord of the Rings." Just one of many things I am indebted to Willie (as he is nick named) for. 

Thanks Kiddo! 

Even in my college drawing journals started sketches based on the works of Tolkien. Maybe it's my hairy toes ... but I seem drawn to the hobbit Folk. So when I began drawing on this journal the halfling head popped up yet again. I am working at present on at least two projects that are fantasy based. 

And I had hoped to, in this post offer you a sketch that I started in the latest journal. But the drawing seems to grow and grow in complexity the more I work on it. So instead I give you another inking exercise of the wizard Gandalf.

I hope you enjoy.

I WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN ...

... Mouse Heaven.

Some 30 years ago, B.Y. (Before Yoko), I went down to the Florida Keys with then girl friend, Lou Ann Shoemaker. We went to earn my open water diving certificate Once down there, we played hookie  extending our stay and visit  Key West. One stop was the Hemingway House. As we were being funneled into the living room, waiting for the rest of the tour to gather, I began to look around. The first thing that caught my eye were the cat tchotchkes all around. I pointed and exclaimed, "Look that has to be the biggest Lalique crystal cat I've ever seen (It was the size of a real cat) ... And look ... that one has to be a Picasso." I felt daggers hitting me from behind and I turned to face our tour guide scowling. Her voice made me wonder if she was Ben Stein's sister. 

"Now that we have covered the living room ... let us move on.

So why am I sharing this old chestnut? Because I experienced something similar today.

I had a brief talk with my friend Walt, yesterday. We talk about once a week ... for hours. And hours ... and ...well you get the picture. It's usually a lively conversation about art, movies and cartoons. Walt has discovered the internet and I am always amazed with what he digs up. The funny thing  is that our minds are so a tuned that we are often bringing up the same subject, just from different directions. I had mentioned having a set of Punch and Judy puppets pop up in my Facebook feed. Walt found this on a blog called "Animation Resource." 

I know this is a major commitment as this documentary is an hour long. But when I saw this video, I went ... "Look that's the Bill Baird exotic dancer marionette! Look ..."

Birnkrant is know for his extensive collection of Mickey Mouse and other pre WWII comic character toys and as the creator of such toys as "Outer Space Men" and the "Baby Face Dolls." His collection started in the 1950s with a Mickey Mouse bank he found. I have to ask if he was the inspiration for the film "Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium" as he ran the Boutique Fantastique where he reproduced antique toys, music boxes and zoetropes. From 1964 to 1986 he designed Colorforms.

I hope you will take a look and for a while get in touch with your inner child.

BUSTER THE ELDER

I had this picture of Buster Keaton pop up in my Facebook feed ... and I loved it. He is one of my favorite actors. Favorite comedians. Favorite film makers. Favorite philosopher.

When life knocks you down ... get up and keep running. 

This is in someways just an experiment in the inking process using the Sketch Book Pro program. I'm really starting to like this process.

Enjoy a few moments with Buster