Brian MORANTE in Blog Form

Happy Camper

2011-07-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

Im taking a class called Story Development for animation at the concept design academy in Pasadena with Rad Sechrist. He had a model come in for one of the classes. The model was pretty amazing. He looked like a human cartoon. These drawings aren't even pushed that much from real life.

We had to draw his pose and then add a story element. He made it pretty easy with his fake bird and his explorer outfit.

This background was kind of a cheat, but I couldn't think of anything to put behind this great pose.

Also here is a valuable resource for people trying to learn- Rads "how to" blog

The Boxer

2011-05-11T23:43:00.000-07:00

I went to life drawing for the first time at the Nickelodeon studios today. The model was in character as a boxer. The model was pretty good and seemed to give this boxer an entire story arc.

Lazy Cartoon Doodles

2011-05-06T17:26:00.001-07:00

Doodles done at work.

Mink
Roob
IN SPACE!!

Lunch Time Sketches

2011-04-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

The dead eyed souls of the food court.

Thursday Night Drink and Draw part 2

2011-03-04T22:39:00.000-08:00

These were all done at the Thursday night drink and draw in downtown LA. These people below were drawing and drinking.

THE David Reyes
mad coach on tv

The Life of a Christmas Tree

2011-01-08T02:49:00.000-08:00

I started this before christmas and because of (insert excuse here) I wasn't able to finish it till now. Hope everyone's not too christmased out.

Things I've Seen Recently

2010-12-04T02:29:00.000-08:00

I went to the ctn animation expo a couple weeks ago. They had a model that would dress up in different themed costumes to draw. I got a chance to sit and sketch out some of his "gangster" poses. And gangsters LOVE to mess with their suspenders.
Drawing the model getting ready is always funner than drawing the fake poses.
Back to the fake poses..
I went to a drink and draw in downtown LA. These are a couple of sketches from said event.
good bye

Somethihg that really happened

2010-11-11T23:23:00.000-08:00

Things I've seen. Things I've made up.

2010-09-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

People playing ping pong at Nickelodeon.

People at Dennys
Stuff on tv. Sports, a zombie and two guys from Titanic.
Doodles

Mindless Doodles

2010-08-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

Just over a month ago I got a job at Nickelodeon. Within just a couple of weeks my entire life was turned on it's head. New job, new apartment in a new town. Still trying to get into the groove of things up here and haven't had much time or energy to draw on my own lately. There is some down time at Nick here and there where I can just draw on my own. I haven't updated the ol' blog in a while so I thought I would share what little I have. These are a just a few of my mindless doodles from work.

Cinco de munny

2010-05-23T01:08:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks before cinco de mayo a large group of artists were given a blank Bub from kidrobot. On cinco de mayo everyones work was revealed and then traded.

Here's mine.

Here are all the others. Everyone did an awesome job.

Japan Sketches

2010-05-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I went to Japan. These are a few of my sketches...

The first thing I noticed on the train ride from the airport to Tokyo was the mixture of old Japanese design combined with modern living. Like traditional style roofs on old dumpy apartment buildings
Then in Tokyo everything is compact and dense. People on the train are quiet and polite. No talking on cell phones as that would be rude. Everyone is busy texting or sleeping. Everything is clean and well kept. People care about more than just themselves.

A couple of workers trying to get people into their store.

Most of the above sketches were drawn in Shibuya. Kind of the time square of tokyo. Lots of high end fashion. You're either dressed super trendy and modern or you're a stuffy business man.

These are a few people I saw on tv.

Everyone we met there was super nice. Special thanks to Tomo and Yuko who we stayed with most of the trip, and who showed us around. Also to Tomoko who made an awesome illustration for me and Beau and gave us each a super cool gift. To Kuni, who had us over to his home near mt. Fuji. And Chihiro for being awesome. And a thanks to a few of the other artists we met along the way, Miki, Kage, Tom, Midori, and Taka.

Mailman: the story of

2010-03-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is the story that was in my head that inspired the post below.

The Mailman

2010-02-08T00:57:00.001-08:00

A mailman for short story idea..

Animation test

2010-01-26T23:56:00.000-08:00

This is an animation test I did for a company called Slide. I had to design a table and crystal ball in their style and animate something. This is what I came up with. I don't think think the movement of the animation fit with what they wanted.

The colors got washed out when exported to quicktime. If anyone knows how to correct that please let me know.

Storyboards and Summer Sketches

2009-11-23T18:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a storyboard I'm working on. I'm still working out the kinks and have more in the works.

...and some sketches done over summer.

Some people from comic con

nerdy kid

2009-11-09T17:09:00.000-08:00

As a quiet youngster in school I seemed to attract a parade of weirdo kids to me I didn't want to talk to. This is one of them I remember, right down to the his 80s short shorts. Even in the 80s I thought they were too short. This kid was a know it all and was picked on by everyone and I probably shunned him at some point.

I always felt sorry for him, and in the back of my head knew revenge would be his and he would make millions of dollars by inventing a world wide communication network (or something). Years later in my 20s I saw him, fat and with pony tail, working the register at some fast food place. I hope in the years since he has had his revenge.

UPDATED: Now with new faces!!

The Blue Footed Boobie

2009-10-27T20:41:00.001-07:00

Some early sketches

My First Skate Deck

2009-09-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

This is the first skate deck I've painted. Above are some sketches of other ideas I had, and then the final design I ended up painting.

Comic con after party Art show update

2009-07-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

The art show at the Ruby Room was last Saturday. The event was promoted everywhere right outside the convention center and at the Giant Robot booth.

I think we all had fun. The first half of the night was filled with cool people and music. The second half of the night turned into a different crowd. They were there to see a heavy metal band and not see paintings by someone who holds their pinky up when they drink.

Lots of friends showed up old and new. A couple were there just by coincidence.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces I did for the night.

Saturday! Saturday! Saturday!!!...after the con

2009-07-21T02:27:00.000-07:00

Come check out ...

EyeScream

2009-06-04T17:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick animation I did.

Big ol' Sketch Dump

2009-03-20T02:46:00.000-07:00

All my cartoons and projects are being kept in shrouded secrecy for now. In the mean time here are a million sketches from a sketchbook I just finished. Most of the people were drawn at Tea n' More a couple I drew while at APE and a few at the Living Room in the college area.

Two weeks ago Eric Evenson and I painted at a bar down in PB. The result is the crappy painting below. It looked much better in the dim light at the bar. It was the first time I used gouche, and I liked it a lot.

Cripple Con 2 : The Secret of the Ooze

2009-01-22T01:42:00.000-08:00

Just got back from Cripple Con 2 the other night and am still recovering. Cripple con is a crazy art competition between 85 sick and twisted artists where anything goes (...anything..). We are in a "Shining" type hotel on the out skirts of Kansas City in the middle of winter. Its like being trapped on a comfortable island filled with drawing and drunken debauchery. We will all spend the next year trying to redeem ourselves as decent human beings.

Below are a few drawings done of me.

By Marlo Meekins

me and Beau Hufford as our In Space characters by Jeremy Stock

The two above from Sam Gorrie.

Below are a few drawings I did.

Garrett Holt

Anne Bush

Sam Gorrie

Ok that's it for now. I'll try to put up some drawings of a recent sketch crawl we had here in San Diego.

Maggie: spawn of the devil

2008-12-03T02:18:00.000-08:00

This is one of my biggest distractions when trying to work. Today I took a few minutes to draw her.

She looks like a monkey to me. She sometimes moves like one to. Don't let those eyes fool you she'll tear your lungs out.

Launch Syndicate goes to APE 08

2008-11-13T15:08:00.000-08:00

Me and the rest of the Launch Syndicate gang headed to San Francisco last week to sell our goods. No not those goods, our comics and art work....sicko. (left to right, Me, Beau Hufford, Aaron Philby, Lindsey Villarreal.

We had only one day to see the whole city. Some how we found ourselves in a cab after a very long walk and the driver was taking us on a whirl wind tour. We saw every touristy spot in 2 hours and got some pretty good pictures.
But of course the next two days were all business at the Alternative Press Expo 08. (photo below taken by Rachel Dukes)

A big hit at the table was Aaron Philby's You Don't Want Me I'm Trouble.

60 pages of hilarious one spot comics. Matt Groening proclaims "I like this artifact"!
Manny Hernandez met up with us coming straight in from Thailand. In the above picture is a print he did (the fox) for an up coming illustration book Eat Drink and Sleep. We were told the fox is the new owl. I guess we're ahead of the curve.

Over all the event was a success. We met a lot of cool people and made some good contacts and just had fun.
Now you to can own the exciting items I spoke of above! go to Launch Syndicate.com to purchase our junk and download cool free stuff!
FUN! EXCITING! NEWISH!!

Drawings From Some Time Ago, From a Far Away Place, of People I Don't Know Blog Post

2008-11-05T02:43:00.001-08:00

I haven't updated in a while blah blah..In the mean time the sketchbooks have been stacking up around me. I've just been too busy/lazy blah blah...These are from a sketchbook I had in spring. I was in Lubbock Texas selling books from Launch Syndicate at a comic book expo put on by my friend Will Terrell , and spotted these people in a bar and at the Lubbock sketch club.

Josh Source happy fun time youtube America. OLYMPICS!

2008-08-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

I did this drawing recently for a friend of mine ( Josh Source (left)) who is now a youtube sensation. He is teaming up with Brett the intern(right) to make some new videos. This is supposed to be like a Tom and Jerry type title card. Go check out Josh's videos here. I don't watch a lot of youtube channels but his videos are some of the most creative and funny I've seen. They are also not for those with virgin ears so be warned.

On an unrelated note: OLYMPICS

Dancers

2008-06-06T02:20:00.001-07:00

After years of hard work, studying and nerve racking tests my girlfriend, La Shaunda has finally graduated nursing school. And I gotta tell ya, she couldn't have done it without me. But seriously, we went out to celebrate with one of her friends at a club. Instead of living it up I drew these girls dancing.

I tried to draw with the loud thumping music and capture the energy of these ladies on the dance floor.
I attempted to draw some guys dancing, but they're so boxy and move so stiffly. Every drawing came out boxy, stiff and boring.
This girl above danced her way over while I was drawing her and looked at it, gave me a nod and danced away. She probably didn't even know what she was looking at.

I'm sure some girlfriends might get a lil jealous while their boyfriends ogle and draw girls on the dance floor but La Shaunda knows what's up, and is not crazy.

p.s. I got two of their numbers..

...kidding...

Employees

2008-05-14T02:59:00.000-07:00

Over spring break I drew caricatures at Sea World and drew some employees on my lunch break. These are a few I cleaned up and colored. I believe SW is hiring all positions for summer, so you too can join the ranks of these characters.

In Space!!

2008-04-05T03:10:00.000-07:00

For about 6 months Beau Hufford and I got together to develop "In Space". A story that we would later turn into a comic and eventually a few comics. It takes place in space and follows the adventures of Professor Soanso (so n' so) , Cadet and their cat Pico. They travel the universe and research everything in it while hosting a science show that is broadcast on Earth.

We both had a hand in the designs. I filled up about 2 sketch books worth of stuff while we developed this. These are just a few quick sketches of each characters evolution.

Professor went through a few changes but never too far from these pics.
Cadet started out being a lil chunky kid.

but eventually got closer to this. Cadet: The boy from space!!
Pico is the camera man/ sound guy for the show.
This pico is more like the final design.
Some random monsters.

Governor Splitzer

2008-03-11T02:41:00.000-07:00

I came home today to see the Governor of New York was in big trouble. Having been involved in (cover your ears kids) a prostitution ring. When I saw him on the news he looked oddly familiar to me. I realized that I drew him out of a Rolling Stone in April 2006 and put it up on this blog. And because this blog is THE blog on the net for current events here he is again.

Mink and Roob

2008-02-28T01:25:00.000-08:00

I've been busy with a few different projects the last couple months, so I haven't had time to do fun blog drawings. So here's a couple of pages from the comic I finished. You may have this book if you went to cripple con and were a non-cheapskate.

Here are what the roughs look like.

I'll post some more on other projects soon.

one drawing

2008-01-27T00:01:00.001-08:00

A motorcycle maniac and professional mole whacker.

Cripple Con

2008-01-25T01:20:00.001-08:00

I attended the "cripple con" this past week. A convention celebrating all art forms. Mostly caricatures, cartoons etc.

It was held outside Kansas City at The Elms Resort. They manged to put up with 75 loud, routy and sometimes very drunk cartoonists for 3 days. This is the town above and the hotel pool and spa area below. I did not go swimming as there was no life guard on duty.

Here are a few of my drawings, with no pictures of the actual faces so you can't tell how much I suck.
Kev and Pat above. They are from Texas but are moving out to SD next month. So watch your backs you Sea World kamans people.
This is Ben above who was good enough to help get me and a few others a ride from the airport. Saved everyone a lot of money.
Kelsea (probably spelled wrong) another Texan. A bright eyed young girl with dreams of killing.
Who also made sure me and some others got back TO the airport. Thanks!!
and Matt Zitman
This is the ballroom just getting started with con heads Len and Barb Hernandez in the foreground and Beau Hufford in the background.
Not long till everyone was there having fun and jumping to the music of que padre.
The hotel is supposedly haunted and a whole lot of "orbs" showed up in all the dancing pics.
snow..

Superbad

2007-12-09T23:29:00.000-08:00

Some random post

2007-11-02T01:18:00.001-07:00

"Yep that's right, There's a new comic over at that other blog" "whoa jeeze"
"My god a new comic? How fascinating."
"Hmmm, I stopped reading that dumb comic. That guy never posts anymore.
"Yeah, I hate that guy. Who does he think he is?"
"Well I like that comic and I'm going to go read it. Dum dee doo..."

San Diego is on fire!......again

2007-10-21T14:53:00.001-07:00

It's the four year anniversary from the big cedar fire here in San Diego. What better way to celebrate than with another fire!
This is the street on the side of my house. Just beyond the house at the end of the road is a canyon filled with smoke.
I drove down the road to a park that is perched over looking the same canyon with a 180 degree view. (view below is not 180)
If you're familiar with black mountain/ Rancho Penisquitos this is looking down on that area (above). Just to the right would be Black Mountain but it was not visible with all the smoke.
The houses above are down the street from me and along the same canyon.

I don't know how these kids were playing baseball. It was getting hard to breath just walking around taking these pictures. Also the camera didn't pick this up but there was ash falling from the sky like a light snow fall (I assume).

Comic Con: The tale of a late post

2007-09-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

So comic-con was 2 months ago, and since I am always on the cutting edge I thought I'd share some of these drawings I did while there.
One of these people above paid to be at comic con and the other one is being paid to be at comic con. Guess which is which.

Elite security was in top form this year. Giving me the wrong information about everything from which lines to stand in to what door not to enter. I think a lot of those "elite" guys are old high school jocks who want to bark at nerds.

The comic-con backpacker.
The comic-con hipster
comic con opposites

young padawon

Go check out Anne Bush's blog to see the new Mink and Roob title card. Something is coming soon on that.

2007-09-02T03:07:00.001-07:00

This is just a doodle I did the other day. This blog needed some color. What are they looking at? Find out in a couple of weeks.

Cry Baby

2007-08-22T00:52:00.000-07:00

I drew this comic in about 5 or 10 minutes tonight. It's a couple of guys I know who take a little too much pleasure in getting their sketches rejected and making little girls cry while drawing caricatures.
I'm not sure how funny this comic will be for anyone who doesn't draw caricatures, or anyone who doesn't know Jared Lipscomb (pg1) or Nate Kapnicky (pg2).

Anyone remember a movie called Cry Baby where Johnny Depp collects his tears in a jar? Yeah, me neither but my girlfriend always talks about it.

300

2007-08-10T03:02:00.001-07:00

I sat down to draw my weekly comic. I usually have a page on the side to doodle on to stay loose. I doodled a page and then 5 pages and then this, so I colored it up. Now it's 3am and and still no comic.

Transformers: Alternate Prequel

2007-07-20T02:34:00.000-07:00

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you are one of the 6 people on the planet that have not seen Transformers then do not read on. Seriously, if you continue to read the rest of this post you will tarnish your movie viewing experience. Micheal Bay will cry if you have not seen Transformers and you continue to read on. Seriously guys....

Ok now that the losers are gone, do you remember in the movie that Megatron came to Earth in 1934 looking for the all spark. He crashed in Antarctica and got frozed. I wrote this comic as if Megatron hadn't traveled millions of light years, got to Earth and slipped on ice.
Steven Spielberg and Micheal Bay frequent this blog (I assume), so I'll ask them directly.
How do you guys like my story telling skills? Can I story board the sequel? Just let me know down in the comments. I'll get in touch.

Llamas

2007-07-18T18:31:00.001-07:00

Right over here kids. My Secret Life as a Cartoon

llamas only have bottom teeth. One of these guys had buck teeth, but they were bucking from below.

New junk and stuff

2007-07-08T02:50:00.000-07:00

Cartoons

2007-06-23T03:29:00.000-07:00

Ok time for cartoons. These are sketches and ideas from a cartoon I've been working on with Anne in my spare time . Which I've had none of lately.

A surly ol' hobo has a big part in this story. Here are a few ideas. Non of these made the cut...so far.

And a bright eyed, confused young girl in which our main characters can corrupt.

Here are a few of the actual frames. So you know the whole thing doesn't look like it was drawn on the back of a napkin.

Big Fat Zoo Post

2007-06-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

I read a quote one time from Craig Mc Cracken (powerpuff girls creator) where he said "I'd rather see a bunch of funny cartoons in a portfolio than pretty elephants." . I apologize to him in advance.
These sketches are from a couple zoo trips over the last couple months with Wattana, Manny and zoo Ryan.

If you cross a giraffe and a zebra you get this guy, the okapi.

These guys were fun to watch but hard to draw. A lot of little monkeys running very fast, jumping, and playing with each other. Most of these sketches were done very fast when they would stop for food or rest. The drawings I have of them playing are unrecognizable, just scribbles.

When I approached the baboons I thought I'd be drawing some surly angry red booty beast.

But after watching and drawing this guy (actually a girl) for a while she seemed a bit neurotic. Her poses were very skitish and she had a funny cough.

I promise to post some real cartoons soon so Craig McCraken doesn't cry.

C4!

2007-05-08T01:57:00.000-07:00

I went to "C4", the cartoon and caricature convention here in San Diego this past week. It was a ton of fun, and I predict it will just get bigger and bigger every year. I was going to get pictures of everyone next to their drawings but my camera ran out of room. There was so many cool drawings I had to get pictures but my camera ran out of memory. I apologize for these horrible photos.

Stephanie Burrows and Beau Hufford above.

Mez was "blown away"
Fabian
Anne Bush
Nate Kapnicky
this one up top is of Jemma from Sea World, the back of Eric Evensons' head, and a very quick sketch of Marlo Meekins
Here's a drawing of me by Beau. You can hear the wind blowing when you look at it. There's a cool caricature of me and other people at the con over at Jerts blog.

more comics

2007-05-02T01:59:00.000-07:00

The planets are aligning once again so you know what that means. Yes, a new web comic! Come check it out over at My Secret life as a Cartoon. If you're new to the blog start from the very first comic here.
It starts in March of 2006 and as of now goes to may 2006 (inspired by true events). I'm a lil behind...

The club house

2007-04-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

The other day I hung out with my old friend, Angela. We were neighbors when I was about 4 and 5 years old and she was 6 and 7. We were remembering the good ol' days. When our moms would turn us loose to the world and wouldn't bother with us till dinner.
This drawing represents one of our finest memories of that time. It was our club house. It was an area behind the apartments we lived in where people would throw away all their junk. So we had ant covered furniture and old food cans, all the things a kid would need to pretend they had their own house. And in the corner is a hole in the fence where Angela's shoe slipped through and fell 2 stories down and we spent all day yelling down at passerbys to throw the shoe back up, but I don't think anyone ever did.
We were such sophisticates.

To that guy in Target

2007-03-21T03:19:00.000-07:00

To that guy in Target, who stands in front of the new dvds. Covering up the entire area while you read the back of one dvd : MOVE!

thank you.

The local Coffee Bean

2007-03-16T03:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've sketched for kicks. Its late so I'll keep it at that and give you the goods.

Once Upon A Time In Japan NOW ONLINE!!

2007-03-01T01:37:00.000-08:00

Abborado went live online a week ago for the game Once Upon a Time in Japan ! You can check it out here. I've been so busy working on this game I haven't had the time to draw or post anything.
Make sure to sign up for a news letter and check out the forums!

*ptss* check it out both during the day and the night..

2007-01-29T14:47:00.000-08:00

Here's 1 of 2 illustrations I did for Roommate2go.com

If you need a roommate now you know where to go.

Once Upon A Time In Japan

2007-01-16T15:41:00.000-08:00

A lot of the projects I've been working on in the last several months I've had to keep under wraps. Well, here is at least one of those projects out from under the wraps. A point and click adventure game- Once Upon a Time in Japan: EARTH, the first in a trilogy set in ancient japan. Read more about the game at ign or AdventureGamers or GameSpot.

These sketches are over a week old, I'm way better now.

2007-01-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

This is a drawing of superstar caricature artist Aaron Philby .

I will try to change it up a bit and actually post some real cartoons on here soon.

My hand drew these

2007-01-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

Sketchbook Roundup 6

2006-12-08T03:56:00.000-08:00

I have'nt really been posting much. I guess I've been busy, but not busy enough to stop sketching. These sketches are from my sketchbook for the month of October. Just some random cartoons, coffee shop sketches and observations.

Yes, I saw all of the above characters in a 24 hour cafe( at a late hour). The card players are actually the same person.

so hungry, so fat, so old

New comics

2006-11-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. For the first time in months I've updated My Secret Life as a Cartoon blog. These upcoming stories will chronical the months there were no updates. Hopefully I will be able to keep it up.

My sketchbook threw up

2006-11-04T21:44:00.000-08:00

These are dumb random sketches of several conversation and story ideas I had with the Anne Bush at the McGreggors sketch night.

This is usually how I write stories. I can draw faster than I can write.

Sketchbook Roundup 5

2006-10-30T03:10:00.000-08:00

Wow it's been a long time since I posted a Sketchbook Roundup. So if you don't remember, this is all the stuff that I never got around to posting from my last sketchbook. To start off are some boyscouts inspired by some 1950s picture encyclopedias.

These next 2 are from the brain of Eric "Evilson". The first one is of him being chased by all the "hot" woman that hound him everyday. And no I can't draw bikes.

Happy Halloween

Birds

Just a few random sketches

Cyber Chick

2006-10-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a drawing I did of a "cyberchick with a bazooka". Someone challenged me to draw it so I did, and there it is. With a couple extra characters I made up, including my favorite the handgun hands monkey sidekick. This drawing is just screaming for some color, but it'll have to wait.

People about town, now their souls belong to this blog. FOREVER!

2006-10-03T02:41:00.000-07:00

Ive been busy these last few months but still managing to get out and sketch. These sketches are from coffee shops around town. A couple are from magazines and the last few are from a trashy bar in Escindido.

"how to" get more people to your blog: Write "how to" on it.

Breaking bad habits

2006-09-20T01:10:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been working on breaking some bad habits that drawing "in park " caricatures have given me. There's a lot of helpful habits you can learn by drawing caricatures, but just as many bad ones if your not careful. One of them is structure, another is porportion, and another is laziness . There's more I'm sure. So now that I'm not drawing caricatures everyday a lot of these problems are arising in my other artwork. I find myself trying to avoid drawing certain things because I know I'll have a hard time drawing it (which fits with the 3 bad habits listed above). So among other things I'm taking life drawing classes to combat those evil doers in my degrated eye. I have'nt taken a life drawing class in about 4 years so needless to say I was a lil rusty when I started 2 weeks ago. These first 3 drawings are from the first week. The first 2 are 10 minute drawings and the 3rd is a 20 minute drawing.

After the first week I knew I had to do more than just practice 3 hours a week in class . So I dusted off Glen Vilppu's book and got to work. Glen Vilppu was an old school disney animator (worked on Bambi) who now teaches figure drawing. His approach is very clear and simply broken down. You can get a book for yourself here . I practiced drawing shapes and anatomy for about a half hour a night. These next 3 pictures are from the second week after the practice. Two 10 minuntes,and a 20 min sketch. I felt a difference in this session, I was laying down shapes and lines more confidently . I think they're better than the first week . The model never had he face turned my way, maybe I smelled... I think I still have a ways to go, and I'll document my progress here.

This Post brought to you by Head On "Apply to the forhead!"

2006-08-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what order this text will be placed in with the pictures but the waitress is from a trip to friday's during the con. The girl with the cup was at a cool quiet coffee shop talking as if she was on a jet landing strip to a man that cared not of what she had to say.

These are a couple of upstanding citizens I saw in Burger King a couple months ago. I didn't even come close to making that pose as dynamic as he was actually sitting.

The Reyes and Spike Lee

All these sketches are from the last couple months. I've been busy with a lot of different projects. A couple of the projects I'm not allowed to post anything from them, and the other is pretty dull so enjoy these. I'm working primarily from home now but ironically I have less time to draw for myself. I guess it just always feels like I'm at work. Being cooped up in the house all day everyday I'm turninig into a Howard Hughs recluse type. Well except for the millions of dollars and hollywood starletts.

Snakes, CGI's last conquest?

2006-08-06T16:07:00.000-07:00

So I was watching Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes the other night. There was a story about a guy who was bitten by a snake and was paralysed. The whole story took place around doctors thinking he was dead and getting ready to perform an autopsy while the guy was aware of everything going on but could do nothing. A very frightening idea indeed, but when they showed the snake it was very obvious it was computer animated. I kind of brushed off its crudness to it being just a mini series on television, but then I remembered the trailer for Snakes on a Plane where the snakes looked just as bad (if not worse in some shots). I went on to realize that just about every snake I've seen (in movies, commercials, television) since CGI became prevelant in movies looked like garbage. They all look like they're made of plastic and have a certain glimmer to them that you wouldnt see on live snakes. Also I think the actual animation of the snake can never be as smooth as the snakes movement itself (or maybe the animation is too smooth). They always seem to stand out in any scene they are in . So why is this? Why after about 12 or 13 years of CGI in movies everything else looks nearly flawless while all snakes look like they were modeled, rendered and animated in 1993?

I am not a computer animator so I call out to you that are, to answer this question. Why do all 3d snakes suck no matter the budget and no matter the year? Maybe the trailer for "Snakes on a Plane" was rushed out and the effects weren't complete. Maybe it will come out to rave reviews of how realistic and scary the snakes look and all my confusions will be put to rest by Sam Jackson and his crew.

people people people

2006-06-02T02:28:00.000-07:00

I have'nt had time to do a lot of finished pictures between work and other projects, but I do manage to keep sketching the wierdos around me.

The Salty Ol Sea Dog

2006-05-18T00:40:00.000-07:00

Anne's new boy friend.

Sketchbook Round up 3

2006-05-12T01:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while. It's been hard to find time for much of anyting these days but I managed to find time to still fill up a sketchbook for the month of April. On the other hand I have'nt had the time to scan and post anything. So now I have all these unscanned sketches in one sketchbook and I'm already half way through the next book. So here's everything I never got around to posting for for the Brian Morante April 2006 sketchbook.
This is a sketch I did with those musician sketches earlier in the month. I think thats a young Phil Specter (music producer who killed his wife) and a young Dana Ross (i think) laboring over a record
More left over musician sketches -the Steely Dan guy
Some people from magazines. I think that's Marcia Gay Harden on the left and the guy from law and order on top. It looks like I snuck in a Clint Eastwood face as well.
A stay on the Queen Mary over my B-day weekend produced these sketches. Lash and I went to the bar on the boat and watched this hispanic Elvis guy sing. That's him there, with a flexible waitress who gave the better performance.
Grandpa heads
Random Girl
Drinky Dog and Sober the cat......I don't know
Inspired by the Preston Blair book Hetaher gave me before she left. I think this is one of the first things in that sketchbook.
Bear

Bill
Brocolli

You know what time it is!

2006-05-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

Time to eat sanwhiches!
I gots me some new markers...just testing them out a bit.

lanky kid

2006-04-27T01:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts for anyone who cares. Between work and more work I haven't had much time to sketch. And when I do get time I use it to update my comic blog. Even though it looks like more people are checkin out this blog, so says the counter.
Anyways I saw this kid at work today so I threw down a few lines to represent him and later at home I drew him up all nice and junk. He was that age where he's not a kid but still on the cusp of being a teenager. A very akward age indeed. With lanky limbs, a shirt that's too big, pants too short, and hat and shoes too big. Make sure you keep that shirt tucked inand the pants hiked up, kid. The ladies like a good tucked in shirt!

Quick character designs

2006-04-18T23:44:00.000-07:00

I had to do about 12 or 13 character designs for a super secret project, these are a couple of my favorite from the group(and not so secret anymore). I did them all in one night so they're not perfect, but they're kind of fun, and got the point across. I also just picked up a book on character design called "Creating Characters with Personality" by Tom Bancroft. I had seen the book on the shelf for a couple months but avoided the book because of the title. I thought it was another Christopher Hart book or a C.H. wannabe. But I flipped through it and the drawings were great. The guy who wrote it is a designer for disney and right off the bat wants you to pay attention to the theories of design instead of his style or any style. But the book has examples of how different artist would design the same character. They have J. Scott Cambell, Butch Hartman, Jack Davis, and more. I had been looking for a book on character design for about a year and a half, and as the author of this book points out- THERE ARE NONE!. There's chapters on the subject but no books. So anyone interested in character design for animation, comics, comic strips, whatever go get that there book.

Superman Returns

2006-04-13T01:06:00.000-07:00

It's spring so that means Superman Returns is just around the corner. www.Superherohype.com posted a few new pics from the movie. I couldn't help but sketch a few of them.
Brandon "eyebrows" Routhe as Clark Kent/Superman. From what I've seen he looks like a great Clark Kent, and he has an uncanny resemblance to Christopher Reevs.
Not 100% sure about Brandon Routhe as Superman, he seems a bit slight to me. He's got the hieghth though. I'm sure I'll be sold within the context of the movie.
Lex Luther played by Kevin" bulbous face" Spacey. Spacey rocks, especially as bad guys.
Lois Lane played by Kate "forehead" Bosworth. Shes peeerty and looks a little too soft to be Lois, but we'll see. I actually hate people who nitpick these kinds of things in big movies like this(so sorry for doing it through this post). I put full trust into Bryan Singer and the fact that he knows exactly what he's doing. All signs point to this movie rocking my socks.

Oh my Goth!

2006-04-06T01:32:00.000-07:00

I saw this girl last week at work and ran home immediatley to draw her. I forgot to add her standard issue Jack Skeleington purse.

Musicians are fun to draw

2006-04-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

I drew these out of Rolling Stone and some from Spin. With the exception of the second to last page I have no idea who anyone is. I just saw a lot of intresting faces and started drawing. I usually draw till about 3am. Thats what I was planning to do last night when I drew these, until I look over and we had all lost an hour. It was almost 4am, yikes!

Sketchbook Roundup 2

2006-04-01T18:38:00.000-08:00

Well its been about a month from the last sketchbook round up. Now I'm a month wiser and have one more completed sketchbook to put up on my shelf. Like I said in the last round up, these are all random sketches and warmups from my sketchbook of the last month. When I get stuck and can't think of anything to draw, I draw from magazines. I pick out intresting faces or expressions or poses. After filling a few pages of refrenced sketches my wheels are spinning and I can get going again. The new Premier magazine has the 100 greatest performances of all time. So they have a lot of pictures of big stars in their iconic rolls. Great for caricatures or just refrence.

Homework

2006-03-29T14:58:00.000-08:00

This is an idea that was floating around my sketchbook for some time. I finally got around to doing something with it. The girl is colored with marker and blue pencil over the marker for shading. I just whipped out the BG in Photoshop.

"Hey, that new kid looks funny!"

2006-03-27T17:08:00.000-08:00

More art from the "First day of school" short. This was just a quick doodle in my sketchbook and I fixed it up all nice and colored it. The title of the post is what that kid is saying BTW.

First Day of school

2006-03-22T19:51:00.000-08:00

This was an idea I had for a short called "first day of school". I was going to pitch it to Frederator studios when they were accepting pitches a few months ago. Problem is I never had a full story, just some funny characters and some funny moments. The basic premise was this skunk who had been home schooled finally was going to experience REAL school. Conflict came when everyone else didnt think he fit in and he couldnt see it.. er, smell it. I drew and colored all these today from very loose sketches in an old sketchbook.

Dubya

2006-03-22T01:40:00.000-08:00

2 blogs a day keeps the real work away

2006-03-21T16:24:00.000-08:00

It seems everybody has a blog now. So to stay ahead of the curve I've decided to have 2 blogs. I'll continue this one posting sktches and art work almost daily, but I will maintain (or try to ) the blog linked on the right called "my secret life as a cartoon". This will chronical my daily life, but in cartoon form. If I didnt have a job I would start another blog and have a daily comic strip and another blog with monthly or weekly flash cartoons. One thing at a time I suppose...

And here's another Billy sketch I forgot to put in the last post.

Billy the Raisin Head

2006-03-21T03:26:00.000-08:00

This is a character I came up with when I was in middle school. I invented him for the sole purpose of destruction. Muwhahaha! I animated a short with him in it, when I was in high school. I almost finished it. I think it was called "Billy the Raisin Head in Trip to Mt. Disaster". I'll leave it to your imaginations as to what happend.

Take it procrastination!

2006-03-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to get a web site going for a long time now. Problem is I'm stretched so thin doing this project for this person and that project for that peson I rarely have time for completeing a project for myself. So I took a me day. I worked on getting at least this page made for my website, and designed buisness cards for myself among other things.

More dumb people

2006-03-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

Gangs of New York

2006-03-16T00:47:00.000-08:00

I was sketching in a coffee shop and on the shelf next to me was a set of pictoral encyclopedias. A lack of inspiration lead me to pick a few up and flip through. They were from the 50s and had some really cool pictures. One of the pictures was of two kids that looked similar to these guys. I was inspired by the type of clothes they were waring and turned them into a couple of little thugs on the streets of Brooklyn in the 50s. These pictures that I actually take time on actually take more time to complete. Go figure. That's why its taking so long to post new junk. I think I'll try to space them out .

When I was a kid...

2006-03-13T01:48:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid I had a sketch blog, but no computer or internets. I recently dug up about 3 sketchbooks from my younger years ( about 8 to 13years old),and decided to post some old old drawings. When I was 8 I already loved Looney Tunes was heavily influencded by Chuck Jones cartoons. About that time I saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. When I was 10 Tiny Toons came out and again I was influenced. Most of these sketchbooks had cartoon animals after cartoon animals (mostly rabbits). When I was 12 I got into comics and all those sketchbooks were filled with failed attempts at drawing Spider-man and Wolverine. WARNING: DRAWINGS BELOW ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND NOT APPROVED TO BE SEEN BY EYES OF MODERN DAY. IF EYES START BLEEDING CALL A DOCTOR.
I was about 9 I think when I drew these two characters. I remember being very satisfied with how they came out. It's probably because they were in color.

I used to draw a lot of thes kinds of pictures. They all had a story told in one image, and I would pack it full of characters and things going on. Just WAY too much stuff, even more than these two pictures. I was about 9 when I drew the one with the dog getting run over by a car, and probably 8 when I drew the stinky cat picture (the mouse at the top is dead from the smell of the cat. That's right the cat was THAT stinky).

Here's a drawing I did of the food chain. Or at least my version of the food chain at the time. I think I got a little off topic by the time I started drawing the top of the picture. It might be hard to see, but I have the dog at the top of the food chain but at the bottom of the page. He eats the cat. The cat eats the mouse and the bird. The bird eats the bird seed and the mouse eats the cheese. The cheese comes from milk thats comes from the cow, who eats the grass grown from the sun.I was about 9 or 10.

PHEW...

2006-03-11T01:11:00.000-08:00

I witnessed this young mother at the park towards the end of the day. She was slouched over taking a breather from a long day. I drew this from memory later and decided to take it a bit further than just another sketch. I'm trying to break bad habits you pick up doing carucatures. Like spending five minutes on something and moving on. I' m trying to challenge myself a little more. I'm also trying to incorperate more story into my drawings, instead of just drawing an intresting looking person standing around. I have another one like this coming soon.

A blustery day at the park

2006-03-09T01:10:00.000-08:00

These are all quick sketches of people running around enjoying Sea World on a painfully slow and very blustery day. I think it was SO slow, this would count for everyone in the park that day.....and none of them gave me money.

Sketchbook Roundup

2006-03-07T21:24:00.000-08:00

This is one of the first things I put in this sketchbook. I'm not sure how the color will look when it's actually posted on the blog but it's blue in the upload window. I originally colored it natural ugly baby colors.

A company that makes a sugar substitue wanted me and my buddy Reggie to make a comic book for them that promotes clean teeth. But they didnt want to pay for our time. We would only be paid if it "sold". So sensing there wasn't a huge market for dental hygene comic readers out there, we passed. I thought it was such a rediculous idea I drew up these rediculous characters.

This is just a drawing I did of someone walking by. Some may know who it is.

I always find it more intresting to take a peek at the unfinished random sketches of someones sketchbook, rather than the nice finished peices they want you to see. These are some of those from mine. Most everything on the left is one full page of the book.
Everything posted above are all random things here and there from the sketchbook I just finished. Anything that fell through the cracks or I never got around to posting. This first one are some caricatures.

Magazine Madness

2006-03-06T18:45:00.000-08:00

I have of a LOT of magazines starting to stack up around the house and I need to get rid of them fast. It's starting to look like one of those houses, you know the ones you see on tv with all the newspapers stacked to the ceiling and covering all the walls. Like the counterpart to the crazy cat ladies house.
I'm throwing them out Friday the 10th so if anyone wants them speak now or forever hold your peace. I have about a years worth of Rolling Stone, Spin, Maxim, Premier, Entertainment Weekly, and a few tv guides. Theyre great for drawing refrences and caricatures. I don't think you'll want them for the articles unless anyone is intrested in reading how John Kerry is ramping up his campaign or reading up on movies that you can buy for ten bucks at the video store. You only have 3 days to speak up and then these historical artifacts are going in the garbage.

Hillbillies!

2006-03-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

Well HOOOOO- WEEEE! Another sketchbook complete. I've been burning through sketchbooks lately. This is the fifth book in five months. It used to take me a year to fill one up. I decided to end this one with some hillbilly folk. There's everyone there, from baby stink foot to granny.
My next post I will have a sketchbook round up for all the sketches that fell through the cracks.

It's Oscar day!

2006-03-05T01:40:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Oscar day yet again. As I didnt get around to finishing any short animated films worthy of a nomination THIS year I did manage to see every best picture nominee. And in honor of Oscar day I am posting two caricatures of a guy who's too cool to join the blogosphere - Oscar Torres. These two caricatures were done almost a year ago I think. One took a lil while longer than the other, guess which one. Go ahead and guess make it a lil game. While Oscar Torres is too cool for a blog, his brother Enrique Torres is not cool at all and has a blog, which is linked right over yonder.

Yet another post..

2006-03-04T02:28:00.000-08:00

I drew this out of an old Premier magazine. Inspired by a photo of Audrey Hepurn. She's ppuuurrtty.

The other two folks are drawn from a magazine I got at a Christmas gift exchange a couple years ago. Its a Japanese magazine called Fruits. It's just photos of intresting looking people in intresting clothes with intresting backdrops. Very designy. I have to draw from it whenever I find it laying around.
The girl and the guy I sketched out first then inked and the two girls together I sketched straight with pen.

Yee Haww!

2006-03-04T02:14:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted in a lil while, but that doesnt mean I stopped sketchin. This is a girl I saw on tv about a week ago and had to draw her. She looked really intresting. There's a couple of things I would change if I had sketched it out first, but I went straight in with pen on this....I was watching HBO if you must know.

Cartoon animals in cartoon land

2006-02-24T02:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of late night sketches I did.
Ballpoit pen, marker, and ink.
Ball point always helps me stay loosey goosey. I've been trying to make my drawings more dynamic and a lil more extreme. I think both these pics could be pushed a lot further with their poses but its getting close too my bed time to start anything new.

John K

2006-02-22T22:54:00.000-08:00

This is a caricature John K drew of me at the House of Blues in Anahiem a couple weeks ago. He really did me justice I think. He drew a picture of Mez also, it's posted up at his blog. Also go check out Johns blog he has some awesome caricatures on there. Make sure you give him a post on his blog.

2006-02-22T02:05:00.000-08:00

Here's another bug I could have used. The elusive Nicole (skeletor) Richy.

2006-02-22T01:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of the other bugs I originally was going to go with for the bizmar. The first is the grasshopper couple, but they had WAY too much detail for how small they were going to be. The fly I thought I had made it simple enough to read but it was all for not. Still hard to read.

Bizmar

2006-02-21T14:45:00.000-08:00

This is a pinup I did for Young American Comics. It's for the "Big ol' Book of Bizmar" . Bizmar stands for bunny, insect, zombie, monkey, alien, robot. Now some have brought to my attention something I already knew regarding this picture. A worm is NOT an insect. Yes I know a worm is not technically an insect but I had to step up and use my artist lisence on this one. I went through a lot of different types of bugs in different parts of the picture at one time just flies buzzing around the zombies hand. None of it worked as well as this. I wanted a full on character and it was hard to see any kind of detail in any other bug . The worm has so few details in its self there was room to add a tie and hat and still make it read correctly.

Technically monkeys and bunnies and worms dont wear ties or hats. I will post some of the alternate bugs I got up to the final stage.

PUNCH!!

2006-02-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

"I'll give you what fors!"