Story/Gag Workshop at TAAFI (TORONTO) on Sunday July 8 2012

STORY WORKSHOP 1:30 PM

HOW TO DRAW STORIES FOR CARTOONS

The folks at the Toronto animation festival came up with a unique workshop idea and asked me to demonstrate the way I write the stories for my cartoons.


As most people who've read the blog know, I don't use scripts; I use the classic cartoon method of writing the details of the story with drawings on storyboards. My writers are all cartoonists and animators. Of course, not all cartoonists have story ability but the ones who do write the best cartoons because they understand what works when you have to draw every frame of the story.

Mike Kerr, one of my funniest story partners will be joining me on stage to conduct a "gag session".

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

We'll want to involve some of the artists in the audience and have you suggest gags and draw them out on storyboards which we will pin up and review and add to.

Their may be around 80 people in the audience, so I wouldn't be able to personally spend time withe every artist, so I'm trying to figure out a way in advance to maybe see some of your work and select a few funny cartoonists.

I will do another post with some links to storyboards I've done and character designs and descriptions.

CAN YOU DRAW FUNNY? APPLY NOW

In the meantime if you'd like to participate in the event, you might get used to drawing some of my characters. (They don't have to be perfectly on model, but the drawings should feel like the characters and express their personalities).

The characters I am thinking of using are Slab N Ernie, Bobby Bigloaf, maybe George Liquor, Sody Pop and The Heartaches.

Maybe we can get 2 or 3 cartoonist units together and each unit can storyboard a section of a different story.


If you wanna do some sketches and upload them to a blog or web site to show, put an (active) link in the comments to this post. If I think you have story potential, I may select you and give you a heads up on a rough story idea to start sketching up. Or if you already are familiar with my characters, you can suggest your own story or gag idea. - REMEMBER - DO IT WITH DRAWINGS, NOT JUST TEXT.

CLICK THE LABELS BELOW

TO FIND POSTS ABOUT THE CHARACTERS AND THE PROCESS

Stussy Puts the Violence Back Into Cartoons!

Hey I drew some more shirt designs for Stussy and the brilliant and innovative art director, Adam Jay Weissman asked me to make a cartoon to advertise it. Rather than just do a pure ad, I asked if I could make a little story and embed the ad in it. He said ok so here it is:

SEE THE CARTOON HERE

BEHIND THE SCENES SECRETS:

I Drew the storyboards with ball point pen on a crappy newsprint sketchbook.
Then I animated the cartoon on a cintiq using Toonboom's Animate program. It's primarily hand drawn with a few tweening cheats - and some afterfx in the middle by Kedz.

I worked with my core team of miscreants here in Northridge.

JOHN KEDZIE coordinated, did all the technical crap that I hate to do and even found time to create some cg stuff and animate it.
SARAH HARKEY was my main assistant animator and she also painted the tasty backgrounds:

SANDRA RIVAS joined us just a couple weeks ago and assisted and colored much animation.

DIVERSITY IN CARTOONLAND

I have also been training a virtual team of talented cartoonists around the world who have been doing assistant animation.

GENEVA HODGSON did some fine inking and coloring and inbetweening up in San Francisco.

AMIR AVNI (of Toronto) jumped in the pool at the last minute of production to help ink.

DAVID DE ROOIJ took time away from tempting Krampus to do some assisting in Holland.

BEN ANDERS played hookey from Sheridan College to clean up some scenes.

The great Eric Bauza and the manly Jim Smith did the voices of my characters. Eddie Cruz (owner of Stussy LA and Undefeated) provided the 'tude and the voice of the Stussy Rat.

If you like the cartoon, show your love by buying a shirt from Stussy and maybe they will sponsor a series of 'em!

Of course if you hate it, then you'll have no choice but to beat the bejeezus out of me in the parking lot at Target.
and we used music from the famous

http://www.apmmusic.com/

library.

Coming

The Art Of Bullying

here's a rough model sheet for a commercial I'm doing

The Precious Years

MORE ABOUT THE PRECIOUS TALES OF CHILDHOOD INNOCENCE

Li'l Buggers: Slab 'N' Ernie

Slab 'n' Ernie are real little buggers.

They crave trouble and terrorize the other kids in the neighborhood and are a bad influence on all small things.
Their uncle George Liquor loves the little buggers and thinks they are the greatest kids in the world. Wet clay that he can mold into God-fearing decent Americans.He steeps them in superstition because he believes that only a big dose of fear of the unexplainable can lead to a life of goodness. He takes them into a bare room with 4 concrete walls and asks them "What do you see in here, lads?" They look around confused and say "Uh..nothing!" George says "Then make something up and worship it!"

Like all red-blooded little buggers, Slab 'N' Ernie love cartoons, comic books, video games and George's secret magazine collection hidden above a ceiling tile in the basement rec room.

Their favorite cartoon character in all of cartoondom is the beloved Donald Bastard, meanest and most unintelligible thing on webbed feet.

Donald is not only a wacky cartoon character, he is a mixed martial artist, one of the feather-for-feather greatest ever.Slab N Ernie love to pick on the nerdiest kid in the block, Bobby Bigloaf.Bobby is much smarter than Slab 'N' Ernie, therefore they feel it's their duty to teach him the hierarchy of child life. "Hey fat boy, smart kids are at the bottom of the heap, it's us dumb kids that rule the block!" They instinctively know that someday smart kids will make more money than them, so the time for payback is now while they are still kids. They make a preemptive strike: "THIS is for your 5 room bungalow that'll be PAID for!" they say as they sock him in his freckled belly.

Slab 'N' Ernie are regularly featured on Anderson Cooper's Bullying In America series and George always gets a proud tear in his eye. "I taught 'em everything they know!"

Slab N Ernie are sometimes nice to Bobby, because Bobby has the best comic book collection in town and they love to come over and read all the comics...then pull out all the staples. Bobby has very specific rules about how to handle comic books, but Slab N Ernie ignore them, flicking the staples at Bobby.

SLAB'S FIRST FIST STORYBOARD

Bobby dreams of one day becoming a world famous and influential comic book writer. He buys doubles of all his favorite comic mags and cuts out the word balloons from the copies. He pastes his favorites on the fridge (his secret lair). He memorizes the best writing from the comics. He has a t-shirt with "Unggggghhhh!" written boldly across it.
Bobby'd really rather draw the comics than write them but alas, he does not have the gift of artistic talent. He is always dreaming up new colors of underpants for his comic heroes to wear. "Oh, if only I knew an artist who could see the fantastic colors in my head!" He has a boat load of coloring books. He fills in the pictures with descriptions of the colors since he can't color with crayons very well; he always goes outside the lines (especially with his descriptions of colors) which is a sin. "Emerald green, with a hint of ash-teflon...!" His Mommy is so proud of his verbal color sense.

Bobby loves to go to conventions and dress up as colorful fat heroes or funny animal "toon" characters.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2011/09/heres-something.html

He has created the first super hero character that never works out, who gets his powers from potato chips.


Slab N Ernie love to make fun of him in his costumes. They pick on him constantly but in the end, always get their just desserts. Either George catches them, or the Lord steps in to dish out penance. George: "What you bad boys need is a dose of the Good Book!" He hauls out his heaviest bible and whacks their behinds with it.
http://jkcartoonstories.blogspot.com/2010/03/comic-book-day.html

Slab N Ernie and Bobby are all fascinated by girls. Especially the bad Catholic Girls that live across the railroad tracks and corrupt all good boys who dare to trespass in the bad neighborhood.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2008/06/bad-catholic-girls-models.html

Slab N Ernie hate homework, but George believes in education - until he finds out what the damn schools are teaching these days!

http://jkcartoonstories.blogspot.com/2010/03/cartoons-vs-homework.html

Slab's First Fist all in one EZ to read post

I will post a link to the t shirt as soon as it is available

THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF POOBERTY VS SKILL

It started like any other fine morn, except for one thing.
Little 10 year old Slab's fist was throbbing and aching like it was on fire.

"Hey Ern'!" he yelled to his elder brother on the upper bunk.

"Yeah Slab'?"
"Dude you woke me up with all your throbbing down there. What's goin' on?"
"I dunno Ern, my fist is aching and pounding! That's never happened before!"
"Wow! Hey Slab! That's your first burning fist! That means you've reached pooberty!"
"It hurts Ern'! Make it stop!"
Ernie: "It's not gonna stop on its own Slab. There's only one cure for a throbbing fist!"
Slab: "Ow! lick lick lick, Ow, Ow! Help me, Ern! Help me!"
Ernie leaps off the bunk.
"Slab! I know exactly what you need!"
"Yeah, suck it up Slab! Be proud of your aching fist! There's a purpose for it! It's all part of God's plan!"
"What you need kid, is a nice fat soft sissy to sink that thing into!"
Slab: "Where do we get one of those Ern'?"
"I know where there's one!"
"C'mon kid! We'll take the sting outta your thing!"
Ernie: "YES!"
Slab: "What's that, Ern?"

"That's a nerd, Slab! A real fat one! See its freckles? Check out his Char Wars collectibles! What a fruitcake!"

Slab: "Hey I've never seen one of those before! He's funny! What's he for?"

Ernie: "He's God's gift to your fist!"
Ernie" Hey, Bobby Bigloaf! We caught ya!"

Ernie: "Whatcha doin' there fat boy?"
Bobby: "I'm stirring up crap on the blogosphere! I'm arguing toons with other toon fans! I even get to threaten them with physical harm 'n' stuff!"
Ernie:"It's easy to be tough inside your room with Mommy home isn't it, Bobby Bigloaf!"
Bobby: "You bet! Hey...what's that thing on the end of Slab's arm?"

Ernie: "It's Slab's new fist! He reached Pooberty today!"Bobby Bigloaf: "I wanna see!"
Ernie: "C'mon out Bobby Bigloaf. Don't be afraid! We're your friends!"
Slab's young fist throbs like a little hot MF.
FAAAAAA!
SHEEEWOOOM!
Ernie: "Cool, huh, Bobby Bigloaf?"
VOM!
SQUEEEENCH! Ernie: "Well, whaddaya think of Pooberty, Bobby?"
Bobby runs to get some. "Bobby Bigloaf: "Want, want!!"
Bobby: "WOW! I never seen pooberty before! Does it hurt?"
Slab: "OWWW! It really does, Bobby!"
Slab: "Say, Ern, whaddoo I do with this thing? It's really burning!"
Ernie whispers a secret in Slab's unspoiled ear.
Bobby: "Gee whiz, that's keen! I wish I had a burning pooberty!"
Slab is willing to share.
Slab: "You want some of this poison, Bobby Bigloaf?"
Slab: "Take that ya Fattypants!" Bobby wheezes up lung chunks as the gift of fist sinks unresistingly into soft flab.Bobby realizes quickly: "Hey! Waitaminute! I don't think you are my friends! I think you're BULLIES!"

Ernie: "You're pretty swift, Bobby Bigloaf! Didja get that big fat brain on the blogosphere??" Slab wonders at his first beat down. Then nature takes over and it feels so right.
A slow motion fist advances towards a soft mass of nerve endings, gums and flimsy braces...

Slab's screaming fist destroys 3 years of expensive orthodontry in less than a millisecond (slowed down by the magic of our slo mo camera).
Ernie's Blood lust is not easily sated. He eggs Slab on. "HIT 'IM 'SLAB! HIT 'IM!"

Slab winds up for a fierce

skull-smashing upper cut!
The whole lawn realizes the gravity of the situation! What began as an entertaining respite from the humdrum routine of lower-life has turned into an unbearable episode of merciless slaughter.
Mr. Worms cries:"It's too ugly! Someone's got to do something!" Mr. Daisy clutches his terrified wife.
He makes the ultimate sacrifice and tears himself out by the roots!
He frantically dashes into the house, knowing that he only has minutes of precious life left to act on Bobby's behalf.
Scrolling like mad, Mr. Daisy seeks out the one 'toon that might ward off Slab's ferocious attack.

Mr. Daisy furiously scrolls for just the right 'toon hero on the message boards.


At last! There he is! Flower Man: "MR. BASTARD! MR. BASTARD! COME IN, MR. BASTARD!"

"Your #1 fan is in trouble!"
Bastard: "Quack, quaaa, Squawk, bellow! Berate! Garble!"
Translation:"Not Bobby Bigloaf! He's memorized every line of my cartoons! ...and buys my merchandise!"
Flower: "Hurry hurry!"
"He's taking an awful beating!"

Out squeezes Donald Bastard: SQUOICH!

Bobby's favorite Toon wrenches himself out of the message board.
He spins and is ready for action.

Out spews his famous hat.

Donald goes into his anticipation...
..and explodes offscreen!
Outside the carnage continues unabated.
Donald Bastard approaches the slaughter in strike position.
Who is this interloper, wonders Slab "n" Ernie?
Bobby Bigloaf has been pummeled and bruised to near unconsciousness.

Ernie is outraged. He tells Slab to continue the onslaught, as he takes a step towards the Cartoon celebrity: "Finish the job, Slab! I'll take care of this feathered faggot!"

(I don't condone Ernie's use of hate-words and neither will our knight in shining keratin)

Ernie prepares to give the interloper a beating.
DB is a trained mixed martial artist and quickly dispatches his victim with a punishing kick to the knee. The joint disintegrates.

Ernie seizes his shattered knee in agony as DB looks for his next prey.Slab leaps off Bobby: "Hey! You can't do that to Ernie!"
He kisses his bully fist for luck.
Ernie eggs him on: "Preserve the honor of the Liquor family, Slab!"

Slab is eager; he knows he has a real fight on his hands: "This is gonna be good."
Donald's steely eyes zero in on his target. They touch gloves.
The clash of the titans is on! Violence returns to the cartoons! Will pooberty or training win??

(that last image is inspired by Kirby, the greatest fight artist ever)

Both combatants simultaneously deliver a punishing blow.
Slab is bruised but not out.

DB fires a kick to the head with furious webbed force.


Slab's hurt! He has a mouth full of crushed jawbone and teeth fragments!

This would finish any regular bully, but it just makes Slab mad!Oh! A perfect driving elbow to the solar plexus from the ring bastard!

Followed by a flying knee! This could be it, folks! Nobody should have to take this kind of punishment!
Donald is jumping up and down! He's taunting his opponent! Oh the humiliation!"
Slab looks to his corner! "WhattadoIdo now 'Ern??!"
Ernie advises: "Do that move we learned in Sunday School!"

Slab leaps into a bill-crunching Superman punch! "What a fight! What a fight!"
Donald is knocked to the matt. He's on his back! "Ground and pound 'im like Father McGinty showed ya, Slab!" shouts Ernie! "Pretend he's one o' those ATHEIST duck bastards!"

Slab dives on the dazed mallard.

As the Gracies know, 90% of all fights go to the ground, and that's exactly what happens with kids and fowl.

Slab leaps on Donald. The bastard attempts guard position.

It's a clumsy guard and he quickly recloses it with perfect technique.


Slab postures up.

Slab is ready for some old fashioned all-American ground and pound.

He swings his swollen pooberty fist frantically, but the blows are merely glancing thanks to Donald's defensive ground game.

Honestly, I don't know what's harder - practicing BJJ, or drawing it.









This just about killed me...Sorry it's pretty scribbly

Because of the unique shapelessness of Slab's head, he is able to escape what would otherwise be a suffocating, artery closing pincer-like neck lock for anyone else.
Slab won't make this mistake again!...

Slab's out of trouble, but his pooberty fist is starting to ache worse than ever!


The throbbing intensifies.
Bigger and bigger! Now it's turning blue! Oh, the pangs of budding youth!
And now here comes the other fist!
Now they're both throbbing! Back and forth! Back and forth!

He turns to his corner for help: "I can't stand the pain, Ern!"
Ernie: "Shut up! Look out! He's getting up!"
Donald looks determined. It's an ugly look. The glare of eyes tasting their helpless prey hungrily.
Slab: "WhattooIdo Ern'? WHATTA I DOOOOO?"
"OW OW OW OW OW OW OW!!! Help me Ern!"
Ernie: "Now you got 2 Pooberty fists, Slab! Use 'em or lose 'em!"
Slab accepts the intense burning in his changing organs of violence and takes a step to meet his opponent. I couldn't guess the outcome of this fight! Will it be skill or hormones that win the day?!



Slab releases a whistling screaming fist directly at the maw of his opponent! But the trained bill opens at the last instant!It clasps down on the Fist of Fire!
Donald tears the fist apart in his powerful bill! Digits sever! Knuckles separate!
Bobby is up now, rooting on his Toon champion!

As the nutrients of Slab's pooberty hormones surge through the bastards's veins, he swells with burning power!
CRUNCH! He's taken the other fist! Oh my God, it's a slaughter folks! He's squeezing every ounce of juice out of the raging fist as if it's a morning orange!
With sheer disdain, he spits out the indigestible joints. Slab is crippled! Can this fight go on??

DB has ingested Slab's pooberty fists and the results are obvious!His whole body is swelling with the raging hormones of youth. He is adding strength to his already impressive MMA skills!
He throws a punishing blow to Slab, knocking his head clear off! This could be bad for the younger opponent!
Slab's in trouble! Donald has achieved full mount position!
Oh My God! He's punishing the kid! It's a merciless onslaught of flying feathered fists! Slab's not intelligently defending himself! This is just sheer senseless violence! This is not what this sport is about!
Say, who's that climbing over the fence??!
Why, it's BIG JOHN - the world's greatest MMA ref!
No one sees more or reacts quicker than John. He lunges at the foes and separates them.
It's over, it's over! Big John has stopped the fight!

Slab is outraged! The fans are booing! This could be a controversial stoppage!


It takes Donald a second to realize the fight is over and then he bursts into his victory ritual!
He does his famous "put him out of his misery" mock shotgun bit! Pure humiliation!
He races around the yard in triumph and hops up onto the fence! The crowd goes wild!
The whole neighborhood eats it up! Who doesn't love this hall of fame champion?
Donald does a backflip off the fence!
A perfect landing! What an athlete! What an athlete!
He gives the camera a thumbs up and his local gang signal!
Big John holds the hands of his anxious opponents. This is the only place you can do that in this great nation of ours, folks.
And now we wait for the official judge's verdict. That is one sad looking headless boy there.

" and the winner... by stoppage is..DONALD, THE RAPTOR....BASTARD!!"

Bobby Bigloaf is up and cheering his cartoon hero. He rushes to congratulate him.

The vanquished Slab and his ruined pooberty fists skulk away in shame.

Bobby gives a Donald a well-practiced, furry-worthy-man-hug as Big John looks down with pride at the scene of youthful joy. There's nothing like a good dose of violence to warm the heart of any decent red-blooded boy!
"Gee Mr. Cartoon Bastard," squeals Bobby, "you sure showed those bullies!"
Then the poor little future cartoon-scribe laments his own natural wimpiness. "Gosh, I was wish I could kick some bully butt like you, but I'm just a little old defenseless fatty."
Big John has the answer: "Bobby, you don't have to work out for 10 years to get a black belt in self-defense! We need you eating potato chips and writing superhero comic books!
What you do need is this fancy-ass official Donald Bastard T shirt! No one's gonna mess with you in a manly shirt like this!

Bobby quickly tears the sweat-stained white shirt off of his smooth shiny chest...

Big John drops a brand new DB shirt on Bobby.

It fits like a second skin! Bobby has bully armor!
Always the gentleman, Big John offers the lad his glasses that got knocked off during the healthy young scuffle.
He gives the little fatty a pat on his brush cut. Bobby's proud chest swells with bacon fat. Donald assumes his fight poses for the photographers.
"You will never again have to take any crap from bullies when you wear your official Donald Bastard shirt!" promises McCarthy.
"...And all you bloggers out there who afraid to go outside in bright daylight! Now you can! Just buy your own Donald Bastard shirt and you too can be a badass!"
"What do we say, guys?"

"No more more crap!"

The heroic flower that selflessly tore his roots from the life-giving dirt and gave us this wonderful story twist gasps valiantly, "My job is done here"
As he drops to join the eternity of forgotten heroes, his young wife promptly loses her mind. "Who will raise my child?" she screams in anguish. Mr. Annelid comforts her but keeps his reproductive band at a decent distance (for now).

Help the young widow raise her unborn child in a decent lawn and never take any crap from teachers, bullies, forest rangers or any other scary figures of authority again!

Wear your own Donald Bastard shirt and FEAR NOTHING!

Look what it did for Zach!