Too Young - 8/8/11

I'd been penpals with Jesse Moynihan since at least 8 or 9 years ago, ever since I stumbled onto some old issues of Assificado that my brother's roomate had lying around, and felt compelled to get in touch.  About a year ago we finally met in person when he (like me a year or so before) dropped everything to move to the west coast and work on Adventure Time.

Anyway, now we're realpals, and we even got to do an episode together too.  It was effortless and fun, and came out really great.  It's got a real good balance to it;  I can watch it over and over and it doesn't get old.  A lot of credit for that goes to Justin Roiland too, who voiced the Earl of Lemongrab, and crushed it perfectly.

Anyways, it's called Too Young, and you can check it out on Monday night on Cartoon Network.

(Oh yeah, I almost forgot-  Jesse and I made this promo drawing together.  He penciled in Peppermint Butler, Cinnamon Bun, Finn and Princess Bubblegum, and I drew the rest and finished it up.)

Runaway Circus

My old friend Ingrid asked me if I'd like to make a flyer for her circus troupe's upcoming show, "Has Anyone Seen My Stapler".  Well yeah, duh!  Of course!  The best and luckiest part of my trip to Asheville in April was catching their last show, "Portal Party".  Check 'em out if you're in the neighborhood. (See their website for date/time, I guess- that's what's eventually gonna go in the big blank word balloon.)

Heat Signature - 4/25/11

Hey y'all-  I'm in the middle of a month of traveling, so I'm just gonna toss these scans up un-fiddled-with (I made a couple of em, cause I didn't like the first one, but now everyone else seems to like it better, so here they both are).  But yeah:  new Adventure Time, monday night- check it out.  Also, a disclaimer, so expectations don't get skewed, this second drawing has almost nothing to do with the actual episode... fun to draw though.

Go With Me - 3/28/11

"Go With Me", mine and Ako's fifth Adventure Time board, hits the air this upcoming Monday.

I was pretty happy with the little cycle below, but it got cut (though it did get animated, so it's out there somewhere.)  Finn used to be belting out a little song in this scene, but that got changed too, which is why his mouth shapes don't fit his words...

Undead Archer

Been playing around with colored pencils some more:

Gnome Family

I made this to trade with my pen pal Luke. 
It's ink, watercolor and colored pencil.

Guardians of Sunshine - 2/21/11

Mine and Ako's next episode of Adventure Time, "Guardians of Sunshine" airs on Monday at 8 on Cartoon Network.  The middle bit is all CG, and looks fresh, and was all animated by Jacky Ke Jiang.  Not too much to say about this one- it's pretty straight forward.  It came out nice;  I hope y'all dig it.

Her Parents - 1/24/11

Mine and Ako's next episode of Adventure Time (second one we boarded, third to air) is gonna be on Cartoon Network, Monday at 8.  Guest starring Henry Rollins and Laura Silverman as Lady Rainicorn's parents, Bob and Ethel (if I remember right...)  I can now say that Henry Rollins sang a song I wrote, but it's the shortest dumbest song ever written, so, y'know.  But still.  Anyway, I woulda tried harder, but I thought originally it was gonna be sung in Korean, but then it wasn't.

The Other Tarts - 1/3/11

I'm 90% sure that "The Other Tarts", my second episode of Adventure Time, boarded in collaboration with Ako Castuera, is gonna run at 8:00 on Monday on Cartoon Network.  If I'm wrong... well whatever.  Anyway, this is actually the third one we boarded, it just got bumped forward for some reason.  The second one, "Her Parents", should be on in a couple weeks.

Fellow boarder Rebecca Sugar has been making fantastic little promo drawings for her episodes, which I thought was a great idea, and asked her to do one for mine, but she said I should, so I did:

Stephen Root (Milton from "Office Space") plays a couple roles in this one, including the beaky guy on the right up there.  He also recites a weird little poem I wrote near the end of the episode, which was really fun to see.

"Story Telling'"

"Story Telling", my first for-reals episode of Adventure Time (storyboarded in collaboration with Ako Castuera) is gonna be on Cartoon Network, Monday at 8.  Also, it is my television acting debut.  I play Mr. Fox.  Check it out.

Monster Concepts

Here's a few monster concept highlights from season one of Adventure Time. The demon cat was for Dungeon, and the Crystal Guardian for Tree Trunks. And the wood man eventually became the sign monsters in Tree Trunks. The goblins and the stag demon were for that one too, but didn't get used. I can't remember what the swamp ape was for (possibly Tree Trunks- I guess I was on a roll at the time), but whatever it was, it didn't get used either...

The Duke

Here's some of my concept drawings from the Adventure Time episode "The Duke", which aired last week-




I'll put up some assorted Season 1 monster drawings in a couple days-

Also- just F-y'alls-I, I just updated the post previous to this one to include the complete "The Front Door" comic (it was just an excerpt before).

The Front Door (complete)

Issue 8 of my friend Brandon Graham's comic "King City" hit the stands a couple months ago, with a five page bonus story by me in there too. I think it's safe to put the whole thing up here now:






Also recommended for the comics nerds out there: Brandon's livejournal, where he puts up preview pages of his and his friends' new stuff and waxes nostalgic about obscure eurocomics raunch and weird manga from his youth.

Drink 'N Draw

A few portraits of my coworkers from the Drink 'N Draw night that Pen Ward organizes once a month at The Roost in LA.

Here's Ako, my new storyboarding partner:

Kat Morris, who boards on Regular Show:

And Pen himself, creator of Adventure Time, with a post-it on his chest:

Also, speaking of Adventure Time, the series premiere is April 5th, BUT, there's gonna be two preview segments- one on Thursday March 11th at 8:30 on Cartoon Network, and I think one the following Thursday. Y'all should try to watch the previews to get your first impression, cause they're stronger episodes.

Ice Creatures

Here's a few of my designs from the in-progress Adventure Time episode "What is Life?", along with my original concept sketch for the ice bull.
I think the color on these is a combination of Catherine Simmonds and Nick Jennings.