A lot has happened since July, the biggest being......

X-RAYKID,inc ! It's a 2d/3d concept, multimedia studio. I'm having a blast working with so many talented fools. Right now we're up to our necks in our Google project, (which will kick much booty)but we also have a bunch of other secret projects up our sleeves for the near future.
We hope you guys will really enjoy the products we come out with. Our focus as a company is to concentrate on high quality work that will resonate with everyone.

Finished work on the TBD Marvel/Lionsgate DTV. The character line-up is really a fan's dream. Some of the characters are my favorite in the Marvel Universe. I'll post stuff after it's officially announced bub.

The Batman season 4 just came out last Tuesday, so go out and get it! By far the best Batman season of all of 'em. I watched the dvd and remembered how much I enjoyed making the shows and the whole experience. There's a featurette in the bonus section of the dvd which includes a Alan Burnett, Mike Jelenic, Mike Goguen and myself talking about the focus of season 4.

The final issue of Iron and the Maiden has come out. Joe Maduriera and I did the designs on it with Jason Rubin Exec producing and Francis Manapul with the sweet pencils! It's a great story go pick it up!

Really quick, this has been a crazy month for videogames. Crysis for the pc is unbelievable. I will have a hard time with any linear/on rails fps from here on out. I end up forgetting I'm playing a videogame and feel like I'm on an actual huge isalnd. I can't tell you how many times I've snuck up behind 2 soldiers, grabbed one silently and pulled him back into the jungle without his partner knowing. So much fun.....best fps I've ever played, even better than Half-Life 2.

As for Consoles, Super Mario Galaxy is the best Mario game hands down. It beat out Super Mario 64 as my favorite. It's got all the spot-on gameplay mechanics that's the bread and butter of the Mario franchise, plus a ton of new ways to play. This game brings me back to the sense of wonder I would have as a kid when I was runnin around in a forest at camp or exploring somewhere I'd never been before. Amazing game, 15/10 score.

I'll update all you guys when we announce some of the new stuff X-Ray Kid is up too!

The official "Iron and the Maiden" site is up! Please visit it at www.ironandthemaiden.com . It's going to be sweeet. It's great seeing Jason's unique vision come together.His attention to detail is astounding. I can't tell you how easy it is to design for a guy that knows EXACTLY what he wants. These are his characters and he knows them inside and out. Make sure all you guys go out and get the comics when they come out, you'll be glad you did!

I shared the designing load with Joe Madureira and it turned out great. You can see what we did by clicking on the characters tab!

I'll be at San Diego Con this year, hope to see you all there! I won't be at a booth, but I'll be there supporting my buddy Jose Lopez and his Mariachi Samurai!

I just wanted to update everyone with what's been going on recently! I've been at Google for a year now and it has been the most exciting job I've had to date. I'd love to tell everyone what I've been doing there, but I can't talk about it yet. What I can say is that I'm proud of what we're doing and I think it'll kick much butt. It's been the learning experience of a lifetime.

I've also just finished doing character designs for a new Marvel DVD which when announced will be huge. It features two of my favorite Marvel heroes and favorite baddies as well. This job was a geeks dream for me.

I'll post pictures when things are announced about either project.

Here's a Spidey I drew for a friend of mine. I had a blast drawing it, made me want to do a Spidey vs Electro piece. I've always loved that electric star Electro had on his face, one of the best designs ever. Spidey has the one of the best rogues galleries, but the only problem is they almost all wear green, Goblin, Vulture, Sandman, Mysterio, Lizard, Doc Ock...weird.

I loved workin on Iron and the Maiden, brainchild of Jason Rubin (creator of Crash Bandicoot). Joe Maduriera and I did the concepts to populate the universe of Iron and the Maiden, as well as work on this cover together. Joe designed Iron and Maiden and I drew the various villains and allies that they would run into. I was interested to see how our styles would mix and I think it turned out great.

Jason knew what he wanted as he explained his vision, and that really helped as I started drawing the characters. It was a lot of fun working with him and it shows in the end product!

One day I just wanted to draw my version of Link from the Nintendo Zelda series, so I did. It's based off of the Twilight Princess Link design, even though I feel the look of Windwaker is far superior. My buddy Aron Lusen painted this piece and really knocked my socks off.

I really enjoy taking established characters and taking them out for a spin. Hope you like it and I'll try to get more videogame drawings out. I'm dying to draw Rez from Psychonauts.

Think Big Picture

Think Big Picture

Think Big Picture

As a Producer, you need to think big picture, if you don't, you shouldn't be a Producer.

You need to see a birds-eye view of the episode, from story genesis, to design(characters, backgrounds and props),colors, storyboards, voice casting, retakes, ADR and editing. All of these elements make up a television program and must be done within the production time alotted(hopefully). Having a birds-eye view allows you to see every aspect of production in context. To make sure everything is consistant. If the script calls for an "albino moustache -twirler that speaks with a russian accent" to go up against your protagonist, you have to make sure that's hit when the character is designed and carried through to color and voice acting. Not an easy task when your working on 3-4 episodes at a time, all in different stages of production.

I have a story that illustrates my point very succinctly.

When I was Producing on the batman, I was in Ink and Paint with a director. He wanted to go all out on this effect shot, on the screen for maybe 15 seconds. He wanted it to be awesome, and I was on board. There would be many different colored models, multiple dx's and other layered effects. It ended up being a nightmare. I wasn't thinking big picture, I brought the camera in from the birds-eye view and tunnel visioned my focus onto one aspect of production.

I fell behind 3 episodes for a 15 second shot. You can't add time to one aspect of the show, without sacrificing it from somewhere else. While trying to catch up and get back on schedule, there was also a quality drop across the board to try to make up time. It was a painful lesson to learn, but it drove the point home to me.

Though I've given all of this a Producer-centric twist, everyone would benefit from thinking big picture. Here's some examples:

Writers: Figure out what the arc/theme of the season is. Keep the production limitations in mind for whatever medium you're writing for. In animation, write in locations that have already been visited to utilize reuse. This way you're not burdening other departments when it's their time.

Character Designers: Design characters with animation in mind. If you can't figure out how to draw the turnarounds, they sure aren't going to be able to animate it well overseas. Simplify the line work to essential lines only. Keep story in mind, diminish the "noise" in a shot, if it's about 2 characters having a moment, make sure the unimportant incidentals become part of the background, and aren't designed so strongly that they trump the stars or the point of the scene.

Storyboard Artists:A lot of times a board artist will go nuts on a scene and make it amazing. Sadly the scene wasn't intended to be a show stealer. It needed to fit into the beats of the show.

I understand that everyone wants to kick butt and do the sweetest job possible, but you have to do it in context to the big picture.