Celebrating a Birthday Load

I was at Bahooka Lounge in the city of Rosemead this weekend celebrating a birthday of my friend John Berado a.k.a the Load. I've put together a video to commemorate the event.

Interview with Girls Drawing Girls Part 3: Daisy Church

My interview with artist and member Daisy Church. She'll be at the San Diego Comic Con this week with her fellow colleagues selling their artworks and their brand of pin-up calendars. Stop by booth #5428 and check out their T&A (Talent and Ambition)!

Eleganza Galore

I can now say I know more than one person that's into Eleganza. I'm not talking about people that went into their parents' attic to dig out that old Disco outfit for Halloween that one time. Nope I'm talking about going into one thrift store to the next tirelessly searching for that special vintage of clothing or item, collecting ads from the 70's for the gaudiest and most outrageous outfit, and years upon years of researching about a period of entertainment that showcased sleaze exploitation in all of it's colorful flamboyancy. At least that is to my understanding of a person that is into Eleganza. And those two people I know are John Berado and Anna Biller.


John's been a friend of mine for 10 years. And to know him is to know his passions. Here's a video of one those passions he was in years ago. He's the guy sitting on the right being interviewed.





Anna Biller was someone John and I only knew through her film "Viva," a spot-on genre pic of 70's exploitation films. Written, directed, and starred in this 35mm Eleganza masterpiece Anna stood out amongst a sea of independent film makers. Here's a trailer of it:



A few days ago, I get a call from John asking if I'm interested in meeting Anna Biller in person. He had already met with Anna weeks ago from a photoshoot/interview conducted by Chris Gore. And as timing would have it there would be a "Viva" signing at Rocket Video on La Brea. John didn't need to ask me twice.

John even went to the trouble of producing a "Simpsonized" art piece for Anna to sign as a "Homerage" to Viva. What can I say? He's a passionate load.

And furthermore I got to meet her and some of her cast members!

And that was not all. After the signing Anna asked if John and I would like to have dinner with them at Canter's Deli. And what I thought to be a brief nice-to-meet-you video signing turned out to be a whole evening of getting to know her and how she made the film. This former Cal Arts film student has meticulously involved herself in nearly every aspect of the movie from art design to final editing. You got to give props for that kind of dedication.

So the evening turned out great and I was glad to come out to meet Anna Biller. That is until my portion of the check showed up...

Interview with Girls Drawing Girls Part 2: Ashley Bamburg

My interview of artist and member, Ashley Bamburg.

Interview with Girls Drawing Girls Part 1

About 4 months ago I conducted an interview with a group of women artists called Girls Drawing Girls. While chatting with them I've come to realize that their backgrounds were widely diversed ranging from the animation industry, to comic books, to toy design, and much more. What connects them is a common interest in portraying the pin-up genre from a female perspective. Although women artists from Joyce Ballantine all the way to Olivia de Berardinis have contributed to this unique point of view, Girls Drawing Girls has made it into an organized movement that has been going stronger and stronger for the last 3 years. Check out their site:

http://www.girlsdrawingirls.com/

My first video interview post is with Melody Severns, artist and co-founder of Girls Drawing Girls. Check it out.



They'll be more postings of my interviews with other GDG members so stay tuned!

Old Sketches...

I was just cleaning out my animation desk at home when I found some drawings I did awhile back. This one above was a sketch based on an animated short that I co-created some years back. The short aired on Nicktoons last December and can now be found on Youtube:




As for this sketch here, it's based on an idea that floated around for awhile but never got really developed which is about a superhero who draws his powers from wireless signals around him. Below is him as a regular dude(left) and his buddy(right) that shares his secret.


I'm going to be updating this blog with a new banner and new art, so stay tune!