Here's a few of the SIMON BAR SINISTER pieces that I did for the current UNDERDOG style guide. Feel free to e-mail me any questions or comments about my blog at powsley@flash.net. My wife, Leslie and I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! -- Patrick Owsley
Season's Greetings everyone!! From Leslie and Patrick Owsley!Here's a SANTA that's brush, pen & ink with colored pencils on a textured blue paper.
Here's a piece I did a few years ago for the book, RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER: THE MAKING OF THE RANKIN/BASS HOLIDAY CLASSIC by Rick Goldschmidt. It's CHARLIE-IN-THE-BOX from the Island of Misfit Toys. The book is a must-have for any fan of RANKIN/BASS Productions. Rick's a good friend and has always helped promote my cartoon art through his various projects. You can order a copy of the book directly from Rick through his website http://www.rankinbass.com/. Be sure to check out Rick's Rankin/Bass blog at http://www.enchantedworldofrankinbass.blogspot.com/.
JOE BARBERA passed away today from natural causes. He was 95. THANKS for all of the great cartoon fun, Mr. Barbera! The above photo is from the front page of THE HANNA-BARBERA EXPOSURE SHEET, the Hanna-Barbera studio's newsletter. The July 1967 newsletter was announcing the studio's 10th anniversary. I think we all feel a little like the above FRED FLINTSTONE does. Check my December 7 posting "REAL TV CARTOON PRODUCERS!" about BILL HANNA and JOE BARBERA. Be sure to click on the images to enlarge.
The other day, I saw this posting about the upcoming live-action UNDERDOG movie here, http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30961. I'll let you make up your own mind about this treatment of a sensational 1960s TV cartoon hero, but it looks awful to me! Aside from being live-action, the dog doesn't even look like UNDERDOG. I'm posting a piece of SHOESHINE BOY and UNDERDOG that I did for the current UNDERDOG style guide. I think a lot of UNDERDOG fans will agree with me when I say that THIS is how UNDERDOG should appear on the big screen. Wouldn't it be great to see an animated movie that looks (and sounds) like the classic 1960s UNDERDOG TV show?
Here's a few of my recent cartoon illustrations of THE THREE STOOGES. It's MOE HOWARD, LARRY FINE and CURLY JOE DeRITA...the 1960s TV and MOVIE trio. Most people say that their favorite "third Stooge" is CURLY HOWARD. I love the comedy of CURLY HOWARD and he is certainly the definitive "third Stooge", but I also have an admiration for the other "third Stooges"...SHEMP HOWARD, JOE BESSER and JOE DeRITA. I've always enjoyed the TV cartoon THREE STOOGES and have illustrated them for DVD covers. The illustration of the STOOGES flying away with a balloon, is the front cover of a recent East West DVD release...THE NEW THREE STOOGES is also an East West release. THE THREE STOOGES heads with the gold stars and colorful logo is a piece that I did for fun.
Here's a couple of cartoon DVD covers that I recently did for East West DVD of Brooklyn, NY and North Hollywood, CA. The art is for cartoon collections that are in public domain. It's DODO, THE KID FROM OUTER SPACE and HECKLE & JECKLE! The elephant with Heckle & Jeckle is SILLY SIDNEY. Steve Banes is the guy at East West who assigns me these fun jobs. Thanks, Steve! Click on each image to enlarge!
Along with their classic cartoon title card, I'm posting a couple pieces of PIXIE & DIXIE and MR. JINKS character art. I inked both pieces at Warner Bros. Consumer Products. The art was used for HANNA-BARBERA licensing. I gave the characters color for this posting, as the characters were originally created as black and white line art. I inked PIXIE & DIXIE and MR. JINKS with a Winsor Newton Series 7 #3 brush over pencil art by the talented Mark Christiansen. As with all of the images on my blog, just click on each image for a larger view!
Here's HUCKLEBERRY HOUND looking a bit red...just as he did in some of his early merchandise produced in the late 1950s. I love the red version of HUCKLEBERRY HOUND! This image of HUCK is actually a piece produced for HUCKLEBERRY HOUND licensing. I inked the art while at Warner Bros. Consumer Products a few years back. I also did the coloring. Mark Christiansen did the pencil art. Also...here's a classic HUCKLEBERRY HOUND cartoon title card!
Yes, it's BILL HANNA and JOE BARBERA! These guys were pretty much responsible for saving animation in the late 1950s. At that time, all of the major motion picture studio's cartoon departments were closing down. Hanna and Barbera, who were at MGM, decided to open their own cartoon studio to produce cartoons for TV. They went on to produce some of the all-time great TV cartoon entertainment ever to be done and to be a tremendous inspiration to all of us cartoon illustrators and animators! The above image is a piece I did based on caricatures by legendary Hanna-Barbera Production Designer, Iwao Takamoto. The faces are inked with a brush while the classic Hanna-Barbera logo is hand-lettered. THANKS, HANNA and BARBERA!!
SID RAYMOND, who was the voice of BABY HUEY and KATNIP in the Famous Studios cartoons of the 1950s, has passed away. He was 97.
December is upon us and the holidays are coming soon! Leslie and I were out today and got started on our holiday shopping. Last week, we put up our tree and decorated our place with Christmas and Hanukkah decorations. Leslie and I both really enjoy this time of year! I'm posting a piece that I inked a few years ago at Warner Bros. Consumer Products. It's YOGI BEAR, BOO BOO, CINDY BEAR and RANGER SMITH signing Christmas carols. I used a Winsor & Newton Series 7 #3 brush with Ultradraw black india ink over pencil art by Mike Fontanelli.
My good friend, Rick Goldschmidt, who is the official Rankin/Bass biographer and historian, tells me that there is a new UNDERDOG ornament now available! Dark Horse Comics and Classic Media have teamed up once again to deliver another outstanding UNDERDOG collectible. Here's a photo of the UNDERDOG ornament and a piece of UNDERDOG character art that I did last year for Classic Media's UNDERDOG style guide. It appears that the pose used for the ornament was based on my art of UNDERDOG crashing through the wall. The ornament looks great! It's just as we see UNDERDOG on TV! You can order the UNDERDOG ornament from Kevin Kreiss of Time and Space Toys at http://timespacetoys.stores.yahoo.net/prunor.html. Order yours today! Also be sure to check Rick Goldschmidt's Rankin/Bass blog at http://www.enchantedworldofrankinbass.blogspot.com/.
It's been a little longer than I like between postings, but I've been busy with work and feeling a bit under the weather. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday! Here's a couple of my favorite Hanna-Barbera TV Friends...SECRET SQUIRREL and ATOM ANT! I did these two pieces as black and white art, then decided to give them some color. The contrast of the solid black areas with the cartoon colors looks great together! I hope you enjoy seeing these!
I thought that I'd post a couple of more UNDERDOG pieces that I did for Classic Media, which are included in the classic UNDERDOG style guide. The above image of UNDERDOG with his energy pill ring reminds me of the great UNDERDOG balloon which was in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in the mid-60s. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
This posting certainly falls under the "& More!" of my blog name! My beautiful fiancee Leslie and I were married this past Saturday night, November 18, 2006! Our wedding ceremony and reception took place at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City, CA. Leslie was the most beautiful bride that I've ever seen! About 180 family members and friends joined us to celebrate our wonderful occasion. Leslie's sister, Ronnie Retin, was Matron of Honor and my brother, Stephen Owsley, was my Best Man. Leslie is the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Helman of Woodland Hills, CA. My parents are Mr. & Mrs. Jim Owsley of Las Vegas, NV. Leslie and I live in Studio City, CA. I love you, Baby! -- Patrick
I just picked up the new LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION Vol. 4 DVD set. The set was released this past Tuesday, November 14 and it is sensational! As with all of the other previous sets released by Warner Bros., Volume 4 features a terrific collection of classic LOONEY TUNES cartoons and special features! Go out and pick it up today! Here's a few pieces of LOONEY TUNES character art that I worked on while I was working on-staff at Warner Bros. Consumer Products as a Character Artist/Inker. I inked all of the art that you see here. I used (and still do use) Winsor & Newton Series 7 #2 and #3 sable brushes with Ultradraw Black India ink. I'm not sure who pencilled the YOSEMITE SAM and SPEEDY GONZALEZ, but I do know that the talented Mike Fontanelli (REN & STIMPY and SPUMCO Big-Shot Hollywood Cartoonist!) pencilled the BUGS BUNNY & GOSSAMER and the DAFFY DUCK & PORKY PIG art. I had the great pleasure of working with a VERY talented group of artists at Warner Bros.!...Frank Espinosa, Jerome Moore, Chika Mori, Miran Kim, David Williams, San Wei Chan, Mike Fontanelli, Mark Christiansen, David Byrd and others! I hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I enjoyed inking this wonderful cartoon art! Just click on each image for a larger view. I have tons of character art (Hanna-Barbera, Looney Tunes, etc.) that I inked for Warner Bros. Consumer Products. I will be posting much of that art in the near future. Keep checking back often!
Here's a few more of our classic cartoon TV friends. Just as we see them on TV! JANE JETSON, ROCKY the FLYING SQUIRREL and MULTI-MAN from THE IMPOSSIBLES. I was happy with the way these pieces turned out. JANE JETSON was done with colored pencils on a black matte board. ROCKY the FLYING SQUIRREL is brush & ink with colored pencils on violet textured paper and MULTI-MAN is brush & ink with colored pencils on a canary yellow textured paper. These were fun to do and I hope you enjoy seeing them!
Here are a couple of LOONEY TUNES licensing character art pieces that I inked for Warner Bros. Consumer Products. The pencil art for both pieces was done by the very talented Mike Fontanelli. I used a Winsor & Newton Series 7 #3 brush with Ultradraw black india ink. I did the inkings on duralene that was placed over photocopies of Mike's drawings. These pieces were done for the Looney Tunes style guide, THE JOKE'S ON YOU! I wanted to show you the pencil art next to the finished inked art so you can see the "before and after" process. Remember to click on each image for a larger view. I've got a lot of licensing character art inkings that I am going to be posting on my blog in the near future. You're going to see HANNA-BARBERA, RANKIN/BASS and more LOONEY TUNES licensing character art inkings. I enjoy hearing your thoughts and comments about my blog! You can e-mail me at powsley@flash.net . Thanks!
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