"bit and run" 5

While most of my "bit and run" series focuses on Mario & Co., the occasional one will feature other Nintendo franchises. Today it's Zelda. And all the weapons that could possibly imply.

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• bit and run 1
• bit and run 2
• bit and run 3
• bit and run 4
  
• What is "bit and run" ? Check out my debut post here.
• download my set of 10 classic Nintendo inspired desktops!
  

Help the Hodges charity auction!

I was honored to be asked to donate to this incredible auction -- just look at the artists involved!

Chad Frye, the most well connected person I know, has gathered the greatest artists in the fields of illustration, animation, and cartooning to donate works to Help the Hodges.

The list of names is simply staggering -- everyone from Glen Keane to Peter de Sève to Drew Struzan, it's everyone awesome you've ever heard of. I hope you'll take a minute to look.

All proceeds go to the Hodge family. From the site,

On August 22, 2009 Matthew Hodge, the 17-year-old son of former Disney story artist and Big Idea productions director Tim Hodge, was in a serious auto accident. A train struck his car at 50mph as he was crossing the tracks. While Matt suffered neither broken bones nor any internal organ damage, he did receive severe head trauma causing him to remain in a state of coma today. Matt is a high school senior, a straight A student, and a drummer in his state championship marching band.

Being self-employed, the Hodge family has short term medical insurance that will not fully cover all of their bills. Additionally, with the care they are giving Matt, full-time work is not possible for Tim right now. This loving family is relying on their faith and the love of family and friends for their survival. This is a tragic accident that will forever affect their lives as the road to recovery for Matt may be a long one.

In an effort to help the Hodge family, the National Cartoonists Society Foundation is getting involved by hosting a fund-raising auction to be held on eBay. The NCSF is a fully licensed 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that not only helps fund educational endeavors for cartooning, but is there to help cartoonists in dire circumstances like the Hodges.

Here is my piece, already up for auction. It ends in four days so if you want it, you better move!

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Chad is updating the eBay auction every Thursday, as I understand it, so there's more and more going up each week.

Click here to see the entire auction.

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Be sure to check the Help the Hodges site to see what coming up for auction next!

"bit and run" 4

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• bit and run 1
• bit and run 2
• bit and run 3
  
• What is "bit and run" ? Check out my debut post here.
• download my set of 10 classic Nintendo inspired desktops!
  

DRAWING GIVE-AWAY : FINAL WINNERS!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! ...

The exciting conclusion to the ...
Grand! Ultimate! DRAWING GIVE-AWAY!

_________________________

First prize goes to ...

Stephen Davis!

Second prize goes to ...

C.!

And last but certainly not least,
third prize goes to ...

Joseph & Rebekah!

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Winners, please email me your mailing addresses as soon as you are able. You can find my email on my profile.

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I want to take a moment and thank everyone who commented! I'd be lying if I didn't say I was pretty surprised at just how many comments about science we all posted over the last week.

I'm really happy with the way this has worked, I hope it's been fun for you all too.

I look forward to more Grand! Ultimate! DRAWING GIVE-AWAYS of the FUTURE!


P. S. Thanks for putting up with all the science. I honestly don't know where that came from. We all learned a lot about photosynthesis, didn't we?

DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 5/5 GRAND! ULTIMATE!

The winner of DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 4 is ...

nicholas!

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Behold! The Grand! Ultimate!

Here is DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 5,
in 1st 2nd and 3rd prizes! :

FIRST PRIZE!

An original gnome watercolor, the very LAST available Princesses, Monsters, and things that fly (Sketchbook 2009), and ticket : mini-prints edition

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SECOND PRIZE!

Two prints! My two favorite ones, Siegfried and Brünnhilde and The Fairy Queen.

__________________________

THIRD PRIZE!

One set of ticket : mini-prints edition

__________________________

All you need to do to for a chance to win is leave a comment.

For fun, you can tell me your favorite animal. Mine is probably my cat and lab partner, James.

Remember! -- You must comment on this post for a chance to win this drawing.

I'll randomly select three winners and announce them tomorrow morning!

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Comments for this drawing close at 11:59 PM EST

If you're seeing this on Facebook, you'll need to visit my original post to comment. I'll only be counting the comments from my blog.

*Your choice of animal will not affect anything, winning or losing. You don't even have to do it. It's just for science.

Winner chosen by Random.org

DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 4/5

The winner of DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 3 is ...

davidpots!

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In any case -- on to the give-away! Here is DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 4 :


This one is pretty good! -- it's an original drawing and print from my Grimm and Other Folk Tales show, from the story Ivan and the Fire Bird.

If you like, so can see the extensively documented making of this piece, as well as an explanation of my personal history with the idea for it, here.

All you need to do to for a chance to win is leave a comment.

For fun, you can tell me your favorite ocean. Mine is the Atlantic.

Remember! -- You must comment on this post for a chance to win this drawing.

I'll randomly select a winner and announce the winner tomorrow morning with Friday's drawing.

* * *

Comments for this drawing close at 11:59 PM EST

If you're seeing this on Facebook, you'll need to visit my original post to comment. I'll only be counting the comments from my blog.

*Your choice of ocean will not affect anything, winning or losing. You don't even have to do it. It's just for science. And definitely not for photosynthesis.

Winner chosen by Random.org

DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 3/5

The winner of DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 2 is ...

Mel!

Hooray! Email me your mailing address and I'll get you your drawing (and print.)

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Behold! here is DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 3 :


A girl on a motor bike, thing.

All you need to do to win this drawing is leave a comment.

For fun, you can tell me your favorite planet. I always liked the sound of Neptune. Or Tatooine.

Remember! -- You must comment on this post for a chance to win this drawing.

I'll randomly select a winner and announce the winner tomorrow morning with Thursday's drawing.

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Comments for this drawing will close at 11:59 PM EST

If you're seeing this on Facebook, you'll need to visit my original post to comment. I'll only be counting the comments from my blog.

*Your choice of planet will not affect anything, winning or losing. You don't even have to do it. It's just for science.

Winner chosen by Random.org

DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 2/5

The winner of DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 1 is ...

Keith Zoo!

Oh boy! Just email me your mailing address and I'll get you your drawing.

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And now, Behold! here is DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 2 :


An original page from my story Walters, from Flight 6. Included with it is a print of the final, printed page from the story.

All you need to do to win this drawing (and print) is leave a comment.

For fun, you can tell me your favorite kind of geometries (or shape) in your comment. Mine is a triangle.

Remember! -- You must comment on this post for a chance to win this drawing.

I'll randomly select a winner and announce the winner tomorrow morning with Wednesday's drawing.

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Comments for this drawing will close at 11:59 PM EST

If you're seeing this on Facebook, you'll need to visit my original post to comment. I'll only be counting the comments from my blog.

*Your choice of geometry will not affect anything, winning or losing. You don't even have to do it. It's just for science. And geometry.

Winner chosen by Random.org

DRAWING GIVE-AWAY 1/5

The first day of my drawing give-away! What better way to start things off than with a drawing of Boba Fett!


All you need to do to win this drawing is leave a comment.

For fun, you can tell me your favorite element in your comment. My is Ba, Barium.

Remember! -- You must comment on this post to win this drawing.

I'll randomly select a winner and announce the winner tomorrow morning with Tuesday's drawing.

* * *

Comments for this drawing will close at 11:59 PM EST

Again, if you're seeing this on Facebook, you'll need to visit my original post to comment. I'll only be counting the comments from my blog.

*Your choice of element will not affect anything, winning or losing. You don't even have to do it. It's just for science.

DRAWING GIVE-AWAY!

That's right -- an entire *week of drawing give-aways! Spread the word!

Check back every day for one new drawing that I'll give away -- all it takes to enter is a comment. Comments close at 11:59 PM EST of that day. I'll randomly choose one winner to announce the next morning when I post the next drawing.

I'm glad we've had this talk. It's something I meant to do for a while and now is the time to do it.

See you tomorrow morning for the first drawing!


*And by week I mean Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

"bit and run" 3

Poor, poor Mario 2. Well, as they say, "Always a Mushroom Retainer, never a Princess." Yet, even for all of it's oddities, Mario 2 manages a certain charm over me. I still enjoy the game quite a bit.

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• bit and run 1
• bit and run 2
  
• What is "bit and run" ? Check out my debut post here.
• download my set of 10 classic Nintendo inspired desktops!
  

Inar

Have I ever posted this drawing?


I don't know that I have, though it was featured in my 2009 sketchbook, Princesses, Monsters, and things that fly :

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I've spent the last day or so going through my office, cleaning and organizing.

As anyone who visited me, or my co-workers, can attest that over the course of this most recent animation job nearly everything fell into disrepair.

I've found a lot of drawings and things that I think would make for giveaways so I'll be putting something like that together next week.

So, until then -- stay frosty.

"Oliphaunt"

I'm very happy to show my first published Tolkien illustration.

It was done for Highlights, the most recognized and respected kids' magazine in the galaxy.

January 2010 issue.

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And here's the actual piece.

I'm honored to be able to join the ranks of Tolkien illustrators, even in this very small way, and for such a wonderful client as Highlights.

"bit and run" 2

We can all agree on two things; Mario 2 is awesome, and Mario 2 is the weirdest game. But to the inhabitants of Subcon the other Marios must surely be the weird ones.

I like to imagine the sort of conversations they must have had around the water-cooler.


Especially when Mario 3 rolled around.

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• bit and run 1
• What is "bit and run" ? Check out my debut post here.
• download my set of 10 classic Nintendo desktops!
  

Flight 7

I'm moving forward on production of my story for Flight 7. I've had the story written for quite a while and last night I finished my thumbnails. I did them half size this time, rather than as you might remember with Walters I just scribbled out thumbnails practically the size of real thumb nails.

The reason for the larger thumbnails this time around is that this story Onere and Piccola has a lot of corresponding text and I need to plan it accordingly. And it makes it easier to show the story to people and let it explain itself. This is a first for me, typically all of my published stories have been wordless and you more or less followed the story in pictures.

I'm very pleased with the way this one has developed, I feel like the story is more "there" than in my previous works, and I'm looking forward to seeing it completed.

Speaking of Walters? --

You can see the pretty extensive behind the scenes production of my story for Flight 6, Walters, here. I documented nearly every aspect of making the piece,

The True Story of Larry Walters, or
How I came to make a 40 page graphic novel

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Walters, writing the story

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Walters, writing the story visually

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Walters, the first 10 pages

so very close

That's right, we are so very close to wrapping up production on what has been the largest animation project we've done yet. I'm really looking forward to posting about it because I've got an enormous amount of new work to show because of it. Hopefully in the next week or so.

Meanwhile, here's some more character development art I did early on in the project. Way back in October 2009. Man, that sounds like ages ago.

gifts

I don't usually give Christmas presents to my friends. I'm never really consistent with who I give presents to even when I do. There's no rhyme or reason why I ever give someone a present and ultimately, my guidelines for gift-giving are inconsistent.

Be that as it may,

Behold, gift 1 :


This one went to Richard, a friend I met this past summer at SDCC. A fellow Flight contributor and T.R. fan. Bully!

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Behold, gift 2 :

And this gift basket went to Philip Hatter, the genius who crafted this incredible puppet for me.

There were a few other gifts that made it to other people but I don't have pictures of them. I did draw a Pikachu for my little cousin but I didn't get a picture of it.

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I apologize for missing my posts last week, a couple notable things happened right on January first.

For one, I drew Terrible Yellow Eyes to a close. It was a wild run and I can't thank you enough for supporting it.

Secondly, I began my next personal project, "bit and run"

So, by way of apology for missing so many days of posts the last week we'll get a new post everyday instead of the regular M/W/F posts.

"bit and run"

So, what happens to you if you're me and you're embroiled in the midst of an enormous three month long project (with 2 or 3 somewhat smaller [but nearly as time consuming] projects) oscillating around your head? 15 - 17 hours days, 7 days a week, give or take?

Here's what happens --

Your life fragments into two distinct pieces -- work and decompression/Nintendo

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For the last three months on this massive animation project (We're nearly, nearly done and I can't wait to be able to talk about it here, it's for a pretty big company that I'm sure you've heard of) I'd work like mad all day and crash in the early hours of the morning. But not before decompressing with a little Mario. Mario 2 and Mario 3, mostly.

I had to have some kind of in between time before sleep because if I just went to bed my brains would be buzzing with all that I needed to do and I couldn't sleep. So, Mario.

The result of this mix; delirious work schedule, little sleep, and Nintendo resulted in some of the silliest ideas I've ever had.

When I found tiny chunks of time in between the cracks of this enormous project I jotted those ideas down. I quickly amassed several pages of quickly scrawled jokes and notes of Nintendo related humor. Pretty specific, nerd humor. Like, if you haven't played level 4 of Mario 2 you're not likely to know what the crap is going on.

So, some of my energies I channeled into a series of Nintendo themed desktops that I released through GoNintendo, my favorite Nintendo blog. Kevin Cassidy, the guy behind it, is a stand-up fellow, funny, and very kind.

Now, what to do with the other ideas? They became my next personal project --


"bit and run" is a series of Nintendo themed comics. It is comprised of two volumes, each ending in an animated short; a grand total of 26 comics, 2 shorts -- 6 months worth of Friday posts. Volume 1 runs from January 1 - March 26.

Once again I've partnered with GoNintendo to release my work.

With out further ado, here's the first comic :


And if you're interested, here's the initial release day post over on GoNintendo.

These are quick, fun, and easy for me to do. I get a lot of enjoyment out of them and I hope you might too.

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"bit and run" I think of as a "soft" project, it's one that's running in the background and pops up on Fridays. I'm still moving forward on my Alice project and Flight 7 story.