Calling all Flash Artists! FableVision wants you!

(Warning!! shameless corporate plug ahead!)

All aspiring Flash artists...the company I work for, FableVision, is looking to bring on a handful of talented illustrators, animators, and designers who have a good handle on Flash. Here's the standard PR snippet:

FableVision is a on a 200-year mission to bring the world to a better place through media, storytelling and technology. With new headquarters at The Boston Children’s Museum in Boston... FableVision’s partners and clients include PBS, Sesame Workshop, Scholastic, Nickelodeon/Noggin, the Jim Henson Company, KCET, Carnegie Hall, National Academy of Sciences, WGBH, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Pearson Education, the Research Institute for Learning & Development, and Boston University.

We're looking for people to help us on a number of educational online games and websites. It's an amazingly fun, inspiring, and creative home for any artist. One of the websites we developed that I'm particularly proud of is iWASwondering.org, which we created for the National Academy of Sciences to help get young girls interested in science. I was the lead designer, and my artwork is sprinkled through the site in games and comics. If you're curious, leave a comment, or shoot an email to me at bobf@fablevision.com.

UPDATE: As of May '07, we're still looking for Flash artists local to the Boston area.

(we now return to our normally scheduled doodles and ramblings)

Fight Lava with Ice!

So, here is the colored version of my illustration for Roger Omar's Elmonstruodecoloresnotieneboca, a book of childrens' dreams. I am just one of about 80 artists from several other countries he selected for the project (we were all chosen to illustrate a dream). The other contributing artists can be viewed here. A special shout out to Onsmith Jeremi who will be also featured in the book.

The dream I selected was experienced by a Mexican boy named José:

I was in a planet with a lot of volcanos, and it was too hot.
I was walking when a big lava-monster jumped out from a volcano.
I threw laser-rays from one hand, and ice from the other hand.
The monster threw gigantic lava balls. I could not beat him until I threw ice to him. Weakened, the monster went inside the volcano and did not came back.

I can only hope that my lava monster will live up to José's expectations. The book is to be published sometime this year, and evidently Roger is planning an exhibition in Spain.

UPDATE: Fellow artists Loren Lee and James Hindle contributed illustrations as well!

Lava Monster

I'm doing an illustration for the "Book of Dreams" project, and I just inked my drawing. I'll write more about the details of the over-arching book and project when I post the final color version, but a guy named Roger Omar has collected the dreams of kids from Mexico, Spain, and Brazil, and he asked me (and about 80 other artists from around the world) to illustrate one of them. This boy dreamed he was battling a lava monster. I'm guilty of a lot of line here (no black fills), but that's because I plan on breathing contrast into it with color.

Suit yourself

I just finished a series of 7 illustrations for Improper Bostonian.
Above is the full-pager that introduces the article—a man's guide to getting things done (tips on how to get a table at a popular restaurant, how to score good tickets, etc). I've also posted a handful of the spots I did below. Seeing that the article is supposed to be a manual of sorts, I decided to go faux-duotone and limit myself to working in red and blue. I'm really pleased with how this "suit" illustration came out. I usually color in every inch of my canvas, but I decided to let the line live on its own here, to also help the guy in the suit punch the most. On another note, these are completely digital—all drawn entirely in Flash, because I needed to get them completed over three nights, and it's faster than inking by hand. Not to mention I prefer "undo" to white-out.

Riddle me this...

What would you call a monocle for a creature with one eye?
Hmmm...

Favorite Albums of 2006

To mix things up at the end of the year, I've decided to post some of my favorite albums of 2006. Ranking music is always weird (and often pretentious), but this is my honest impression of the albums that wowed me the most this year.

Top Ten Picks:

1. Belle and Sebastian -- The Life Pursuit
2. Yo La Tengo -- I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
3. TV On The Radio -- Return to Cookie Mountain
4. Danielson -- Ships
5. Ghostface Killah -- Fishscale
6. Peter Bjorn and John -- Writer's Block
7. The Decemberists -- The Crane Wife
8. Figurines -- Skeleton
9. Neko Case -- Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
10. Tapes n' Tapes -- The Loon

Honorable mentions
(if ten would allow more)

I'm From Barcelona -- Let Me Introduce Myself
The Roots -- Game Theory
Outkast -- Idlewild
Jenny Lewis -- Rabbit Fur Coat
Love Is All -- Nine Times That Same Song
Camera Obscura -- Let's Get Out of This Country
Sonic Youth -- Rather Ripped

Feel free to leave your personal list of favorites in the comments section. I'd be interested to know what other folks are listening to.

Scary Christmas!

I snagged this gem of an ornament at a swap party.
Happy Holidays, everyone!

Flush or beware...

I doodled this guy in the laundromat. My sketchbook was propped on a vibrating washing machine, which was causing my line to wobble ever so slightly. And thus, this mischievous creature sprung forth. It sort of reminds me of one of those Scrubbing Bubbles if they formed an evil plot to take over the world. Starting with your toilet bowl, of course.

Cartoonists on Hergé and making comics

All Tintin and comics enthusiasts should run on over to an online supplement to P.O.V.'s documentary Tintin and I: On Cartooning. I watched the documentary on PBS over the summer, and while I was less than impressed with some bizarre treatments of Tintin art in the film, the story of Hergé's life and struggles was very interesting. I was even more surprised when I just happened upon the great set of artist interviews PBS has conviently assembled on their Special Features page for the film. The group of six includes Jessica Abel, Daniel Clowes, Phoebe Gloeckner, Jason Lutes, Seth, and Chris Ware. Lots to read, as the interviews are fairly in depth. They speak about the influence Hergé had on them and issues concerning comics as an artform.

Artwork © Hergé/Moulinsart.

Likes long stalks...

I just finished a set of spot illustrations for Vancouver Magazine. This one is about the true story of a criminal wanted for double murder who posted a profile on an internet dating site and was recognized by someone after he appeared on America's Most Wanted. Another loveable stupid criminal.