Month: July 2005

  • Sketchbook Update

    Unused art from ‘The Littlest Luchadora’.  Not sure of the artist.  Roman?  Katrien?  Somebody?

    Hopefully by now everyone has received their copies of the sketchbook – although it may take a little longer to reach our amigos in Mexico and Puerto Rico.

    We also want to thank all those who wrote to thank us and give feedback on the sketchbook.  This sort of thing is a labor of love for us, and we value all the comments we receive.  It also helps us determine if this is worth pursuing for a future volume.

    Special thanks to Katie, who sent me this awesome pic of the world’s stinkiest mascarita. 

    Thanks Katie – it has a place on my desk

    There was so much stuff we had to leave out because of format constraints.  There were so many great designs from Jorge (and other panels from Greg, Ricky and Gabe) that there needs to be an official full-color ‘Art Of ¡Mucha Lucha!’ book (you listenin’ WBA?).  And we haven’t even touched on the great background art from the show (examples of Roman Laney’s awesome BGs can be found here as well as his other work)

    In the meantime, here’s a great early unused design from Jorge, plus one of the pages that didn’t make the final cut

     

  • Once Upon A Time In Los Angeles…

    Last night, we scootered out to the Alex Theater for a special screening of Sergio Leone’s “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”.  What an awesome, inspired film.  Now I would love to see more Spaghetti Westerns on the big screen! Especially beautiful and moving was Alessandro “The Whistler” Alessandroni’s live performance (swf file) …Alessandro whistled on numerous Morricone soundtracks, and last night you could have heard a pin drop as his haunting tones filled the Alex theatre.

    Saturday: The Gene Autry Museum premieres  “Once Upon a Time In Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone” Exhibition.

    The Autry Museum is celebrating the Western films of Leone in great style; aside from the exhibition, there’s a screening of ‘Once Upon a Time In The West’ on Wednesday at the Arclight, and next Saturday ‘A Fistful Of  Dollars’ (with an encore performance by Alessandro Alessandroni) will be playing at the museum.  There’s also an outdoor screening in August of  ‘Dollars’ at Griffith Park, for which I’ll be grabbing my blanket and attending.

    Friday Saturday night: Launch of Tiki Magazine Issue #2! Look out for the article on Super Mahi Tiki!

  • WPR’s “ProWrestling” program is online! You can listen to it HERE. Interviewees include Mick Foley, Ruth Leibman (Director of the highly-recommended “Lipstick & Dynamite” movie) and yours truly. We talk about ¡Mucha Lucha! and our love of  lucha libre.

    Damn, we missed the grand opening of the Lucha de Leyendas art show in Tijuana last weekend. The above sneak peeks look fascinating.  Theme: “Mexican Luchadores vs. American Superheroes”!  (Here is the Fwak! contribution.)

    So Bad It’s Good is Tony Mora’s brand spanking new weblog collection of SoCal’s carniceria (butcher store) paintings. Go, Tony!


    These Lilliput Livins figures are SO cute. (via typefiend)

    Currently listening to: RadioDD‘s Selecta Abbuffet compilation. Album download here.(zip file) – This is great stuff! —> www.radiodd.com/shop

  • Tiger Mask!

    Wanna thank our friend and all around Lucha/all things ninja expert, Keith who provided us with a tape containing three episodes of this great animated series

    All the info you need about this series is here; what an awesome site.  Check out the episode guide, which contains one of the great episode titles of all time: ep 034: A Hot-Blooded Boy in Tiger’s Cave. 

    From an animation POV, this has the best wrestling sequences/poses I’ve seen.  The characters have great weight and physical presence, and the depiction of wrestling moves is awesome.

    “If I can just get my left arm under your chin, it is goodnight Tiger san…”

    Crunch!  Now that’s a suplex…

    The animation itself is a nice surprise.  A lot of sequences are animated ‘straight ahead’ without the time honored use of keyframes and inbetweens.  This gives the series an unusual (by today’s standards) sense of flow, with characters’ volume and size fluctuating through the scenes.  With today’s cartoons all adhering to the tight ‘Dexter’ style, it’s nice to look back on this ‘looser’ type of animation.

    LOVE this pose!

    One of the few Manga/Anime properties that spawned a real-life wrestler (who went on in various incarnations to greater fame than in the medium that created him), the first series (circa early 1970′s) is a great inspiration as we continue to develop our next Lucha property.

  • Comic-Con ASIFA Panel – Eddie

    On Saturday I was part of a panel discussion organized by ASIFA – “State of the Animation Industry”. It was a general discussion about Animation today, and where it may be heading.  I was the TV/Flash representative.  Alongside me were Donovan Cook (director of the first Mickey Mouse feature: The Three Musketeers), Aki Umemoto (Creative Director of Mattel Toys), Jon M. Gibson (writer and long-time gaming reporter), and Bob Bergen (voice actor – the current voice of Porky Pig in ‘Duck Dodgers’).  The moderator was ASIFA’s  Larry Loc.

    It was a great turn out – thanks to everyone who showed up to hear us talk for 90 minutes!

    I was personally thrilled by all the people who appraoched me later for a copy of the ¡Mucha Lucha! sketchbook.  I met some great people – animators, fans, artists, writers –  and was really humbled and heartened by everyone’s compliments of the show.  It really made me think that Fwak! should have a booth at Comic-Con next year.

     
    It was also a blast to finally meet fellow panelist (and talented nice guy) Donovan Cook.  My first job in Layout was on his show 2 Stupid Dogs back in 1993.  As a lowly trainee back then, I never dreamed I would be one day sitting next to him on a panel discussing ‘The Future of Animation’ :)
     

     Some Highlights – Lili

    This Comic-Con, I was still amused and astounded by the number of Stormtroopers on the scene. Although I wasn’t able to join Eddie on Saturday’s panel,thank you to everyone who showed up and we hope you enjoy the ¡Mucha Lucha! Sketchbook. I will be putting these sketches online when we run out of (signed) hard copies.

    I also wish to send out a huge THANK YOU to the kind lady who found my Amtrak ticket, submitted this to the Convention Center’s ‘Lost & Found’ Dept, who ALSO showed up at the ASIFA panel to let me know she had done this. Whew!!! Thank you so much!

    Via my camera, bundle of swag and postcards…



    Mister Monster by Elizabeth Ito



    EBOY figures, coming to STRANGECo



    I want this cool new “Opera Dude” by Tokyoplastic!



    OCTOPO by Android8

    Unklbrand have some really awesome little figures, my fave being the Tinpo series & OCTOPO by Android8. I also met Paul Cruikshank, the creator of Circus Punks. I will be customizing a Circus Punk for their NYC show this year.

    Pumpkin Creative: The War.
    The trailer for this 2D/3D animated film from Taiwan looked intriguing, but they couldn’t tell me where or when the film will be shown.

    Ragnar’s prints, t-shirts and books are cool. 

      

    Sanjay Patel  is a Pixar animator who designs cutesy Hindu Gods & Goddesses characters on books, t-shirts, and posters.

    Frank Espinosa’s  Rocketo “Issue 0” – signed.

    Dave Crosland’s Superhero Prints.

    And of course, it was a blast to see our back cover for Rafael Navarro’s Sonambulo: “Mexican Stand-Off Part 2”

    Three random photos…



    Our friend George Krstic (on the right as a Colonial Marine)
    with Harley Quinn & The Joker

    Miss Lisa Jones with a BULL-headed guy.



    Stormtrooper Elvis!

  • Ruido Blanco – now available!

    Eddie’s latest CD is finally available by mail order at CD Baby.  Click here for a sample of some of the tracks. 

    Don’t forget that mp3s of Eddiemuerte’s first album ‘Lo-fi In Los Feliz’ are still available for download here (click on image at bottom of page).  

    Move to the beat, feel the frequencies, wiggle to the waveforms, hear him sing, see him dance…okay you can’t really see him dance, but you get the idea

  • Sketchbook! *UPDATE!


    The sketchbook will be ready to send out next week.  Anyone who would like a copy, please email The Flea at slammin.donuts@gmail.com with your postal address  


    Or if you are at comic-con on Saturday, feel free to come up and say hi and demand your copy!



    All going well, this should finally be going to the printer tomorrow.  Fingers crossed it will be ready for comic-con.  If not, it will be just available via email.  We’ll post an update when the ink has dried and we’re able to start sending it out…


    The big challenge was fitting everything into a 32 page sketchbook, and what to leave out.  Because we have so much more artwork we couldn’t include, Lili will be putting up an online version soon, which we can keep updating.  We also have a ton of sketches, designs and storyboards from when the show was Lucha School , back in our Sydney studio. 


    Guess that will be Vol 2 somewhere down the track…

  • More Mucha Lucha Fan Art!

    *Updated! There’s MORE!
    Click on each pic to enlarge

    Thanks for the links, Seconteen! (See: Mucha Lucha Fan Forum)

    “This is me as luchador in anime style” -pierredelfuego

    Thanks to Gabriela Elizalde for sending these links! Check out more ”hybrid Mucha Lucha-Anime style” drawings here, here, here and here. 

    Here is a pic for you Rikochet-Loves-Buena-Girl groupies!  - Lili

    On the weekend I picked up this figure set in a San Francisco toy store. The text on the box is entirely in Japanese … Does anyone know who these characters are?

  • Welcome To Retro-ville by Eddie

    The Stardust cafe on San Fernando, Burbank.  Any Angelenos know the story with this place?  Is it open/being renovated?  It was hard to see riding past…

    For some reason this weekend has taken on a distinct ‘past catching up with the present’ feel…

    First of all, I finally got around to buying The Avengers ’66 Box set.  I grew up watching this in England in the sixties, but back then the series’ humor and sense of the absurd was totally lost on me.  It’s summed up in the episode ‘How To Succeed…At Murder’: How does ‘ministry agent’ John Steed gain information from his captive?  Interrogation?  Torture?  Have them stand on a box with wires attached, and a hood on their head?  Nope, he tickles the information out of them!  Classic.

    I leafed through this book, but decide to hold off buying it (it’s actually 9 bucks cheaper on Amazon).  At a glance it looks like a great read, and a worthy chronicle of Russ Meyer’s career.  Meyer, like Bakshi, was one of those mavericks who did it his way.  Easily dismissed as an ‘adult’ film maker (even the book jacket does him this disservice), movies like Mudhoney, and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! show that not everything he did was about titillation…

    …well okay, I guess a lot of it was

    No trip to Retro-ville would be complete without a soundtrack.  This cost me seven bucks and (apart from ‘Sugar Sugar’) yep  – the tracks suck.  Shoulda bought the Banana Splits album instead