Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A Little Taste...of the Old West


I'm excited to put up a rough cut for you all to see. Enjoy!

Most Wanted


I struck gold when Chris McCulloch, the creator of [adult swim]’s VENTURE BROS and the voices of many of his own characters, lent me his talents as the voices for El Pinto, the Mayor and Pancho the Warthog. Hilarious as always.
And I hit the jackpot when I met Mike Smith Rivera, a professional theater and film actor in NYC willing to do the voice of our hero, Raul Rattatan. He couldn't have been cast better.
Of course, I got the best out of these two fine actors thanks to my voice director, Nick DeMayo. Awesome job!

The Sheriff’s Posse


There are many stages in an animated production and there is no way in heck I could have done everything on my own. Believe me, I tried. So I would like to take this moment to give many thanks to the wonderful artists that gave me a hand:
Layouts: Warren O’Neil
Inking: Lauren Monardo 
Props: Alden Viguilla
Animation: Jean Tsen, Art Siriamonthep, Yuri Fain, Justin Roth, Justin Offner, Danny Hynes and Joseph Cappabianca.

More thanks to come.

The Blacksmiths Tools


Even though 90% of the film has been done directly on the computer using mostly Flash and some Photoshop, I couldn’t help my old habits and chose to “character layout” the entire film using good old fashion pencil and paper. I was very fortunate to acquire the help of Warren O’Neil, one of the best animators and designers on the east coast, to give me a hand during this stage.

Monday, January 14, 2008

The Good Old-Modern Wild West







I had a lot fun creating a world where the old west catches up to modern technology, but at the same time made sure I didn’t lose that special old town charm. I worked that out by carefully disguising the modern technology using elements from the Old West period.
I’d like to show off some of the backgrounds from the film here since I put so much effort and detail into them that I’m afraid they’ll go by too fast to be seen in detail during the film.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

The Good, The Bad, and the Dim-witted


Let me introduce you to the small but memorable cast of my film.
First up is the Mayor, an easy to recognize, angry old goat with a top hat and a satchel that reads, "I'm the Mayor". Next in line is El Pinto (a horse of course), part time taxi driver and full time evildoer. Following him is Pancho the Warthog, loyal but too inept to realize that he should have graduated from deputy ten times over by now. And last but not least is our hero, Raul Rattatan. A small but feisty purple raccoon, he is an incompetent but lovable young rookie, overeager to skip ahead in the steep ladder of law enforcement ranks to earn his precious badges.

Stick’em Up Partner


While designing the film's title card, I hoped to capture the spirit of the old Spaghetti Western posters. Ironically, I spent hours trying to recreate the right distressed texture to make the digital image look weathered and old.

Hola Amigos


I'm proud to introduce you all to the making of my latest independent animated short, "TICKLE ME SILLY".  This short follows the hilarious adventures of the young raccoon crime fighter, Raul Rattatan, Junior Sheriff of the Petty Crime Unit, and his lovable sidekick, Deputy Pancho the warthog, in their quest to stop the notorious "El Pinto" and his tickling crime spree.

This short is a true labor of love that has been in the making for the past two years and includes the help of many talented volunteer artists. 
I can't wait for you all to see it.