The Making Of Mickey's Christmas Carol

Merry Christmas to you all. I figured I should write something special for the Holidays. Definitely something animation oriented.

There have been a lot of animated Christmas specials made over the years, like How The Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, all that Rankin/Bass crap, that sort of thing. However, one that comes to mind just as much as those other specials to me, is Mickey's Christmas Carol.

How many people were introduced to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol through this cartoon? Well, I can certainly say I was. Even watching it all these years later, it still holds up as being an incredibly enjoyable take on the story. One thing that should be noted is that, for something that squeezes the story into under a half-hour, it still has a lot of entertainment value. The animation is energetic and full of spirit, the writing's clever and funny, and the emotional moments manage to hit the mark. Plus, you can't go wrong with Scrooge McDuck playing the part of Ebenezer Scrooge. It's definitely one of my favorite takes of the story. That opening song, in particular, still sticks with me.

My little sister has this cartoon on DVD among her Christmas DVDs. The DVD in question had Mickey's Christmas Carol along with a few Christmas-related Disney cartoons that came after the main feature.

There's just one problem with the DVD: There's no Behind-The-Scenes features!

To give you an idea of the period this was made, it was an incredibly turbulent time for Disney. Most of the old pros had passed away or retired by this point (though there was a credit for Eric Larson as animation consultant on the short's credits,) and the new guard was still trying to find their voice. Mickey's Christmas Carol was first released in 1983 along with a re-release of The Rescuers, and it was Mickey Mouse's first short in 30 years by that point. I actually consider it something of a transitionary film, because this was where then up-and-coming animators like Mark Henn and Glen Keane got to really stretch their wings without most of the Nine Old Men's involvement. Two years later, the failure of The Black Cauldron would cause the heads to question whether it was worth keeping the animation unit on board, but after The Great Mouse Detective and Oliver & Company made a considerable amount of money at the box office, they relented and let the animators stay. This, of course, led to the smash success of The Little Mermaid at the end of the decade and the start of Disney's Renaissance period. (Want to learn more? Watch the documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty. It's a very insightful look into this period of Disney history.)

So to rectify this situation about the lack of Behind The Scenes features on the Mickey's Christmas Carol DVD, I figure I'd share a couple of things I found. First is the featurette for the making of the film, which can be found on the 1984 VHS of Mickey's Christmas Carol, but was thankfully put on Youtube for all to see:

Michael Paraza also talked some about the making of the short on his blog, Ink And Paint Club: Memories Of The House Of Mouse. If you have some time to kill, go over there and give it a read. And give the original special a watch, if you haven't already.

Hope you all enjoy your holiday season!

My Thoughts On Disney’s “Gigantic” Announcement

CAUTION: Expect some strong opinions regarding Frozen and Disney in general. Also, this article was started in August, so a few things might be out of date.

There’s been a lot of buzz regarding this year’s D23 Expo, which is basically a Disney-themed convention, regarding some of the new Disney and Pixar projects that have been announced, including the unveiling of a new Inside Out themed short, “Riley’s First Date?”, more developments on the new Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Princess And The Frog) film “Moana”, the Pixar film “The Good Dinosaur”,  as well as the other upcoming Pixar flicks, that kind of stuff.

However, what caught my attention particularly was the announcement of a new Disney fairy tale film, “Gigantic”, loosely based off the story of Jack And The Beanstalk.

From what was announced, this new take on the tale will be directed by Nathan Greno (Tangled), produced by Dorothy McKim (Get A Horse), have songs written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (Frozen), and will be released in 2018.

Naturally, I couldn’t let this pass by without giving my say on it.

I’m not sure if you’re aware, but I’ve been increasingly critical of a lot of Disney’s current decisions and methods. I know a company’s got to change with the times, but I highly doubt THESE particular changes are for the better. I mean, yeah, Frozen IS currently the highest-grossing animated film out there, but when you really look at this film like I did, does it really deserve THAT MUCH success? (Personally, my answer is no, it does not.) And yeah, they bought Lucasfilm and are currently making a new Star Wars film series, but is it REALLY necessary to have a new Star Wars movie since it’s been YEARS since Return Of The Jedi, the last chronologically released movie, came out? (Read this article to understand why I have doubts about this.) And yeah, the live-action remakes of classic Disney animated features are making money, but is there really any need to remake some of them at all? And yeah, the animation unit has pretty much gone all CG now, but whatever happened to John Lasseter’s big declaration of reviving hand-drawn animation at Disney? You know, back when he still gave a crap about things?

Maybe it’s because Disney was a huge part of my childhood, but some of these changes leave me feeling kinda cynical. I mean, yeah, I still support some of the new output from the Mouse House and I do try to keep my optimistic side open, but even as someone who loves Disney, I still have my doubts and mixed feelings about how things are being handled and feel it could be run a lot better.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. What’s this movie going to be about?

In Spain during the Age of Exploration, Jack discovers a land of giants hidden among the clouds, where he befriends this female giant named Inma who is, according to descriptions, “11 years old, 60 feet tall, fiery, feisty and a lot to control,” and agrees to help her find her way home. Along the way, she treats him like a toy, there’s some stuff about evil “storm giants” and most likely other adventurous stuff. I dunno, this is still a fairly new announcement.

While the idea of getting a giant little girl involved is admittedly really cute, I’m not sure what to think of this revision. Nowadays, it feels like Disney adaptations of classic fairy tales and stories are adapting sources more and more to the point where they become almost unrecognizable, adaptations in the loosest form of the word. When you look back at something like “Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs”, even with what was added and changed, it still felt like a telling of The Grimm Brothers’ Snow White. If you read Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen or watched a previous adaptation of it, (I saw the Russian animated version from 1957 before seeing Frozen,) would you be able to tell that “Frozen” was an adaptation of that same story? Hell no, because it’s changed to the point where it can no longer be considered The Snow Queen.

That said, however, I don’t mind an adaptation taking liberties and changing things around as long as the final product is ultimately good enough to stand on its own. The Wizard Of Oz from 1939 is a perfect example of that. It does change things around from the book, but the movie can still be enjoyed for what it is, a fun fantasy adventure with laughs, scares, tears, songs and a coherently flowing narrative. Frozen, on the other hand, sadly fails to do this. Even when you separate it from the source material, it’s not strong enough. Sure, it may have made a lot of money and it’s been overhyped to the point where it annoys a good chunk of the populace, myself included, but the story’s a flawed mess that doesn’t know what message it’s really trying to convey, nor how to properly deliver it. I give it credit for what it tries to do, but a lot of the film just comes off as manipulative rather than sincere, (particularly that atrocious, poorly executed, ass-pull twist involving Hans,) and a lot of the plot elements are capable of taking you out of the film because of how badly written and handled they are. Not to mention that, fantasy aspects aside, it really doesn't make that much sense. It does have nice visuals, and a few of the characters I do genuinely like, especially Olaf, who’s good enough for his own spinoff, but calling it the best Disney movie since Beauty And The Beast and The Lion King? I don’t think so.

I’m hoping that Gigantic doesn’t fall into this trap. I mean, yeah, it really doesn’t sound like the traditional story we’re used to, and the whole teaming up an older guy with a kid has been done by both Disney and Pixar before, with Wreck-It Ralph and Up respectively, but let’s be honest, it involves a normal-sized guy stuck with a giant girl child. I’m sure you could at least get some funny and cute ideas out of a concept like that, and maybe get a possibly sweet story out of the whole thing.

The subject regarding the songs doesn’t fill me with much hope, though. I didn’t like most of the songs in Frozen, either, so while getting Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez might be promising for some people, it’s certainly not promising for me. They might get lucky and turn out something decent, but personally, I would prefer someone like Alan Menken.

And then there’s this little comment that Greno made: “We want to make the definitive version of Jack And The Beanstalk.”

“Definitive”? THIS? I don’t know whether to call that over-confident or just insane.

Granted, the Disney versions of a lot of stories like Snow White, Beauty And The Beast, and Alice In Wonderland ARE pretty much the first things that people tend to think of whenever the name of the story is brought up, and they could, in fact, be dubbed the “definitive” telling of the story. But everyone and their mother knows the actual story of Jack And The Beanstalk all too well. How could a story as well known as this with changes like what was just described be considered “the definitive version”?

Let’s not forget that this story had been adapted by Disney before, most notably with the Mickey And The Beanstalk short that made its debut on the 1940s package feature Fun And Fancy Free. And don’t tell me that they could have forgotten about that one. Not only is the full movie considered part of the Disney Animated Canon, but the featurette on its own was released on video during the ‘90s, as well as on DVD collections with other Disney featurettes.

There was also a Japanese animated film adaptation in the 1970s that did its own unique take on Jack And The Beanstalk, which I found out about thanks to Jerry Beck’s Animated Movie Guide. From what I gather about that one, though, it does seem to have a lot of the traditional elements from the original story, along with all the new things added. If Disney still retained some elements into this new version, like the golden-egg laying goose, the singing harp, and the whole “Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum” thing, then maybe one could see how this could tie to Jack And The Beanstalk. It sure as heck wouldn’t make it the “definitive version” of the story, though.

There’s also the issue with the title. Ever since The Princess And The Frog apparently “underperformed”, they’ve been changing the titles of fairy tale adapations into stupid adjectives, like Rapunzel into Tangled and The Snow Queen into Frozen and that sort of thing. Why do they keep doing that? Is it to appeal to a broader demographic or something? Because the average person would consider this a really desperate attempt at doing so. Though, to be fair, considering the really loose adaptations they seem to be making these stories and fairy tales into now, it makes me wonder if they should really leave the name the same or change it to something else, even to something as uninspired as a simple adjective, because as previously mentioned, they’re getting adapted to the point where they can no longer be identified as an actual adaptation. And to think, years ago, Disney artists were poking fun at the fact that they had to change the title of “Basil Of Baker Street” to “The Great Mouse Detective” by sending a fake memo about changing the titles of previous Disney features, like “Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs” into “Seven Little Men Help A Girl” and “101 Dalmatians” into “Puppies Taken Away”. Boy, were THEY naïve! (No joke, by the way. This actually HAPPENED.)

(See? Here's the proof!)

Ultimately, though, I’ll just have to wait until it comes out and see it for myself. It might be good, it might be bad, it might be just okay, who knows? Like I said, I still enjoy some of the stuff that Disney puts out, like Wreck-It Ralph and Big Hero 6, and I am looking forward to checking out stuff like Zootopia, Moana, and this as well, even if I do wish that they’d do more hand-drawn stuff again. To me, quality is what matters most whenever I watch movies or read books or whatever, and there are very few Disney animated movies that I would consider straight up bad, since the majority of them have their own sense of charm or elements of likability and at least SOME effort put into the animation and story and that stuff. Even Frozen, which is currently one of my absolute least favorite Disney movies, has its moments that do work. So, without much left to say, it seems like only time will tell if Gigantic becomes either an enormous success or a colossal fail.

UPDATE: As of October 10, 2017, Gigantic has been either cancelled or put on "indefinite hiatus". Thanks a lot, Disney, I spent all that time on this article for nothing.

Oh Brother...

This was something that came up on my Blog Reading List:

Here's Why Disney's Frozen Will Be Here Forever

Let's forgive the fact that I think Frozen is just a very mediocre movie. This article doesn't talk about the kind of influence this movie in question could possibly have so much as it talks about how Disney is cashing in on its recent mega-hit. NOTHING in this article serves as proof that Frozen will have a lasting impact outside of how much it's making. We all know what the human race is like now, focusing on the most successful thing for a little while, then going on to the next successful thing once it comes along. That's what I think will happen to Frozen. Eventually it will wear out its welcome and people will move on from it. It's just taking longer than normal.

Don Bluth & Gary Goldman at the Alamo Drafthouse

My family came to visit me this past week, and, while looking for some things to do, Mom found something that she figured would be of much interest to me: that weekend, August the 10^th and 11^th, Don Bluth & Gary Goldman were going to be showing some of their movies at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse Cinema/Restaurant and then doing a Q & A Panel afterwards.

Don Bluth, for those that have been living under a rock for the past few decades, is the Disney animator who, having been dissatisfied by the direction that Disney was taking since the untimely death of Walt, decided to take matters into his own hands by taking several other young animators starting out at Disney, notably Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, and going out to start his own studio in the late 70s/early 80s to create classical animation that wound up serving as real competition for Disney during the 80s, with such animated hits like The Secret of NIMH, the Laserdisc arcade games Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace, An American Tail, and The Land Before Time. Apparently, with this competition, Disney realized they had to put more effort into their animated projects, thus leading to Disney’s renaissance era. While Bluth’s features in the 90s suffered both critically and financially (with the exception of Anastasia,) I consider Don Bluth to be one of several factors that saved animation and brought it out of the Dark Age of crap like Filmation and Hanna-Barbera.

I know people like Ralph Bakshi have accused him of splitting from Disney only to serve as a generic Disney knock-off, but here’s the thing: Love them or hate them, the majority of his films are NOT, in any way, actual Disney knock-offs. Don Bluth is passionate as an artist and storyteller, and while most of his films tend to draw a lot from Disney’s earlier classics, his work does have a distinct style to them that separates them from Disney’s work. The drawing style, while taking a lot from Disney, has its own unique flair to it. The stories, while having a feel of something Disney would create, are dark, edgy, and willing to take more risks with what could be shown to younger audiences while still being family friendly, at least when they’re at their best. If you want a REAL Disney knock-off that actually used to work at Disney, try Richard Rich, director of The Swan Princess. Not only did he harp off Disney’s style of art and story without taking any real risks, but some of the character designs for that movie actually look like they were taken from Don Bluth as well. 

Seriously, tell me that turtle somehow DOESN'T resemble Littlefoot from The Land Before Time.

So yeah, Bluth may not be perfect, and several of his movies, ESPECIALLY his work in the 90s, tend to be heavily flawed, (though I tend to give Bluth the benefit of a doubt and put the blame on studio executives, the most talentless and un-creative people in the world,) I still respect him for his vision and his desire to show the world what animation can be capable of.

Uh, where was I again? Oh, right. Don Bluth’s appearance at the Alamo Drafthouse.

Fun Fact: The poster for this film was painted by the under appreciated talent that is Drew Struzan.

The films that Bluth and Goldman selected to show were The Secret Of NIMH, All Dogs Go To Heaven, and An American Tail, three of the four films created during the group’s prime in the 80s. I wanted so bad to see The Secret Of NIMH, since that’s my personal favorite of Bluth’s films, but sadly, they were sold out. I did, however, get to see All Dogs Go To Heaven with my brother and my dad, and the rest of the family went with us to see An American Tail. Those were both really enjoyable films, despite not quite matching up to the power and magic of their first outing. There was so much I wanted to ask them at the Q & A panel, but for the sake of time and the fact that others wanted to ask them stuff as well, I kept both questions I asked to one per viewing. With All Dogs Go To Heaven, I asked about any future projects they had planned, (they didn’t tell much, but I can understand why,) and with An American Tail, I asked how they got into the animation industry, as well as any advice for those that wanted to enter as well.

Don and Gary were both very good at public speaking, often recounting the experiences behind the making of their projects with a good-natured sense of humor and a fascinating insight to several things related to animation, music, story, and all that good stuff, as well as giving their thoughts on modern animated films and the like. I heard of such tales and anecdotes as Martin Short’s ego getting hurt when Don asked him to be “a little funnier,” Burt Reynolds’ terrible “dog voice,” memories of late actors like Dom DeLuise and Judith Barsi, Paul Williams getting drunk in order to sing his take on “Flying Dreams,” and the two people that inspired the crow, Jeremy, from The Secret Of NIMH, among others. They were surprisingly humble about their work as well, especially considering they hadn’t watched these films ever since they were originally made and released.

After we watched An American Tail, Don and Gary signed my copy of Don Bluth’s The Art Of Animation Drawing book, and my mom took a few pictures of me with the two veteran animators. To an aspiring classical animator such as myself, that was the equivalent of seeing one of your favorite rock bands live and having them sign your favorite album. I plan to write them a very nice letter soon to thank them for that and for sharing their experiences and knowledge with those who participated, myself included.

On a final note, yes, there was a karaoke sing-along of Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram’s version on “Somewhere Out There” that was played before we watched An American Tail. I was totally taken off guard when Toy Joy’s Lizzy Newsome, who organized this event with Bluth and Goldman, held that microphone up to me on the last note. Sure, I may have been in the front row for that particular showing, but I was still surprised she picked me, of all the people in that row, and I wasn’t trying to draw too much attention to myself when I sang along, either. I didn’t think it was as best as I could have done on such short notice, but afterwards, she encouraged me by saying that she felt I did well. That was nice of her.

So anyways, here are some of the photos:

(Left to Right) Me, Brian, (my sister's hubby,) Tyler, and Rylee by the American Tail poster replica

Me by the American Tail poster replica (I'm honestly not too proud of my looks)

Me in line to get my copy signed (Sorry if the photo's blurry)

Me with Don Bluth (left) and Gary Goldman (right)

Another pic with Don and Gary (I'm guessing this was the one where Gary was joking with me and saying I blinked in the first photo. We had three taken in total, but Mom sent me these two.)

Don and Gary's autographs on the first page of my copy of Don's Animation Drawing book, as submitted through my scanner.

Orbillenium Interview

All Artwork And Videos belong to Dwayne "Cheeks" Gissendanner

Dwayne “Cheeks” Gissendanner (a.k.a. 80s90sicon, Orbillenium, Orbcreation) is an artist who loves old-school stuff, namely cartoons, TV shows and music from the 80s and 90s. Over on Youtube, he became known for creating a really well-edited video series called “Y2K After Effects”, where he points out where things went wrong after the turn of the millennium, in terms of the entertainment industry, fanbases, humanity, and other things. He has currently shifted his focus from making these videos to working on his artwork and making plans to create cartoons. As a fan of this video series, as well as a fan of his incredibly awesome artwork, with its eccentric coloring, stylistic drawing, and that retro atmosphere, I see a lot of potential for the guy and I felt like getting to know him a little more and letting people know a little bit about him as well. So later on last year, I had the good fortune to be able to interview him through DA notes and learn some more about his creativity and insight.

LK: Your hobbies seem to consist of drawing, skating, video editing and old school stuff, from what I know of. Do you have any other hobbies or interests that I didn’t mention?

DG: Actually you pretty much got them all. There are times when I do Bboy but not much.

LK: What convinced you that the entertainment industry was going down the tubes?

DG: The day I turned on the TV and realized that I hated every channel I turned to. There was nothing of my interest I wanted to see and nothing to my liking on the radio. When I saw what kind of cartoons they were producing nowadays, I started looking up old school Nickelodeon videos and realized that entertainment was so much better back then. This was when I first discovered YouTube back in ‘06. I then started to watch videos of people ranting about today's entertainment. So I figured I could take a stab at making rant videos of my own. That was the start of the Y2K series.

LK: You sure Nostalgia Filter has nothing to do with this, that entertainment really was better back then in comparison to now?

DG: This is my first time hearing about this Nostalgia Filter. Most of my findings in terms of the way things were then and now were based on what I liked to watch and listen to, watching tons of Youtube videos, reading the comments on the videos and watching many rants on why other people thought that the past was better. Everyone has their own reasons for why they believe the past is better, some of them being the same as others. For me, it was all about the atmosphere. It's not just about TV shows and music, but the atmosphere that encompasses TV shows and music. The way people dressed, the kind of shows they watched and the Saturday morning experience of being able to wake up early to your favorite bowl of cereal and cartoons after having been enslaved through five days of school knowing that after that last Friday school bell, Saturday was a day that you earned and you treated it like it was your day to be a kid with no limits and full fledged childhood freedom. The way everybody connected with one another, the type of clothes they wore, the trends, and the people that would be looked at as heroes and idols, motivators that would help inspire their future (Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Hulk Hogan, etc.)

LK: Is there anything about today’s world that you do like?

DG: The only thing that interests me about today's society is technology. To me, it soared high while humanity failed, for it’s what we do on computers and phones now, and all the technical devices we have at our disposal that has made life better and easier.

LK: So the increased technology interests you the most about today. Is there nothing in the modern entertainment industry that you like or that interests you in the slightest?

DG: Not really. There may be some rare moments when something might catch my eye, but it doesn't happen often.

LK: Who or what would you consider influences for your artwork?

DG: Most of my influence comes from 80s and 90s videos whether it be promos, commercials or TV shows. Some of it comes from Saturday morning cartoon memories and videos. During the 80s and 90s, there were a lot of bright colors and random craziness in the promos and commercials, etc. Videos like this, for example: CBS Saturday Morning Promo 1989 (Author's Note: Sorry if I couldn't display the actual video in the blog, but it wouldn't bring it up in the "Search Youtube" section like I wanted. Anyways, here it is, for your viewing pleasure.) And as you can see, my artwork harvests a lot of bright colors as well. As far as whom, most of it comes from people who can draw better than me. It helps me focus on drawing better and making my work look just as good, if not better.

LK: So basically, 80s and 90s cartoons, promos, commercials, TV shows, and other stuff from your childhood, right? And do you consider people that can draw better than you to be some of the animators and cartoonists that created some of those shows you grew up on?

DG: Yes, and yes. Animators, comic book artists, Youtube artists and people on deviantART contribute to my inspirations.

LK: I’ve heard you talk some about cartoons and TV shows, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard your thoughts on movies. What would you consider to be some of your favorite movies?

DG: Well, I'm not much of a movie person, but I do have some favorites, like House Party, the Back to the Future trilogy, Friday, Space Jam, A Goofy Movie, and The Lion King, just to name a few.

LK: What about favorite TV shows, cartoons and/or anime, if any of the latter?

DG: Favorite cartoons are Ren and Stimpy, (the very show that got me into drawing,) Looney Tunes, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Doug, Rocko's Modern Life, Pepper Ann, Garfield, What-a-Cartoon Show, Dragonball Z, and there are many others I can't name. As far as shows go, pretty much 90% of anything Nickelodeon had on in the early to mid 90s and most of everything that came on Cartoon Network.

LK: What about the other 10% with Nickelodeon? Care to tell me that?

DG: The other 10% would be Hey Dude, Space Cases, Welcome Freshman and Aaahh! Real Monsters. Although Welcome Freshman and Hey Dude had damn good intro music, I found myself turning the channel after the intro was over. There was just something about the shows that I just couldn't connect with and the same goes for Aaahh! Real Monsters. Given how much I loved cartoons then, I just couldn't get into that show. Space Cases, I didn't like at all. I didn't like the intro or anything about the show. I think the only reason I thought that show might grab my attention was because it had the Black Power Ranger as one of the casting members.

LK: From what I gathered from your Y2K After Effects videos, you seem to like rock and hip-hop from the 80s and 90s when it comes to music. What do you consider your favorite bands/artists? Are there any other music genres that you like?

DG: I did have a lot of favorite rock bands like Metallica, Static-X and Slipknot, and I have a passion for "old school" hip-hop. These days, I pay no attention to what's on the radio and I can't remember the last time I saw a full-length music video on TV, let alone watched much TV. These days you can tell when people just don't care to put any effort in music, especially when the music videos are full of materialistic stuff and no real music. Nowadays, I listen to underground hip-hop, unknown artists and music on Youtube. As far as a favorite genre of music goes, I always had a thing for Smooth Jazz and I have recently got into Lounge music. Keeps me calm, and I enjoy being relaxed.

LK: Ok, so basically that would represent most of your opinion in regards to music. Any other bands/artists that you would consider favorites?

DG: Paul Hardcastle (Smooth Jazz), Damu Fudgemunk (Youtube Hip-Hop artist), and Ethereal Universe (Youtube artist)

(Like what you've heard so far? Check out some more here: Orbillennium Music Playlist)

LK: I’ve heard some of the music you’ve created. Pretty cool stuff. May I ask what inspired you to try your hand at creating music?

DG: I'm no musician, but I just got tired of hearing what everyone's definition of music was these days. So I took a stab at making my own music. I knew what type of sounds I wanted to hear, so I would attempt making my own music tracks.

LK: Do you have any original characters or concepts that you’ve come up with for shows and that kinda thing?

DG: Well for the most part, I haven't come up with any concepts for TV and stuff like that. I don't have any intention to put my characters on TV and what not. My goal is to build my Orbillennium name as a way to host quality art (my cartoon characters) and quality videos, like the stuff on my Youtube and deviantART accounts.

LK: I was going to ask you about your goals and that kinda thing, but that's a fairly decent answer as to your intentions. Do you have any other goals or other specific ones in mind? Also, about the name "Orbillennium", where did you come up with that?

DG: Well, my other goals would be to make comic books and/or online comics, videos and animations with my characters. The name Orbillennium came from me being tired of how this millennium has been in terms of humanity and entertainment. I thought it would be kinda cool to create my own millennium rather than just some company. The "Orb" name comes from an idea I had for a comic book company name that I came up with in high school called Orb Comics. But as time when on and things got more crappy in society, the “Orb” name soon branched into its own millennium.

LK: So I take it you’ve been trying to come up with some ways to combat these “Y2K After Effects”. How are you going on that?

DG: Well so far, not very good, given all the financial woes I’ve had and not having much motivation or free time to draw, with work and personal stuff and whatnot. I'm sure that sooner or later, things will start to go good for me and I can rise to the occasion of dealing with these Y2K After Effects.

LK: Oh geez, I'm sorry to hear that. Well, I hope for the best, since I see a lot of potential in you as an artist. I'd ask about what you do for work and all that, but that's most likely another question for another time. Anyways, next question: what do you use to create your artwork?

DG: I usually use HB pencils, Faber Castell drawing pens, and depending on the mood I'm in, I will either color it by hand with Prismacolor pencils or markers on Bristol board paper or I'll scan it in my computer and color it in Photoshop.

LK: How about your videos and music? How do you make those?

DG: Depending on what type of video it is will determine how I will approach it. For example, those Y2K videos I did. Everything starts with inspiration and motivation. I would watch several videos whether it was based on nostalgia or rant videos. In my head I begin to create a story of what I want it to look like. So with careful planning and editing, I try to bring out the scare factor of why things are the way they are in entertainment today. With the music I make it's no different. The only difference being that it's from a musical perspective. I am no musician, so I create by ear. I know what kind of vibe I'm looking for and what sounds I want to hear so I just start trying out different things until I come across something that compliments what I'm looking for. I don't have any high tech equipment or anything like that. All I have is a Midi keyboard and music software and so far, that is all I've really needed.

LK: Ok, but what software do you use to make your videos?

DG: I use Vegas Movie Studio 10 to edit videos, and I use FL Studio to make my music.

LK: Also, when I asked about your videos, you mentioned trying to "bring out the scare factor of why things are the way they are in entertainment today." So was it your intention to "scare people straight" with these videos? The Teeny Bopper Bacteria one in particular I felt was pretty terrifying.

DG: My intention wasn't to scare people senseless, but to give somewhat of a scare as to where entertainment is nowadays and where it's headed. And yeah, the teeny bopper bacteria video was illustrating the fail of the human race and who today's lack of entertainment is catering to. But the way I put it together, it looked like a virus that was spreading and infecting everyone that actually appreciates quality entertainment.

LK: I was talking to a friend about the bumpers, promos, and commercials on Nickelodeon back in the 80s and 90s, and how there was something in the classic Nickelodeon that the modern Nick sadly lacks that I couldn't quite put my finger on. He suggested that it was probably the surrealism and over-exaggeration in the look of the channel and that nowadays, the bumpers and commercials want to be as plain and generic as possible. Would you say that's part of the reason, aside from the lack of quality programming and the teeny bopper targeting, why most of these networks have fallen from grace?

DG: Well, that is true. There is also the overprotective parents who worry about everything being right these days and because there are a lot of rules out there nowadays in reference to what they can show on TV. And then there are the networks that are too afraid to take risk with some of the content that they showcase on TV, and are in constant fear of lawsuits and other overprotective parents complaining about kids’ entertainment.

LK: Ok, I've asked about some of the aspects of entertainment like cartoons, TV shows, movies, music and that kinda thing, but do you have any opinions about video games or are you not too familiar with gaming to have anything to say about them?

DG: Well I haven't put much in what's going on in the video game world other than the constant complaining and nagging about the graphics being what makes the game instead of the gameplay itself and what not so I can't say much about the gaming industry in general.

LK: I see. I take it you're not into video games all that much, then.

DG: Well, I'm not much of a gamer. I'm trying to get back into it but it's a slow process.

LK: Lately, I've been checking out old 80s and 90s commercials, and I noticed how they actually tend to be more genuinely entertaining than most of today's commercials. Do you think there's a reason for that as well? 

DG: If you look at some of the old commercials while there is an emphasis to promote and/or sell something, it doesn't feel like it was forced on the consumer. It feels more like it was done for fun....at least that's how I see it. It's almost as if commercials were made to entertain rather than sell something. And with less strict rules during that time and less influence from soccer moms and other overprotective parties on what type of content can be put on TV, it seems like people had more freedom and more fun to make commercials the way they did back then.

LK: Looking back at your response to my question of what convinced you that the entertainment industry was going down the tubes, you mentioned that you felt entertainment was much better back then. In what ways would you say they were better than today's entertainment?

DG: There was a better sense of creativity and fun. It felt like people weren't trying to impress corporations or parents. It felt like they were trying to impress themselves, which is why the entertainment had more quality.

LK: One would figure that, going by your other Y2K videos, you were just an overly nostalgic adult, but your “Childhood Innocence” Y2K After Effects Video seems to show that, as well as the state of entertainment, you feel concern for modern youth as well. I bet you consider childhood a very important time in someone’s life. Care to explain why you feel that?

DG: Everything that happens during your childhood years creates what will become of you in your teen and adult years. There’s always the old saying that everything begins at home. When you hear of kids who are disruptive and somewhat of a menace to society, it usually occurs from how they were raised as a child. Not everything is based on childhood, but a good majority of what happens in your childhood shapes you into what you will become later on in your life.

Entertainment kept a lot of us out of trouble and kept us all in a fun atmosphere making us want to do fun stuff, go out doors, etc. Some of that entertainment also taught morals and lessons in life. But when that 's taken away, you're left with menacing kids that cause trouble and are sucked in by peer pressure.  A good example of this is in the "Childhood Innocence" video. Near the end of the video there is a segment that discusses the peer pressures of what kids wear and how they act around others because of infatuations with certain celebrities and the fact that everyone thinks more about relationships and sex at a ridiculously young age than they do about where they will be in life.

LK: You certainly seem passionate about this, I can tell. Is it a fear of yours that children would grow up too fast?

DG: Well, I think that it’s already happened, but I do feel that it could get much worse.

LK: Oh dear. Like how so? Do you have any way you plan to prevent that and the other “growing up too fast” issues through your work?

DG: There isn't really much that can be done. Like the times change, people change as well. The only real way that things can get better is if they start learning to live better than they are now which will also take the help of parents who can raise them right and as far as entertainment is concerned, doing things independently like what I'm doing now may very well be the only way because trying to rely on corporations (as you can see by the way television entertainment is) isn't gonna do much good.

To end things on a positive note, he has just recently started a new website for the Orbillenium name, which can be found here: Orbillennium

Definitely check it out when you can. And to Dwayne, thank you for agreeing to do this interview and I hope you will be able to one day let your creativity shine for all to see.

Sketchbook Scraps

Those that know me, either online or in real life, are aware that I am an aspiring cartoonist, animator, and illustrator. However, since the only posts on this blog that I've made thus far were based around the music-lovin' side of me, I figured I should use this time to give my fans (all five of you) a peek at some of my many sketchbooks and the random stuff throughout, be it an experiment in styles, an attempt at drawing certain characters, ideas for projects or images, or just goofin' around. Some are more polished, while others are rough and sometimes incomplete. These aren't every one of the sketches, these were ones that I felt like showing for the moment.

This sketch was my idea for the opening of an animated music video for the obscure Christian band Daniel Amos, who I have really gotten interested into lately. I'm not a big fan of Christian music, but I was introduced to the group through Terry Scott Taylor, the talented songwriter who did the quirky score for some of Doug TenNapel's projects, like The Neverhood games and Nickelodeon's Catscratch. And honestly, this is a really good group, Christian or not, so I recommend listening to them and anything else Terry's done, solo or with Daniel Amos/The Swirling Eddies and Lost Dogs, before judging them. As to the image in question, this was an idea I had for the song off what is considered their greatest album, 1987's Darn Floor-Big Bite, "Earth Household". It's a very beautiful song, heavy on atmosphere and a haunting ambience, and one of my personal favorites from the album. So I was trying to think of how this could be put into music video form, since the song (and the album in general) is about the incomprehensibility and mystery of God and the unknown, and I wanted images that not only fit the theme, but the music as well. If you want to get an idea as to the kind of atmosphere I'm looking for here, listen to the song while looking at this image above:

I can picture that hazy, foggy, barely-visible forest appearing as the music starts up and Terry (pictured in silhouette) walking up out of the mist, strumming the guitar chords and then stopping to play a while, before silhouettes of Tim Chandler (the bassist) and Ed McTaggart (the drummer) appear from the mist as their parts kick in, and while I don't have a clear idea as to what I plan to do with the video concept yet, I have a good idea for the atmosphere: the foggy, cloudy forest, a dark household, and images in a lit neighborhood or apartment complex at night. Might even throw some rain in there as well.

My brother mentioned that he could totally picture me animating this one.

Both of these were attempts at analyzing head construction. Personally, I've trying to stray away from the "Simpsons-esque" style I've used in the past, since I feel it limits expression and the eyes take up too much room and other things that kinda limit it. I had been trying to figure out other styles with which to draw from, as well as attempting to analyze how my own style could work. Note the bottom image with the realistic head and the cartoon head comparison.

Time for some attempts at sketching Disney characters! Here, I tried my hand at Bambi, a very light, sketchy Cheshire Cat, and the Genie with a little note as to where to put his earring. For the Genie, I used an image from Eric Goldberg's (the guy who animated the Genie) book as reference.

This is sort of a commentary on censorship. If what I heard was correct, older cartoons have had smoking censored out. I know smoking is bad, but come on, sometimes it's part of a character and his trademark to have a cigarette or cigar, and to try to edit it out of cartoons, older or otherwise, because they want to protect kids from it, even if it isn't depicted as being a major part of the character, is proof as to how "politically-correct" this country's gotten, and I hate it. Give Jose Carioca back his cigar, Disney!

We all know the term, but I felt it was fun to depict it literally. Before you get any disturbing, innuendo-based images in your head, she landed on the guy and squashed her. Seriously, it's annoying how people could assume such perverted things in EVERYTHING, even when it's not intentional. But then again, given my love for stuff like Rocko's Modern Life...

This was my first attempt at drawing Brianne Drouhard's Billie The Unicorn, a character that she created for a picture book that I now happily own a copy of, and I used the cover for reference. Check out Brianne's artwork on her blog or DA pages: http://potatofarmgirl.blogspot.com http://potatofarmgirl.deviantart.com

This was a possible character redesign I did for the character of my manga-esque graphic novel concept, Mikako. Yes, I do have an interest in working with the manga style sometimes, but I still want to handle a diverse range of styles while utilizing my own touches to them. If you're unfamiliar with it, take a gander here: http://maniacaldude.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4869pj

No, this is NOT ripping off "My Life As A Teenage Robot". She's just a cute little girl who happens to be a cyborg.

This was my attempt at rendering Bucky Katt from the comic strip, "Get Fuzzy", into a design reminiscent of Daggett from "The Angry Beavers". Why? Because I can totally imagine Richard Horvitz, the guy who did the voice of Daggett and Invader Zim, doing the voice of this Siamese a-hole.

Some kids growing up in the 80s watched an obscure anime film known as "Unico In The Island Of Magic," based around the title character created by my personal favorite manga artist, Osamu Tezuka. I managed to watch both of the Unico movies, since they're found on Youtube. This was my re-imagining of the movie's villain, Lord Kuruku, with some Doug TenNapel inspired elements thrown in to make him even weirder than he already was. Earthworm Jim's head kinda influenced this Kuruku's head, and I drew from Klogg, the villain of The Neverhood, for one of his eyes. Yeah, I know, I'm absolutely insane, but hey, I like to toy around with odd ideas.

This was a monster I came up with for a project in Storyboarding, about a monster failing to scare a little girl in her sleep. And before you ask, YES, this was heavily inspired by Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are. Can I help it? The designs for the creatures are so memorable and iconic that I wanted to use it somehow, but at the same time, I didn't want it to seem like a total copy, so I exaggerated some of the body structure and made him more cartoonish.

And here are a few more extra doodles:

And... that's pretty much it for now. Until next time, see ya!