Ralph Kent 1939 - 2007

I was very sad to learn that a Disney Legend and all around amazing man, Ralph Kent, passed away on Monday. I had the pleasure of working with Ralph during my internship at the Disney Design Group, as well as during my time working there as a character artist. He was the father of the entire department, often sharing amazing stories about Walt Disney and the "old days" at the studio. He also introduced me to some of my artistic idols... Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Mark Davis and more. As an 18 year rookie artist, it was like stepping into a daydream! I will never forget my short time spent with Ralph, and I feel that he shaped not only the artist, but the person I am today.

My greatest memory of Mr. Kent was a small one, but one that will never leave me. I was having a rough day at the studio, and he and I were outside sitting at the same small table. He listened quietly as I told him that I had just been informed I would not be picked up as a full time artist once my internship ended. I was really upset, and it seemed to me that my life was over. As I finished moaning, there was a long pause. Ralph looked at me as only a seasoned veteran can look at an inexperienced rookie. "Jeremy, you just can't give up" he said. "Time changes all situations. As long as you don't give up, and work your butt off... you will be fine."

Well Ralph, I never gave up.
I thank you for all that you were kind enough to give me, both in wisdom and in drawings announcing that my head was perfectly round like a Quaker Oats container. (above) Thank you for everything.

Click here and here for a good idea of what Ralph did as an artist.

Hot Cocoa and Snickerdoodles

The M&M's shivered in the cold as they sang "Silent Night" to a gathering of senior citizens. And although it hindered his singing ability, Yellow made short work of the hot cocoa and cookies the nice old people made for them. Sadly right after this shot was taken the seniors started to heckle the performers, then ate them.

Clown Crime Squad

These clowns fight crime.
They also cut off small children's toes while they sleep.

Funny Fire

Morning Workout

Yes.... this is a man.

What!? So he likes cake ok!?

A Dark Evil Scary Man

I have been really busy as of late, but one thing I try to do is take an evening or two and get a Drawergeeks submission done. I consider it therapy. It is very freeing to sit down, and draw with no boundries. Sometimes (ok, a lot of times) it goes horribly wrong, but other times you end up with a pretty zany interpretation of the subject.

This weeks topic was "Rasputin." I as usual just ran with it. I scribbled down a quick thought on my trusty Post-It pad (as shown so well in my last post) and scanned that sucker in. From there I drew the thing out in Photoshop. My thought process went something like this:

Ok... This guy is evil. I mean a real bastard. So bastardly that he even refuses to die. Wow, this guy refuses to die. That is pretty cool. Maybe he made some sort of deal with a higher evil power... and that is why he won't die. You know, a deal where he promises to serve the dark lord in return for eternal life. Hmm, and if he made this deal maybe he underwent a bit of a physical tranformation. After all, he now posseses dark power and dark power must be pretty nasty stuff. Perhaps he now has evil whisps trailing him wherever he goes... like a giant evil cloak. And the deeper ho goes into this dark world, the more whisps he gets. Gee Jeremy, that sounds like Spawn's cape. No no... this is entirely different. Ok. And at night, in his big empty mansion, the whisps come out to play. Hmm, maybe he also has a few painting hanging around the house that depict the ways people have tried to bump him off. Kindof sick, but he is a weirdo. Ok, that sounds good. And a fireplace lets me use orange. Sounds great.

And that is artistic process according to me.

Post It Mess

People have asked me "Jeremy. What do your really rough sketches look like?" Well boys and girls, here you go. I basically make a big scratchy mess, and create the most basic of basic shapes just to get my idea down on paper before I forget it. In fact, I might be the only person that can tell what it is I just drew. Can anyone tell what I just drew?

The Robots Had Me In The Basement

Wow. It has been a while since my last post. A big goal of mine is to post regularly... so I apologize. I don't have much to show you since everything I am working on right now is hush hush, but I am offering up a page of rejected concepts. This was for a little translator robot that the studio ended up taking in a very simple direction. Hey, I still love em.

My son started school this week. The seventh grade. That's right, I have a son in seventh grade. I am still digesting that one. I mean, I remember when I was in the seventh grade. Girls suddenly looked different. You had to wear the right shoes. (I did not, and thus suffered through constant shouts of "bobo shoes" in the hallways) If you were cool at all you at least had some signs of facial hair. And lunch in the cafeteria was a brutally shocking education in new slang terms referring to private parts. I just hope he gets through it better than I did.

Now, back to work.

Der Verkäufer

Drawergeeks this week is "Hot Dog Cart." I was partially responsible for that subject, since I did suggest it to Greg. I figured, "What a cool open ended idea that would allow for some character design!" I hope people take a shot.

This is Hans, the Frankfurter vendor. He likes his job, but he is getting tired of the little fat kids buying him out before he even leaves his house.

Hot Dog Chain In Space

With the limited time I have this week, I thought I would try to at least work on some ideas for Drawergeeks. Minutes in the morning. Some time after the rest of the house is sleeping. My last posted idea still sits unfinished, but I was busy scribbling out a couple more. Sounds like me.

This is an idea I would love to flesh out one day, but it won't be this week. I imagine these hot dog joints would be all over the outer space freeways. Serving up space dogs, lunar fries, saturn rings, milky way shakes. Every Friday they have a classic space-ship drive in.

I will post another idea tomorrow.
Enjoy the Monday.

Rockin Dogs

I have really dropped the blog ball as of late I know. I have been so busy that I'm really not sure what day it is. (I now know it is Thursday.) Let me tell you... babies and toddlers don't care if you want sleep. They really don't.

Enough of my fake sob story. I thought I would share the beginning of a Drawergeeks submission. The subject this time around is "Hot Dog Cart." I think subjects like this are great, because it leaves everything so open. This is what I was able to scribble last night after work. I hope to finish it tonight. I am taking the straight forward approach on this one... 19 year old guy works at the "Mr. Weiner" cart after school ( he is still a junior in highschool) and to pass the time between customers he rocks out to some classic AC/DC on his iPod while playing air drums on the cart. You know how it goes.

Thanks to all who post comments here. As I have said before, I may not remember to answer them all, but it means a lot.

Drawergeeks: Henchman

Well, lets just say I was lucky to get one in this week. And really only a doodle at that. I have been so busy with work and family, I have barely had time to do any extra art. I had grand plans for this topic, but as you can see I had to abandon my original concept. However, it was still a nice break.

Comicon 2007

Wow. What can I say. Comicon was a lot of fun this year. I met so many great people, and saw so much great art. I made a lot of great contacts and left San Diego with some really cool new friends. I also think I have a clearer understanding of what I want to do with my art. What an amazing time huh?

Left to Right, Front Row: Stephen McCranie, Me, Tony Canepa, Kim Herbst. Back Row: John Trauscht, Stephen Nanney, Sarah Mensinga, and Greg Hardin.

I picked up some great stuff, and here is most of it. There were so many talented artists, it was painful having to choose which books NOT to buy.

Thanks to all of the friendly people that I met, and my apologies to the people I ended up missing. Also, if anybody wants one of the post cards I brought to the show, drop me a line and I will see what I can do to get you one.

More art to be posted soon... for now I will get back to work.

Hangin At The Con

Back on Monday!

Rough Guys

I have been so busy lately, that the only personal art I have been able to do are small warm up drawings. This is a rough idea I have for the next Drawergeeks. The theme is "Henchmen" and I think it will be fun. It is vague enough to let some of the talented artists over there have a ball. I have a very stylized direction I would like to take this piece... we will see if I have enough lunch breaks to go around.

Also, I leave for the San Diego next week, and can't wait. Eating, sleeping, breathing art geekiness.
Bring it on.

Now back to work.