MORE ABOUT ME (PART TWO)

Here it is, the second (and final) part of the "Uncle Eddie's Theory Corner" retrospective, summing up about 640 posts over a period of nearly two years!


Next to animation and cartooning the thing I've probably posted most about is architecture. It's easy to see why an artist would do that; architecture is art that you live in. My own preference is for architecture that's romantic. You picture yourself having adventures in it, it provokes your best thoughts, It reminds you that you're part of a culture, you want to show it to friends who haven't seen it yet.





I've done a lot of posts about dinner friends like John, Mike, Steve, Kali, Katie and Marlo (excerpts from two different strips, above). I've done a zillion "My Dinner with Andre"-type posts about John and I'd do the same for Mike if he'd let me. In Mike's case the dinners would be especially easy to write about because they all begin the same way: we sit down, Mike spots a beautiful girl, he shouts, "Eddie, Eddie, quick! LookLookLook!", I look, and Mike gets completely unhinged because I'm too obvious.


I've published a lot of sketch reference (above) over the last two years. I love the way real people look, as opposed to fashion models.


I've also posted a lot about fine art. Here's (above) excerpts from one of my favorite posts, showing the contrast between Roman and Renaissance (spelled right?) sculpture. The Roman bust celebrates the practical man of action, the Renaissance one, by Donatello, celebrates the sensitive, thinking, man.


I frequently censor pictures that make me look fat or ugly (above).


I did a few posts on my film, "Tales of Worm Paranoia." I'll do some more when I find the drawings I saved.


Lots of Greek stuff (above) on the site. Greek philosophy is refreshingly manly, clear and practical.


I've done several posts on the subject of cartoon anatomy (above). Theory Corner Readers have a scientific bent and frequently catch me on factual errors.


Once I did a whole post (excerpt, above) on patterns of male back hair. You won't find that in Burne Hogarth!




Sometimes I publish drawings from the projects I work on, but not too often. Most employers don't let me draw in my own style.



I've done lots of doodles (above and below) for this blog.



Smoking: it's a dangerous, filthy habit, but the rituals are soooo interesting!




When I draw in my own style I never have trouble drawing women. Women are simply men with long hair and breasts.


I haven't drawn anything for the blog since before Christmas. That's because all my free time is taken up with the computer. I'm determined to get comfortable with this machine and learn a little Flash and Photoshop.





Well, that's it! I'll have to do another retrospective this time next year! Good grief, I hope I don't run out of things to say by then!

A BLOG ABOUT....ME!

A few days ago Nico kindly put up a post all about...(Blush!) me. It was a sort of retrospective of this blog, which has had nearly...are you ready for this?.... 640 posts to date! Can you imagine that!? 640!!!!

Nico: http://nicocartoons.blogspot.com

Originally this blog was meant to be exclusively about animation. Actually, I still think of it that way, but I guess I wonder off the point a lot. I never feel guilty about doing that because I always think of animation as a home for thoughtful and adventurous people.

If you wonder where I got such a darn-fool notion, it was from the old black & white Disneyland show, which I watched faithfully when I was an embryo. Disney made being an artist seem like the most exciting job in the world. All that about Davy Crockett, trips to Mars, Alice in Wonderland, and Donald Duck whipped me into a frenzy every week. I grew up thinking that you'd better be good at science, history and literature because if you're not, no animation studio will ever consider hiring you. I still believe that, regardless of abundant evidence to the contrary. Truly was it said that the boy is the father of the man.

My imagined audience for this blog has always been the intellectually aware cartoonist, or cartoon fan: the actor with a pencil, the adventurer who craves excitement, the entertainer who believes the show must never disappoint. Do people like that want to read about oddball theories? Of course they do; they're cartoonists aren't they?

Anyway, Nico inspired me to try a retrospective of my own. Don't worry, I think I can do it in two posts. This one's all about a single subject...photo essays! It gets so much weight because it's been on my mind lately, but hopefully that energy will morph into YouTube videos and podcasts that I can run here.

Well, it all started a year ago when Kali and I improvised a sketch in a restaurant (above). After that, Marlo, Kali and I did one, and after that Nico, Kali and I did another. They were always about girls who were crazy for cartoonists which, when you think about it, is the way the world should be.

Shooting these things (above) took three people and that was hard for us to arrange. Too bad, because Kali and Marlo were really good at this stuff.


One day it dawned on me that I could just put a camera on some books and put the timer on. That black hairball (above) is a rubber mask of Captain Hook.



This (above) was my favorite solo effort: "The Poet." I cribbed part of the poem from the internet but the way poetic inspiration happens was real. This is pretty much how I wrote all my real world poems, like "The Pastry Restaurant Poet:"

http://uncleeddiestheorycorner.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html


The smelly shoe story(above): a sure crowd pleaser.




Here's my friend Martin Olson (above). Some people are gifted with a face that fits a specific character type. Martin is indisputably a "leading man." Nowadays it's popular to go against type when casting but that's a big mistake. Going with type is one of the reasons old Hollywood was so successful.

By the way, ace-storyboarder Barry Caldwell took the two picture above.



I bought this checkered shirt at a thrift store just for this essay (above). It's delightfully bland.


I really like this dude character and I want to use him again. A girl commenter (Jennifer) called the character "adorable" and I instantly melted. In girl language "adorable" is a very, very high compliment.



Unfortunately the baser instincts can't long be denied and I followed up the adorable essay with one that made me look sleazy (above). Oh well, c'est le vie.


Another thrift store find (above). I love that blue jacket.


My new computer has a built-in camera that does great black and white, just right for horror. This (above) is from the story about the evil puppet that comes to life when its master is out of the room. Eerie, isn't it?


I wore fake buck teeth for this shot (above). There are times when my real buck teeth just aren't buck enough.


This is from another horror story (above), about a murderer who lives in the walls of this guy's house. When you lean in close to the camera the black and white gets really grainy, like it's reflecting bubbling, white magma.


Boy, this (above) is really unsettling. I've gotta try this again.

This shot (above) is from the last story, about a Raymond Chandler-type detective. I put a floor lamp just out of frame for contrast.

Well, that's the first half of the retrospective. One more to go. Somehow I have to figure out how to compress everything else that's been on this blog so far into a single post. Aaargh!

Thanks again, Nico, for getting this started!

AT THE ANNIE AWARDS

John received The Winsor McCay Lifetime Achievement Award. It was an unexpectedly moving event and the crowd cheered enthusiastically. Other recipients included Brad Byrd, Glen Keane and John Canemaker. Good speeches by all.


Here's John (above), looking very suave. Kali appears to be reacting to a loathesome thing crawling on the armrest.


Jerry Beck won a much-deserved special award for contributions to the industry and gave one of the better speeches of the night.


Let us take a moment to appreciate the suavity of Jim smith and Mike (above).


After the ceremony John signs autographs. Jim appears to be hooting at Kali, though he may have sucked in a passing bee.


Mike also discovers the loathesome thing, this time crawling on JoJo's jacket.


JoJo won an award for volunteer work at The ASIFA Archive.


After the ceremony Mike and I searched for our parking structure with Marjane Satrapi, director of "Persepolis." Wow! She has a magnetic personality!

At the after-awards party Mike (above) toasts an off-screen friend while Steve is lost in visionary reverie.

Here's (above) Kali, fishing what appears to be an old shoe out of John's Annie Award.

Tom Minton and Wendy (above) were there! They make a great couple! Tom's a producer but in this picture he has the brooding look of a novelist. I'll bet Kurt Vonnegut would like to have looked like this.

Why is the image (above) so blurry? Did I put my thumb on the lens?

Here (below) a passing giant asks for Tom's autograph and Tom graciously complies.

HOW TO TIE A BOW TIE

Hello! Uncle Eddie here! Tonight I'm going with John, Kali and Mike to the Annie Awards ceremony at U.C.L.A.! John's getting a life achievement award! It is of course, a black tie affair. Only the most suave animation people will be there. It's all very refined, very upper crust.

Most men will wear bow ties and ten'll get you twenty that most of the ties won't be tied right. Most artists are butterfingered when it comes to things not of the drawing board. Well, I wouldn't want any Theory Corner Readers to have that problem. If you're going to the Awards tonight, and you're having trouble with your tie, here's a tutorial just for you! 

First, adjust the tie to maximum length. You can tighten it later.  Put it around your neck and let one end be about an inch and a half longer than the other.

Now tie a standard simple knot, letting the long end do most of the wrapping. 

Here's (above) what I mean. Just a plain old, common as water, knot.

Now take the short end and crimp it between your fingers.

After the crimping it should look like this (above): The classic bow tie shape. I forgot to say that the other end of the bow tie doesn't come into play here so you get it out of the way, maybe by flinging it over your shoulder. 

Now, take the long end that was over your shoulder (above) and let it fall in front of the crimped bow tie shape.

Now this (above) is the hard part, the thing that seperates the men from the boys.  The problem is that there's no way to photograph it.  I tried, and my hands always got in the way.  Maybe I should have drawn this, instead of taking pictures.....Aaargh! Too late now! I'll have to talk you through it.

Ok, take the bottom of that long, vertical piece in the foreground,  bring it around the back of the tie, up and over, til what's left dangles over the front of the tie again. 

Now, as you see here (above)....You take the dangling part and stuff it through the loop in the middle of the tie.  Hard to see, I know. You have my sympathy.

Come to think of it, before you do any stuffing, take a look at the shape of the tie. One side has a bow and the other side has a straight end.  Each side needs to be completed by getting the part that it's missing. The bow side needs a straight end, and the straight part needs a bow. Stuff the part that was dangling through the middle loop so each part of the tie gets what it needs.


And Voila! There it is! 

Well, it doesn't look like much at this stage. 

Wiggle and pull things around till it begins to take shape (above).  When you get it right, reach around the back and tighten the tie buckle till it fits nice and snug. That's it!

I was going to say, "Simple wasn't it?", but it's not really.  Actually, it's kind of complicated. Just remember that each end of the tie, both the right and the left, require two parts: a bow and a straight end. Do whatever you need to do to make that happen.

Now...onto the Annie Awards!