My Favorite Things - Part 1

I've decided to post a few of my favorite Looney Tunes collectibles. Two of them are collectible limited-edition Goebel figurines and the other is a limited-edition Bugs Bunny figurine that was sent out by the Collector's Guild at the Warner Bros. Studio Store (which is now closed, unfortunately).

"Rabbit of Seville"

The first is the complete Goebel "Barber Shop" set from 1997. It is based on the classic 1950 Chuck Jones short "Rabbit of Seville". Only 10,098 pieces of this set were produced. All together this figurine is worth about $275. I got a really good deal for it on eBay back in 2008. I remember when I was a kid seeing this in a shop at the mall and wanting to buy it. It was way too expensive but eleven years later I finally introduced it to my home.

"Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century"

This is the one-piece Goebel "In the Name of Earth" figurine from 1997. Unfortunately, it is not the full set. It is based on the classic 1953 Chuck Jones short "Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century". This figurine is worth about $110. I also got a pretty good deal for this on eBay back in 2008. It was the first of these figurines that I purchased.

"Collector's Guild Bugs Bunny Figurine"

This is a Bugs Bunny figurine sent out to Charter members of the Warner Bros. Collector's Guild in 1997. I purchased it for a decent price in 2010. I'm not sure how much it is really worth but I have seen it selling on eBay for around $200.

That wraps up my blog on "My Favorite Things - Part 1". Stay tuned for part two sometime in the near future. I know you are drooling with anticipation.

- Ryan

"Cedar Rapids"

I bought the movie "Cedar Rapids" on DVD today. I rarely buy DVDs unless it is something that I really appreciate, and when I saw this movie in theaters I really appreciated John C. Reilly's performance. The only movies I ever look forward to seeing are John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell movies since they're the gods of all things hilarious. I am not big on laughing and it is pretty hard to get a real one out of me. But John C. Reilly is one of the few people who can do that well. I made a compilation of some of my favorite scenes from the movie. Go buy it on DVD, it is pretty god damn funny.

The Best Moments from "Cedar Rapids"

- Ryan

More Cartoon Favorites

Here are some more Chuck Jones shorts that are in my top ten favorite Looney Tunes cartoons of all-time:

"Rabbit of Seville" (1950)

Behind the Hollywood Bowl stage which is playing the opera, The Barber of Seville, Bugs Bunny flees into the backstage area with Elmer Fudd in close pursuit. Seeing his opportunity to fight on his terms, Bugs raises the curtain on Elmer, trapping him on stage. As the orchestra begins playing, Bugs comes into play as the barber who is going to make sure that Elmer is going to get a grooming he will never forget. -- Kenneth Chisholm (IMDB.com)

"Hair-Raising Hare" (1946)

A wind-up toy in the shapely shape of a female rabbit lures Bugs Bunny out of his rabbit hole and into the castle of an evil scientist who looks exactly like Peter Lorre. The scientist wants to feed the rabbit to his huge, sneaker-wearing monster. The beast, completely covered in orange hair, is frightening enough to leave our hero temporarily speechless - forcing him to hold up a sign that says, "Yipe!" But Bugs Bunny is not easily cowed, and soon the wily rabbit is disguising himself in turns as a lamp, a chatty manicurist, a figure in a framed portrait and a knight on a charging horse, tricking and frustrating his nightmarish opponent at every turn. -- J. Spurlin (IMDB.com)

"Duck Amuck" (1953)

Daffy is harassed by an unseen, trickster animator, who keeps changing backgrounds on him, messes with the soundtrack, switches props and humilates him with buffoonish costumes. -- Paul Penna (IMDB.com)

"Scaredy Cat" (1948)

Porky and Sylvester spend the night in an old dark house, whose horrors only Sylvester sees. His repeated attempts to save Porky from the ghoulish doings of the killer mice infesting the place only make the skeptical Porky all the more convinced of Sylvester's cowardice. -- Paul Penna (IMDB.com)

A Chuck Jones Tribute

I went through a video editing phase last March and created two music videos in memory of animation legend Chuck Jones. The first video contains clips from some of his work on Looney Tunes and the second is a dedication to the classic Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner shorts. The version I'm posting of "A Chuck Jones Tribute" is not the final version but there isn't much difference besides a few clip changes.

A Chuck Jones Tribute

A Wile E. Coyote Tribute

Here are a few Chuck Jones sketches I captured a while back from "Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens":

 

- Ryan

The Best of Eric Cartman

I'm posting some South Park videos I edited together earlier this year featuring the best moments of Eric Cartman from seasons one, two and three. Unfortunately, I missed one of the best moments from season one:

"Why don't you stop dressing me up like a mailman and making me dance for you while you go smoke crack in your bedroom and have sex with some guy I don't even know on my dad's bed!?"

Oh well. There are too many great moments in season one to capture them all. That is what buying the DVD is for.

The Best of Eric Cartman - Season 1

The Best of Eric Cartman - Season 2

The Best of Eric Cartman - Season 3

For more South Park videos join the South Park Songs Facebook fan page!

- Ryan

The 3 Greatest Cartoons of All-time

I decided that for my birthday I would blog about the three greatest cartoons of all-time. I am of course talking about the "Duck Season! Rabbit Season!" trilogy directed by Chuck Jones in the 1950's. Everything about these cartoons is perfect. The animation, the timing and the word play are brilliant."Rabbit Fire" is probably my very favorite cartoon ever, with "Rabbit Seasoning" and "Duck! Rabbit! Duck!" in a close second and third. I love all of Chuck Jones' work, but in my opinion these are the best of the best.

"Rabbit Fire" (1951)
In "Rabbit Fire" Bugs and Daffy battle it out over which hunting season it really is: rabbit or duck. Daffy is continuously blasted by Elmer Fudd's "elephant gun" as Bugs outwits him through the entire cartoon. It turns out it is really "Elmer Season" so Bugs and Daffy decide to get trigger happy on the clueless hunter.

"Rabbit Seasoning" (1952)

In "Rabbit Seasoning" Daffy posts signs all over the forest claiming it's rabbit season. He runs into some "pronoun trouble" while trying to get Elmer Fudd to blast Bugs and ends up getting shot himself. This cartoon has some of the greatest facial expressions of the trilogy.

"Duck! Rabbit! Duck!" (1953)

In "Duck! Rabbit! Duck!" it is once again duck hunting season and Daffy tricks Elmer Fudd into thinking it's rabbit season. But Daffy falls victim to his own scheme when Bugs keeps switching the signs to be different hunting seasons. One of the funniest shots in this cartoon is when Daffy is shot off-camera, picks up his beak and walks off to give Elmer some more "briefing".

- Ryan

Before and After

You are in a for a real treat. I rarely show my original sketches anymore because they suck so hard, but I decided to play a little game of before and after. The hand-drawn and finalized sketches both suck but the completed work is still slightly better. I always have to fix a lot of proportion problems when I clean up the drawing in Flash. There are quite a few differences in the before and after. I will never understand how professionals get their sketches to look perfect without having to correct things in their finalized work.

BEFORE & AFTER:

Littlebit's left cheek gets touched up and his stripes are removed because I'm lazy.

The only real difference here is that Ryan's left hand is enlarged.

Blacky's eyes are slightly closer together in the finalized drawing.

Ryan's hat and shoe laces get a little buffed up in this picture. A pen is also added later because it was drawn from scratch in Flash.

Now wasn't that fun? I know it got my juices flowing. I'm not a great artist but I'm slowly improving. So deal with it, hippie.

- Ryan

"I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat!"

I've been watching a lot of Sylvester and Tweety cartoons lately. I've realized I'm so Gung Ho on Chuck Jones' work I never really took as much time to appreciate Friz Freleng's cartoons. He is probably my second favorite Looney Tunes director. I especially love his style from the mid-forties through the early fifties. His characters get rather stiff in the late fifties, and even a little bit in the early fifties. I'm not too crazy about his later Bugs Bunny, but his Sylvester and Tweety cartoons are amazing. Tweety is such a little sarcastic bastard I am always rooting for Sylvester to sink his fangs into that fat yellow head.

My favorite Sylvester and Tweety cartoon is "I Taw a Putty Tat" from 1947. It is one of the few cartoons where Tweety wears his stupid little blue hat. I'm not a big fan of Tweety but he is pretty funny in this cartoon. Probably because he does more than have stupid one-liners.

- Ryan

A Hunting We Will Go!

I got bored and decided to draw my dad a picture for Father's Day. He likes cats and hunting so I combined the two. Sure it makes no sense, but we are going to ignore that for now and look at the four stages it took to make this drawing. Why? Because once again, I am bored.

Pencil Sketch

This is the original crappy hand-drawn sketch done in blue pencil. Notice I gave him ears because I forgot I was going to have him wearing a hunting cap. I also should have drawn his other rear leg but decided not to because I'm a dumbass.

Outlines

These are the outlines I traced using the line tool in Adobe Flash. Tracing the pencil sketch is the longest and most boring part of the process. I notice now, after comparing these drawings, I screwed up the right cheek pretty bad. Now I'm all pissed off.

Colored Drawing

Here is Felix all colored in Adobe Flash. Isn't he adorable? I wonder what he is going to murder with that shotgun. Maybe Justin Bieber? Well, that is just wishful thinking. Now it is time to import the colored drawing into Adobe Photoshop.

Final Touches

After the drawing is imported into Adobe Photoshop it is tediously shaded. I also added a light drop shadow and motion-blur for the gun smoke. So there you have it. Now you've learned everything you never wanted to know about drawing a three-legged kitten with a retarded looking cheek.

- Ryan