NYC Halloween Parade Design

Siobhan Harris and I had the pleasure of designing the New York City Village Halloween parade logo again this year. The them was “i of the beholder”, a truncated phrase from the “beauty is in the…” quote from ancient times. We took the Greek myth of Argus, with his transformation into the peacock, as inspiration to represent the theme of the all seeing.

You can support the NYC 2011 Halloween Parade by purchasing a T-Shirt. And then wear it when you go to the amazing parade that happens every year on October 31st in Manhattan!

Etsy Shop

I started an Etsy shop to sell a series of wine stoppers I first created for my parents awhile ago. Right now there are only four to choose from, but I’ve been brainstorming a bunch and have a few more ideas for other cork toppers, which will slowly trickle in the shop.

Newport Beach Film Festival

I had the pleasure of having my premier of Moonfishing at the Newport Beach Film Festival this past weekend. It was part of a of the Handmade Puppet Dreams films group, nestled in with a line-up of some amazing pieces. I just found out today that it got the Short Film Audience Award. Such a lovely surprise, especially considering the other great shorts that were there. Thank you to all that made this possible!

Fearzilla

My friends Serra Hirsch and Sarah Lafferty and I had the honor of building and performing the Fearzilla puppet in Comedy Central and the Colbert Report‘s Washington D.C. Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on October 30th, 2010.

This 12’ pageant puppet, sculpted in the likeness of Stephen Colbert was made up of mostly papier mache built over a re-used hiking backpack. The mouth, operated by the puppeteer wearing the torso on her back, was able to lip sync along with Stephen as he preached his sermon.

New York Village Halloween Parade

Jeanne Fleming was nice enough to ask me to design the 2010 New York Village Halloween Parade t-shirt this year. The theme is “memento mori”, a sort of medieval day of the dead equivalent in which people are reminded that death is near and that we should celebrate and embrace it rather than fear it.

So…. dancing skeletons!!! I had Siobhan Harris from Bellwether Studio work her magic with the typography.

T-shirts are on sale for $30 at the official NYVHP site. Please support this wonderful New York tradition, and if you’re in the neighborhood… go to the parade on the 31st in NYC. It’s amazing.

Hotdog & Hamburger

Two Hotdog and Hamburger shorts have been released to the world. A product of the SpeakeasyFX team, I contributed the backgrounds, some character designs for the series, the logo and helped with the overall look and feel of the pieces.

Sexcamaids’ Bribe

I had the pleasure of designing and building this year’s Sexcamaids‘ bribe for the 2010 Coney Island Mermaid Parade. It is a well known fact that the judges of this parade love a little grease when it comes to deciding the winners of the parade (last year someone gave them a boat as a bribe… needless to say, those guys were winners).

Art director Siobhan Harris had the idea of giving the dance group a bit of lore and wanted to dress up the picnic basket like bribe as a sunken treasure that had been long lost in the depths of the sea. The amazing food that was prepared for the judges was contained in weathered and beaten tins with names such as “Calico Jack’s Anti-Scurvy Kit” and “Bonny Ship’s Biscuits”, all designed by friends of the Sexcamaids.

Made from foamcore, cardboard and clay for the detail work, the chest was specially designed for the bribe from top to bottom to hold the culinary treat.

I am happy to say that, next to their amazing dancing, it was a big part in getting these ladies the esteemed title of “Judges Choice” for this years parade. Congratz, ladies!

Abby’s Emmy

It was just announced that Abby’s Flying Fairy School (Sesame Street) received an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation. Peter de Seve, the designer of the four main characters that are students in the magic school, received the award. You can read his “acceptance speech” on his blog (this Emmy category is prejudged). I’m re-posting his wonderful sketches he did for SpeakeasyFX (below), which we refined and colored and made into what you see today. It has always fascinated me to see how far the characters have to travel from the first concept sketches to the final on-air translation and the work and thought that has to go into it. And as the art director on this show, I strived to keep the energy and charisma of Peter’s sketches alive.

[original concept sketches by Peter de Seve]

Community Stash

I and the team at SpeakeasyFX were included in the newest issue of Stash DVD Magazine (63) for our work on the opening credits for Community, the new NBC sitcom airing Thursday nights. I had helped develop, with director Erin Sarofsky, the illustrations for the cootie catcher that is featured in the CG titles.

The Last Thanksgiving

I was asked by Bellwether Studio to do an illustration for the November poster of the Script Tease series (Union Hall Drama Club) at Brooklyn’s Union Hall. Shiobhan Harris, the art director, had the idea to translate da Vinci’s The Last Supper into a depiction of a “typical” Thanksgiving dinner.