I just received word that my book (from 2006) has somehow made its way onto Amazon.com. I self-published the thing through lulu.com almost three years ago, and I guess Lulu and Amazon are shaking hands making babies, because last week they informed me that my book, Four Comics by Lucas Wright would be listed (at least for a while) on Amazon. Anyway, I thought that was neat and should let you folks know that you can now give me money in new and amazonian ways.
I just bought and read Tony Fucile's Let's Do Nothing, and I (heart) it. I (heart) it big time. If you're a sucker for Fucile's drawings (guilty!), this book will totally scratch that itch, and that's to say nothing of how much fun it is to read. I caught myself smiling like a goon before I'd gotten to the second page. Anywho, just thought I would throw that out there. Tony Fucile is a rockstar, his picture book debut is completely rad, go get it and you will (heart) it too. I promise.
This past summer I spent four months at CORE Digital Pictures animating on a short film under Oscar-winning director Chris Landreth (2004, Best Animated Short, 'Ryan'-- I always have to throw in the Oscar part) called The Spine. Anywho, the good people at the National Film Board just put together The Spine website. Now you all can have a gander at some behind the scenes footage, early concept art, interviews with Chris, and my beard-sporting self saying my name into a video camera. Pretty stellar stuff, if you ask my clean-shaven self.
Ooh! And I am now listed on IMDB, which is kind of neat.
I recieved word a few weeks ago that the film I worked on this summer will be at Annecy this year. Pretty cool news! Check it out. It was a really cool experience working on it, and I'm definitely excited to see how it looks all put together and whatnot.
I have a theory about people in the animation industry. You know how they say that when people spend a lot of time with or around their pets they begin to look like their pets? Ditto with animators, except in this case substitute the word "pet" with the word "cartoon." I have found that people who work in animation generally look like cartoon characters, and thus are easy (and fun) to caricature. And the best part is, most of us love to draw as well! Ben McEvoy Andrew Gregoire Ken "Ahchacha" Collins Morgan DeLange Tyson Groth Chris Landreth Ben McEvoy again Lucas "fishface" Wright Lucas "distraught caricature" Wright
Thus concludes Volume One of the ongoing series What the Hell are YOU looking at, Funny-Face!? by L. D. Wright.
I drew these is early May, whilst listening to one of my favourite albums of all time-- Blues 'n Roots by Charles Mingus. His style and recording methods are so organic that you feel like the music itself is a living, breathing thing, right there in the room with you, on the train, on the street, in the pub. A welcome presence, like a friend whose company you never tire of. Below is a pseudo-caricature of another one of my favourite jaw-dropping rule-breaking jazz masters, Thelonius Monk.
I was watching Cats Don't Dance the other day, for the first time in ages. Aside from the obvious and tragic fact that this is an often overlooked gem in the canon of animated feature films, this picture is full of top-notch animation, and some really great performances. One moment in particular that stood out for me was one shot of the character Darla Dimple in the song Big and Loud. It's a relatively brief shot (about twelve seconds), where she sings the line "They like it big, they like it loud, maybe a little bit jazzy sometimes". There is a spectacular little performance within that one line, and the quality of the animation is so juicy you could open a profitable lemonade stand franchise with the talent dripping from that twelve-second piece. The poses are so clean you could eat off them-- and that's to say nothing of their dynamicism, instant readability of the silhouettes, and perfect communication of attitudes therein-- the arcs are perfect, the movement itself is so beautifully fluid it makes me salivate (even the quality of the overlap is impressive), and that is to say nothing of what I consider to be impressive and creative acting choices, given the minute length of the shot itself and relative superficiality of the dialogue (you gotta work with what they give you, right?). Not to mention that, despite the broad nature of the action and poses, there are some great little subtleties in her face that just plus the whole performance a million times over. Did I mention that I'm also in love with the character design itself? Essentially, this is a grade A piece of air-tight character animation within a single twelve-second shot. Take a look for yourself (the shot I'm talking about starts at around the 0:47 mark. Just watch the whole thing, you'll know it when you see it):
Arguably the best shot in the entire sequence, though there are many really, really good ones (I'm also a fan of Darla's delivery of the line "Leaves you kinda speechless, don't it?", and the opening line "I've seen 'em come and I've seen 'em go, there's one thing that I know").
I drew a whole lot over the summer, but I haven't gotten around to posting anything until now because I've been stupid busy. Anywho, here are a few sketchbook randoms from the last few months (p.s. I have so many more along the way, so sit tight and enjoy the ride):
I know that I have been less-than-stellar at maintaining this blog for the last few weeks, but that all changes here and now! Animation wrapped recently on the film that I was working on this summer, so I have a little time to breathe and get to the bloggin'. I also recently had a fight with my scanner, so we're not speaking to each other right now (we're going through a rough patch. See, I want my scanner to work like it's supposed to, and my scanner feels the exact opposite).
But what I lack in mouth-watering doodles I make up for in relatively obscure French animated cinema! Word on the street is that directors Matthieu Buchalski, Jean-Michel Drechsler, and Thierry Onillon recently screened their wicked trippy mini opus Camera Obscura at this year's Ottawa International Animation Festival. Lucky for you (and me) there's a little spot on the internet where you can watch it: RIGHT HERE. I love it.
So, the order of the day is to get in with a scanner that can get the job done, give you all tasty sketchbook highlights, and occassionally make me some tea.
The folks I work for were awesome enough to pay for me to go see the opening screening of Wall-E on Friday morning. If you have not yet seen it, you really have to. For reals. I could geek out for hours about the character development, the fantastic acting, the story, and that's to say nothing of the techy stuff (the rendering is like nothing I have ever seen before. I think my brain actually exploded). At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, it is easily the best animated feature I have ever seen. I look forward to seeing it again, several times before it's out of theatres. You should totally come!
Cooler still was the short that preceded it, Presto, directed by my hero Doug Sweetland. Sweetland's sensibilities translated beautifully in this snappy slapstick send-up to old school Warner Brothers cartoons. The poses were crisp, the arcs were gorgeous, and the timing was flawless. Presto alone was worth the price of admission, and is, for my money, Pixar's best short thus far. Here's just a taste, in case you're not quite foaming at the mouth by now:
Now go see it, or you will kick yourself forever. I am not exaggerating.
I just wanted to take one second to share with you all this article written by illustrator Arik Roper for Arthur Magazine about subversive filmmaker and animation anomally Ralph Bakshi. I found it kind of interesting, and thought that maybe you might as well. Or maybe not, see if I care. Ha!
Sorry I haven't posted anything awesome in a while, I've been stupid busy. So I hope that this supercool caricatured sculpture of Barack Obama by Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi more than makes up for my entirely unexpected and utterly inexcusable absence. I will totally post some super rad stuff by the end of the week. Promise.
The weather is lovely, the grass smells nice, and I have some sketchbook musings for you. Could life get any sweeter? Perhaps, but they haven't invented robot sharks yet. -Lucas
The last of Disney's famed and beloved Nine Old Men, the incomparable Ollie Johnston, passed away today at the age of 95. Johnston was a personal hero of mine, and one of the reasons that I got into animation. He was a touching spirit, a teacher and perpetual source of inspiration. I am completely and sincerely heartbroken. Ollie Johnston was responsible for such timeless performances as the all-too-famous and ludicrously heart-warming spaghetti-eating scene in Lady and the Tramp, The tap-dancing penguins in Mary Poppins, as well as lead animator on such classics as The Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, Bambi, Pinocchio, The Rescuers, The Aristocats, The Fox and the Hound, Robin Hood, The Sword in the Stone, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, Fantasia, and the seminal Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to name but a few.
Rest peacefully, Ollie. You have given so much to so many. -Lucas
April 15, 2008 EDIT: Ollie's official studio press obituary was released today, and can be read here.
Y'know, I think I might actually make updating this blog a regular thing. Wouldn't that be nuts!? Yes. Yes it would be nuts. Anywho, here are a few doodles from the last few weeks.
First and foremost, I completely revamped my website, WWW.POETSANDPRIMATES.COM, so check that out if you haven't already. It's still in need of a spit-shine, but for the most part it's all gravy. I know it's taken me a while to get to a scanner, but I finally escaped the time-sucking clutches of animation long enough to scan a few sketches. Here are a couple for now, I will post some more in a few days. Enjoy (or else).
I promise that I will actually start posting sketches and drawings and all that juicy stuff wicked soon, but I just made a fabulous discovery. I justifiably loathe a good ninety percent of the stuff on YouTube. Whilst sifting inexplicably through the cyber sea of garbage I came across some gems in the form of the Disney Family Album series. Half-hour documentries chronicling the careers of a few of the Nine Old Men. I'm sure the others are out there, but I managed to find my three favourites:
Enjoy this small virtual gift from France's Jeremy Clapin, Backbone Tale (Une Histoire Vertebrale), and just see if your heart doesn't do its own tiny game of hopscotch inside your ribs. I know mine did.
I took a break from animating to waste time and brain power on the YouTube this afternoon, and found some truly awesome stuff. As an animator, if this stuff doesn't rev your proverbial engine, then you should probably just pack it in and go into freelance dentistry or something: Brad Bird on Milt Kahl Glen Keane on Ollie Johnston Andreas Deja on Frank Thomas
I also fell orgasmically upon a four-part documentary on Art Babbit entitled Animating Art: • Part I • Part II • Part III • Part IV •
I also found some Glen Keane lectures, which I might post at a later date. But you can chew on these tasty chunks-o-goodness for now.
Hello all, and welcome to my brand-spankin'-new blog. I figured I should take a minute to deflower this sucker, and at least christen it with a post lest it remain baron and prestine, like a new pair of really nice shoes. I draw on nice shoes with sharpies. But enough petty drivel. This is my blog, where I'll be posting all sorts of cool stuff: doodles and sketches, animations, works in progress, and generally letting you all know what I'm up to creatively. And since I'm a creative person I anticipate that I will be posting often. Lucky you! Or, you can always swing by my trusty rusty website (poetsandprimates.com) for brain food, eye candy, and face soda. Anywho, I won't yammer. Hope to see you again wicked soon!
