Even more CARTOON CUTIES material...

   A few more Cartoon Cuties ink sheets passed through the scanner. Above is a cuddly shot of Crissy Carrots (although I'm certain I will go back and maker her bottom half larger, as her legs look really tiny here). The main goal of the book is to make people smile. I don't always use cheesecake to do that, either. Directly below are a couple of pages featuring sisters Beverly and Jeannie, that last panel hopefully a warm and fuzzy depiction of sisterly love. When it came time to ink the top page, I was very cross with myself for having set the scene in a library!

   Of course, the girls have their cheesecakey moments as well. Here's a pinup shot of Jeannie... (one where her head looks rather large, I may need to tweak it a little...)

   Jeannie looks a bit better proportioned (if still in an animated way) in the next ink sheet. If I thought I made a mistake setting a story in a library, I discovered it was still far better than choosing to draw a tennis game. Those rackets in particular are challenging when you draw everything but straight lines and perfect circles freehand!

   Finally, we have a potential cover ink sheet which features Bev and Jean. I find I draw Beverly in states of frustration quite a bit. That's really only because she's so expressive, so putting her in situations where she's able to be expressive obviously makes sense. By nature, Jeannie is a bit more graceful and thus more prone to wearing a happy face.

   Yvette Pond (named by colorist/letterer Jim Ludwig) has proven a fun character to draw. She has several short episodes lined up for future issues. Here's a sample of her work... (Her head also seems a bit large in most of these pages. Sometimes it's useful for me to scan a few pages as I seem to notice what needs to be fixed more quickly after seeing a scan than from just looking at the art itself. The downside of that means sharing my mistakes with you rather than presenting my best work!) 

   Simone Grace hasn't commanded as many pages as I expected her to, she being the local weather girl with dreams of stardom. Here are a couple of pages from a solo story which features her. What issue exactly this episode will appear in, I can't say just yet. Simone was one of my earliest characters because I was commissioned to create her shortly after I developed Crissy Carrots. She proved difficult to build a book around for some reason, so I never really did anything with her. Even her appearances in Cartoon Cuties are peripheral. At least they have been so far. I'm sure she'll have her turn, though.

   A couple of new faces now. The first appears only fleetingly in a story I recently finished the inks for. Here's the main page where she's featured, during a photoshoot at the movie studio where most of the book is set, or at least centered around. Not sure yet who she is, what her name is, or even if she's going to be a return character. She came out cute, though, so I may try to find more for her to do. (UPDATE - I go back and alter this page after posting, when I noticed just how long her right arm is.)

   This next character I've been hesitant to show off, since in black and white she looks a lot like Minerva Mink. The similarities go even farther, since this character is Maxine Mink. Max is a local TV personality, the spokesmodel for prominent fur seller Marco's Minks. I've got a couple of stories lined up for her (and even a joke about her really being a racoon who dyed her hair). The similarities to Minerva Mink will be gone once the pages are colored, but it's hard not to see them here. Granted, most cartoon characters (Minerva Mink, Mickey Mouse, Alvin, etc) have very similar faces. That's something I discovered when I began drawing "femanimals" for Cartoon Cuties. Even so, her long hair and tail and similar name make Max look like a copy of sorts. Again, though, once colored that will be negated.

   I've come to grips with the fact that Crissy Carrots is more or less my mascot. Here are some Carrots drawings. The first was planned as a sales piece, but it may find it's way into the book instead. Below that is a page from a story I just did final clean-up on.

   Lastly, we have an illustration which may not be an actual page for Cartoon Cuties. I actually saw it more fit for T shirts or something of that nature, which is why it doesn't have typical panel boarders. It'll also mean more after a few issues have been released, but to my eyes it perfectly sums up the series itself. I said the book's purpose was to make the reader smile, and here's a drawing that should do just that once one is familiar with the characters.  

Cartoon Cuties, all art and characters (c) 2019 Rock Baker

A Quick Look: LICENSE TO KILL (1989 - color)

   Timothy Dalton's second, and sadly final, turn as James Bond pushed the character into even grittier territory than before. LICENCE TO KILL finds our hero going rouge in order to infiltrate and destroy the gang of a drug lord played by Robert Davi, this in retaliation for the brute act of feeding Felix Leiter to a shark and murdering the fellow agent's new bride. Bond's adventure takes him to Mexico, where he manages to appeal to the enemy by posing as a private enforcer. This exchange includes the great line where Davi asks Bond if he's a problem solver and Bond responds "More of a problem eliminator." More a revenge story, one could almost see this one as a Mike Hammer vehicle rather than a Bond. This adventure is a pretty radical departure from the rest of the series, but it is in many ways the truest to Fleming. The title sequence features a lot of cameras because the guy who did the sequence wasn't aware that the iconic Bond opening represented a gun barrel and not a camera! It was following this release that James Bond fell into some sort of legal trouble which kept the franchise grounded for years. By the time the matter was settled, Dalton was doing other projects. It was now the 1990's, and a new Bond was about to appear...

A Quick Look: THE GIANT CLAW (1958)

   From the better-than-it's-reputation file, THE GIANT CLAW had one of the best scripts of the era -filled with great dialog and sharp characters. Much of the derision against the film is due to the fact that Columbia farmed out the special effects to a company in Mexico. The monster they created is regarded as one of the goofiest creature designs in motion picture history (never mind that it's disturbingly life-like in it's movements and textures). The cast reportedly tried to hide in their seats during the premiere and snuck out early to avoid facing the audience. Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday head the cast, with perpetual military leader Morris Ankrum in support. Whatever it's flaws, it remains a solid 50's monster picture, and in many ways has become emblematic of the genre.

CARTOON CUTIES stuff...

    Seeing issue 1 of Cartoon Cuties finally hit print (now for sale on Amazon) has really energized work on further issues. Here're some materials new and old. The top image is a tweaked pinup of Doris Flowers, who turns up in the second issue. Directly below is the ink sheet for another Flowers pinup, God willing to be used as the back cover of issue 3. I'm actually really pleased with this pinup, as everything seemed to come together perfectly. Still unsure what the planned dialog balloon should be, but I can easily picture as a running theme for back covers scenes from the studio dressing room like this.

   Now we have new characters to show off. So far, I've used sisters Beverly and Jeannie mostly for short single or two-page gags. These help me figure out the characters and their dynamic. Eventually, I'd like to give them longer stories (but with the materials already assembled, we'd possibly be looking at issue 11 or 12 before they could take center stage in any meaningful way). The basic idea here is a fairly old one. Beverly is something of a free spirit but more grounded than she usually appears -shallow but sweet, her sister Jeannie (the one with the pigtails) is intelligent but can be a bit scatterbrained. The solo page of Beverly (just below) may be published in issue 4 or 5. I'm looking forward to writing for these characters.

   Below are some materials I've had prepared for a while now. First up is a pinup I had planned for the first issue when it was to be a one-shot graphic novel about Crissy Carrots. The idea was to fill out the remainder of the book with pinup poses of the characters present, until it became a continuing series and I drew up "Stick Together" as a back-up story. Mala Winston is one of the heavies of the first issue. After drawing this pinup directly below, I saw that she had potential as a reformed character. She has a solo story in issue 2 regarding just that, and will become a major supporting player in the issues beyond. I'm looking forward to sharing those episodes with you.

   Daisy Poise, directly below, was my first "femanimal" character and I consider her one of the pillar characters of the franchise alongside Crissy Carrots and Minerva Mallen. This early pinup of the character captured a cute pose, though I've done better faces. Her ears are particularly huge here. I've since shrunk and stream-lined them a bit to make them easier to draw in the average panel. I'm not crazy about much of the earlier work I did on the series, but color certainly helps.

   Below are a couple of cats, because I figured there needed to be cats since one of my earlier commissions was to create a feline character akin to the work I'd done with Crissy Carrots. The result was Simone Grace, who is slated to appear in issue 2. Also appearing in issue 2 is Trudy Kitten, seen directly below. I don't really have a lot of material for Trudy as of yet. At this point she's more of a background character. Below her is Dixie North, who shows up quickly in issue 1. Dixie proved more difficult to draw than I expected, so she hasn't been utilized as much I originally thought she might be. She is slated to appear in future issues, however. Dixie is part of a comedy team with regular human being Trixie Hope, who has become one of my main characters.

   Lois Teppert I wrote about in a previous post, the character who became a star playing "Chickie Little" in a series of cartoon shorts. It seemed fitting to include a bird in the stable, given the volume of classic cartoons which feature birds (though their use as glamor characters has been few and far between, but there have been a couple so I figured I should include one). She pops up in issue 2 and then takes the spotlight in issue 3. She typically wears her hair pulled back. This is one of the few times I rendered her with her hair loose.

   Next we have Wendy Marco, who shows up in issue 1. Mostly, she serves as a sidekick to Minerva Mallen, both on and off the screen. She usually manages to be close to the action and has considerable coverage in most issues. The drawing below is supposed to be a candid snapshot which was printed in the local newspaper. This got her noticed by the studio brass and secured her a contract. Quite a bit of the series centers around Wendy, it turns out. She's a constant studio presence, Minerva's close friend, and her uncle is a fur salesman who sponsors programming on the local TV station. It points to how little I consider ethnicity that I made her a blonde of European descent and then gave her a Spanish Sir name! When her uncle pops up in issue 3, I drew him more swarthy to justify the name I gave her.

   One of the more interesting characters I came up with for the series is Louise Beaumont, who we meet in issue 2. Louise was inspired by an aging actress of the same name in an old episode of ALF. My Louise Beaumont brings in a bit of Hollywood history to the series, as she's been written as a classic starlet seeking to re-energize her faded career. Back in the 20's, she was the top female annie starlet (thus, her physical inspiration is as a cartoon version of Clara Bow/Louise Brooks). Her fame was eclipsed in the early 30's by the arrival of Betty Boop, who was only pen and ink (the concept being that some cartoon stars were flesh and blood and others strictly the invention of studio cartoonists). Since the real-life 1950's saw a renewed interest in 1920's film stars, the comic book finds Louise taking advantage of that and making efforts to re-establish herself as one of Creek Bend's stable of animated glamor starlets. Since annies don't age as normal people do, this means the projection of a youthful image like she once played to in her old cartoons. Below is a pinup shot which pushes Beaumont's status as a, as Mr. Moody once said of Lucy Carmichael, "teen-aged senior citizen." Louise is a bit opportunistic, and like many a starlet seems desperate to hold onto her youth and it's glory. Makes for some interesting story ideas. Another connection to Wendy Marco, Louise Beaumont is Wendy's grandmother. I need to tweak this drawing a little. Her hair needs to be bigger and rounder. The pose comes from an early 60's issue of Playboy, I think. It seemed to capture Louise perfectly.

   As noted last time, Sugar Chestnut is another rabbit who ties more closely to the movie studio than does Crissy Carrots. She's introduced in issue 2 and grabs the spotlight in issue 3. This pinup shot was based on a shot of 60's model and Playmate Lori Winston. The more human anatomy seems to offer the right look in suggesting that these characters live in the real world alongside the rest of us. There's also the fact that I began as a pinup cartoonist, so human anatomy is just more comfortable for me to draw. I never set out to draw cheesecake animals (in fact, given some of the weird communities that have risen in the internet age, I wanted to stay pretty far away from the theme). It seems a good fit for my particular skill set, however.

All art and characters (c) 2019 Rock Baker.

A Quick Look: THE CHIPMUNK ADVENTURE (1987 - color)

    The 80's produced some fun animated movies. This one isn't remarkable, but it quickly established itself as one of my favorites when I watched the video on a lark after being given a collection of VHS tapes. Spun off of the updated Saturday morning cartoon series, this rather delightful feature follows Alvin and the Chipmunks (along with their female counterparts, the Chipettes) as they are tricked into embarking on a round-the-world race which really fronts for a diamond smuggling operation. Largely the episodic mini-adventures one would expect from another variation of Around The World In 80 Days, combined with several musical numbers, the results are quite entertaining. The humor is largely on the mark, the characters good, and the pace is swift, thanks to a very good script and solid direction. The animation itself is pretty advanced for this sort of thing, combining largely limited animation with some rather elaborate, Disney-esque fluidness during some of the musical numbers. The Chipmunks and the Chipettes seem of equal importance, rather than the supporting characters there just serve as back-up to the established stars, and we spend as much time with the girls as we do the boys. I hadn't seen the Saturday morning cartoons since first run. I had forgotten all about the Chipettes, who seem to've commanded the most attention from the animators at work here. This one is of the fun and breezy variety, and one of the few more modern (post-1960) animated movies I'd show to kids without reservation.

UPDATE - Be aware that the remastered Alvin's Diamond Edition DVD isn't as good as the 1998 VHS release. While the print is nice and the colors are vibrant, the soundtrack was remixed for stereo and as result there are several lines and sound effects missing (while some sound effects seem to've been added to a couple of the musical numbers). In addition, the aspect ratio has been artificially letterboxed for widescreen TV's by lopping portions of the picture off the top and bottom of the screen. Isn't it ironic how widescreen televisions were invented so movies didn't have to be cropped, but as result some movies have been cropped to fit widescreen sets?

   Reportedly, THE CHIPMUNK ADVENTURE was a failure at the box office. Another movie wouldn't turn up for a decade. The results, though, were far more entertaining than I expected. ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS MEET FRANKENSTEIN came to video in 1999 (supposedly, the 1998 video release of THE CHIPMUNK ADVENTURE did better than it's theatrical run, and even coincided with the release of a soundtrack album). Being a late 90's picture, the music isn't as good as it was in the first film, but the script is strong, and funny. Alvin and his brothers now find themselves performing at a movie studio theme park at the same time that Dr. Frankenstein has moved to town and rebuilt his monster. Being a Universal production, they even get to use the traditional Jack Pierce design of the monster. This one was sharp and funny, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The humor is a bit more cartoonish this time around, and I wonder if the then-recent Animaniacs television series was partly an influence (one can easily imagine from that show the exchange between Dr. Frankenstein and Alvin, whom the Doc plans to turn into a zombie: "Have you ever seen a mindless zombie?" "Are you kidding? I live in Hollywood!"). The film was followed in 2000 by another video release, ALVIN AND CHIPMUNKS MEET THE WOLFMAN! 

   Somewhat more subtle than the zaniness of the previous entry, there are still some chuckles and laughs as monster-obsessed Alvin is convinced the spooky new neighbor Mr. Talbot is a werewolf. The Chipettes are back, joining the boys in a school play based on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. When Alvin proves too hyper and destructive, he's yanked from the lead role and replaced by the timid Theodore. When Theodore is bitten by a big dog, though, he develops a more confident attitude which turns into wildness as he begins transforming into a werewolf! This last film is a mixed bag, though it gets better with repeated viewing, being largely entertaining but somewhat lackluster after the first two films. That's not to talk it down, of course. It's got plenty of charm and the climax set during the performance of the play is pretty funny stuff. I would've welcomed more movies in the series, but the next time the franchise was used in a feature film it was for the radically different ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS (which set the dial to zero and made the chipmunks actual animals rather than David's adopted sons). This approach must've worked for audiences, though, because it resulted in a series of four films.   

A Quick Look at TV: VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

   Producer Irwin Allen became a staple of 60's imagi-fiction television, and it started with his small screen adaptation of his triumphant science fiction epic VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. The TV Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea starred Richard Basehart as the inventor of the world's most sophisticated atomic submarine, the Seaview. Working in co-operation with, but not for, the US Navy, his chief security officer was David Hedison. Hedison's desire to do things by the book usually conflicted with Basehart's get-it-done, oft-speculative nature. Early on, the show was heavy with international espionage and intrigue, as spies and despots across the globe tried to get their hands on Seaview. Occasionally, the adventures were more science-fiction based, with the crew running across alien civilizations and strange phenomena. This approach was favored with viewers, so the series eventually developed into a monster-of-the-week format when Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea switched to full color. Gillmen, werewolves, voodoo, dinosaurs, ghosts, undersea giants, blobs, everything you could image was in Seaview's scope! While this approach endeared the series to viewers (particularly the kiddies) and embedded many a memory, it also served to annoy critics who favored the more adult situations of the early episodes. Said critics have been rather harsh on the resulting series and even those shows Allen followed up with (and even Allen himself, at times). All their carping, however, could never rob Allen of his standing with all those monster kids who grew up on his wares. His first series remains one of his most fondly remembered.