Season's Greetings!

‎"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

--Jacob Marley, from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens


Happy Holidays!

Anson

Sketchbook Dump

I know it's been a long time since I last posted. A lot has been going on, and I haven't had a lot of time to blog. But hopefully I can make up for it with a big art dump from my sketchbook. These life drawings are marker and Prismacolor with pencil and/or ballpoint pen.









Click on each image for a larger view.

Digging Up the Fun Guy

In a much younger incarnation of myself, I had dreams of doing my own syndicated comic strip. In college, I did a weekly comic strip for the campus paper called "The Fun Guy". It was basically a ripoff of one of my cartoon heroes, Jules Feiffer. Doing this strip gave me a great appreciation for what a daily strip cartoonist does, since trying to come up with a funny strip every week just seemed like expecting a miracle to happen every 7 days. How strip artists were able to do this every day in the tiny 3 panel cartoon haiku format that was expected in strips at the time seemed like an impossible task.

Bad Joo Joo Gallery Remodeling

In celebration of the opening of Garter Belts and Gasoline 3, I've done a bit of an update to my long neglected pinup site, "The Bad Joo Joo Gallery". I've added a few pieces and there will be more on the way. I had actually planned to do a lot more, like deal with some JavaScript problems that appear on some browsers as well as a page for ordering original art and prints, but I've had a lot on my plate lately, and probably won't get to any of that before the show. But check out the site anyways; art's good for ya.

Here's the press info on Garter Belts and Gasoline 3:

What: Artist Reception for show entitled Garter Belts & Gasoline 3 and Car show
Where: The Gallery at the Alternative Cafe. 1230 Fremont Blvd, Seaside
When: Friday, August 13th 7pm till 10pm
Why: Because you like art and hotrods, especially on the same night!
Who:
Joe Chiodo
Sam Gambino
April May
Glen McDowell
Randy Noborikawa
Robh Ruppel
Tanem
Jessica "Tink" Whiteside
Anson Jew
and more...

Grease up your hair, slide on your best garter and role on down to The Alternative Cafe on Friday the 13th! Garter Belts & Gasoline is our 3rd annual pin-up and hotrod art exhibit here at the Gallery at the Alternative Cafe,
guest curated by local pin-up artist Tanem.

Hotrods, gassers and ratrods will be on display in front of the gallery from 6 to 9.

Themed drink specials during the car show. Wine and snacks, as always, will be available. Guest disc jockey.

Joe Chiodo:
Born on January 22, 1958 (yep you do the math), the youngest of four boys and raised in San Jose CA. Joe has always been a pretty quiet individual, finding art to be his passion at an early age. Trying to find an outlet and realizing San Jose would not be the place where this would happen, he traveled to various places like, New York and Los Angeles. Where he worked for a diverse client base, from book covers, toy companies, gaming, and comics, eventually settling in San Diego.
Sam Gambino:
Sam grew up with kustom kulture art as the son of an original 1956 Detroit, Michigan pinstriper. He has a great love and appreciation for vintage ad art; so much so that much of his art is sometimes mistaken to be 40 or 50 years old. He has created comic panels for King Features Syndicate's New Breed comic strip and shown his work in gallery art shows inside and



outside of the United States. Working primarily in enamels, he also uses 23 carat gold leaf in much of his art. In addition, he creates digital and pen and ink art. His subject matter many times includes campy, vintage and kitschy cult characters - usually with a different spin than one would expect to see with these personalities. He designed the Sam's Shrunken Head and Sam's Dinky Noggin mugs by Tiki Farm; the 2007 tiki mug for the legendary Sam's Seafood Restaurant in Huntington Beach, California; and Mort, Maury and Merv - the Bowling Moai Brothers mugs and decanter by Tiki Farm. There is also a line of his vintage style tin and wooden pub signs which are sold in stores worldwide.
April May:
Hot rodding is an art form, and she's proving it, one photo at a time. April May has been photographing cars since long before she could even "legally" drive to a car show. In every picture she takes, she is attempting to show how the owner's creativity, focus, and dedication came together to produce something meaningful. There's no need to have some broad laying on the car to take away from it's details and individuality. They speak for themselves.
Glen McDowell:
Northern California photographer located on the central coast offering wedding, portrait and pin-up photography as well as advertising and commercial photography. To learn more about me and the quality of my work please visit mcdowellphoto.com.
Randy Noborikawa:
Born in Southern California, graduated from Academy of Art College in San Francisco. Randy currently lives in Costa Mesa, Ca while frequently making trips to SF for inspiration. His work often takes on one of three distinct styles: linticular paintings, painterly cityscapes or the suger skull avatar.
Robh Ruppel:
Robh has designed for film, television and print. He attended Art Center College of Design and has worked for a varied clientele including Walt Disney Animation Studios, TV Guide, Boss Films, Naughty Dog and TSR.
“I love inventing worlds and the things in them. The thrill of seeing appear before you is pretty hard to match. In inventing things that don’t exist you’re part architect, part painter and part camerman. It never gets boring.”
While at Disney Robh art directed Brother Bear and Meet the Robinsons. He’s currently working on conceptualizing a next-gen games in Santa Monica, California.
Tanem:
Tanem started in the film industry as a storyboard artist for the award winning films Cherish and Dopamine. Having attended art school in San Francisco, he concentrated his studies on illustration for film. He later worked as a video game artist before transitioning into film making. Tanem recently completed his first film, New Brow. Tanem currently lives and works in Monterey.
Jessica "Tink" Whiteside:
My name is Jessica Whiteside, but I go by the nickname Tink. I started out my life in the bayou's of Louisiana. My father is a successful Visual Effects and Gaming Artist who taught me to draw when I was just a small fry. Very early on I developed a love for painting and drawing which has been an all consuming obsession ever since. My family moved to Australia when I was ten and returned to the United States when I was eighteen years old. After returning to the US with a quirky southern/ Australian combo sort of accent I decided to follow my father's footsteps to become a professional artist. I received a scholarship to attend The Academy of Art University in San Francisco where I learned the importance of good drawing, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Illustration in 2004. I have exhibited my work in galleries around California since 2001 and also work as a Professional Freelance Illustrator, Graphic Designer and Event Producer.
Anson Jew:
Anson Jew began his career as an animator at LucasArts Entertainment, where his credits include the computer games "Full Throttle" and "Curse of Monkey Island". In 1999,he won a Xeric Foundation Grant and self-published the comic book "Saturday Nite". He currently works as a freelance storyboard artist. His feature film credits include "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", "Prince Caspian" "TMNT" and "Anacondas: Hunt for the Blood Orchid". He has also worked on storyboards for commercials and the computer game industry, as well as concept art for corporate events and the toy industry. Anson has created work for companies including Acura, Nokia, Universal Music, Walgreens, Activision, Midway, The Learning Company, EA and Pacific Sun Wear. He lives in Los Angeles.

ZOINKS! It's Like, Some Storyboards, Man!

Last week Cartoon Network aired episode 4 of Scooby Doo! Mystery Inc., "Revenge of the Man Crab". I did some storyboards for that episode (this scene is in the middle of the episode). Here's a look:

Comic-Con Time Again!

Well, it's that time of year again! This year, Comic-Con will be laid out a little differently, with Artists' Alley moved to the left side of the floor. I will be at table DD24 next to my brother Benton, who will be at DD23. Come by and say hello!

This year I will be focusing a little more on digital mini-prints. I have a new image, "New Dog, Old Trick", that will be available at Comic-Con as a 11" x 17" mini-print. Which isn't so mini except that the image will later will be made available as a giclee in all it's full 13" x 22" glory at the 3rd Annual Garter Belts and Gasoline Show taking place at the Alternative Cafe in Seaside CA. The opening will be on Friday, August 13, from 7pm-9pm. The Alternative Cafe is at 1230 Fremont Blvd., Seaside CA 93955-5734.

Here's a detailed look at the art:



Email me at ansonj@sbcglobal for more information about my prints and other stuff I have for sale.

Robot Sketches

I felt like sketching robots today....

Website Revamp

My portfolio site was way overdue for a revamp. Check it out at http://ansonart.tripod.com

Let me know if you have any comments or bugs or dead links to report.

Thanks!

Anson

The Last Whitewasher

In August of 2009, a story surfaced about a Microsoft advertisement in which a photo of businesspeople of various ethnicities and genders was altered. The head of a black man was replaced with that of a white man. Microsoft later apologized for the incident.

* * * *

In August of 2009, a story came to light about Larry Whitten, a hotel owner in Taos, New Mexico, who ordered his Hispanic employees to Anglicize their first names. The name Marcos, for example, had to be changed to Mark. The employees were also forbidden from speaking Spanish in his presence.




* * * *





In June of 2010, a Prescott, Arizona principal decided to lighten the skin of black and hispanic students depicted on a mural at Miller Valley Elementary School following prodding by Prescott city councilman Steve Blair. Blair stated on his radio show that showing people of color on a mural in Prescott constituted some kind of "agenda." Some of the residents of Prescott drove by and screamed racial slurs at the mural. Fortunately the decision was reversed following an outpouring of criticism from people across the country.


* * * *



Even before filming began of his live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, M. Night Shyamalan was informed of the racial insensitivity of casting Caucasian actors for all the lead roles, even though the source material--a popular American anime style cartoon-- clearly takes place in a fictional version of ancient Asia (everyone eats with chopsticks, the writing, costumes and architecture are authentically ancient Asian in style). Unfortunately, Shyamalan failed to rethink his his whitewashed casting (other than making one of the antagonists in the story an Indian when the originally cast white actor dropped out). On July 1, 2010, Shyamalan's The Last Airbender opened in theaters across the US. In Los Angeles and Seattle people of all ethnic backgrounds came out to protest Shyamalan's poor casting decisions.



This type of thing follows a long tradition of whitewashed casting in Hollywood in which roles that were clearly most appropriate for actors of color are given to white actors or are changed to accommodate white actors. John Wayne played Genghis Khan in 1956. Brian Dennehy played Kublai Khan in 2007. Mickey Rourke will play Genghis Khan in John Millius' upcoming film. No live action film depiction of Charlie Chan has ever featured an Asian actor in the many incarnations of the role throughout it's history. The same is true of Fu Manchu. The list for this type of thing goes on throughout film history and lasts even to this day.



Ask any actor of color or his or her agent: go for a role written for a white actor in a substantial role and more often than not, the result will be "No, thanks" but there's a role for you--"third tourist from the left."

It is sad, that in Los Angeles, a town that is about 10.4% Asian, less than 2% of roles go to Asians. In fact, Hollywood's record with people of color is pretty dismal. Paramount, for example, the studio making Airbender, is giving 89% of it's lead roles in the next decade to white actors, 94% of which will be males.

Now it's not hard to find people who will sympathize with you about the lack of good roles in Hollywood for Asians and other people of color.

The problem is, it's not true. There are plenty of good roles for people of color in this town.

Hollywood has just given those roles to white people.

Please don't allow your money to support these kind of bigoted hiring practices.




More on this topic:

Racebending.com

My brother Benton makes some very solid arguments on this subject.


And if none of this is enough to stop you from seeing the movie, watch this.

What? You Haven't Seen My Comics Work?

I've posted some examples of my comics work to my Flicker site. Check out a slideshow with more samples by cllicking here.



Buy my comics here.

New Storyboards on Flickr

Another update on Flickr. I've posted some new storyboard samples and now some of the boards are linked to the finished videos for comparison. Check it out here!

If you need a storyboard artist email me at ansonj@sbcglobal.net or call (323) 669-3946.

Pretty Sketchy

February's output was a little thin, so I raided my sketchbook for some new work to post. One good way to fill up a sketchbook is to attend one of the many open figure drawing studios in Los Angeles. LA loves life drawing, and there are opportunities to render the figure most days of the week all over the LA area. Different studios offer many different things--some have long poses, others have short, some have costumed, others do nudes...there's something for every need and preference. I go to several different ones depending on my mood. Here are a few life drawing studios I go to. They support our arts community here in LA, so support them. Los Feliz Workshop, Dr. Sketchy's, The Drawing Club, Gallery Girls, Sketch Book Society, LAAFA

Some more sketches. Click for a larger view.











Say, speaking of supporting artists, check out the sidebar at the right. Now it's easier than ever to find all the books, comics and various items I have available for you to own all in one place! Check it out!

Flickr Update

Big update to my Flickr account. Some newer artwork mixed in with older stuff.

I Painted a Couple of Caricatures in Photoshop.