At Walt Disney's Grave for Japan TV - Dec 15 2017

Today is a special day in history as Walt Disney left this mortal earth way back in 1966. On his birthday which is 10 days earlier on Dec 5 I've been making a pilgrimage of sorts to his grave in memory and to pay respects. Been doing that each year since 2008. The past few years I've been recording videos of my visits and put them on YouTube. They came to the attention of a TV show in Japan called "Graves of the Heroes" A film crew came in from Tokyo and interviewed me today in front of the cemetery. It will be broadcast in March next year I'm told.

It was an interesting experience and the people were great. Sees also that Crash Bandicoot is pretty popular in Japan. In any case I placed some flowers at Walt's grave site and this is what it looked like on the 51st anniversary of his passing.

If you'd like to see my last birthday visit to Walt on Dec 5 take a look at the video below. Rest In Peace Walt.

The Little Billy Collection for sale on Indiegogo

Hey there you lovely people. Recently I completed a series of sketches for a friend's project which he's crowdfunding on Indiegogo. His character is called Little Billy and he's the very first special needs character. Little Gilly lives in the 1980's and is caught up with cartoons and cereal and all the things going on in that decade. Chance Raspberry who's an animator on The Simpsons is the creator of Little Billy.

My contribution to the campaign involves a collection of original drawings that I came up with in a couple of sittings getting the hang of the character based upon the look that Chance has established.

Here's the collection. You can find out more and purchase them on the Little Billy campaign on Indiegogo. There's only a couple of days left and some of the drawings are grouped together in a bundle at a great price. Look for the Original Art Collection. 

They're done with blue pencil and black pen on animation paper. The He-Man and She-Ra sketches are 11 x 17 inches and are sold individually. The others including the one with Crash Bandicoot and Fievel Mousekewitz (American Tail animated feature 1987 - I was the first artist to develop the character) are included in the Little Billy Collection Bundle and are going for a great rate.

I don't put many of my originals out there for purchase and ownership so here's an opportunity to grab some up and support the Little Billy Project as well!. Campaign wraps up around December 15 or 16 2017. There's other rewards for supporters as well. Please check it out and help the Little Billy campaign reach its goal. 

In order of completion...

He-Man and Little Billy drawing sold separately...

She-Ra and Little Billy drawing sold separately.

ArtShark Meets Crash Bandicoot

The Beatles Booth in Burbank

Hey there great people! Here's a story. Once upon a time the Beatles came to Burbank California when they were on their Help tour in August 1965. They had lunch at a local joint that was famous for its burgers. It was just down the road and over the hill from the Hollywood Bowl. John, Paul, George and Ringo went in secretly and sat at the farthest booth away from the windows and main entrance for privacy so they wouldn't be mobbed. 

Afterwards the owner of Bob's Big Boy Restaurant (which is today the oldest Bob's in America dating to 1947) placed a plaque there commemorating the occasion. People kept stealing it over the years so he moved it to the front where it's out in the open and visible to all.

But the Burbank locals remember which booth it is and here's a picture of it. One of my most favorite places in the world to hang out with friends.

Happy Thanksgiving 2017

It's the Thanksgiving Holiday here in the US and I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you the very best! Here's something I just completed as a greeting on behalf of my school. Thank you for being such an awesome and excellent community. I'm grateful for your attention and for the many years you've been following my blog. May you always have joy in your life and lots of good food in your belly! 

2017 NHRA Awards - Hollywood

Hey there folks hope this finds you well. I was invited to help out a little with the set up at the National Hot Rod Association Awards in Hollywood this past Monday Nov 13. Had a fun time hanging out at the Dolby Theater Complex which is where they have the Academy Awards ceremony. There's a banquet hall on the top floor above the theater where the Oscars are held. This is where the NHRA had their shindig. I got a couple of photos to share so here ya go...

I painted this

Well I got out my trusty ol' acrylic paints that are older than everyone in the classroom except for me. And they're still wet! This is a reverse process of what I said I would do in the last post. I did it in one night as a demo and kept going until it was done.

I'm going to paint this...

... in acrylics. This is the pencil sketch on a small piece of illustration board. Soon it will be covered by pigment and lost to the creative process so that something colorful can emerge from it. Good thing there's scanning technology! I'm inspired to paint.

Toot yer horn

I'm always happy to come here and show what I'm doing. You guys have been a great audience for a long time. Having fun listening to music and then I wind up with something.

ArtShark Halloween 2017

Here we are at another October 31 and Halloween! To celebrate I had a great time creating a promotion piece for my school featuring our mascot ArtShark. Here's the final version in color which I completed in the afternoon. Hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween and that you eat lots of candy and assorted goodies.

Little rockin' mouse

This happened tonight listening to Bo Diddley.

Lady Vampires

Here's a follow up to the vampire queens from before. Put the three together and we've got an interesting trio.

Vampire vamps

It's the Halloween season and that means having fun with vampires! This evening I enjoyed spending time sketching with my students. The theme we settled upon was vampire queens so I gave it a go and came up with these two compositions. Anytime I have a chance to draw or create something new I do my best to take advantage of that window of opportunity.

Red Sonya in red

Conan the Barbarian had a partner in Red Sonya. She was a fearless female fighter in the barbarian style. I drew this during the past week in session with my students. Thought I'd use red pencil to accentuate Sonya's redness. I don't know why I drew her in this way but it is what it is and that's what it is. In any case it's always fun to create and draw and I value the time when I have a chance to do it. This is a work in progress and I may finish it up with black line.

Conan the Barbarian - another version

I was drawing with my students this evening and had a hankering for doing a picture of Conan the Barbarian. So I did. There are certain subjects that I like to explore on occasion and Conan is one of them. He was one of my favorite comic book characters in my growing up years. This is blue pencil and ball point pen which I've been using a lot lately. 

Flyin' High Crash redo

Thought I'd give the last Crash another try...

The Animation Academy on Patreon

Hello to all and I hope this finds you doing great! The community on my blog is a special one as I've enjoyed very much featuring my art here and interacting with a terrific group of individuals. I want to let you know about something I launched a few days ago. It's a perfect system for us. Something special that I have high hopes for. I launched a Patreon page for my school in Burbank California. 

I haven't gotten into broad [promotion with it yet but so far we have 5 members lined up and I'm looking to see if I can interest any of you fanstastic and lovely folks here to consider either entering the program or supporting it in a small way.

The idea is to build an educational community on Patreon that uses the monthly based crowdfunding site as an alternation or an optional resource for artists out there who are looking to improve upon their work. Especially character designers and artists who'd like to develop and improve their skills as they apply to animation and related fields.

This is something new on Patreon and new for me. I've been conducting classes online for going on 2 years now and I've gotten very experience at it. I'm looking to migrate to Patreon and develop something that will give everyone an opportunity at affordable education at varying levels. And if you're not an artist a resource that will inspire you to create and also to support The Animation Academy in Burbank which has done great things for many people. I've had the school for 20 years this January and I'm excited about taking it in a new direction. I think Patreon is the perfect way to go.

Looking to expand our core group for new and amazing things with exciting prospects and potential.  

Consider signing up by clicking on the graphics above or the text links to the Academy's Patreon site. And if you know of others who'd benefit from something like this please pass the word along. I sincerely thank you! 

Keep Creating !!

Charles Zembillas

Director and Founder

The Animation Academy

Burbank California

USA

Flyin' High Crash!

Who needs a rocket pack...

Three Little Piggies

Another assignment from my students. Boy they're tough! Last time it was the Big Bad Wolf. This time it's the Three Little Pigs. From class this evening...

Lady Liberty

I had an idea and spent the evening drawing it out with my students in class. A new concept for Lady Liberty which is an iconic symbol in the US. I thought I'd make her look like an angelic African American lady draped in the flag. A former slave whose chains morphed into flowers which she used to bless the land with forgiveness and love. A different take on a classic American theme. Maybe in this time of turmoil in our country and the world this can help with a positive message as modest as it is.

Big Bad Wolf too - line

Got out a ball point black line pen and put a finishing touch on BBW2. See previous post for the blue line rough.

Big Bad Wolf too

Something fun. Here's another version of the BBW in a different direction. The blue pencil demo from class this week. Will add black line.

ArtShark sez have a "Happy Autumn!"

It's the first day of Fall in the northern hemisphere and I thought I'd celebrate by posting a picture of my school's mascot enjoying the time of year. This is something I did a couple years ago and never got around to using it so I dug up ArtShark and placed him in an autumn setting. Used the image to say hello to the Academy's followers on Facebook. Why not post it here for the wonderful people that visit my blog. Hope you have a very pleasant season.

Big Bad Wolf

Yippee! Finally got a chance to draw a character! I've been caught up in many distractions and issues and what have you. I'm happy to say that at least for now I'm able to do something creative. Last couple of evenings at my school my students gave me an assignment. I was directed to design my version of the Big Bad Wolf from the Three Little Pigs story. These sketches are my first pass on the character. Normally in a professional situation I'd come up with lots of different variations. In class I used the opportunity to provide a demonstration for my fantastic students. Blue pencil and ball point pen. Hope everyone is doing well and as always thanks for checking in.

The Burbank Fire - September 1 - 3 2017

Hello there friends and followers and all you great people! It's been a while since I posted. Not because my blog has been out of mind but for the same reasons I've stated before only even more so. Very busy with my school and just trying to deal with all the incoming stuff every day. At times it's relentless. Doing my best to balance it all out. Unfortunately it comes at the expense of my personal creativity. But I have been doing some things and will follow up in the near future with what I've been up to. 

This was the Labor Day weekend in the US which is our last holiday of the summer season. This past week we've had a heat wave in Burbank that culminated in a massive fire in the foothills. It started in a canyon beyond the ridge on Friday Sept 1. At around 4 pm I saw it as and breached the ridge and headed towards the town. Went to the roof of the building where my school is at and took some pictures.  Here's what it looked like at that time...

Here's a tighter picture. It was an aggressive raging inferno that would soon be threatening homes...

Around midnight I went to the rooftop again to see how bad it was. The fire became very widespread. Way beyond what you're seeing here. This was the area that was directly threatening Burbank. At this point is was bearing down on the hillside homes. 

Sorry about the poor image quality of the picture below. My phone camera wasn't made for zooming in on wildfires at night. At this point the fire line was approaching houses. I thought there was no chance of saving them. The spots of lights you see at the bottom right and along the lower parts of the picture are neighborhoods. 

Check out this amazing and dramatic photo. I don't know who took it. A friend sent it to me that night. They got it from someone else. This is downtown Burbank California in the area of Cartoon Network.

As it turned out the firefighters did an outstanding job. Helicopters dumping water and flame retardant all weekend saved just about all the homes and property and there was no loss of life. A big thanks also to Providence for keeping the winds low and for the rain that fell in our area on Sunday Sept 3 which helped to kill the blaze. In all my years living in this area I can't remember a time when we got rain in early September. But we did! Miracles never cease. Burbank is a very special place and God protects this wonderful city. At least that's how I feel about. Anyway here's what the smoldering fires looked like late Sunday afternoon Sept 3 around 48 hours after they started.

    

I shot some video too which I'll add to this post later on. Even when disaster strikes remember that life is good and precious and it's beautiful. Count our blessings every day. Peace love and happiness to you!