"Smitty"

Here's another gem i story boarded on a few month ago for my buddy Dave mickey evans . Dave is cutting away on it right now and i wish him all the luck in the world.

Beach Party!

No, Not that kind of beach party. The Elegy Beach party!




On a cold, foggy Nov. 3 night in San Diego, Steve Boyett had his opening day book signing at Mysterious Galaxy book store, and I wasn't going to miss it.



By the time John Field and I arrived, Steve was doing a Q&A.



Tom Morgan kept the Q&A rolling with some very good questions, followed by some very good rants and answers by Mr. Boyett.



In the crowd were some of my good friends and trench buddies from Omation . Tom,Woody,Hayley and Paul had braved the fog to wish Steve good luck and to get a few copies of his books signed.



Once Steve finished up with the general public signing,



the "O" crew got a chance to get their copies signed. Here Paul Claerhout steps up to the plate,



followed by Tom Morgan



and new convert Hayley Kohler.



We heckled, cut up and generally had a great time.The bookstore was a real treat, and Tom Moran signed a few copies of the Obama comic collection he had done.



Once everything was signed, we were off to Godfather's for a fine Italian meal and more silliness.



So remember, gang: Don't be a "Bonehead!"



Go get your copy today.You will be glad you did.

"Elegy Beach" in book stores now !

Steve's got his, and Igot mine. So get out there and get yours. You will be glad you did!

Original Newt

During the premiere in Austin, Texas, of the "Tales of the Rat Fink" documentary a few years back, there was an after-party where all involved got to display their painted Rat Finks for the upcoming Rat Fink's Revenge book.



Upon arriving, I checked in on my little contribution. Rust Fink was happily rusting away on the far wall.




But that was not what caught my eye. Above all our crazy painted rats was something that made me stop dead in my tracks. Ed Newton originals from back in the day.



Needless to say, the rest of the night was me going into hyper-study mode. Ed is the look of the Roth World for me, and I had only that evening to soak up every brush stroke and chrome accent. Just look at this beautiful work.



Super Bee looked great. And even greater with all the detail.



Ed's hand lettering is just amazing, and you will NEVER make a font cooler.



The feeling of speed and power is unbelievable here.



Not only does the letting, VW bug and the monster design look great,



but the feeling of the back wheels pushing the design up off the front wheels is awesome. You can almost smell the rubber burning.



His monsters designs are wonderfully original,



and have been an inspiration for me since I could hold a pencil.



They have to be turned up so they're lost by the power of the cars.



There is so much wonderful control in his brush work



and for black and white art, his chrome is blinding.



When I started doing art for Ed Roth back in the day, he always reminded me to study how Newt used his opaque white.



To me, that's half the artwork right there.



Most, if not all, of this original art got auctioned off at the Peterson Museum a few years back, and I wish I had had the dough to pick up just one of the pieces seen here.



I would have dug that, but I did have the presence of mind to snap these pix for my Roth cartoon morgue.



One day, I hope to meet up with his Newtness and pick his brain about all he brought to the Roth designs. Like always, I'm sure I will learn more and more as I go. Once you stop learning, you're dead.



I hope all you budding monster shirt artists out there will study the above images. It will help you, I guarantee it. I know it helped me a ton. Ed Roth was right as always. Thank, Ed Newton!

Isn't "SHE" Lovely?

Sept. 6, 2008's post featured some very sexy ladies.



And the hottest one of all was this lovely lass, She Fink.



I was banking on the success of the "Trixie Fink" design to launch "She Fink". Trixie was our first toe in the water in launching a set of ladies' designs for the Roth line.



Trixie was an instant hit with the ladies, and it was time to release my next hot rod hottie. I dug back into the file and found her. She was ready for her closeup, Mr. De-Mille.

I started with the pencil rough, working off the existing design,



and pieced together a nice Rat Rod for her.



I roughed in some lettering, and got busy with the brush and the ink. First I inked HER in. What a glamor puss.



From here, I just worked down to the roadster. . .



. . .trying to pop out as much detail as I could just with the brush.



Then I hit the hot rod, blocking in all the blacks. . .



. . . till it was looking fast and furious.



From here, I could drop in a font that fit the design.



I love this kind of monster font.



You can do it quick and do it all with the brush.



From there, I hit all the dark areas with the good old opaque white for contour and highlights,



then give "She Fink" a little a makeup job as well.



And just like that, she came roaring off the page and off to Ilene Roth for approval and printing. I hope this design makes it in time for the Moon Show at Irwindale this year.



Pucker up, all you lucky boys!

Thank You, Miss Lane

As some of you know, my Redhead has a new job. She is doing what she does best, reporting. When I met her, she was working for the Orlando Sentinel so we would meet up, during our courting days, in between news stories. She had been a reporter all her life, and a damn good one too.



When I opened my animation studio in DeLand in the early 90's, she was not happy with how things in the paper game were going. So I hired he as my office manager. Smartest thing I ever did. But she still couldn't shake the newspaper game. Flash forward to last month and a job offer from the Benicia Herald.



She had gotten a tip from our pal Roger Colton on a job listing there. She applied, and had a good interview but, sadly, she did not get the gig. Then something happened, the job listing popped up again weeks later. She interviewed, and this time got the gig. Welcome back to the newspaper game!



And as you can see, "Donna Beth Weilenman" is now front page news.



And she's back doing what she was trained for.



And doing it well.



Now, to mark this wonderful occasion, I hatched up a plan with my roommate, John Field. Not only is John one of the foremost authorities of the "Adventures of Superman" TV show, he's close friends with one of the Redhead's inspirations, Noel Neill - TV's Lois Lane to you.



On my request, we had Noel sign up a picture to the Redhead, and I was going to have it sent anonymously to the paper. It got signed, all right, but wound up being hand-delivered by myself on my last trip home. Why? Well, the Redhead and her co-worker Bethany had been doing a little spring cleaning at the office in their section of the building, and the only thing missing on her desk was a picture. And here it is.



To say the least, the Redhead was stunned. What a great picture, and the signature said it all.



Now it sits with pride there in the news room. On the desk of the other redheaded reporter who will always do her best to get the story on deadline.



Just like her hero, Miss Lane.


My thanks to John, Larry and of course, Noel.

One quick trip

If you remember a few posts back, I was part of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles jam with Chris Allen for Stephan Reese at gogreenmachine.org. The only thing that needed to be done was to sign it.



Stephan's headquarters are in Pasadena, so I thought I could drive up, sign the art, and come right back. Yeah, right. One quick trip went the whole weekend. So Saturday I hooked up with Story Machine Woody Woodman and headed north. First stop? Mooneyes in Santa Fe Springs.



This was the spot we did many a Rat Fink Reunion while Ed Roth was alive, and it had been a while since I had dropped by.



Chico, the boss man, greeted me in the store, and we did a little catching up. Normally I see him at the Moon Christmas party, and it's just too crazy-nuts to try to talk with anyone, so it was nice to have time to visit a little bit.



I picked up a few Roth goodies that I was missing, and met Woody by the old Mooneyes dragster.



From there, it was off to North Hollywood for the best Philly cheese steak sandwich in the county.



And, yeah folks, I have had them in Philly, too, and this is STILL the best. We hit a few book stores after that. Like Aerobook and the Iliad.



The Iliad always has a great selection of movie production technical books, and I always hit it if I need anything. I scored a hard back copy of "The Total Filmmaker," by Jerry Lewis, to replace the one that went missing years and years ago. I have been asking them about a copy for years, and finally they found me one. Wow! Was I happy! This, and "The Film Director," by Richard Bare, were my first-ever film books in film school.



By this time, it was getting late. We need to hit the Doll Factory. My favorite Roller Derby gal "Tara Armov," was not playing for her group, the "Fight Crew." Instead, she was coaching for the Sirens.



I thought Woody would get a kick out of it, so off we went. We both had a blast watching the bout (Sorry, gang, no cameras aloud inside), and even more fun at the after-party.



Tara tagged Woody.



And we did our usual mugging for the camera.



And drank, and joked around,



and just kicked back and enjoyed the evening.



Needless to say, we all had a great time.
Now, wasn't there something I was supposed to do in Pasadena? I will stop at the Starbucks at the Burbank Airport Sunday morning and ask my buddy Steve Boyett what it is.



Well, Steve met us for coffee, signed a few book for my friends, and talked martial arts with Woody. Wait - martial arts . . . ninjas . . . Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! CRAP! We needed to get to Pasadena! I called Stephan, and next thing we knew, I'm doing exactly what I set out to do before this whole this started: Signing the artwork!



And sign it I did. There! It's now finished!




Then I got on the TMNT Adventures books.



I had a great time reminiscing about the good old days working on those crazy comic books.



And I got the chance to check out the the collection there at Gogreenmachine headquarters.



There was some very cool stuff I haven't seen in years.



I knocked out a very quick sketch for their fridge. Sharpie on printer paper - my favorite medium.



Woody and I had a great times with Heather and Stephan at Gogreenmachine. They're a couple of sweet kids.



Once I signed everything, and it all got put up, they treated me to a signed gogreenmachine tee shirt. . .



. . . and lunch at Islands Restaurant in town. We said our goodbyes, and hit the road after that.



One quick trip. Rrrrriiiiight.