THE THOSE GUYS blog

"The Hidden Life of the Burrowing Owl" T-Shirts

2008-06-23T19:29:00.001-07:00

For a limited time only, get your own OWL t-shirts. These are available only online through zazzle, and will not be sold anywhere else. Come support the film you my not have even seen yet! Click here to get one!

~mike

The world looks good for Sierra!

2008-06-17T19:58:00.001-07:00

A while back I was contacted by a woman named Wendy. Her sister Becky, has a daughter named Sarah. Sarah was going to have a baby around May. I was given the requirements of "they LOVE sock monkeys!". Well what else was I going to paint? So I did some sock monkey research and came across some very interesting and bizarre ones, but I got the general idea. So I plunkered down and came up with this. Hope you enjoy the painting Sarah and Gabe! Congratulations!

Annecy International festival of Animation 2008

2008-06-17T02:39:00.000-07:00

So I'm back from my week in Annecy, Fr for the Animation festival. I had a blast! It is true what everyones says about Annecy. The Food,the Festival, the films, the f-scenery, and the friends are all top notch.

Mari and I got there on Saturday and went straight to our hotel after picking up our badges and the 500 lbs. of programs and advertisements. Our Hotel was paid for by the festival and was right on the Lake(such a beautiful view).

We met up with Dikki and a group of the most talented and super cool locals. Shout out to Bannister, Flo, Mathilde, Corentin, Ben, and Jean-Phillip. You guys rock. Ok so now Mari and I had a crew and we were ready to start the festival.

I hadn't really thought about it until I got there but there is waaaaay too much animation for you to see. A week is not enough to cram it all in so we dicided to narrow our schdule a bit. This is what we saw...

Short films in Competition #1:Our favorite were...

"KJFG no5",super simple but probably the funniest short of the whole festival.

"La Maison en Petits Cubes", this one won the Annecy Crystal for best short. It was so good it made Mari tear up a little.

Short films in Competition #2:I was in this one...

"Let Them Grow!", I met the director, Christelle Soutif, who was super nice. She had a really cool Clay/Affect effects technique she used.

"Keith Reynolds Can't Make it Tonight", Also met the director, Felix Massie, who is one of four directors who had shorts at Annecy this year all from a studio ,ArthurCox,in Bristol. He also used Flash and I think we were the only two in the whole competition who did.

"Chepogi", Super cool Russian folk tail with a happy ending. Beautiful with a neat cutout animation style.

"Styri", I met the director and producer to this film too. Ivana Sebestova and Ivana Zajacova from Slovakia. We ended up bumping into each other a couple times during the festival and went to the closing ceremonies together. Their short was also awesome about four womens lives that cross paths and interconnect in different ways.

"The Hidden Life of the Burrowing Owl", my film was here.

The Other directors and I before the show.

Short films in Competition #3:

"Portraits Rates a Sainte-Helene", A film about Napolean and his portait.

"John and Karen" by Matthew walker, another director from ArthurCox.

"My Little Angel", Funny short with violence toward puppies, But in a funny way.

Short films in Competition #4 :

"Kuygorozh" another amazingly good looking short from a Russian director.

"Operator" This was Matthew Walkers second film in competition. I thought this one was really funny. Good dry humor in animation hits me on the funny bone.

"Paradise" I love the way this one looked. Well done. Oh and I think Dave Foley from "kids in the Hall" did a voice on this one.

"Skhizein", This one was a french film that everyone liked. Good concept, done well, and not to long. Really good.

We also got to see a super sweet presentation of two Disney shorts and the new Pixar short. Awwwwwwesome! All three were really good. The goofy one was super funny and worked totally well in 2D. That was good to see again. "Glago's Guest", which I had never heard of before, was great! And of course Pixar knocks another one far out of the park with "Presto". What was really nice is Doug Sweetland had a really interesting presentation after about how he had to pitch and re-pitch and re-pitch the boards to the Pixar brain trust, until he got it right. I really related to his story cause I went through a really similar thing with Chris and Shannon when I was pitching "Owl". I love how those Pixar guys really open their shirts and let you see how hairy their chests are. Most companies try and keep their mistakes and process secret, but it is a totally helpful to hear how they go through making this stuff.

After that we saw a whole grip of features
"Nocturna" Good 2D!
"Appleseed: Ex Machina" CG Anime.
"Go West, A Lucky Luke Adventure" It was like a super good Animaniacs feature length episode. Funny.
"Dragon Hunters" Mari said she liked it and can't wait for it to come out in english.
"Idiots & Angels" Another weird one from Plymton. I'm glad he is back to the colored pencils.

And like a genius I missed "Sita Sings the Blues" a feature by an american who uses Flash and won the Crystal for best feature.

So on Wednesday I had my premiere in the Grande Salle(a huge 1000 seat plus theater). The theater was packed to the gills and the crowd was throwing tons of paper airplanes before the show(an Annecy tradition). I can't tell you how cool it was to sit in an audience of that many people and watch something you did on a super huge screen. It felt really good, and to top it off they cheered at the end. Aaahhh I was in heaven. After each film they brought up the lights and if the director was there he/she ran up on stage and took a bow. I ran up with Mari's camera and took this blurry shot.

Earlier that day Dik, Bannister, and Corentin, all had a comic book signing out front of the local comic book store. (french comics....drool) They seemed to have a good time. You'll have to ask Dik for more details on that since I took the opportunity to ditch them and go eat more French food with Mari.

On Thursday we all took part in the Sketch Crawl. Bannister and Dik lead about 60 artist through the old town drawing the whole way. It was a blast and I got to meet a whole bunch of artists from all over England. (really nice all of them)

All in all it was a great week. My favorite part was probably the people. It was awesome being in a place with so many people all jazzed about seeing good animation. Can't wait to finish my next film so I can try and convince Annecy to let me come back again.

Les Ces Type al a Francais

2008-06-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

That is right, Mike and Dik are on their way to Annecy France this weekend. Mike's film is having it's world premiere on Tuesday the 10th at La Turbine theater at 2:00 pm. And Dik is helping host an international SKECTHCRAWL on Thursday at 2:00pm this Flight friend Bannister.

"One To Grow On" Show

2008-05-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

Israel here, I'm showing new work in a gallery show called "One To Grow On" that is opening tomorrow night at Gallery 1988. The show will feature artwork by 13 artists all together, come check it out.

Power In Numbers Show

2008-04-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hi! The "Power In Numbers" show will be opening this Saturday at Gallery Nucleus. "The Those Guys" team members Richard Pose, Matt Spangler,Justin Ridge, and Israel Sanchez will be showing artwork. Each painting will measure 5x7 inches and will be priced at $100 with %20 of the proceeds going to the Make A Wish Foundation. Come check it out, the opening starts at 7pm.

Mike's film now has a website

2008-04-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

You can now explore the official Titmouse Shorts website for "The Hidden Life of the Burrowing Owl". This new website has all the up-to-date info about where you can see the film, special behind the scenes on the making of the film, and a spiffy new trailer. So check it out!

Its Official

2008-03-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

Today I learned the my film "The Hidden Life of the Burrowing Owl"
,that I made at Titmouse,is going to be shown at Annecy International Animated Film Festival this June. I am totally amped. Still shaking a little. YEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAA!!!!!

The Blossom Eaters

2008-03-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a painting for an upcoming show at Gallery 1988 called "...And That's One To Grow On!" The theme for the show is artwork based on my childhood. So yes, this happened to me.

Steve is a poser

2008-02-09T00:31:00.001-08:00

This is Steve the Life Drawing model. I like to draw Steve cause he is a poser.

Lemur for Chrystal

2008-02-01T19:18:00.001-08:00

Chrystal asked that I create a very special painting for her sisters birthday. She approached me saying that there just isn't any good Lemur merchandise anywhere! So she asked that I create a very special painting for her special Lemur loving sister.

Coming to a theater near you.

2008-01-15T14:15:00.000-08:00

This last weekend I finally finished my film.

It runs 5:07 minutes and was just sent off to the festival circuit. Yes, I want to show it to everyone but because of festival criteria I'm not sure when I can do that. I'll keep you posted.

Ahhhhhhhhh..... feels good.

A big shout out to Shannon and Chris Prynoski, along with everyone that helped me along the way. Thanks!

#29

2008-01-14T14:29:00.000-08:00

Jonny 5 is alive!

Stan Lee Show at Gallery 1988

2008-01-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Here's my contribution to the "Under the Influence: A Tribute to Stan Lee" show opening at Gallery 1988 this Tuesday, January 8th. The show will feature interpretations of many of the comic book characters that Stan helped create for Marvel Comics.

Tiger

2007-12-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

Just finished another painting before the Christmas Season/ New year comes and goes. This tiger makes me a bit sad looking at him, but I still like it.

Merry Kwanza-ka!

2007-12-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

Emmett's Painting

2007-12-14T19:00:00.000-08:00

Emmett

This is a commission painting I did for Eva who is sending this back east to her friends (the parents of Emmett) for Christmas. Merry Christmas Emmett!

Showdown!

2007-12-13T12:51:00.000-08:00

Here's the final painting for the "Nature of Water" show, it opens on January 5th at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra.

Final stretch

2007-12-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

Getting close to finishing up the film. Just thought you guys might want to see a screen capture of shot #11.

Nature of Water sketch

2007-12-03T15:03:00.000-08:00

Here's the sketch for a painting I'm doing for the Bruce Lee themed "Nature of Water" show at Gallery Nucleus next month. Drawing all those little guys seemed like a good idea until I realized that I'd have to paint them all.

Tree Trimming 2 Show

2007-11-28T15:20:00.000-08:00

Opening this Saturday at the JFlynn Gallery in Costa Mesa is the "Tree Trimming 2" show. It will feature one of a kind Christmas ornaments created by a number of artists including Calef Brown, Jaime Zollars, Megan Brain. Here are some pictures of my ornament, "Twohead Christmas" made out of wood and painted with cel vinyl. Come check it out, the opening is from 7-10PM.

Demons!

2007-11-16T14:15:00.001-08:00

Here's a new 4x6 painting in honor of Thanksgiving.

Feeling Flat?

2007-11-08T03:32:00.000-08:00

Something that I was did last week for the project I am working on. I posted the Before and after. I gotta say I love seeing how you can age and weather digitally. It was really fun to make this super bright photoshop image all bleached, dirty, and torn.

New painting done by me!

2007-10-31T17:47:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy lately, with getting married, getting a job and moving there doesn't seem like there would be much time for art...but there is! Here is the latest commission I did. It is 5x7 and done in cel-vinyl, oh yeah it is based on a tufted titmouse.

UC DAVIS Life drawing club

2007-10-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

I have been taking part in this new Life Drawing Club up at UC Davis. The members are cool, the atmosphere is relaxed, and the models are nude. What more could one ask for. I'll be honest with everyone. I think it has been something like three solid years since I did any life drawing. I know I know. But now that I have started up again man it feels great. I didn't know I had missed it so much.