Super-Macho Blogo!!!

Adios Ricky

2011-12-07T23:29:00.000-08:00

The incredibly gifted Rick Garduno has died.

My first reaction was anger. Damn it, Ricky, this is way too soon. And you were such an extraordinary talent. What a waste! Anger at myself for ignoring his last message asking to meet so he could apologize over our last argument. I'll be taking that regret to the grave. But the anger in me is long gone and now I'm just sad.

Thanks to Gabe Swarr, I met Ricky back in 2003. We were both young artists from Mexico City trying to make it in the industry. We connected instantly. He joked that I was too Mexican. I shot back that he wasn't Mexican enough. And for some reason, even thought we were both natural Spanish speakers, we only spoke in English.

While we were both working on Mucha Lucha I fell in love with his mischievous and subversive boards. I really loved designing for him. We got into huge fights but we always made up, like real friends. As soon as I had my first pilot at Disney, Ricky was the first person I asked to help me board a chunk. When he turned in his part, I was crying and laughing my ass off. Ricky, like usual, had done way more than I asked. And he completely poured his heart and soul into it. He just couldn't help himself. After that, I swore than anything I ever worked on, Ricky would be my wild card.

Years later, and after working together on other shows and pilots, El Tigre was greenlit for series at Nickelodeon. I asked Ricky to board the first episode of the series, which was very difficult. It would be his first digital board. We were still trying to figure out the show, the writing and the crew. He jumped in fearlessly. Like before, he did way more than anyone asked and he poured his heart and soul into that massive board. He was under a microscope. The board was a mess with genius ideas sprinkled all over it. He was almost fired after that one. But he kept at it and worked his ass off. Ricky kept pushing the envelope. His Tigre episodes are some of the most beloved, inventive, subversive and mischievous we made. He was so good, writers would request him to board their scripts. In 2008, El Tigre won the Annie for best show. It was for "The Grave Escape", a Day of the Dead themed two part episode Ricky boarded (with Eddie Trigueros). Ricky had come through yet again.

As time passed, we began to grow apart. He was fed up with the industry and turned me down when I asked him to board our last Disney pilot. He was done with the studios. The last time we had dinner, he scared me with some of his new radical and extreme ideas. He insulted everything we had worked on together. This was very painful to hear. He implied I was a sell out for selling the studios my personal stories, art and heart. I was furious and I said things to him I will always regret. When the bill came, he paid to mock me and we went our separate ways.

By this point, his personal comics got sadder, hilarious and heartbreaking. He was baring his soul. We should have all seen this coming. Maybe he wanted to meet one last time to say good bye. I'll never know.

All I know is that the Ricky I loved, the funny mischievous genius, the one that changed my life, that Ricky will stay with me forever. I will always tell his story and keep his memory alive.

Adios, hermano.

We will meet each other again some day.
I swear.

jorge

Muertito at Shopfanatico.com

2011-09-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

I'm very happy to announce that MUERTITO shirts are now selling at SHOPFANATICO.COM

I love Sergio Aragones!

2011-09-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

VIVA ZAPATA

2011-08-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

This is my piece for THE ICONOCLASTIC DEAD art show in Mexico City.
More info here:

MAD - The Mailman vs Dog Trilogy

2011-08-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

MAD - Mailman vs Dog part 1 from Jorge R. Gutierrez on Vimeo.

MAD - Mailman vs Dog part 3 from Jorge R. Gutierrez on Vimeo.

New SUPER MACHO shirts at Surropa.com !!!

2011-02-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

Celebrate 5 de Mayo in style with a Super-Macho shirt!!!
Men, women and kids sizes available. You get 20% off if you type in the code "supermacho20"
If you buy one you can punch me five times in the face!

Dear ladies and machos, the brand new SUPER MACHO t-shirts are now available at Surropa.com !!!

If you buy one I'll let you punch me in the face.

DIA DE TUS MUERTOS ART SHOW

2010-10-26T23:57:00.000-07:00

MUERTO MOUSE

Hola amigos!
Sandra and I are curating a little Day of the Dead inspired art show this Friday October 29th in our favorite gallery: Galllery Subtext down in sunny San Diego.

Here's a link to a preview of some of the amazing art (I especially LOVE Sandra's paper mache calaveras):

http://subtextgallery.com/preview_ddtm.pdf

The show features 10 different artists from various cultural backgrounds who all happen have some sort of connection to the world of animation. The name of the show is DIA DE TUS MUERTOS which translates to DAY OF YOUR DEAD. The idea was to have every artist make the iconic Mexican holiday of "Dia de los Muertos" into their own muse.

The show features the art of:
Simon Varela

and little old me.

Hope to see you guys there! Here are some of my paintings...

SANTO NO MUERE

EL AMOR NUNCA MUERE

SKELETOR

ADIOS AMIGOS

SE BUSCA MUERTO O MUERTO

LA CALAVERA

El Abejorro Mostachon!

2010-09-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

This image is for a CRI CRI tribute art book.

Don Gabilondo Soler "Cri Cri"was a famous composer of children music in Mexico. Many of his songs had really amazing and quirky characters. The song I chose was about a pissed off bee who stung people because he was pissed. And he had a mustache. Yeah, he was hard core.
Hope you guys like it...

La Calavera & El Valiente

2010-07-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

*UPDATED

I was recently invited to participate in an art book based on the Mexican game of Loteria. Different Mexican artist will be doing their take on each of the iconic cards. I have always loved this game and even made my first CalArts film about it. I always wanted to do my take on all the cards but I think this will have to do for now.

Here's my first card: LA CALAVERA

Here's my secong card: EL VALIENTE

Carmen Got Expelled pilot!

2010-05-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately our Disney pilot did not go to series. Hope you guys like it ;)

Carmen Got Expelled! PILOT from Jorge R. Gutierrez on Vimeo.

Lynda.com Mexopolis: Creative Inspirations

2010-03-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

La Wicked Witch!

2010-03-01T18:31:00.000-08:00

Here's a character design from a project I'm experimenting with. I usually don't design girls since that is Sandra's domain. But when I do get to design one, I try to make them really hot! Hope you guys like her :)

faces

2010-02-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

Trying out some facial expressions on a new character I was playing around with.

Sorry I have not posted in a while...

2009-11-23T19:10:00.000-08:00

...but there's a really good reason :)

Sandra's new art show in San Diego!

2009-11-01T22:14:00.000-08:00

The lovely Sandra is having a new art show this weekend and Luka and I could not be more excited. She painted all her new paintings while she was pregnant. Four paintings have already been sold and the show hasn't even opened!!!

Official info below:

Three
New Works by Sandra Equihua, Matte Stephens, & Israel Sanchez
November 7th – December 3rd, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 7th, 6-10pm

Subtext Gallery is proud to present a whimsical adventure with Sandra Equihua, Matte Stephens & Israel Sanchez (shown above). Combined, Stephens and Sanchez have noteworthy clientele including Disney, Herman Miller, American Express, Cartoon Network, and Comedy Central. Sandra returns to Subtext following work on Nickelodeon’s El Tigre, which won her an Emmy in 2008. Together, their work creates a quirky, unexpected journey of character and color. So join us at Subtext as we present a pre-holiday trifecta of inspiring works by three talented artists.

A Fistfull of Hooves!

2009-08-01T20:53:00.001-07:00

I'm finally going to pitch my little Spaghetti Western idea. Wish me luck!

I love you Jules Engel!

2009-04-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

Back in my CalArts days (Experimental Animation BFA 97 & MFA 00), I had the spectacular honor of having legendary Disney & UPA artist Jules Engel as one of my favorite and most inspiring teachers. He was the first true animation artist I ever met. He reviewed my portfolio when I was 17 and told me, while looking through my soul, that my artwork was "krap!" He accepted me into the program but made me promise to create honest work that came from within. He completely changed the way I thought about art, film and animation. As a foreign artist (when I asked him where he was from, he said "Like you, I'm not from here.") who had worked in the American animation studios, Jules managed to keep his artistic identity and voice intact. To me, that was super macho and made me idolize him. And he had a mustache!

Experimental Animation Bad Ass JULES ENGEL

I would always get up really early to try to have breakfast with him in the school cafeteria. Sometimes he would tell me stories from his incredible & heartbreaking past, sometimes we talked about the Lakers (like me, he was a huge fan) and sometimes we would even talk about animation. Color was a huge topic we often discussed and fought over. I lost every single time. He really encouraged me to look at my favorite Mexican painters for inspiration (he loved Miguel Covarrubias & Rivera) and made me fall in love with Picasso. He watched tons of films (and for some reason he LOVED Ron Howard) and he would always dissect what made them special. Or "krap!"

Check out some of his amazing UPA art from Amid Amidi's must have book Cartoon Modern:

You can feel Jule's love for Miro and Kandinsky in this one.

And Picasso in this one!

When I was trying to come up with my thesis film idea I pitched him tons of stories where I learned he did not enjoy "funny but inconsequential" student short ideas and he HATED depressing & violent endings. I think he had seen so much pain in his life that he wanted our films to inspire and reflect the best in all of us. "It's your film..." he would say but I could tell how he really felt.

Eventually my thesis film "Carmelo" became about a little boy who runs away in the middle of the night and dies bullfighting a massive bull to make his father proud. Jules was not crazy about the story ("you kill a child!"). He was also very disappointed when I told him I was doing it in CG. He warned me about how cold and soulless computer art could be and every time things weren't going well his words rang heavy in my heart. When I finally showed him the finished version he slapped me in the face and said, "You son of a bitch! You did it." He then stood up smiling, put his hat on and walked away. I will never forget that day. I love you Jules!

Please join me and some truly incredible and world renowned artists filmmakers for the following event honoring the legacy of Jules. And a special GRACIAS to Courtney McIntyre for allowing me to be a part of this event:

Saturday, April 18, 2009
Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater

5 pm “The Influence of Jules Engel on Contemporary Animation”
7 pm Cocktail Reception and Exhibition of Fine Art by Jules Engel

To purchase tickets or make a donation to support The Jules Engel Endowed Scholarship Fund, please go to the secure Jules Engel Centennial Celebration ticket page.

Some of today’s most inventive practitioners in the art of animation come together to honor the far-reaching legacy of Jules Engel (1909–2003)—animation pioneer, fine artist, and one of the most beloved educators in CalArts history.

The Jules Engel Centennial Celebration begins with a roundtable discussion entitled “The Influence of Jules Engel on Contemporary Animation.” The distinguished panelists are all former students of Jules at CalArts:

Jorge Gutierrez, creator of El Tigre
Steve Hillenburg, creator of SpongeBob SquarePants
Mark Kirkland, director on The Simpsons
Mark Osborne, director of Kung Fu Panda
Joanna Priestley, independent animator
Henry Selick, director of Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas

The roundtable is followed by a cocktail reception and an exhibition of fine art by Jules Engel, now available for purchase.

Street Fighter Tribute Art Show

2009-03-24T00:39:00.000-07:00

*UPDATED

The amazing Ben Zhu of Gallery Nucleus (one of my favorite galleries!) and Jon Gibson & Derek from I am 8-bit were kind enough to invite me to a Street Fighter (my all time favorite video game!) Tribute Art Show. Only a coward would refuse!

I'm doing two paintings inspired by my favorite characters Blanka (a monster from Brazil) and El Fuerte (a luchador from Mexico).

Growing up, this game really changed my life. In every Mexican arcade or little shop with a Street Fighter 2 machine, you could witness all the struggles of life: the rich versus the poor, the north versus south, the First World versus the Third World -- and more importantly, you versus thousands of unknown kids.

Out of loyalty to Latin America, I always played Blanka from Brazil. Back then there were no Mexican characters, so a giant green monster had to do. In his storyline Blanka, like most telenovela orphans, is trying to reunite with his mother.

"ADIOS MAMA"
12x12 acrylic on canvas

"EL FUERTE ES EL MAS MACHO"
20x16 acrylic on canvas

Jab Strong Fierce (Street Fighter Tribute Show)
Nucleus and I am 8-bit are proud to present, with support from CAPCOM, a Street Fighter tribute group art exhibition.
April 25, 2009 - May 11, 2009
Opening Reception / Apr 25, 7:00PM - 11:00PM

2009 Pictoplasma Character Walk

2009-03-11T23:38:00.000-07:00

Ultimate scenster Jon Gibson invited Sandra & I to be a part of an art show in Berlin for the 2009 Pictoplasma Character Walk. All I had to do was doodle on a bunch of Post-it Notes and they'll become part of a larger installation created by artist Jude Buffom.

ich bin 8-bit

Curated by Love Ablan, Jon M. Gibson, and Derek Puleston. I am 8-bit, the annual Los Angeles computer game aesthetics art extravaganza, comes to Berlin with a twist. ich bin 8-bit uses standard Post-it Notes to create the ultimate pixelated canvas. It is a show within a show, featuring an all-enveloping installation by Jude Buffum, and original doodles by some of the most prolific character designers in animation and comics including Emmy-winners Jorge R. Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua, Gabe Swarr, Jim Mahfood and MyTarPit.

Neurotitan Gallery
Rosenthaler Str. 39, 10178 Berlin, Germany
Mar 17-Apr 11

*UPDATE pics from the show by Jude Buffum

Jude put my stuff in the bloody stump of the amputee character!

Check out this video of the making of:

Ich Bin 8-Bit installation timelapse from Jude Buffum on Vimeo.

Poor farmer...

2009-03-02T22:49:00.000-08:00

This is for a secret feature project I'm currently developing.

Baba Looey!

2009-02-10T15:04:00.000-08:00

Baba Looey has always been my all time favorite Ed Benedict design.

This was my super macho take on him for a tattoo design for my pal Xander Leighton, a really cool artist from Mukpuddy in New Zealand. Hopefully after his wife Karla Hansen tattoos it on him they send me a pic and I'll post it.

I always wanted to do an epic Spaghetti Western with Baba Looey avenging the death of Quick Draw McGraw. If anyone at Cartoon Network has the power to allow this shoot me an e-mail :)

2009 LA MYTH Art Show "Super Popo"

2009-02-03T23:29:00.000-08:00

This is my other 11x14 acrylic on canvas paintings for the 2009 LA MYTH Art Show (curated by Dee Chavez and Aaron Clark). The opening reception is Feb 7, 2009 at Meltdown Comics 7522 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90046.

The theme of the show is LA myths:

Meet Super Popo! You know all those thousands of poos you find on the sidewalks of Los Angeles? Yeah, the ones we think are from dogs? They are actually gifts from Super Popo, an illegal alien luchador (Mexican masked wrestler) from outer space. Those poos are his kind-hearted gifts to Angelinos for shooting their guns and sending him bullets on Cinco de Mayo.

I love LA...

* Here's a link to the gallery in case you want to buy some of the art from the show.

"El Chivo"

2009-01-28T20:21:00.000-08:00

This was a 24 x 24 acrylic on canvas painting I just completed for a really cool art show on January 31st in Tijuana, Mexico called BANG! Mitos de Creacion (Creation Myths).

I chose to do a Mexican myth I heard in a Mexico City market from a hobo about how the devil was intimate with God's wife, she became pregnant and then God raised all Mexicans as his own. And that is why Mexicans all have the devil in them. Yeah, I think it's pretty scientific too.

Here it is in Spanish:

Mito Originario Satanico. Mexico DF.

Contado por un borrachito en el Mercado de Sonora.

“Una noche, Tata Dios y el mismisimo Diablo (con cabeza de chivo), estavan jugando domino y enborachandose. A todo dar! La esposa de Tata Dios estaba dormida en su recamara. Se les termino el pulque y Tata Dios, de Buena gente, se va a la tiendita a comprar mas. El canijo Diablo se aprovecha y viola al la esposa de Tata Dios! Cuando el regresa nadie dice nada. Al dia siguiente la mujer de Tata Dios esta embarazada. Tata Dios nos crio a todos como sus hijos aunque nuestro verdadero padre es jijo del Diablo. Como la ve joven? No me da para una torta?”

The show will feature paintings and art from various artist including Robot Soda, Mr. Kone, Zoveck, Lerms and many more.

2009 LA MYTH Art Show "Burrito Perfecto"

2009-01-14T15:46:00.000-08:00

This is one of two 11x14 acrylic on canvas paintings for the 2009 LA MYTH Art Show (curated by Dee Chavez and Aaron Clark). The opening reception is Feb 7, 2009 at Meltdown Comics 7522 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90046.

The theme of the show is LA myths. And as everyone living here knows, there is a rumored "perfect burrito" in this cursed city. A burrito so perfect, that it would immediately kill you from its glorious taste.

To this day, I have never found such perfection. The journey continues...

EL DIABLO

2008-12-30T01:12:00.000-08:00

Feliz Navidad and Happy New Year to everyone!

What better way to celebrate the holidays than by working on a devil design for a very personal secret project. The charming Diablo character is a big motif in Mexican folk art and popular culture. He's in tons of folk tales, games, plays, murals, dances, songs and is always more of a funny trickster than an "evil" entity. He's a very lovable yet slightly dangerous character. Maybe it was my Catholic school upbringing but as a kid, I LOVED drawing devils. This usually got me in trouble with the nuns.

Sandra Equihua interview!

2008-12-07T01:30:00.001-08:00

Go here to read a great interview with my lovely muse, the amazing Sandra Equihua

Some of Sandra's amazing EMMY winning designs

Spain

2008-10-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

We're back from Spain ridiculously inspired. Goya, El Bosco, Velasquez, Dali, Gaudi, Miro & especially Picasso punched me in the face with their brilliance. The bullfights, the art, the architecture, the music , the food & the people were really overwhelming. More posts & pics to come...

Toro, toro!

2008-09-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

We're off to Spain for 3 weeks to get inspired on a dream project I'm about to begin. It is the culmination of all my dreams.

If you reside over there e-mail me and maybe we can have a drink. And maybe you can punch me in the face! We'll be in Barcelona, Toledo, Sevilla & Madrid (in that order).

"Yo Soy Donkey"

2008-09-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

This was the last "I am 8 bit" piece for the show. Acrylic on wood.

As a 10 yeard kid in Mexico City, I never understood why the Donkey Kong gorilla who stole my money had "Donkey" as a first name. I thought maybe he was half gorilla & half donkey. Then I went back to drinking Tequila under a cactus.

El Guapo

2008-09-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

*UPDATE: Hector, the director of TIYPO magazine, liked El Guapo so much (seriously, how could any hot blooded Mexican man resist his handsome manliness) that he decided to punish the whole country of Mexico by making little Guapo the cover and back cover too!

For their latest issue, the super hip Mexican designers from TIYPO magazine asked me (and various other artists) to do an illustration based anything that starts with the letter from the alphabet. By pure luck I got the "G". And we could only use the colors black and pink (!).

front
back

Here's my piece titled "Guapo" which means handsome.

Full Circle Interview

2008-08-27T00:55:00.000-07:00

The very kind Jason Anders just posted a really candid interview with me on his awesome site Full Circle Productions.

Check out his site to read other interviews with people way more interesting than me!

Let's start with your time spent at Cal Arts, you were accepted in the Experimental Animation program while still considering Painting and Live Action; did you have any second thoughts about your major while enrolled, and what was your time in the program like?

-First of all, thank you Jason for asking me to do this. I'm really honored. Gracias!

On to the first answer, the great thing about Experimental Animation (which Jules Engel founded and ran at the time) was that it allowed and encouraged me to take classes from the other CalArts schools & programs so I was able to take design & color, character design & storyboarding from the Character Aimation program, sculpting and painting from the Art School and lighting & editing & screenwriting from the Directing for Theater and Film school. I felt like I was like a little fat kid in the world's biggest candy store! I wanted to learn and do everything, and I kind of feel like I did (the doing, not the learning). I made so many student films! Most were terrible. So bad they would give you eye cancer if you saw them. I did abstract & narratives, comedies & dramas, 2D, 3D, stop motion, cut outs, sand, Flash, pixelation, anything you can think of. Even live action, which I really want to do again one day.

Looking back I sometimes think I should have concentrated more of the obvious fundamentals (like film theory, figure drawing, perspective, etc...) and not done so much crazy work and partied so much. But the reality is that having done all those things made me the artist I am today. All that experimentation led me to, for good or bad, develop my own personal style.

Tell me about your internship working on "Stuart Little", what was it like to be part of such a big project, yet be so creatively limited?

A year before I graduated, I submitted my CalArts MFA thesis CG short "Carmelo" to the Television academy and I won the student Emmy internship, which sent me to Sony to work as an intern on "Stuart Little" for the summer. The people there were super amazing and I learned a ton of stuff. It was my first taste of the real world.

Some very lucky and talented people are born to be character animators. I learned that I am not one of those people. It is a very specific skill and discipline and like all the arts, not everyone can do it well enough to get paid for it. As an intern, I quickly learned that a character animator on a feature film has very little if any creative input on the two things I love the most in animation: Story & Design. So that was it, I decided I didn't want to be animator.

If I ever wanted to create my own show or film ideas, this was not the way to do it (for me at least). To me, there is nothing more fun (and painful) than coming up with stories, characters and worlds and then developing them into an inventive & original world. Story & Design was and is what I'm really passionate about. After I finished "Carmelo", it won the Student Emmy and I nervously turned down offers to go into CG. Unemployed but full of rebel spirit, I began pitching an internet show idea called "El Macho" and Sony bought it. And that was it, I was hooked on making my own stuff. Looking back, it might not have been a safe career path, but it was exactly what felt right at the time.

While working for Sony's Screenblast you had no limits on your story ideas, desings, and colors; what was it like working for a company that allowed you that kind of freedom?

It was the greatest thing on earth! Seriously, I had just graduated from the Experimental Animation program and a big studio said "here's a bunch of money to make your own cartoons". I felt like I was the luckiest macho on earth. I hired my pal Roman Laney (who would later become the El Tigre art director) out of CalArts and with Sandra's help, we went at it! It was so much fun!!! It was also incredibly scary. If anything was bad (which it often was), we had no one to blame but ourselves. But mostly me :)

That also set very unrealistic expectations as to the idea of getting paid to do my own thing. Like I mentioned earlier, I was hooked and after "El Macho" ended I thought it would be easy to get another show going. Getting that to happen again took years of breaking our backs, blood, tears and many heartbreaks. We had four shows die in development before "El Tigre" finally went to series.

Let's jump to "El Tigre", which was Nickelodeon's first all digital production; what sort of problems did you encounter creating an entire show without the use of paper and pencil?

It was a lot easier than you think. Most of us had never worked on Cintiques before so we all took the plunge at the same time. We had all worked on previous productions so the Tigre digital pipeline was based on everything we thought really didn't work and worked on other shows. Tim Yoon, Dave Thomas, Roman Laney and myself worked really hard to make sure we got the most bang for our buck.

As far as Tigre being Nick's first ever Flash show, things went incredibly well. Better than expected even. A lot of us had worked together on previous Flash productions like "Mucha Lucha" at WB and "The Buzz on Maggie" at Disney so by the time we started developing "El Tigre" we had a very good idea as to how far we could push the technology to get the look we wanted. Our Illustrator/Photoshop/Flash/AffterEffects pipeline was super smooth and the series, I'm very proud to say, was always on time and on budget. Aside from the just unbelievably talented crew we had in the US, we were very lucky to work with the kick ass artists of Boulder Media in Ireland and Six Point Harness in LA for our "overseas" animation.

I'm actually starting an El Tigre blog where I'll be braking down how we made the series:

http://tigreroar.blogspot.com/

Tell me about the group of artists you worked with to get the show running, including director Dave Thomas.

This might take a while! It was kind of ridiculous really. We had a plethora of bad assess. Just to name a few: The incredible Doug Langdale (creator of Dave the Barbarian) was our story editor, super genious writer Scott Kreamer wrote more incredible scripts than anyone, the super man of animation Dave Thomas was the Supervising Producer & Director, the infamous Gabe Swarr was the board supervisor and then a director, Roman Laney & then Gerald de Jesus art directed the hell out of the series, Shawn Patterson composed his heart way with the music, the lovely Sandra Equihua designed most of the cute & sexy girls (and won an Emmy for it!), super star Steve Lambe (and Miah alcorn) helped out on character designs & props, layout genius Fred Osmond became an Assitant Director, the bg crew was just awesome with Katrien Verbiest, Joseph Holt, Su Moon, Dee Chavez, Eric Gonzales, Kyle Newswald, super star art director Tod Polson doing half the color scripts, the world Famous Katie Rice was doing layouts, special poses and designs. Matt Gadbois and Aaron Horvath editing and animating, Su Moon, Stella Lee, Javier Guzman were inking away. And on storyboards we had the perverse genius Ricky Garduno, super funny drawer Eddie Trigueros, ex-Spumco mad man Luke Cormican, cinematic genius Sean Szeles, power house Fred Gonzales, and then Ray Morelli, Miss Mindy and Katie Rice helping out with board revisions and Dave Thomas (and later Gabe Swarr) doing at least 20 pages of bad ass beat boards to get each episode started.

Check out Dave's beatboards here:
http://ownerofwendys.blogspot.com/
If I forgot to mention anyone, I am incredibly sorry.
We really were a big happy family and even hung out outside of work. I would kill for my crew, I owe them everything.

Do you have a favorite episode of "El Tigre"?

Without a doubt it's our Halloween & Dia De Los Muertos special "The Grave Escape". It's really close to my heart. So many great elements in this one: a funny & tragic script by Doug & Kramer, Dave's superb beat board and razor sharp directing, super inventive boards by Ricky and Eddie, Roman, Jerry and Tod went nuts on the BGs and colors, Shawn's intense & heartfelt music, man there's just too many things to mention. Plus it dealt with all my favorite themes: tradition, family, sacrifice, fathers & sons, legacys and death. And I believe it's the best reprensentation of my all time favorite Mexican holiday, The Day of the Dead (we even got married that day). I also worked extra hard on this one since it meant so much to me as my grandfather had just passed away. This is also the episode I submitted to ASIFA the year "El Tigre" won the Annie for best show. It was really rewarding to see how it turned out in the end. Only time will judge the work we did on the show.

If you could sum up your work in one word for me, what would it be?

Heartfelt. Without heart, the work is meaningless.

Tribute to Gary Gynax, father of D&D

2008-08-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

The always amazing Chris Pryonski was kind enough to invite me to an art show tribute for Gary Gynax, the father of Dungeons & Dragons. While I never played the D&D games (too much math!) I always really liked the covers of the game books and I definitely loved the mega depressing cartoon.

Tribute to Gynax
a group exhibition celebrating the memory of Gary Gygax
and his creation of Dungeons and Dragons.

Aug. 23rd - Sept. 27th

Opening Reception
Sat. August 23rd 2008, 7pm
Titmouse Studios
6616 Lexington Ave.
Hollywood, CA. 90038

Here's my piece for the show:

EL TIAMAT

Siggraph 2008 "El Tigre" Behind the Scenes

2008-08-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

Kat Elliot & Jared Kuvent invited us to do a panel about how we made El Tigre for the Siggraph 2008 Computer Animation Festival. I'll be posting the whole presentation on the El Tigre blog in case you can't make it.

"El Tigre": Behind the Scenes

SIGGRAPH 2008
Thursday, 14 August, 3:45 - 5:30 pm
Petree Hall C

In 2007, Manny Rivera leapt onto the screen in Nickelodeon's Annie award-winning production "El Tigre." This colorful series follows the adventures of a capricious 13-year old and the villains and superheroes he meets along the way. In this session, the creators, directors, art director, and technical director reveal everything there is to know about story, storytelling, character development, design, and animation. Along the way, they explain how Flash is used as an animation tool for television.

Creator
Jorge Gutierrez

Co-Creator
Sandra Equihua

Supervising Producer & Director
Dave Thomas

Director
Gabe Swarr

Technical Director & Art Director
Roman Laney

Line Producer
Tim Yoon
Nickelodeon

Carandiru

2008-08-08T02:09:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Sean Szeles' character sketches from Hector Babenco's underrated Brazilian film (a small gem if you ask me) I sketched some of my favorite "little" moments from the film. I've been planning on doing this for a lot of my favorite films (next up is Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West) and I finally started this life long exercise.
Thanks Sean!

"I am 8 bit" acrylic paintings

2008-08-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

title - "Bring me the head of Mario & Luigi"

here's the very thought out sketch

Here is the first of hopefully two acrylic paintings I'm doing for the show next Thursday. I really love to paint but I have to be somewhat inspired to do it (so it doesn't become "a job"). And I need to have enough free time. Those two things usually don't coincide so it's not often I get to do it. The more I work digitally, the more I miss the sometimes chaotic & loony process. It's really liberating and therapeutic for me.

Being a fan of Mexican folk & naive art, whenever I paint I like to be as organic, dirty and expressive as I can (the complete opposite of Sandra it seems). I try to use cheapo brushes and half the time I'm finger painting like a 3 year old. And loving it! I try to tell a little story with every painting. Sometimes it only makes sense to me, which I have learned is not such a bad thing.

Animation World Network interview

2008-07-31T19:36:00.001-07:00

A few days ago the amazing Andrew Farago (curator of San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum & the creator of The Chronicles of William ) interviewed me while I rambled like a baboon for AWN.

Jon M. Gibson's I am 8bit art show

2008-07-30T23:18:00.000-07:00

Once again, super scenester Jon M. Gibson is curating his world famous I am 8bit art show. By Crom, I will be doing a Super Mario acrylic painting and a digital piece for the show.

Below is the sketch and the final image for my print.

title - "My name is Mario. You killed my brother. Prepare to die!"

Comic Con 2008 recap

2008-07-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

The ASIFA State of the Union panel went really well. A big thank you to ASIFA & Larry Loc for inviting me to be a part of this. It was a ton of fun!

Below a recap from Animation World Network:

The State of the Animation Industry

"As every year, ASIFA-Hollywood hosts the state of animation panel at Comic-Con. Moderated by Larry Loc, the panel featured Tom Sito (“Osmosis Jones”), Jorge R. Gutierrez (“El Tigre”), supervising animator Lennie Graves, Mattel creative director Aki Umemoto, and “Animation Magazine” editor Ryan Ball. Sito called working as an animator is like being a jazz player, where you get some good gigs and some bad gigs, and some last long and others are one-offs. All the panel members agreed that the industry is good for CG artists and not so good if all you want to do is 2D. Gutierrez said that for TV animation it’s a great time because there is more animation on television than ever. As for the secret of success, he quoted John Lasseter as saying that quality is always the best business plan.

When asked about skills other than art skills, Sito mentioned that the business is a social community where he’s gotten more jobs over a sandwich at a party than pounding lobbies with his portfolio. Gutierrez said that time management was something that they never were taught in art school. His holy grail on “El Tigre” was to make a good show and remain friends with his crew. Graves added that humility is needed because then you’re always striving to be better. He also encouraged artists to live life and not be consumed by animation so they can bring themselves to their work. Umemoto added to that an animator needs to be an actor, as well as understanding timing. Ball continued by telling the crowd to be observers.

Loc then asked what films the panelists would recommend for animators to see. Ball recommended “Triplets of Belleville” for the acting. Umemoto and Graves went to the classics like “Citizen Kane.” Gutierrez said that “Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill!” changed his life, but also recommended watching foreign films that did well in the U.S. to find films that transcended cultural barriers. Sito said to watch a film three times – first watching for plot then for cutting, and lastly for lighting. As for his picks he recommended Ford and “Lawrence of Arabia.”

Comic Con 2008

2008-07-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

I will be a part of the following Comic Con 2008 ASIFA panel:

STATE OF THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY:
A look at the current and future trends in the animation industry with a panel of industry professionals from all branches of animation. Tom Sito, Jorge R. Gutierrez, Lennie Graves, Aki Umemoto & Ryan Ball
Moderator - Larry Loc

Friday, JULY 25

6:00-7:00pm ROOM 3

Stop by and punch me in the face!

And if you stop by the UDON booth you can pick up the Street Fighter Tribute art book. Artist from all over the world (even the USA!) got to do their take on the various politically incorrect but spectacularly charming video game characters.

Here's my take on the Brazilian character known as Blanka. As you can see, I totally captured the anime/manga realistic look of the video game.

Super Macho mascara

2008-07-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

I was recently invited to design a mask for an art show in Hermosillo, Mexico. I always wanted to get my own Lucha mask made but never got around to it. I kept the design pretty conservative. I then added the pink "super macho" letters to provoke thought regarding modern Mexican machismo.

Hopefully after the show I get to keep the mask and wear it from now on. Or until I die.

Welcome to Super-Macho blogo!

2008-07-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

As countless other (and better) artists, I too have joined the blog thunder dome.

And so it begins...