Avengers 04 Cover Recreation Commission!

            

I was honored to be asked to do an "Avengers" commission for Paul and Terri Dunlap's son Noah for his 8th birthday (they are great people who have been extremely supportive of my strip Clumsy Love since the very beginning)! I was asked to do Captain America, Thor, The Hulk and Iron Man in my style and decided to do a cover recreation of Avengers #4 (but changing Giant Man into the Hulk)...and it was a blast! I am thinking I will do some different covers to sell at the San Diego Comic Con at my Artist's Alley table (July 11th to 15th), they are so much fun to do and I am really happy with the result (I hope that Noah is too) :)  I did this on 8.5" x 14" comic book blue line bristol paper with a prismacolor 08 premier pen, a micron Graphic pen size 1, a brush pen, and prismacolor color markers.

The Cartoon Crier

I am really proud to be a part of the "Cartoon Crier" newspaper highlighting the work of National Cartoonists Society Members like myself and The Center for Cartoon Studies community in a 36 page newspaper tabloid focusing on cartoons about sorrow and woe!  I'm on the same page as "Wizard of ID!"  There was also an article on Juxtapoz online recently as well!

"Bug Eyes" and a Renewed Commitment to Blog!

Last week I managed to accidentally spray bug spray into both of my eyes (the sprayer malfunctioned and sprayed up and back)...and of course I wasn't wearing goggles. After a trip to the ER and a visit to an eye specialist, I am finally on the mend. It was a terrifying experience not knowing if I managed to blind myself in such a stupid way and would no longer be able to see my daughter let alone work as an artist (as it turns out, according to my eye specialist, only Draino can and will blind you and there is nothing you can do about it, so wear goggles with that for sure...the pain with bug spray was pretty terrible, so I myself will be wearing no less than a suit of armor when dealing with household chemicals from now on. Anyway, not being able to do my comic strip or any drawing made me realize how important it is too me and how I have been neglecting my art in general, and definitely not giving any time to this blog. I am making a commitment starting today to blog here three times a week if not more to (1) motivate myself to create more new work to have something to talk about, (2) promote the work I have been doing that I often never promote because I allow myself to be "too tired," and (3) to talk and share the things that make me excited to be an artist. PS: I will have a 1/2 table in Artist's Aley at the San Diego Comic-Con this year on July 11-15th, something I have not promoted yet, I hope to see you there! --Mike Gray www.pencilforhire.com www.clumsylove.net

This Saturday March 24th come to my "How to Successfully Pitch an Animated Cartoon" Master Class at Charles Schulz Museum!

Due to popular demand (hurray!) the Schulz Museum has made my "How to Successfully Pitch an Animated Cartoon" Master Class this weekend larger (now up to 20 students instead of 12), so now there are around 8 seats new seats available, please let anyone know who might be interested, all money goes to the museum! Here is the info from their site: http://www.schulzmuseum.org/ SATURDAY, MARCH 24 ● 10am–12noon Join Mike Gray (Nicktoon's Thom Cat) for a detailed walk through the step-by-step process of creating, pitching, selling, and
producing an animated short. Focus on developing a character from comic book to storyboard pitch to successfully produced animated short.$35 for members; $40 for non-members. Advance reservations required: (707) 284-1263.

I will also be a Guest Cartoonist that same day from 1pm to 3pm showing cartoons, comics, and doing sketches for Museum guests! I hope to see you there at either the class, the Guest Appearance, or both!

--Mike

"Astrocats" Artwork Donation for "Team in Training "

I am proud to have been asked to donate to the “Team in Training” Cancer Run, here is the drawing I donated that you can still buy raffle tickets to try and win and help a terrific cause (pen and ink with watercolor of the newly renamed “Astrocats” that I am still trying to get made into a vinyl toy, but more on that soon)... You can buy raffle tickets by clicking here!

Shepard Fairey Print Exhibition & Monterey Bay Aquarium Trip

Last weekend (Aug 26 to Aug 28) we made the trip to Monterey to visit the fantastic Monterey Bay Aquarium and to see the Shepard Fairey Print Exhibition in nearby Sand City, CA. If you want an artistically inspiring trip, I recommend going if you can before the exhibit ends in Sand City on September 30th and then catching the Great White Shark at the Aquarium that we just missed seeing on our trip (they put him in the Open Sea Exhibit just this past August 31st, and will most likely only have him a few months before releasing himback to the wild). We had a great time, it was my daughter Olivia's (10 1/2 months old) first trip to the ocean and to the aquarium and I got a lot of terrific reference videos and photos at the aquarium as well (the Sun Fish, Hammerhead shark, and Green Sea Turtle in the Open Sea exhibit and the Jellyfish in that same section were the highlights). Olivia loved everything at the aquarium, but her highlights were the Green Sea Turtle (which she was mesmerized watching him cross the entire front glass of the Open Sea tank) and poking people in the neck in front of the Otter exhibit (during feeding time Olivia was much more interested in meeting the people next to her than watching the Otters, and what better way to call their attention to herself than to poke them in the neck with her tiny baby index finger)?

What, me Blog?

Wow, it has been over a year since I blogged...my excuse, and it's a good one, is becoming a proud papa of a terrific baby daughter named Olivia!




I have spent all of my time since I found out I was finally becoming a Daddy (we had been trying for years with no luck and had thought we just weren't going to be parents, so little Olivia is a miracle baby in our eyes) do as much "work for hire" as I could get my hands on! I managed to keep up my 3x a week comic strip "Clumsy Love," but other than that my own work has taken a backseat to making sure my wife and daughter are taken care of. Now that things are more settled (Olivia just turned 10 months on Aug 20th) I am going to make a greater effort to blog consistently again and to pursue my own work more aggressively (my long-term wish is to become self-supporting through my comics and books)...thanks for stopping by, and if you used to come to this blog thank you for your patience!

"Space Pussy" Vinyl Toy Pledge/Order Drive at Kickstarter.com!

I have set up a funding site to produce the limited edition vinyl toy of my character, "Space Pussy," that I have been developing...if you get a chance please check it out (and spread the word to as many people as you can, people are only charged if the project is fully funded and the toy will definitely be made!) There are only 89 days left for me to reach full funding, so please pledge/order today!:

http://kck.st/aPuNU8

Thanks so much!

--Mike Gray
www.pencilforhire.com
www.clumsylove.net

"Thom Cat" a big hit at Irene B. West Elementary School!

I had the great privilege of going to the Irene B. West Elementary School in Elk Grove, CA on February 18, 2010 to help them with a backdrop for their upcoming school play, and to give a talk on being an artist...it was great fun! I was even more honored to receive these photos from teacher Vicki Nelson where the students had decided to draw my character "Thom Cat" (whom I had shown his cartoon and a demonstration on how to draw him for the class) during their free period after I had left...I think they all did a great job! I am looking forward to going back again to give a cartooning lesson, I will try to make my lesson like that great old "Let's Draw" TV show from years agon (that they would play in my first grade class for us)...

--Mike

Thom Cat and Infinite Goliath in Kauai, Hawaii Film Fest + Thom Cat E-cards on YouTube!

Thom Cat in "Surfing the Net" (E-card for Birthdayalarm.com)


Thom Cat in "Friends Forever" (E-card for Birthdayalarm.com)

I am proud to announce that my cartoons “Thom Cat” and "The Infinite Goliath" (co-created with Erik Knutson) are part of the Los Angeles Children’s International Film Festival Best of Festival that was held this past weekend of November 13 to 15th on Kaua’i, Hawaii at the Kaua’i Pacific School! I am hoping that the exposure might help in one or both becoming a series or movie at some point!

I am also happy to announce that you can view my new “Thom Cat” e-cards on YouTube (above)! If you like them, please sign up an send them at www.birthdayalarm.com!

–Mike
www.pencilforhire.com (work site)
www.clumsylove.net (webcomic)

San Diego Comic-Con + Monsters of Webcomics

My "Clumsy Love" Comic-con 2009 strip!

My brother Doug and I doing sketches for donations to the Cartoon Art Museum!





Me and the great Gene Colan!


My Banner Ads for the Monsters of Webcomics show at Cartoon Art Museum, which "Clumsy Love" is part of the virtual gallery portion!



It's been a while since I updated, so I figured I would do a few things at once! San Diego Comic-con was a terrific success, and my brother Doug and I had a great time doing sketches for donations at the Cartoon Art Museum Booth (see photos above)! I am also proud to announce that my comic strip, "Clumsy Love," made it into the virtual gallery portion of the "Monsters of Webcomics" show a the Cartoon Art Museum as well (you can see some of the Banner Ads I created for them for the show above)!

Also, my cartoons "Thom Cat," and "The Infinite Goliath" (Goliath co-created by Erik Knutson) made it into in the 2009 San Diego International Film Festival, and Goliath was also screened at the Animation Fest at the Edge Of LA Comic Con on August 15th!

--Mike
www.pencilforhire.com
www.clumsylove.net

"Ape Escape" Premieres Sunday July 5th on Nicktoons!

"Ape Escape" Premieres Sunday July 5th at 12 noon PST/ 3pm EST on Nicktoons! I am honored to have been Head Writer/Series Editor on the series, and I am hoping that it will do well so we can do more episodes!

--Mike Gray
www.pencilforhire.com
www.clumsylove.net

San Jose Supercon & Cartoon Art Museum

Here are some photos from Supercon this past weekend where I had a table in Artist's Alley:



I was able to meet the fantastic Howard Chaykin which really made my weekend!
He did this terrific Wonder Woman drawing for me:



Here is a shocking early 80's photo of myself (complete with Art Garfunkel afro) around 11 yrs old wearing a Howard Chaykin "American Flagg" t-shirt (I was a big fan, but Howard pointed out that I was probably too young to be reading it at the time):



Here are a couple of example commission drawings I was doing in my style (I was also doing cartoon caricatures in my style that went over well):




I didn’t get a chance before to share some exciting news: ‘Clumsy Love’ merchandise is now on sale at the Cartoon Art Museum Bookstore at 655 Mission Street in San Francisco, CA (The museum purchased 160 comic strip prints, 85 buttons, 85 magnets, and 85 keychains, so hopefully they will do well), I am proud to have my work for sale at one of my favorite museums!

Thanks again!

--Mike Gray
clumsylove.net
pencilforhire.com

"Thom Cat" Licensed!

I just wanted to share the good news that "Thom Cat" has been officially licensed to appear in his own series of E-cards for Birthday Alarm (www.birthdayalarm.com)! For the e-cards I have been lucky enough to assemble much of the original talent from the first short, including Jim Meskimen as the voice of Thom, Andy Paley as composer , and David Eppen for background painting! The cards should be finished in a month to two months, and I will include links to them as soon as they are live!

--Mike Gray
www.pencilforhire.com
www.clumsylove.net

Yves St Laurent, Warhol Live, Watchmen, Stan Sakai, Brinkley Girls Museum shows!

This past weekend we made a trip to San Francisco to the Deyoung Museum to see the Yves St. Laurent & Warhol Live shows, and it was fantastic! I cannot give a higher recommendation, especially to the Yves St Laurent show which is only around for this week! I was really impressed seeing the "Haute Couture" clothing (which now I know what that means, it is clothing that is hand-made specifically for a person) that he had designed from the 1950's through the 2000's...Melissa wanted to see this show badly, and I probably ended up making us stay longer in the show because I found it to be so eye-opening on the process of fashion design! The Warhol Live exhibit was also fantastic, it was great to see some of his actual drawings (many from the 1950's), posters & films of his work with The Velvet Underground, examples of the record albums he did the artwork for, his "Club 54" memorabilia, etc!

I also made it to the Cartoon Art Museum (I have to stop every time I am in SF, there is always a great new show, and if not, their permanent collection warrants a revisit any time you are nearby)! They have a terrific "Watchmen" exhibit with artwork from the comic series as well as movie props (like a Rorschach costume, Nite Owl costume, Silk Spectre costume, etc! AND they have a show on my friend, the great Stan Sakai and Usagi Yojimbo that is not to be missed!!! There is also an exhibit there on "The Brinkley Girls" which I did not know of before, but it is terrific artwork from Nell Brinkley who at the time (1913-1940) was as known as the Gibson Girls! And finally, you have to at least visit the Cartoon Art Museum bookstore and chat with Heather Plunkett who runs the store)...it is now stocked with a wonderful variety of known & local artists' work, videos, import toys, prints (you will be amazed and buy something for sure...I bought a cool little Astro Boy toy before leaving)!

On another happy note, my webcomic, "Clumsy Love," was mentioned in the webcomicoverlook.com blog, where I am hoping that "El Santos" will give it a good review when he is back from a much needed vacation!

Thanks so much for visiting, and have a great day!

--Mike Gray
www.pencilforhire.com (portfolio)
www.clumsylove.net (my webcomic, please visit!)
www.cafepress.com/spacepussy