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

Wondercon 2009 + Charles Schulz Feb14 + Thom Cat, Goliath, Clumsy Love & Space Pus*y Vinyl Toy!

Just wanted to catch you up on what I have been up too! "Thom Cat" and "The Infinite Goliath" continue to pull in new fans at each festival they appear in (they were both shown with a great reception at the San Francisco Bay Area International Children's Film Festival on Sunday March 1st at 1pm, and I was able to talk about the cartoons after the screening...thank you Dan Bennett for putting together such a wonderful show!) and hopefully that will help lead to a series at some point (I hope!!)! I had a great time at Wondercon this past weekend, and as the Artist-in-Residence at the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA on Feb 14 2009 where I was able to do sketches of "Thom" and "Goliath" for the museum guests and show the cartoons on a large screen tv (one of my favorite museums, you must go if you have a chance)! I heavily promoted my new webcomic, "Clumsy Love," which is updated every Mon-Wed-Fri at www.clumsylove.net, including giving out over 500 bookmarks to Wondercon guests! And I was able to premiere my toy prototype of "Space Pussy!" Please let me know what you think of any and all that I have listed here, and if you did catch the cartoons at any show recently please write in with your comments (especially if it is to demand that they become a series...haha!)!


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

"Clumsy Love" by Mike Gray http://www.clumsylove.net/ !

I launched my webcomic, "Clumsy Love," on Feb 2, 2009, and so far it has been a great success (and a lot of fun)! Please take a look if you have a chance, and let meknow what you think! I also have my first sponsor, Jantze Studios, which I would like to thank for especially for putting an ad on a brand-new site!

In other news, I have been interviewed by AWN for the work I did on "Thom Cat" and "The Infinite Goliath" for "Random Cartoons" on the Nicktoons network!

And I will be appearing this coming weekend on Saturday February 14th at the Charles Schulz Museum as the"Artist in Residence" from 1pm to 3pm, hope to see you there!

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

Air Dates for "Thom Cat" and "The Infinite Goliath!"

Nickelodeon has finally released the air dates for my two animated cartoon pilots, “Thom Cat” and “The Infinite Goliath” which will air as part of the “Random Cartoons” show on Nicktoons in January! “The Infinite Goliath” premieres on “Random Cartoons” Saturday Jan 17, 2009 (West Coast 10:30 a.m., East Coast 1:30 p.m.) and “Thom Cat” premieres on “Random Cartoons” Saturday Jan 31 2009 (West Coast 10:30 a.m., East Coast 1:30 p.m.). You can see more about both cartoons at my website: http://www.pencilforhire.com/!

“Thom Cat” synopsis (created & written by Mike Gray):
Thom G. Cat is a genius inventor, a brilliant scientist, and a fashion trendsetter…not bad for a cat! The smartest cat in the world that is! Thom Cat makes his animated screen debut dealing with a young bully...who will never, ever pick on little girls again after enduring Thom’s unique form of justice!

“The Infinite Goliath” synopsis (co-created with Erik Knutson, written & directed by Mike Gray):
Infinite Goliath is the most dangerous villain in the universe, who has been paroled (after spending 30 years in the Quartz Nebula) and forced to live in suburban America as a model citizen. Essentially a 'super villain in recovery,' he has to try and live his life without destroying people, places, or things... or risk a return to the Nebula!

Please let me know what you think of the cartoons if you get a chance ot see them (use your DVR or TIVO!

--Mike

Ape Escape Trailer!

A terrific new trailer for the "Ape Escape" cartoon series I worked on (as Head Writer/Script Editor) can be seen at the link below, you must check it out!!: http://frederatorblogs.com/ape/2008/12/11/ape-escape-trailer/

I can't wait for Nicktoons to announce a date for the series to air...as soon as I know, I will be sure to post!

--Mike

CAPS Bil Keane Banquet Nov 15 2008

Doug Gray, Melissa Gray, Mike Gray (myself), Stan and Sharon Sakai!

Melissa and I with Bil Keane, creator of Family Circus!

With the hilarious Mel Lazarus (creator of Miss Peach and Momma)!

Melissa and I with Glen Keane, one of the greatest animators of all time!

Melissa with Cathy Guisewite, creator of one of Melissa's favorite strips, Cathy!

My wife Melissa, my brother Doug and I had a terrific time at the CAPS banquet this past weekend (11/15/08) at Maggianos in Woodland Hills, CA! Getting to meet Bil Keane (creator of Family Circus), and to see a ton of his original art in person, was a real treat! We also met Cathy Guisewite (creator of Cathy), Greg Evans (creator of Luann) and his wife wonderful Betty, Mel Lazarus (creator of Momma and Miss Peach), and Glen Keane (one of the great Disney animators of any generation)! It was terrific to catch up with old friends Stan (Usagi Yojimbo) and Sharon Sakai, and we are looking forward to seeing them at Sac Con in December and Wondercon in Feb! And it was great, as usual, getting to see Stephen (one of the great cartoon designers of our time) and Heidi Silver, and Sergio Aragones! The banquet featured terrific food, hilarious entertainment and fantastic company all around...it's good to be part of CAPS (and I can't wait for next year)!

--Mike

Costco Cartoon Contest

These are two cartoons I did for the Costco Cartoon Contest last month, I haven't heard if they have announced the winners or not, but they were a lot of fun to make! The guidelines were that they had to (of course) be about the "Costco" experience... --Mike