Alacritas Victus

A very Merry Christmas to you and yours

2011-12-22T09:57:00.001-06:00

ON THE AIR sneak preview

2011-12-13T15:06:00.000-06:00

The BBC's ON THE AIR third season will air sometime around Christmas, it seems, and you can catch a sneak peek in this exclusive trailer. The 2D animation is by me with character setup and rigging done by the fantastic folks at Club Cocoanut, and the stop motion and production design is by the Belfast animation studio of Flickerpix.

In other news, my good friends Chris Hanily, Brett Zabel, Tad Allard and I just got back from running the Tucson Marathon this weekend. Happily we all finished and can still walk, for the most part. I'll post a couple of pictures soon. Congratulations, guys!

Cheers,

K

Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship Deadline

2011-11-16T10:36:00.001-06:00

Do you cartoon? You could win a $5,000 scholarship and a trip to Las
Vegas to meet the top names in cartooning. Don't delay - the deadline
is December 15.

Applicants must be students at a 4-year college in the United States,
Canada or Mexico who will be a Junior or Senior during the 2012-2013
academic year. Applicants do not have to be art majors to be eligible
for this scholarship.

For more information and an application, please visit:
http://www.cartoonistfoundation.org/

The annual Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, in memory of the late
King Features editor, was funded by an initial $100,000 grant from the
Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate and additional generous
donations from Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman, Patrick McDonnell and many
other prominent cartoonists. Submissions are adjudicated by a panel of
top cartoonists and an award is given to the best college cartoonist.
The recipient is feted at the annual NCS Reuben Awards Convention
attended by many of the world's leading cartoonists.

"The Family Circus" creator Bil Keane: 1922-2011

2011-11-09T15:28:00.001-06:00

Bil Keane died yesterday (11-08-11) at the age of 89. The ever eloquent Tom Richmond shares some of his memories of Bil on his blog . For my part, I was fortunate enough to have met Mr. Keane in 2009 at the Reuben Awards banquet. Michael Jantze introduced me to him and I met a very warm, friendly man with a ready smile, who - even though he had many very well-known people waiting to say hello and ask how he did - had time to chat with me for a moment. The Family Circus continues to be a great introduction for children to the world of comic strips now as it was for me as a child, and I count myself fortunate to have met the man behind the pen.

2011-10-17T10:10:00.000-05:00

100 year-old marathoner's secret revealed:

Andreas Deja: Deja View

2011-06-08T08:33:00.004-05:00

Andreas Deja has a new blog. 'Nuff said, really. Bookmarked.

NCS Reuben Awards, Boston, 2011

2011-06-01T08:58:00.015-05:00

Well, it's Wednesday and I've started to catch up from an extended weekend in Boston where I was a guest of Michael Jantze at the 65th annual National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards. I was there from Thursday morning to Sunday afternoon, which seems like a long time, but there is so much to do and see, and so many people to talk to that it really goes by quickly.

Regardless, we were able to squeeze in a tour of historic Fenway Park on Friday morning before the seminars started.

The start of the tour at Gate D. (If I remember correctly, this is the oldest section of Fenway that goes all the way back to the original 1919 building, but I could be wrong. Sounds cool, though.)

Me along with the tireless, talented Tom Fishburne and Michael Jantze, baseball fans extraordinaire.

Fenway seems to have nothing but good seats. The fact that it was a fantastically beautiful day could've skewed my judgment, however.

Fenway seating.

If all goes as planned, we'll be seeing a game here later this summer. Picking out where to sit... hmmm...

Michael and Tom in the pressbox.

The only manually operated scoreboard in MLB. Apparently the waiting list for a job running it is around 25 years. There's three guys in there, two of them are 25 year veterans, and a new guy. The new guy's been there 10 years. You can just make out the outline of the access door just to the left of the at-bat indicator (far bottom left of the picture).

R.O. Blechman gave an awesome talk Saturday afternoon about his career in animation and illustration. Sitting companionably just in front of me was David Silverman and the legendary Sergio Aragones.

A lot did happen over the weekend that I didn't get pictures of - I've gotten to a point where I've decided to leave the camera behind more often than not, the downside being I miss out on a lot of great photo ops. Regardless, here we are at the Reuben Awards dinner during intermission.

"Off the Mark" cartoonist Mark Parisi and Michael Jantze

Best Book Illustration divisional award winner ("The Butt Book") and table mates Mike Lester and his lovely wife.

The fantastic Mr. Richard Thompson, creator of the comic strip "Cul de Sac", which if you're not reading, you should be.

Some other fun things from the weekend:

A picture of the bronze statue in Boston Public Garden after the story Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.

A bar-napkin sketch Michael did of me while we were whetting our whistles.

A sketch of Sheldon by the friendly and talented Dave Kellett who also has a comic-journal version of the weekend here. Dave trusted me enough to gently hold the Little Mermaid sketch that Glen Keane did for him while he drew Sheldon for me. Unfortunately, Dave managed to tweak his back while sketching, so I fear that for Dave I'll always be associated as a pain.

On a purely selfish level, one of the most exciting parts of the weekend for me (besides talking with tons of artists who's work I admire greatly (including Glen Keane, animator exemplar of the first order)) was a letter waiting for me when I returned home notifying me that I, Kelly McNutt, had been accepted as a member of the National Cartoonists Society. My most humble and sincere thanks to both Michael Jantze and Tom Richmond for sponsoring me, and to the NCS for having me.

Good luck!

-K

Alix's Art Fair Piece

2011-04-15T11:31:00.004-05:00

My older daughter's art fair entries. She mixed her own colors, too.

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 31

2011-03-31T15:33:00.004-05:00

My Sketchbook Month grand finale. A panel based on the thumbnails from yesterday.

Thanks again to Cedric and his wife for all their efforts in running the March is Sketchbook Month blog - I had a lot of fun being a part of it. Cheers to you guys, and let's do it again sometime!

march is Sketchbook Month - Day 30

2011-03-30T21:46:00.004-05:00

Sketchbook Month continues!

Thumbnail roughs for a tomorrows drawing.

march is Sketchbook Month - Day 29

2011-03-29T13:47:00.003-05:00

Sketchbook Month continues!

march is Sketchbook Month - Day 28

2011-03-28T13:10:00.002-05:00

Sketchbook Month continues!

KaboingTV- "Mind Your Tongue"- Frog in a Suit- 3p 36

2011-03-25T14:27:00.001-05:00

march is Sketchbook Month - Day 25

2011-03-25T13:00:00.003-05:00

Sketchbook Month continues!

Think big, think outside of the box!

2011-03-24T15:31:00.004-05:00

Kaboing TV stands to spread cartoon goodness to animation lovers everywhere via the web. Animated cartoons for animated cartoon lovers by people who love animated cartoons. No suits. No meddling. All monkey business. The good kind. Kaboing TV needs your help: watch, comment, spread the word to your cartoon-loving friends. Link, link, link again. Animated cartoons are good for you, animated cartoons are good for me. Animated cartoons are proven* to make you 52.5% less cranky and 78.3% more attractive due to the youthful, goofy grin on your previously dour and furrowed mug. Get out there and hug an animator! Get out there and hug a cartoon lover! Get out there and be animated yourself! Live animatedly, love animatedly, love life animatedly! VIVA ANIMATION! Woo!

Whew. Ok - I'm back. Now, let's get out there and spread the animation loving.

Kaboing TV!

Cheers!

K

march is Sketchbook Month - Day 24

2011-03-24T13:40:00.001-05:00

Sketchbook Month continues!

march is Sketchbook Month - Day 23

2011-03-23T14:59:00.002-05:00

Sketchbook Month continues!

march is Sketchbook Month - Day 22

2011-03-22T13:35:00.005-05:00

Sketchbook Month continues!

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 21

2011-03-21T16:10:00.003-05:00

Sketchbook Month continues!

Frog In a Suit-Ep 35 " Tricky Business"- KaboingTV.com

2011-03-18T16:24:00.001-05:00

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 18

2011-03-18T13:27:00.005-05:00

Sketchbook Month continues!

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 17

2011-03-17T01:23:00.003-05:00

Happy St Patrick's Day from yours truly. Sketchbook Month continues!

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 11

2011-03-11T22:30:00.002-06:00

Sketchbook Month continues!

KaboingTV- "All Buzzed Up" Episode 34

2011-03-11T09:57:00.001-06:00

Frog in a Suit premiere on Kaboing TV!

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 10

2011-03-10T23:10:00.001-06:00

Sketchbook Month continues!

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 09

2011-03-09T15:40:00.003-06:00

Sketchbook Month continues! Day nine's sketches are of a somewhat famous pooch.

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 08

2011-03-08T21:44:00.001-06:00

Sketchbook Month continues! Day eight's drawing is dedicated to Wall Street. You're welcome, by the way.

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 07

2011-03-07T20:53:00.003-06:00

Sketchbook Month continues! Day seven's drawing is another render-doodle that I spilled water on. This is ballpoint pen, Micron 05, highlighter pen and Prismacolor pencils. Not my favorite, but I'm tired and I'm going to bed.

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 04

2011-03-04T15:01:00.003-06:00

Sketchbook Month continues! Day four's drawing is a happy birthday bag-drawing for a friend of the family's little boy's birthday. His birthday was actually last week, but that's how things go with schedules these days. Happy belated birthday, Thomas!

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 03

2011-03-03T17:40:00.002-06:00

Sketchbook Month continues! Day three's drawing is much more a render-doodle than a regular sketchbook entry, but it's fun to get to work the Prismacolors at all. It's been a long time!

Colored pencil, Prismacolor marker, 05 Micron - 5.2x3.5

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 02

2011-03-02T17:37:00.004-06:00

Illustrator extraordinaire Cedric Hohnstadt has claimed March 2011 as Sketchbook Month. Bringing the art to a sketchbook near you.

Colored pencil, Prismacolor marker, highlighter pen, 05 Micron - 5x5.5

March is Sketchbook Month - Day 01

2011-03-01T20:41:00.004-06:00

Illustrator extraordinaire Cedric Hohnstadt has claimed March 2011 as Sketchbook Month. Bringing the art to a sketchbook near you.

Colored pencil & 05 Micron - 2.5x2.25

Bad bad bad Spider-Man silhouette

2011-02-15T08:56:00.006-06:00

This is the image Sony has recently released of the new Spider-Man, and all I can say is, really?

Click for biggification.

Black and white background

2011-01-04T12:14:00.004-06:00

A black and white background for a character design set I'm working on.

In other news, Michael Jantze will be teaching a New Media Master Class at the Charles M. Schulz Museum on January 8, 2011. Michael knows a few things about new media, having been at the forefront since early in his syndicated comic strip career. Look to the Charles M. Schulz Museum's website for details.

Happy 2011!

Good luck,

K

Sketchy Ice Creams

2010-11-04T11:31:00.002-05:00

Really fun little short from Bird Box Studios. It's just a joy to watch.

Jantze Studios wraps on episode 35 of Frog in a Suit

2010-09-10T09:01:00.010-05:00

Five minutes, five people, five weeks. That sums up Jantze Studios animation production on Joe Murray's Frog in a Suit.

Animating Joe Murray's designs is a gas - animating Joe Murray's designs to an awesome voice cast is even... uh, gassier. Look for Frog in a Suit on KaboingTV.com - coming soon to the internet near you!

Good luck!

K

Help Launch an All-Cartoon Web Channel! UPDATED (x3)

2010-05-12T10:43:00.012-05:00

UPDATE #3: Ten days to go, folks - Joe Murray's project is at 94% of his $16,800 goal. Jantze Studios (yours truly being director of animation) stands to be the production company for Frog in a Suit, and KaboingTV stands to drive a new revolution in animation. Even if you can't contribute to the Kickstarter campaign, please help spread the word! Do some blogging, linking, story writing... everyone get the word out about KaboingTV and Frog in a Suit!

Joe Murray of "Rocko's Modern Life" and "Camp Lazlow" is working on launching an all-cartoon web channel called KaboingTV.com, and you can become part of cartoon history! "How's that?" you may ask. The answer can be found at Murray's Kickstarter page.

“I’m trying to produce the first episodes without outside funding that comes with strings attached. It’s also my wish to have you the audience, plus fellow animators be my producers rather than funding sources that don’t love cartoons as much as you do.”

"Frog in a Suit", set to launch KaboingTV, will be funded by the Kickstarter effort, which as of ~~5.12.2010 stands at 55% of the goal with 24 days to go~~. ~~UPDATE: I was going to wait a few days with an update, but in just a day Murray's project has gone from 55% to 61%. END UPDATE~~ UPDATE 2: If you're part of helping reach this goal, you're awesome. Frog in a Suit and KaboingTV are that much closer today, with 73% of the goal reached and 19 days to go. Be part of the new cartoon resurgence! It's a proven* fact that cartoon lovers make better lovers, period. END UPDATE Backers of Joe's effort have several funding levels to choose from, ranging from $5 all the way to $10,000 or more.

“So look at your pledge also as a vote to have more episodes of Frog in a Suit, and to have a website that you can go to and depend on, to give you hilarious, quality driven, irreverent cartoons.”

Murray notes that once funding is complete it will be a matter of months to launch the site and begin pulling in enough traffic to woo advertisers and more sponsors.

*ok... "proven" is anecdotal and even somewhat hyperbolic but c'mon... it's true, for the most part. Except for this guy. Probably not true for him.

Almost Olympic...

2010-02-28T00:36:00.006-06:00

We've all a little Olympian in us...

The semifinals were tough...

The medal round conditions were less than ideal,

...and the judges were less than pleased.

The birthday invitation

2010-02-11T00:10:00.003-06:00

The illustration for our older daughter's birthday invitation.

Photoshop on Cintiq to print on 8.5x11

Renderdoodle

2010-01-13T10:02:00.004-06:00

End of a long day working the spice mines, I guess.

Sketched in Photoshop

Kaili turns two!

2009-11-13T12:56:00.005-06:00

Our wee-est one, Kaili, is two years old today!

Happy birthday, sweetie!

Proudly wearing her big sister's soccer cleats

Back in 2007!

Bunny says "aaaahhhh"

2009-11-10T13:41:00.011-06:00

Spent a few minutes animating in Flash... and ended up with a bunny.

Fun-time Animation Machine

2009-08-19T12:51:00.005-05:00

The latest reel.

Music is by Lou Barlow, from his album "Emoh", used with permission.

Biplane fly-by

2009-08-11T14:46:00.010-05:00

A bit of biplane fun.

I've been a fan of warbirds for as long as I can remember, so this was a fun one to put together. The airplane itself is kind of a mish-mash of a few different kinds of WWI fighters, most notably the Spad XIIIand the Model 75 "Stearman" (the former of which I have a smallish die-cast model of on my desk and the latter I had as one of my first glue-together model kits... now long gone but not forgotten.)

Good luck!

K

Running and a new (so new it's rough!) strip.

2009-06-25T09:25:00.007-05:00

Training update! We've got four runs in over the past two weeks, roughly 5.25 miles per run. Things are going well, with no chafing or cardiac episodes! Terrible time of the year to try and get back into the swing of it, though: exceedingly humid and hot, so it's a real chore to get out there and go. But get out there and go we do. Going to see if my dad's up for running the Excelsior Firecracker Run with me.

In other news, there's a new strip up over at Working The Void: ~~so new, in fact, that it's still rough. See it while you can, as I'm finishing up the inking today!~~ UPDATE: Inked strip is up.

Good luck,

K

In training: becoming a runner again.

2009-06-17T11:35:00.004-05:00

An old friend of mine and I are on a quest: to run the 2010 Grandma's Marathon (Two Harbors to Duluth, Minnesota) and live to tell the tale.

We have begun training and the next run is this afternoon.

More stories to follow.

Good luck,

K

Sketch

2009-05-07T10:27:00.002-05:00

Repeat after me: "I will not buy anything from Monster Cable".

2009-04-09T13:45:00.003-05:00

I'll say it again: I will NOT buy anything from Monster Cable. Were you to ask me the reason, I'd point you to a simple Google search of the phrase "Monster Cable sues". I've never been overly enticed by Monster Cable products, my opinion of them being overpriced for what they claim to deliver. On top of that, there have been highly suspicious and well-documented shady sales-floor practices (which you can read about over at Engadget HD) and topped off by the amazingly brazen lawsuit against Monster Transmission & Performance. Audioholics.com has an interesting write-up as well.

Where will I buy audio interconnect cables from? Blue Jeans Cable, or many of the other companies that WON'T be silly-suing anyone and everyone over a simple word.

Good luck,

K

Zits Motion Comics

2009-04-08T09:30:00.007-05:00

Zits Audio Comics, brought to you by Jantze Studios and King Features.

While there's a great deal to be said about the what, why and theory behind these motion comics, I'm just happy to finally be able to share them.

You can see them at the Review-Journal, and Via YouTube:

Look for more soon, and good luck!

K

Somnicolossus scopuli?

2009-03-13T01:32:00.003-05:00

The adventure continues over at WTV:

Rock Creature

2009-03-12T10:08:00.006-05:00

Making an appearance in the latest episode of Working the Void:

Good luck,

K

Superhero Thursday: THOR!

2009-03-05T14:18:00.004-06:00

I've always thought Thor was mighty cool. Here's our take:

Chris:

Kelly:

Superhero Thursday: Johnny Storm!

2009-02-20T02:18:00.004-06:00

More heroes! Two for the price of none! More on the way.

Chris:

Kelly:

Good luck,

K

Superhero Thursday: Captain America!

2009-02-19T17:57:00.002-06:00

Playing catchup, here - we'll go with Cap'n America first.

Chris:

Michael:

Kelly:

Good luck,

K

Be still my geek-ish heart...

2009-01-09T20:12:00.001-06:00

Just when I thought I'd had my geek-thrill for the week, along comes this and does it for me for a month.

So absurdly impracticable, yet the desire factor rises even as I speak...

Happy Friday! (again)

K

B-flat from deep space? I swoon with geekish delight.

2009-01-09T09:05:00.002-06:00

I am struck dumb trying to describe the heights of my fascination with this. The sheer enormity and scale of the things we've yet to find out staggers the brain to near insensibility.

Happy Friday!

K

Superhero Thursday: Aquaman [Update x2 (2.23.09)]

2008-12-15T14:49:00.014-06:00

Aquaman! While I'm still working on mine, others are now available! Enjoy responsibly.

Chris:

Michael:

Guest appearance by my brother Kevin, tattoo artist to the stars. Visit his site or if you happen to be in New York, go refresh your ink.

Kelly (finally):

Harrison wields the mighty pen:

Good luck, and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours.

K

Can't help it... too... cool...

2008-12-11T08:54:00.002-06:00

Talk about your viral marketing... but I just couldn't help it.

Good Luck,

K

Return of the strip?

2008-12-10T01:32:00.010-06:00

So I re-drew the last strip as I was far from happy with how the previous version turned out. A friend who knows something about comic strips had a few suggestions as well, some of which are in evidence here, others to appear later. I've posted the two strips next to each other on the WTV site for to make easy the comparing, should you wish.

Good luck,

K

Superhero Thursday: Nova

2008-12-05T20:20:00.006-06:00

Nova is one of Marvel's more obscure heroes, but the latest incarnations have been awful neat looking. Still waiting for more drawings, but here's what we've got so far.

Chris:

Kelly:

Lisa:

Michael:

Good luck,

K

A Time For All Seasonings

2008-11-25T09:52:00.007-06:00

An old friend and former coworker from Reelworks in Minneapolis has debuted his newest film, "The Shaker Brothers". Beautifully sweet traditional character animation set to a wonderfull, whimsical piano track all wrapped up in a early 20's vaudeville period look. Head on over and take a trip back in time, why don't you?

Good luck!

K

Superhero Thursday: The Flash

2008-11-21T22:20:00.005-06:00

"But it's Friday..." you're saying to yourself. Well, I was busy yesterday, and so here they are on a Friday. Without any real reason, we ended up doing DC two weeks in a row, so probably something from Marvel next week... but it's Thanksgiving next week... so maybe it'll be a couple weeks before we pick this up again.

I really enjoy doing these. Thanks for reminding me, Lisa. (And I think a thanks to Chris for reminding Lisa, perhaps?)

Enjoy!

K

Michael:

Lisa:

Chris:

Kelly:

And just because I have it, here's my initial thumbnail for my Flash:

Jantze Studios & Baby Blues

2008-11-21T21:53:00.003-06:00

A short Baby Blues piece of fun. There's public education, and then there's public education.

Happy Friday & good luck,

K

The wee-one's birthday!

2008-11-13T16:06:00.005-06:00

Amongst all the fun art news is the news that the youngest of our two best works, Kaili, is a year old today! I've a fun video of her eating part of a birthday doughnut this morning that I'll post later.

Happy birthday, Kaili-boo!

Kaili (bottom) with her big "stister" Alix

MMAA Animated! Film Festival this weekend

2008-11-13T15:50:00.005-06:00

Just got the word that "Mr. Lux: At Your Service" will be showing this weekend at the Minnesota Museum of American Art's "Animated! Film Festival" showcasing local and regional animated shorts. Thanks to the MMAA for hosting the event and I'm looking forward to catching up with old friends and hopefully meeting some new ones.

'Cause animators are cool cats...

Good luck,

K

Mr. Lux: Cannes, Silver Create Awards, now #1 on YouTube

2008-11-12T16:29:00.021-06:00

Just saw that Mr. Lux: At Your Service has been featured in the #1 spot on YouTube. I don't know how long that lasts, but hey, it's fun! [UPDATE] Now it's at #3, so they do change things up regularly, it appears. Thanks to everyone who left real comments! [end update]

It was dubbed "Batman Tuesday" at the studio yesterday. So I drew Batman. [UPDATE #2] I snuck in and nicked Michael's and Chris' Batman drawings while they were industriously chugging the extra-greasy distraction-coffee I set out.

No artist I've met yet can resist the extra-greasy coffee. Enjoy! [end update]

Kelly:

Michael:

Chris:

Lisa:

Good luck,

K

The Minnesota Zoo

2008-10-29T10:33:00.006-05:00

This past weekend we took the girls on their first trip to the Minnesota Zoo. It was cold and wet outside (plus the first snowfall of the season which delighted Alix), but inside it was wonderfully tropical.

On top of all that, Alix was able to get up close and personal with a sand shark.

height="243" codebase='http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab'>

controller="true" loop="false" pluginspage='http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/'>

If you haven't been to the Minnesota Zoo before, it's well worth a visit. We found the staff to be extremely helpful and friendly, there are many wonderful animals to learn about, and the aquariums are stunning. Actually, that was my favorite part; I could've sat and watched the fish all day.

Better yet, the monkeys didn't throw poop at us. That's always a bonus.

Good luck,

K

Mr. Lux: Now We're Cooking!

2008-10-16T10:21:00.002-05:00

The second episode starring the indefatigable Mr. Lux!

There's hope that we'll see more of Mr. Lux in the near future...

Good luck,

K

Breaking News [Slight Update]

2008-09-11T09:03:00.005-05:00

This just in: Two of our cartoons, "Mr. Lux: At Your Service" and "The Norm: Tech Tips No. 37" have won four Silver Awards between them in the 2008 Create Awards.

I'll post more information as I get it, but to see the shorts, just look to the right for Mr. Lux, and click here for Tech Tips!

Good luck,

K

[Slight Update] We just received details on which cartoon was awarded for what so I'll post the details soon. Thanks for the kind words of congratulations!

Cheers!

K

Bill Melendez, 1916-2008

2008-09-04T00:25:00.002-05:00

Bill Melendez has passed away at the age of 91. A professional animator of nearly seventy years, Mr. Melendez worked on the classics "Pinnochio", "Fantasia", and UPA's "Gerald McBoing-Boing" (Academy Award winner in 1951 for best cartoon short, at that,) but will most likely be remembered for bringing Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" to life in "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

Thank you, Mr. Melendez. God bless, and rest in peace.

K

The Norm - a new frontier

2008-08-15T20:51:00.007-05:00

Comic strips? No, it's Audio Comics™ - Michael Jantze's The Norm like you've never seen it before. More episodes are in the offing...

Good luck,

K

Love

2008-08-13T14:08:00.004-05:00

Alix, three years ago today, the beautiful August afternoon her grandma Sue died. Joy and love in the midst of deep, deep sorrow.

I haven't words for how much we miss you, Sue.

More festival action

2008-07-25T19:24:00.005-05:00

Should you be in the Big Apple this weekend, stop by the Animation Block Party on Sunday to see Mr. Lux in all his festival glory.

If you miss him there, you can still catch him at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. More on that later.

Happy Friday,

K

Art Jumble post

2008-07-24T19:34:00.005-05:00

My drawing for this week's Art Jumble: Red Heads.

Good luck!

K

A MAD-man's review of "The Dark Knight"

2008-07-19T08:03:00.004-05:00

Tom Richmond, (of MAD Magazine fame) an illustrator of humorous pictures who also happens to be a big (big) Batman fan, has written a very good (fabulous) review of "The Dark Knight" over on his MAD blog. Well worth the read.

It really is silly how much I look forward to seeing the newest Batman flick.

Good luck,

K

Cartoon Brew? [Updated]

2008-07-17T10:43:00.006-05:00

Ut-oh... what's happened with Cartoon Brew? It's offline, and offline hard. NOTHING of it is up, and it's been at least a good 12 hours by now. Anyone know the story? Simple ISP burp, or something more sinister?

Good luck,

K

[UPDATE] Whew - never mind. They had tech problems (severe ones at that - possibly hacked) and are back up. Enjoy.

When the Elephants Come to Town

2008-07-15T15:36:00.007-05:00

Our local alternative paper, City Pages, published its second (now annual) Comix Issue where they ask local artists to submit cartoons based on a common theme. The Republicans are holding their national convention in St. Paul, Minnesota this year, so naturally that ended up being the theme this time 'round.

I'd missed out on last year's issue, so I was looking forward to trying my hand at this year's. The question was, what to do? How to stand out? I had a feeling that for the most part the cartoons would be angry, vindictive affairs (as would be expected in an alternative publication, especially cartoons dealing with the RNC's national convention coming to one of the bluer parts of Minnesota) and frankly, it just seemed to easy to rant, boil, and foam, or to make the typical parodies. As a result, I didn't come up with an idea until a day before the deadline. And to my delight, it was among those chosen, although it only made it online, and you can click the strip below to see it.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed that it didn't make it to the print version, but I am happy with the strip, and I think I prefer it this way rather than had I gone the ugly boiling rant route and been in the print version. Not that I think that would've secured a print-version spot, as there are a couple cartoons that aren't all angry and ugly that did make it into print, such as Steven Stwalley's "Pink Elephants on Parade" and Carl Nelson's "GOPzilla" - both are well-drawn and funny, or at least to me, and refreshing compared to the typical crap like "Welcome Evangelicals" and "RNC Sneak Preview". I'm not going to link those last ones - if you want to see them, find 'em yourself. Bleh.

So if you get a chance, check out the strip. Oh, and let me know if you catch the metaphor.

Good luck,

K

How do you get featured on YouTube?

2008-07-08T09:23:00.005-05:00

Well, here's the straight dope. The video we did for YouTube is now up and running.

Good luck,

K

Don't hate me 'cause I'm beautiful

2008-06-17T16:41:00.006-05:00

Her name is Desdemonda. Desdemonda is apt to fret.

Baby, too - Illustration Friday

2008-05-31T09:00:00.006-05:00

Babies? Babies.

Illustration Friday: A fun place to see many different illustration styles and takes on a weekly topic.

Baby 1 - Illustration Friday

2008-05-31T08:52:00.008-05:00

I'm surrounded by babies.

Illustration Friday: A fun place to see lots of different illustration styles and takes on a weekly topic.

Mr. Lux goes to Cannes

2008-05-05T14:40:00.016-05:00

We've received word this past week that Mr. Lux's "At Your Service" has been accepted into the 2008 Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner!

This kind of thing is always fun.

Directed by Michael Jantze
Animation by Kelly McNutt

Good luck!

K

Tech Tips with Boy Norm

2008-04-11T11:24:00.007-05:00

More animation!

Tech Tips:

Written by Michael Jantze
Animation, me.

Because cartoon head trauma is funny.

Good luck!

K

Zits Live!

2008-04-10T14:00:00.007-05:00

Hey! I get to show one of the things I've been working on lately:

Animated Zits!

Produced by Jantze Studios
Directed by Michael Jantze
Animation - Me!
Sound - Jory Prum (studio.jory.org)
Embellishments - Chris Turner (his website) & Michael Jantze

Fun project - oh, how I love my job.

Good luck!

K

Mac Pro

2008-02-20T08:08:00.003-06:00

After pushing my hard-working but showing-its-age '02 G4 to the limits with several animated shorts last year, I've finally made the jump to Intel and the new Mac Pro, which arrived yesterday.

The box was fairly beat up, with a sizable chunk gashed in the bottom corner. That made me a little nervous, but true to Apple form, the computer was boxed and packaged very well and all is good, it seems. No visible damage on the MP itself.

First impressions even before I got it hooked up?

This thing is (HUGE! MASSIVE!) quite big.

As you can see in the picture above, I had my G4 nicely tucked into a hand-made computer shelf/desk leg where it was accessible but out of the way. Problem is, the Power Mac doesn't fit - it's too tall by at least two inches. So I'll have to modify that shelf before I can get this thing off my desktop. Although... it's a desktop computer... but whatever. I feel like I've got the monolith from the movie 2001 looming over me. That's gotta change.

Now, as alarming as the size is, it's not without its benefits. First off, the computer is really really quiet - whisper quiet. That's thanks to the way the enclosure is set up to allow maximum airflow and cooling with minimum help from the fans. And they have a lot to cool: two quad-core 2.8 GHz Intel Xeons, four hard drives, a 512 MB graphics card (which has its own fan as well...) plus various computery bits and pieces. (That's a technical term; computery, and sorry for throwing that one down on you lay people, but try to keep up.)

Just being able to get four internal drives in this thing is a cool capability in my book. Lots of hard drive space, less of those cluttery power bricks taking up outlets. I could only get two drives in my G4, and they weren't nearly as easy to install. Not that it was hard, but that's just how easy it is to put a drive in the MP. I almost felt cheated, not being able to put all that hard-won technical experience to use. Remember, I'm an artist, not a tech, so any tech experience is hard-won by default.

Setup was easy as could be. I chose to manually re-install my applications and configure my communications stuff. You can let what's known as the "Migration Assistant" take care of those things for you, which makes the process even easier, but coming from a PowerMac (Motorola) to a Mac Pro (Intel), I wanted to keep things simple and lean without importing a bunch of settings and applications that would just clutter things up.

Before really digging in, I ran Software Update to get the much needed (actually, absolutely necessary, for the most part) .2 part of the update to Mac OS 10.5 which fixed many of the oddities of 10.5.1. Additionally, after 10.5.2 is complete, you should be aware that you need to run Software Update again (as in right away) for the "Leopard Graphics Update" which... takes care of, um, graphics. Moving on...

After system updates, Adobe CS3 Production Premium installation and updates, configuring and all, it was about a 3.5 hour operation. Still some things to do, such as installing the remaining drives, RAM and adding the second monitor (my Apple LCD is stuck with the old G4 - I didn't want to fork out the $100 for the ACD to DVI adapter I would need to hook it up to the MP... as a result I'm stuck with one second-rate 17" LCD for now... yech) but I'm ready to roll for now. If all keeps working as well as it has for the first day, I'm really going to dig working on this new Mac.

Should you be looking at a Mac, these are the things to consider regarding a Mac Pro:

Pros (heh):
• expandability (adding hard drives, expansion cards, etc...)
• powerful (and it's powerful, too!)

Cons:
• huge (as in really big) which could pose a problem for users with smaller spaces, unless, like me, you don't have a choice.
• pricey - unless you use it for work or are a well-heeled hobbyist, it's costly, but relatively speaking, of course.

There are other cool things (or uncool, depending on what you like) like the keyboard - it's the thinnest, flattest thing I've ever seen for an external keyboard. Think "laptop thin". I'm not sure if I dig it yet. So far it's not bothering me, and I may grow to really like it. For now, I'm undecided.

At any rate, I'm off to put this thing to work.

Good luck!

K

Coming soon...

2008-02-13T00:55:00.002-06:00

I've made the jump to Mac Pro. A dual 2.8 GHz quad-core Penryn processor with a nVidia 8800GT graphics card, to be more precise... and I'm all a-tingle. Once I've got it fired up and clicked around a bit, I'll let you know how it goes.

This machine will take over the main lifting from my long-suffering, hard-working and fondly thought of 2002 vintage dual 1.0 GHz G4 Quicksilver Power Mac, which will semi-retire to the more sedate duties of iPhoto, a little gaming, acting as a remote renderer for After Effects and the main web-surfer.

What's in store for the newest Mac? Adobe CS3 After Effects, Photoshop, and Toon Boom, mainly. I'm really anticipating giving these applications a strenuous workout. So! On to Geek Happy Place. I shall report back soon.

Good luck,

K

720x480 Field Guide

2008-02-11T10:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday! Here's a present for you. A handy-dandy homemade genuine 720x480 (square pixel aspect ratio) field guide. Feel free to download and use away. If you want a few free Photoshop tips to help you maximize the use of your new field guide, just leave me a note!

Good luck,

K

Super Duper Tuesday

2008-02-04T21:17:00.000-06:00

Minnesota is actually part of the primaries this year. Wow. As a result, we've been treated to an onslaught of political advertising.

Whee.

With as much money as these people reportedly spend on their advertising, you'd think that they might come up with something watchable. If you're using television to get your message out, use the medium for what it's good for. (Hint: At least give us some stimulating, eye-catching visuals to ameliorate the predictable and mind-numbing platitudes you keep dishing out for people to nod with thoughtful looks and mumble "mmm-hmm, right, right - just so" to.)

When is someone going to wise up and hire those people that do the Miller Lite commercials?

"Hey, daddy - I'd like you to meet my democratic candidate for president in '08." and let it roll from there - dog gets them a beer, (exhibiting leadership ability) candidate saves uncle Horatio from choking on a peanut (metaphor for saving the US economy from a downturn) etc... all in slow-motion with roman candles and wind machines and "Ain't that America" rockin' the soundtrack.

I'll have to do an elephant to compliment the donkey... but in the meantime, here's a pelican.

Don't forget to vote.

K

New comic is up over at WTV

2008-01-08T00:07:00.000-06:00

Up! A new comic over at Working The Void! Check it out, leave a comment, and have a great week.

Going to bed now...

K

Wishing you a most Happy New Year

2007-12-31T11:43:00.000-06:00

When one looks at the year past and the year coming, it's hard to get a full grip on the enormity of life. For my family and I, it has been on the whole a wonderful year. Life wouldn't be life without the daily trials and stresses that sometimes threaten to take up all of my attention until I step back for a moment and reflect; we're healthy, we have a warm roof, food, clothes, healthy babies, and feel safe. We are blessed.

This has been my first full year back as a freelance artist and I'm a happy man. Blog-wise it hasn't been all that good as everything I've designed, drawn and animated this year is not mine to divulge, which doesn't bother me one bit, it just means that if I'm to blog about my animation and art, I need to dig out old stuff or do some personal stuff on the side, or just remain mute. On the whole, I've been mute, but that ought to change soon, and I'll be blabbing on a regular basis about animation this and that for some time to come. What's changed? Well, the house we live in and have been slowly remodeling over the past two-and-a-half years is nearly done. (Woo-hoo!) When I haven't been animating (or the stuff that goes along with animating) I've been staining, trimming, installing, painting, cleaning, unboxing, etc... That combined with a pregnant wife (who really wanted to help, but physically couldn't and I wouldn't let her anyway...) a rambunctious three-year old daughter who really wanted to help, but physically couldn't and "pretend help" only satisfied her to a certain point left little time for the fun pass-time of blogging and posting art. My goal has been to have something coherent to say about a certain artistic point on this or that and hopefully get a conversation going with those that might happen to read (and might actually care) about something I've said.

So, now that my wife is no longer pregnant (our new daughter was born on November 13th this year - babies take a lot of time as well, it turns out) the house is as good as done, and the three-year old is almost four (and is now actually helpful) I'm anticipating being able to post on a more regular basis. In addition to everything else, I've ventured forth and am working on a web comic that I've gone live with over at my new site, www.kmcnutt.com. I'm not sure how that whole thing is going to work out, but I think at least I'll have a bit of fun in the attempt. I'm also wondering about moving my whole blog over that-a-way... blogger has been very good to me, but I'm finding that I need a bit more flexibility in the look of things... who knows - it may be another year before I ever get around to that.

On the topic of the web comic, I think I just might pick up "How to Make Webcomics" by Scott Kurtz, Kristofer Straub and Dave Kellett.

Above all, I have to tell you about Michael Jantze's "The Norm" - Jantze moved from newspaper syndication to online distribution and has changed the common perception of how a comic can tell a story. If you're not reading it, you probably should!

So - here's wishing you and yours a most Happy New Year. Thanks for reading, I hope you'll stop by now and then in the new year, and above all, I'd love to hear from you.

Good Luck,

Kelly McNutt

Fall Into Me gets picked up for distribution

2007-12-28T10:35:00.002-06:00

Well this is exciting news - the film I worked on, "Fall Into Me", a local independent film by Tim VandeSteeg of Indiewood Pictures has been picked up for distribution by Westlake Entertainment. I animated the opening and closing credits, plus the several special effects sequences in the film. Congratulations to Tim and Indiewood for this huge stepping stone, and thanks - I'm glad I was along for the ride. You can find "Fall Into Me" online at Amazon and Target.com.

Wild Rumor Dept.

I've recently heard that people have been seeing trailers for another film I worked on, "The Poughkeepsie Tapes" which means it's going to theaters large-scale after making the film festival circuit. I created the motion graphics that come up here and there within the film. So, congratulations to the Bros. Dowdle on their distribution deal, and again, thanks - it was fun to be able to be a part of your movie-making.

Good Luck,

K

Proud Daddy x2

2007-11-18T17:56:00.000-06:00

My wife gave birth to our second daughter this past week, making me the proud daddy of two beautiful girls! Kaili Cole McNutt was born Tuesday morning at 8:37. She's a little peanut, almost a full pound smaller than our first, but strong as can be, and she's an eating machine... It took us a while to name her, as we had several girls' names to choose from; we had only one boy's name, which virtually guaranteed it was going to be a girl. But by the late afternoon, we had decided on Kaili (pronounced "Ky-lee").

Nicole is doing well - she's feeling great, actually, but she's dealing with some high blood pressure issues which we're keeping close tabs on. Alix is such a good "little big sister" and shares her blankets with her little sister, and lets us know the second Kaili is awake.

Somehow I'm lucky enough to have such a beautiful family; a wife of beauty, strength and grace, and daughters who follow in their mother's footsteps.

Truly, I am blessed.

K

Kaili - about 15 minutes after she was born

Proud big sister Alix holding her "little stister"

Kaili in the afternoon sun

Mac OS X.5

2007-10-30T09:38:00.000-05:00

I made the jump to 10.5 on the laptop yesterday (12" PowerBook G4 1.5 GHz 1.25 GB DDR SDRAM for those that are keeping score) and while it was a rather bumpy ride, I managed to make it through unscathed. Had I elected to erase the hard drive and do a clean install, everything would've gone much smoother, I'm sure, but when you've got a couple years' worth of preferences and passwords and the like, I just can't see that doing a clean install would be any less of a hassle for getting everything back where you need it. The biggest problem I had was that suddenly (after finally getting it to boot in 10.5) my account was no longer recognized as an Admin account. What's that mean? Well, no changing anything, and next to no trouble-shooting capability. Regardless, I managed to get that squared away and get my storyboards done as well (during the three attempts of installing which ran at least an hour and a half each). Now things seem to be running nice and smooth, and yes, I do like the look and feel of it. Mail is much more useful, Safari is much more useful, things are just more useful. And it appears that all my apps (Photoshop, Toon Boom, Illustrator, Anime Studio Pro, Flash, etc etc...) all work just fine. Apple and Adobe have dropped a big bomb on After Effects CS3 users though; AE needs an upgrade to work with 10.5, and Adobe won't have it until December, so they say. What?! I think this is just another symptom of Apple disregarding their computing platform for their gadget platform. I've said it before and I'll probably be saying it again soon, but I'm waiting (along with many many others) for an updated Mac Pro to come along. It's been well over a year now, and the rumors are barely starting to trickle in about anything new on that front. First I was waiting to make the jump to Intel Macs because they didn't make a universal binary version of the Adobe Creative Suite - it would run, but only through emulation software which countered any speed gains made by the new computer. So, I waited... and waited. They came out with the universal binary finally in June (I think) but by then the Mac Pro was close to a year between updates, so it would've been silly (I thought) to get a Mac Pro only to have them update them a week or two later. Well, it's been four months now, and while it's probably good I waited, I am now one impatient and frustrated Apple customer.

Oh, and all you laptop fanboys whining about wanting a Macbook update, just shut up. It's only been 5 months since your last refresh. Pansies.

That's it. I need coffee.

Good luck,

K

The second "Working the Void" is up!

2007-10-24T00:13:00.002-05:00

"Adventure awaits!"

The first comic is up!

2007-10-18T08:55:00.000-05:00

Click on the link at the right to see the beginning. I'll be updating weekly.

Thanks, and good luck!

K

Turtle Thursday

2007-10-11T10:52:00.001-05:00

OK... how'd it get to be mid-October already? Sheesh. I guess I'm having fun, 'cause the time is simply whizzing by. We're going to have a new baby in the next few weeks and I still don't have the baby's room done. Trim, curtains, crib... Well, with any luck, I'll get that situation turned around in the coming week or two.

Another big first for us today: our very first parent/teacher conference for our preschooler.

I like being a dad.

I'm suddenly reminded of a time about a year-and-a-half ago (she would've been about two) when I brought home a drawing of a bug for our daughter; she loves bugs and I thought she'd have a little fun with it. Well, she said "thank you" when I gave it to her (such a polite child, she is) looked at it dispassionately for a moment, crumpled it up and handed it back to me saying, "Here, daddy. Garbage."

She's a tough critic.

Here're some turtles I managed to save from the crumpling.

3x4 - Pitt brush pens on Canson Pro Layout marker paper

Oop - gotta get back to work.

Good luck,

K

My webcomic journey

2007-10-10T13:37:00.001-05:00

My journey to the posting of my first webcomic is coming close to its end... or its beginning... er - I'm almost there. Click on the rough teaser strip for some roughs and a look at the new home of my forthcoming webcomic!

Good luck,

K

Twin Cities Marathon 2007 (#5)

2007-10-05T07:00:00.001-05:00

OK - I didn't feel like digging out any more of the TCM stuff. It's Friday and I've got a wedding to attend, and I must say, it is one beautiful day for a wedding. Congratulations to Melissa and Joe! Many happy returns of the day.

And since I don't have any wedding related items, here's an owl.

Because owls are wise.

Good luck,

K

Twin Cities Marathon 2007 (#4)

2007-10-04T06:53:00.000-05:00

The mascots had their own trading cards in 2004. They were pretty slick - nice aqueous coating on the front, but didn't feel much like a trading card on the back. Actually, they didn't feel anything like a trading card on the back... but maybe memory fails me. I'll dig one up and scan it in. Well, later, not now... gotta get back to work.

After they approved the character art, I whipped out a few background designs. This first one was one of the (I think) three I gave them to choose from:

This is the final.

Good luck,

K

Twin Cities Marathon 2007 (#3)

2007-10-03T09:37:00.001-05:00

This was a small spot illustration to announce a coloring contest or some such thing. I'm not sure if this has ever been seen before now, actually, so feast your eyes!

Pencil on animation bond, colored in Photoshop. Can't remember what the original size was, but it probably wasn't much bigger than 5x5.

Good luck,

K