A Favorite Rockwell.."War News"..

Despite the hostel reception to my past praise of Norman Rockwell, I wanted to share with you a painting that exemplifies Rockwells skill and social insight. "War News" was completed in 1945, but never published. Critics often dismiss Rockwell paintings as "Simplified unmercifully and reassured inappropriately", but I see him as a master that captured a great era with even greater skill, perhaps his works leaned on the idealistic side, but I think that makes it even more important and timeless, in this age of cynicism and elitism (especially within the art world, excuse my generalization). This piece is wonderfully constructed and composed. Through expert characterization Rockwell captured an apprehension and severe concern in the figures. I appreciate this work even more so as an animator, i almost see them as actors within a story. As far as content ... it's dead on. Unfortunately, we've all experienced that severe concern to war news.In this same year Rockwell painted other great pieces like "Thanksgiving: Mother and Son Peeling Potatoes" and "The Homecoming". It's interesting to point out that Rockwells "Four Freedoms" was viewed by 1.2 million people, and raised over 135 million dollars in war bonds. If this isn't an example of how art is an integral part of the world, I don't know what is. It's also interesting that the humble master felt he "held a low rung" on the ladder of fine art. He considered Pablo Picasso the greatest, going so far as to add a bit of cubism into several of his paintings. He also held Mondrian in the highest regard.

“May God deliver us from the worst of all sins!: Man's own religious hypocritical self-righteousness and evil knowledge and greed for power through every form of cruelty, including war!” -Norman Rockwell

Patrick Smith Master Class in Singapore..

I'm off to Singapore next week to teach a ten session master class through NYU, Tisch Asia. It will be nice to be back in Southeast Asia, an area which I've spent a lot of time traveling a decade ago. This will be an exciting class for me because it's the first time I've instructed entirely using Flash, a program that I've always had mixed feelings about. But it will allow students to perform lessons while in the classroom, as well as allowing me to demonstrate the principles I'm discussing as we go. Unfortunately the students will not be able to take advantage of the texture and soul of a pencil line, I can only hope they take the lessons and work on paper after the seminar is completed. If you happen to be in Singapore at the end of this month, drop me an email and we'll go get some fish head curry!

Christmas Inspiration: Norman Rockwell and JC Leyendecker...

I grew up with a massive Norman Rockwell coffee table book kicking around the house. By the time I was a teenager, this book was dog eared from me flipping through the illustrations. This image above still brings me back to when I was little, even then I was amazed at the brilliant artist/illustrator. I love the level of clarity and the use of a solid figurative silhouette in this piece. It's something every animator should keep in mind.. clarity above all. Clarity, proportion, weight, character... Norman would have been an epic animator. Every time I hang out at the society of illustrators here in New York, I think about Norman Rockwell and JC Leyendecker hanging out at the bar having a drink. Norman probably annoying JC with his fan boy questions. Rad. Enjoy the Leyendecker above, another one of my holiday favorites! I mean.. wha? that composition is just incredible... everything in a perfect place, working in complete harmony with the space. Wish I could have been there hanging out with those guys. Here's a great page of Santas, mostly by Rockwell and Leyendecker. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!! I'm off to Wyoming to shoot more guns, see y'all in 2009!

Paintings that express MOVEMENT..

(above: pull #1,2,3 by psmith) "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." -Albert Einstein. I'm not a fan of the "static" image. For me, it's the flaw of a majority of portraiture and still life painting. There's no action. I want to know what the next frame looks like! I want to see a direction, feel the surge of movement. Animation is incredible because it's the only drawn art medium that does not use the static image, but despite this, movement has a way of creeping into great works of art. (above: nude descending a staircase, by marcel duchamp) It's interesting when people point out how difficult it must be to draw the thousands of drawings that go into making animation.. but it's NOT like drawing thousands of individual drawings, it's really just drawing a single MOTION.. you carve out the action incrementally frame by frame.. i NEVER think about it at individual drawings. (above: turkey pond, by Andrew Wyeth) I spot action in paintings and it really pulls me into the work, most great artists have this quality, Homer, Sargent, Wyeth, Duchamp, most futurists. Next time you see a work and it really captures your interest, perhaps it's because it has the quality of movement!

Admiring the Dapper Artists...

I was looking at this image of Winslow Homer (above left) the other day, and it struck me that we, as artists, just don't look as good as we used to. An individuals self worth is often gauged by the way they present themselves. Generally speaking, artists have historically been some of the most stylie people ever. Homer exemplifies what I'm talking about. A bit closer to home would be artists like Winsor Mccay (above right) and Walt Disney (middle). It seems to me that no matter what photo you see of these men, whether they were working or out on the town, they looked insanely stylish. I do know several artists today that seem to always look dapper, for example, animator John Canemaker (below left), seems to always be looking rad. Tom Otterness (below right) looks pretty good usually. But for the most part, artists these days seem to dress down. Maybe it doesn't matter.. I personally have my moments, but for the most part I'm just another skater turned painter, and I look like it. sigh. Yet another example how we're not as cool as our predecessors.

Jim Phillips Skate Art Books... i'm obsessed.

I bought the book, Skateboard Art of Jim Phillips the other day and have not put it down. It throws me back to when I was in middle school and got my first jolt of artistic inspiration. There's so many images in this book that I haven't seen since i was 13. The book, for me, is a nostalgic trip, covering a really cool time of my life, and giving me a style to shoot for that is obvious to this day, 20 some years later. Pick this book up if you can, it's truly a great addition to any library, especially if you want to get a grasp of where my little gen and culture came from. Other books you also may want to check out, Surf Skate & Rock Art of Jim Phillips, another must have, and also The Rock Posters of Jim Phillips. All fantastic collections of this very prolific graphic artist. His studios website is Here.

MTV ID's from the 90's

If you read this blog, you've probably read that i got my start with an MTV ID commission, here's some others that were produced at roughly the same time.. some of my favorites. I'm currently working on getting together as many as i can get a hold of, i want to make a full res festival program out of it, some are really tough to track down. i've talked to a lot of the animators, I'll update this as they come in.



This one above is by the jail-bird Steve Dovas, it's a true classic that got tons of play.



This one above is my personal favorite, directed and animated by Dieter Mueller, *thanks danny



This one is by sir rockness, Danny Antonucci, inspired by his short film "Lupo the Butcher".



This next one above is by Olivia Ward and Miguel Martinez-Joffre, it came out the same week as my own ID. It won a BDA gold, beating me out, i won the bronze that year. Stay tuned, I'll keep posting as I get them.

Influence: Hisko Hulsing

Dutch animation has rich tradition of quality and originality. Some of the first independent animators I started to study were Borge Ring, Paul Driessen, and Co Hoedeman. Borge Ring's "Anna and Bella"(1984) was one of the films that solidified my interest in hand drawn line animation. This tradition continues with Hisko Hulsing. I first met Hisko in Annecy France back in 2004, where he was showing his film "Seventeen". I was there with my film "Delivery", I like to think our styles are similar, albeit, I believe him to be way more advanced than myself.
Hisko has the rare skill of artistic diversity. He is not only a talented draftsman, but he excels at animation, painting, music, and even the challenging game of government financing. The content of his films are emotionally charged, and quite often, actually regularly, on the dark side. Hisko does not shy away from content that other animators would never consider. He uses sex, violence, and solitude as tools to express his stories flawlessly. Hisko's newest film "Junkyard" seems very promising, go HERE for some clips and stills from it. He sent me the animatic last year, and I really think it's his best work yet, even in the animatic stage. Hisko utilizes pantomime, which I've always sworn by as a great way to tell stories. Try to check out his work.. it can be tough to find, he's managed to stay off of youtube.

Plushgun Album artwork...

Taylor Armstrong, the Guitarist for the Brooklyn band "Plushgun" (he's also a talented animator and artist) asked me to design the cover for their upcoming album last month. I love doing album art, and I wish people asked me more often. I really dig their music as well, so try to catch a show or at least check them out on myspace. Above is the initial sketch i showed them, and below is a portion of the final art. enjoy.

Sketchbook: "PUPPET" development..

I'm often asked how to go about starting a film, and I always answer the same way: it begins entirely in the SKETCHBOOK.. this is where ideas are explored and figured out. there's no judge to say that this is bad or good.. just exploration and refinement which the audience will only see the result of. The roughs in your sketchbook are studies that are a necessary part of figuring out the complexities of moving a character within a space.

Please visit the NEW WEB PAGE OF SKETCHES with most of my sketch book drawings for my last film "Puppet". Enjoy! happy vOting!

Jumbo Pictures Reunion...

Last week I went to the Jumbo Pictures reunion, the studio that i worked at back in 1996, right before I left for Indonesia. It was an amazing studio, situated in a massive loft in the heart of Soho, and filled with some of the best people I've ever worked with. I met my studio mate Tony Curanaj there, as well as good friends like Jack Spillum, Don Poynter, Jonathan Royce, and Otis Brayboy. The show we did was called "Doug", it was my first job as a storyboard artist, which was a segway into directing. I can still remember hanging out in the "pit" with all the other artists, or going to drawing classes across the street during lunch break. It was one of the best times of my life.Above: Jonathan Royce, Chris McCulloch, Patrick Smith, and John Schnall. The talent that was assembled at Jumbo back then was really impressive.

"Puppet" two years on....

Puppet has won several recent awards lately, since it's premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006. Most recently, it won Best animation at Arizona Underground Film Festival, and also at Naperville Independent Film Festival. Awards are fun to get.. it's always nice to get recognized for your work. It wasn't too long ago when i swore that i just COULDN'T win anything. my first film "Drink" screened for over a year with not a single prize.
Best Animation, Northampton Independent Film Festival, 2006.
Best Animation, Action on Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2006.
Best Animation, Griffin International Film Festival, 2006.
Best Animation, Grand Festival Award, Berkeley Film Festival, 2006.
Best Animation, Phoenix Film Festival, 2007.
Best Animation, Backseat Film Festival, 2008.
Best Animation, Arizona Underground Film Festival, 2008.
Best Animation, Naperville Independent Film Festival, 2008.
Honorable Mention, Signals International Film Festival, UK, 2006.
Honorable Mention, Smogdance Film Festival, 2007.
Third Place, First Glance Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2006.
Runner Up, Asheville Film Festival, 2006.
Third Place, Lake Havasu Film Festival,AZ, 2007.
Second Place, ASIFA-East (Association Internationale du Film d'Animation), 2007.

Sketchbook: Girl Studies...

The female character offers specific challenges for me. I've been drawing a lot of designs of girls for an upcoming project, and I'm starting to really enjoy it. I've always struggled with girls (artistically and otherwise), but I'm really starting to understand the subtleties of their form more.. especially facial features. enjoy these scans. I always draw in ink.. it's something i started to do a long time ago.. the logic was that it forced me to commit to the lines, and it speeds up your drawing quite a bit. Matter of fact.. i just may be the quickest sketcher i know.. not sure if that's a good or bad thing. my previous sketchbook was stolen... well.. actually, i left it at a bar in my bag. still can't understand why someone wouldn't return a sketchbook.

Woodstock Film Festival this weekend...

(photo above: Bill Plympton, Arthur Metcalf, Patrick Smith with champagne at Woodstock Film Festival 2007) This year, since my new film isn't ready, I'll be a judge at the Woodstock Film Festival in Woodstock, NY. I love this festival for so many reasons, but primarily, it's always my official way of welcoming the autumn, my favorite season. My fab producer Noelle Vaccese and her sister Joy animated the signal film (an animated intro to each screening with the woodstock logo at the end), so they will be in attendance, along with Signe Baumane and Bill Plympton, who are also judging. Any filmmakers out there, i highly encourage you to submit your work to them next year! (photo below: Noelle Vaccese and Patrick Smith at Woodstock 06)

That was a busy summer...

You know, i always forget to talk about what me and my studio are up to. This has been a busy summer (not that i'm short on montauk beach excursions). We've been slammed with a commision of nine segments for the new Electric Company for Sesame St. workshop. I know I slag off doing projects for kids, but i really enjoyed animating these.
In addition to the Electric Company Job, we've been busy on a number of fine art commisions, including a colossal mural for the new Salvation Army headquarters in Manhattan, a project that i'm really excited about.
Recently, we just wrapped up a music video for Disney featuring the bird filled "Tiki Room" (above). It was a fun project because I love the challenges of animating along side live action characters. We also did several segments of a childrens music video for "Ralph's World", another Disney show, both were done through Ghost Robot productions. ALSO we animated a Three minute video for Samantics Productions, kind of a jazzy school house rock type thing.

And, as always, on the forefront is a new independent animated film, which I've mentioned very often, the film "Masks", a collaboration with the composer of "Drink", Karl vonKries. We had a sneak preview of it last week at Marthas Vinyard Film Festival, and I was stoked about the reaction it got. It's by far my best work. What are you up to?

Chillin' with Richard Williams...

It's not every day you get to have a drink with a legend. Me and Bill Plympton met up with Richard Williams and his wife mo up at his hotel, he's in town for his MOMA show, and over the course of an hour, I was able to talk to him about everything from working under Art Babbit, Ken Anderson, and Milt Kahl, to their techniques, personalities, similarities and differences. (below, a really crappy iphone photo of me and Dick)I was hesitant to get the conversation away from regular stuff like what we're up to, and how the weather is in Bristol, (i'm always up for convos about England).. but then i just finally said, "richard.. i'm sure tons of people ask you this.. but what was it like to work with Art Babbit?" i was happy to see his eyes light up.. and he just talked for 1/2 hour straight, his jet lag seemed to disappear. One of the things that stood out was that Art Babbit did a lot of "pick up and trace" animation... which is the process of picking up the top sheet of paper, pivoting it at the joint of the character, and tracing the new position. This is a technique that I do all the time and i've always thought it was a lame cheat. We also talked about the value of solid drawing, as well as a personal theory i have, that animators spend so much time finding the "easy" way to do things, that if they just did it the hard way, they would finish quicker! he slapped me on the knee and told me he couldn't have said it better himself. I also LOVED the stories of how Art and Ken were IMPROVING even into their 80's. Dick said he witnessed it personally. These guys were the real thing. Outside of that, we discussed self taught animators, something we have in common. After we had a drink, I cabbed down to a party for Woodstock Film Festival, which I'm judging the first week of October. stayed out too late talking endlessly about Richard Williams to other filmmakers who didn't even know who he was.

Abstraction...

These are stills of a secret independent film project i've been working on with the design studio Plus et Plus. I animated the 500+ drawings and we rendered every frame in pencil (needless to say, it's taken quite a bit of time). The result is really shocking, very fluid, and surprizingly graphic, especially with it's Massive Attack inspired score. stay tuned.. i'll let you know when it's all done, should be within the next couple weeks.

Influence: Tom Otterness....

I love the work of Tom Otterness. I've admired his public art for years, and always have considered him one of my biggest influences. We have a specific thing in common: We both utilize the approachability of the cartoon image in order to convey a more thought provoking idea or expression. I was asked once about my approach, and i said that it's like carving an important message onto the chest of a fluffy bunny. the fluffy bunny being the cartoon, the message being the idea i want to convey. Otterness definitely outdid my statement though, in 1977, he actually killed a dog as part of a looped video installation, something which he apologized profusely for later in his career. This is how i think of Toms sculptures... when you see them in public you are drawn to them because of their innocence and approachability, and then, you're hit over the head with meaningful artistic missives. not too far from killing an innocent animal, minus the blatent law breaking and disgusting morals. I'm willing to bet that Tom has no use goofy whacky cartoon animation that exists for the purpose of entertaining the mob, or worse, children of the mob. The difference between art and entertainment can often be summed up as attempting to either make the audience laugh, or think. I've never had an interest in amusing people. Tom Otterness's images are filled with urban tales that hold up his social commentary. and the vehicle that he chooses to use, public bronze sculpture, eliminates any pretension that would interfere with his message. check out his site, chances are he has a public art project to check out very close by.

Diving Bell and the Butterfly.... Schnabel's masterpiece..

It takes a painter to make a film like "Diving Bell and the Butterfly". There are moments in this wonderful film that only a painter could ever think up. One scene in particular, a long moment of a girls wind blown hair in an automobile is so subtle, hypnotic, and beautiful, it seems to be lifted directly from one of his abstract paintings.I was fortunate enough to visit Julian Schnabel's studio in Montauk this winter (all the cool kids have studios out in montauk;), and it was so inspiring that I jumped at the opportunity to go see "diving bell and the butterfly", as well as several other of his films, ie "basquiat, and "before the night falls", the later of the two is another epic film worth it's length in gold.
Netflix Before the Night Falls. Netflix Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Ridley Scott influenced by Classic Painter Gerome...

I love this... "Gladiator" is such a triumph on so many levels, it wasn't a surprise to read this quote by Ridley Scott (article here), citing Jean Leon Gerome's Gladiator painting as the reason he agreed to make the film:

“I’ve known Walter Parks, the head of DreamWorks for years, he came in and gave me the script and said, ‘I don’t want you to read it yet as it needs a lot of work but this is what it’s all about.’ He then showed me this painting by a French painter called Gerome, I looked at it and said, ‘I’ll do it.’ He looked at me, shocked, and said, ‘But you don’t know what it’s about!”- Ridley Scott

As I watched "Gladiator" again, in preperation for this entry, the classical influence really becomes apparent in terms of cinematography, color, and dramatic compositions. Jean Leon Gerome is one of those ridiculously amazing painters that came from the apex of the french school in the late 19th century, that ebbed due to the rise of modern art that started with Manet and his Salon de Refuses. One of my favorite books of all time is The Judegment of Paris, by Ross King, a book that examines this incredible decade of art history.