Something I made last night.

 

I would die to do a series starring literally every single character from Jay Ward's works. In fact, I'm already trying to develop one right now. 

 Here's my designs of Mr. Peabody, Sherman, Bullwinkle and Rocky. A few other Jay Ward characters will make appearances just as secondary/background characters.

 Hey Guys,

Sorry for the lack of posts. I recently finished a really big contract and I'm quickly moving on to another one. I've got lots of little sketches while watching a few of Connor and Sparky's adventures in anticipation for a new season greenlight but nothing really worth showing. The work that I did on the other contracts were also fun but I was mimicing someone else's style and I feel cheap posting any of it up here.

There will be more. I swear, just not today.

Thanks for dropping by!

WIP of something your boy currently cooking on.

 

Yall really didn't know I could paint traditionally. I’ll probably get it done by tomorrow. Probably not.

Here We Go Again

There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just come out and say it.

I’m up for another Emmy for animation, fuck!.

I know it’s my own stupid fault. I like to put myself in the running with a token script each year if something qualifies, but the first couple of times I was a finalist it happened a decade apart. It’s only been a few years since my 2009 win for Little Parker, so now I’m feeling greedy. Plus I’m always disconcerted whenever my token attempts to promote my writing pay off.

I find shameless self-aggrandizing to be tedious and a tad tacky. It’s a hard thing to avoid in our look-at-me culture, especially when it comes to the awards any industry likes to give itself. It’s all about telling people who don’t normally give a shit that we did a great job at something they’ve never thought twice about.

I still have those what-do-you-do-for-a-living conversations where I end up explaining that yes, cartoons have to be written by somebody and no, I don’t draw them myself. I once sat though one of my episodes of Mr. Men that has no dialogue for the first few minutes and the people I was with starting wondering aloud when the part I wrote would begin. It was an uphill battle to explain that I wrote down everything that was happening on the screen, whether the characters were talking or not. The animators don’t make it up as they go. Somebody has to tell them what to draw, just like that same somebody has to tell the actors what to say. Regular civilians don’t seem to understand that, and they don’t particularly care. As long as Homer goes “D’oh!” and Shaggy goes “Zoinks!” they’re content that all is well in the world.

Now that I’ve opened up this can of worms for myself, I’m faced with a bunch of irritating tasks I never look forward to because they only play into my general self-promotion phobia. Doing something as simple as writing a 75-word bio for the award ceremony program is like pulling teeth. Not necessarily my own teeth, but somebody else’s who doesn’t want to have their teeth pulled and can run really fast. It’s difficult and exhausting and involves a lot of wrestling on the floor and eye-gouging to secure the necessary level of cooperation. Or picking a headshot for the event. Is there anything more narcissistically cringe-worthy than going through every photo taken of you in the last few years and trying to find the one that least resembles Nick Nolte’s California Highway Patrol mug shot?

And then there’s dragging my ass to LA, something no New Yorker does with any relish. I’m trying to convince myself that there are good reasons to go. That’s about it, really, since I predict a crushing defeat. It’s not my turn to win another one.

But you never know. After a long train trip and a lot of schmoozing, they might give me something to take home, other than a hangover. I’ll let you know. In the meantime, you can watch my nominated episode of The Connor and Sparky Show via the show's website and or these: Cartoon Network and Teletoon

The future for Oaksdale

 So, with Season 4 still airing, we're figuring out what's next for TCASS.  We here at Kearplax are thinking up a few things to kick-off the show's future. Like any good surprise, we’re not ready to blow the lid off this puppy just yet. There are still things to figure out and preparations to be made but we’re hoping that our plan for this year will make everyone rejoice! So, what's next you asked?

2015 marks the 10th anniversary of the show, and to celebrate, Kearplax, DHX and Top Draw are doing an 22 minute special to celebrate. Everyone's appearing alongside some new faces and the guest appearence of an character that was never seen in the show for like 7 years.

Here's to the future of the show!

Three Nerdy Misfitz!

 

 

Back in 2007, me and Nick Jennings created a series of  5-minute shorts called ‘The Three Misfitz’ for Jetix Europe (now Disney XD). Nick and I pitched it around and in 2009, optioned it to MoonScoop. Fast forward to 2010, two months later, Nickelodeon green lit 26 episodes of three little Misftiz, with production in Los Angeles, Ireland and animation in Vancouver and the Philippines.

It’s been a crazy two years, and this May, ‘Three Nerdy Misfitz’ will premiere on Nickelodeon here in the states. We had a very small team bringing this to life, multiple hats were worn by many and I’m extremely grateful for all the blood sweat and tears lost by this Misfit team. Thanks to everyone who had a hand in the show, and especially to the few that had to deal with me on a daily basis via email/phone: Our insanely talented directors, James Burks, Bob Boyle, and co-creator Nick Jennings, and the glues of our team- Kristen Takayoshi (Producer) and Lolee Aries (Producer for MoonScoop). It’s been a ride, and we’ve learned a ton. Here’s this image I did for the trio.

The first time I did a movie..

I wrote a Connor and Sparky movie.

Here I was thinking it was only an hour long TV special, but someone somewhere along the way decided it was going to be called a movie, and that’s all there was to it. I guess it’s a movie the same way various world film institutes have decided that a feature film is anything that runs longer than 40 to 45 minutes.

Shrug. Whatever. If Connor Oakstein: Moviestar Kid was just a made for TV movie , it would just have been an hour-long episode.

My work on the project ended nearly two years ago now. Preliminary discussions with the producers began over a year before that. The upshot was that I wrote an entire hour-long episode/movie. My first screenplay was paid for and ditched because it was decided, late in the game, that they wanted to tell a different story for the movie

With literally years of my life ticking away in the interim, I didn’t really pay attention to what was happening with the show after I left to do the movie. I originally wanted the movie to be released in 2012 and then didn’t, because one of my friends said that we had to move it to 2011. Production on the show may have dragged on, I don’t know. But apparently it’s done now. I only know this because I’ve seen stills and a little bit of footage.

Here are all the individual frames I’ve been able to collect online that are verifiably from the movie. I’d say SPOILER ALERT, but it’s a cartoon for children. If you’re expecting any great Machiavellian plot twists, turn the channel and go watch HBO.

What’s most intriguing to me is the poster. This is the first time I’ve had my name on an actual promotional poster for a release. I guess having a poster for the episode helps make the argument that it’s really a movie after all.

Best guess is that Teletoon and Cartoon Network will sit on the movie this year which is when we start production on Season 5. which seems appropriate. Will Kearplax make another movie? Again, shrug. I dunno. I’m just the writer. Nobody tells me anything.

 Oh, and for anyone who keep asking me "AVERY, WHEN ARE YOU GUYS GETTING BACK TO MAKING NEW EPISODES OF CONNOR AND SPARKY?!" We are. We just got a Season 5 greenlight for 13 half hours for 2013/26 shorts for 2014.