12.19.2008

Another Girly-Gurl Sketch

I completely forgot about this Supergirl sketch when posting the girls I worked on this year (she's pretty butch, right? I figured if she's SUPERgirl, then... well, anyway...).



This was done in early summer (08) when I was working on the female side of sketching, and I found it while grabbing some final images to my sketchbook, being published in February by Art Squared. It was done on a Wacom Cintiq using Adobe Photoshop. I would love to do a series of these soon, perhaps for a smaller sketchbook. Drawing women is tough, but they sure are nice to look at!
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12.11.2008

Girl Sketching

Drawing girls is not that easy, and it's something I've tried to brush up on this past year. At the 2008 Comic Con in San Diego, I did a few sketches to sell while at the show. These were just for fun to practice, and I came across them yesterday while cleaning out some boxes, so I figured I'd share them here.

WARNING: naked lady drawing below









Drawing women is a separate mentality and skill, in a way, and I always feel it's important to work on our weaknesses. Women make me weak, and drawing them is not easy... hwah ha ha.

These drawings came on the heels of some other drawings of the feminine variety, also done for Comic Con. These were staple-bound as a small sketchbook. I still have a dozen or so left, if anyone is interested. Here are some samples of the drawings in that compilation:






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12.08.2008

Life Drawing Weakness



I was visiting the Society of Illustrators this past week with my friend Arkady, for the bi-weekly "sketch & jazz" night, for figure drawing. Even though one of the models was great, I was distracted by what I am always drawn to: FACES. I am inspired by the quick doodles of Canadian artist Seo Kim. Frequently she posts sketches on her blog from life drawing sessions, where she strays a bit and sketches the other artists. This can look a bit creepy to a bunch of strangers (I got a few weird looks), but it was really fun to test out a quick and cartoony observational sketch. I was clearly influenced by her work, and it was really a fun exercise.



Next time I'll have to draw the models some more. I had plenty of nude sketches of those girls, but they are a bit weaker than these cartoon faces. That's another reason I must go every week... to improve where I feel like I'm lacking in my craft. That's what it's all about! Maybe I'll see you there?

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12.05.2008

A Holiday Special

Christmas, Hanukkah, whatever you celebrate: From December 5th through December 25th, you will get a free personalized sketch of YOU or a loved one inside your copy of REJECTS, when you order it from Art Squared Books.com, as a holiday special from me to you.

Just order one or more books from Art Squared, including REJECTS. Email your photo(s) of you or a loved one to me at joe AT joebluhm DOT com. ...and just like that, you will have your own special Holiday copy of REJECTS, signed with a custom caricature! But to get this to your house by Christmas Eve (giving it as a gift?), be sure to get your order in no later than December 15th. That being said, this offer is good through CHRISTMAS day.



Here are some samples of the style of sketch you may get. These are caricatures of some great artists from a book signing in Toronto, Ontario, CA. So go ahead and give some art as gifts!
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12.04.2008

Virgin Ads Complete

They have been finished for a little while now, but the Virgin Media advertisements which I was a big part of designing are finally all aired or being aired in theaters and television in the UK.







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11.26.2008

Finally... another video!

I've gotten around to editing the last video I recorded. Future videos will have sharper production quality as well as better audio, as I've ironed out a few errors since recording this one. But I hope you enjoy!



For the rest, visit my digital podcast blog or YouTube page.
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11.25.2008

Illustration Friday: Opinion

Here's my 2nd stab at Illustration Friday, a website/blog giving weekly assignment words for practice and inspiration, as well as community. Again, this was a quick one, but this time on the Cintiq. I wanted to practice getting a simple editorial idea down for the topic (opinion), and see if I can follow through quickly while keeping it appealing. The drawing was all I had planned, and the tones/shadows were just an experiment. I'd love to hear how you feel about this one.



I'm also experimenting with very basic hand-drawn animation lately. I've put a few hours into a small project and I'll keep you posted on that soon. Anyone who has quick methods (I hear Flipbook is a good program), tips or techniques to pass along, feel free to email me or comment here. I really respect animators, and it's not easy.

Lastly, I'll be finishing up some Digital Podcast videos this week to post at the Digital Podcast Blog. I know I've teased and stalled on this in the past, but I really do have time this week to finish it up, and I'll let you know when it's here.
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11.21.2008

illustration friday: 'Pretend'

I've been ignoring the Illustration Friday blog/site for a while, and I keep saying I'll participate. I finally got to it! Though it's just a quick doodle in my sketchbook, it's still an effort, and I'll try to keep up with my own projects and practice assignments to keep fresh.

This (or rather last) week's word to illustrate: PRETEND


NCN Convention ART

For those of you who may not know, the NCN is an organization (or "network") of artists who love, practice, and promote the art of caricature. Each year there is a convention and competition over the course of a week, where nearly 200 artists gather to attend workshops, seminars, classes, meet old and new friends, draw, paint, sculpt, and compete for awards or sheer pleasure. It is like nothing else you will ever experience, and I highly recommend anyone even mildly into portraits and/or caricatures, illustration, figurative work, character design, etc... to haul over to caricature.org and sign up. The 17th convention began a few weeks ago in Raleigh, NC. Over 200 people attended, and it was a blast.

This year I finally had a chance to relax a little bit, but still had a lot to do. All professionals that register for the convention are given a wall space, a sort of gallery, to exhibit the work they do over this week. When I finally got the chance to do some drawings, here is what I came up with:



I have to give great credit to Buffalo/San Diego artist Brian Oakes for doing some stellar work, as did many artists. Brian was among my biggest inspirations this year, and his work was hilarious, fun, editorial and original. He inspired the final drawing I did, which happened to be of him (at the very top, "sad eyes").

Jeremy Townsend is another incredible artist whose work is always commenting on the individual (sometimes TOO much... but that's what's great about it). He sees everything and is not afraid to throw it back into your face. Jeremy is a big fella, and has a loud mouth and personality. He's one of my best friends, and I've seen many drawings of him that are so great, it's not easy to figure out how to do something new. I've drawn him once or twice before, but completed only one finished caricature of his face. When I saw him standing from across the room, he made this face... it's the only time he's vulnerable and not "on". He grabs his big beard and tugs it down with his teeeeeeensy little mouth agape, his eyes darting around. He's either contemplating an art supply to go snatch from someone, or getting an idea for a new drawing/thinking of who to take a photo of next. This happens so rarely, but it's a big part of his expression and body language. I tried to figure out how to express to the viewer that he is vulnerable in this one moment... stumped... and thought the ambiguity of the baby was fitting.



Blah blah blah... I know, I'm going on and on about Jeremy and why I did this. Well, to be honest it's the only piece I was VERY excited about, and it's something different from my usual arsenal of styles or techniques. I am a true believer that we are NEVER a master, and always a student (in many ways). As soon as I fall back on old party tricks, I fail as an artist and fail myself. This was a fun painting and I enjoyed the simplicity of the messy, light acrylic paint. When it comes to my own work at this convention, I feel I learned more from creating this piece than I did from all the other ones I did, combined. This is important to me, and I feel it should be to all artists. You should never stop growing, learning and being passionate about all aspects of your work... this keeps you vibrant, excited and fresh.
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11.18.2008

dropping a DEUCE

WARNING: The following post and link contain material that may be offensive to those without a twisted sense of humor. My lingo pales in comparison to the content HERE, so please proceed with caution.


So almost a year ago some twisted freaks decided to make the best of what would normally be a sad and trying situation. My buddy Len decided to take up a new hobby of "not walkin" and then cried about it. After crying like a little baby girl, he thought maybe he'd have a pity party thrown in his honor. But to his surprise, everyone got drunk, sang awesome songs, watched animation, made artwork, and partied for a whole weekend in a haunted hotel during a cold winter. Holy crap.

So now Len is still a giant baby-girl and wants to sob some more. By sobbing I mean hemmoraging blood, and by hemmoraging blood I mean party like a freak. This was the best time I had last year and I just decided it's not worth missing, so I'm all paid & registered and ready for CRIPPLE CON 2. (not an 'average' art convention)

Best part is, it's really cheap, you get to stay in a haunted hotel in Kansas City, look at awesome art, and party with awesome artists while you create your own twisted images (see below image: my most "accurate" drawing last year). I sincerely have nothing to do with organizing this, and have nothing to benefit, financially... I just have some awesome friends that I have not seen in about a year, and this party is a hell of a time. I really mean it.


So check it out and if you have a stomach and a solid pair, I'll see you in KC in mid-January. One thing worth noting is that they have great gift bags when you show up, but you can't really get one unless you register before December 1st. They have a lot to prep and it would be great to sign up soon. It's easy and if you don't want to risk your check the mail, you can literally pay the measly $45 in seconds, here.

It's really a great time, I promise you that.
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11.11.2008

It's ALIVE!

UPDATE: It appears that artsquaredbooks.com is now LIVE!
GO GET YE SOME BEOOOKS!


The great folks over at
Art Squared Publishing have informed me that there is a slight delay with the launch of the new website, so I apologize for mentioning Famous Corpses and Blubber Lubber early. You can still go to the page and enter your email, to receive notification as to when the books will be on sale. I was told it would not be later than November 15th.

And for those first 50 to buy Famous Corpses from ArtSquaredBooks.com, you will receive a unique signed sketch from Jan Op de Beeck, the brain and pencil behind this great book. This is rare, so don't miss out on it.



Next, if you're one of the first 25 people who order more than one copy of Blubber Lubber by Dan Hay, you will be placed in a raffle to win the book I used as my portfolio for the 2008 NCN caricature convention. I was asked to provide this for Art Squared Publishing after the vocal popularity it showed at the convention. This book is approx. 14" x 11", spiral bound and on heavy cardstock. It features mostly unseen work, almost all from the last year, and is primarily caricatures. This is one-of-a-kind, and Dan's book is only $15 and makes an amazing gift for a friend.

Check back here to see updates, and if you drop your email at ArtSquaredBooks.com, it will not be spammed. :)

10.31.2008

Jan's Corpses

The books are finally in the warehouse, and nearly ready for your orders! The publishers are giving the artists at the NCN convention (in Raleigh, NC, starting next week) a first chance to get this great book. If you order from Art Squared Publishing, the first 50 orders will have a signed insert with an original sketch from Jan Op de Beeck, himself.



I should also take this opportunity to remind everyone that by buying directly from Art2Books.com, you support Jan Op de Beeck and the publishers more directly, helping them make it possible to bring you further volumes of Famous Corpses and other great art books from amazing artists. If you find the book elsewhere on the internet, take the time to visit the publisher website directly and support them the best you can. If you are going to order it online, you may as well do your part to keep these books coming.

That's my little service announcement... hehe. I'm now finalizing my seminar for the NCN convention and getting packed and ready. I hope to see lots of you there and have a great time.

10.22.2008

Famous Corpses

From the talented Jan Op De Beeck comes a true 'celebrity epitaph roast'. This book is like nothing else you've seen and will have you instantly smiling and laughing. Cartoon illustrations by Emi Sato and written by Danielle Griffith, this book is the ultimate "What did they just say?!" read, skewering recently deceased famous people from around the world.


(animation by Brian Haimes, production by Joe Bluhm)

This book will be available in mid-November from the folks over at Art Squared Publishing, with a pre-sale special only at the National Caricaturist Network convention (NCN) in Raleigh, NC from November 3rd through the 7th. Anyone is welcome to attend the NCN convention, but if you can't make it, simply log your email at Art2Books.com to receive notice when the site is live and when the books are on sale.

Art Squared Publishing will also be carrying Blubber Lubber by Dan Hay and REJECTS (by yours truly), among other titles. These will also be available at the NCN convention, so drop by!

10.20.2008

Another warmup sketch

Here's another drawing I did just to play around before continuing a larger canvas painting. I'll hopefully keep warming up and sketching like this... I really have fun doing it.



PS- Lots of special stuff to pop up here soon; check back.

10.13.2008

Jerry & Larry, another warmup sketch

To get warmed up for a new piece, I decided to do a sketch of two guys whose comedy I adore, as well as whom I've been meaning to draw for a while now. This is about 45 minutes on the Wacom Cintiq. My intention was to plan a simple line drawing cartoon, but then realized I wanted to see more light/shadow. This would be fun to turn into a more complete painting (a species that I hope to share more of soon).



10.09.2008

Paul Newman warmup sketch

A 20 minute digital sketch done on the Wacom Cintiq to stretch out before working on an illustration.


9.24.2008

Caricature Convention

I mentioned something in the previous post that I feel I need to thoroughly cover: if you haven't heard about this, or aren't sure what it's all about, I invite you to check out the National Caricaturist Network (NCN), as well as the annual convention. This year it's held in Raleigh, NC at the Brownstone Inn from November 2nd (opening reception in the evening) through November 7th (awards banquet held in evening). This will be my 6th consecutive convention, and I can't believe that it's been so long. I can't imagine missing one, and if you go you'll see why.


A quick rundown of what happens, what it's about, and what you will get out of it: First, it is a convention full of rookies, veterans, novices, experts, live entertainers, studio illustrators, fine artists, caricaturists, portrait artists, cartoonists, sculptors, and wacky people from all spectrums of the art world, as well as all corners of the planet Earth.

The 5 days are kicked off with an icebreaker reception, at which old and new attendees can mingle and get comfortable over some drinks and snacks. In the morning, you'll experience a seminar. In the afternoon another. These seminars run all week. Some are workshops and some are speeches. Some are presentations to watch and ask questions, and some are hands-on small classes where someone like Jan Op De Beeck or Court Jones (specifically, this year) will offer one-on-one help and instruction in their field of expertise. These seminars run all week, at least two per day, and are optional for each attendee.


On top of this, there are good-spirited competitions. The culmination of the week is the awards banquet, where dozens of awards are presented at the final banquet. Throughout the week there is optional fun competitions. Some are as simple as a direct likeness competition or speed draw-off, and others are as open as you'd like, where each artist has the chance to hang their masterpieces and sketches on their designated wall space, to create a larger-than-life gallery filling the giant ballroom with unique caricatures, portraits, sketches, sculptures and stuff you just can't describe.
It's amazing to see the room fill up throughout the week.

On top of portfolio, studio piece, and entertainment competitions, there are awards based on the work you do that week. The element of live and studio work collide, when each artist diligently or casually (up to you!) take up your pens/brushes/etc to create likenesses of those in the room. There is plenty of time for fun and creating all week long, and the inspiration is like nothing else you will find.

For what you get, this is one of the cheapest retreats you can find, and you will not be lonely in your passion for caricature, portraits, sketching, sculpting, painting or any sort of art that you desire. You will also make life-long friends and be able to find some amazing books and souvenirs to take home. The convenience of an art store on-site and some great legal advice, as well as benefits in the industry make this trip even that much more valuable. Pick the brains of those that you admire, as they are there as your equal, creating, teaching and having fun as well.

Those attending this year and giving presentations include: Jan Op De Beeck, Tom Richmond, Jason Seiler, Court Jones, Stephen Silver, and myself. The honorary Keynote speaker in attendance this year is Ismael Roldan, and he will generously share his career with a slideshow presentation and interactive talk, as well as mingling and being a part of the events and community. This is an amazing opportunity to learn, practice, have fun and be inspired, and I sincerely recommend anyone interested at all to try it out! You have so much to gain and nothing to lose.

Feel free to contact me for any help getting registered or any questions you may have at all. The NCN offers a glossy magazine style quarterly newsletter (amazing quality and articles, I might add!), and an online forum, as well as web-based directory listings for all members. The community is great and networking has paid for my membership and convention dues 10x over, and it will be the same for you, if you have the passion.


I'll be mentioning this more in the coming weeks, but the deadline to save money with reservations and the discounted convention fee is coming up soon. Check it out, and I hope to see you there!
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9.22.2008

Back from Deutschland, Back in Action!

Okay, so a lot has gone on since my last update here (sorry to all the loyal readers), and I'll be updating on a lot of things in the coming days/weeks/months.


(photo of me by Ismael Roldan, looking down the hill from the hosting hotel)

First thing: I just returned back from the Sebastian Krüger portrait painting workshop in Hanover, Germany. This is Krüger's fourth annual workshop, and there were 20 artists in attendance.


(Sebastian and Jeff Redford: a little too buddy-buddy?)


(Hanover Museum)

During this trip we took a tour around Hanover, learned (perhaps too much) about paint brush manufacturing details, saw Sebastian paint an entire finished (very large) piece, and had the chance to work on our own pieces, with plenty of tips and feedback from the master.


(Stefan, otherwise known as "German Joe Bluhm")

In attendance were artists from Brazil, Korea, Holland, Germany, United States, and Canada! These great new friends are from all over the spectrum - some in their '60s and some in their '20s, some professionals working in movies, some not artists at all (one dentist!), but each were more kind, talented and wonderful than you could ask.



("JerT" - Jeremy Townsend being all "Euro-cool")

This workshop is very reminiscent, in a couple ways, of the annual convention held by the National Caricaturist Network (NCN). Not that we were focusing on caricature, but there was plenty of inspiration, artwork, partying and building friendships. I highly recommend both this workshop (see Sebastian's blog for 2009 workshop announcements) and the NCN convention, held this year from November 2-7 in Raleigh, NC.


(click for larger version)

Here is one of the two finished paintings I worked on in the 3 days we had to paint (sorry for the bad photo- it's in the mail, on its way home). I feel quite invigorated and prepared to continue painting very regularly. Keep an eye out here for traditional paintings on canvas, from time to time (as well as some gallery shows next year).



As for my current work, I'll be finishing an illustration, publishing two art books and working on a third through Art Squared Publishing, traveling to the NCN convention, starting some new paintings, and possibly traveling down south in late October to do a few days drawing theme park caricatures (more to come on that topic).

By the way, Germany is FULL of windmills! Rockin' place.
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9.02.2008

Mel B and Virgin Media


Here's the second of a very cool series of advertisements from Virgin media, that I was fortunate enough to be a part of. The amazing team of creatives and hard-workers at So! Animation are responsible for this one, just like the Mick Hucknall "KWACCS" advertisement aired last month in England (as well as more to come...). They did a great job and are a great team to work for.



I got to design and help create the characters, from start to finish. Here you can see some sketches and versions of the design for the to-be animated Melanie Brown (aka Mel B, aka Scary Spice). I offered a few versions of each character and some revisions, based on the team of creators and writers at the Y&R agency, responsible for this campaign. This will air in theaters (HD!) later this month. It really was a fun process, and you can see the result is just as fun:



PS- It was great to work with Ed Steckley on this one: can you see other influences (for those that know me or Ed) or art that Ed and I collaborated on? Maybe on the walls? hehe.
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7.31.2008

Comic Con

I'm back from Comic Con International (San Diego) and it was crazy. The show gets busier every year, and this was no exception. A sold out crowd was present, sweaty, and crazy-excited. I sold lots of books and did plenty of commissions. Even though it's a lot of work and quite tiring, I get to see so many good friends and meet so many great artists, fans and colleagues. I can't wait for next year.

I was quite inspired by a lot of the comic-book-art-nerdry, as well as all the great artwork at the show, so I recorded a new digital painting. This next one is more of a sketch and fun process, but I've been listening to the feedback and requests and will try to deliver. So quite soon I'll finish editing and post the new Digital Painting Podcast.



Check back soon!
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7.22.2008

New Book for Comic Con!

If you or a friend are attending the SOLD OUT Comic-Con in San Diego this week or weekend, you will love the new stuff I've got at my booth, table B-2.



Here is the first look at Blubber Lubber, a new book featuring the observant and unique people-sketching of Dan Hay. Dan is an artist in Florida whose drawings of interesting strangers are dynamic and hilarious. This book is just over 6" tall, thick and sturdy, and will be priced at a special rate for Comic-Con visitors. It will be available, with other books, this fall at ArtSquaredBooks.com.

I'll be doing commissions and will have other books and new artwork at the show, so stop by!
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7.07.2008

Sexy Ladies



This is a side of artwork that I don't share or use too much, but am beginning to appreciate it more and more. Just a peek at a bit of the new stuff for Comic-Con in San Diego, later this month.

* this one is definitely inspired by my friend Alberto!
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7.01.2008

San Diego Comic Convention

It's the biggest show for media, entertainment, comics and art in the world ( and quite a good time for the art-lover). The Comic Con runs from July 24th through July 27th. Whether you like illustration, comics, movies, celebrities, animation, fine art, toys, sculpture, or just being around large, nerdy, sweaty crowds... this event can't be topped.


I will be at booth B2, doing rare commissions and introducing some brand new stuff! It's quite exciting, so drop by and say hi. And if you haven't made plans to visit the Golden State or to Comic Con yet, check it out!
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6.19.2008

Mick Hucknall



Here's a new Virgin Media ad featuring the popular Simply Red frontman. I was fortunate enough to have done the character design, modeling, texturing and supervision. I am so proud of my studio-mates and the amazing animation, rendering, lighting, interior, compositing, editing, modeling and everything else they put into it. It turned out great, and there are more to come! These can be seen in the UK (nationwide) in Odeon and Cineworld theatres.

6.13.2008

Kylie Minogue, CG Animation

Here are a couple sketches that were done for the current animation spots I'm working on (these specifically will not be used). They are for commercials to be aired in the UK, containing a celebrity and an original character or two.



The clients on this project are quite wonderful. They write a script loosely around a celebrity that they begin to woo, and if they get an agreement, they finalize it and we start. To keep it enticing, they've begun showing sketches to with whom they are negotiating, in efforts to both get a head start and better sell the idea. These are not the final designs, but a jumping-off point for critique. I've also learned to not get too polished or invested in any of these, because the clients and agency both hold different priorities at times. I've learned that it must be a malleable process, and would not be successful if it were not.



I was asked to do a few sketches of Kylie Minogue (digitally for speed) that were fairly rendered, and I had only a few hours. I'll share more details on this project when I can.

6.12.2008

Working in New York


The city can get old... all the buildings, little 'nature', and the hustle-bustle of everyday traffic. But it can also be beautiful. At the animation studio we have a great deck observing midtown Manhattan from the 10th and 11th floor. When we get couped up, it's nice to see the city and sky. New York isn't all that bad.
(click image to see larger version)
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6.10.2008

Chinese Copyright Infringement: Published?

I've read something like this several times in the last few weeks, and I feel it's a great time to make use of our endless contact and information through the internet and work together:

I couldn't put it better, so the wording/links are taken from my friend Tom's blog - thanks, Tom.

Illustrator Luc Latulippe and the folks at the Little Chimp Society discovered a few weeks ago that a Chinese publisher stole content off the LCS website, namely interviews with artists including Latulippe and the artwork included, and published it translated in book format selling for $100. No kidding… a full book of “scraped” content complete with their illustrations. You can read the story about it here and here.

Of course there is little legal recourse here. I doubt China, that bastion of the upholding of human rights, is even part of the Berne convention of international copyright law… but even if they are this publisher used fake contact info and a fake ISBN, so finding them at all is going to be tough, let alone getting them into a court somewhere. Basically there are some places on the planet where you can do nothing about someone stealing your work… I’ve run across my artwork produced on postage stamps from South American and former USSR republics before and have basically no legal recourse.

Contacting the distributors and sellers of the book also yielded no results, as they refused to stop selling it.

Well, Latulippe decided not to take this lying down, so he called for a grass roots “spread the word” campaign to let people know what this was about and hopefully damage the reputations of the parties involved or at least cause a few less sales for them. The good news is that it has yielded some results. At least one of the resellers, Index Books, has agreed to stop selling it and has sent the remaining copies back to the distributor. Hopefully more of such action will follow.

So, here is [my] contribution to the cause in the form of links to increase their search engine ranking. Good luck guys, and keep fighting the good fight.

*Thanks to Cedric Honstadt and Tom Richmond.

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6.09.2008

Aminator



This is a 5 minute digital cartoon caricature, sketched on the Wacom Cintiq last month. This is one of my friends, a great animator that I'm currently working with.
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6.06.2008

Kung Fu Panda!

I don't know why, but I was unsure of how I felt about this movie, simply based on the trailers and advertisements. I wasn't too excited, but was sure I wanted to see what it was all about, so a friend and myself caught a midnight show last night. All I can say is that this is giving (one of my all-time-favorites) Pixar's Ratatouille a run for its money in animation as well as beautiful colors, textures and surfaces.



Kung Fu Panda is one CG animated film that goes the extra mile with color design and the animation is top-notch. The animators really have outdone themselves. The character traits are very inventive, detailed, human, exaggerated, cartoony and active. The voices are fun and the script is very good.



I could go on and on in detail what I enjoyed and critique it in depth, but I'll keep it to this: Overall I give this film two thumbs up. From a creative standpoint, I couldn't enjoy it much more than I did. It is definitely worth checking out, so go see it this weekend - twice!
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Simple Caricature



You may have noticed the small logo-like caricature on the top of my website, JoeBluhm.com - it is inspired by Al Hirschfeld and Stephen Silver's work, and used to accent the menu and header of the online portfolio. This style and the work of these two men is a heavy influence on a lot of my simple caricature and overall design sense while drawing. I love seeing this type of work and plan on doing more simple cartoon work in the future.



I've been asked about this style a few times, and it's been referenced as direction for commissions. Here is one example where an actor asked for me to basically replicate the look of my own caricature on my website. It was to be used in a similar fashion on his own promotional material. He provided nearly a dozen reference photos with specific preferences and direction.



From there, I did some sketching until I was happy, and inked over the pencil in my sketchbook with a Faeber-Castell PITT brush pen. The drawing was then scanned and cleaned up in Adobe Photoshop and put on a separate layer to allow for it to lay on any background, giving a similar effect to my own caricature on my website.



This is just one piece that I found while browsing my backup hard drive last week. I get sad when artwork is not shared with other artists. I feel like it's lost in a hidden catalog while it could be seen by others to spur discussion, inspiration or any other reaction. I'm a big fan of sketchbooks, doodles and process. I guess that's my only point with today's blog post.
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