Dont get "hung by the Tongue"

Ever notice that what the things you SAY concerning/about yourself usually come true? Think about those times in your life when you've said, " I cant do that" or " Im too old," "Im tired" "I'll never be able to afford that!" " I'm stupid..." the list goes on and on..... If we're honest, the WORKDS that we SPEAK are not just "harmless meaning less things" which pop and disappear like soap bubbles. Words have POWER! Power to transform, uplift, and heal, or consequently, to teardownk, or distroy.The Bible says ... whether you believe it or not... God created the heavens and the earth and everything in between by speaking it into existence. Since he made US, he put some powerful stuff in US too!
I was listening to a broadcast on Christian TV one day and the host was speaking on this very subject:

Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth

He then exclaimed, " I WISH I HAD A CARTOON SHOWING SOMEONE BEING HANGED BY THEIR TONGUE!!!
I immediately got to work on the cartoon, confident that I was the ONLY one who thought of the great idea to send it to this broadcaater!

Weeks later I got a very nice rejection letter, thanking me for the toon, but informing me that it would not be used, just like the many hundreds of others who got the same idea to send a cartoon in! LOL!

It's STILL a great cartoon, and still a truism.

There's a reason why your mom used to tell you to
WATCH YOUR MOUTH!!

ANOTHER subwaysurfer comic!!

This is what happens when you sit next to a disgruntled passenger who has a cup of hot coffee

"Action Pat" Pencil Test One

As You may know, in addition to clowning people on Mass Transist and at corporate parties, the surfer also does animation. To date I have done character dessign and key frames and storyboards for most of the projects Ive been involved in. For most of those projects before sending the work to the lead animators I do my own crude pencil tests on a nifty little FREE Pencil test program called "Monkeyjam" Trust me, if you can operate an ATM Machine, you can use MonkeyJam to create your own little animations like this one here, called, "ACTION PAT". This sequence is part of a larger project that included Caricature artists/cartoonists Kenly Dillard, and Alison Gelbman while we all working at Mark Stnasbury's "Screen Arts Animation" Studio on Orchard street two years ago. (it was forced to close! Sob!)This is one of the characters I co created with Alison called "ACTION PAT" based on one of the other animators in the studio, named, you guessed it, PAT! Action Pat is a young girl full of imagination who whenever she doesnt get her way, transforms herself into the super hero, ACTION PAT! Unfortunatley for Pat, her "superpowers" never quite work as plan and she always ends up with a different result than expected. In this eposide, Pats mother refuses to let her go to the concert featuring rap artist, Toe Jam, because of Pat's bad grades. When Mom leaves the room she transforms via hurricane, into her super powered persona, and jets over to the window where she will fly away. Thats when things go really bad!
It takes longer to tell this "story"than to see the animation. Enjoy.


Ive had this little animation sitting on my hardrive for some time now, but after the recent panels and frames animation seminar I attended last on Dec 5th Ive been re inspired to re investigate animation. It doesnt HAVE to be Disney, I just need to take baby steps....I'll try not to soil my diaper too much, but just in case, cover your nose folks.... and DO watch your step!

P.S. Personally, one of the best things I liked about Screen Arts Animation was learning how to make the "tornado effect" and also the "exit stage right" somoke effect. I will try to find the other key frames and up load the rest of the animation in future posts even If I have to redraw everything.