Joann Sfar: Missionnaire

Back from Vacation. Well, it's been a while and I must say that it was a grand tour. I'll spill all the details on the specifics as we go, there's just too much to tell and they're all battling for primacy in my brain. Let's just get started. Paris was our last stop and we stayed for five days. I got a map from Stuart Ng which shows all the bookstores along and around St. Germain. Of course I lost my mind at Album right away. I've got a post on that alone. This is just about a moment there.



The french Album store (I wandered into the American one first, whipped around to the other corner for the local stuff) is two floors of bande dessinée heaven. I pigged out. After my book binge (more on that later) I picked up several magazines for good measure. This cover above appealed to me.



I flip through it, there's enough stuff here. I should pick this up, and oh, hey! Joann Sfar is featured. Maybe it's about his movie. Hey, it's his journal on his site, isn't it? At about this fraction of a second I notice the drawing on the periphery of my vision. I let out a yelp, "Hah!?"



There we were! That day that Joann visited us at Pixar we all gathered for a group photo and darn if that isn't our Sfar sketch versions up there. We're famous! Well, in my mind we are. After all, how often do you go to another country to find you are part of an article in a magazine there. Of course I couldn't brag to anyone nearby, my french is still at zero.

Okay, I cash out. I walk out and it would take another hour before I would realize that I bought a Sfar journal at Album as well. There were at least two of them that came out at the same time. I root around my stash and find the book, "Missionnaire." And sure enough there it is, a drawing of the Pixar gate, him posing with the Parr Family mannequins of the Incredibles...and there we are! Man, that's awesome.


"Missionary gathers the notebooks of voyage held by Joann Sfar during his stays in Tokyo in 2005 and the United States in 2006, as well as an anthology of watercolours drawn in Edinburgh and in Morocco."

On the bottom of the page he scribbles about a project that he and I had been keeping under our hats for a couple of years. It became apparent to both of us that I would not have time to execute these lovely pages. I never let on with anyone about it. So, on the following pages he discloses what's been on my hard drive for a while now. I hope to really work with Joann someday, maybe even get our Princess story out there together. Hey, you never know. I'm on a lucky streak here.

Joan Sfar website
The Rabbi's Cat at Amazon
Missionnaire at Amazon France

The Terror of Olivia Neutron Chan III

Olivia delivers a flurry of pain dealin'. That Roverbite sure was a charming pooch. Funny, too. He had to go. All images except for the compendium link to larger views, so zoom in.

Pray you are not in the blast radius. Sam Hiti's tournament of drawn fighters, Fist-a-cuffs, is a great idea because it is simple. If you were ever a kid and you had this escalating argument about who would win in a fight between King Kong and Godzilla then you know how this game works. I love the tag line.

"Fist-a-cuffs. Where drawings are voted to the death and the streets run black with ink."

Sam had called for this to be the first full-color Fist-a-cuffs. Invited artists were enjoined to "bring your 'A' game." And the new catch this time would be that no one can know who drew the fighter. No popularity vote based on the creator's rep, no brand-name recognition (in the previous FACA's this was exactly the case). This time the drawing will have to stand on its own merits.


This is Olivia's full figure glossy. She's unused to cameras as you can see.

Olivia Neutron Chan III. She has molten plasma for blood, a nuclear furnace for a heart which in turn powers her destruction-geared limbs. She fires lasers, missiles, and blares through her Mach3 Valkyrie speakers the chilling songs of her namesake, Olivia Newton John--annotating a path of ironic carnage to burbling, vein-rupturing effect.

Olivia was done by migrating between Photoshop and Painter--I'm not familiar enough with Painter to just do it all there. This is also a side of my work no one sees a lot. "Dad, that is so scary. I don't think anyone could tell this is you," my daughter Gerin says as she cringes. That's the idea.


A compendium of Smak Talk visuals from ONCIII's battles. An Assault arabesque, if you will.

Well, she fought hard and well until it was down to her and Red Raja. I must admit, if I wasn't in this myself I would have voted for that tentacled lobsterman from the east myself. There sure was a groundswell of support for the old mullusk head. Olivia was going to have to rely on her ferocity and toughness to win the crowd and hope for the best. In the end it was a valiant close to a short, head-stomping career. My thanks to all who voted for her and phooey to all of you who didn't. All hail The Chan!

Here's one more visual of The Olivia on the warpath.


Olivia likes to sing while she works. This lyric is from "Physical." Pandemic got the groove eventually. Oooh, that had to hurt.


Links:

ONCIII vs Baby Killer
ONCIII vs Roverbite
ONCIII vs Pandemic
ONCIII vs Red Raja

I'm off for a trip!

Guess where? If you check with a certain italian friend of mine's blog you'll find that he's off somewheres too. Hmmmm...Anyway, it's my first time to go to Italy and France. Tess and I are now in the frenzy of prep. You know, packing, annoying the big kids with lists of things to do and the an even longer one of what not to do. I hear that crossing one's fingers help. Sigh.

I caught a bug this week, food poisoning. Of course. The peppy nurse practitioner chimes, "I usually treat folks AFTER a trip. And you're not leaving me much room to use my magic here!" That was yesterday and the quick blood test (man, blood is such a deep red) revealed I'm not battling an infection. Great. Now, I just gotta not feel crappy. But honestly, today I feel much better. Bring on the fantastic food already!

See you all in two weeks!


______



Oh, by the way, if you've been checking Sam Hit's Fist-a-cuffs blog you know that the North Division Championships are winding down. Interesting two fighters left to duke it out.

'Just sayin'.

Ratatouille in Paris

Service with a smile. Brad Lewis, Brad Bird,Guy Savoy, Ed Catmull, John Lasseter. Food always brings wide open smiles from everyone. Kinda like animation does.

Bon Appetit! Ratatouille ruled this weekend (and a surprising Monday after as well). Congratulations to Brad Bird and crew! This is such a beautiful movie and I must say this is the very first animated feature I've ever seen that actually made me very hungry while watching it. I did story duties early in its production life and I love the way it turned out. If you haven't seen it you should go and check it out. Make sure you have dinner plans after.

And if you're wondering how the French premiere is going, well wonder no longer. Check it out here.


Disney and More blog

Babe Magnate

It's about hubba-hubba time. Bill has amassed a veritable warehouse of sexy girl drawings in this lovely tome that, in my opinion, gives him a corner on the good girl art market. If you are anywhere inside this summer's Comic-con then hunt him down. You won't regret it. It's very well put together, hard cover, cloth bound and gold stamped on the spine--spared no expense.

Check out his entry on the arrival of the boxes and his continuing our tradition of documenting the reveal of the actual books inside (we're a silly bunch, self-publishers). I got my copy already so write him or see him in person in San Diego this July for your very own copy!


Daily Peril