FIXED!!!

All of my technical problems seem to be solved. The lovely people at Dreamhost (who I highly recommend using for your web needs) responded to my plea for help within about an hour of e-mailing them. they showed me very clearly how to redirect my mail through Wix so I can once again receive e-mail through jeff@gatodiablo.com. They also showed me how to access my FTP now that my DNS has changed. Thanks Dreamhost! Now I can get back to drawing....

There's a glitch....

In my matrix! I'm having nothing but issues since I launched my new website www.GatoDiablo.com through Wix. It's nobodies fault but my own. I am surprised at how much trouble I'm having. The first thing that I noticed was that my Jeff@gatodiablo.com email stopped working. Wix doesn't host email so I assumed it would stay active through my dreamhost account. Apparently not. Since I pointed my DNS to the Wix site not only has my e-mail stopped working but I also can't even access my FTP! On top of that I don't have time to problem solve any of this because I'm working all weekend.... RAGE. Anyway, if you need to e-mail me, please do so at Kontrol_Z@Yahoo.com.

Sorry for this boring post, but I needed to rant. I feel 2.6% better.... I promise a better post soon.

Ninjas VS the Moon!!!

I still have a bunch of copies of Ninjas VS the Moon available! If you are interested in ordering a copy, please send $5 (per comic) via Paypal to Kontrol_Z@yahoo.com. Include your shipping address and I'll get your copy in the mail ASAP. Thanks for your support!

CTN

Well, I'm back from CTN and what an experience! I had a great time, met a lot of great people, saw a lot of friends and realized I had no idea of how to run a table at a convention! When Josh and I arrived the first thing we noticed was the high level of marketing being employed by the people around us. Banners, posters and flashy signs. Lot's of eye catching color and seductive imagery. We had a couple of black and white posters. Our comics were in black and white. The table was covered with a black cover and we were wearing black and grey shirts. We were about as attractive as a port-a-potty at a truck stop. Despite our visual handicap Josh and I were able to sell some comics and get the word out about our work. We spent time looking at what was working for others and what attendees at the convention were being drawn to. I think we've got some great ideas for our next attempt and I look forward to giving it another go.

Here we are with our boooooooooring table....

We asked one of my board artists, Marty, find us some color. All he could find was this picture of pizza. Lot's of people asked if we were selling pizza, but most people didn't even notice.

One of the convention highlights for me was when about 20 of my friends marched through the convention carrying a cake and singing happy birthday for me. Pure awesomeness.

We met some great animation students from Digipen in Seattle. And this photo proves that chicks dig my comic.

If I was a better artist...

I could do drawings that really capture my wife's beauty. But this is what she married, and this is what she gets! It's the thought that counts right?

New website is up!

I finally updated my website. When I first built my site back in 2005 I did the whole thing myself in Flash. It took months and in the end I even needed to employ the help of a friend to actually make it work online. It looked cool, and had some nice custom things that I really liked. But it was extremely difficult to update, and 6 years later I realized it did not represent who I am as an artist today. The good news is that modern technology has made it much easier to build a custom website! I used a template from Wix. www.wix.com I was able to manipulate their version enough to look the way I wanted without spending a ton of time figuring things out. The best part is I can make changes whenever I want with ease. I can add and delete images, change text, even build whole new pages and see the results instantly. The service is free if you don't mind them putting advertisements on your web page. I opted to pay a small fee to remove them. There are different plans ranging from about $5 to $20 a month depending on what services you would like. You can even have retail services added to your website if you would like to sell things.

Anyway, there are a few things I still need to do, but for the most part it is done. If you have any interest in seeing more of the story work I've done on feature films like Horton Hears a Who! and Jonah Hex then head on over and check it out!

WWW.GatoDiablo.com

Sweet Dreams.....

She sleeps best when wrapped up like a little burrito....

Dreaming....

Really missing my family today. So I thought I'd take a break and dream a little...

Comics are here!!!

I just received my printed comic that I am selling at the CTN Animation Expo!

Expo. http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/

Ninjas VS the Moon is a comic I did when I was living in New York. It's a modern fairytale that exposes how and why the moon goes through its phases. It's been living on my computer for the last 6 years, and only a handful of people have ever read it. When I was working at PDI Dreamworks in Redwood City, my good pal Josh Lieberman convinced me to get it printed and share a table with him at the CTN Expo so I could get it out into the world. Check out Josh here:

www.kn8ian.blogspot.com

If you come to the expo, make sure you swing by to say hi. I'll be here:

Horton Hears a Who!

So far this blog has been a lot of talking and photographs. I figure it's time to show some artwork! Since I can't show anything from my current production lets take a look back at where I got my start as a feature story artist. It was way back in 2005 on Horton Hears a Who! To this day its still what I am most proud of in my career. I was lucky to be the first story artist hired for the production and came on during the development stage. There wasn't a script yet, so basically I got to sit with the director and talk about potential sequences for the movie and then go draw them up. It was an amazing experience where I was really able to contribute to the picture while finding my own visual language that would carry me through future projects. I was lucky to have a director that trusted me, and allowed me to influence the shape of the film. It was a great experience and I'm sure I will reflect on it more on this blog. Heres a few boards for now:

Found this-

Behind one of my story artist's computer.

You gotta love a boss-

Who has an extra fridge in the garage for the sole purpose of keeping a spare keg icy cold.

Another late night story session...

Sitting by an open fire in the middle of Hollywood. We made excellent progress on act 2 and 3 last night. Iv'e never had an experience like this one. I love that we can get out of the studio, drink some wine and relax while we work beneath the stars. Sure it makes for a 14 hour day, but it's a lot of fun, and the results have been excellent.