CRAIG'S CORONER

These are some photo-phunnies my friend Craig McNamara sent me.  As he explained, these were shot back in his agency days, as illustration references for a layout... and Craig later pasted them together and made a story out it. Old gag, but so is the telephone... and the rich Polaroid highlights and skin-tones.  And that's Craig himself getting the bad news.

CRAZY MONKEYS!

Hand drawn T shirts rule!!  This was one of many identical shirts I drew for a birthday party game for one of Laird's parties.  'Crazy Monkeys' was the team's name, and the red splotches are paint -- no blood sport at a Vlaming kid  party.

BACK TO THE FUTURE I - THE ORIGINAL PLOT!!

 

 

Originally in BACK TO THE FUTURE, Marty McFly and Doc Brown never get their time-travel experiment off the ground.  Their endeavor is halted by Hill Valley Councilman Dick Winston (Craig McNamara), all part of the film's initial backstory involving the city's eminent domain junction against Brown's property.  "Originally we saw this as a taut drama," explains co-writer Bob Gale, "The story of  'an everyman-against-the-powers-that-be'.  The whole time-travel thing, that was just there to steer the story into the courtroom nitty-gritty."  In the original cut of the film, Marty and Doc return home to fashion a legal defense and leave Dick Winston to be gunned down by the Libyan terrorists...

 

If you don't believe it, enlarge the picture and look at the photo caption!

"BUENAS NOCHES, I'M ALFREDO HITCHCOCK..."

Okay, at the HANNIBAL offices, an amazing series of framed 50's and 60's Hitchcock movie posters -- some a giant 4'x6' - adorned the walls.  From the writers room I could see two of them and at slow  moments, I sketched the Master of Suspense.  For whatever reason, I blackened his hair and added sideburns and a moustache, the end result looking less like Alfred Hitchcock and more like character actor Miguel Sandoval. 

60's AD ART?

 

Not really -- this is a doodle I did at work and realized it's in that great sixties style you saw inTV  advertisements that used cartoons.  With my truty, dusty Corel program I fattened up the lines, dropped in the colors and added the very-60's san serif type. 

RAIDERS OF THE LAST LOST CRYSTAL TEMPLE OF THE CRUSADE

 

 

Actually these are all production stills from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ICEBOX, a super-8 spoof we shot during college and all filmed in Edina, Minnesota.  Kirk Mathison was great as a German baddie and my brother Jonathan played the lead character, Louisiana Jones -- professor, archaeologist... and gourmet.

 

 

Watch the film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpBeq2OlLHM

 

LOST SCENE FROM 'RETURN OF THE JEDI'!

 

Word has it John Williams composed a stellar rendition of Pomp & Circumstance for this scene which, sadly, was cut from the final film. 

 

Written and rendered by my pal and STAR WARS STRIPZ co-author, Craig McNamara.

NOTES AND DOODLES

 

Whenever there's a lull in a concept call, the pen takes on a mind of its own...

'HANNIBAL' SEASON TWO PREMIERE DATE -- THIS FRIDAY, February 28th!

Instead of an official image from HANNIBAL's second season, I offer this painting I originally did to spruce up my REAPER office walls.   Needless to say, it was more fitting for my HANNIBAL wall.  

 

The second season of HANNIBAL premieres this Friday, FEBRUARY 28th...on NBC.  Check your local listings.  Until then, here are a couple of  TRAILERS sure to whet your appetite:

http://hollywoodlife.com/2014/02/06/hannibal-new-season-2-trailer-mads-mikkaelsen-hugh-dancy-return/
or
http://www.programme-tv.net/news/series-tv/47499-hannibal-saison-2-video/

BUY THE LEGO MOVIE NOW -- BUT NOT FROM AMAZON!

POLAR VORTEX -- THE SEQUEL: FORTIFIED

 

Pull on the flannel plaids, the sheepskin vest and the moose scalp hat and ride these low temps out

TORONTO SUBMISSION

Up in Toronto this week to prep my episode of HANNIBAL and I didn't bring anything to put up.  Pulled this, the latest page from 12 O'Clock Somewhere, to fill the space.

POLAR VORTEX--THE GAME

Trapped in a devastating netherworld of ice and snow, one intrepid robot must find the key to mankind's survival...
                                                   ...temps above zero and a hot cup of Peets coffee.

IF "AMERICAN HUSTLE" DOESN'T GIVE YOU ENOUGH 1970's FOR CHRISTMAS...

/

Craig McNamara, Saint Paul MN native born and bred, found this poster and gave it to me ostensibly because my next-door-neighbor Casey Jones aka Roger Awsumb was featured as a special guest (so was Barry ZeVan the weatherman -- but I didn't know him personally).  I loved the artwork and it was a nice piece from the past.

But then I got to wondering who the host of the parade, this "Super Mayor" was.  A little research gleaned from WFMU’S Beware of the Blog uncovered the following:

“From 1970 to 1972, the city of Saint Paul, MN was led by colorful Mayor Charlie McCarty who won the election as an independent candidate. He was both loved and hated by many for his unpredictable words and deeds, but never failed to entertain.

He earned the nickname "Supermayor" due to his penchant for patrolling the streets of the city at all hours of the night in his hand-picked Lincoln Continental (dubbed the "Supercar") which was decked out in all manner of police and fire radios… [using] the newly modern technology… that allowed him to switch red [street] lights to green while he tooled around town with his driver.

An incident where Mayor McCarty helped apprehend a disorderly patron at a White Castle restaurant was the genesis of a weekly "Supermayor" comic strip by Jerry Fearing in the local paper.” 



CHRISTMAS FRINGE

When I was on FRINGE, this is the card I sent everyone, from J.J. Abrams on down. I didn't watch the series in the last couple seasons, but lemme know if they ended up doing this episode. 

TOYS THAT INSPIRED, #37

When my brother Jonathan and I were kids, the local toy store at Clancy Drugs sold a series of little rubber cartoon figures made of this weird oily rubber -- a medium developed by mistake in some petro chemical lab, no doubt.  The design of the characters -- very Disney-esque -- had a big influence on how I drew animals and the like.  The above picture was found online but we actually owned these two guys back in the day...

THANKSGIVING'S GREETINGS

 

A re-run from last year...

REAPER -- THIS WORK BENCH MASCOT IS NO TOOL!

One episode of the CW series REAPER involved Tyler Labine's character Sock being punished and having to wear the Work Bench store mascot outfit... which ultimately leads to him embracing the job and facing-off with a rival hardware store mascot -- an ambulatory hammer -- and a fist fight that he wins -- only to find it's a retired old lady in the hammer get-up.

 

Above are the ideas I offered for the potential Work Bench mascot costume.  While "Wrenchy-Wrench" was the ultimate choice, I always loved the simplicity of the plum-bob design.

 

UN Havin a Good Time, Comrade?

Drew this during a Minnesota Scriptworks meeting.  Seeing as the Soviet Union was still in existence at the time, it tells you how many moons ago it was created.  The UN proceedings so boring the Soviet delegate is left to the imagination.

ALL THE PAST AND FUTURE HOLDS



A Photo from the LA TIMES shows a city councilman holding a life size cut-out of William Mulholland, the man behind the LA aqueduct a hundred years ago... ah, or is it a hundred year photo of Mullholland holding a life size cut-out of a councilman of the future?

NCIS 'TOONS - ON THE AIR

 

When I was at NCIS I drew these china marker sketches of Abby and Tony and they actually used them in one of the first season episodes.  In the scene, Newbie agent Kate's sketchbook was grabbed and her whimsical drawings of her new co-workers were revealed.  I'm sure that scored some points.  

 

Frankly, I'd forgotten about 'em but someone  reminded me and I found these online.

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU

THE FIRST QUESTION EVERY WRITER MUST ASK...

When I  took my first screenwriting class at Film In The Cities in Saint Paul, this question was ingrained in each and every one of us -- that you may have the coolest, high-concept idea but if you can't answer the above question, your story has no character drive.  The above illustration never made its way to t-shirts but we had cool mugs made!

THIS IS NOT THE JAW OF JONAH HEX

Years and years ago, just after coming off X-FILES  I was approached to write a feature adaptation of the little known comic book JONAH HEX.  The whole thing fell through, twelve years later a feature version did come out written by someone else and it was an unmitigated disaster.  I, however, still have the above sketch I did for the project.  And when I do my own movie about a vengeful, undead cowboy it'll be called, you guessed it, BONE SPUR... 

BABY/ROBOT/BABY

The same doodle, yes... but one that can be viewed two ways -- is it a picture of a baby with a robot tucked uder his arm?  Or a dancing robot with a baby stuck to his foot?  Always like the two of them and this is a great opportunity to include a link to a CARAVAN PALACE video that not only offers a great tune, but a dancing robot... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j95HbhTl60k

NCIS COMIX (SEASON ONE)

I drew this when I was on staff  at the uber-successful CBS series.  It was the first season, but already the characters were set -- and reflected in this quickly-drawn adventure.  Afficianados of the series will recognize Mark Harmon's stoic leader, David McCallum's overly-verbose ME (to such a point that the dead body is reduced to a skeleton -- ha, ha) and the goth lab gal Pauley Perrette with crazy theories.  My favorite is male sidekick, ladies man Tony who gets beaten down just for walking in the door.

Midnight Stroll

 Just another villager running for his life... down some Transylvanian cobble stone avenue... under a full moon.  Wonder what he's running from?..

A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

 

A panel from 12 o'Clock Somewhere that incorporates your basic ol' "single vanishing point in 1-point perspective."   I just drew the picture -- but for this post, had to look up the official term on Ben Towles art/cartooning blogsite www.benzilla.com/?p=3683 .   Inspired by a Will Eisner SPIRIT panel I saw when I was ten years old, the structure on the left with the big clock face is also from my youth -- it's the Minneapolis courthouse building, one of the coolest buildings in the Twin Cities.

LAIRD VLAMING GOES TO COLLEGE!

That's right!  To Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.  So what better way to commemorate that milestone than by posting a monster painting he did when he was seven years old!  The colors are great but I always loved the teeth. 

 

Congratulations, Laird!



OXY ACETYLINE BOVINE (AKA WELDING COW)

I doodled this in a notebook a decade ago but coincidentally came across it just when Laird started taking a welding workshop.  That inspired me to to color it with Corel painter, I guess.