Monthly Archives: November 2011

Recap: Pandora’s Ball at Rhode Center for the Arts

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Before I go into this recap, I want to say that I’ve posted a new link under the Links section, this time for Cartoonists and Illustrators United forum. It’s also right on the home page of this site, but the only reason I put it there was because of an artist directory the same site uses. With that out of the way…

I went to the Pandora’s Ball last Friday at Rhode Center of the Arts in downtown Kenosha. I’ve passed by this building many times before during some of my trips through Kenosha, but this was the first time I’ve ever been in the place. Basically, it’s a theater for plays and such.

The event was organized for the launch of the Pandora’s Box collection that’s being published (in limited numbers) via Southport Press in Kenosha. I actually have a story about the Bray Road Beast published in this collection, but the project got delayed for over a year, so what appears in the book is not representative of my best work now. Still, it is pretty cool that I’ve got something in a collection like this. The picture at the top of this article is all the stuff that’s included in the box, after all.

As for the ball itself, it was a masquerade ball, but people could come dressed like they normally are, so that’s how I showed up. To be honest, the events that were going on inside were not really my cup of tea, but I mostly came to check out the finished book anyway.

Pandora’s Box is a limited edition collection. I’m hoping to pick up a copy for myself as soon as I can, but if you want to know more about it, this is the page for it on the book’s website. I will put up information on my contribution to the book as soon as I am able.

Recap: Milwaukee Animation Group Show and Tell

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Before I post my little recap, I want to point out that I’ve put up some new stuff under the portfolio section. Included with that is the cover and a sample page of a comic book I just got done making (the cover is featured above). Also, if you want to have a copy of this same book, feel free to contact me at tonyk@tkcartoonist.info.

Last night, MAG had a Show and Tell where different animators and game developers showed off what they’ve been doing. They have these every once in a while as a way to create rapport with fellow animators in the area, and last night was no exception. Four people showed off their stuff, and while all of them were pretty good, the one who stole the show was the guy from Raven Software.

Raven Software is a game company based out of Madison as well as a subsidiary of Activision, and they are responsible for the DLC for the latest Call of Duty games, as well as creating the game Hexen and, more recently, Singularity. The stuff that the guy showed us was footage for a game that was never released, made about four years ago when he worked at EA and only recently had permission to show. I really wanted to show the little bit of animation I’ve done after he went, but it’s hard to follow an act like that. Here’s the guy’s portfolio for further reference of what I’m talking about.

After all was said and done, we went to a winery just down the street and I listened to all the interesting stories these guys have had in their fields. I also learned something that gamers and game magazines missed: next time anybody plays Medal of Honor: Airborne, pay attention to what the statues look like.

Recap – Impressionism: Masterworks on Paper

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Recently, a friend of mine and I went to see the Impressionism exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Although I brought my camera with me on this outing, I didn’t take any pictures in the exhibit as they don’t allow that. It’s going to be a little hard describing what I saw without any photographic evidence, but I’ll try the best I can.

Much of the exhibit was dominated by the more well-known artists such as Cezanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, and the like, although there were quite a few pieces from artists I did not recognize such as Camille Pissaro and Eva Gonzales. The biggest shocker from me was the stuff on display from Toulouse-Lautrec, who is more well-known as an “art noveau” artist, and not an impressionist.

Among Renoir’s repertoire was the painting that MAM is borrowing as per a wager with the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. Pretty much how the wager worked was: if Green Bay won the Super Bowl, MAM would borrow this painting from Carnegie, and if Pittsburgh won, the opposite would happen (I forget the painting that MAM would have to loan out). It was interesting seeing this work and the story behind its arrival in Milwaukee, as I had completely forgotten about that whole thing until I saw it face to face.

The medium that dominated the exhibit was pastel or charcoal on paper. A majority of the pieces on display were sketches for paintings the artist later did. Degas especially had a lot of pastel work on display. Monet had a lot of drawings too, but I’m glad one of his paintings was on display as well as his paintings expressed what he was going for a lot better than his drawings.

The show is going on from now until the 8th of January. If you happen to be in the Milwaukee area, you should definitely see it at least once. More information and images of the show can be found at the exhibit’s website.