sketch book drawings

2012-02-15T09:38:00.000-08:00

LOOK OUT!! A CREEPY SPOOKY SKELETON CAT IS COMING IN JULY!!!

2012-02-01T12:48:00.000-08:00

I've been really enjoying this audiobook called "Skullduggery Pleasant", it's a kid's novel about a skeleton detective and a preteen girl who solve supernatural mysteries. It has kind of a zoot suit vibe to it which is a bit of a bummer for me, but if you aren't bothered by that kind of thing or can look past it, the dialogue and interaction between the girl and the skeleton has a very funny, dry wit to it and they go on a reasonably good adventure. It's also an Irish book and the audiobook is read in all Irish accents which is kind of fun.

2012-01-27T10:51:00.000-08:00

2012-01-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

This is just a re-post from CartoonBrew, but it's the coolest thing I've seen in a very long time.
The Hobbit by Gene Deitch
In fact i think it's the coolest thing since this
or this.

2012-01-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a little gnome enjoying a good read and a puff on his pipe.

2011-11-11T18:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece i did on actual paper with actual ink and actual gouache. it actually got my fingers a little dirty which kind of freaked me out because it's been a while but i think i'm ok now. It's for a charity auction for the Drawing Dreams Foundation and will be auctioned to off to the highest (or any) bidder on December 7th at the Society of Illustrator's space in New York. If it looks familiar it's because it's yet another depiction of that, my favorite mythological creature "The Yirdswine" who is known for rooting around in graveyards and eating corpses, but this one is kind of cute.

2011-11-09T09:45:00.000-08:00

I really like Moomintroll.

2011-10-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

I really saw this yesterday, I'm hoping because it's Halloween.

2011-10-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

my newest passion: illustrating spam emails.

2011-10-06T16:05:00.001-07:00

2011-10-06T10:12:00.000-07:00

for all you other old parents out there.

2011-10-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

After i heard this story i went home and fact checked it. The only part that wasn't true is that it was the men's room instead.

2011-09-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

I had to make a late night run to Home Depot the other night. Everybody there, like the guy in front of me buying a hatchet, seemed like they were up to no good. Then i realized I was buying 5 rolls of plastic sheeting and some duct tape.

2011-09-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

"JERK EAGLE"

This weekend we were at the Santa Barbara Zoo where something hysterical happened. Some Jerk Eagle was flying around and spotted the zoo and thought "buffet". He was camped out in a tree all day enjoying his Federally Protected Status, while leisurely deciding which exotic delicacy to eat first. The zoo animals and staff were palpably nervous and the zoo even sent out two volunteer ladies in folding chairs to sit by the flamingos and otters and "keep an eye on them". I'm not sure how it turned out but he was still up there when we left and probably wasn't getting any less hungry as time went on.

2011-08-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

I saw the Smurf movie last night, it was very inspiring. The best joke in it was when the Smurfs, while trapped in New York City, were talking about the Smurfs they missed back home. "I miss Carpenter Smurf and Mailman Smurf etc." Then Smurfette said "You know who I don't miss?... Passive/Aggressive Smurf. You always feel bad after he leaves." So genius. This of course led to a long discussion about all the shitty Smurfs you've never heard of before of which this is my favorite.

2011-08-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

a little down time today. a worm lives in his nose.

2011-06-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

And now back to Bleak House. Another of my favorite characters, the overly dramatic, manipulative and somewhat flamboyant Old Mr. Turveydrop. Proprietor of the local dance school who can be seen here (starting at 4:10) in all his glory rebuking his son's announcement of engagement. In 30 seconds he covers the entire range of human emotion from outraged betrayal to selfless resignation. Disgustingly played by Matthew Kelly... bravo!!

2011-06-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

Mia... is getting pretty good at climbing.

2011-06-06T22:59:00.000-07:00

Here's another one from Bleak House. The crazy old bird lady Miss Flite (get it?) who's obsessed with Judgement Day and has a million birds named things like "Misery, Greed, Avarice and Death." She reminds me of Mrs. Garret from Facts of Life.

2011-06-06T22:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my favorite characters from Bleak House. This one is Mr. Skimpole. Dickens is such a master of onomatopoeia character names. Even if the name isn't literally what the person is (like Mr. Krook to follow shortly) you know exactly how to feel about the character by the taste left in your mouth after saying their name. Mr. Skimpole... pole. rod... shaft. this guy is a total tool. The 19th century equivalent of "Mr. Douchebag".

Speaking of his "half dozen or so children" Mr. Skimpole says "Care for them? How could I? I have no aptitude for work of any kind." When asked "How then do they live?" He replies, "Why... I've no idea. But live they do."

Ordinarily i like to read the character description from the book and draw that, but the casting and acting in this movie is such perfection I cant imagine them as anyone other than who played the parts, in this case Nathaniel Parker. Well Done sir.

2011-06-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

We've been obsessed with British costume dramas for the last couple of months, we've probably wacthed 15 or 20 of them. So many fantastic costumes, sets, compositions, lighting, really beautiful movies. And the sideburns... Good God the sideburns. Here's the first of a series of 5 minute sketches I'd like to do from some of my favorite parts. This one is from Bleak House.

2011-06-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

I saw this guy on a documentary and liked the cut of his sail.

2011-05-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a piece I did for an upcoming show at Q Pop. The theme is "The Hamburger Lifestyle"

2011-05-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

I saw a great interview by this author Gabor Mate about his book "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts". It's about addiciton, behavior, childhood development, politics, a lot of stuff. He says the title comes from a Buddhist concept of different realms of being, one of which is the "Hungry Ghost Realm".
In the interview he says "people in it are depicted with large empty bellies, small mouths and scrawny thin necks, they can never get enough satisfaction, they can never fill their bellies, they're always hungry, always empty. Always seeking it from the outside" Kind of a haunting image i felt compelled to draw.

2011-03-05T20:56:00.001-08:00

Mia at 1.

2011-02-10T08:07:00.001-08:00

Mia engaged in her favorite activity. Pulling all the books off the shelves and standing on a pile of them "reading".

2010-12-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

This is a prime example of what any new Batman projects are very likely not to look like.

2010-09-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

NEW BOOK!!!!NEW WEBSITE!!!

Hey Everyone, Today is the day my book "Absolutely Beastly Children" hits the shelves! It also is the day that my newly renovated website http://www.dankrall.com/ is up (courtesy of the very talented and patient Cindy Morrow and her website design company GoodwillByDesign and the equally talented and patient Jojo Ramos who did the Flash animation on the homepage, thanks Cindy and Jojo!!!) Please stop by and see all the artwork I have been making over the last 7 years since the last update. It's not ready yet, but very soon a store will be open to purchase many wonderful wares.

If you have been so kind as to pre-order my book it should be on it's way! if you have not been so kind, it's not too late to redeem yourself!! Go into a bookstore today and buy as many as you can, go ahead and put them on a credit card and pay it off later. If they don't carry it throw a fit and make a scene and demand that they do. Much appreciated.
Thanks!!!
Love,
Dan

2010-08-10T09:24:00.001-07:00

2010-07-26T17:38:00.001-07:00

Signing Posters at Comic Con, this really happened.

2010-07-26T01:54:00.001-07:00

2010-05-04T02:08:00.000-07:00

2010-04-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

This is not what the new Scooby Doo show will look like.

2010-04-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

Mr. Fuzzums...

is looking pretty old:(

2010-03-27T00:37:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about doing work on animated movies is that once every 7 years when the movie comes out you get to put a drawing on your blog. Believe it or not, I was asked briefly, ever so briefly, to do a couple of designs very early on for the "How to Train Your Dragon" Movie that Dreamworks just released. Imagine my surprise when they called me, imagine their surprise when I came in with these drawings, imagine how quickly the phone stopped ringing. Oh well... back to TV Land. The dragons are supposed to look like the kids who own them.

I also had some ideas for dragons...

as my final service for them I offered the paradigm that anything you put

fangs and wings on becomes a Dragon, see examples below.

I haven't seen the film yet but I assume they took full advantage of my theories.

2010-03-16T23:56:00.001-07:00

5 weeks later this is what she looks like.

2010-02-12T07:39:00.000-08:00

So here's something even more exciting that happened a week ago today, something I'm not likely to forget... ever. Oh ya... Rachel was there too.

Welcome to the world Mia Josephine Slowinski-Krall! Born in excellent health 7:48 am February 5th, 2010. 9lbs. 6 oz.

2010-02-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

Today is a very exciting day for me, my new book and first author credit "Absolutely Beastly Children" a rhyming ABC book in which each letter of the Alphabet corresponds to a detestable child, has it's ISBN# and is on pre-sale. Actual release date September 28. A very special thanks to Abigail Samoun of Tricycle Press who took an interest in it and saw it through and is not afraid to attach her name to a book that shows a child pulling the wings off of flies. Thanks Abigail!!!

2010-01-30T07:49:00.001-08:00

2010-01-23T07:21:00.000-08:00

2010-01-06T07:19:00.001-08:00

2010-01-06T07:18:00.001-08:00

2009-12-30T18:12:00.001-08:00

2009-11-10T12:46:00.000-08:00

AVATAR. I can't believe my luck!!! If there's 2 things I love in this world it's ASIA ALBUM COVERS and FURRY ART and now they're together at last in one $240 MILLION MOVIE!!! I think James Cameron must be my soul mate. Goodbye Robert Zemeckis and BEOWULF, I'm sorry it had to end like this, but I'm with someone new now.

2009-11-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece I did for the blog Seven Impossible Things before Breakfast which is a cool Children's Book Blog. They suggested the subject matter which was great because I've been wanting to re-illustrate some old classics. If anyone has any ideas how to make that happen I'd love to hear them.

2009-10-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

So here's a Newsflash that will catch most people who know us off guard. Rachel and I are attempting to enter that territory which has been so well forged by so many of our friends yet remains a total mystery to us known as Parenthood. Stay tuned and watch me try to document things everyone else figured out ages ago as their kids head into college and we're expecting a newborn baby in January. It's a girl.

2009-07-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Little Lord Fauntleroy. It was thoroughly disgusting and I enjoyed every minute of it.

2009-07-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

Rachel read me this fantastic character description from a book she's reading. "Barchester Towers" by Anthony Trollope.

2009-06-22T07:39:00.001-07:00

Our cat could use a belt.

2009-06-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

And in case you don't know about it...
The Gooby Trailer

2009-06-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

in fact...

2009-06-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

It's the creepiest thing in a red scarf since this.

2009-06-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

I can't stop thinking about this movie. It's not even playing in California, Arkansas? Yes, Hawaii? Yes. Why not here? What kind of God would make this movie happen and then not have it play in California.

2009-02-20T01:25:00.000-08:00

A very early idea for a hallway in the "other house" when it was a bit more over the top (and less practical) where the wall panels are like an aquarium with jelly fishes and squids drifting by.

2009-02-20T01:19:00.000-08:00

This is actually my very most favorite drawing from the whole movie, it was a statue for the theatre that used to be Greco-Roman themed (but was very sensibly changed to art deco) that would have been tucked away in a corner somewhere and hidden in the shadows, but I referenced (stole) it directly from the most beautiful statue of a Mermaid clutching a lobster to her breast that I found in a book somewhere.

2009-02-20T01:16:00.000-08:00

The contribution I'm the most proud of by far is the "Gravy Train" also another idea for crazy food the Jell-o Lava Lamp.

2009-02-20T01:14:00.000-08:00

An early idea for the store clerk in Coraline, it is set in Oregon after all. (you know I love you Oregon).

2009-02-20T01:08:00.000-08:00

some early ideas for the movers in the Coraline movie, it is set in Oregon after all.
.

2009-02-09T10:58:00.001-08:00

CORALINE came out on Friday. It's creeepy and weird and beautiful and great. Here's some stuff i did for it.

2009-02-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

2009-02-09T10:51:00.000-08:00

2009-02-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

2009-02-09T10:48:00.004-08:00

2009-02-09T10:48:00.003-08:00

2009-02-09T10:48:00.001-08:00

2009-02-09T10:47:00.002-08:00

2009-02-09T10:47:00.001-08:00

2009-02-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

2009-02-09T10:44:00.002-08:00

2009-02-09T10:44:00.001-08:00

2009-02-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

2009-02-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

This happened tonight.

2009-01-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!
6 Months in the Freelance Cave!
Coincidentally suitable for Illustration Friday's theme of "Flawed".

2009-01-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

When Mr. Fuzzums sits on the edge of the couch, he kind of drips and oozes over.

2009-01-20T18:35:00.001-08:00

I finally replaced the battery that was stolen from '94 Honda only to realize the thieves had also changed all my radio presets to Spanish stations, from which I can only deduce...

thank you for not making a poo on the driver's seat.

2009-01-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

turns out there wasn't a recession at all!

2009-01-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

I saw this guy patrolling the sidewalks of Silverlake (Where was he during the previous post?)
This is definitely starting out to be a good year. Sometimes weeks go by without seeing anything noteworthy and now they're coming out of the woodwork so fast it's hard to get any work done. Seriously people, take a break and save something for March.

2009-01-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

This is the person who breaks into a 1994 Honda with 214,000 miles to steal the battery.

2009-01-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

Saw this guy at a Classical Music Concert. He had the best sweater and seemed to be really enjoying himself.

2008-12-16T16:11:00.000-08:00

and this is how it looked in the mirror.

2008-12-16T16:05:00.000-08:00

This is how li looked for a few hours after having my eyes dilated at the eye doctor today.

2008-11-30T17:39:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a few pieces for Nickelodeon Magazine lately. I thought this one was kind of funny, conceived of by Jacob Lambert. It's the Rejects from Santa's Reindeer Tryouts.

2008-11-05T09:20:00.000-08:00

Wow. For the first time I don't feel like I'm surrounded by 3,000 miles of pod people.

2008-11-03T22:24:00.001-08:00

2008-10-08T04:34:00.000-07:00

is it just me? or did the debate look kind of like this?

2008-10-08T02:15:00.000-07:00

I just finished illustrating a book called "Being a Pig is Nice: A Child's Eye View of Manners" written by Sally Lloyd-Jones and published by Schwartz & Wade. It comes out in May of '09 but already has a link on Amazon (thanks for the tip Matt Jones), so run and get your credit card and use that link (over there to the right.. ya.. that's the one...) and start stimulating the economy!

2008-10-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

2008-09-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

2008-09-09T07:20:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what this irrefutable fact of science means, but i don't think it's good.

2008-09-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

Retirement plan #512. Selling these in the Albuquerque Airport. Anyone who can help facilitate this, don't be shy.

2008-09-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

had a crazy sunset the other night, looked kind of like this from our patio.

2008-09-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

we're screwed.

2008-06-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

Was this large, tan, sweaty, shirtless man playing hot pink extreme frisbee in the middle of our soccer game as it appeared? or a member of the Burbank Knights of Templar protecting a hot pink halo that escaped from heaven. It's not for me to say.

2008-06-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

2008-06-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

Saw this the other day, it was cute.

2008-06-10T22:27:00.001-07:00

2008-05-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

Another day I was happy to live in LA. I saw this guy at the Hollywood Farmer's Market, either he wasn't there to buy groceries, or he was storing them in his short shorts. Hollywood Farmer's Market Committee: I was thinking this image would look good hung from lightposts all across the city, please contact me for licensing terms.

2008-04-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

2008-04-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

I found something special and had to share.

2008-04-01T17:58:00.000-07:00

did a little camping trip in Big Sur, or as Clay likes to call it (and me) Big Sir. I spent 2 hours watching waves crash on a rock. it was pretty nice.