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It seems someone has gathered all of the mentions of Shrimpola Cola in my late, unlamented animated series, Sheep in the Big City, and put them together.With the distance of years (and the refusal of CN to release the stuff on DVD) I'd forgotten just how insane that show was.*And this stuff wasn't the weirdest part of the show (yikes).Nor was this:Or this:*Not that I regret it; being a rapping

The Pigeon is 6 years old today. No (April) foolin'.Thanks to you, he's still around desperate to drive a bus, get a puppy, have a hot dog by himself, and stay up all night! To celebrate his first publication in 2003, here's a link to info about the new animated cartoon based on Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! starring myself and Jon Scieszka as the Bus Driver. Mo' info to come!

One of the things that made my cartoon sketch show Sheep in the Big City fun was the 30 second appearances of the Ranting Swede at the end of each episode.I flatter myself to think that the Ranting Swede’s format was unique in TV cartoon production. We would give actor Kevin Seal a loose idea (“coffee tables”) and let him go off for as long as he could. We’d edit the track and give it to a

Thanks to everyone for saying ‘hi’ at the ALA convention in Anaheim last weekend. It was a whirlwind of lunches, signings library cart competitions, watermelon tossing, and general mischief. Highlights included Brian Selznick’s awesome, awesome speech, Laura Amy Schlitz’s awesome, awesome, awesome speech and the Geisel Committee displaying headbands with birds on their heads just before mine.

I’ve written about my annual sketchbooks before. Now, someone else has (and on a site that I visit often). These thingies are for friends and clients, but one day we might put out a compilation… (note: Tom also reviewed my travelog a while back)

From Jr. High (in glorious felt pen)... Read the rest of this post

From early college... Read the rest of this post

From just after college... Oh, and thanks to you Knuffle Bunny Too is spending its 17th week on the New York Times Bestseller List at #7.

We've had a spate of cool kid fan mail recently, so I thought I'd turn the tables and show a recently uncovered piece of fan mail I made when I was this size (hint: I'm the smaller one with the full head of hair): It's the Red Barron and his Woodstockian side kick. How cool that this drawing will come full circle in October (ooooh... Mysterious, no?)

My starving artist days of the early 90's were slightly less starving thanks to a friend who was the graphic designer for a small publishing house dealing in technical books about mental problems (really). As a favor, as opposed to my limited photographic abilities, he allowed me to run around and take pictures for the covers of his books. Here’s one featuring my performance partner in The

As some of you already know, I spent most of the 1990's slogging away making little films for the folks over at Sesame Street. Now, thanks to the internet and obtuse programming, you can see some of those films in high-quality digitalnessness merely by jumping through some weird hoops. They don’t have all of my work up (like the stop-motion short about the life-story of a bowl thrown by my

… Sheep in the Big City was officially canned by the Cartoon Network and I began writing on its replacement, pal Tom Warburton’s Codename: Kids Next Door. I emptied my office of Sheep storyboards, sketches, etc… and moved down the hall (Tom took my office) where I began to maintain a big board filled with postcards of new ideas, episode titles, and pitches. At the same time I began production

Sandblasted tile. Another of my old projects with my father.

Every December for the past decade and a half I’ve put out a sketchbook of doodles, stories, and whatnot to send to clients and/or friends. While Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! originated as a sketchbook, most of my sketchbooks have not really been for the kiddies. Instead the books are a chance to tell different types of stories, experiment with my drawings, or just have fun. To give a

Someone has started to post some of my old Sesame Street Suzie Kabloozie shorts. So, I thought I’d show them here. They’re a mixed bag, which represent a progression for me both in terms of animation and technology (the first films were done traditionally with hand painted cels, the latter ones were drawn, scanned, and digitally colored). As I’ve mentioned before, Suzie was my first continuing

I’ve briefly mentioned my early days freelancing at R. O. Blechman’s Ink Tank Studio and being taught animation there at nights by the lovely, generous Tissa David. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much work for an over-enthusiastic, under-talented animator in the city back then. Sure, occasionally I’d get work, but not the work I wanted. The Ink Tank’s hipster downtown rival Broadcast Arts hired me

Fortunately, a couple of years back, Leonardo the Terrible Monster was lucky enough to win a few state awards voted on by children. Unfortunately, the award ceremonies occurred when I was booked elsewhere. Fortunately, the fine folks at Hyperion helped me make a little thank you video. Unfortunately, a little bird came in and ruined it. Fortunately, the audiences didn't seem to mind.

(This is true) As some of you may know, my family is Dutch. Now, you don’t have to know much about Holland or my family for this story except for this: There is no Halloween in the Netherlands and my mother’s birthday is October 31st. So, during a cold October evening in the suburbs of Chicago almost forty years ago, my folks were quietly hanging out when the doorbell rang. At the door were a

Pal and ASIFA East President David Levy recently blogged a nice overview of my animation career (although the head of the NYC’s Animation Society mistakenly says that my Sesame Street animations were produced at Curious Pictures—the were produced by my studio). This is a preview to a cool event coming up next month: On November 29 at 7pm ASIFA East will screen my two latest cartoons based on my

After we finished the Off-Beats Valentines special in 1999, Curious Pictures produced a mock album for the crew. It featured all kinds of music clips from the special, including: The Off-Beats theme. The haunting music as August's dog, September, tells the tale of February, the cat he loved and the war that tore them apart. And my favorite bit, a (purposefully) terrible love song that

I’ve written about my love for Saul Steinberg. Well, obviously, I’m not the only animator to dig his work as animation legend George Griffin well knows. He’s moderating a cool screening entitled “Saul Steinberg and Animation” at the prestigious Ottawa Animation Festival on September 21st :& 22nd. George asked me to include my most Steinbergian short “Another Bad Day For Philip Jenkins” (which

If you what to know where I was six years ago today, visit your library for a copy of this. It is not a light read. Peace.

All the Mo-fo you could want (complete with links to tons of past interviews) has been posted along with a brand new interview at 7 Impossible Things . Check it out, you might learn something new about me; I did.

A few months back I showed some stills from some live-action films I made featuring pals dressed as giant letters cavorting around Coney Island. Someone seems to have posted some of the Sesame Street Shorts for your pleasure. Enjoy. (fyi: the letter W was played by Ken Schatz--better known in Sheep in the Big City as Ben Plotz, the narrator. Spunky, ain't he?)