ONSLAUGHT of BUFFOONERY

I Love Cartoons!

2007-09-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

With all of the layoffs, the executives, the egos, the scuttlebutt, the politics, and the frustration involved...
I'm ashamed to tell you all that in recent years, I sometimes forget!
I forget that cartoons are a wonderful invention,
and that we're incredibly lucky just to get to watch them, let alone work on them.

To be more specific:

I love watching Freddy Moore's Mickey flirt with Minnie,
dance around foolishly, or do just about anything.

I love any time any director allows their characters a little breathing room.
When handled carefully, an 'awkward silence' can be just as effective as any great big dramatic
moment or explosive action scene.

I still love watching all the scenes with the Genie.

I love the way UPA was able to make a radio broadcast of a western every bit
as exciting as the old west itself!

I love the dynamic between Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot.
He may not know exactly what he's gotten into, but his care and concern for her
is always present. It comes across in every single drawing.

I love how right after this he goes,
"No; I'm uh-"
IT NEVER FAILS TO MAKE ME LAUGH!

I love that Tex Avery never had it in him to underdo anything.

I love that when we watch a Bob Clampett cartoon, it's like we're taking a seven minute rollercoaster ride within his very id.

I love watching Ren casually pick up a Zippo lighter with his foot and light himself a cigarette ---as though this were something anyone could just casually pull off.

I love that Stimpy is 'all head', 'bends like Bratwurst', has a nose that appears to be directly inspired by UPA color, and can do almost as many voices as Billy West!

I love the sibling rivalry of Dexter and Dee Dee,
especially when it's carefully supervised here in the States.

I love Chris Shea as Linus and Cathy Steinberg as Sally.

I love everything about "The Incredibles".

I love that cartoons can take us to places we've never been,
and places we all have been ...often at the exact same time.

And yes, I can't deny it: I even love Spiderpig!

More From the Isle of Manila

2007-06-12T12:21:00.001-07:00

There were these guys named named Mike Cook and Tim Turner. They published something called the 24-7 Artzine out of Providence, Rhode Island in the mid 1990s. It was a modest xeroxed rag, dropped off in the doorways of comix shops and record stores and filled with lots of weird poetry and art reviews. I used to send in little drawings like this one.

Brooding paintress Lora Shelley is easily the most prolific of all correspondents I've had the pleasure of knowing. Her letters are full of doodles, sketches, and unabashed introspective personal nuance. This envelope here is in my coveted Envelope Hall of Fame... I'm saving up for a helium-filled glass case to house it in! You can buy prints from Lora here.
Oh, and here's an envelope drawing for Lora from several years ago.

SQUINT-A-THON

2007-05-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, Spring! When a young man's fancy turns to... SQUINTING!

Here are some caricatures of various people squinting.
All of the reference for these came from a 1980 yearbook
I bought years ago at one of my favorite used book stores,
the World Famous BOOK ALCOVE.

I'm not sure if this foxy lady knows what squinting is,
or even how to squint,
but she was just too good to pass up, so here ya go.

Oh yeah, and here are all my sloppy sketches, too.

A Tiny Fantasy

2007-05-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

Dan Izzo and 'Uncles on the Moon'

2007-05-04T00:24:00.000-07:00

I was an Uncle long before I was ever an uncle.

Daz Izzo runs the Improv Inferno out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, but before that, he did lots and lots of improv teaching, including at Second City in Chicago.

Improv is the art of literally making something funny out of nothing, so it should only go without saying that Dan has a TON of patience. His ability to see the good in the work of myself and my fellow students never ceased to amaze me, and he aways did so with great positive support, wit, and energy. When we had worked with him for several terms, we rewarded Dan with a giant poster-sized caricature of himself that we had all autographed, featuring Dan saying several of the stupid things he would repeatedly say. At first he looked as though he might die of embarrassment... and then as though he were going to kill me personally! I had only meant to pay tribute to a great talent and mentor, but somehow my intentions were misconstrued. Dan has been nice enough to allow the art from the poster to be reprinted here, so I guess he's not all that upset after all.

Later many of the gang from the aforementioned classes got together and put on some shows for the general public.

We called ourselves "Uncles on the Moon" because so often in improv, the audience is asked to shout out locations and relationships for possible sketch ideas. Inevitably someone would shout out "Uncles!", to which Uncle on the Moon
Patrick Mene would proclaim, "Uncles is not a relationship!
It's just two guys!!"

More Envelopes!

2007-04-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

(Gift to Marc A. Crisafulli,
lawyer with similar name as myself,
who found my portfolio site online
and was kind enough to buy art from said site.
8.5 X 11". Ink with Prismacolor Pencils. 2004.)

(Gift to my sister the scholar, Michelita Conchita Crisafulli-o.
(Congratulations, Michele!)
9 X 12". Gouache with ink. 2001.)

Envelopes to Friends and Family

2007-04-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

Ever since I could lick a stamp,
I've enjoyed the fine art of correspondence.
Decorating the envelopes with a mostly-improvised vivarium of imagery
became compulsive in the mid 1980s,
when addresses of the like-minded
were found in the backs of comics books,
and the internet was just a gleam in a young nerd's eye.

So while I figure out just what to do next with this blog,
I thought I'd share some of my more transient doodles with you.

(Gift to Frank Crisafulli, father. 8.5 X 11". Gouache with ink.
Mailed about two weeks ago.)

(Gift to Mary Cahill,
New York City photo editor. 9X12".
Ink and Prismacolor® Pencils.
Mailed over ten years ago.)

Check back soon for more fun with manila!

"Ahh, yes! Something new has been added!"

2007-02-20T05:02:00.000-08:00

[ed. note: we apologize for not completing this post sooner...
We also goofed by not enabling the comments!]

A few folks might know that my father would have loved
to be on the starting lineup of the New York Yankees.

Others know him as a devoted husband, father, and now,
grandfather...

But... did you also know that my father was a cartoonist?!

Yes, it's true.
Sorta.

My Dad has allowed me to post the following gag cartoons
he copied from leading magazines and newspapers of the day.

We'll start with an easy one...

(Hint: He cites The Washington Daily News as one of his key sources.)

It would please me, and my Dad, too, to locate the original work of the cartoonists
who first drew these magazine cartoons, and others he paid homage to as a kid.
Anyone willing to help out?

Coffee Break

2007-02-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

Some Mondays start out so slow.
It's good that there's several more days this week to make a difference.

Lovelife Book Five: The Rest of It

2007-02-16T16:41:00.000-08:00

This project was one of my quickest ever turnarounds, as I recall...
from start to finish, something like a week and a half.
I had figured out a way to stick to a decent-enough format
without losing all spontaneity. Even so, I knew I wouldn't cover
nearly everything I had to say on a topic as broad as love,
so I wrote in my notes that the fifth and final book would be
deliberately open-ended and unfinished.

The truth is that giving myself a 'heart attack' was a very last minute idea!!
This worked a lot better in the book... I liked all the blank blue pages at the end.
The digital version doesn't seem to translate quite as good.
Ah well.

(Don't worry about me, by the way... I had a full recovery.) :)

Lovelife Book Four: Kommunication ist die taste

2007-02-16T00:51:00.000-08:00

Lovelife Book Three: nobody loves you.

2007-02-14T11:06:00.000-08:00

Book Three is embarrassing to me.
I should explain.

I have never been a hip person. I don't understand how to do so.
I like what I like, and will most likely like the same things ten
and twenty years from now that I do today. I don't go out of my way
to keep up with new things. If some new song or 'look' debuts and I
take an interest in it, it's most likely that this is because it reminds me
of better times and styles I'm already very well acquainted with.

For a while I inhabited what had become a very trendy
part of Chicago. If you walked down a certain street during a
certain time of day, it was a bit like living in a Susie Vlçek music video.
The girls were all cute and in indie bands.
They wore unbuttoned square dance shirts
or tight old lady dresses.
They all had bangs and hornrimmed glasses.
They made sure you noticed them as they walked past.
The boys wore deliberately torn undershits and
rolled their smokes up in their sleeves and were never cleanshaven, ever.
And they made sure you noticed them as you walked past!
Somehow it was always easier to forgive the girls!!

Clearly I'm shabbily masking some kind of deep-rooted resentment in the
strip below. I wanna be cool, too; who doesn't?
In recent years, I've never been less cool.
I've even stooped to pawning my more catty lines to my other characters
to disguise the fact, even though they're things I myself would sooner say.

Besides, who can compete with champion pouter and social cynic
DAVID GEMMILL?
I've never met him,
but he's got this kind of thing down to a refined science.
If he's not featured in a future issue of
Animation Blast, I'll eat my afro pick.

Anyway, okay, enough.

Lovelife Book Two: infatua

2007-02-13T22:24:00.000-08:00

Lovelife Book One: introduction

2007-02-13T22:14:00.000-08:00

Your Lovelife Diagnosed in Five Minicomics (or less)

2007-02-12T23:01:00.000-08:00

All this week I'll be posting five tiny comic books I did for a 2004
group show that took place in Chicago called "My Secret Valentine."

As I understood it, the idea was to create work in any media imaginable,
intended for an anonymous individual, either man or woman.
The show ran only one night, at which point these 'gifts'
were given out to its participants,
i.e., every artist went home with someone else's 'valentine.'

Please note that 'Onslaught of Buffoonery' is never
nor has ever been intended for wee kin or small fry,
and that this week is certainly no exception.

Anyway, the first two chapters and more on this project tomorrow.

Quick Marker Sketch

2007-02-09T22:56:00.000-08:00

Doodles of Women

2007-01-26T18:53:00.000-08:00

Have a nice weekend, everybody!

Remembering My Torrid Hate Affair with Chicago Parking Tickets

2007-01-25T22:07:00.000-08:00

They'd eat away at me like salt to a slug.

It's Snowing!!

2007-01-24T18:40:00.000-08:00

Not here, but somewhere.
Maybe Cincinnati.
Check there.

"The Hired Hand"

2007-01-23T19:38:00.000-08:00

I've been doing some cleaning and reorganizing around here, and a lot of old work keeps popping up.
Most of this stuff was only seen on a very limited local level and was originally published in black & white.

(Thanks once more to Mayang's Free Textures for the chipped paint background!)

"ALWAYS TRY YOUR BEST"® Number Two™

2007-01-22T17:47:00.000-08:00

One Legged Animal Friday

2006-12-22T21:07:00.000-08:00

I went to the zoo some time ago, and am still remembering
how nifty these guys were!

Can anyone tell me the name of this particular animal?

Office Party Conspiracy Wednesday

2006-12-20T21:09:00.000-08:00

Click on the image above for the Director's Cut.
What do you think?
Too wordy?

I LIKE TO DRAW FACES

2006-12-19T21:16:00.000-08:00

Multiple Choice Monday

2006-12-18T21:20:00.000-08:00

1. The image above and similar images that will on occasion pop up in this space henceforth are the result of:

A) Vivid memories of drowzily roaming the halls of parochial elementary school and glancing at countless strange posters on bulliten boards that were either supposed to educate or inspire, but did neither;

B) Falling in love with an irresistible stack of moldy textbooks during a recent bout of thrift store hopping for an unrelated project;

C) No longer having the luxury of toying with, doctoring, and/or reworking the cheese-heavy illustrations of the textbooks I rarely studied from but absolutely cherished as a school-going lad;

D) All of the above.

Happy... Eighth Day After Halloween?

2006-11-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

Here are Heads and Faces of ancient character actors from one of my favorite tee vee programs.

These were supposed to be for Halloween, and here it is, over an entire week later, and you're just now getting them...

Which may lead you to wonder... just what have I been doing since my last blog post?!!

So scary to ponder and think about! Scary, scary, ooooo!!

Under the [Euro] Influence

2006-10-16T05:28:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I'd use my two characters Flavio and Marguerite to explain how I come up with characters for my own projects.

When designing cartoon characters for studio animation, you're given several aids along with your assignment: The premise of the program you're designing for, written character descriptions, a style guide with which your designs must jive, and sometimes even a final storyboard. All must be carefully considered, as well as the amount of time allotted to complete said assignment.

In stark contrast, my own personal projects follow a very lenient schedule, since the only one I have to answer to in such situations is myself. 90% of the characters I draw on a regular basis began with a doodle. A cartoonist is one of very few who can utilize being stuck on the phone or in any place he or she would rather not be. My best doodles have always come out of such circumstances. Being slightly distracted can even be quite beneficial, keeping me from getting in the way of what my 'id' and pencil want to come up with together. I can make some sense of what I've drawn and why I've drawn it, but rarely right at that moment. For this reason, I save most of my scribbles in files, and then go through them with a more critical eye later, weeks or months after I've first drawn them. Then I re-file whatever strikes me as interesting at that time, and toss the rest.

With Flavio, it was little more than a few quirky physical characteristics that led to my developing him as a character. There was something funny to me about a diminutive guy trying desperately to look tough in a skull cap and sleeveless undershirt. In countless pages of amassed doodles, he would show up in one corner or another, sometimes a little more defined than the time I'd drawn him before. I began to notice that he had stylistic things commonly found in many of the European comic books, or bande dessinées, that I grew up pouring over as a kid. This is why I decided to make Flavio European... (to get technical, he's Italian, but lives in a small french town with his long-suffering girlfriend, Marguerite). Marguerite herself is obviously simple and plain-ish in design, but would prove to be a considerably more intelligent and subtle character than her boyfriend, making them potentially effective as a couple... or at least as entertainment!

The both of them seemed to be good characters to tell whatever stories I might have had about love, and the familiarity of love, and what happens over time when familiarity breeds not just contempt, but any number of other things.

Over the last several years, I've roughed out two separate comics stories with Flavio and Marguerite, but have never gotten around to completing them.

WHY PAY FOR TV?

2006-10-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

Some Doodles

2006-10-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

The Coffee Bird

2006-09-30T01:07:00.000-07:00

Zine Fest Keychain Madness!

2006-09-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

This Saturday and Sunday I'll be at the annual ZINE FEST in San Francisco, hockin' my wares with illustratin' mavericks Eric Davison and his sister, the always lovely Karen.

I'll have these hand-inked and colored, space~age keychains for sale...

(actually, they're not that 'space~age' at all, they're really just Shrinky~Dinks®)

If all goes well, I'll also have a top secret, super limited-edition, handmade book for you to buy!
Do you like ham? It's a very hammy book.

It's been ten years since I've been to San Francisco, so I'm looking forward to hanging out in one of my all-time favorite cities and catching up with you, if you can make it. Unlike Comic Con or the original Woodstock, I'm told that Zine Fest has a more intimate feel and is less apt to subject you to the pungent aromas and plentiful perspiration of the convention-goers' usual experience. Did I mention that admission is free? Now you have no excuse!! Please come and say hi!

If It's Not the Heat, It's the Stupidity

2006-08-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hi again, everybody.
How's it goin'?

I've decided to ease back into blogging with this strip from 1995,
which I colored for the first time just a couple of weeks ago.

(Special thanks to Mary Forrest!)

???

2006-04-01T21:33:00.000-08:00

These drawings were carefully tucked away before moving here to Los Angeles. When I finally got around to unpacking them, I had a hard time remembering what these things were for.... or even what they were supposed to mean!

More Fun With Yearbooks

2006-03-15T15:15:00.000-08:00

These are taken from an old yearbook I found several years ago and still frequently refer to. At least every third face in the book makes me laugh for one reason or another. Click here to see my rough sketches for these drawings, along with the actual photos that inspired them. I've taken the liberty of changing all the names and locations of these courageous individuals "to protect the innocent"...namely, me!

Please Do Not Choke On This Cynical Gag

2006-03-15T15:14:00.000-08:00

Gag

2006-02-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

Bustin' th' Lid Offa Kidvid, Yo

2006-01-27T14:07:00.000-08:00

An old friend of mine---WE'LL CALL HIM "JOHNNY Y."--- recently expressed concern over the fact that I might soon be involved in television animation geared towards children. "i [sic] don't think that [the networks] would be interested in your brand of humor if it were for the kiddies," he said, and I quote. Where this concern came from I can only speculate, as Johnny fancies himself a swingin' bachelor, and has no young 'ens of his own. In fact, I have always found children to be a key source of inspiration in my work, if not the primary one. Kids are great, and I enjoy figuring out what makes them tick, which would only naturally lead to wanting to figure out what they might want to be entertained by.

The biggest mistake in the history of children's entertainment has been the repeated insistence from those in charge to deliberately
condescend and
pander to their target audience. Of course, kids should be looked after and protected in every regard, and entertainment should never have negative repercussions on any viewer. But kids like conflict, and scary things, and a good story they've never seen before, just like us grown ups. They're smarter than most of us give them credit for, and deserve to be challenged now and again.

With this in mind, please have a look at my latest Family Friendly show idea,
"MAN HUNT."

By the way...for REAL hard-boiled hijinks, go to
Cartoon Retro and seek out "Flint Michigan".

Slow Jed's Caffeinates My Soul

2006-01-05T19:38:00.000-08:00

My friends Deb and Andy have taken a crummy liquor store and transformed it into Slow Jed's Mud House, a first-rate coffee shop now open for business in Averil Park, NY. The decor is as cozy as it is nifty. Everything's yummy and smells nice. There's live music and free internet access, too. Most impressive of all is how Deb and her staff go out of their way to make everyone feel comfortable and special.

I hope I'm not giving away any trade secrets when I mention that Jed himself is a caricature of the owner's brother when he was a kid. This was easy work for me... everything was right there in the photos I was given for reference. The actual signs were made by Frank Smith, whose paintings of dragons and kittens in outer space are without equal. I was amazed at how faithful he was to my original designs.

Dusty Networks

2005-12-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

Say hello to little Dusty.
He's as kind-hearted and green as
Balloon~Twist is unrefined and decrepit.

I was never good at being new... were you?

Developing Character(s)

2005-12-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

I've never developed a character in a hurry... most of them have come to me in a crude doodle, unannounced. Then over time, they keep reappearing, more sure of themselves than the time before.

Balloon~Twist, above, is a good example of this. I first started drawing him over ten years ago, to keep from falling asleep while stuck on the phone during one of many forays in the glamorous world of telemarketing. He began as a typical senior citizen, but his senility quickly became the driving force behind his character. Never get in a car, eat a meal cooked by, go skinny dipping with, rock climb, or take a Sunday drive with Balloon~Twist! You'll wind up dead, and he'll live on and make everything look like it was all your fault!

The look and even tone of "Balloon~Twist and Rufus" owes much to the great work of both Cliff Sterrett, who drew "Polly and her Pals", and Elzie Segar, the creator of "Popeye".

Balloon~Twist is the legal guardian of a sensitive and contemplative twelve-year-old boy named Rufus (not pictured), who likes to read alone in his room
(also not pictured).

(Thanks to Mayang's Free Textures for the cool background)

Hello From Los Angeles!

2005-11-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

Or Burbank. Or...well, whatever.
Sorry for not updating sooner.
I had a bunch of things I was working on before I left, but those
are all unfortunately still in various stages of completion.
For now, here's some older stuff.

Parents & Kids

2005-09-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

("Answering the Child's Why" appears courtesy of The AV Geeks Film Archive.)

Other People's Photos

2005-08-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

I love going through old photographs of people I've never known. There's often a rich subtext of subtle discomfort or agony in forgotten snapshots or yearbook photos. The closer one looks, the more there is to see.

Click on the image below for the photo that inspired this drawing and my rough sketch. I'll try and do this every time I post something photo-derived.... at least until the cease and desist letters start rolling in!

FRIENDSHIP

2005-08-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

Ah yes! The key to any successful predator/prey alliance!!

Tuesdays with Crisafulli iii: Bunny Rabid

2005-08-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

I swear it's not NEARLY as bad as it looks.
The bleeding stopped within an hour.

Alex and Sal: Amateur Nite

2005-07-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

Do Not Fit the Animals

2005-07-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesdays with Crisafulli ii

2005-07-26T18:06:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness for my friends...
they always tell me how I'm REALLY doing!

Racial Profiling

2005-07-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

These faces were found and drawn at either the San Jose International Airport, or Midway in Chicago.

Tuesdays with Crisafulli

2005-07-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

oops! It's already Wednesday! Better late than never!!

Bearly Aware

2005-07-17T00:16:00.000-07:00

Undercover Fetch

2005-07-15T02:22:00.000-07:00

Hi, Everybody!
Thanks for coming,
and thanks especially to those
who suggested I do this ages ago!