:: positive role model ::

no time means no new content! here's something from my freshman year in college. it's one scene of 3 of similar length and structure of my short "positive role model." i did it with crayons and a flatbed scanner. light tables and crayons aren't friends.



i apparently hadn't learned what framing is yet.

i got a B.

music by bursting mosquitos [ie. me, bob, jon, doug and ryan.]

:: "in lieu of recent events" or "i am the day of current taste" ::

at the IFC theater here in new york i recently saw "the future is unwritten," a documentary on clash frontman joe sturmmer. it was fantastic, i highly recommend!

then this past weekend i needed to take a break form pale force for a bit so i did some sketching and watched a documentary called "tales of the rat fink," about ed "big daddy" roth [the creator of ratfink, the printed t-shirt, and had a huge influence on design and art in general, in awesome ways...]

also i now own a scooter!

so this is me combining all these elements. that's not my scooter though, that's totally a lambretta, i have a vespa! haha!

i have this theory that the whole driving feeling of the motorheads and their hotrods could totally be applied to scooters. lots of scooters are old and need a lotta work and maintenance [like mine...yowza!], it'd be sweet to soup em up. and it's not all mods vs. rockers anymore. i feel like scooters and the rockabilly world can totally get along.

so this is my rudefink, my contribution to said cause.

maybe i should paint this, it'd be kinda fun.

i have another animationy project in the works too right now, i'll post that soon.

:: wha? ::

haha wow what a string of lame posts! no worries awesome stuff on it's way!

:: halloween cat ::

here's a little nugget bob made 2 years ago and i just made a beautiful soundtrack for...that lovely song in the middle is from a cd bob [http://tehfuzzbomb.blogspot.com/] got by sending in the back of a frankenberry box...



vote for it on newgrounds!!!

:: plugs ::

no posts lately...been busy with lifestuff and pale force [some news on that front very soon!]

but this one goes out to all the inquiring/dirty minds who read my blog! phil, will, simon, i'm looking at you!



and incase ya don't know this is angela ryan; hostess/model [and yes i obviously and ridiculously in love with her and you should be too!]:

:: gmc lost footage ::

i was going through my old pencil tests from my thesis and looking at all the mistakes i made...animating at 10fps? what? i guess it's essentially on 3's since i edited in after effects. to me it was less drawings. whatever. kinda worked...i didn't know about symbols yet then either. lots of stuff that would have made the whole process easier. this is why i'm jaded about scool. basic stuff.

here's some cycle tests for "scene 13" the segment that was meant to go after opening the fridge and before that trn to the tv. after the eggs are put on the counter the open themselves and walk across to the frying pan rip off their shells and jump in. one of the things i was most excited about and i had to cut it for the sake of "story" RETARDED!!!

it's interesting/nice to see how my timing and drawing have improved since then.

the bread toasts itself as well.

i don't really like the egg's double bounce walk. i didn't have it quite right, but the bread makes me chuckle. [granted this isn't the scene just the cycles]



this scene would have been at about; 1:10 on this youtbe:

:: i'm sketchy ::

ahh another lovely day at dr. sketchy's anti art school, "the universes best burlesque figure drawing session." i really have to stop making a habit of falling in love with the models. hm.

today was prom themed! i went stag, because i'm a loner dotty...a rebel.

these might not be awesome but they're what i did, so WHATEVER! the models were amelia danger and apathy. and THEY'RE totally awesome!






ok better explain...this next one we were supposed to draw something from the movie "carrie" i figured i'd go for the mom...but apparently no one remembered that part...just the pigs blood...

:: pale force ::

RAD!!!

embedable player this year! now you all can keep tabs on why i'm making really quick crappy blog drawings and have no time to hang out with you! pale force isn't just a gig, it's a way of life DUDES!



in this "3rd ep" segment i animated the first half up through the intro of the clones. 1st half of the 2nd ep as well through mtv, and in the first one i just popped conan on the gurney and adjusted the intro.

:: dio ::

i saw heaven and hell last night. it was awesome. i'll make some better drawngs soon this was all i had time for.

:: big bear ::

Friday, September 14h. Big Bear at Death By Audio. Be there and be annihilated by rock.

:: who's yehudi? ::

greetings gates! let's operate!

so yes, i've done far too many posts as of late. but hey! when it rains it pours. and let me tell you it's no fun catching a terrier in the eye!

today i got to thinking of one of my favorite radio personalities....

[flashback]

when i got the last golden collection, i was watching the tash disk and in the plane daffy cartoon daffy turns around and all the sudden has bug eyes and says "ahh! something new has been added!" in a crazy voice:

Plane Daffy 1
Uploaded by thadk

then later looks into the fridge and makes another crazy comment. sometimes you'll see a guy talk with that voice with an incredible mustache. it's obviously a caricature. so of course my first thought was...

WHO THE HECK IS THIS GUY!!!!

well...it's JERRY COLONNA!


[my drawing signified end of flashback]

and he's hilarious.

early on he was in a string of b movies playing in a nightclub band and a general character [he was called the professor], then met up with bob hope and basically operated as his sidekick on his radio show 'till about '48 when he was replaced by doris day to apparently keep the show "fresh". although he was still on every USO tour with hope...



and..

oddly enough, there's a lot of references to colonna in that plane daffy cartoon and tashlin went on to direct the bob hope features...and guess who popped up in em from time to time?

he was also the voice of the march hare in alice and wonderland!

this website can give you the rundown far better than i, and i'd rather not step on their toes:

ol' bug eyes

plus you can hear one of his albums "music for SCREAMNIG!" because yes...he also played trombone. amazing. and you know in cartoons when characters hold the first note of a song seemingly forever before they start? yup that's his deal too!

a lot of the jokes in looney tunes came from radio. we think a lot of the humor today is "fast paced" but a lot of the humor of the thirties and 40's was based around fast talking and general confusion...i mean ever see groucho marx in action?!

for kicks here's another good show [also including colonna] that might enlighten you to a couple other jabs the warners took at pop icons:

the bob hope show: april 8th 1947

i just subscribed to this podcast [the link will open itunes and subscribe you]:

old time radio comedy podcast

it's all comedy radio shows from the 30's and 40's including the bob hope show [with colonna], you bet your life [groucho], red skelton, and abbot and costello.

i grew up on the movies these guys made and i still think it's far funnier than anything else out there! check it out, and listen for colonna! he's totally awesome!



it's funny to me how the pop culture of a bygone era was able to become characterized in cartoons so vividly. and today the best we have to work with is referencing things. back then there were so many strong character actors that they made amazing caricatures, if not in likeness in action! the only ones i can really think of more recently are personalities like "pee wee herman," "mr. t,"or "mr. bean." television doesn't have strong characters as far as i can tell and sketch comedy is incredibly weak right now. know of any other good characters that might be worth caricaturing today?

someone strong enough that their bits or mannerisms could be understood without simply the likeness, like daffy using colonna's voice saying "something new has been added." it's tough!

:: greenpernt ::

i get frustrated with living in new york. i feel like i don't know this place and i don't get to see my friends unless some big event is going on. this is a problem to be tackled soon. but i still have a certain amount of pride when i see something like this:



i live in "greenpernt" haha! not "the forest primeval...FLATBUSH!"

[thanks kevin!]

Art Davis
Uploaded by klangley

also...some of you may remember my grand vision: the mega brain.

it kind of dissipated when i got another studio job. and by kind of i mean totally.

i definitely want to start it back up. kevin langley was nice enough to send me a bunch of model sheets. now that i'm working from home again i'm going to possibly get a new domain [threeprong is kind of tired these days...i might just buy the domain for the megabrain] and start it back up. i'll send a mass email out because it's been 6 months since we did anything with it and i'm sure everyone forgot about it! yeeps!

:: ice creamed ::

CU from a really really old sketch. wanna go back to these guys

(c) FOREVER Thomas Sebastian Smolenski

:: were-sketch ::

another quick sketch because i don't put time into anything! wink wink!

:: faves ::

lately i've been animating on pale force and have little of my own to show, so i figured i'd share some of my favorite animation with you guys...thanks internets!

bimbo's initiation - fleischers 1931

Betty Boop - Bimbo's Initiation
Uploaded by baje22

methinks animation professor lorelei pepi first introduced me to this cartoon, her or stephanie maxwell. either way it's my all time favorite! i love the story structure of the cartoons from this era...because it's barely there! pure entertainment!!!

[sorry about the paramount title...LAME...this had the best synch though, there's one with the real titles on youtbe.]

---

waffles and don:
'Gypped in Egypt' - (1930) Van Beuren Aesop's Fables



my friend pedro delgado showed me this one. totally amazing! van buren's aesop's fables series one of the earliest animation companies yet seldom discussed, this is definitely an awesome cartoon! i'm really glad ub iwerks got everyone so jazzed about dancing skeletons!

---

horton hatches the egg - 1942 WB [clampett/suess]

1942-Dr. Seuss - Horton Hatches the Egg
Uploaded by iToons

this is a cartoon i saw when i was a youngin. my friend simon ampel pointed me to this posted online recently at flickerlab. this is one of my favorite looney tunes by far, if not my favorite. clampett's first color cartoon. how the grinch stole christmas drove me nuts when i was growing up because it didn't look like this. i understood the looney tunes connection but didn't understand the directors element. now it all makes sense. perhaps my two biggest influences working in total harmony! makes sense to me!!!

also...BLUE SKY I HATE YOU AND YOU HAVE NO TASTE!!!!

---

Harpya - 1979 Raoul Servais



this is the reason i had my mustache! i love this it's so bizarre! good buddy and plae force vet. brett hall and i saw an ASIFA surrealist animation fest [that kicked off with bimbo] and included this! we had walked in partway through and had to sneak back in to watch the whole thing and see it a second time! totally weird and awesome! Servais is a fantastic filmmaker and a lot of his work is on youtube, if you dig this check out the rest of his stuff! it's not all pixelation there's a lot of very illustrative animation as well!

---

that's all for now kiddos!

:: smo ::

:: narhippo ::

hey i made this guy! like 2 years ago! figured he deserved posting. i called him gorbachev in secret. he was a gift.

:: fresh ink ::

at comic con chris sanders, pete and i all got some sick new ink! then we totally beat up that 40 year old dude dressed like a wolf who was trying to pick up wonder woman...

witness the incredible art of chris sanders!!!

:: smoreel summer 07 ::

:: business ::

ORDERED!!!

bill robinson stand up guy that he is, just saved me about fifty bucks by pointing me to this website:

http://www.overnightprints.com

now lets just hope that these puppies get shipped to my classy hotel in san diego, i'll have to ask the concierge when i get in, but i called ahead so i should be fine!*

*to be read: the front desk at the motel 6...

:: heraldry ::

from:

polish roots.com

[smolenski]



Arms: Azure, a horseshoe, Argent heels to base, pierced of a sword in pale point to chief. For a crest, an eagle's wing debruised of an arrow in fess, all proper.

There should be a horseshoe with the tips downward; through its top a saber passes, point upward and hilt downward, facing the right side of the shield, so that the hilt is to be seen in the center of the horseshoe. The helmet with crown has an eagle's wing, through which an arrow passes.

There were two brothers, whether of Jastrzebiec clan or Pobóg, who carried on a long-standing feud between them, and would not let it be settled, neither by the intervention of friends or the persuasion of relatives. It went so far that the younger brother, seeking vengeance for his injury, did not restrain his temper until he was guilty of the blood and death of his older brother. On account of this crime, in eternal memory of his punishment, his descendants' arms were transformed into the shape you see here and called Zagroba or Zagloba, i.e., za glowe [for his head].

--

[tornatore]

i know not much of this side of the family, and the sicilians didn't operate in a clan system as the poles therefore arms weren't used in battle or for identification. yet one thing i do know about my grandfather [whom i never was able to meet] is that he had a freaking kickass tattoo of a skull with a knife through it when he came over to america in the early 1900s.

--

[thomas sebastian smolenski]

say hello to my new backpatch:

:: roo ::

this girl [that this kinda sorta looks like]:


draws awesome people:



and she has a blog!

http://roodevon.blogspot.com

keep an eye on it and prepare for awesome!

:: anijam ::

working on the back now, i'll clean this up once i get the card done! thanks for all the input! i went with the background, added some spiderwebs, tonight i'll add some manner of monster on the stalactites.

the back is going to be tricky. i'm sure there will be progress posts before i clean the post up!








layout/color help needed!!! what sort of colors hsould i go with? should i draw a bg should i use gradient?





*EDIT*

SWEET! i'll be animating at the ASIFA HOLLYWOOD booth 5434 for the anijam on saturday during comic con 4:30-7! haha chris daly eat yer heart out! anijam!!!

http://asifa-hollywood.org/blog/con2007/table.html

--

not sure if it's too late but i just emailed asifa hollywood about joining the anijam at comic con. we'll see what happens! i'm working up a "business" card right now, i'll post sketches. i'm trying to figure out if i want it to look:

metal

epic

silly

fun

or

...professional

probably not professional.

it's going to be a trading card. let me know if i should be a "bad guy" or a "good guy" input appreciated! as i said sketches soon!

here's a version in my normal clothes:

:: monsters ::

drew these after watching dragon's lair clips. and afterward realized i gave them both the same line of action.

where have we seen that dinosaur before...but..younger?

:: powerhouse ::

i was recently featured on the raymond scott blog with a quote from me about how bad my thesis is! check it out!

http://raymondscott.blogspot.com/

it's pretty exciting! i love raymond scott's music, and i'm sure you do too! even if you don't realize it!

also this last drawing seems to have turned into my "moses"...i'm going to get back on the bandwagon soon! i've actually been excited about work lately so most of my energies have been focused there!

i'll start doodling soon i promise!

:: yarr ::

lately i've felt like this:



we all have our days...

:: shifting gears ::

in order to not clutter this blog with too much talk of air guitar i started a new blog to chronicle my ride to glory:

gettingair.blogspot.com

:: ulfhedair ::

can you discern whats going on in these scribbles? i can't!

planning out air guitar business!

ulfhedair? cerbairus [umulats on the U]?

:: power chord ::

here's the "landing" position of my rock out sketch. i suppose a second key? we shall see! i also have my palm mute "angry/suspicious inspect the audience for dissenters face" sketch to do. now that i figured out what a truss rod is, and adjusted it, and my guitar can actually make noises again, you can bet there's going to be a lot more of this to come!

when this is done i should pop it into kabuki and make it work with a song...



*edit* - i don't like this one.

:: frenchies ::

i did these sketches for a bit in a michael moore film. an american and french family sitting on top of a graph that will compare where tax money goes...americans OBVIOUSLY get totally hosed. but the image is not getting used now. i like it though so i'm posting it. it might be © flickerlab...? who friggin knows, i drew it, don't say you did sucka. BAM!

:: rock ::

i recently saw air guitar nation and it reminded me of how important it is for me to rock out on a regular basis. i decided this warrants a series of drawings or perhaps a short little animation. but in any event here's a cleaned up sketch [yes my guitar looks like that]!



i've been working at flickerlab as of late and have been pretty busy. i've felt guilty about my letting the megabrain fall by the wayside, i got sort of overwhelmed...i'll get back at that SOON!

also if you like to rock, or would like to learn to shred [i'd like to!]...

check out http://www.guitarshredshow.com my friend greg showed me this site and it's one of my favorites! one of the best flash sites ever around!

:: foodswings ::

i promised i'd make a flyer for the foodswings third anniversary party...but getting sick put me way behind schedule! i've got things started though. i decided to turn nutty merlin into a vegan necromancer! here's some progress:



progress: 3/14/07


progress: 3/15/07



flash crash yesterday and i lost a day's worth of work. been savin a lot today, and got it back to where it was. it's always hard for me to get back to something when i know i'm just doing repeat work! is this working?

also my forum is goin! but my getting sick really set me back. it's got me pretty frustrated. i should probably start looking for work too. lame.

:: building a bitter blogger ::

i really appreciate the sudden surge of disgruntled animators. although it's making me far more idealistic than i was two years ago even. but i know my goals now. i don't want to JUST work in animation.

i want to be a skilled cartoon animator.

that sounds stupid. "i'm serious about making funny cartoons." i feel i could make something now, with what i know now. or i could challenge, push myself to learn more AND make something. college didn't push me to learn. it asked me to work within my knowledge base. i got poor grades when i challenged myself, but i was happier and i learned more.

who else out there [i've talked to a few of you] wants to improve yourself? who wants to make "art for art's sake?" who wants to make real cartoon animation?

there's a lot of great resources out there, but if there's one thing i know we need as animators, that's organization, discipline and a schedule. i'm willing to suck it up and make one if people out there are willing to try. leave a comment *and email me* if you'd be interested in a team learning/progress/lesson blog.

*IMPORTANT! - to get into this please email me here: tomsmo@gmail.com, some blogger profiles are disabled and i can't get in touch with you!

:: rude penguin ::

here's my penguin sketches.