Cartoon development – Bob Camp interview

Bob Camp is a cartoonist and cartoon developer who co-created the iconic Ren and Stimpy Show. He worked for Rankin Bass, Marvel Comics, Warner Brothers and has worked on numerous well-known animation projects. He currently teaches Visual Arts in NYC. I spoke to him about his past work, inspirations, process and future goals at the 2018 Great Philadelphia Comic Con.

1:26 – Bob Camp got into animation in the 1980s while working at Marvel Comics. He started with Thunder Cats and other Rankin Bass shows. Then he moved to LA to do animation full-time when Rankin Bass closed down.

3:29 – Bob isn’t an animator and is self-taught in everything he does. He considers himself too lazy for animation. He studied film in school and then did caricatures and portraits for rodeos and such. He met Gary Holgren who got him into comic art for Marvel Comics. He inked for John Buscema and then was doing fixes on just about every Marvel comic while he was there.

6:18 – In LA, he worked for the studio Deke who [doing] did Captain Planet and Inspector Gadget. Bob worked on an animated Alf series and then a Ghostbusters piece.

7:35 – Then he began working on Tiny Toons for Warner Brothers. He began doing other work and then worked on Your Gang and Ren and Stimpy were minor characters in that show. Then they teamed up with Nickelodeon and began doing their cartoon show. Ren and Stimpy started as a theatrical cartoon.

10:59 – Bob was inspired by the cartoons from the 1940s that were created for theatrical release. Those cartoons were for entire families.

13:44 – The reboot of Ren and Stimpy poisoned the well of the original series. Ren and Stimpy could have gone on for a longer time if it hadn’t had the troubles they had.

15:59 – Bob is an actor and did a bunch of the voices for Ren and Stimpy. He’s in the Screen Actors Guild. His favorite part of creating cartoons is the development. He likes show running too. He also likes to fix scrip ideas.

18:09 – Bob teaches at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. He teaches storyboard creation and critiques his students’ work as if he were the director. He likes taking ideas and making them better.

20:20 – Bob likes using Pinterest to inspire himself. The images there give him new ideas.

22:19 – The comic business is tough though. It’s a hard and stressful life which you need to love.

23:49 – He’s been inspired by Bob Camplett, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Harvey Kurzman, and a slew of others. He loves the Three Stooges.

25:19 – Comics are an incubator business for movies. The artists don’t make the money. The studios and the executives make the money.

27:43 – Bob has a sci-fi epic project he’d love to do. He has a little kid show that takes place in New York he’d like to do. He has lots of ideas and plenty of sketches.

28:59 – Bob said the way to succeed in this business is to just start making films and don’t wait for money. Get a youtube channel, teach yourself the skills you need. Do it yourself. You don’t need college.

30:17 – He’s on Bob Lab Studios on facebook and instagram. Michelle Fire is his partner and she has sites on facebook and instagram.

Links of interest

https://www.facebook.com/boblabstudios/

https://boblabshop.com/

http://boblabstudios.com/

https://twitter.com/boblabstudios?lang=en

https://twitter.com/michelefire

 

For more of the podcast “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guest: Bob Camp

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: cartoon, art, animation, rankin bass, ren, stimpy, nickelodeon, marvel comics, john buscema, ghostbusters, alf, tiny toons, crazy

Fantasy and sci-fi artist Amanda Schank interview – Super Magfest 2018 – youtube

Amanda Schank is a digital artist. I interviewed her at Super Magfest 2018 about her art, inspirations and method of working.

1:26 – Her Demon Slayer picture on an alligator rug is one of her favorite works because it’s very much “her”. It’s a line art heavy piece of work. It has a pin-up style. She likes adding shadows to the work. She combines urban wear and medieval images.

4:49 – She’ll stare at a piece of 40 minutes to see anything that needs to be fixed before she declares something done. She’ll even paint over prints once they’re ready for sale at conventions.

9:39 – She grew up watching Inuyasha and got into the mood of painting those characters. It’s influenced her throughout her career. She does everything on computer. She likes using a Cintiq for digital drawing and sketching.

12:57 – Lately she’s been inspired by lots of sci-fi. She’s creating a space station universe art book. Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Cowboy Bebop are currently inspiring her. She watches a lot of sci-fi to finish the book. She loves both the visuals and the characters and their motivations too. Evangelion also inspires her but she isn’t drawing lots of mechs.

16:14 – Her tablet is her most important tool. It’s about a 16 inch screen and she feel comfortably working on it. Photoshop has a nice textured brush too.

18:11 – In 2012 she had done a large painting of Red Riding Hood in armor. Now she revisited the character for a new piece. Right now she most enjoys doing textured line art for pin-up style work. She likes creating tattoo friendly art.

21:30 – She started making art when she was one. When she was nine or so she started watching anime and it was so different from Western cartoons she was fascinated by it. She didn’t care about art museums on school field trips until she got into art. She started posting the art online and she’s had a big following since then.

23:20 – She was on a site called Guyana online where you had an avatar that you could buy clothes for. She started selling her art to buy avatar clothes and then she realized she could make real money for her art. She realized she could make a living from art. She’s been doing commissions for 14 years.

26:14 – Artists are behind the scenes in everything in business. Art directors and artists create media, billboards and so on. They’re crucial to anything visual.

29:20 – She loves the Fifth Element and she watched it all the time with her dad. Star Wars is an inspiration. She loves Child Thief by Brom. He’s a writer and illustrator.   Cowboy Bebop has stuck with her throughout. Neverending Story is one of her loves. She’s been trying to do Fifth Element fan art for a long time but wants to make it perfect so hasn’t finished it.

32:41 – She loved the concept art for Valerian but she wasn’t happy with the movie at all. The visuals weren’t shown as much as advertised. The movie was too rushed to enjoy the art in the movie.

34:51 – Her gallery is on https://amsbt.artstation.com/.

 

Links

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290223/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106145/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213338/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119116/

https://www.amazon.com/Child-Thief-Novel-Brom/dp/0061671347

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088323/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2239822/

https://amsbt.artstation.com/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Amanda Schank

Host: Cris Alvarez

Fantasy and sci-fi artist Amanda Schank interview

Amanda Schank is a digital artist. I interviewed her at Super Magfest 2018 about her art, inspirations and method of working.

1:26 – Her Demon Slayer picture on an alligator rug is one of her favorite works because it’s very much “her”. It’s a line art heavy piece of work. It has a pin-up style. She likes adding shadows to the work. She combines urban wear and medieval images.

4:49 – She’ll stare at a piece of 40 minutes to see anything that needs to be fixed before she declares something done. She’ll even paint over prints once they’re ready for sale at conventions.

9:39 – She grew up watching Inuyasha and got into the mood of painting those characters. It’s influenced her throughout her career. She does everything on computer. She likes using a Cintiq for digital drawing and sketching.

12:57 – Lately she’s been inspired by lots of sci-fi. She’s creating a space station universe art book. Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Cowboy Bebop are currently inspiring her. She watches a lot of sci-fi to finish the book. She loves both the visuals and the characters and their motivations too. Evangelion also inspires her but she isn’t drawing lots of mechs.

16:14 – Her tablet is her most important tool. It’s about a 16 inch screen and she feel comfortably working on it. Photoshop has a nice textured brush too.

18:11 – In 2012 she had done a large painting of Red Riding Hood in armor. Now she revisited the character for a new piece. Right now she most enjoys doing textured line art for pin-up style work. She likes creating tattoo friendly art.

21:30 – She started making art when she was one. When she was nine or so she started watching anime and it was so different from Western cartoons she was fascinated by it. She didn’t care about art museums on school field trips until she got into art. She started posting the art online and she’s had a big following since then.

23:20 – She was on a site called Guyana online where you had an avatar that you could buy clothes for. She started selling her art to buy avatar clothes and then she realized she could make real money for her art. She realized she could make a living from art. She’s been doing commissions for 14 years.

26:14 – Artists are behind the scenes in everything in business. Art directors and artists create media, billboards and so on. They’re crucial to anything visual.

29:20 – She loves the Fifth Element and she watched it all the time with her dad. Star Wars is an inspiration. She loves Child Thief by Brom. He’s a writer and illustrator.   Cowboy Bebop has stuck with her throughout. Neverending Story is one of her loves. She’s been trying to do Fifth Element fan art for a long time but wants to make it perfect so hasn’t finished it.

32:41 – She loved the concept art for Valerian but she wasn’t happy with the movie at all. The visuals weren’t shown as much as advertised. The movie was too rushed to enjoy the art in the movie.

34:51 – Her gallery is on https://amsbt.artstation.com/.

 

Links

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290223/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106145/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213338/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119116/

https://www.amazon.com/Child-Thief-Novel-Brom/dp/0061671347

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088323/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2239822/

https://amsbt.artstation.com/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Amanda Schank

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist, digital art, fifth element, cowboy bebop, anime