New ideas for the blog and some more characters!

Hey hey, readers. I know I haven't posted reviews in a while, but I will when I get a chance. But in the meantime, I'd like to share what I plan on doing here from now on. I'm actually considering a new series of written reviews on here called "Animated Animosity" where I review the animated films that are... less than good. I wanted to try this for a while after Disneyyear and Pixargust was over. I'll also try out other animated movies too because there's a bunch that deserve to have a look. Those will usually be in some sort of theme to it and I'll likely do what I did in Pixargust and keep posting in the span of a month or more. Whatever I review will normally be up to me but if I get enough requests to review a certain movie, I'll do it. Oh, and expect a surprise Disneyear review in a month or so!

 I'm also planning on buying a microphone soon for video posts that will have me talking over a random theatrical short and even some TV cartoons from past and present while I talk about what I think of them. It'll be basically like a live commentary. I'll also post the original short or episode without my voice over it in case you haven't seen it yet. I'll also keep posting my artwork as well. There's lots more coming soon, so keep tuned here.

In the meantime, here's my star character, Ralph. Ralph is like any mouse: quiet, timid, and curious. But since Ralph is very small, he has to use his brain instead of his brawn to get himself out of trouble in a calm, collected manner. Ralph has Ralph also is a cultured person, preferring the arts, classical music, and some jazz over today's standards. He's pretty talented at creating art, has a nice singing voice, level-headed, a MENSA member, and modest. Ralph also has a very friendly persona, helping anyone out so long as they don't hurt him. He comes from a long line of laboratory mice, which is why he's white with blue eyes and likely explains how he's so smart. Ralph is a mix of myself with a little bit of Dean Martin's wit. The tail design just came to me.

Then there's Benny, a devious little squirrel that's full of fun and energy. Benny has a usually happy, up-beat persona. He may be a wee bit nuts and may come across as annoying to his neighbor Gordon, but he does use his head occasionally when there's trouble. It's just easier for him to be energetic and popping up at random moments. He has the ability to pull cartoon weaponry out of thin air. He also has a speech impediment where whenever he hits an "s" sound, it comes out as a whistle. He also has a dark side to him, showing extreme animosity towards someone that does him any kind of harm making him want to get even by any means necessary. Benny's one of my favorite characters that I made and he'll be loads of fun to make cartoons for in the future.

Finally, we have Bear and Eli, a pink toy panda and 

elephant brother and sister duo. Bear is a toy panda that acts acts as Eli's big sister. She is a sweet, caring individual but isn't afraid to take on responsibilities. She doesn't mind baths and respects rules. She is authoritative and has a more realistic approach to things than her brother. It's her seriousness that can make her frustrated with Eli sometimes, but she still loves her brother all the same and will do anything to keep him happy and safe. Eli is a toy elephant and is Bear's little brother. He is all heart and extremely playful and child-like in temperament and it's because of this that he can get frustrated easily and doesn't always know how to handle his emotions. He loves to play and makes friends but hates veggies and baths. Overall, he's a big bundle of love. Their origin story is an interesting one. Back in high school, I had a friend, Vicki, who had these two pink stuffed animals named Bear and Eli. Respectively, they were a bear and an elephant. So after she made a short play script for our Children's Theater class based off of the two toys, I thought about what they would look like as cartoons. These designs were my end results and I continue to draw and write stories for them to this day.

Like I said, stay tooned for more (sorry for the pun!) in the future! 

More characters!

I've been playing around on Photoshop for a while and made some more portraits of my characters. I figured I'd at least introduce these character for new comers this time, so I'll give some details here. 

First up is Bhim and Ambika, the cobra and mongoose duo. Bhim (the mongoose) is sort of a jerk. He's extremely pugnacious and hard-headed, but easily wimps out if he winds up fighting something bigger, like a tiger or a python. Ambika (the cobra) is the opposite. She's friendly and shy. She's sort of a wildflower and has figured out that the Bhim is actually hypnotized by her beautiful dancing and singing, which she uses to her advantage in tight spots. They have a kind of frienemy-ish relationship.

I got inspiration for these two after watching Animal Planet and saw a mongoose and a cobra fight in real life. Most of the time, the mongoose is the winner of these fights but I always wondered if the cobra would ever win and how. The musical numbers are also inspired by Eartha Kitt when she was younger with the visual style of Bollywood films. The point of this series is to hopefully have people change their thoughts on snakes. In reality, most snakes are like Ambika: they don't want to fight or bite. They just want to be left in peace.

 Then we have Chilé, a chinchilla with a very fiery personality. A tad brash, Chilé will always act before thinking about it making him believe he can do anything. Even if he comes off as cocky, he's far from it. Chilé is actually very chivalrous and always willing to help even if the odds are against him. Especially for a woman. Chilé is also an amorous creature who's up to sacrificing himself for any pretty face. He happens to have one certain weakness: he also is a habitual cleaner. He'll clean anything that looks dirty with his long, bushy tail since he dislikes filth. Chilé needs to keep his fur away from water which is why he prefers to bathe in volcanic dust.
Chilé was inspired by my pet chinchilla, Kirby, and several viewings of Disney's The Three Caballeros. His outfit is based on a huacho, the Chilean equivalent of a cowboy.

More characters will come later. Keep tuned!

Gordon portrait

Hey hey, readers! I recently decided to join my art blog with this one, so I can share my reviews and ideas for characters and stories. So here's a portrait I made of one of my characters: Gordon the Scottish Capuchin monkey. If you want to learn about his character, just search Gordon in the search bar and you'll find him.

Lucky

This is Lucky, a rabbit who surprisingly looks very similar to Ralph. Well, don't be surprised. In the show's history, Lucky was the original Ralph on A Day at the Zoo, being very popular until his contract expired and the studio heads quickly replaced him with Ralph. Ever since, Lucky had never been the same, plotting against and seeking vengeance on Ralph for what happened to him.

Lucky on the whole is a very twisted and evil character. He can be called the polar opposite of Ralph. Where Ralph is kind and good-natured, Lucky is cruel, relentless, and somewhat a glory-hound. He merely wants to be back in the limelight and will get there by any means necessary.

Professor Axel

A brand new character. This is Professor Axel, a highly intelligent and somewhat eccentric axolotl. He is an expert in virtually anything scientific and mathematical. He's also an accomplished inventor... in his mind. His only flaw is that he's limited to living in water, thanks to the gills on the side of his head.

Oh yes! He also is fluent in over 20 languages and has a German accent when speaking English.

New Mascot or Character?

This is a character I've been working on for a few days. It's a jack-in-the-box toy named Charlie. He's excitable, eccentric, and something of a showman. His big dream is to be an entertainer, so he keeps everything he needs to put on a good show inside his box.

I'm not sure whether to put him with Bear and Eli or to have him as the mascot of JSmith Cartoons. Suggestions?

訪問日本から！ラルフのカズンリロイ!

Ralph's Japanese cousin Leroy comes to visit him. Everything seems to go OK except whenever Leroy sees Lionel, he goes berserk and wants to fight him to the death.

Leroy is Ralph's cousin from Japan. He looks like a Pokemon but is actually a mouse like Ralph. Around his American cousin, he's a very ...considerate, polite person. However, when provoked or whenever he bumps into a cat, he can turn into a neurotic sociopath who demands a fight using his bizarre powers.

Leroy is a satire of Japanese anime cartoons (specifically Pokemon). He's brown like Ralph, but has pink eyes and pointier ears. His tail alos makes a lightning bolt shape.

New Stuff and a New Character!

Some updates for those who read this blog. Here's a title sequence for the cartoon Mousse in Boots, starring Ralph and Lionel.


And on a major note, I've got a new character for the Bear & Eli cartoons!
This is Elanor, an orange toy elephant from the Bear and Eli universe. She's sort of a female counterpart of Eli. She's fun-loving, yet sensible like Bear. Her beret suggests her creative side. She loves to paint and come up with stories. She appears to have a crush on Eli, but he prefers that they stay friends thanks to his child-like persona. She's Bear's best friend aside from Eli and have a lot of fun writing stories together. She's the only character in the series that talks with a Mid-Atlantic accent.

Elanor's design comes from one of my own toy elephants. Like Elanor, she's orange with a green flower on her tummy. Who knows? I may wind up making Eli a best friend too. :)

ALIEN!!

Another character I never introduced. So far,this alien is a naturalist from a planet far away from our galaxy. He's also from the future. He'll be featured in a few cartoons abducting Ralph and Benny for the sake of science.

Also shown is how his species evolved from frogs, which explains how he's from the future. There's also his "baby portrait".

I actually have been drawing this character many years before I came up with Ralph and yet I never gave him a name...