Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Happy Holidays


Synopsis 2008

Layoffs
Big Project 1
Big Project 2
Hires
The Grind
Acquire Red Rover
Feature Short
Grinding Even Harder
Layoffs
Restructure

Cooler than Ever!

Happy holidays to everyone at the studio who have shown what it is to be House of Cool material. Seasons greetings to all our clients and supporters. May 2009 be as big for you as it will be for House of Cool.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas Come Early!



I had to share this cool Gears of War action figurine. ISO sucks on my camera but this is the best I could get at the moment.

Hope you all end up get what you wanted for Christmas.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

BADADDAN SNOW!


*I AM DRE, DI SNOW CONQUERAH!*

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Discovering the Giant


Just messing around....

Monday, December 01, 2008

Ms Thang


She's still a wok in progress but what I've learned is to make a design as appealing as possible even if its only on the screen for a few. She's the eye "leading" lady in s short I'm working on.

what can I say? I'm a sucker for punishment.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Monday, November 17, 2008

The Spirit of an Artist

From Spaghetti West by Shawn Colbeck and HoC crew.


Now that I have have seen the up close and personal worlds of being an artists and a studio owner in animation, I believe that I have a perspective that most do not. I have felt the wonders and passions unique to being in animation. I’ve felt the joy of learning how to draw a character that actually feels like it is looking back at me. I’ve experienced the self indulgent but secretive pleasure of animating a character in a way that I was sure that no one else could replicate.

When I started my company I thought that getting my ideas out was the only goal. I knew that the field of animation was limited by short sighted executives and a complacent audience. These ideas are still true to me today but I have discovered things that are even more fulfilling to me. I have had the enjoyment of watching a number of young artists plucked from school grow from unfocused artistic toddlers to intelligent graphic statesmen. I’ve seen raw artistic ambition, seasoned and concentrated into tangible creative reality. These are things I had not set out to do at House of Cool but the gratification I get from it is more pleasurable to me than I could have anticipated.

This is the reason why it is particularly painful for me to deal with the hire/fire cycles of the industry. It is supremely difficult to maintain a strong, cohesive talent pool and do great art at the same time. There are forces in the industry who’s goals have nothing to do with creating quality entertainment or making people happy. The realities of business force me to let go of people that I know are only partially developed and are primed to explode with talent if only they are allowed to stay under HoC’s roof.

But why would I subject myself to the ups and downs of this less than perfect industry? I see the spark of creativity that only true artists have. I see the late nights and long hours that artists will endure for the faintest hope of artistic satisfaction at the end. I’ve seen artists scoff in the face of logic in order to find expression. All these things are self destructive traits but I too have them..and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

A friend once said to me after I had used my skill to do something unsavory, “Why don’t you use you powers for good?”. I had assumed that he was referring to my artistic abilities but I see now that my “power” are best used creating an environment that will help others find their artistic selves.

Monday, November 10, 2008

I miss the Coolhouse, hope your all well.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Saturday, October 25, 2008

NEVER TRY FI DIS THE MAN WIT DI HANDLE...



Green Ball: Yo, Yellowmon! Wagwan over deh. Mi cyaan see wh'appen.

Yellow Ball: Uno see it?
Ah yo, Blackey!
Tell ya madda... uno finally fin' out... who a di daddy.HAHA!

Brown/Maroon Ball: Blackey! Tell I fi tek back 'im chat.

Yellow Ball: 'Im Cyaan Mr. Brown! DI GAME DONE.


-Mitch "Your Daddy" Rose is a beast with the cue stick. Who wants next?-

Friday, October 24, 2008

Hmmmmm.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Girlie stuff




Designs for my big sister, the fashion consultant.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Street Fighter Tribute



Page 300

Thursday, September 25, 2008

from a galaxy far far away

no bbq for this old sith, he had class...

I had to do a take on one of those cool sith dudes after playing way to much force unleashed (amazing, with a super creepy sith ending)



















bowling anyone?

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Sith


"Always two there are, no more, no less"
-Jedi Master Yoda

Check out the coloured version on my blog
Feel free to name them.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Rosemary


Mia Farrow is really good at looking stressed out.

Friday, September 12, 2008

...even though its only been  day ... 

doodle

Thursday, September 11, 2008

These are drawings of my homies.

Monday, September 08, 2008

hoc

celebrating my 3rd month at HoC! wewt.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Explosive!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Edible friends



You might recognize these two characters. Cakerific never fails to impress. Thank you to Claudia Robinson for these wonderfully decorated cakes and to Andrew Shek for the original designs.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Portrait in PS

So I dug up this old picture from the attic..


Something I did for Ric a couple weeks ago.



Monday, August 18, 2008

Teletoon Scholarship finalists heart HOC

Hello fellow bloggers and blogettes, exciting news has occurred for a couple of HOC tenants! Vadim Bazhanov, Matt Kalinauskas and Melissa Maduro (me) have all had our independent students films accepted for the Teletoon Animation Scholarship under the Most Promising Student category. So, having said that, please be sure to hope over to the Teletoon website here and check out "Fresh Eggs", "Two by Two" and "A Romance In Graphite" in the Finalists tab under the Most Promising Student category. Don't forget to vote for your favorite when you're done. Congratulations and good luck to all of the finalists!
If you wanna learn more about the film makers you can check out Vadim, Matt and Mel's blogs.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

CAN'T STOP THE COLE TRAIN! CHOOCHOO!


*And this is how G.O.W. games really are...Campers get Chainsawed*

"I'M SO HOT!"(Cole 'Train')

*for the record* 
I want to add that I have respect for my housemates at House of Cool and that this was drawn in 
"my-video-game-is-better-than-your-video-game" good wholesome fun. I would never a wish a-gut bursting-blood-spraying-agonizing death-by-a-lancer on even my worst enemy......  unless its in Gears of War.

Friday, August 15, 2008

MORK-ASS BUSTERS

How C.O.D. games really are.

My Mom

For all the nerds in the House.

Idea by Shawn, drawing by Mel, ownage by Galactus.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Ninja Robot: The Final Boss


That's it, this is the final win, don't even try, it's useless, this is a NINJA ROBOT Shek, you hear?

ENTER THE DRAGON!!

Diplomacy is over....Dragon wins

Peace Talks

Super Hero trumps all!

Knights

frogs > universe

Ninjas>Pirates







but wait, there are zombies!



Posted by me, drawn by Ryan Bullard!

no contest

Elephant...




1 elephant>100 ninjas+ 167 pirates


Pirates > Ninjas

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

CoD

This is what I do best!



Sunday, August 10, 2008

When did i turn into Christopher lloyd?!



my Gf and i were both grumpy this weekend due to a bit of overwork. I explained that i had been working on a show, and some extra stuff got added on at the last minute... the extra work made things a little stressful, and id have to cancel plans.
She told me about her 30 hour shift in the ICU with Super Sick patients and such....

... ah some perspective.