I’ve written before about color scripts—an idea that animators use to tell a movie’s story with color. Here again is the color script I created for The Year Without a Santa Claus. This is a longish book—40 pages instead of the usual 32. The story starts out with Santa feeling low, follows him as he […]
‘For yearly, newly, faithfully, truly, somehow Santa Claus ALWAYS COMES.’
Some outtakes from The Year Without a Santa Claus—the group of 6 crying kids was whittled down to three; the spots showing kids’ gifts to Santa were cut to make more room; the sleeping boy was replaced with the shot of two kids looking through a window at the blizzard outside.
This is Santa Claus’ busiest week, and since there’s only one Santa, he can’t be everywhere at once. So what’s up with all the Santas you see in department stores and malls? Two words: Santa’s helpers. These guys help out during the Christmas season by dressing as Santa and representing him while the big man’s […]
I took a cinematography class when I was a teenager, and one of the movies we studied was The Bicycle Thieves. A poor man gets a job putting movie posters up around Rome, but his bicycle—without which he can’t put up the posters—is stolen. The movie follows him as he tries to find the thieves. […]
Reference, thumbnail sketch, tight sketch, final painting. From The Year Without a Santa Claus— I didn’t take these photos; they’re from auction sites I found on the web.
Sorry for the late notice—I just found out myself! The U.S. Army Band is performing their annual “Holiday Festival” four-concert series this weekend at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. This year they have country music’s Mark Wills as a special guest artist. Mark has traveled to Southwest Asia with The U.S. Army Band […]
If you live anywhere near Clarion, PA and you’re not busy Saturday, December 11th, come on out to The Bathtub, The Kitchen Sink & Petey Dink’s (this is all one place with a long name). I’ll be signing copies of The Year Without a Santa Claus from 2:00 to 4:00. And, it’s open Studio Saturday […]
My friend Jerry Russell (whose fantastic work you can see here) observed that in The Year Without a Santa Claus I “made Santa’s eyebrows black, instead. For more expressive impact, I’m guessing.” It’s true that the darker eyebrows make Santa’s face livelier. I’ve always loved the interpretation of Santa in old Coca-Cola ads by Haddon Sundblom. […]
Here’s a shot of Santa getting out of bed from The Year Without a Santa Claus.—the thumbnail sketch and the tight sketch. Luckily I came to my senses and realized that Santa wouldn’t sleep in a four-poster—but a sleigh bed!
