Film Festivals

I found out recently that M'aidez has been selected to play at several film festivals. I am thrilled that it will get to be seen by a larger audience and am curious/terrified how it will look on the big screen.

It will play the Reel East Film Festival this Friday, August 22nd at 6pm. I plan on attending this one and am looking forward to the experience.

The Montreal Stop Motion Film Festival, which runs September 26th, 27th, and 28th. No word on a specific time for that one yet.

And The Smalls Festival in London September 1st-5th. No time for that one yet either.

M'aidez is coming to an end... finally

I am just about finished with the final version of my animated short, M'aidez. The finished piece is exporting as I type (don't crash don't crash don't crash). Since I am submitting the longer version (about eight and a half minutes) to film festivals, I have pulled the short version off Vimeo. Some festivals don't want movies or even segments posted online, which is understandable. I will update the blog if my video makes it into any competitions so you can see the end result on the big screen. Next year I will post the whole version online once the year of festivals is through.

Deadless #0 available for sale

Another comic I colored is available online now. This one is being sold as a digital download from comiXology. Deadless #0 is the setup for an epic story about demons, witches, ghosts, a possible anti-christ, and maybe even the end of the world! Matt O'Keefe is the writer behind this opus. He hopes to continue the stories that were started here with several series of books about the individual characters.

The Precious Few

A comic I colored a while back was recently posted on the site FanBros. They have been posting a series of creator owned comics. The story "The Precious Few" was written and illustrated by Derek Fridolfs and Kenneth Elliot Jones. You can check it out here.

Way to go Will!

I am very proud of my big brother Will Turnbull tonight. He was featured on WGAL News in Lancaster County this evening for his efforts to raise money for restoring Speedwell Lake. Will has been selling chocolate covered pretzels he makes to raise $500 for the lake that was damaged during a flood two years ago. Speedwell is one of Will's favorite places to go, even since the lake has been drained due to a damaged dam. The Save Speedwell Organization thanked Will by planting a tree in his honor this morning. You can see the video on WGAL's website here.

Harryhausen

We lost a great yesterday with the passing of Ray Harryhausen. Ray's stop motion work influenced a whole generation of filmmakers and his onscreen magic is still very potent today. Here are a couple videos. The first is a collection of his scenes from classic science fiction and fantasy films.

The next is an interview with effects guru Phil Tippett talking with Harry Knowles about Harryhausen's influence on his work.  

If you are interested in Ray, The Art of Ray Harryhausen book is a great companion piece to his film work. It shows off his preproduction artwork as well as his beautiful models.

Working with distractions

I usually have music or podcasts going while I am working. Today as I was painting I watched this Simpson's writer's reunion on Conan's long form interview web show, Jibber-Jabber.
He has had some really interesting guests on in the past. I really enjoyed the Jack White interview.

I also listened to a Marc Maron WTF podcast replay interview with Johnathan Winters. Winters passed away recently; this was a great tribute to his storytelling and comedic talents.