Off to Berlin

I'm off to Berlin, teaching.
I will be back on Friday . I got a lot of questions from you, portfolios, movieclips, etc. It'll take time, but I'll answer each and everyone, so don't worry . But for the moment, have a nice week, discussing the Pixar-deal. ...
H

Le Shop

Now you can own this cute, vicious little rabbit of mine as a mug, clock, t-shirt, tank-top, everything you always wanted to own, but were afraid to ask for. What will they think off next ??? Thanks to Goro, for helping me setting this up .
Harald, the greedy bastard...

The Cast

Maquette

Another one of those beautiful maquettes from Gallery Fi Donc.

I'm telling you for the last time ....

Click the link, if interested

Winnie

Can't tell you, how much fun it is, to do this little, cheerfull, unpretencious characters.....

K.Rokodil

...a.k.a. Baron Coordt du Crocque au Vin. He thought his name no longer fitted, after he became Burgermaster of Poldertown and changed it, to impress his new friends.

A bold Hippopotamus was standing one day
On the banks of the cool Shalimar.
He gazed at the bottom as it peacefully lay
By the light of the evening star...

Alfred J. Kwak Webcast

Now you can watch a different episode of Kwak every week as a webcast at Herman van Veen's website. Enjoy it, while it's still free, H

I am the Walrus

King Franz Ferdinand I

.....wishing you a royal weekend.

The first drawings of the new year...

I always saw Prof. Paljass as a caricature of Peter Ustinov. We even asked him to do the voice but he declined , saying he would only do maincharacters.
The German name "von Unternull" ( below zero) is a reference to Wernher von Braun, the German rocket-engineer , who started out building rockets for the nazis and later brought Apollo 11 to the moon. ( Hence yesterday's little poem by Tom Lehrer). His character first appeared, in "Onder Water" a theatershow, written by Herman, which we later rewrote to " Vissen in trouble water /Fish and Ships". In this show he still had a German accent and an assitent, a penguin by the name of Fahrenheit. So is there a dark spot in Paljass' history ? I love to think so....
Eventually Herman did the voice himself in the TV-Series, which put his voice under a lot of stress, and I remember him saying, he would never do dubbing again.
The Professor's mentor by the way, is the legendary scientist and genius, worldexplorer and organist Prof. Prokudatis Krakedatus, whose diary is still in the professor's safekeeping. I wrote a lot of that backhistory down for volume 4 of the comicbooks, which I never finished....too much work with the TV-series...Maybe some day we'll find the time and right place.

Happy New Year

Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down ?
"That's not my department", says Wernher von Braun ....

Almost done

The year is winding down, all presents bought, days are getting less and less busy, and what's left to do for the rest of the year is finishing the designs for the DVD-boxes, which shouldn't be a problem and rather fun. Even the other blogs have gotten quieter. The new Seinfeld and I Spy- Collctor's boxes will take care, that the holidays won't get too long. Some snow would be fun. I was dreaming last night that I was in a meeting with Miyazake and I was angry with myself, that I hadn't brought anything to get an autograph.

Spiegel Online

If you're speaking German and you wish to know more about the recent Universal/DWSKG-deal and the business in general, check out this article in this week's edition of Spiegel-online.

More DVD-Collector's Box artwork

Getting hooked

I was going through old sketchbooks, looking for "the" original kwak-drawing for my other blog.
Haven't found it yet but I came across this fellow. I had completly forgotten about him, he must be from 83 or 84. I was in my early 20's and it was an important drawing, I got hooked on communicating "character" . And without realizing it, I sensed the fun, that others had with it.
It was great seeing him again....

Aloha !

Hey, I just saw , that I have a reader in Hawaii or Kauhai, can't really tell,the maps not very accurate !
I'm glad you found you're way here, tell us who you are,and where you are, exactly, in case you ever come back.
I have no idea, why I am so delighted by this thought, maybe its because temperatures are below 0 here, and I am longing for an exotic beach and a cool drink.Have one for me, please, whoever you are....
So, "Aloha" from freezing Germany, glad to see you and in case we don't see each other before Xmas :

Mele Kaliki Maka !

Narnia

OK, so I've seen it, Can't say, I wasn't entertaint, the visuals are spectacular, the characterdesign is great, the CG-stuff excellent and the villainess gorgeous,....and yet ....
Can't help but feeling , that there's something missing, can't really put my finger on it, but what I am missing is "depth". Is it just me , or is there no second act ? The kids come to Narnia, are introduced to the problem, meet Aslan, fight a battle and win it-over-the end. Reminds me of Shrek , I'm afraid to say.Coming to Narnia and the first person you meet is the witch, that makes the world rather small, doesn't it, it's like landing a spaceship on earth and the first person you meet is the pope, right ?
I don't get the feeling that it is a world , that's at stake here, I don't get a feeling of space, time and size, feels more like a park, rather than a world. I also miss a sense of history, what's the witches story ? Aslan's history ? They're all just there, somehow.
I would like to know more about that centaur-guy for example, he looked cool, like he had a story to tell .
Nevertheless, it was great evening at the movies, If you haven't yet, go and see it.