Blessed Days

First things first - Radio 1 debuted Faith No More's new single 'Superhero' last night. This is the one I've been most vocal about being on tenterhooks to hear - having been at its first ever live performance last year - and it's so unbelievably goddamn great the English language frankly comes up pathetically short when it comes to existing adjectives that might describe how utterly elated I am.

Their new LP Sol Invictus (their first since 1997) isn't out until mid-May, so fingers crossed my skull doesn't pop in anticipation before then.
Another reason to be cheerful was discovering my animation had made an unexpected appearance on The Anthony Cumia Show when my old O&A/Jim Norton short (the dancing chicken one) recently got played by accident. To my relief it got a good response, have a watch here my friends:

Post by Ben Mitchell - Creative Offal.

While I'm still typing things I'll point you in the direction of Skwigly where fellow cartoon-making personage Matt Walker has done this month's site banner:

Matt Walker

Also worth mentioning the other two excellent 2015 banners, Rumpus for January and Tony Johnson for February. Talented bunch we're amongst, us Skwigly lot:

Rumpus

Tony Johnson

Tssst

What, you never seen two celebrities chippin' about or sumthin'? Tssst.

This is myself and Lyle 'Chip' Chipperson, international sensation. After a superlative set of his in Montreal this past weekend I managed to get a quick snap with the brilliant comedian and performer Jim Norton, known for his standup, The Opie and Anthony Show and, of course, this animation I did back in 2011:

He's lost a lot of weight since then (from "gahn t'the jahm'n ate'n beh-tehr") so if I ever have time to do another one I'll have to redesign his character to have a neck.
O&A has been a background staple of my working life since 2008 and, as some may be aware, it appears to be no more after Anthony Cumia fell prey to the media hypocrisies they've so astutely ridiculed over the years and got his over-passionately-tweeting self fired. I could rant about it but many others have voiced my exact issues with far more articulacy and wit than I could, especially magical man-giant and all-around top bloke Penn Jillette:

  

Sad times. But I got to meet Chip regardless, and Ant's starting a new show on August 4th which I expect will be pretty decent, so the world appears to still be turning.

Squeezing All The Goodness In

It's been many moons since I last updated my showreel, being distracted by the very employment it led to. Deep, eh?
I may have also been distracted by Breaking Bad a little bit. And, far more alarmingly, Catfish. But I'm all out of episodes for both, so unless I overcome my violent aversion to the voice of the narrator and fall into a destructive spiral of Come Dine With Me reruns, my time has freed up a bit.
The last few years I've updated the same reel by swapping old, ropey footage for new, swanky footage, keeping the main structure intact. Having been assured by many previous and prospective employers alike that it was overlong by at least a minute, this time around I redid the entire reel from scratch to get a concentrated 90 seconds of my absolute favourite shots:

Consequently I had to be pretty ruthless, and a lot of the earlier films of mine - House Guest, Ground Running, The Naughty List and my ode to Opie & Anthony Chicken Chokes You - have been whittled down to a few seconds of footage each - ol' zombie duck barely gets a look-in nowadays. After a hideous commission that started the year off (represented above only with a fleeting, modified shot of a cat running - nothing else from that doomed project need ever see the light of day) I've had a pretty good year of short commercial projects as well as the ongoing HuHa webisodes which, coupled with my love affair with Toon Boom, have been a great shot in the arm and give the reel a lot more stylistic range. Other projects thrown in the mix include work for Channel 4, Slurpy Studios, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and New Impulse Media. I'm still holding back on the Bullies footage as, even though it's all animated and awaiting a distribution plan of action, for the time being I want to keep it under wraps until the final version's been seen in full at least a couple of times. Some HuHa clips represent the same animation style so it'd be somewhat superfluous anyway.
I also wrote the music specifically for the reel, I wanted something quite punchy with a simple enough 4/4 to make effectively editing the clips a bit easier. At the moment the piece is merely titled "Hire Me Already" and features some nods to a certain band I may have professed to admiring once or twice.
For no other reason than I have a YouTube channel, it's also up on my YouTube channel. So if, for whatever reason, your machine or device or doodad doesn't like Vimeo you can watch it there instead:

Old Hat

I figured the expiry date on my first two films has been up for awhile and it’s a bit daft that I don’t have official full versions of them online. Especially as my third has been up for nearly a year. Granted, that was the only one that had any real demand I suppose, but I don’t want it to get lonely, resent me and not take care of me in my old age. That’s just too meta and weird.

Sooo anyway, you can now watch my first film “House Guest” (2008) in full HD (although the first-season-of-“Beavis-and-Butt-Head”-quality-linework is treated far kinder by these little SD blog windows):

House Guest (HD) from Ben Mitchell on Vimeo.
 

Strange to think that this blog started as part of the UWE MA the film was made for. Four years on I’m still inexplicably not heralded as the Winsor McCay of the 21^st century. Wuddup wi’dat, yo’s?

My second film was “Ground Running” (2009), most of the animation for which was done very shortly after “House Guest”, then it pottered around a couple fests in pencil-test format for a year or so before I added some bits and coloured it in the following year. I never really pushed this film because by the time it was finally done it didn’t really line-up with my artistic direction (if that’s what you can call it). Both these films are pretty rough for me to watch but there’s the odd moment here and there I’m quite proud of.

"Ground Running" from Ben Mitchell on Vimeo.  

And what the hell, just as a reminder here’s film #3, “The Naughty List” (2010):

The Naughty List (HD) from Ben Mitchell on Vimeo.  

Quick TV plug - if for some reason Vimeo is acting up in Spain and you simply can’t last a week without seeing it, the next broadcast by those lovely people at Canal+ Xtra HD will be this coming Sunday 7^th at 6am. So either get up extra early or stay up extra late.

Finally, while 2011 was pretty much work/“Throat”-centric, I did manage to whip up this mini-short out of my love for O&A. This one’s also been up for a while but at this point I may as well just make this entry a retrospective.

'Opie & Anthony' Animation - 'Chicken Chokes You' from Ben Mitchell on Vimeo.
 

All being well, 2012 will indeed be the year I finally finish production on “Bullies”. Then the whole torturous quest for validation may begin once more.
Ah, it's all good. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it so much.

Hobnobbing

Three of my films - "Ground Running", "The Naughty List" and "Norton & Friends" (my Opie & Anthony mini-short) are getting a rare local screening this coming Tuesday (20th, not the 27th as suggested by the flier below) at CineMe Shorts here in Bristol. It'll also be the first and possibly only time my O&A animation will be seen on a screen bigger than a computer monitor so I'm looking forward to that.It'll take place at the Tobacco Factory - a fine venue where I frequently go to, amongst other things, draw naked people - at 8pm and tickets are a fiver (more info here). So if you're a local come on down and berate me.As well as being shown Monday afternoon at 2:05pm, two more confirmed April broadcast slots for "La Lista Traviesa" (the Spanish incarnation of "The Naughty List") will be on Thursday 12th at 2:05am and Thursday 26th and 1:35am over on Canal+ Xtra. So if you overdid the ol' afternoon siesta and can't sleep, give it a watch.
On a completely separate musical note, I've started doing my first live shows of 2012. Nothing worth advertising, just little slots here and there to stay practiced and work out some new material. I've also started recording again and have put online my first studio recording since "The Book of Women". It's kinda different, sort of melancholy country-western-ish, which is something I'd never imagined coming out of me. Give it a listen and, if you like, a free-as-gratis download over at SoundCloud.
High Midnight by Struwwelpeter

A Very Special Episode

Sometimes I look at my blog posts or Twitter feed and wonder if I come off like a methodical, joyless ass motivated by self-promotion and cynicism. I rather hope I don't, because I'm actually a pretty easygoing, lovable scamp. As long as I'm getting enough sleep.
So today, apropos of pretty much nothing at all, I've decided to list ten random things off the top of my head I take tremendous joy in. I can't not be in a good mood as long as I have these in my life.

•This bit in "The Simpsons"


•"Ghostbusters 2" on the original GameBoyBecause it rules. You spend the whole game wandering around catching a shitload of ghosts; one button shoots them, the other traps them. It's literally the perfect GameBoy game.

•Sofia Vergara making chocolate milk on "Modern Family"

•The parts of "Over The Falls" by Primus where Les goes 'byowp byowp byowp byowp byowp byowp byowp byowp byowp...' with the upright bass.

From around 8 seconds in. And throughout. Darn good plucker, that Mr. Claypool.

•Roti Canai at the HK Diner on Park St.It's ricockulously delicious.

•My sister's roommate's adorable yet idiotic Boston Terrier/Gremlin thingJust look at her. She's the greatest creature in existence. She's also a fucking dunce and eats everything that'll stay down. For both those reasons I consider her a kindred spirit.

•That old episode of "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" with Cathy Dennis

For reasons not entirely dissimilar to the Sofia Vergara clip. Also because she's an adorable goddamn goofball and can write a catchy tune.

•The way you get the CD out of the packaging for Mike Patton's "Peeping Tom"
You pull the tab on the right and the CD slides out on the left. It's BRILLIANT. This album came out nearly six years ago and I'm still entertained by it. How can you not be?

•Any moment of any episode of that online show Maria Bamford did where she plays all the characters

•Any time they talk about Kubrick movies on "The Opie & Anthony Show"

I really don't think there's any explanation needed.

That's enough positivity for one day. Don't worry, I'll be whining about something I made up soon enough.
N'night!

As the feathers settle

A week after going up, "Chicken Chokes You" has amassed 1000+ views across YouTube and Vimeo. In the world of online video that's obviously a mere drop in the ocean but for me it represents a big leap forward. While it's admittedly riding the coattails of Yimmy and the b-b-boys, the feedback regarding the animation itself has been really encouraging. Many thanks again to everyone who passed it on, yellow treats for all!
To karmically balance out the universe following a week of vainglorious self-promotion, here are a bunch of other O&A animations from a while back that stand out to me. I'd say it's a safe bet that very few of these are safe for work:

There, that dirty feeling's starting to abate now...

Frrrrrrunkis!

The completed Opie & Anthony short "Chicken Chokes You" is now online and downloadable at Vimeo. Yay pudding!

The Vimeo version has a couple bits edited out to keep it 'general audience' and not alienate potential employers and clients. But for the thick-skinned there is also an unedited Youtube version which has already garnered a bunch of views and kind words.
If you enjoy it please be a dear and Tweet/share/like/comment/endorse liberally.
So endeth the tale of my Li'l Yimmy cartoon. Coincidentally I learned today that he has a new standup album 'Despicable' coming out on the 8th, there's no way it won't be good so I'd advise you check it out:

Final Stretch

Here's the last batch of stills from "Chicken Chokes You" before the finished film goes up (knock wood it'll be done in the next day or so). I'm in the last-stretch, sleep-as-little-as-possible stage of production, which will inevitably lead to a crippling anticlimax depression once I'm finished. Nature of the beast, but this has been a real blast the last few weeks.

Li'l Jimmy

Everyone who's familiar with Jim Norton knows he's just adorable. He's the only person on Earth who can pick up trannies or engage in watersports and make said activities seem cute and endearing. He's also known for projecting a dysmorphic self-image that makes my own seem buff and masculine by comparison (which is no mean feat). So the Yimmy character design is more a visualisation of this grotesquerie than an actual caricature of the man himself. Anyway, here's the lovable scamp in action.
The last couple of shots are a nod to Chris Reccardi, one of the more visually daring post-John K "Ren & Stimpy" directors.
That's all you get for today. I'm sure you'll find the emotional resources to muddle through.

Chicken Licked (AKA how the hell did my scanner get so dirty?)

Here are some line tests for "Norton & Friends", my O&A animation. As with my three prior shorts I'm going the longer route of pencils-on-paper rather than tablets. I just prefer the process and I don't have to compromise my style this way, plus I don't really have a deadline so fuggit.Here are a batch of atypical walk cycles. Right now it kinda looks like they're skating but it'll hopefully make sense in the final composited shot.Again, out of context this one's a little hard to fathom but it's strangely hypnotic.
Some quick cutaways:

The last one I'm really happy with, especially given that I have no idea how chickens move and I can't dance for shit. I rarely animate on 'ones' (25 frames-per-second as opposed to 12.5) but in this case I reckon the fluidity of movement suits the pacing of the short.
More, less chicken-ey, more Jimmy-ey tests next.

RAMONE!

More on my radio show animation project, with the working title "Chicken Chokes You". The clip I'm animating is from "The Opie & Anthony Show", undoubtedly SiriusXM's best program in terms of relevance and unfiltered humour. Growing from borderline-unlistenable roots as a 'shock jock' double act, it's morphed into a uniquely authentic outlet for political debate, social satire and theoretical musings interspersed with molestation humour and ridiculing the less fortunate.The duo consist of former nice-guy-doormat-turned-embittered-sociopath Greg Hughes (Opie) along with former tin-knocker-turned-casually-racist-cradlesnatcher Anthony Cumia. Their third mic is standup comedian Jim Norton, with whom I'd been vaguely familiar through his collabs with Louis CK and Lewis Black when I first saw him perform at a charity benefit at Gotham in New York a few years back. I subsequently became a huge follower of his books, performances and O&A in general.I'd say the show's initial appeal was its ability to hit nerves with me that I'd assumed a quarter-century of bitter douchebaggery had eroded, but the more I listened the more I felt a legitimate affinity with what they were doing. It's the same fundamental comfort that I take from hearing performers like Doug Stanhope (as well as the aforementioned CK and Black) that beneath the unending bullshit we're fed by the media in all its forms there are a small handful of people who are scathingly honest. Or, more likely, their opinions and thought processes just happen to coincide with mine, which of course makes them geniuses. I think that's how it works.
Ironically the audio I picked to animate is Jim Norton's 'light' side at work, hilarious when juxtaposed against his usual brutal tirades and confessions of sexual deviancy. I'm not entirely sure how the short will play out of this context, but here's the original audio (thanks to kennethjohnali for uploading the clip):

The show has previously shown a lot of enthusiasm for fan-made animation, holding their own animation festival back in '08 and encouraging some really gifted creatives such as Allthingsmedia and the staggeringly prolific, Terry Gilliam-esque Cokelogic. So if I'm gonna follow through on this I really want to be proud of the result beyond just having some new showreel footage. Watch this space.

Chicken Scratch

Thrown into the mix of day-to-day work, funding applications and self-promotion I'm working on a micro short that'll hopefully scratch my itch to keep on with the traditional 2D stuff. Given that my next short 'Bullies' will be far more contemporary (read: economical) and less in the vein of my usual style, I wanted to take something on that would keep me practiced and possibly give me an excuse to venture into looser, Kricfalusi/Clampett-esque animation. I'll elaborate further in the coming weeks but for now I'll just say it's set to audio from a radio show that I listen to a lot when I work so I figured it'd be logical to tie the two together.
Here are some rough sketches and layouts:

Pour Rire

It's a beautiful, sunny day in Montreal, the best city in the world. Yet here I am, alone in a friend's apartment, blogging on her laptop with the curtains drawn. I disgust myself.
Having spent the last week completely away from civilisation, now I'm in the city I'm hurriedly catching up on missed correspondence, work crap and a smattering of early responses to the new film so I can get my ass outside where I'll doubtless stop at the nearest Second Cup (the closest Canuck approximation to a Caffe Nero) and settle in the sunshine. In other words, business as usual.As well as a much-needed break in the country I have a whole mess of Juste Pour Rire shows booked this week, starting last night on an amazing note with Greg Giraldo and 'Opie & Anthony' regulars Li'l Jimmy Norton, Bawby Kelly and the lovable stammering mushmouth Rich Vos. I should elucidate as to why this is relevant - during production of 'The Naughty List' and pretty much every work-from-home commission I've taken on over the last year, I've been listening to O&A nonstop. It's the shit. Nothing takes the edge off having to scan a hundred frames of animation like a good Ramone call, misogynistic Bill Burr rant or some down-to-earth relationship advice from Patrice O'Neal (to my delight both Burr and O'Neal will be playing later in the week, as well as fellow regular Jim Jefferies). Last night also introduced me to Tiffany Haddish, who will hopefully become a big deal very soon as she's genuinely hysterical.Now that I've sufficiently kissed enough arse, it's time to predictably turn the spotlight back on me in yet another abandonment of humility and self-awareness. I'm really very happy to say that 'House Guest' will be getting SEVEN screenings at Anima Mundi, five in Rio and two in Sao Paulo.It's a real coup. Opening the 'Horror Panarama 2' strand, here are the times and places as copied off the website:
Centro Cultural Correios - Praça Animada
18/07/2010-21:00

Cinema CCBB SP
28/07/2010-19:00
31/07/2010-17:00

Unibanco Arteplex Botafogo
21/07/2010-22:00

Cinema 1 CCBB RJ
22/07/2010-17:30
25/07/2010-19:30

Cinema Odeon BR
23/07/2010-20:00

I am a happy Canuck.