David Germain's blog

Thursday, April 24, 2008

My Uncle Bernard






That's him at age 3 or thereabouts.  I've been drawing pictures of him lately.  Here's what I've got so far:


Hopefully my uncle will be pleased.

posted by David Germain @ 8:40 PM  0 comments links to this post

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

The Canadian government meets to discuss Bill C-10 today

http://senparlvu.parl.gc.ca/Guide.aspx

You can see it all via webcast at the times listed.  (Since all this is happening in Ottawa, I'm sure the times are all Eastern Standard Time).


For a better idea on what exactly the controversy with this Bill is, here's an excellent debate about it on a Canadian talk show The Hour with George Stromboulopoulos:



I already made my position known in the previous post so I won't repeat myself here. I'll just say "Hooray for George!!"

posted by David Germain @ 12:13 PM  0 comments links to this post

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Bill C-10 has GOT TO GO!!


For those who haven't heard about this yet, Bill C-10 is a bill that will allow the Canadian government to deny tax breaks to any film not meeting their standards of decency.  Thankfully, it hasn't been passed yet, but with the amount of pressure being put upon Parliament, it just might happen.
Y'see, there's a evangelical guy working in the shadows named Charles McVety (aka this monkey) putting his grubby fingers all over this bill.  Acting on behalf of CFAC (Ann Coulter's wet dream) he and his flying monkeys will make sure that no Canadian tax dollars fund any films that he wouldn't approve.  Oh well, the CBC and the National Film Board were nice organizations we had once.  It's too bad they both depended on tax dollars for everything they did.  If only every employee had more than two kidneys to sell, they just might have lasted longer.  
Maybe he'd rather we have someone like Brian Mulroney in parliament again so that our tax dollars could be put towards things like Ronald Reagen's STAR WARS Defence Initiative.  Actually, now that I've brought it up, once these taxes are no longer going towards any films, where will they be going?

If you want to voice your opinion about this bill directly to the people who can have it stopped, send some snail mail to this address:


General mail:

Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce

The Senate of Canada

Ottawa, Ontario

Canada, K1A 0A4


"But hey!  You're just a blogger, Mr. Germain.  You just post your pictures and type out lengthy tyraids online.  Why do you care so much about this bill passing or not?"


That's a good question, hypothetical blog reader.  I care because I live in Canada and I am an animator/film maker.  I've made only one film so far but I do hope to make more.  However, that road to getting enough financial backing to make any films will be much tougher if the bill passes.  Heck, the veterans of the Canadian film and television industry are going to have tougher times ahead.  It'll be damn near impossible for upandcomers like me as well as anyone behind or slightly in front of me.


With that, I'll leave you with a copy of my film.  Do you think McVety or anyone in his corner would give any tax dollars to it?  You be the judge.


Hansel und Gretel

posted by David Germain @ 1:34 PM  7 comments links to this post

Monday, February 25, 2008

Today is Tex Avery's 100th birthday
























Yes, that's right.  Today is the birthday of one of the most ingenious minds of all time, Mr. Tex Avery.  "What did he do?", you ask.  (Well, those who've been living under a rock on Jupiter's 3rd moon with their heads buried under 2 feet of dirt would ask that question).   Well, all he did was establish the ideal foundation of animation and satire that has yet to be duplicated or surpassed.  But, hey, mere words cannot accurately capture what makes Tex so great.  The best way to do that would be to show as many samples of his work as possible: (no, you definitely don't have to watch all these films at once. Just watch a few now and again whenever you have the time. That way you keep the celebration going for much longer than just 1 day.)






































Billy Boy
Uploaded by thadk



































The Blow Out
Uploaded by thadk
























Ha! I guess I'll leave a few films for others to put on their blogs and/or any other digital media.

I'll just end this by saying "Happy Birthday, Tex. I hope people are remembering your birthday as well as your legacy in another 100 years."

Labels:

posted by David Germain @ 11:10 PM  7 comments links to this post

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Who is this little guy?



Everyone who guessed Tex Avery in the comments section is right. This is indeed a caricature of Tex.

Y'see, whenever I attempt to caricature someone, especially someone I've never really caricatured before and want to get right, I like to show my attempts to people but not say who it is right away. Really, in order for a caricature to be truly successful, the identity of the person should be recognizable instantly. If you have to point out to people what all the features are (see, that's his nose, that's his receeding hair, etc.) you need to work on it some more. Saying "Hey, look at my drawing of oh...... Jack Nickolson" right off doesn't help really. You'd have to do a extremely crappy job for people NOT to recognize the person after that. I think that by with-holding the identity to start with, you know much better if you've succeeded or failed depending on the responses you get.

Therefore, I'm quite glad to see that everyone got that it is Tex Avery right away. I'm preparing for a blogpost celebrating Tex Avery's 100th birthday and I want it to be as good as possible. I'm happy to see that I'm on the right track with this drawing. I hope to make many others just like it by Feb. 26th. Thanks to all who responded.

posted by David Germain @ 3:17 PM  6 comments links to this post

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Garson riding on Mushu

Over a year ago, I posted several drawings of the legendary Christopher Garson. There is a Facebook group dedicated to him full of crazy pictures. You can go there just to see how legendary he is. Today, I will post another one of him.


That's a pic of him riding on his chihuahua dog Mushu. Contrary to what you might think, I did not come up with this drawing in my head. He and his dog actually posed for this picture. It took me 15 hours straight thorugh but I got it done. The dog was a good sport too. Her kidneys don't work as well anymore but she's still as feisty as ever.

Git along li'l doggie! YEEHAW!!

posted by David Germain @ 6:39 PM  0 comments links to this post

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

dmgermain.blogspot.com presents: "Animation that didn't make it to TV" Theatre

I've been working on a show called Busy Town since mid June of last year. It's both been hard work and great fun at the same time. It's great seeing my animation on TV and everything. Unfortunately, though, some of it doesn't make it. Every once in a while I like to try something new or create something that would make the "On-Model Police" nervous. The following piece of animation is one of those scenes. Instead of simply discarding it I saved it and have put it online for all to enjoy.



This was originally going to be in a scene for the episode The Bank Note Mystery which aired on January 22 at 8:30 a.m. If you want to see the animation that DID make it to TV, you should have been watching at that time. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be rerun at a later date. Watch for it.

posted by David Germain @ 7:48 PM  0 comments links to this post