Back in 2004 Garrett Barati had beat out 500 contestants for a shot at his dream job as a professional Lego builder. He didn’t get the job, but he kept on working at it. Sometimes spending up to 12 hours a day hunched over a mound of Lego blocks.

Then, in 2008 he won the “Built By Me” Movie Contest sponsored by LEGO and Nickelodeon. He received $25,000 to create a brand-new original animated short for Nicktoons Network using LEGO bricks and minifigures. The animation was showcased at the Nicktoons Network Animation Festival, on-air and can be seen on Barati’s YouTube channel here.

It wasn’t this accomplishment that brought him to my attention. It was his fantastic 2:00 minute retelling of the Star Wars Original Trilogy. Barati states that he created all the sets and animation for this while Lego provided the script, cg, and audio. I haven’t been able to find out much more information about Barati, but I’m super happy that he seems to have found a way to do what he loves.

Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back opened in 1980 and introduced us to a Bounty Hunter named Boba Fett.  The masked mercenary was chided by the Dark Lord of the Sith saying, “No disintegrations this time” and we all knew there and then he was bad to the bone.  Through out the expanded Star Wars universe in comics and books we learned more and more about this mysterious figure, but it wasn’t until Star Wars Attack of the Clones in 2002 that we learned his true origins.  Now he’s back in the Clone Wars animated series  voiced by Daniel Logan who played the character on screen in 2002.

Back in November of 2007 I imagined what it would be like to have Boba Fett in his armor surrounded by his clone brothers.  I took created the image below and submitted it to Lucasfilm for licensing and was told that Boba Fett in armor had to appear as an adult and not a child.  I edited the image and it’s now available on Zazzle.

I’m also pretty excited that this upcoming story seems to follow along with the Boba Fett stories that I read a few years back and have him chasing down Mace Windu. The one thing that it seems to be lacking is some sort of memorable quote like, “You killed my Father! PREPARE TO DIE!”

Long before I’d ever heard of Jake Parker I was a fan of the artwork created by Agent 44.  I felt like Lois Lane when I finally connected the dots and found that these two were the same person!

I feel a certain kinship to Jake.  You see, he’s doing the things that I wanted to do.  He got that job at the animation studio and used the opportunity to learn everything he could.  He realized early on that the only work that is going to be steady is the work that you make for yourself.  He’s taken all of this talent and all connections and has put it together in his very first solo graphic novel. The following video was put together by Darren Rawlings.

you can hear the podcast below or click on the image to visit the site.

You can also head over toAmazon and pre-order this book.  I’ve got mine!

On December 21st, 1937 my world changed.  Hmmm, well, now that I think of it, it wasn’t really my world yet!  This day marks the premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full color, the first to be produced by Walt Disney, and the first in the Walt Disney Animated Classics canon.  I knew that it was I wanted to do.  I grew up watching these animated features and explaining to everyone that I knew that my life’s ambition was to be a Disney animator.  Well, I went to college for a semester, then spent 2 years as a missionary in Japan, returned home, finished another semester of college, changed majors, changed schools, changed majors, got married, and then graduated with a Fine Arts Degree from Arizona State University.

I interviewed and has a portfolio review at Disney but it didn’t go anywhere.  Fox Animation Studios set up shop in Phoenix and I met with people, toured and tested for positions, but I never made it there either.  I settled into a job working to create graphics and illustrations for online training courses, but it was NOT traditional animation.  I’ve worked to at this job for 10 years now, and I’m slowly starting to work my way into doing my original dream.  It’s not quite traditional animation, but I’m having a blast drawing Star Wars!

On a side note, after Snow White was released, Walt Disney saw a need to expand the studio and he used the profits from Snow White to build this studio in Burbank.  The success of Disney animation is built upon the Seven dwarfs so they are shown holding up the roof on the main administration building. Thanks Uncle Walt!

photo by Loren Javier

So watching the latest episode of the Clone Wars cartoon I noticed something interesting.  There’s a scene when two clones that have been infected by these parasites fire on the Jedi and Ahsoka flips over the table in a pose that I’d seen drawn by Katie Cook.

They were able to knock the clones out and then two more came rushed in responding to the blasters they had heard.  Even though they are clones, they do look a bit different.  I think that this clone looks a bit like Ken the Elvis trooper.  :D

To celebrate Columbus Day, you can SALE the ocean blue at a discount of 14.92%.  LOL!  :D  Click the image below to go on over to Zazzle and look at a few of the items that I have there or browse to find something else you like.  Use the discount code of 1492Columbus this weekend only and get 14.92% off your purchase.

TransAMformer!! by Spencer_B3
Browse other Robot T-Shirts

So last Friday was the premiere of season 2 of Star Wars:Clone Wars.  The episode centered around last season’s newest character, a bounty hunter by the name of Cad Bane.  So in the two episodes that they showed on Friday we saw what a tough guy that Bane is.  He breaks into the Jedi Temple, steals from the vault, kills a Jedi, stands up to Anakin then captures Ahsoka.  Then when he’s trying to get off the ship two clone troopers get the drop on him and take him out.  WHAT!?!!?!  I don’t think so.  In the shot we see Bane fall off the upper balcony to his death, then one of the injured Clone Troopers jumps on the boarding platform to join the rest of the evacuees.  I’m pretty sure that Lucas learned his lesson from the less than stellar death scene of Boba Fett and what we really saw was Bane dressed as a Clone to sneak off the ship.  Hmmmm, he’s got those tubes on his face, I wonder if they could fit under the Clone helmet?  Here’s the trailer for Season 2.

For some time now I’ve been looking for a way to better display the shadow boxes that I’ve been making.  The photos I’ve been taking makes them look too flat.  After experimenting with various lighting rigs and backgrounds etc. I’ve shot a series of photos and put them in flash so that you can control the image.  Go ahead and check out the animation and grab the scrub bar move it around.  This is better than the photos, but still not as good as seeing it in person.

If you weren’t sure, I’d like to come right on out and say I’m a Star Wars fan.  That being said, my fandom pales in comparison to Stacy Davidson.  You see, Stacy is a Super fan and a collector of home game systems and arcade machines. Some of his favorite games of all time include Space Quest III and IV, King’s Quest VI, Fate of Atlantis, Full Throttle and The Dig.  He took his love of adventure titles like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and combined it with his love of Star Wars to make his own game.

He developed the game using the Adventure Game Studio software and of course HOURS and DAYS and WEEKS of his own time and he’s giving it away. According to his progress page, he is currently about 20% done with the game, but Stacy has announced on today that the game is fully playable through the first major section. This section encompasses a hand full of screens, characters and puzzles.  You can follow his progress at his website.

I personally enjoyed this YouTube video of the game play because it reminded me of this print that I made….

Speaking of animated Star Wars:Clone Wars Lego goodness…  Tonight at 9:00 on the Cartoon Network is the Premiere of “Lego Star Wars: The Quest for R2-D2″.  In conjunction with this television premiere is a new mini-site and game.  They’ve released the first level of the game to promote it’s full launch this month (probably timed with tonight’s premiere).  You can play the game here.  The video below shows some of the game footage.  *note* the video doesn’t have any sound.