New Short "POUR 585"...

I figured it was a good time to announce my latest short, heading into it's premiere next month.  It's a simple short addressing indoctrination, and the individuals role in hierarchy.. a bit of a cautionary tale, and very much a typical pat smith short.  I hope you enjoy the trailer.  On another note, stay tuned on Scribble Junkies, me and Bill have some big news we want to share!

"Pour 585" Trailer from Patrick Smith on Vimeo.

MoCCA Arts Fest 2018 Report

As you already know, the MoCCA (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) Arts Fest, presented by the Society of Illustrators, is one of my favorite events of the year.  What's cool about it is the fact that all the great independent artists from around the world are represented there.

This year, I met great artists from Spain, Norway, China, Argentina, and Mexico, and they all travelled here for MoCCA.  Their ideas and techniques were so varied and unique - this is where all the creative geniuses are emerging from. 

I was there selling a lot of my art (art from my "Simpsons" couch gag was especially hot), DVDs and books, and I got to catch up with a lot of old friends.  So pardon me if I name-drop a bit. 

My illustrator buddy, Arnold Roth and his wife, Carolyn, who's a painter - he just had a stroke, but he looked great.

Mike Mignola of "Hellboy" fame was there to sign books - and we chatted a lot about Guillermo del Toro and his big success last year with "The Shape of Water". 

Mo Willems, animator of "The Man Who Yelled" and "Sheep in the Big City" and author of children's books like "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!"  He's now doing theater, we gossiped about John K. 

Patrick McDonell of "Mutts" fame, which is one of my favorite comic strips.  He's moving into animation, apparently. 

My good buddy, John Cuneo, who just completed a fantastic poster for the Woodstock Film Festival. 

Roz Chast, the Queen of New Yorker cartoons, was there to promote her new book and chat with the young generation of cartoonists. 

And the great actor John Leguizamo was there signing his new comic book.  Since I did some animation for his film "Fugly", we were like old friends and we talked about perhaps doing another project together.

It was a very fun, very busy two days and I left the event totally inspired and anxious to get going on my new projects.  To all those who stopped by, thanks for coming - see you again real soon!

Bill P. 

MoCCA Arts Fest

Coming up this weekend, the glorious MoCCA Arts Festival is taking place, April 7-8 at the Metropolitan West, 639 West 46th St. in Manhattan - put on by the wonderful Society of Illustrators.

I've been attending since the beginning, it must be 15 years now, and it's one my favorite events of the year.  It's a gathering of all of the best independents, graphic artists, cartoonists, and animators.  No big-time companies are allowed, no Marvel, D.C. or Dark Horse.

For that reason, some of the artwork is a little more mature, more up my alley, closer to my line of work.  Crazy, sexy and brilliant.

Last year, interestingly enough, it seemed the women had taken over the MoCCA Festival floor.  I would guess 70% of the tables were staffed by women.  And honestly it was a very refreshing change for ideas and art.

And, as usual, the place was packed.  So I'll be there showing my new Simpsons animation, plus some great books and DVDs.  Also, I'll be doing caricatures - so please come by, I'll be at Table C136.

For more details and tickets, please visit:

https://www.societyillustrators.org/events/mocca-arts-festival-directions-tickets

Odds and Ends

I don't have one big topic for this installment of Scribble Junkies - because there's so much to talk about:

1. Our big Jackie Greene music video extravaganza was a huge hit.  We filled up the large screening room at the SVA Theatre, with fans of my animation, of music videos and of the man himself, Jackie Greene.  

I showed some of my earlier music videos, made for Madonna, Kanye West, "Weird Al" Yankovic and the European group Parson Brown.  I then introduced Jackie, he played two wonderful songs that had the room rockin'. 

Then we showed the world premiere of his 30-minute video "The Modern Lives", which people seemed to love.  Then Jackie ended with a third song, "Gone Wandering" that blew me away - what a great live performer! 

We did a short Q&A session together and then went out to the lobby and gave everyone autographs and I did little sketches.  It was so wonderful to hear such positive feedback from the audience!  I hope the songs get a great audience on line.

Here are some pictures from the event:

The marquee at the SVA Theatre

The line outside, which started to form an hour before the screening!

A still from "Modern Lives" that was used as the welcome screen

Introducing Jackie before we showed "The Modern Lives"

Live performance of "Modern Lives"

Live performance of "Tupelo"

Jackie and me with my cousins Nick and Christian Vellanoweth

Signing autographs after the show at the merchandise table

Jackie talking with his fans and signing autographs

and somebody filmed some of the songs, you can see "Modern Lives" here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3CUYcHHPFw

2. I just came back from a screening of Wes Anderson's new film, "Isle of Dogs".  As you may know, I'm not a huge fan of Mr. Anderson's animation.  Although I did love his film "The Grand Budapest Hotel", I thought it was very funny. 

This new film, however, has very little humor, just a lot of his quirky ideas.  The plot wasn't very engaging to me.  I never really rooted for the dogs - in fact, I fell asleep at one point.  The concept of using Japanese dialogue with no subtitles seemed like a poorly conceived affectation  - I wasted half of the film listening to an unintelligible foreign language.  And the music was constant huge Japanese headache-inducing drums. 

And it had Anderson's trademark look, which is that everything was completely symmetrical - which gave it the feeling that he lined up every shot according to a precise design.  It seemed that the whole screen was sitting on a fulcrum. 

I did, however, like the fight scenes where all of the participants were engulfed in a cloud of smoke and dust. 

Thus, I give the film a C-.  It's not a film I would like to view again, or recommend to others.

3. There's just been news on Buzzfeed about apparent sexual misconduct by the creator of the great TV series "Ren & Stimpy", John Krisfaluci  (or "John K." as many people call him.)

I don't know John K. very well, but we did co-host some live shows in Chicago a few years back - and I found him to be a nice, friendly, though a bit eccentric, guy.  But I am a huge fan of his cartoons and stories, he is a genius.

So that brings up the question - can a person admire a great artist, even if his private life is repulsive?  I still love the films of Roman Polanski, even knowing that he's done some very bad things.  And I believe I can still look at "Ren & Stimpy" or "George Liquor" and separate those films from his scandalous life.  But then, that's me and everyone has their own values and entertainment thresholds.

--Bill P.