Poop Tooth!

GRUESOMESTEIN'S NEEDS A HOME!

2008-06-16T23:12:00.003-04:00

Hi!

A few years back Riccardo Durante and myself made a series of cartoons called "Gruesomestein's Monsters!" Well, as of recently the rights to Gruesomestein's have reverted back to us! So, are you a big shot producer who wants to buy it? We have TONS of monster stories we're dying to tell.

If you want to check out the cartoons, go HERE!

Or check out the blog HERE!

If you want more info, drop me an e-mail!

Thanks!

Mark

SADIE OLIVIA ACKLAND!

2008-01-16T23:50:00.001-05:00

Hey!

So, since Sept 21 we've been busy with our new baby girl, Sadie Olivia Ackland. She's amazing and Angie and I couldn't be happier!!! She's so awesome, she's even inspired me to write a book for her...it's all about associating things with the sounds they make. So below is little Sadie with a friend and further below are the first couple of illos from the book.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and a Happy New Year!!!

Just drawings...

2007-08-08T00:27:00.001-04:00

2007-07-08T11:20:00.001-04:00

POOP TOOTH IS BACK!

2007-07-04T21:20:00.000-04:00

More T-show stuffs...

2007-04-29T23:56:00.001-04:00

Come and check it out if you haven't already...HERE!

Shane Bernier...

2007-04-24T19:21:00.000-04:00

Shane Bernier is a seven year old kid from Ottawa who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of five. His birthday is May 30 and he has one wish. To have the world record for the most birthday cards received for a single birthday. His goal...350 MILLION!!!

HERE is a clip of the little guy.

I'm sure he watches alot of the shows that we work on and that he would absolutely LOVE to have some orginal sketches from you talented artists out there. I'm gonna send him one. If you're interested, check out his site for the mailing address and any other info HERE.

It would also be awesome if you would add a link to your site for his site to help get the word out.

Thanks!

The T-show!

2007-03-26T22:11:00.000-04:00

I know! It's been a loooong time! And I will update Poop Tooth soon,

But in the meantime, check out what I'm up to over HERE!

Yin Yang Yo wrap! UPDATE! WITH PICTURES!!!

2006-12-18T19:31:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics from the party....

From left to right; Bob's wife Terri, my wife Angie, myself (Mark Ackland), and Bob Boyle.

From left to right, special fx master and college chum Darren Donovan, Exec. producer Steve Marmel, and post fx boy wonder Nathan Day.

Me (Mark Ackland) on the left and Ummm...art director Martin Smith. He usually looks like this...damn hippy.

Happy BG painter (with cool collar) Matt Allen.

Animation Siamese triplets, Andy Gravelle (top), Phil Bonner (bottom left), and Tara Donovan.

These are two of our super duper co-ordinators; Juliegh Nguyen (left) and June Lee.

This is our tech guy and 'Crainiac' mastermind Eric 'The Falcon' Falconer and his girlfriend Jeanie.

These 'cool dudes' are post effects artists, Nathan Day (left) and Ian zamojc

This is co-ordinator Shawn Cookson and his girlfriend
Sibohan. Yes she is actually his girlfriend

IF ANYONE ELSE HAS ANY MORE PICTURES...PLEASE E-MAIL THEM TO ME!

Well, "Yin Yang Yo!" season 1 is just about wrapped! We had our party last Friday courtesy of Elliott animation and it was a blast. Yin Yang Yo creator Bob Boyle, his wife and fellow artist Terri, YYY executive producer/head writer Steve Marmel, and line producer Larry Johnson all made the trek from chilly LA to sunny Toronto for the occasion. We had a ton of fun with them. There is not a finer bunch of friendly, more classy...ok maybe not classy, but at least friendly...bunch of folks in the industry.

And you will never meet a more humble guy who has two of his own shows in production than Bob Boyle.

Thanks to Bob, Steve, Larry, Lisa Salamone, Mike Moon and the rest of the Disney gang for being so awesome to deal with. Also, thanks to George Elliott, my co-director Ted Collyer, assistant director Todd Kauffman, animation director Evan Steacy, our production manager Jason Boyer, all the supervisors, designers, board artists, animators, co-ordinators and everyone else at Elliott Animation for all of the super hard work that you put in to the show. You have made YYY a hit and it has not gone unnoticed.

So, looking back, here are some title cards that YYY art director Martin Smith and myself put together!

YIN YANG YO!!!

Sorry!

2006-12-07T17:07:00.000-05:00

Thanks everyone! I know I have really been lacking posts...and posting comments on your blogs. I have been checking them out though! I 've just been really busy trying to wrap up Yin Yang Yo, but now it's wrapped so I should have much more free time. Thanks for checking back!

Gruesomestein's Monster's...

2006-09-05T19:24:00.000-04:00

...Hey y'all. Look what's on You Tube! "Gruesomestein's Monsters!" For those of you who don't know, a couple of years ago, myself and my partner in crime, Riccardo Durante, co-created, co-wrote, co-designed, and co-directed this series of animated shorts. Check 'em out!!!

Shady characters...

2006-07-20T20:47:00.000-04:00

Almost done! I just need to put mattes on these. Sorry for the horrible pics. The only camera I have is the crappy one on my cel phone!!!

Shady characters show!!!

2006-07-13T01:18:00.000-04:00

My pal Jared Deal invited me to be part of an art show in New York at "Live With Animals" art gallery which he is curating. The theme of the show is "Shady Characters", so I put together some...well, shady characters. Below is a sneak peak. Some may question whether or not these characters are ACTUALLY shady, but I figured anyone coughing up blood is probobly a good person to steer clear from. These are obviously digital, but the final versions will be completely made of felt, construction paper, japanese paper and googly eyes. I know some of the colours do look a little funny in these images and contrast weird...that's a result of me trying to match the colour of the felt and construction paper as close as possible in photoshop...things actually stand out better on paper as opposed to these digital images. And yes, for those who care...that is Jugle!!! well, a young version of him anyhow. Not sure which colour version of him I like the best. I always pictured him as the orangey yellow version, but I like how the bluey version seems to glow on that background.

Enough rambling!!!

If you wanna see the show, the opening reception starts Friday July 28th at the "Live with animals" art gallery. Here's the address...

210 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

Yin Yang Yo! Premieres online!!!

2006-07-11T10:41:00.000-04:00

Hey y'all...check out the online premiere of the Disney series that I've been working on..."Yin Yang Yo!"...created by Bob Boyle, and written by Steve Marmel. You can watch the entire first 11 minute episode, "Dojo Oh No!" right here...

http://tv.disney.go.com/jetix/video/index.html

The episode was co-directed by myself and John Fountain. The boards and animatic were done in LA, and design to final animation was done in Toronto.

Currently it can only be seen in the states. sorry fellow Canucks and others!!!

Check this promo site for Yin Yang Yo! as well...

www.rabbittakeover.com

AND...Check out John Fountain's blog here...

www.johnfountain1.blogspot.com

AND...Check out John's AWESOME artwork for sale right here...

http://fountainspenproductions.blogspot.com/

'Hope you enjoy!!!

Wayside!!!

2006-06-23T00:58:00.000-04:00

Last year I worked on a straight to TV feature produced by Nickelodeon and Nelvana called "Wayside" based on the "Wayside School" books by Louis Sachar. My partner in crime Riccardo Durante directed the show, and I assistant directed and acted as posing and character design supervisor. YES posing...in North America!!!! I will tell you right now, there is nothing easier than posing a 'board that was 'boarded by Nick Cross and Warren Leonhardt.
Recently "Wayside" was picked up as an animated series and is being directed by Riccardo and he has got himself quite a crew together...not only have Warren and Nick come along to 'board, but add the likes of Jamie "Hobo divine" Mason as assistant director, Ian Hastings (our art director for Gruesomestein's Monsters) as art director, and Andrew Wolf and Dermot Walshe as layout/BG artists and this show is going to kick some serious ass!!!
Here are just a few scenes that I posed. I will post more in the fuuuuttuuuurre....

BURN OOOOUUUTTT!!!!

2006-06-04T10:39:00.000-04:00

Wow! How cheap...all this time and only one lousy drawing!!! Sorry, been busy, but thanks for checking back, and leaving comments! I need those comments to make myself feel liked and popular!!! I promise that there will be some big pooptooth news, well relatively big pooptooth news, coming soon!

some oldies...

2006-05-01T23:22:00.000-04:00

Here's some older stuff...

BATTLE! Pooptooth vs. Hobo divine!

2006-04-24T00:52:00.000-04:00

Hello! On the weekend myself and my best funky pal, Jamie Mason, aka 'Hobo Divine' pushed play on our Roxanne Shante tape and had a BBBAAAATTTTTLLLEEEEE!

HD started off strong as you can see, as I waited impatiently for my turn to step up...
I challenged with 'the wave', I think it was like... 2:55 in the afternoon...
HD came back strong and busted out a floating turtle while sporting a civil war rebel hat. FRESH! I sat back FURIOUS...hitting myself in the head because he totally had me with that move...
I retaliated with a back spin, and trumped his rebel hat with a king tut crown (fucking thing weighed a ton). I did a back spin and then froze. The anxiety got the best of Hobo Divine, causing him to barf in his hat. HD came back with a head spin which knocked my socks off, so I put on his barf hat in shame and demanded a time out.
At the end of the battle, a rainbow came out because it was sunny, but rained a little bit (which caused the rainbow). We shook hands, because after all, we are best funky pals, but I was still not completely pleased with the outcome.

The End.

Pog-a-palooza!

2006-04-19T08:51:00.000-04:00

Well, I think this is the rest of them...thanks for the interest everybody!

POG BLOG!

2006-04-10T23:22:00.000-04:00

A while back I was asked by a toy company to design some POG type toys. I was super excited! They were getting a few different artists to do some samples...y'know like as a test to see whose design style they liked best. I did a couple and they said 'thanks, but no thanks'...it just wasn't what they were looking for. Then I got a call a couple of days later saying, "We need like 30 POG designs...when can you get 'em done!" Excited again! Too bad they never ended up manufacturing them. Here are a few...

Need some storyboard work?

2006-04-04T14:21:00.000-04:00

I don't really like posting job oportunities on my blog, but I need some board artists for a series that I'm directing for Disney called "Yin Yang Yo" and board artists seem to be tough to find these days.

It's a really cool comedy/action type show with some great talent attached. It's written by Steve Marmel, who wrote on Fairly Odd Parents, and created by Bob Boyle, art director of the same show. Not to mention, blog superstar Todd "Kauf" Kauffman is assistant directing, and his Neptoon Studios chum Mark Thornton is supervising design.

Note, we can hire Canadians only...sorry Americans!!!!

If you are interested, please drop me an e-mail.

Thanks!

Mark

Colour!

2006-03-27T01:02:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the comments! I Thought things were starting to look a little drab on Pooptooth, so here's some colour! Also...I starting to play with textures and fabric patterns. Here's my first stab (the kangaroos)...needs some work I think, but oh well. Also, 'considering making a "Jugle" vinyl doll after being super inspired but Jared and Garnet's "Buzz Carney" doll. Check it out HERE! I will post some rotation comp pics of the Jugle doll once I do some I'm happy with (though it may be just a pipe dream, considering it's quite pricey to get those things manufactured!)

jugle says Good Morning!

2006-03-03T08:37:00.000-05:00

new post!

2006-02-24T00:10:00.000-05:00

Wow! Finally... a new post! Been busy lately. Thanks for checkin' back...and thanks for the comments!!! I'm trying to think of a funny anecdote like everyone else does on their BLOGS, but I can't think of a damn thing!!! So check out the stupid drawings!

It was all Gandhi's fault!

2006-01-15T16:24:00.000-05:00

Clone High USA. What a fun show to work on. As well, seeing designs come in from Mike Moon, Dexter Smith, and Carey Yost was quite a treat. Too bad it didn't keep going. Above is a promo piece I did that I don't think was ever used. It is designed after the "Royal Tennenbaums" movie poster. Below is the beloved Gandhi...

Happy Holidays!!!

2005-12-20T08:42:00.000-05:00

Foster's

2005-12-13T22:33:00.000-05:00

Here are a few designs that I had done for Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends a while back. I mainly did incidentals and secondary's for some episodes. I can't take credit for the actual designs of this here crowd shot (which are awesome). They were probobly done by Andy Bialk or Stephanie Choi, but my job, in this shot, was to pose them out as a crowd.

More stupid drawings

2005-12-04T14:21:00.000-05:00

2005-11-03T23:09:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the kind words everybody...now more drawings!

Thanks Walter!

2005-11-03T22:43:00.000-05:00

My birthday was last week, and I just got a letter from my wife's grandfather, Walter. He is quite the artist and he drew these for me. They're AWESOME...

This one is great! I like how everyone (dogs, snakes, and birds included) are returning their weapons in the name of my birthday.

Thanks Walter!!!

First Post!

2005-10-24T00:23:00.000-04:00