Dannym8tion

Mad For Mad!

2012-02-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

Hello!
To all who still visit this Blog I thank you all so much for the support!
I don't get a chance to post as much as I used to because I recently got
a sweet gig animating music videos for EMI records.
Wish I could post some stuff I have been working on but had to sign
NDA's (Non-Disclosure Agreement's) as per usual!
That being said, here's a little post I've been wanting to do about one
of my favorite inspirations as a cartoonist...Mad Magazine!

Mad was something that me and every other kid on my block grew up reading.
It was essential reading because it was one of the few publications that taught you to be cynical and see through all the other everyday bullshit in pop culture, Politics and Religion that other people seemed to turn a blind eye to.
I aspired to be just as good as my favorite cartoonists and caricaturists and work for Mad, ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper.
Never got there, sad to say, but I'd love to share with you my personal favorite caricaturists of the renowned, Raunchy Rag!

Mort Drucker

Mort is just an all around great caricaturist. He was always put in charge of Mads best movie satires. He has the perfect blend of exaggeration and spot on likeness to any one of his subjects! Here's one of my favorite panels from his spoof of Star Trek:
The Next Generation

Sam Viviano

I always looked forward to seeing sam's work in any particular issue. He was the master of crowd scenes and was infamous for always giving his subjects particularly large Jaws!

Just looking at his drawings always made me laugh. Wish I had more of his art to post. Man, what a cartoonist! Looking at his drawings, you always knew they were his creatures!

Drew Friedman

My all time favorite caricaturist from Mad has definitely got to be the one and only Drew Friedman! He had this great stippling style in his inking technique that gave his drawings a photo realistic, cartoony and creepy look all at the same time!

It's always kind of fun trying to emulate these guys' styles. But it definitely keeps giving me the incentive to keep fine tuning my own!

Thanks for stopping by!

Danny

A Special Puclic Service Announcement From Happy Hippo

2011-12-06T01:11:00.000-08:00

Hee Hee.
Just a quickie I did for fun.
It was a dialogue experiment that
got a little out of hand.
Watch the toon below.

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace,

Danny

*UPDATE*

The President is no longer going to veto this bill and it's going to be passed sometime this week. Well, Freedom was fun.

Don't Have The Time, Duke and a Word

2011-11-21T17:36:00.000-08:00

Hey Hey Hey!

To everybody who still
visits my blog I thank you
all so much for your support.

Feel bad for not updating this thing as
often as I do, It's in no way an indication
of laziness, just forgetfulness.
That being said, this year has been one
of the busiest I have ever had in terms
of having nothing but work on my plate.

I recently relocated back to my home town,
Los Angeles, from San Francisco. (Where I have
spent a good portion of the last decade.) Gosh
I miss S.F. The people, the weather, the conversations,
the spots. L.A. is....well, L.A.

I'll say one good thing about L.A. (I should at least say
one good thing.) There certainly is not a lack of work here. Especially
for what I do...animation. The amount of people in the L.A. area trying to
"make it" per square inch is ridiculous. They all need animators for their
silly pilots that most likely will go nowhere. But,hey, That doesn't bother me.
Most of them are willing to pay me to get there silly, little projects of the ground.

Out of the entire flock of pilots for wannabe prime time shows I've worked on this
year, Duke, Is my favorite. Take a look if you have a moment. Makes me chuckle........................

Duke The Cartoon

Another project finished this
year that I was quite proud of was my
second music video for San Francisco band "The Greening".
A tremendous debt is owed to these guys because they are
one of the few people who will give me a project that I have
complete creative control over.
The video took me a year to animate as I worked on it at a
"On again, Off again" basis.
The story is inspired by a flaming lips song. Whoever guesses which one gets
a gold sticker!

Suffice it to say, Everytime I hear that song I always saw this little vision
in my head................

Hope you enjoy it.
I will try to blog a bit more often now that I have a few weeks to breath between
projects.

Thanks for stopping by!

Danny

Cow Pies

2011-09-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

My film tribute to old Max Fleischer cartoons from the 1930's.

Or, Cartoon I worked on to alleviate the pain of working on spirit crushing animated television pilots that most likely will go nowhere.

The process to making it was just standard rotoscope that I used in Flash.

I made it a personal point, despite my daily workload, to set aside at least 2 hours a day to work on this.

Hope you enjoy it and thanks for stopping by!

Peace,

Danny

Doity Laundry Part 2

2011-03-25T23:24:00.000-07:00

Click on each image for a better lookskie!

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace,

Danny8a

Interview

2010-01-06T15:26:00.001-08:00

This is my first interview in this months Web Designer Magazine, a great magazine from the UK that just hit the stands here in the states.

Click on the image to get a better look....

Brains!!!

2009-12-10T03:13:00.001-08:00

Concept sketch for the current project I'm working on. I love working at nights, Seems to inspire the creepiness of the subject matter!

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace,

Danny8a

More Hi-jinx!

2009-10-15T17:15:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. Been Extra busy with new videos and deadlines as I am pretty much freelancing for a living now.
To all who still visit my site I thank you guys so much for your support!

Until the next post here is a screen grab from my next project that I sort of liked.

Stay tooned!

Peace,

Danny8a

"Sunday Afternoon"

2009-07-02T00:41:00.000-07:00

Special Thanks to The Greening for letting me hone my craft and for being so patient.

I Hope that You enjoy it as much as I did making it!

It's sort of a Semi-autobiographical piece of my experiences on magic mushrooms as well as tons of other silly things going on in this whacky city.

Video looks much cooler in HQ and Fullscreen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Peace,

Danny8a

Molly n' Jo

2009-04-23T19:58:00.001-07:00

The classic love story of Jo Johnson and Molly Ringworm.
Click on each image to enlarge.

Thanks for stopping by.

Peace,

Danny8a

Ty Tiberius Toker

2009-04-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

Just a wee walk cycle of a stoner that I kind of liked and wanted to share. Will be featured in the upcoming music vid that I have been working on for the past couple of months.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sleep.....

Peace,

Danny8a

Doity Laundry

2009-02-10T19:39:00.001-08:00

Click on each image to enlarge!

Music vid almost done.....
Thanks for stopping by!

Peace,

Danny8a

Phone Doodlers

2008-10-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

The music vid I've been working on is nearing completion. Can't wait to show it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace,

Danny8a

Chimpy Apey!

2008-09-09T00:08:00.000-07:00

In the upcoming issue of Madhappys! Coming soon to a head shop near you!

Peace and Love,

Danny O.

Baseball Beauties

2008-08-11T02:29:00.000-07:00

Baseball Beauties is the brainchild of the lovely Anna Anisin. It was a privelage to be involved with such a fun project as I was given a lot of creative freedom. This cartoon is kind of an intro as to how the Idea of the website came about. (The website release party was a blast by the way!)
You can view the 'toon by clicking the link here....

Baseball Beauties

Please visit the website here....

baseballbeauties.com

A very special thanks to Will, Karl and Nick of The Greening for letting us use a piece of one of their cool new recordings! ( "Lazy Bitch")
And a super thanks to Ryan Khatam for hosting this cartoon again.....

Happy Hippo

It is and up running on it's original posting below as well!
Thanks for stoppin' by.
Peace and Love,

Danny O.

Pseudo music vids!!!!

2008-08-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

Hello, Hello!

Finally after long last a new post. Again, sorry for being soooo darn sporadic with these darn cartoon thingers.
It has been such a while since I updated my blog that I didn't even notice how much disrepair it fell into.
I fixed all the birthdayalarm links and can assure you that the Happy Hippo cartoon "Gone Fishing" will be up and running again as soon as I can find a server.
Anywhodilly doodle, I will be mega busy in the upcoming months ahead working with local S.F. band 'THE GREENING' on there kick ass music video! Yay! I will be posting progress as it comes along to all of you wonderful peeps.

Untill then, Please enjoy two pseudo music vids I did for birthdayalarm earlier this year.
My good pal Annie Z. did the music for the cute girl cartoon below.

You and Me

Dance!

Peace and love,

Danny8a

"Sleep"

2008-06-03T20:35:00.001-07:00

18 by 24 Acrylic on Canvas

"...In a land called Hipton, in the suburbs of Hipmond..."

This is a commisioned painting done for a friend.
I will be using this image in two upcoming projects. ( There is a hint in the trifle of a film directly below! )
Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been mega busy lately with deadlines galore!

To all who still visit my site I thank you so much for all the support!

Peace and Love,

Danny O.

Gone Fishin'

2008-01-19T21:42:00.000-08:00

Hey Kids!
It's that old timey cartoon star Happy Hippo starring in one of his earliest films! Check it out!

Gone Fishin'

Peace and love!

Danny O.

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

2007-10-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween!
It's my favorite holiday, especially in the city!
Here are two new cards completed for birthdayalarm.com
Click on the links below to view.

Candy Protection Agency

Laugh-O-Ween

Hope you like them!

Peace and Love,

Danny8a

"The Little House I Used To Live In"

2007-07-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

Random sketch....more to come.

Peace,

Danny8a

Retard Ecards!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-05-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

Hello all!
Just wanted to post some of the Flash fruits of my labor for BirthdayAlarm.com.
I promise to share very soon a bigger project I have been working on.
Till' then enjoy these cards!!!!!!!

Earth Day

You Can't Hide From 30

Happy 18th Birthday

Peace and Love,

Danny8a

Momma's kiss and a blair skip....

2007-04-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a new E greeting I did for BirthdayAlarm.com.
The Skip is a blair kind and the BG's are totally HB inspired but I was still pretty happy with the outcome. ( Which doesn't happen very often, let me tell you! )
The guy who did the music and SFX for it did a pretty cool job too!

you can see the cartoon here....

Momma's Kiss

Flash!!!!!!!

2007-03-20T02:32:00.000-07:00

You're sooooo right, Ryan!
I don't post enough!
Hahahahahaha!
Yah, I guess I have been a little slow with the posts.
Hmmmmm, welp, I have been working on some freelance projects inbetween being a wage slave at Starbizzo.
Actually it's funny, I have been working on some Flash stuff a lot lately and it is super fun!
David Gemmill was super kind enough to send me some tutorials that helped me tremendously.
(Ryan Khatam and David Gemmill are the best flash animators around in my opinion.)
Anywho, here is a still from an E Greeting card I did for BirthdayAlarm.com

I had to make two of them and I totally had to pull them out of my ass because of time constraints.
Here is a link to the two I worked on......

Party Animal

Have A Blast

Please excuse the overall shitiness of these cards, I was under a very tight deadline.

A shiny gold star to whoever can guess which of the two cards I haphazardly finished in one afternoon!

Peace and love to you all!!!

Danny8a

"Sleep"

2007-02-12T02:42:00.000-08:00

Yah, I know!
It's been a while since my last post!
I have been quite busy lately with things in my life. I had a big move back to my town of San Francisco.
David Gemmill helped me out with learning Flash Better (I will post up some Flash Animations soon!)
Thanks David!
Oh and Hey! Spike of Spike and Mikes sick and twisted festival of animation loved "The Problem" and will hopefully be screening it very soon!
Yay!
Also, I have started preliminary sketches and backgrounds for my next Cartoon!
It's going to be called "Sleep" and here are some of the preliminary sketches.
They are VERY rough sketches....

...To all of you who have come to my blog and given me the support that you have, I owe you eternally!

Peace

Danny8a

"The Problem" (FINISHED!)

2006-10-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

Hello all!
Here is my little cartoon that's finally finished!
Please check it out before Daily Motion yanks this from their site.....

Sequence 1
Uploaded by danne8a

Please excuse the low resolution as I had to compress the file cuz' it was too big.
For maximum viewage, let the movie run a bit ahead before viewing.

Since the cartoon is done I think I am going to take some time out to take John K.'s Billion dollar animation coarse.
I think after viewing your work from a scrutinizing stand point you come to realize how flawed your art truely is.
And brother, do I need a helluva lot more practice!
As of now, I have started taking time out of my every day life and started practicing the Blair book more than ever.
Well, I hope you enjoy my sick little toon and thank you guys so much for visiting!

Peace

Danny Ochoa

Morbid Zeke....

2006-09-04T23:40:00.000-07:00

Zeke is very happy because Danny is almost finished rendering his short film "The Problem"
Zeke is also happy because he is the sole star of said cartoon and can't wait for all of you beautiful people to see him starring in his first dramatic role.

Zeke is sad, however, that Youtube and dailymotion won't let Danny upload any pencil tests because they are deemed too "Inappropriate"

Awwwww.....Cheer up Zeke!
We'll figure something out!
I love you all!

Peace

Caricatures and Comic Con!

2006-07-23T17:38:00.001-07:00

Comic con was the best that I have ever been to! I got to meet John K. and he drew this really super cool caricature of me! Hooray!!!!

This picture of me was sooo hilarious that me and my wife were laughing at it all day. He really got the likeness of my overall grotesqueness down packed and he drew it like in a minute. I especially love the goofy eyes, teeth and cheeks.
I also got to meet Marlo and Katie who were super nice enough to draw me some cool pictures on the Inside sleeve of the Adult Party Cartoon DVD...

It's very cool to see different artists' take on the same person.
incidentally, this is the way I usually draw myself:

I love Marlo's lineweights. and quickness with lines.
I love John's ability to bring out the creepyness in his caricatures!
How does he do it? HOW????
The whole Spumco crew were super nice enough to sign and doodle for everybody and the experience was just plain surreal to me.
AND the Adult Party Cartoon is great! Anyone who doesn't have a copy I suggest you run out and Buy one right now!
THANKS GUYS!!! You made my Millenium!!!

"The Problem"

2006-06-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

I don't think it's cool that I have not been kind enough to update my blog and share some more art with you guys. All of my other super cool blogger friends are super rad cuz they update pretty moderately ( Shawn, Chloe, Gabriel...)
By the way, I just want to say again how greatful I am to all of you guys that you come and visit my site and give me such great words of encouragement.
It means a helluva lot to me to get such great feedback from such wonderfully talented artists such as yourselves.
Thats one of the great things I love about the whole community based artist thing, it means a lot to me!
I have been quite busy lately working on a short film for the past half year that is nearing completion that I plan on submitting to the Spike and Mike sick and twisted festival of animation.
Hooray!!
The film is called "The Problem" and I tried to upload a couple of pencil tests onto Youtube to link to my site, but some of them I guess are a little too PG-13 for their terms of use because they were flagged and deleted!!!!!
Wahhhhh!
So, here is the least offensive still from the cartoon just to give you a little heads up on what it will be about....

I can assure you all that it won' be as tasteless as this pic entails it will be...Heheheh.
I looked at a lot of old Rod Scribner animation from Clampett cartoons as mega inspiration.
Last night I completed the most complicated piece of animation from the whole damn picture and am just 3 scenes away from finishing up.
As soon as it is up I will make sure all of you guys get a chance to check it out!
By the way, does anybody out there know of any other sites besides YouTube that Provide free hosting for Videos?
If anybody knows please let me know!!!!

Peace

Danny8a

PAINTING

2006-04-12T02:39:00.000-07:00

A rough painting in acrylic on canvas of what I would like to be on the cover of my funny book, "Molly & Jo".

Not quite sure yet though....

Comics

2006-04-11T21:33:00.000-07:00

Yay!
Here is my comic that won Harvey Pekar's American Splendor contest.
I am such a huge fan of his and it was such an honor to illustrate one of his stories.

Also, Here are an assortment of other comics for various publications!
Double Yay!

ANIMATION

2005-10-02T23:21:00.000-07:00

Hello!
My name is Danny Ochoa and I am a 2D Animator!
This is some of the animated work I have done while freelancing in the Philippines for the past year!

Check it out!!!