Summer hours are now in effect here at IMPACT headquarters, which means our office closes at 3PM on Fridays, which means I’ll be able to catch a matinee showing of Pixar’s Up. Huzzah! Since the release of Toy Story in 1995, Pixar has been batting a thousand, and it looks like Up is par for the course. Am I mixing my metaphors? Maybe so. Anyway, we’ve come to count on Pixar’s combination of wit, depth and amazing animation, and I don’t think Up will disappoint. Check out the official trailer here.

Have a great weekend!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USpI6Jzl3No

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”

What is the world of Jane Austen coming to? Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? Yes, that’s right, Quirk Books has published a version of Jane Austen’s classic work in which flesh-eating zombies add a certain grisly quality the original lacked.

If that weren’t enough, thanks to Elton John’s Rocket Pictures and director Will Clark, we can now experience the Bennet family saga in yet another entirely new way: with a bloodthirsty alien slashing its way through Pride and Predator.

Want to create your own predators and other gruesome extraterrestrials? Check out Creature Features by Randy Martinez. Find out more about Martinez here.

Have a great weekend!

mary

Attention all you Facebook users, IMPACT author and artist Harry Hamernik has a created a Facebook group for Cartoonimals, his latest art instruction title. You can post your own cartoon animals to the site and Harry will give you feedback on it.

Roll out the red rug. Mr. Hugh Michael Jackman has been announced as the host of the 81st Academy Awards on February 22nd, 2009 at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. Contract negotiations are still pending for a statuette trophy makeover.

IMPACT Books designer Guy Kelly presents The Wolvaward:

In other news, after a brief leak on YouTube over the weekend, the official trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 2009) is now available online.

Check it: Wolverine trailer in hi-def

BIO
8fish is a jack-of-all-trades creative workshop that has been producing mind-blowing animation, design and illustration for more than ten years. The secret to 8fish’s success is a feisty team of incredibly talented and versatile artists who constantly challenge themselves and each other. Their clients include Nickelodeon, Writer’s Digest, Wendy’s, DirectTV, among many others.

Name: 8fish
Latest IMPACT book: Making Faces: Drawing Expressions for Comics and Cartoons
Nickname: Those guys at 8fish (said with enthusiasm)
Hometown: Sandy, Utah
Current residence: A 3,000 Sq. ft. creative studio packed with lots of goodies!
Kids and/or pets? Between all of us there is too many kids to count, including ourselves.
Favorite food: Were easy, it’s just whatever our in-house chef is cooking for the day.
Favorite candy bar: Anything with chocolate or granola!
Favorite TV show: We once spent every lunch hour watching episodes of The Office, which made us happy.
Favorite movie: If Pixar makes it, we like it!
Favorite website(s): We’re all fans of everyone else’s work, so this could be a long list, but here are a few of our own:
8fish.com
8fishanimation.com
bensimonsen.com
petersakievich.com
designkeep.com
monkeygrinder.biz
Favorite blog(s): Same thing here, but check out some of our own and find links to more:
bsills.blogspot.com
mbdayton.blogspot.com
blakeloosli.blogspot.com
crowsmack.blogspot.com
bronzeswallow.blogspot.com
Favorite comic(s): Danger Girl by J. Scott Campbell, it’s everything to everyone.
First job ever: Most of us started out doing sign painting, or some lowly designer job. Unless you want to count that time we got suckered into standing on top of a float during a Fourth of July parade waving to everyone while wearing a sparkly cowboy outfit.
Best job ever: Working at 8fish of course!

When did you know you wanted to be an illustrator?
When we found out that people will actual pay us to draw.

Give us a taste of your latest project?
We’ve been working on a reality television show called Maverik Kick Start, which premiered May 3rd, 2008. We also fill in the gaps with other stuff like working on our own intellectual properties for animated television shows along with storyboards, editorial and advertising illustrations for our clients.

Talk about a time you felt star struck in your line of work.
This happens every year down at the San Diego Comic-Con when you happen upon an artist you really respect and then after you worship them with praises you find out that they are just like you in many ways.

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve received?
Draw every day. Draw the stuff you are passionate about and keep improving and growing as an artist even if you don’t get paid for it.

Click here to visit 8fish online!

Click here to check out Making Faces: Drawing Expressions for Comics and Cartoons

Making Faces: Drawing Expressions for Comics and Cartoons by 8fish

Hello everyone,
Let me introduce you to my new hero, Captain Fantastic Faster than Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Wolverine, Hulk and the Flash Combined.
 

You guys have boring names like Brian, Jennifer and Chris. You should try to be more like this guy. I’m thinking of changing my moniker to something like, “The Claw” or “Even Better Than Captain Fantastic Faster than Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Wolverine, Hulk and the Flash Combined.” The ball’s in your court folks.

As this is my first post here on the IMPACT website’s blog, allow me to introduce myself. I’m a graphic designer in the midst of my fourth week at F+W Media, and a new member of the IMPACT Team. I must admit that I’m not the biggest comic/fantasy art/manga fan, but I have read many graphic novels in the past and the style of comics is very inspiring to me. I also grew up on cartoons like Garfield, Calvin & Hobbes, the Far Side, etc. Anyhow, enough about me.

The main reason I’m writing this is to promote the work of my brother, Mike Mayfield. He’s an animator who has lived and worked in Los Angeles for over five years. He’s worked on shows like King of the Hill and American Dad, and will soon be working on a spinoff of Family Guy starring Peter Griffin’s neighbor, Cleveland. I’m a bit skeptical of how they’ll base an entire show on Cleveland, but I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. Mike also creates cartoons and collaborative video shorts for a comedy show on Fuel TV called Stupidface. In addition to this, he recently created an animated music video for the band Why? from the Oakland based record label, Anticon. Mike has always been a source of artistic inspiration in my life and hopefully he can inspire you as well. Check out his cartoons and videos at his website or his Youtube page below. Below is a little teaser just to spark your interest. It has always been one of his most popular cartoons… at least amongst those who lived through the original Nintendo-era.

Michael Jackson’s Punch-Out!!

The Citizens Against Safety Goggles – This is his website. Yeah, I know… it’s a weird name.

Mike Mayfield’s Youtube Page – Most of his cartoons and videos can be found here as well.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILjJDcI2Em8

A Nintendo spoof by Los Angeles based animator Mike Mayfield.

A bunch of us IMPACT chicks–Mona, Wendy, Jennifer, Kelly, Erika and I–are off to GenCon today (tough work, but somebody’s got to do it). We’re totally looking forward to seeing our friends Chuck Lukacs, Jim Pavelec and Chris Seaman there, as well as the awesome con crowd! The guys are authors of Wreaking Havoc: Create Fantasy Warriors and Weapons; Chuck’s working on a Fall 2009 book; Jim’s the author of Hell Beasts; and Jim and Chris will soon be creating some art for a vampire drawing kit in time for next Halloween. They’ll do a panel at GenCon, moderated by big IMPACT dude Justin. We’ve also got great projects coming up in October, including Comic Artist’s Photo Reference: Men and Boys by Buddy Scalera; Manga Martial Arts by David Okum; and Cartoonimals by Harry Hamernik. — Pam Wissman, Editorial Director, IMPACT Books

Comic Artist's Photo Reference: Men and Boys