Gabe Swarr

There Once Was

2011-11-29T00:17:00.000-08:00

Life In The Analog Age Store

I Am 8-Bit Show 2011 Coverage

2011-08-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

Check out some of the movies and press from the show:

It was tons o' fun. If you have a chance, go check out the show!

I Am 8-Bit 2011: "Friends 1980-1988"

2011-08-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

Here's my piece for the latest I Am 8-Bit Art Show:

(full size)

It's called "Friends 1980-1988" and yes, this 2 foot by 4 foot monster is made entirely out of duct tape:

It took nearly 2 weeks and of back breaking exacto-blading to finish this.

I tried to include every one of my favorite NES and arcade games

Bionic Commando:

Legend of Zelda:

Pac-Man:

Castlevania:

Excitebike:

...and one of my all-time favorites T&C Surf Designs:

Hope to see you at the show!

"Godzilla Cleanup" For Japan

2011-03-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

This is my piece for tonight's Q Pop Japan Art Fundraiser.

The auction is at 7PM in Little Tokyo. See ya there!

Full size:

Close up:

Here's my comp:
Please help Japan. Thank you.

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T03:53:00.000-08:00

Wishing you and your family a happy holiday this season. Please enjoy the latest episode of Life In The Analog Age.

Life in the Analog Age: Twice A Week!

2010-11-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to tell remind all of yous that every week, two Life in the Analog Age posts go up!

This week's strip:

Last week's short:

Don't miss any of them and SUBSCRIBE

Introducing: Life In The Analog Age

2010-07-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce that I'm launching my new project today.

I've been working on it for some time now, it's called Life In The Analog Age. Check out the first promo:

It's an series of all ages shorts and strips all about my growing up before the internets in Pennsylvania. Don't get me wrong, I love the web, but times were really different back then, especially for me.

I really wanted to go in a completely different direction than Big Pants. They are stories all based on real events, all told straight from the heart. Even artistically, I limited the palette and that freed up the time to draw more and above all, no reuse.

I started really pouring over old pictures and albums and started to become really inspired and nostalgic. The actual color schemes came from them, like this one of my biological dad and I:

Here's the very first strip/inking test:

I kept everything except for the pink, it really wasn't working for me.

It's a really hard thing to try to really illustrate the way you felt then. The strips are really interpretive, but with the shorts, I can get a lot closer when writing the music, and especially the timing.

So, there are going to be a lot of strips and cartoons coming your way on lifeintheanalogage.com, make sure you subscribe to the rss feed or the youtube channel.

I hope you guys like it as much as I love doing it. Please tell me what you think, I can take it--it's good for me.

The End of an Era

2010-05-25T00:03:00.000-07:00

The last Big Pants Mouse is airing right now on Dumm. Here's the first part if you want to read the whole epic ending to BPM.

Thank you all for supporting Dumm and Big Pants Mouse over the years, goodbye my little mouse friend, maybe someday we will meet again...

Gabe

BPM: Behind the Scenes

2010-01-30T09:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple little videos I put together showing how I do the Big Pants Mouse comic strips every week:

Here's the rough:

and here's the final product.

Thanks for watching!

MeowWalker is finally released!

2009-12-07T04:55:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I love video games. I grew up with them, played them, drew drawings of them, eventually paintings of video game characters, but never had the chance to ever work on a game, until now.

Earlier this year I was contacted by some guys that work at a big game company and wanted to start their own company doing small Iphone games. Well, needless to say I didn't really think twice about it and dove in, and man, am I glad I did! It has been an amazing learning experience and a lot of fun early mornings drawing, animating, exporting, and game testing.

MeowWalker is our first release. It is based on the late amazing Micheal Jackson. I kinda thought that the idea was great, but to tell you the truth, working on this right after he died, I felt like a vulture.

Like a lot of people growing up in the eighties, I was bombarded with MJ's music, videos, commercials, movies, games, you name it. I loved it. Then the nineties happened, he got super weird and I always acknowledged his talent, but he just super eccentric which was also interesting to follow, but creepier. When he died, I was shocked.

MJ has always been a tragic figure in my opinion. He was an amazing talent who seemed to never have the chance to live a private life like the rest of us. I can only imagine what that can feel like. I think like many of us, I was secretly pulling for him to turn his life around and make it big again and his death ended that wish as well.

Needless to say, when I started the game research by watching all his videos and studying all his moves, costumes and songs, I was floored by just how talented he was. He would combine dance, music and design into pure non-ego driven entertainment. He had a love for this craft that many artists share, but many can't express it as clearly as him. Many of us get hung up in the minutia of commercial art and forget our love and purpose for our craft.

Here I was on a summer day, twenty years after many of these songs were released loving them all over again, and realizing how much MJ was a personal inspiration for me. All these memories started flooding back, my parents playing the Thriller record non-stop, hearing the news report about his hair catching on fire, seeing that Pepsi commercial, watching the Bad video, listening and laughing at Weird Al.

This game became more of a thank you to MJ then I ever thought it would. He was more of an inspiration then I realized and I hope I did his talent some kind of justice.

Ok, enough about that, here's some roughs:

I hand drew and animated everything in flash which was really challenging because I just cant dance.

Here's the rough for the title screen:

The tragic Game Over:

Here's the final painted BG:

I love me some Street Fighter crazy move screens:

Here's the how to screen that was later scrapped:

When you start up the game, I would just like to say that I am not responsible for the existing Robot Symphony logo, this is what I pitched them:

Here's some actual game play screens:

Here's the debut trailer:

We finished the game months ago and it was held up in the Apple review process because of a little feature that we added that looks at your Iphone music and asks if you want to play the game while listening to any MJ music you have, now finally you can play it!

So if you have an Iphone and wanna play, here's the link. Oh, and it's only a measly dollar.

I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I had making it. It's a simple little game with some cool music and moves. If enough people buy it and write wonderful reviews, we are going to release some really cool updates with new levels, moves, costumes, and mini-games!

Support independent gaming, it's good for ya.

Big Pants Mouse Plush!

2009-11-05T19:40:00.000-08:00

The uber-talented Tara Billinger has really out done herself! I can't believe this! This mouse looks so cool!

Great Job Tara!!!!

source

Check out this week's Big Pants Mouse on Dumm Comics!

Big Pants Mouse Roughs

2009-08-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

Big Pants Mouse weekly comic is still going on strong every week on Dumm Comics.

Here's some exclusive behind-the-scenes roughs for ya to check out. Here's is the first 3 parts to the "Buttface Saga" which is currently airing right now.

I do all my roughs in Photoshop. I have a set size I draw them and guides to help with dividing the panels evenly.

If there's reuse, I'll paste it in to make sure all the sizes are right.

This was a photo of my friend Matt's house.

Enjoy the rest of the story!

Emmy Nomination Article

2009-07-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to an article from my home town Lancaster newspaper. Warning: mixed up facts and embarrassing photo!

DSi Launch

2009-04-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

The launch event was tons of fun. I signed posters, talked to some really cool fans and just was super honored to be a part of it

Here's some pictures my wife took at the DSi launch.

This is me signing away. Jon Set up these really cool banners. These were to remind everyone that these posters were actually drawn by real people.

Like this guy. Matt Furie.

His drawings are really weird and funny, and yes he gets extra points for wearing a Showbiz Pizza Place shirt!

When I was busy signing, I didn't even know I was being filmed! Does anyone know what this was for?

Man, I wish I would have left more space to draw people into the poster! I barely squeezed them in there!

This is my wife and I enjoying the official Nintendo fireworks. We didn't even leave until 2am. It was quiet tiring, especially after going to my good friend Aaron Horvath and Brooke's wedding. Sorry guys, I wish I could have stayed longer!

Here's some more pictures of the entire event.

Thanks to everyone that helped, Jon, Nintendo, and especially the fans! Enjoy your DSis! I know I am!

Nintendo Poster for the Nintendo DSi LA Launch

2009-04-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm super proud to announce that I'm one of the three Iam8bit artists selected to "perform" at the Nintendo DS1 Launch Event. It's this Saturday (April 4th) at Universal City Walk 9PM to 1AM.

To celebrate the newest Nintendo System, a lucky few (maybe even you) will receive a free poster...

...and to make it extra cool, I won't be just signing them, I'll actually drawing you people into the poster! So, make sure you wear your best outfit to be immortalized!

Here's the exclusive shirt and stickers as well that will only be available Saturday!

I feel super honored to be a part of this, and hope all of you can come and have fun! Hope to see ya there!

Post-its for 2009 Pictoplasma Character Walk

2009-03-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

Here's some post-its I did for the 2009 Pictoplasma Character Walk in Berlin. It's part of the ich bin 8-bit curated by Love Ablan, Jon M. Gibson, and Derek Puleston.

I picked the theme "still happy to be alive"

I'm joined by my bestest friends Jorge R. Gutierrez , Sandra Equihua and Tony Mora.

We are all a part of this installation by Jude Buffum:

So if you're in Berlin, take some pictures! I'd love to see them!

Neurotitan Gallery
Rosenthaler Str. 39, 10178
Mar 17-Apr 11, Mon-Sat 12-20h, Sun 14-19h
Vernissage: Tuesday, Mar 17, 12h

www.iam8bit.com

www.neurotitan.de

Dungeons and Dragons for Gygax

2008-08-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here's my piece for the:

Tribute to Gygax
a group exhibition celebrating the memory of Gary Gygax
and his creation of Dungeons and Dragons.

Aug. 23rd - Sept. 27th

Opening Reception
Sat. August 23rd 2008
7pm
Titmouse Studios
6616 Lexington Ave.
Hollywood, CA. 90038

"Leave My Uni Alone!"
Acrylic on Wood
9"x 12"

I know when people think Gygax or D & D they think of the Role Playing Game, but I always think of the cartoon. I was always a GURPS kinda guy.

I used to watch this cartoon religiously every Saturday. I loved it and could recall whole episodes, but why? I remembered the music and BGs being kinda of creepy, but it feel like that was quite it, so I watched an episode to find out why it made such a big impression on me. I was super surprised by how depressing it was! (go to 03:57) Those poor kids were pulled from their world. Sure they got cool weapons, but their whole lives were just chasing this "portal" home and dealing with a little dwarf who wouldn't tell them which way to go home but give them riddles!

Maybe that's why it made such a big impression...

Here's a close up:

I was thinking about doing another cut out piece, but I really felt like spending more time on painting and less on woodworking.

Well, that's the last piece for now! Fwew!

I Am 8-Bit 2008

2008-08-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here's my pieces for this year's I Am 8-Bit art show this Thursday!

Wooden Mario:
(Acrylic on wood)

Yes, I did all the cutting, carving, sanding and screwing together all of these pieces. It was super time consuming, but totally worth it.

Wooden Luigi:
(Acrylic on wood)

Oh, and they are kinda big.

Luigi is almost 4' tall.

Wooden Link:
4" x 6"
(Acrylic on wood)

The fun part of Link was carving out the shield and sword.

All of this woodworking actually reminded me of making Pinewood Derby Cars for Cub Scouts with my Dad. We would spend weeks in the soggy basement with a radial saw, jigsaw, a scale and sandpaper. That was fun and almost won best of show too!

Next up: TRIBUTE TO GYGAX show

Fruits

2008-07-31T14:08:00.000-07:00

This is my piece for the Fruits Art Show this Saturday at Monkeyhouse Toys.

I was really inspired by Funny Fruits and Wacky Packages. The fruits are based on real fruits.

I'm showing with little miss Katie Rice and Sandra Equihua.

Cintiques, Plops, and Comic-con!

2008-07-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

Frederator is giving away Cintiqus!
Check out this super embarrassing promo video:

Plop Week continues at Dumm Comics!

Also, I'm going to San Diego Comic-con. I'm going to be perusing the floor with goodies to give out. If you see me, maybe you'll get a little treat...

"What the Shell?!" Wins Cartoon of the Month

2008-05-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

"What the Shell?!" has won Cartoon of the Month on Frederator!

Wow! I didn't even know that there was such a thing! Look at all this loot!

I would like to thank everyone that worked on the short, Channel Frederator, and especially all the viewers that voted! This is a big honor. Thank you!

Here's the interview if anyone missed it.

Dumm Comics

2008-05-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

I've been dying to blog about this project since February, and now, finally the time has come:

Dumm Comics is here!

Dumm Comics is a daily comic website that my friends and I started. It features some awesome comics from Sean Szeles, Katie Rice and Luke Cormican, Ricky Garduno and Fred Osmond, and of course some Big Pants Mouse goodness!

There will be a new comic EVERY WEEKDAY! Try to keep up!

We are currently working 3 months ahead, so there's plenty coming your way!

Here's the rough for my first comic:

Of course you have to go to the site to see the punchline...

Dumm on Myspace

Oh, and special thanks to Matt Gadbois for such a wonderful site!

Radiohead Promo Video

2008-03-18T23:51:00.000-07:00

I directed a music video/promo for Radiohead and Aniboom.

This to promote the "In Rainbows Music Video Contest". I hope this inspires some people to make some cool videos.

My approach was to keep as close to Radiohead's established video style. My natural style is kind of opposite of that, so it was a cool creative challenge. I animated everything in flash.

All the After Effects compositing was done by the great Matt Gadbois, the whole short produced by Jon Gibson.

I'm pretty happy with the outcome, what do you think? Too weird? Any hardcore Radiohead fans offended?

A Really Really Brief History of Donkey Kong

2008-02-07T21:37:00.000-08:00

This is a short film I directed for the King Of Kong DVD.

I don't know if you're familiar with this movie, but it is great. It's an epic battle of good and evil. It's about Steve Wiebe vs. Billy Mitchell for the highest score on Donkey Kong. The movie is really more about the players.

After watching this movie, I think that Weibe deserves the title, BUT I also think the Billy Mitchell is an AMAZING gamer! One of the top of our lifetime. He's portrayed as the villian, but he is still deserves the recognition for his gaming feats. Just to put it into perspective, there probably wouldn't even be competative arcade gaming if it wasn't for Billy Mitchell.

Jon felt that the movie needed some kind of historical perspective of the actual Donkey Kong game, so the short was born.

I sure didn't do this short alone! We were under the gun for this one. We turned it around in 2 weeks--and that's all after hours work! It was a huge labor of love for everyone that worked on it at I Am 8bit Studios:

Written and Produced by Jon M. Gibson
Told by Eric Bauza
Music by 8 Bit Weapon
Designed by Steve Lambe and I
Animated by Tony Mora and I
After Effects by Matt Gadbois

Here's my animatic, just be warned, the whole thing is rough and on yellow post-its.

Every short starts with what is called a color script. This is a way to keep and overview of the whole film's color. It's a way to plan out the intensity and relationships of all the colors in all the scenes in order. Color is SUPER imporant. It basically dictates the emotions in the film--all following the story that is.

"Shiggy" Shigeru Miyamoto. I hope I've done him proud!

I loved designing DK. I must say that I despise the new DK design--ruined by RARE.

Here's some of Steve's Nintendo businessmen:

Thanks again everyone for such a fine job, and especially New Line for paying for it!

What the Shell?!

2008-01-21T11:21:00.000-08:00

Here's my short I did for the Nintendo Short Cuts Film Festival.

Here's some BG's by Tony Mora:

I thought it would be funny to have everything in Mario's house pipes, just because, you know, he is a plumber...

This is before textures.

This is after.

I animated the whole thing in a weekend. It was a lot of fun to get my Mario design movin'. I've been dying to ever since I did the first painting. Here's the animation before I comped in Tony's BGs, you can still see me super rough animatic on post-its.

The music was by the awesome band 8 Bit Weapon.

If I did more shorts, would guys actually buy a DVD collection?

Big Pants Mouse Holiday Special (Part 2)

2007-12-21T01:00:00.001-08:00

Stop reading if you haven't read the first part which can be found here.

Ok, now that you know what's going on, here's the conclusion to our magic pantsed holiday adventure...

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Big Pants Mouse Holiday Special (Part 1)

2007-12-17T18:39:00.000-08:00

Here's the first part of the Big Pants Mouse Holiday comic I did in 2001:

Enjoy!

What thoughts percalate in that little pup's twisted mind? Stay tuned for part 2!

A Big Pants Mouse Holiday Treat

2007-12-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

Finallly a new post! Geeze that took forever! I can't believe how irresponsible I am!

Well, I'll finish punishing myself later.

No in all seriousnes, I took a break from painting/illustration to work on some very interesting projects that will be coming to you soon...

In the meantime, I thought you patient peoples would like to see an old Christmas card I did. See, every year I used to do a little Christmas card or comic and send it out to keep in touch with all of my family in Pennsylvania and friends inbetween. It was a good way to give a little for the holidays because sometimes this was the only thing people would get from me because I was just starting out...

Here's the card:

Would you guys like to see more? I have a really rare 20 page Chrismas comic if you would like to see that...?

LA Bigfoot

2007-08-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

Bigfoot has been sited in Hollywood! Now at the LA Myth show at Meltdown Comics.

That's right, first painting with NO color comp! I went with a really loose wash this time around. It was quite fast and fun. I will definitely try more of this with new pieces...

The only drawback is losing some of the subtle shapes...

I know You Are But What Am I?

2007-07-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

Here's my one contribution to the Crazy 4 Cult Show at Gallery 1988:

"I know you are but what am I?"
Acrylic on Illustration Board

I picked one of my all-time favorite movies, Pee Wee's Big Adventure. I knew that someone was going to do a piece about Pee Wee's "troubles" with the law. I never really agreed with the rep that Paul Reubens got after all that, so I decided to do a straight homage to the movie.

But, I love Francis (Mark Holton). I think he is the unsung hero of Pee Wee's Big Adventure. He was just a spoiled rich kid who was so dumb that it never occured to him to hire someone to make a Pee Wee bike for himself. I guess nothing can be as good as the original...

Don't forget that Phil Hartman had a cameo in the movie, but more impotantly wrote it with Paul Reubens.
Maybe next year I'll do a Big Lebowski piece...

I Am 8 Bit Everywhere!

2007-05-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

There is so much press for the I am 8-Bit show this year! Check out some!

The always amazing Old Man Musings
The cool coverage on Game One

Game Jew is always bare chested

A funny account of the night on Elizabeth Ito's blog
Vinyl Pulse has some pics plus a video
The show is still up! You can see it the real pieces in person at Gallery 1988!

Go Frisbee Bear Go!

2007-04-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a piece I did for the Picks of the Harvest Show this Friday at Thinkspace Gallery. Maybe I'll see you there?

Oh Frisbee Bear...

Wario Needs Love Too

2007-03-28T01:16:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest for the I Am 8-Bit Show.

With this piece, and all my new stuff, I've been really inspired by chaildren book illustrators from the 70s.

It's called "Wario Needs Love Too"

Acrylic and Ink on Illustration Board

I've been trying to begun to really stray from the digital rough...

El Tigre Poses

2007-03-13T23:31:00.000-07:00

Here's some of my work from El Tigre.

These are what we can "specialty poses". These are poses hand picked by Jorge, Roman, and I. We choose these poses for many reasons. Maybe you can't create these poses with just the stock flash main character model pack, or maybe we feel we can plus the storyboard drawing, and sometimes to make it easier on the overseas studio.

I bring the storyboard drawings into flash and basically redraw/tighten up the pose. Sometimes that means a total redo, but mostly it's getting it basically on model the right way with the "Tigre" type of cheats.

I supervise all the specialty poses for every episode done by the amazing Chris Battle, Ernie Gilbert, Fred Osmond, Katie Rice, or Steve Lambe. All of which are then inked by the last linebender Su Moon. I also have a select few for me to do as well:

From the main title opening (storyboard by Dave Thomas):

From Episode 1 (storyboard by Ricky Garduno):

From Episode 2 (storyboard by Eddie T):

Marios 4-9

2007-03-04T23:45:00.000-08:00

Here's the results of a very busy weekend:

SMB2

Wrecking Crew

SMB1

SML1

NSMB

SMB1

These are all of them. If I have more time, I'm going to try to get 3 more large pieces done too...

You guys wanna see some Tigre stuff?

Marios: 1-3

2007-03-01T09:31:00.000-08:00

Here's the very first of the new paintings for the upcoming I Am 8 Bit show.

I am doing a total of 9 Marios all together all based on his various pallettes in the games.

I am also trying a new approach to the paintings, What do you think? Old pantings more or the newer "poppier" style?

DK1

SMB1

SMB3

New Doodles For All

2007-01-28T03:23:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry I've been negelcting this little blog 'o mine, but it was for a worthy cause. I've been feverishly working on my pilot for Cartoon Network up until a week ago, now it is the capable hands of some talented animators. (Let them worry about it--hee hee)

Here's some doodles, one's fresh one's from last year:

There will be some mario goodness coming next, that pesky I am 8-bit show is in April already!

2006-12-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

Love'em or leash'em - MLaaTR (part 1)

Here's the first part to the Teenage Robot that I boarded. I can't take as much credit for this, Rob Renzetti and Alex Kirwan are to thank. They came up with some funny stuff for this one and let me put all my weird stuff in there too. Enjoy!

2006-12-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

Love'em or leash'em - MLaaTR (part 2)

Here's the second Part. Enjoy!

El Tigre Is Coming!

2006-11-26T18:03:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been super busy doing work on Nickelodeon's El Tigre created by the greats Jorge Guitterez and Sandra Equihua. If you haven't heard of it, check out this!

(yes, I did draw two out of three of these poses)

More to come soon!

2006-10-29T12:28:00.000-08:00

2006-10-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

My Dexter's Lab

2006-10-25T21:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to one of the Dexters' I wrote and storyborded and directed by the great Chris Savino. The way the show was done was great! They would give me like paragraph and I got to come up with all the jokes and write all the dialogue. It was tons of fun!

I've never seen the second one. It was about Dee's stuffed animals comin to life and Dexter and Dee Dee trying to hide them. If there is anyone out there who has it on tape or DVD, please email me!

Lightning Rod

2006-09-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

Heres Ben's most important invention the lightning rod. Why is it the most important invention? Well, houses keep being struck by lightning and burning down, so Ben invented the lightning rod at the ripe age of 46 after doing his famed kite experiment with his son.

Ben wanted to install one of his lightning rods on a church. They thought it was going against God's will and refused. Ben explained that there is no objection to roofs to stop rain so why not lightning rods to stop lightning?

Lightning rods were popular and fashionable that people started putting them on umbrellas.
I thought it would be funny if Ben invented the first lightning rod hat...

Glass Armonica

2006-09-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

Here's Ben's Glass Armonica, which is also inaccurately called a Glass Harmonica. See, the amazing Mr. Franklin invented this insturment 60 years before the harmonica! Ok, with that said, this insturment is based on wetting your finger and running arouud the rim of a wine glass to make a haunting noise. This is the same principal. In fact Mozart actually composed a piece for the Glass Armonica, you can hear it here.

This is what this weirdo insturment looks like:

Next is Ben's most important invention...

The First American

2006-09-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

This is one of my all time heroes Ben Franklin. I'm from Pennsylvania, and growing up close to Philadelphia, all us kids would be told how great Ben Franklin was, but I didn't really believe it until much later.

I think it was something like 3rd grade we all went on a field trip the "city of brotherly love" and went to visit all the sites: the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Betsy Ross's house. Then when we thought the day was over, the teacher walked us up to a fence and showed us a slab of concrete on the ground. She told us it was Ben Franklin's grave! That's when I knew he was a real person! We threw pennies on the grave and moved on, but Ben stuck with me...

Later in school we were told more about Mr. Franklin. He would schedule out every second of every day to be as efficient as he could including baths, time with his wife, and prayer. I vowed to do that very thing... Years later, I don't schedule out every second, but as my friends can attest, I get close!

Last year PBS aired a really cool documentary all about him and it rejuvenated my interest in Mr. Franklin. He invented a whole bunch of cool stuff just from tinkering around his house, and having a curious mind. He was a scholar, printer, diplomat, writer, and revolutionary.

He was called "The First American" because up to that point in history, everyone living in the colonies were thought of as citizens of England. He was born in America and got a lot of world recognition for his inventions, discoveries, and diplomacy. So he might not have technically been the very first american, but he the world regocognized him as such...

2006 his 300th birthday and I needed to do something to celebrate the guy...

The next two paintings are based on his inventions...

Four Wheelers Art Online!

2006-08-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

The show went really well! It was a lot of fun, a lot of my frinends showed up to show their support! Thanks all!

If you are a fan or a food eater, swing on by the Gallery 1988 website to see phots of all the remaining pieces, and maybe even one of the lucky few proud owers of said paintings! You'd better hurry though, the show is only up until September 14th!

Enjoy!

Pizza Mia for the Four Wheelers

2006-08-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

Well tonight's the big night, the Four Wheelers artshow at Gallery 1988. The opening reception is tonight at 7pm.

I hope all my painting sell! If they don't sell, it looks like a select few migh be getting some really cool Christmas presents...

This painting is based on my fiancee Karla's favorite food ...PIZZA! I think it's one of her favorite paintings just because of that...

The final 5 paintings will be posted, stay tuned!

Mr. Swiss

2006-08-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

Oh Mr. Swiss... will you ever give up the cheese?
Do you think Mr. Swiss would make a cool vinyl toy?

14/20 tomorrow...

Drum Stickly

2006-08-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

Another one of my favorite foods, the Fried Chicken Leg. How come the leg is so much better than the wing?

13/20 tomorrow...

Short Stack

2006-08-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the last in the breakfast series, and my personal favorite because it kinda reminds me of the great Rex Hackelberg...

...maybe it's the colors or colours as he would say...

12/20 tomorrow...

Belgium Waffler

2006-08-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

What's better than waffles? Well Belgium waffles! I watched a whole show on the food network about these tasty breakfast treats! This was the most popular "new" food at the 1964 world's fair!

Tomorrow is 11 of 20...

Hammond Eggs

2006-08-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

The second part of a complete breakfast...

10 0f 20 tomorrow...

Hot Joe Joe

2006-08-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

Here's the first of four from my breakfast series. Isn't coffee the best way to start the day... don't touch the stuff myself.

painting number 9 of 20 tomorrow...

Four Wheelers!

2006-08-08T01:28:00.000-07:00

Well, the time is finally upon us! What is this I speak of you ask? Well, Gallery 1988 asked me to be in a 4 man art show a couple months ago and I said yes! Then they told me that I needed to paint 20-30 paintings for the show! Yikes!

That was 18 paintings ago... and now the show is opening at Gallery 1988 next week! Tuesday August 15th at 7PM with Thomas Han, Bwana Spoons, and Scott Morse! If I sell a lot of paintings, maybe they will ask me to be in some more shows and maybe eventually earn a solo show! It all depends on you guys...

This painting is called "Tex Mex", and was the first of the food series to be based on a real person! My friend Ricky Garduno and I were eating at a diner, and I saw this guy eaing a taco salad. He just happened to look exactly like one of my paintings. So, I drew him and ran home and did a painting even he would be proud of, I hope.

I'm going to post a painting everyday form now and the show, so stay tuned...

One Shady Character

2006-07-27T01:19:00.000-07:00

Here's A painting I did of a "Shady Character" for the "Shady Characters" Art Show which opens tomorrow, Friday, July 28th, at the 'Live with Animals' Gallery (210 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211)

If you're in the New York Area, be sure to check it out!

The show is curated by my pal Jared Deal.

Comic-Con Development Panel

2006-07-18T23:51:00.000-07:00

I'll be on a development panel this weekend at the San Diego Comic-Con. This is my 4th consecutive year doing panels! I love the chance to help young and old artists who are thinking of pitching an idea for a show.

(Comic-Con 2005)

I'm showing some exclusive development art! See ya there!

Here's the details:

Saturday 1:30-2:30 Pitching an Animated Show— How do you get your cartoon on the air? Selling an animated series isn’t as easy as it seems. The process is as creative as it is frustrating—and equal parts unpredictable. The major networks get thousands of pitches every year, so is there a secret recipe to getting your idea on the top of the pile? Maybe, and these are the people to tell you: the executives responsible for shepherding new shows at the major studios, including Eric Coleman, VP animation, development & production at Nickelodeon; Heather Kenyon, senior director of development original animation for Cartoon Network; Mike Moon, vice president, animated series at The Disney Channel; Halle Stanford, head of children’s programming for The Jim Henson Company; and creators Jorge R. Gutierrez (Nickelodeon’s upcoming 2007 series El Tigre) and Gabe Swarr (Big Pants Mouse), both industry veterans currently in development on several projects. This will be an hour chock-full of wisdom, woes, and even a few “you-saw-it-here-first” surprises, moderated by animation writer/creator Jon M. Gibson, also in development. Room 5AB

Swarr Family circa 1982-3

2006-07-11T02:10:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago I went home to Pennsylvania to a little town where my parents now live called Mt. Gretna. It was to celebrate the 25th wedding anniversary of my parents!

As a gift, I did a painting but as if I travelled back in time to 1982 or 1983 (somewhere around there) and walked up to my house where I grew up, and did portrait of us: my Dad, my Mom, my brother Zach, and me holding our cat Junior.

My parents loved it and my friends and I knew that my Mom would cry when she saw it, because she's really sappy when it comes to stuff like this!

All the reference was attained from about 20+ photos taken during that yearand all the outfts are accurate and totally in there 1980's hideousness.

Here's my parents today holding their favorite anniversary present!

Pooh Painting Artists

2006-06-21T23:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of the two artists who created this painting experiment:

Grace Green and some guy named Gabe

When I asked Grace why she made Winnie the Pooh pink, she replied "I like pink." Then I asked why she made the characters floating and she replied "They're floating?" She's so cute! Thanks for the inspration Grace!

Pooh Painting

2006-06-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of the coolest/weirdest ideas for an art show! You take a classroom of school children and read a Winnie the Pooh storybook to them. Then, each kid gets assigned one page to illustrate, but without looking at the book. Then, that drawing, This one done by Grace:

is given to an artist, then they do a painting based on the drawing.

At the art show they are going to display my piece next to Grace's piece. Then the last step, the galleries proceeds get donated to the school.

My piece is titled "Weren't Together" becuase that's the reason that Christopher Robins is crying, he's imagining what it would be like if him and Pooh were no longer friends.

So, please come to the art show, help these kids, and enjoy all the interpretaions of cool kids' drawings.

The show starts this Tuesday June 20th at Gallery 1988 (Melrose and LA Brea)at 7PM. The show features 19 real artistsand me.

Blubberfish

2006-06-07T00:19:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen someone like this in a restaurant?! I did, and he inspired this painting! He wasn't eating a whole fish though... (I made that part up)

Do you know anyone has ever eaten a whole fish--head and all?

Jello! How Are You?

2006-06-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Food from a bygone era: the jello mold...

I can only imagine what these molds filled with fish, fruit, hot dogs and/or meat products tasted like. Have any of you ever had the pleasure?

More Orange Food

2006-05-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here's one more from the greatst food group ever: orange!

This one was partly based on my fiancee's pet rabbit named Suki.

I am going to dedicate this painting that little creature because she ran away recently... God speed Suki to where ever you are!

(dress and photo by Karla Equihua)

Cheese Curls!

2006-05-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

Ha! Here's one that everybody missed! Cheese curls! Orange food is the best! It's my favorite food group! It has everything: carrots, mac and cheese, cheese nips/cheez-its, better cheddars, some assortments of garlic bread, and their king, oranges.

Beef Loaf

2006-05-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

Oh Beef, one of the tastiest animals God every put on this world.

Beef might require more than one painting...what do you think?

I have a list of foods I am about to paint, but I need more! Are there any foods that you love thet YOU think require immortalizing in a painting?

Evil Sprouts

2006-05-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

I hate Brussels Sprouts! I think they are the one of worst things to ever happen to this earth, I guess diseases and wars are pretty bad too, come to think of it...

...I dont know, I always thought I would die of pure disgust if I ate brussels sprouts too...

Now something a little tastier...

2006-05-15T03:51:00.000-07:00

I'm in a four man artshow at Gallery 1988 in August with none other than Bwana Spoons, Thomas Han, Scott Morse.

I wanted to do a couple of paintings about one of my favorite things--food! More tasty treats to come...

A Painting For Keji Inufune

2006-05-14T02:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a painting I did for the creator of Mega Man Keji Inufune. I was supposed to present it to him at the private Capcom I am 8-Bit closing show on Wednesday night, but lo and behold, he never showed! Well, he supposedly got the painting the next day at E3, thanks to my good friend Jon Gibson.

I was really nervous to do a painting for Keji Inufune. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say and show.

This is my favorite game in the series, Mega Man 3. The first appearance of Rush his dog. I remember as a kid wanting a dog like Rush that can turn into a floating platform, a submarine and a springboard. I also like the idea of the really american notion of a "boy and his dog" introduced in a Japanese video game. What better way to show my appreciation for his idea?

Poop exchange!

2006-04-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

Today I adopted a new son--a poop! Thanks to my pal Anna Chambers! And all it cost me a measly poop painting! Ha! She fell for it! Thanks Anna for the new son! I will raise him right!

Here's the first time I saw my new son!

This poo is a scienfitic oddity too! The first turd able to reproduce by itself!

Here's the painting entitled "Happy New Rear"...

Thanks again Anna, I'm glad you liked that piece of crap I made for you!

My Mario Poster for Nintendo Power Magazine!

2006-04-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

Well, today's the big day for the I Am 8-Bit art show! What better day to announce my secret project I ask you? Well here it is, finally!

I was hired by Nintendo Power to do a huge Mario pullout poster! It's in the next issue (June 2006/V204) that ships in 2 days! It's part of a huge 9 page story all about I Am 8-Bit show.

I spent a long time on this digital piece. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to post it, but I did make for you, a key to all the characters that appear in the poster! Now when you get the magazine, you can impress all your friends by knowing the difference between a Beezo and a Telectro!

Side Stepper-MB
Fighter Fly-MB
Phanto-SMB2
Hoopster-SMB2
Mario-SMB2
Lakitu-SMB
Para Koopa-SMB
Pokey-SMB3
Bonzai Bill-SMW
Clawgrip-SMB2
Triclyde-SMB2
Toad-SMB2
Tweeter-SMB2
Ninji-SMB2
Shy Guy-SMB2
Beezo-SMB2
Birdo-SMB2
Rocky Wrench-SMB3
Lemmy Koopa-SMB3
Ludwig Von Koopa-SMB3
Iggy Koopa-SMB3
Spiney-SMB
Pidget-SMB2
Wario-SML2
Roy Koopa-SMB3
Princess Peach-SMB2
Mario Plane
Spiney-SMB
Luigi-MK
Monty Mole-SMW
Wendy O. Koopa-SMB3
The Angry Sun-SMB3
Morton Koopa Jr.-SMB3
Larry Koopa-SMB3
Wart-SMB2
Bowser-SMB
Mario in Kuribo’s Shoe-SMB3
Rabbit Eared Mario (from the Power Carrot)-SML
Tanooki Mario-SMB3
Mario-WC
Mario in Frog Suit-SMB3
Mario
Boos-SMW
Racoon Mario-SMB3
Giant Koopa-SMB3
Dr. Mario-DM
Goombas-SMB
Donkey Kong-MK
Bowser-MK
Toad-MK
Red Virus-DM
Blue Virus-DM
Yellow Virus-DM
Piranha Plant-SMB
Telectro-SMB3
Buzzy Beetle-SMB
Chargin’ Chuck-SMW
Pac-flower-SMB3
Cheep Cheeps-SMB
Hammer Brother-SMB
Para-Bomb-SMW
Mario on Yoshi-SMW
Blargg-SMW
Big Bertha-SMB3
Bloops-SMB

MB = Mario Brothers (Arcade)
SMB = Super Mario Brothers (NES)
SMB2 = Super Mario Brothers 2 (NES) (USA release)
SMB3 = Super Mario Brothers 3 (NES)
SMW = Super Mario World (SNES)
MK = Mario Kart (SNES)
DM = Dr. Mario (NES)
WC = Wrecking Crew (NES)
SML = Super Mario Land (GB)
SML2 = Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GB)

Make sure you read the post below this one too! You'll miss out on some amazing art!

ALERT! New blog from Scott Campbell!

2006-04-18T00:41:00.000-07:00

Yes that's right, a new blog from the art director of Psychonauts and all around cool guy my pal, Scott Campbell! He's amazing as you can plainly see!

Dragon Practice

Check it out!

Weird Graffiti

2006-04-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

Here's some weird graffiti that appeared at the I Am 8 Bit Book signing in San Francisco this weekend. Link

The End of an Era?

2006-04-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Well, this marks the last of my pieces for the I Am 8-Bit artshow which starts next week...

I'm kind of sad because I loved painting for this show a lot. I really really like video games and I wish that's all I could do all day long, but I do need that day job.

For my last hoo-rah I did one of the greatest video game characters of all time-MEGA MAN (aka Rockman in Japan).

I really am a HUGE Mega Man fan and it was really hard to get a design I was happy with. I really like the original design a lot, even if it is HEAVILY influenced by Osamu Tekzuka's Astroboy...

That's another discussion all together. But here's my first attempts:

As you can see, BORING! Too much like poo for me.

Then I saw the new official Capcom redesign.

It looks kinda cool right? Naw, I have strong feelings about this one! I thought this was an American redesign because of some of the choices made. One thing that really bugs me about American rip-offs of Anime/Manga is our lack of what makes it design appealing in the first place. The original sprite is so great, it's already SD (super deformed), and squat, but not a caricature of a normal guy.

It has its own design, then to ignore a lot of those proportional choices and just shrink the body seemed kind of lazy to me.

When I found out it was directly from Capcom Japan, I was shocked!

Don't get me wrong, the new game is really cool, the animation is amazing and I think they did a lot of cool things to the original game mechanics and level design, but that design...

So, here's mine. I tried to keep his proportions squat, his chest broad. I tried to keep him "cool" looking with expressions and color choices:

What do you think? Do you like the new Capcom design, or thoughts on the new game? You think I'm crazy with these opinions of the redesign? Do you think I should do a series of Mega Man bosses?

Vot Not by Dave Wasson

2006-04-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give a shout out about VOT NOT the new t-shirt line designed by my friend the great Dave Wasson! People might have thought he was dead after Time Squad, but boy are you guys wrong! He's alive and kickin' butt! Check it out!

www.vot-not.com

Take Two And Call Me In The Morning

2006-04-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a painting I did as a trade to my new painting pal Amanda Visell.

She convinced me to try painting with cel vinyl again after almost 10 years!

I was so happy when she asked for a Dr. Mario piece! It's by far my favorite puzzle game, (and not just because Mario's in it).

Another painting tomorrow...

Crispy Creepies

2006-03-29T17:22:00.000-08:00

Here's my illustration for the new "Cereal Killers" book for Von Kreep over at Kreepsville Industries.

I really wanted to do a lesser known cereal, so I based mine on a cereal called Crispy Critters circa 1966. I loved the layout of these boxes so much. I love how they really frame the character with text and cereal shapes...

Here's the sketch:

Here's the flat version (before photoshop textures):

Hanna Barbera Doodles

2006-03-28T19:56:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. I took a little break from painting to do some other projects. I'll announce more soon...

I was watching the Huckleberry Hound DVD the other day and just had to do a couple doodles. Does anyone even remeber these charcters or like them?

I love Huckleberry Hound, I think he's my favorite HB character...who's yours?

Legend of Zelda

2006-03-19T01:32:00.000-08:00

Well, here's my second series of paintings (three all together) I'm doing for this year's I Am 8-bit Show.

I picked Ledend of Zelda because this is actually the second game I ever got for the NES. Oh the harsh Pennsylvania winter of 1986 was warmed by searching a new world filled with little weird creatures lurking about bushes and tombstones.

The game was amazing, but another really cool thing were the illustrations from the manual. They looked like a Disney cartoon I have never seen! There was this little blond-haired kid )who looked like me) killing bats and searching though dungeons.

I wanted to try something new for this piece so I tried lots of rendering techniques and color comps:

I finally settled on this one:

The final "Antique Link" is (5.5. X 9") acrylic on spruce:

I was only going to do one painting but I really liked how Link turned out so I decided to do 4 small (5x5") paintings on partical board post ends. I drew the ideas on little post-its:

I scanned them in and tightened them up:

Here's the final paintings:

Would you buy paintings like these for 50 bucks?

Newest Marios

2006-03-16T09:34:00.000-08:00

Here's some new Mario paintings I did for this year's I Am 8-Bit show. When thinking about the new pieces, I wanted to try to do ideas I didn't have a chance to touch on the first time around.

Here's a little known fact that Mario had a submarine from Mario Land for the Gameboy:

I always try to incorporate the frame into the color choices and sometimes the actual design. I'll have to track down a picture of the framed piece.

(This really isn't the best scan of this piece, sorry!)

Mario 3 Power ups---I know, I'm missing Kuribo's Shoe, but I'm saving that one...

This was actually my first painting entirely digital to paint, no physical rough...

Next post, Legend of Zelda paintings!

Comments Welcomed

2006-03-15T18:48:00.000-08:00

Sorry all, I'm still new to all this blogging and I have some kind of comment moderation set? No wonder nobody was commenting on anything! Well, you're free! You opinions high or low, left or right, all are welcomed!

"Remixing the Magic"

2006-03-14T00:31:00.000-08:00

Finally caught up to the present! Here's my new paintings I did for the "Remixing the Magic" show at Galley 1988 which was just taken down. I wanted to do a couple more, but I seemed to run out of time toward the end there...

When first asked to do paintings based on any Disney movie or character, I immediately went straight to one of my favorite artists who also happens to be one of the nine old men, Ward Kimball. He's my hero, not just because of his later more stylized cartoons, but mostly becausae he's an amazing animator. The more I study his scenes, I always discover countless subtle actions he layers into them. He was a genius, and will live on in his work...

This is a very self explainatory illustration of Mickey and Minnie's realationship, especailly in the Ub Iwerks cartoons... I wonder if Walt and Ub were having girl problems back then...

Commissioned Paintings

2006-03-10T18:24:00.000-08:00

Here's two paintings I did for money! People pay for these?! I guess they do!

This is my version of a classic cartoon character for Barry Blumberg the previous President of Walt Disney Television Animation. I always wanted to do a painting of Micky with no black in it.

color comp

final

This is my version of a new cartoon character called El Tigre. This was for my new boss Dave Thomas. Dave's only request is that he wanted Tigre to be in an action pose. I think it's pretty action packed...

sketch

color comp

final

I'm open to commissioned pieces all the time, so if you're willing to pay for this, then I'll do my best to please!

Man, I wish there was some way to retain those colors from the comps. Any advise on how to acomplish this impossible task is much appreciated! Next post is Disney stuff, stay tuned!

Super Mario World 2005

2006-03-08T17:50:00.000-08:00

After my first mario paintings sold at the show, the curators asked me to do another peice for the closing party. For some reason I forgot about all the pain that went into the first 3 pieces and decided to do the "ultimate mario painting". I started to think of the best game to do. As luck would have it, I just played through "Super Mario World" for the SNES a couple of months before this. I was blown away by the sprites, the gameplay the environments, music and characters in that game, so the chioce was natural. I started with some reference-oh the wonders of the internets! Then drawing-- I couldn't stop, and before I knew it, I redesigned pretty much every character in the game!

That's good for the enemies but what about the stars?! Well, those are always the most fun:

Then once I was happy with some of those characters, I figured out how to fit 'em all in there!

Now color! The best part! The most fun! When I started referencing the colors of the game, I found out that Miyamoto/Nintendo actually had a real color script in the game! Wow! Even more genius! So I tried to incorporate that:

Yes, this is a color comp created in flash. I find it's the easiest way to resize/color/layer and export everything.
So, now the most dreadful part of the piece must commence...the painting! Here's some rare pics of the work in progress.

Well, after the second night, I finished the Background, and I hated it! I thought it looked terrible!
So, the next night I completely started over and repainted the entire background!
Then the characters...

Then finally, after 4 nights, the "ultimate mario painting" which turned into the "ultimate pain in the butt" was finished!

Here's some other doodles from the first Mario pieces:

Now that I'm all caught up on old paintings, time for some new ones!

Mario Paintings 2005

2006-03-07T19:55:00.000-08:00

These are the my paintings from last years I Am 8-Bit art show at Gallery 1988. As you can obviously see, I was still painfully trying to learn how to paint. I'm glad I got a little better since then or these would have been the only Gabe Swarr paintings the world would have ever seen!

Why Mario you ask? Anyone that knows me knows that I like that puny plumber (just a little)...

I even got me one of these!

There is one more GIANT painting I did for the closing party of the show. I'll post that one soon enough!

Hello All!

2006-03-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

I'll do my darndest to keep up with the rest of you bloggers out there!