Masters of the Universe

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a special place in my heart for He-Man and his pals. The brightly colored 80's toys were a favorite of mine in childhood, and I've been collecting the new toys Mattel has been putting out for the last year. Here are a few new paintings inspired by these musclebound goofballs.

Alien for Christmas

Here is the video just in time for Christmas! Enjoy!

Alien for Christmas from Dave Pryor on Vimeo.

Big Movies for Little Kids

Merry Christmas everyone! Another festival update for you. "Alien for Christmas" will be playing at the "Big Movies for Little Kids" festival in Brooklyn NY. Check it out on Monday Dec 7th. at 4pm.

Cobble Hill Cinemas is located at 265 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231(718) 596.9113

Big Movies for Little Kids is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. (BAC)

Little Big Shots - Sydney Opera House

My speaking engagement at the Sydney Opera House was a delight! The festival directors, Chloe Boulton and Nick Place, were more than gracious and really know how to orchestrate a top notch touring festival. The kids at the screening were treated to an excellent array of films from around the globe. Even though the age range was between 2 and 7, they would have eagerly stayed for more films in the program!

Early morning at the Opera House

The festival was held at "The Studio", one of the more intimate theatres within the Opera house

The crowds lines up - waiting to get in. It was a sold out show.

Interior of the theatre as the audience takes their seats. Many kids filled the space by sitting in the open area in the front of the screen.

Festival Director, Nick Place and Me (Dave Pryor)

The next stop on the Little Big Shots tour is Geelong

Geelong Performing Arts Centre
50 Little Malop Street

Geelong October 03, 2009: 11-11.50am: Big shots, small packages 2 Short films for kids aged 3 to 8 (well, OK, you may have missed this one, but December is still coming up!)

December 02, 2009: 9.30-10.30am: Big shots, small packages 2 Short films for kids aged 3 to 7

"Alien for Christmas" hits Sydney AUS

On September 13, AFC will be playing at the Sydney Opera house as part of the "Little Big Shots" film festival. The great news is that since I get to travel to AUS for work a lot, I will get to be there and speak at the showing! So if you live in Sydney and follow my blog, please plan on attending - it should be a memorable one.


Sydney Opera House is Australia's leading performing arts centre and one of the most recognised (and photographed!) venues of the modern world.

- Sydney - September 13, 2009: 10-11am: Big shots, small packages 2 Short films for kids aged 3 to 7

- Swan Hill - September 16, 2009: 11-11.50am: Big shots, small packages 2 Short films for kids aged 3 to 7

The other side of the rainbow

Some fun little creatures waiting for you on this side of the rainbow.  Don't bother looking for a pot of gold here. 

Back to the Brothers

The power of brotherhood is strong! Here is another Super Mario idea - this one showing how Mario and Luigi have each other's back.   They are inseparable.

Cameron Frye

I always liked the conflict John Hughes portrayed between Cameron and his dad (even though only a car represents him, that's enough). 

SUPER MARIO!

Just a big ol' Mario with his spunky brother. My favorite Mario game is still the original Mario Bros. arcade game, which my brother and I played the hell out of on the Atari 26oo. 

The Prisoner

No one can escape from bear island. 

Sleepwalkers

Delicious fate.

CHOKE!

The 2009 art book "Choke!" is now available to buy online! Just click on the sidebar in the books section to link to the "Choke!" page. Also, The first book, "Inner Workings", is back in stock too.

Captain America

The Capt shakin' hands with Mr. O!

Thanks!!!

I'd like to express a HUGE thanks to all those fans who picked up my work at SDCC this week (above is a sampling of those gracious enough to pose with my art). I'm humbled that you considered it worth hanging on your wall, placing on your bookshelf, or pinning to your bag. I really appreciate your support and compliments, and you really made the trip memorable. I had a great time talking with everyone, and the support for "Alien for Christmas" has been outstanding! I hope to see all of you next year!

San Diego Comic Con 2009

Hey everyone, the creation of new art has been pretty bleak for a bit, but the good news is the new art book is complete, and will go on sale tomorrow in San Diego! My second book, again a collaboration with the super talented Bob Rissetto.

The new book is called "Choke!", a collection of independent art from this year. 6x9, hardcover, 100 full color pages. So, why call it Choke? Well, we were gonna be all clever and call it "ART-i-Choke", but something about just the word choke seemed to sound just right. Also, drawing someone getting choked was a lot more fun than drawing a vegetable. It fits right alongside the first book, Inner Workings, which has now been reprinted and is available again after it's sellout last year.

So look for booth F5, say hi, and check out AFC if you haven't seen it in one of the festivals this year. I'll also have a limited supply of high quality art prints for sale - so if you're looking for Hulk smashing a school bus full of kids, or maybe a Russian propaganda inspired Kermit image - you might be in luck!

The Big Robot series makes a return - with 4 more robots added to the series. You may have seen Red and Blue last year. This year, Yellow, Green, Orange, and Purple complete the set.

If you can't make it to Comic Con (I know, it's already a sellout show), we have reserved a bunch of books for online sales (which we will set up soon afterwards), so check back soon for that info.

Australia Festival Update

National Film and Sound Archive
Arc Cinema, NFSA
McCoy Circuit, Acton
Canberra

Arc Cinema, National Film and Sound ArchiveA new, state-of-the-art 250-seat cinema, Arc offers an outstanding cinematic experience and a unique pre-screening light and sound show.

Thursday, July 16, 2009
2-2.50pm: Big shots, small packages #2 Short films for kids aged 3 to 7
Check here for festval details

Little Big Shots International Film Festival for Kids

AFC is now touring in Australia!
It will be appearing in various places thoughout the summer. Sydney details coming soon.

Here are some of the details:

Screens in:

Melbourne
June 03, 2009: 11.30am-12.20pm: Big shots, small packages 2: Short films for kids aged 3 to 7 at Artplay on Birrarung Marr
June 05, 2009: 11.30am-12.20pm: Big shots, small packages 2: Short films for kids aged 3 to 7 at Artplay on Birrarung Marr

Melbourne
June 06, 2009: 11.15am-12.15pm: Big shots, small packages 2 Short films for kids aged 3 to 7
June 08, 2009: 9.30am-10.30am: Big shots, small packages 2: Short films for kids aged 3 to 7

Adelaide
July 18, 2009: 9.30am-10.30am: Session 8 Short films for 3 to 7-year-olds

Kalamazoo Animation Festival International 2009

AFC will be showing at KAFI, May 14-17.

Check out the festival website for all the events!

BAMkids Film Festival - New York!

The next Stop for AFC is New York City - the 11th annual BAMkids Film Festival! Check it out at the end of this month for it's New York Premeire.

Shorts Program: Worldwide Wonders
When: Sat, Feb 28 & Sun, Mar 1 at 3pm

TF backlog

Kermit the Gorf
Moose

Yo-Yo

Skyscraper

Snowman

Vampire

Transformer

Nerd

Yoda

Gun

Elephant

Garbage

Fly

Chef

Umbrella

Pumpkin

Atari 2600 - Adventure T-Shirt

You can't get more classic than Adventure for the Atari 2600. Still the best Dragon design in videogame history. As a Christmas present, I created this T-shirt with all 3 of the dragons in their passive pose. Made with a hand-carved template and some fabric paint.

Kid Drawing

This is a piece I did for the Art Jumble topic - Kid Monster drawings. I had my niece, Jenna, whip something up. She mailed it to me, and I tried to faithfully reproduce the essence of her creation. Nothing can beat that charm that a child can capture so effortlessly.

Chicago International Childrens Film Festival

I just returned from the last evening of the festival and it was an extremely fulfilling experience. The films from around the world were all unique in their own way. Seeing how this fest brought them all together, with the primary purpose to entertain and inspire kids, made it all the more exciting to be a part of. Being from Chicago, the film houses were not too far from my door, but most of the film making attendees came from across the globe.

Here I am at the Nov. 1st showing of my film at the Biograph theatre - answering questions from the crowd. The crew from the film "Elephants" (to the right of me) was in from London. It was a treat to hear audience responses to AFC first hand, laughing and reacting to the humor and tender moments (and getting the applause at the end of coarse). Thanks so much to everyone that said they enjoyed AFC. Hearing that it connects with kids and adults alike is so rewarding for me. The crew from Facets and all the members of the CICFF were extremely friendly and really had the shows well choreographed. Everything ran like a well oiled machine. Even the children, who were a huge part of the audience, were all well behaved and sat quietly in every showing I sat in on.

It was a delight to be a part of this festival. My wife and I already have the brain juice flowing with new film ideas thanks to the inspiring work we saw.

Chicago International Children's Film Festival

AFC will soon be showing in Chicago. Great for me because I can actually attend this fest since I live here! :) Anyone in the area be sure to save one of these dates to attend. There's a Weekday and Weekend showings. See below and look for these show titles to find AFC.

Saturday October 25, 3:00pm - Facets Cinema

Animation shorts block - "That's What Friends Are For!"

Tuesday October 28, 11:45am - Facets Cinema

Animation shorts block - "It's A Small World After All"

Saturday November 1, 11:00am - Biograph Theatre

Sunday, November 2, 11:30am Wilmette Theater

Both days, Animation shorts block - "Perfect Pedigree"

You can also check these links to check the entire CICFF schedule:

Weekday

Weekend

More TF!

Here is the latest TF work from the last couple weeks - the topics I could get to anyway :) Enjoy!

Mailbox

Highway

Juggler

Computer

Wagon

Toad

Robotic Twinkie

Microwave

Skeleton

Giraffe

Grotesque Wonder Woman