Forking heck.

Nice little article on Lamington in Total Licensing UK.

I scanned the clipping, but can I find a link to the article online? No. Oh well. It's nice to know the little puppy is generating some ink... on real paper!

Bullseye

When James Hutchinson and I set out to make Lamington, we felt it was best aimed at teen girls. In fact, we felt that he was the Rob Pattinson of puppies.

He's just started to spread on Facebook. And the stats show a near perfect bullseye. The circled bit is girls aged 13 - 17.

Lamington would be proud, if only he knew what that emotion was.

A superb storyboard artist, animator, revolutionary.

Well he looks like a revolutionary, but he's not. Stefan is a fabulous storyboard artist and one of the reasons Groove High is so groovy.

Why the beard? Not Movember, this started a while back. Stefan is simply protesting the lack of government in Belgium by not shaving until they form a new government. It's a popular protest and apparantly much of Belgium look like this now.

Simon Bullen - Groove High editing marathon

What? It can't be. All the offlines finished?! All to time? Simon Bullen super editor. Those weren't long days... Just short nights. Simon. Are you ok Simon? What's that? You've lost the ability to blink?

Me and the Missus Make a Cameo in Groove High

Editing in Ireland.

Just look at that. Sunshine in Ireland! You know why it's sunny? Because there's only one episode left to edit on the live action part of Groove High. It's sunny outside and deep inside my soul.

See that intense look in my eye? That's me trying to think of how I'm going to trim 2 hours out of what's meant to be a 20 minute episode. Ok, 3 minutes, but it can sometimes feel like more. I'm sure we'll do it. We always do, and ironically once you cut something, you might miss it, but you never actually want to put it back. When it's gone, it's gone.

See that pub behind me? That's where a pint of Guiness is being poured now, in anticipation of us finishing the last offline and getting it up on the ftp to Disney.

And tomorrow it's back on a plane to London. Life is good.

The last bit from the first season.

There's a fine line between corny and sentimental. Johnny played the final moment without the dialogue.

No words needed. Less is often more.

And the crew from Telegael. A Craic team!

I can't thank the cast and crew enough, so I shall continue to do so.

You all made the impossible, possible... and funny! Thanks again.

More Groove High. Sam as a fairy princess, Tom as an angry elf

And some more pics from Groove High shoot in Ireland.

Some more pics from the Groove High live action shoot in Ireland.

Sunday In The Recording Studio With Sam Barks

Working on a Sunday, but a fun Sunday. Doing ADR with the lovely Samantha Barks. That's a picture of her in the booth as taken from the monitor. We sort of direct ala cctv.

She's a super duper pro and handled the lip sync with ease.

ADR (additional dialogue record) is an art unto itself and she sailed through 2 days work in a day; a Sunday no less!!

We're now in the home stretch on Groove High and I think I can actually see the finish line.

music is getting groovy on Groove High

And now we're up to the music in Groove High. Hello Belgium! This is the lovely talented Eric Reinwart, as we finish the music on Ep001. This guy knows his way around a guitar, and there's about a dozen to choose from in his studio. Could he be the real Tom Mason? Or the Belgian Tom Mason? I think so.

A quick fun clip from Groove High.

The Pot Of Gold At The End Of The Rainbow

This is what I do for a living.

James Phillips was secretly filming me pointing that crazy red pen at the other actors.

Yes, this is what I do for a living.

Hollywood

Whenever I go to Los Angeles I always go to two places, Duck Soup book shop and Fred Segal. I buy too many books at Book Soup and usually one very nice thing for my wife at Fred Segal. (it's a painfully trendy clothes and gifts store). It's a bit like Harvey Nichols over here. Pricey and trendy.

To my amazement... Fred Segal had LAMINGTON CARDS ON SALE in their super trendy card section!!!!

I now officially LOVE Fred Segal and I watched someone far richer and trendier than I could ever hope to be, actually buy one. I complimented her on her botox and her taste in cards.

The Cast Of Escape Hockey

It's fast, it's furious, it's also fun. Here's the cast of Escape Hockey along with the directors and producer outside Tamborine in Soho. I'm voice director and somehow I've been cast as a idiotic fat clone and a even stupider monster with dubious hygiene. Typecast again.

Another one from the cutting room floor

Damned gets another nod.

Richard Phelan's gorgeous film 'Damned' just got Honourable Mention in the Curtinhas Competition at the Vila do Conde International Film Festival. This means two things, it means yet another notch on the bedpost of a very fine film, and I now know where Vila do Conde is.

I have a credit on that film somewhere. Can't wait to get to a fest myself to watch it up on the big screen.

Damned Trailer from Richard Phelan on Vimeo.

More things from the cutting room floor.

Is that a foot?

Cutting Room Floor

Sometimes you just know you should cut a frame before sending it in to Disney. Nothing rude here, but then again, it's just not right either. Great drawing but too flirty I think.

One of the many reasons I like to work in France.

Now this is a salad!

Me at work.

Comedy can be such a serious business, or so it would seem from this pic of me, Giles, Brandan, and Javier. What the heck are we all talking about there? Either I'm directing something very specific on Escape Hockey... or we're ordering lunch.

I love directing voice and I always throw in the odd voice to every show I've ever made, but for this one I was actually cast to play two lead parts of two insane monsters. One is an idiot (typecasting) and the other is stupider than the idiot (should I take a hint here) and forever eating whatever is in his path, including people, air fresheners, younameit. Good fun. Lunch was good too.

Pacing myself.

I'm in a crazy crunch at the moment on a rewrite. Wonderful project, but I've got to nail no less than 10 pages a day. No pressure then. But I need to pace myself or Act III will be rushed. So that means the dog gets a few extra walks beyond the daily minimum. He gets me away from the machine from time to time. So I can empty my head and daydream for a moment, but not for too long. Some writers invade the fridge, others own dogs. Well, this is why I own a dog, and this is the woods we walk through on our break.

Picture taken yesterday morning.

Duke tells Zoe to shhh...

Groove High is looking good. Love this shot of Zoe.

Groove High - Crew Photo

Stefan Vermeulan, our head of boards had to leave the show for a film that he's been delaying for ages.

He's been on GH for a very long time, and all were sad for him to leave. As was he... but short films and Oscar nominations beckon.

This team photo was part of his farewell... amazing how we all look like the cast from GH and yet we all look the same. We're all growing into the show.

Lamington for sale on Amazon.

Not sure who buys cards over the internet... apparantly lots and lots of people do this.

Well, if you're one of those people... or want to be just like them, only cooler, then hop over to Amazon, and order a clutch of Lamington cards. Keep 'em in your cupboard and send when there's an occasion.

Or just order 'em and put them up on the wall. And take down that 'hang in there till monday poster'.

Lucky Fred coming to Disney Channel in the Autumn.

Just had a sneak peek of the new series of Lucky Fred, for which I did casting and voice direction (and the odd voice). Oooh, it's looking very cool indeed. Well done Imira.

The to do list.

This was my work to do list for today. Some nutty notes in there. How often does one have to make the cow sound less mysterious and more forthright. And that's what I love about this biz.

Some fun roughs of Zoe in various dance poses.

These are fun. Rough doodle in corner. Key art to send O'seas as main bit. All created by the very talented Heidi Packalen.

A cozy and busy day at the home office.

Stuart, Andreas and Simon and me in there somewhere. A cozy day at the home office.

Samantha Barks sings The Cow Of Love

It's not every day you get to sing with the great Samantha Barks. And I didn't. There's no point in my warbling voice messing anything up.

I'll do the jokes. She can do the high notes. Always a pleasure. Looking forward to the live action... and soup. Oh the soup in Ireland. I dream about it! Showbiz is great, but when the soup's good... everything's good.

Lamington sales report in.

So, for some reason, this card, with Lamington stuck in a rocketship ... this one seems to sell more than any other. What's so cool about that, was the prototype for the card was actually a handmade one I made for my daughter on her 10th birthday. We tweaked it a bit... and voila a Lamington card.

Will Lamington ever get home? Does he really care? I'll bet he likes the peace and quiet up there.

Anyhow, thanks for your support. If you keep loving him, we'll keep making them.

We're getting ready for phase II of Lamington cards already. Hoping to get new cards in the shops in the autumn.

The current cards are doing well and we've just launched in the USA, so things are looking up for our sad little puppy.

If you can't find them in a shop near you, tell your local store to stock 'em. And make big eyes when you ask.

Samantha Barks can sing anything and make it sound amazing. Here's proof. Chris Bemand, Stuart Evans and myself penned a little ditty for Groove High. When Zoe falls in love, she goes on a musical journey of well... a flight of fancy on the Cow Of Love. This is what happens when we don't have a design of a Unicorn, but there's a cow handy. I'm now officially glad we had no unicorn design.

Coco in a bit of random bit of non-imitatable behaviour from Groove High. Thankfully they no longer sell medieval weapons at the mall. Jean Texier, board artist.

Well, we've juuuuuuuuuuuust about recorded the last episode of Groove High. Doing this one with all the actor's separately due to availability. Dang, it's really sad when you hit the last episode. Here's a pic of Beth who plays Coco and Iris (and a zillion other voices) taken over the monitor.

Another gem from Tex. Aka Jean Texier. Someone just walked in.

And today's storyboard frame of the day goes to Fanny, who quite simply draws funny. She could draw a circle and it would be a funny circle. Her line is crisp and clean and if she wasn't so good at boards, she'd probably be a New Yorker cartoonist. Maybe one day she will be.