By: Gabe Swarr,
on 3/4/2013
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 4/5/2012
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 11/29/2011
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 8/14/2011
Check out some of the movies and press from the show:
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 8/10/2011
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 3/18/2011
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:
Please help Japan. Thank you.
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 12/24/2010
Wishing you and your family a happy holiday this season. Please enjoy the latest episode of Life In The Analog Age.
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 11/2/2010
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
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 7/20/2010
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.
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 5/25/2010
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
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 1/30/2010
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:
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 12/7/2009
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.
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 11/5/2009
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!
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 8/11/2009
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!
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 7/6/2009
Here's a link to an article from my home town Lancaster newspaper. Warning: mixed up facts and embarrassing photo!
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 4/7/2009
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!
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 4/2/2009
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!
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 3/20/2009
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
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 8/20/2008
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!
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 8/12/2008
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
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 7/31/2008
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.
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 7/22/2008
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...
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 5/13/2008
"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.
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 5/5/2008
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!
By: Gabe Swarr,
on 3/19/2008
I directed a music video/promo for Radiohead and Aniboom.
Wow!! This is great, Gabe!!! Very easy to use!!!
Finally, all your COOL stuff in one place! NICE Job Son!