This Just In...

Word up. Whatever that means... I was wandering around the office this morning (in between periods of back-breaking, hard work of course) and came across this sketch on Jon's office door. He says he drew it himself but I think it's just a ruse to protect his ego. Judge for yourself: Self-depricating Izen-art... or sad and painful truth?
Kidding, as always. Sir Izen drew it as a reminder to us all that despite his God-like talent and couragesouly contrastive creativity, he is still just mortal like the rest of us. Complete with extra-large nose and the same capacity for sucking (adj. not verb) as anyone else.
Oh no you di'int! (again, whatever that means)

Tales from the Script

Ladies and Gentlemen! I've been neglecting you these past few days and I feel awful about it. To make it up to you I present you with something very special. The genuine Yam Roll script from one of our personal favourite episodes: Dinner Combo C! I'm not entirely sure that I have the legal right to post this so read it quickly before the government comes to my desk and angrily forces me to remove it.

http://www.yamroll.com/myspace/5bscript.pdf

Origyamie (Get it?)

Well helloooo! And how have YOU been? Today I give to you something special. Something one of a kind! A limited edition print of original Izen-Yam Roll art! My how you've grown, Yamie. The lines on the side of the door just keep getting higher ...Does that require explanation? You know how parents mark their kids' height on a door each year? Whatever.
But seriously...If you want a signed print, give us a shout!

San Diego Comi-con

Hey Folks. If you are in the San Diego area for comic-con, roll by the L street Gallery. Jon is going to have some art work up there. Should be a pretty cool show. Some good toy makers are showing some work.
Here's a link to some info...

www.wheatywheat.com/backintheday

and yes...you will not see jon's name listed. I think it's because if they wrote he was participating his 4 fans would maul the place!

If you can't get to the gallery for the show, here is a peek at his art work. If you can get there...please buy it.

Dragon Boat Race Champs! (..of division 5)

Hello friends! I've missed you terribly. I hope all of you had fantastic weekends. Many of our Yam Roll staff competed in the Sudbury Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday. While adorning our Yam Roll t-shirts, we managed to beat the odds and defy all skepticism while capturing 1st place in division 5's consolation round! It was all for the children really. We managed to give hope to the hopeless, inspiration to the uninspired, and heros to those formerly lacking any. I think we've made this country a better place to live with our efforts and, hopefully, people everywhere will strive to better themselves after seeing what can be accomplished. Oooooh Caaaanaa-daaaaaaa!

Yam Roll Invades the U.S.

For those of you not up on your international news, The Very Good Adventures of Yam Roll in Happy Kingdom will be featured on the Cartoon Network this coming fall. I, currently, have no knowledge of it's time slot so I'll get that information to you once I hear it. In the meantime, here are some storyboard panels to look at! Brilliantly scanned and cut by yours truly about 6 months ago. (Jeff Bittle and Jaime LeClaire were the ones that actually DREW the boards. If you're interested in that sorta thing...)

Izenews

Jon Izen has some art work up at Reading Frenzy in Portland, OR. If you are in the area go check it out. He is beside a bunch of fantastic artists
www.readingfrenzy.com

THURSDAY, JULY 6th - MONDAY, JULY 31st

Agua Arte
A Benefit for the Willamette River Keeper, curated by Justin Morrison
We are going to the Water. It will be amazing. You have never seen anything like this before. The Water is moving. It's furious, it's wild and all of our lives depend on it. When you die your body will turn to dust and like all of the other mountains you will crumble and flow into the Water. Until you die and earn a greater understanding of the Water, you can experience an art show that might be better than death. We call it the Agua Arte Show and it's a benefit for Willamette Riverkeeper -- a non-profit organization dedicated solely to the protection and restoration of the Willamette River.

Featuring:
APAK
John Izen
Justin B. Williams
The Reverend Benny Bob
Amy Lynn Morrison
Justin "Scrappers" Morrison
Bwana Spoons
Martin Ontiveros
Brett Superstar
Nicole Thompson

AND!!... Here are some pictures of the BAAAAAABY!
flickr.com/photos/jonandleah/

Stills, Baby! STILLS!

Another day, another blog. Jon's STILL not back to tell me what to blog about (geez! You'd think 2 days would be enough time to spend with a newborn but noooo). Those of you who have just been following since our transition to Blogger.com would have missed out on the production stills that we put up on the MySpace site. For that reason, I give to you.... STILLS!

Smack My Katcho

Woah! Without Mr. Izen here I almost forgot to blog today! How awful would that have been?! I'm sorry to have neglected you all like that. Now let's see... what shall I tell you about... Oh. If you check the complete profile section by clicking on Yam Roll in the upper right corner of the page you will be given the option to listen to an audio track. Thanks to our skilled and lovely editor, Kelly Carlson, you will now hear the Yam Roll theme music upon clicking the button. Try it out!
Just to make sure your ears don't make your eyes jealous, here is another pic from the wrap party. This is the Katcho pinata made from paper mache...mashet...machay.... you know what I'm saying.

Eject 1 Baby

CONGRATULATIONS TO JON AND LEAH! The wife of our director, Jon Izen, has just given birth to a baby boy! Actual details will follow but for the time being, I'll just fabricate some. The baby's name is Yammie, he weighs 12lbs 8ounces (almost the same as his mother), and is 24 inches tall (also, almost the same as his mother). Here's a pic.

Title Card Exposition

Mornin'! Good weekends? Great. Today I have a few title cards for your viewing pleasure. These are the funny drawings you see before the animation begins in any episode. We call them "title cards" because of their unusually consistent trait of containing the show's titles. Odd.

Yam Roll Wrap T-shirt

In case you didn't notice, all of those other blogs from today were just me copying things over from our MySpace site. THIS ONE, however, is brand spankin new! As you just read, our wrap party took place last Wednesday night. Here's a scan of the t-shirts all of our people received to remember our very strenuous first season.

Izen's Wall of Shame Post 1 of 12436921

Here's a little post-it note drawing by director, Jon Izen for an upcoming title card that I found on the wall of my "blogging blubicle" this morning. It's a little tough to see straight after last night's party but, unless I'm mistaken, I think I see an extra set of legs growing out of Yam's side... A lot of show creators/directors are actually able to DRAW the characters they invent nowadawys. Nice one, Izen. You're an inspiration to us all.

Yam Roll Season 1 Wrap Party

Hey kids ,adults and seniors! Last night was our Yam Roll Wrap party. Due to some late night activities this may turn from a blog to a blaaaarf. Nah. I'll be fine. Thank you for your concern. Here is a sample of the Jon Izen (Director) Vs. Mike Geiger (Animation Director) nose-off. Who was the winner? The decision is yours! (My money's on Izen. I bet when his parents dropped him on his head, his nose broke the fall.)

BG? What's a B...G...?

For my umpteenth blog of the day, I bring you this! A digital colour translation of an original background (BG if you're cool enough for an acronym) drawn, once again, by Ariel "Amazing" Villaverde.

Notice how all of the props (ie weightbench, boats, outhouse) are missing from the digital version. We add these in later so that they can be manipulated by the animators. Unless I'm a liar...

Yam's Fight Night

Just in case you guys missed the big fight back in April, I thought I'd refresh your memory with one of the promo shots. Enjoy!

Funpack Translation

Alright folks, I've just been informed that blogging has been popular since approx. 2003. 365 days/year x (2006-2003=) 3 years = 1095 blogs! This is my 4th one so far meaning I have 1091 blogs left to write today. Sounds about right...
What we have here is an example of how our original "funpack" designs (created by none other than our very own Ariel Villaverde) are translated over to Flash by our design team.

"Out-Panel" Sample

G'day! For today's post I have a little behind the scenes action for you. The following is an example of what all of our sticky note "out-panels" look like within our Yam Roll storyboards. It is mandatory that all storyboard artists draw their out-panels with our Timing Director, Billy Zeats as the "O". Failure to follow this simple instruction results in immediate ejection from our company and 3rd floor window.
And yes, that is exactly what he looks like.

Video Clip!

Happy Monday homeboys/homegirls! How were your weekends? (Please answer one at a time in an orderly fashion) I assume you all celebrated Canada Day in the usual manner of respectful patronage. As a little treat to whet your Canadian (or other nationly) whistles, here is a video clip: http://www.yamroll.com/yamrolltrailer.swf
I would've included it right in the blog if I had any idea how to use HTML. I'll catch up to you though! Don't worry!

First Production Still

Well hello there! Today being Friday (as well as the birthday of Yammie's Blogger site) we figured you may enjoy taking a look at one of the production stills from another hilarious episode of Yam Roll and Friends' wacky adventures.
This one's from episode #19 called "Look Ma! No Powers!" You probably caught it on CBC just the other day!