Happy New Year!

Dear Reader,

Happy New Year from The Squirrel King!

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful support and help over the last year! I hope, and am even quietly optimistic, that 2013 will be a big year for The Squirrel King, and I'm well aware that we would not have come even as far as we already have were it not for everyone out there.

Special thanks to those of you who have supported us along the way giving time, love and expertise to a project that has already put good cheer into the world, but which promises to bring so much more!!

The mini-squirrels and I will soon return from our vacation, but rest assured we're enjoying it thoroughly!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Happy Holidays!

Dear Reader,

It's been a long time since we visited Australia, but finally the time has come to take the Aliens Down Under again :) That's right, we're taking a family vacation!!

... so blog posts will be rather intermittent over the next few weeks. Don't worry, we will return and if you check in now and again you may see the happy snaps of traveling squirrels :)

From all of us at The Squirrel King, we hope that you and all your loved ones are having a wonderful holiday break!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS Rest assured we have someone coming to take care of our fish.

More Progress on Trees

Dear Reader,

We've started experimenting with foliage for the paper-bag tree trunks that Alien One showed us how to build last week.

This quilled greenery should help tie the foreground into the background burning mountain, but I think we may try some other leaves too.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Another Mountainside

Dear Reader,

It's time to build the landscape for the nighttime forest fire, specifically, the background for the driving scene with the cork car.

As you've seen before, the countryside starts with a chicken-wire substructure ...

We add papier mache ...

And pretty soon there will be a mountainside of quilled trees!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Two Facts about Vlad

Dear Reader,

His mysterious portrait has been with us for over a year now, and as some of you have already noted it possesses significant qualities that offer insights into his heritage.

For the rest of you, here are two observations:

1) Vlad shares the likeness of Ed.
2) He likes to roast squirrels on a spit.

What does it mean? Time will tell.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS. And no, in spite of the picture here, we didn't buy him from the trunk of some fine lass' car.

Turning the World on Its Head

Dear Reader,

I came across this wonderfully whimsical photographer yesterday. While The Squirrel King sometimes aspires to turning the world on its head, Caulton Morris takes the challenge very literally.

Once again a delightful celebration of diversity in our world!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Squirrels Bring More Christmas Cheer

Dear Reader,

They've dangled on the Christmas tree, now they are come bearing cards! The mini-stunt squirrels know no bounds on bringing good cheer :)

As you can see, Alien One made them all scarves and now they've gone caroling!

Happy Holidays from The Squirrel King :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Inspiration: Paper and Felt

Dear Reader,

I came across this small but cool blog yesterday: Paper and Felt. There's not a lot on it, but these two images are gems.

I've actually seen this toilet roll swing before. I particularly love the lighting in it :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Christmas Ornaments

Dear Reader,

Fiddling around with the mini-squirrel design (yes, we're finally bringing these kits to you early next year!) I noticed that our furry stunt guys needed just one little adaptation and they became squirrely christmas ornaments - perfect for big pine trees!

Such are the joys of creative tinkering :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

The Catburglars

Dear Reader,

The Cat burglars in The Squirrel King are not your average such characters. In fact only one is referred to as the Catburglar, the shorter, less coordinated one is simply called Bob.

Their dynamic is nicely underscored by Bob's patently wishful hope of one day inheriting the business.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Paper-bag Tree

Dear Reader,

One of the wonderful things about school is that kids start learning things that you didn't know to teach them. And sometimes it's even better than that - sometimes they teach you!

Yesterday Alien One taught me to make a paper tree, something we very soon will see a lot of, but for now I thought you too might like to see how :)


She's getting so big!!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Reference: Paper Heart

Dear Reader,

There's a wonderful animated countryside driving scene in the little movie "Paper Heart". It comes out of the blue in the movie but I've been thinking about it for a year now. In the next little while we're going to riff on the technique for a night driving scene in The Squirrel King - actually Paul's perspective as he drives his cork car :)

Stay tuned for construction images!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Red Hot Christmas Cheer

Dear Reader,

I came across this delightful Christmas ornament yesterday.

Felt very Squirrel King :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Who is This all About?

Dear Reader,

With principal photography winding down on the series, it seems like an appropriate time to start talking a little more about the characters and the world we are bringing to life.

At the heart of the series is Robin, a woman in search of meaning. And at her side is Justus, her well-meaning boyfriend. This serendipitous production still kind of captures both characters nicely: Robin, invariably trying to piece something together, and Justus, happily helping her out, a grin from ear to ear.

Over the next few months we look forward to sharing more insights about the series :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Trunks of Canopies?

Dear Reader,

A while back we filmed some wide shots of the town of Nesting during the day. We also filmed the town burning. For the series however, some of that inferno happens at night.

And so I have been hard at work on more trees. Specifically trunks and canopies. Looking at what I have a question springs to mind: which do I need more of trunks or canopies?

The true Squirrel King answer feels to me like: both :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

The Christmas Tree

Dear Reader,

What a wonderful time of year! Adding ornaments to a big tree in the middle of the living room :)

The Aliens had a delightful time, and the mini-squirrels joined in the fray.

However, like many big events the evening of activity took its tool :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Trotify

Dear Reader,

From the world of weirdly wonderful gadgets here is a gem :)


I'm inspired to incorporate something similar into a second season of The Squirrel King when that day comes.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Wary Mini-Squirrel

Dear Reader,

With the Aliens delighting in talk of it coming down in cats and dogs outside (it's raining in LA), our mini-squirrel friends have been watching through the windows very carefully ...

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Sunflower Bike

Dear Reader,

Looking at some of the footage from the Nail Saloon shoot, I realized I never posted our version of the Ikebana bike I alluded to earlier.

So here's a frame grab :) I have to say I was pretty pleased with out effort!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Enter the New Glue-gun

Dear Reader,

For my big 40th birthday earlier in the year I was lucky enough to receive a personalized jewel encrusted glue-gun. Dazzled by the colors I actually missed just how personalized this glue-gun is until ... can you see what Alien One is pointing to?! And on the other side are the initials RW!

So cool :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Stills from Ed's House

Dear Reader,

It's been a while since he was last spotted, and he's now shot out, but last week we did catch a glimpse of Bob over at Ed's house. And if you look carefully, under the cover of darkness, you can also see Vlad eyeing Bob from the floor.

Earlier in the day, Justus was standing behind the camera and got this happy snap of my directing our wonderful star, Shi Ne :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Ed's House Shoot

Dear Reader,

I hope you too had a lovely little Thanksgiving break!

Ours was especially festive as we completed filming of three of our actors for the entire series the day before! Actually we finished well after midnight, but who's counting :)

Here's a couple of images of the preparations, including some of the props that were needed ...

... I thought it might be fun to share the mayhem before it left our apartment.

Tomorrow I'll see if I can find some production stills :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Framing Ed's Achievements

Dear Reader,

Today is a big day, the culmination of over a year of shooting Ed, our town's police chief, mayor, fire chief, forestry chief, ...

Fittingly we will shoot a slew of his certificates which have been carefully framed in bright licks of color and drawn by myself, the Aliens and our wonderful artist Rayshell Curtiss.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Justus' Thoughts on Murals

While working through the moves on "Darkside of the Moon" (flag, heel hook, bump), I met a muralist who runs the Mobile Mural Lab:

And I remembered a mural I'd once done:

And then I remembered what Henry Ward Beecher had said:

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

So true. Check out www.MobileMuralLab.com

Inspiration: Some Crazy Fun With Water

Dear Reader,

I came across this wonderful special effect a little while ago. Would love to incorporate it into The Squirrel King somewhere, but can't think of a spot yet. Hope you enjoy too:


It's kind of out of this world, and yet a little too real ...

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

A Glue-gun to the Tally

Dear Reader,

As many of you know, this project has been underway for a couple of years now. We are nearing completion of what is called Principal Photography on the series, which basically means we've almost finished shooting except for extras needs that crop up during editing.

Along the way we've burned through pots of paint, bolts of fabric and countless paper bags. Last night, while braiding and gluing hair onto a doll, Alien One added our first glue-gun to the list of retired work tools - it somehow started smoking and then we left it outside in the rain.

Echoing the theme of moving on, I also came across Alien One's wonderful Halloween poem. Hope you enjoy it too :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Edible Cookbook

Dear Reader,

It wonderful what exists in the world, and just the sort of thing Ed would have in his kitchen, an edible cookbook from Korefe.

Perfect for the cooling weather :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Last Shots of Paul

Dear Reader,

Last  weekend's Nail Saloon shoot was a picture wrap for Bill Watterson, our magnificent Paul. To celebrate, I wanted to post just a couple more pics of Bill working the bar at the Nail Saloon.

It's been an absolute delight working with you Bill!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Groovy Kids Yoga

Dear Reader,

Some time back Greville, the Aliens' wonderful old yoga teacher, recorded Alien One demonstrating one of their poses. Here it is for you too to enjoy :)


If you like yoga and have kids, check out the Groovy Kids yoga site!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Nail Saloon Shoot

Dear Reader,

After an afternoon of chaotic painting with the Aliens and their friends, The Trouble and Strife's creative genius rose to the fore taking the bowl of fruit and turning it into a bike for the bar in the Nail Saloon.

The next day during the shoot she moved behind the camera. Rest assured though, all is good; I got to make a cameo as one of the Nesting cyclists :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS I'm sure pics of my wonderful skin-tight lycra costume will surface at some point ...

Floral Bike

Dear Reader,

I've been inspired to try some Ikebana arrangements (floral sculptures, of bikes in our instance) for the Nail Saloon shoot tomorrow.

Searching for references I came across this wonderful sunflower bike by Daniel Baxter (who has a slew of other delightful upbeat images on his site).

I also came across the image on the right from London :) Such wonderful possibilities!!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Wheat Grass Juicer

Dear Reader,

No juice bar is complete without the wheat grass shot maker, and the Nail Saloon is no different.

It's in the foundational stages, but as you can see, the aliens are already intrigued :)

Watch out for the reappearance of our old potted plants!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Grassy Inspiration

Dear Reader,

Searching for inspiration relating to wheat grass shots for this weekend's Juice bar shoot, I came across Mathilde Roussel's wonderfully whimsical "Lives of Grass".

Though obviously still, the sculptures have so much energy and life. Simply fantastic!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

The Nail Saloon

Dear Reader,

In the small town of Nesting ...

Nail Saloon = Biker Bar = Cyclist's Juice Bar

As you can see, Alien One already has the namesake Nail!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Justus Plays the Bad Actor

Dear Reader,

Justus shared with me the other day this wonderful performance of his in a faux behind the scenes documentary.

Gave us all a good laugh, hope you like it too :)


Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS. I just want to reassure you that neither the tone of this clip nor Justus' character represent The Squirrel King.

Sometimes...

Sometimes life is hard. Like when you're 25 feet up a boulder and the ground is a patchwork of cacti.

It's times like these that I like to reflect on what a famous adventurer once said:

Facing it, always facing it; that's the way to get through. Face it!

-Joseph Conrad

I like to think he was talking to me: Top it out, always topping it out!

Think about it,

justus

Photo Credit: Monica Arone

Costumes in Action

Dear Reader,

The Aliens both had such a lovely time, that I just have to make one last post for Halloween.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Owls Are Ready To Go

\ Dear Reader,

After the Trouble and Strife's fine work on the wings and body, the Aliens and I had a moment of stillness as we laid the groundwork for the mask.

That was followed by paint and feathers!


And then reviewed for style :)
As with so many things Squirrel King, once I saw Alien Two, I realized her costume was perfect for the series. Keep an eye out, it's going to fly soon!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims