giving the Orange Bird!

Does Anybody remember the Orange Bird..? The Florida Citrus/Disney promotion for Florida orange juice in late 1970's & early 80's They used to give out free orange juice at the state line welcome centers & you could meet the costume character over at adventureland at Walt Disney World. So bored today, I drew a sketch of him from an old yo- yo toy. I dug out of box of forgotten tourist knick knacks. My first attempt of coloring him in Photoshop. I think I will attempt to model him in 3d & animate him for the 21st century!

Dragon's Lair 25th Anniversary

Can it be 25 years since that summer of 1983 on a hot day in June celebrating my birthday at a ShowBiz Pizza place (think early Chucky Cheese competitor) that I came upon "Dragon's Lair" I will never forget that day as long as I live..The day I fell in love with Animation! Sure I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons, Disney animated films.. some of my earliest memories were drawing from Looney Tunes Place mats at the kitchen table. But nothing grabbed me as much as that attract mode previewing the adventures of Dirk the Daring. There I stood mesmerized by the art of Animation! ..the restaurant manager must have noticed my fascination with the game because he came up & asked if I wanted to play..."Sure" I must had replied.. because he plopped in 50 cent.. I lost very quickly no doubt...But i was hooked!!!!!Ya know I didn't care about video games at All.. but I could not tell you how many times that summer i rode my bike to the Fun Machine (local arcade) to play or watch "Dragon's Lair" I would spend hours watching the game.. thrilling at every new animation sequence i hadn't seen before...Many allowances were spent on mastering the game until I made it to the Dragon's lair & beat the dragon! But that wasn't the end of it... no just the beginning...I wanted to know who was behind this thing that I loved so much...That when I first learn who Don Bluth & Gary Goldman were. Who John Pomeroy was..The story of "Banjo The Woodpile Cat.. then there was of Course "The Secret of NIMH" if it was Lair that gave me the love of Animation it was NIMH that made it a Passion... there been no turning back.. I love animation! ..that I know can trace back to that summer day when I entered the Dragon's Lair! Thank you Don Bluth, Thank you Gary Goldman, Thank you John Pomeroy & the others who opened my eyes to animation!

caricature of me as Dirk the daring with Princess Daphne

by Mike Chovanec

Eye know lighting!

My first lighting test. Directional light creating highlight in eye. From website 3dRender.com

Modeled by Serguei Kalentchouk.