Kustomonsters and Friends Update

Never fear goblins and ghouls! More Kustomonsters and Friends webisodes are planned. They’ll be bundled as a mini-series, and will include Monsters, music, cartoons, and fun. Stay tooned!




Crazy Man!

Amby Paliwoda

One of my early animation mentors at Duck Soup in the late 70's was 25 year Disney Veteran Amby Paliwoda. I used to be his assistant on many Kellogg's cereal commercials including the short lived product, "Banana Frosted Flakes". Among his many assignments were to animate the characters "Jasper" and "Horace", who were the henchmen of the female villain, "Cruella de Vil", in the animated feature film, "One Hundred and One Dalmatians". For his lifetime of work in the animation field, Paliwoda received the Animation Guild's Golden Award in 1985. Here is a Disney animation drawing of his from the 50's. Can you guess which production this was from?

Corny Cole looses his house in Recent Fire

Animation legend and one of my original animation mentors, Corny Cole has lost his house, his life's art work, 16 cats and two dogs in a recent brushfire in Lakeview Terrace.
Corny Cole TV news report


Donations can be sent to this Pay Pal account.
Corny Cole PayPal Fund


And also Cal Arts has set up a fund to help as well. You can make a check payable to Cornelius Cole and mail it to:

California Institute of the Arts
ATT: Trish Patryla, Office of the Provost
24700 McBean Parkway
Valencia, CA 91355

Ralph Bakshi Tells it like it is!

Just get out there and do it! The production studio is in a box on your desk, distributors are waiting.
That's what I'm talking about!

Uli's Party at Tangier's in Hollywood

Jamie Bolio recently threw a reunion party for animation Director Uli Meyer at the Tangier Restaurant in Los Feliz, CA. Unfortunately, Uli could not make it from London to Los Angeles, but that did not stop the fun. This was also a reunion for the Pre-Amblimation "Roger Rabbit" crew as well as the "Fievel Goes West" Amblimation crew from London. Most of these folks, about 150 of them have at one time been folded into Dreamworks Animation. After 18 years, when I was an Amblimaion fx animator in London, it was great seeing all those talented folks again! Here's to you Uli, and good luck on your new feature film! And thanks to Jamie Bolio for organizing this event!


Craig Clark, Simon Wells, Phill Neblink, Joe and Steve.










Raul Garcia and Debbie Forster.




























Party organizer Jamie Bolio with Daniel Jeanette.

Kustomonsters and Friends Net TV-Episode 6

Add The Kustomonsters and Friends's channel to your page

R.I.P. Vampira

The first REAL TV Horror Host has died. Vampira aka Maila Numri is gone.


More here

The Kustomonsters check out Drag Racer 3

PLAY DRAG RACER V3

Ty Girlz Cartoon

Here's a new Ty Girlz cartoon I did over at Animax Entertainment for Tygirlz.com. I wrote and animated the clip with animation assistance from lovely Vanessa Lindstrom, who also did all the voice work and singing.
Lets Go! Lets Go!

Inside UPA

Tee Busustow, son of former UPA head the late Steve Busustow and Amid Amidi have published a new must have animation book, "Inside UPA". UPA animation flows through my artistic influences as both mentors Duane Crowther and Grim "Betty Boop" Natwick were UPA NY veterans who gave me some of my first animation pointers and lessons at age 14. The book is getting some rather glowing reviews like the following...

Chris Robinson, director of the Ottawa International Animation festival says....

“UPA were the Beats of animation. Like Kerouac,
Burroughs, Ginsberg and company, UPA rejected and
ignored the so-called rules of their art form and
created something fresh, mature, modern, and personal.
UPA was a haven for artists and thinkers, and just by
glancing through the marvelous collection of photos in
“Inside UPA”, it must have been a hell of an inspiring
and fun place to work. We need more studios like UPA,
and we need more books like this to celebrate the ball
breakers, ass kickers and risk takerswho came before
us”.

That's a good enough plug for me, AND Mummy DaddyO. Kool finger snaps all around!
Get your UPA book here

Proceeds will help fund the UPA documentary, "UPA: Mavericks, Magic & Magoo"produced by Tee Busustow, who was kind enough to interview me on his "Toon In to the World of Animation" podcast

Kustomonsters Swag at Cafe Press

Now you can get Kustomonsters Swag at Cafe Press.com!
Pick up some T's, mugs, stickers and more from your favorite Kreepy Kool Kreeps, The Kustomonsters! Crazy Man!

Kustomonsters and Friends Net TV-Episode 5

It's here! The New Kustomonsters and Friends Episode #5! This time it's the pilot episode with host Mummy DaddyO. Also see Kustomonsters clips, Astrothrill, Timbuktu, and Diggin with DaddyO cartoons. This is followed up by music videos and more fun! The Mummy Daddyo puppet host was built by my pal Nate Pacheco, with additional animation by Mike Polvani and Kwesi Kennedy. Most of the animation, of course was done by myself in recent months. Please enjoy and tell your friends!

Toons in the Heart of Screamland- MGM Animation

Here is a look back in time at a Culver City, California animation studio in the “The Heart of Screenland”, the MGM Animation studio in 1944. Here’s a link to MGM animator Irv Spence’s tribute Sketch blog called Cartoon Diary!


This is a photo of the outside of the MGM Cartoon studio on the corner of Overland and Montana on MGM lot 2, now the site of the Culver City Senior Citizens Center.

This was the home of Tom and Jerry, Droopy, Barney Bear, Screwy Squirrel, The Wolf, and the Happy Harmonies series. As well as the work place of directors, Rudy Ising, Hugh Harmon, Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera, Tex Avery, and many more.

Here's some cartoon nuggets from the Leo the Lion.

Peace on Earth - Hugh Harman (Oscar Nomination 1939 )

The Milky Way – Rudy Ising (Oscar Winner 1940)

Red Hot Riding Hood -Tex Avery-1943

Mouse Trouble - Hanna & Barbera (Oscar Winner 1944)

There are excellent DVD releases of Droopy and Tom and Jerry, now the balance of the MGM classic toon library needs DvD attention as well.

Fox and Crow- Fox and Grapes

Here's the very first Fox and Crow cartoon from Columbia Pictures directed by Frank Tashlin. This classic cartoon employed Disney and Warner's artists plucked straight off the picket line from the 1941 strike, hence the slick animation. These and other Columbia/UPA classic cartoons are more than worthy of an official DVD release.

Kustomonsters BG Peek

There will be some new wrinkles in the next Kustomonsters animated cartoon, namely the Kusto gang in their Kreepy hot rods. Finally! Here's a test peek at the main stomping grounds of Mummy DaddyO, Moonwolfy, Surfwitch and The Countess... Rodzilla's Drive-In. Order up, DaddyO!

Retro Kool Stuff

The Kustomonsters especially selected these retro-nuggets
just for you!

Kustomonsters and Friends Net TV- Episode 4

The Kustomonsters and Friends Net TV- Episode 4



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Kustomonsters and Friends Net TV- Episode 3

The Kustomonsters and Friends Net TV- Episode 3



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Kustomonsters and Friends Net TV- Episode 2

The Kustomonsters and Friends Net TV- Episode 2



TO NAVIGATE TO THE NEXT VIDEO, ROLL CURSOR OVER SCREEN FOR CONTROLS

The Kustomonsters and Friends Net TV

The Kustomonsters and Friends Net TV- Episode 1



TO NAVIGATE TO THE NEXT VIDEO, ROLL CURSOR OVER SCREEN FOR CONTROLS