You've seen the concept art. You've heard the plans. Now, here it is - Camo: The Graphic Novel - THE FIRST TWO PAGES!

Comments are greatly appreciated.

Fantasy Voice Cast for Someday Movie of "Camo" Project


Here's my current fantasy voice cast for an animated movie that I hope one day will be made out of my graphic novel project-in-progress, "Camo". Of course, I have to finish it first! :)

Some of these performers are film actors, some are voice actors, and some are theatrical actors. The places where there are two actors listed, those are two alternate choices. I tried to narrow it down to no more than two. I had like 20 actors I could picture doing different variations of the title character, Camo.

Note that, at this point, this cast list is entirely for fun, and I am neither affiliated nor acquainted with any of these performers.

See this journal post - "Camo" Illustrated Synopsis - to see who the heck these characters are.


(Listed in order of appearance)


The Neighbor (a tiger).............................. Greg Cipes

Camo (a tiger)........................................ Jack Nicholson , Bob Hoskins

Y.C (a tiger)........................................... Vic Mignogna

Pounce (a tigress)...................................... Cree Summer

Slink (a tigress).......................................... Tara Strong

Prowl (a tigress)......................................... Eartha Kitt , Bebe Neuwirth

Spritz (a tiger cub)........................................Talented child voice actor of the day, a la Bradley Michael Pierce ,
Nathan Ruegger

Stare (a liger)......................................... Ken Nordine, David Ogden Stiers

Glance (a tion)...................................... Phil Collins (speaking only, does not fit my fantasy musical soundtrack, sorry Phil ;)),
David Ogden Stiers (see his dual role in "Pocahontas")

Straightstripe (a zebra/unicorn)............................. Audra McDonald

Didge (a kangaroo)........................................Tracey Ullman , Toni Colette

Not All Good News Stays Good (though not all that bad ;))



The editor cancelled my story on Disneyland.

Looking back at his first reply to my story pitch, it did contain the words "maybe" and "let's give it a try," which, in my excitement, I may have minimized the importance of . Still, since he talked about payment, I assumed that the assignment was pretty much a go.

I replied that he might need to fax the Disneyland PR people, so they could issue me my...I thought that "free passes" sounded unprofessional, so I refereed to them as "press passes," i.e., passes for the press. We freelancers need our editors to confirm that we're on assignment and working for a legit publication before Disneyland will issue them. I also asked him what the deadline for the article was, so I could plan my trip.

If only I had thought of the phrase, "complimentary media tickets."

Unfortunately, and understandably, he thought I meant a press pass - a pass that proves you're with the press. He said that he couldn't issue me one because he didn't have a history with me (I've been freelancing for three years, just not for this magazine before). There was no mention of the deadline for the article.

As soon as I got that e-mail, I responded to clear up the mix-up, but he didn't write back, so I e-mailed him again a few days later. His reply was simply -

"We have decided to pass on your offer.
Sorry,
(his name)"

No mention of whether or not the misunderstanding had ever been cleared up for him.

In retrospect, he probably expected me to write the story, submit it, and maybe he would publish it and pay me, maybe he wouldn't - an arrangement which I would not have been keen on, anyway. And perhaps he was still a little peeved over the press pass I didn't actually ask for.

So there you have it, misunderstandings both ways.

Now, I'm going to shop my story pitch around other local publications and travel magazines.

Meanwhile, I've got plenty to keep me busy - I'm just finishing up my first "serious" news story, and I just started on some actual panels with dialogue for the "Camo" graphic novel project.

Lots of Good News, a little Bad News -



First, the bad news - I won't be illustrating a children's book for a San Francisco design firm. I was first approached about this in April of this year, which was followed by negotiations between the author and the firm, and the creation of sample illustration with several revisions. The author ultimately said that she liked my style, but for various reasons decided not to go with me. Among them were the fact that, in a sample illustration of a kitchen, I made rounded teapots and rectangular cabinets, which she said "clashed." I'm still a bit confused on that one, as real teapots are almost always rounded and real kitchen cabinets are almost always square or rectangular, yet I was instructed not to go too surreal.

The good news is, I created an illustration of humans in a kitchen (not something I would usually draw) which I was satisfied with, and I did get paid for the one illustration.

The other good news, of course, is that I won't have to be drawing things like humans in a kitchen, humans in a suburban neighborhood, humans in a supermarket...

And, of course, now I'm available to work on a more surreal, fantasy-driven project...hint-hint, all you publishers, agents, animation studio talent scouts, gallery owners...

Further good news is that I may get to do another article on going to Disneyland for a local magazine...which means complimentary press passes! This hasn't been fully confirmed yet, though.

Just after I received the e-mail about not getting the illustration job, I received a very flattering comment on an art forum suggesting that the source of my "psychedelicness" is that I'm the re-incarnation of John Lennon (since Lennon died in 1980 and I was born in 1981). I can neither confirm nor deny this speculation ;)

I've added the new illustration of Y.C.'s sisters Pounce and Slink to the illustrated synopsis of "Camo" on this Blog. You can also see the piece on my DeviantArt Gallery under the descriptive title "Tiger bids farewell to his sisters".

Tommorow, after arts articles and theatre reviews for nearly three years, I do my first serious news story for the local paper, (on a local public forum on the avian flu). I will continue doing the arts and theatre writing, but I'm hoping the news story will eventually lead to a staff position at the paper.

And, I've finally linked this blog to my main website, Animagusurreal.com , which I'm hoping will generate more traffic.




~ Brent M. Parker

"'Camo' Graphic Novel Project - Illustrated Synopsis"


***Updated Sept. 20, 2006***


"Camo" and all related characters, story, art, etc., are copyright 2003 - '06 Brent M. Parker :)



Camo is a middle-aged tiger living on an island in a river in the Indian jungle with his three nearly-grown cubs, whom - contrary to general male tiger behavior - he has raised. He constantly wards off invasions of his territory by rival tigers - including his ambitous young Neighbor - with nothing more than his calm, confident presence:







Camo's only son, Young Camo ("Y.C.") is a rare white tiger, which makes it more difficult for him to blend into his surroundings. Camo insists that the happy-go-lucky Y.C. toughen up in order to compensate for this disadvantage, and the discussion escalates into an argument, and then a fight:







As Camo is about to pounce on Y.C., the younger tiger reflexively uses his hitherto-undiscovered magical powers to send his father to Siberia.

Camo finds himself in the snowy territory of Prowl, a white tigress, and her young (orange) cub Spritz. Encouraged by Spritz, Prowl reluctantly allows Camo to stay, and Camo learns what its like to live in someone else's territory:







Meanwhile, back in India, Y.C. figures out what's happened from dreams that he's had. He sets off to find his father and learn how to control his newfound powers. He leaves the territory in the care of his two polar opposite sisters, Pounce and Slink, who must learn to work together to protect the territory from invaders and other threats.







Meanwhile, Y.C.'s journey takes him around the world. Along the way, he meets several other bizarre creatures, both magical and nonmagical:












"Camo" and all related characters, story, art, etc., are copyright 2003 - '06 Brent M. Parker :)

"Bio"



Brent M. Parker has been artistically focused and self-motivated, (almost to the exclusion of all else,) for as long as he can remember. He was home-schooled from 6th Grade on, and art was always particularly emphasized. Parker has always loved animation, particularly classic, hand-drawn animated films. Walt Disney's "Fantasia" had a major impact on him. The books of Dr. Seuss, and their cartoon adaptations by animator Chuck Jones, were also an early artistic influence. At the age of 12, he wrote and drew his own comic book series, "Perry Chicken", which was sold in the Lompoc comic book store Comix Plus for several years.







Later, while attending Allan Hancock College as an English major, Parker took several art related classes - including Computer Fine Art (Photoshop), and hand-drawn and computer animation.







During this time, he also developed his distinctive surreal pencil sketching style. Once he acquired his own copy of Photoshop and a scanner, he developed a hybrid style, drawing the outlines of his figures in pencil, scanning them in, and then adding color and texture digitally. He created a website - Animagusurreal.com - and began participating in the online art world, where he has taken several commissions.







In December 2004, Parker produced a series of Jib-Jab-style celebrity parodies, in which he performed all the voices. His Michael Jackson Trial parody got him on the KSBY Action News in March 2005.







In May 2006, Parker was presented with an Arts Grant and Award by the Santa Maria Arts Council.

Parker's current central project is a graphic novel about tigers, family and magic called "Camo". He's already picked out most of the celebrity voice cast for the animated movie that he hopes will eventually be made out of it.In the meantime, he is highly interested in getting into the field of illustration. He would like to work on children's picture books, book jackets, album covers and...virtually everything else that can be illustrated. Currently on his "to do" list are getting an agent and joining an illustrator's organization.

Of course, he would also like to get into the animation business, specifically character design.

Current influences include Craig McCracken and the other creators of the series "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends", art designer Alan Bodner ("Kim Possible", "Life and Times of Juniper Lee", "Iron Giant") and various artists on DeviantArt.com, Furtopia.org, and other sites.