Stephen Nicodemus

Ssssssssscooby!

2011-10-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

PLASTIC MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-09-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay! I'm postin' I'm postin' I've been busy. Two kids, art directing Scooby Doo Mystery Inc. and working on the shorts for PLASTIC MAN! Yeah that's right. WB has green lit a bunch of new shorts of Plastic Man which my friend Andy Suriano is putting his heart and soul into. Years ago (2004 I believe) I remember him working on the pilot which was slotted to become a series on Cartoon Network. CN was planning to green light 5 new shows. Plastic Man looked like a shoe in but then CN decided they didn't like having "Cartoon" in their name and wanted to be more like Disney and Nickalodeon by doing more live action shows. So they green lit "Inside Jimmy's Head" (live action flop) as well as "Chowder" and "Flapjack" (only 2 good cartoons). Andy was bummed of course. This is why it pays to stay in the game, cartoons are not going away. Plastic Man is cool because he's a funny superhero that used to be a crook. Anyway I did this title card and the background painting for the up coming shorts to be aired on Cartoon Network in a block called DC Nation. It won't be seen 'til early next year so don't wet your pants staying up late looking for it. 'Til next time, -Stephen

2011-05-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

On a positive note, Thor: Tales of Asgard is being released by Lionsgate next week! May 17.
I worked on this so long ago it seems. I have a fondness for the Marvel videos I worked on. Although we were short staffed, we were left alone to do our job without all the politics of unqualified overseers. I think it looks good but I can see that I have grown as an artist since I did this. the style is really production friendly which is why I chose it. I pretty much painted all the keys for this. There were only a couple scenes I freelanced out. It's a good story and great for the young boys to see and get familiar with Thor and Loki. I'm going to watch it with my son. Enjoy!

No love for Scooby Doo Mystery Inc.

2011-05-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

Ok. Here's a follow up. Warner Home Video sent us this Scooby Doo Vol. 3 cover and said here's what were releasing like it or not. We don't have a chance to revise or take our own pass at it because there's no time left to do it. It looks horrible and does not represent our show at all. Scooby Doo has always been treated as an easy money making property by the studio without putting forth any effort, love or respect for the property. Doesn't anyone take any pride in what they represent? If Disney bought the Scooby Doo property it would be valued a lot more than Warner Bros. Here's the shitty cover Warner Bros Home Video puts out to represent a show that is the best Scooby Doo ever made!

Scooby Doo Mystery Inc. Cover

2011-05-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Yay! I got to do a Scooby Doo cover for the series we're working on! I must admit, I think it looks way better than the first one they released. It looks as if soon I might be working on the next one too. I would like to do all of them if they will let me. Just so you fans know this went through the grueling revision process with Warner's Home Video people. We at WB Animation wanted to represent our show and show that we are doing a quality version of it. Not like the past Scooby Doos. Anyway enjoy the show!

Maria

2011-01-11T16:34:00.000-08:00

This was a nice break from animation. Maria and I took a trip to Paris. I started to feel like a real artist while there so I did this sketch in a cafe near the Bastille. She was a good sport.

More Scooby Doo, Gatorsburg!

2010-11-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

This was one of the best looking shows of first season and it was a model of how to make the show simple and strong by limiting the number of locations the gang travels to. Nice red and green contrast here.

Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated, Hex Girls

2010-11-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

I have been working on the latest Scooby Doo series for the past year and a half. These BGs are from the Hex Girls show #7. When it aired, I don't really know. I don't watch cartoons! Just kidding I actually still love to watch by myself or with my kids. This is a fun show to be a painter on.

"Batman Under the Red Hood" BG paintings

2010-10-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

Her are some Backgrounds I painted from Under The Red Hood. They are dark. You might know, it's a dark story too. These two are from Ra Al Ghul's place. Bruce Timm loved the green! I enjoyed this project very much! Oh I didn't do the cover art btw. I believe on this and Crisis on two Earths, Josh Middleton did the covers.

More BGs "Under the Red Hood"

2010-10-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more Production BGs I did from Batman Under The Red Hood.

Justice League Crisis on Two Earths

2010-10-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I know I'm a little slow getting this out but better later than never right?
Here are a couple of production bgs done for this WB DVD "Justice League Crisis on Two Earths." This was the first time for me to work on a Bruce Timm project and I was happy and excited to work with him. I found him to be very enjoyable to work for because he knows what he wants and is very direct about telling you. I like that. Soon I will be working with him again. As for now I am on the Scooby Doo Series "Mystery Incorporated." It now airs on Cartoon Network weekly.

Mystery Project

2010-08-17T00:24:00.000-07:00

I posted some of these images earlier because the movie was supposed to be released but never was so I had to take them down. It is still more than six months away from being released but if I don't tell you what it is. You won't know. Ha!

Planet Hulk Development Art

2010-04-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I'm Steve Nicodemus and wanted to keep all the Marvel fans and animation students informed on the inside scoop of how the production of Planet Hulk the DVD animated movie evolved. I can only give you what I know from my perspective as a background painter. I was the only in house painter and background paint supervisor for the last four Marvel animated movies starting from The Next Avengers, Hulk VS, Tales of Asgard and Planet Hulk.
Before we had final designs approved for the colosseum, An Sara village and the lava chamber, I had rough sketches that were done on post-it notes. These are used to establish the locations in the storyboards. Fedja Jovanovic did these with amazing detail. Then I took them and did these three samples. I did more. When I find them I'll try to post them. It was easy for me to blow them up in photoshop and start working. I knew from working on other productions that once we got into full swing that time would be short to get these paintings looking good in short time. So I took the opportunity to take the comps to as close to finish as I could. This saved me later when the shipping dates were locked and it's up to me to get everything done. We did have some money left over from development to use on some freelance painters but it was limited. The only design that changed in final was the An Sara village but it was close enough that I was able to submit this comp on the shipping deadline. The colosseum comp was mostly used for the CGI artists to follow for color and lighting.
I did have to help them out by providing them with texture maps that they used for some of the surfacing. I hope you enjoy these and if anyone has questions I will be happy to answer them. I enjoyed working on these projects and hope they decide to do more and ask me to come back. Cheers!

Freelancing getting in the way of motorcycling

2010-04-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

Ted Blackman did this cartoon of me saying how I won't get my bike done for the Hansen Dam ride in November. Funny Ted!

Planet Hulk DVD Production Art

2010-02-04T17:05:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
As promised, here are the production Key backgrounds done for Planet Hulk. Fedja Jovanovic designed the layouts and I painted them in Photoshop, version CS3. Time of day, lighting and color all help to push emotional cues. It's not just pushing buttons on computers, it's pushing YOUR buttons, lol. Ok lame joke. I really should take the time and break down how I do these. I'll try to do that, not for you pros out there, no I'm not talking to you. For all you youngsters who like art and would like to know how to take my job away from me. Yeah good idea Steve! Hope you enjoy them!

Planet Hulk DVD

2010-02-04T15:47:00.000-08:00

Hi all, I'm sorry it has been soooo long since my last post. I have been very busy working on many different projects. I will fill you in on those later. The good news is that Planet Hulk DVD is finally out this week. It was about a year and a half ago that we finished production on this, the best of the Marvel direct to DVDs to date. I had a lot of fun working on this and all the other Marvel DTVs. Let's hope that Disney will decide to continue the momentum we started and not take the Marvel brand into a Marvel Musical direction, LOL. In a separate post I will show some of the key paintings that were done for this. Hope you fans will buy this one and support us and our hard work. The crew was really all the A+ players in the industry. Frank Paur (Producer), Sam Liu (Director), Phil Bourassa (Character Design), Fedja Jovanovic (Background Design), James Peters (Color Models) and so many other great board artists and hats off to the production crew that kept us organized. It was a pleasure working with these guys and I was honored to be a part of this project. Interestingly enough since Marvel stopped production on the direct to DVDs, We all have ended up working at Warner Bros. producing a lot of the DC DTVs. More on that later. Enjoy this one for the time being. Check back later for the production bgs.

HULK VS

2009-01-27T15:31:00.000-08:00

Muscle men in tights smashing each other to death but they never die so they can keep smashing and smashing! What more can you ask for in a Hulk VS movie? Go out and buy this and get yourself pumped up so for at least an hour or so you could feel what a real macho super hero man feels like. It effects are only temporary so you will be back to you normal pencil neck, video game playing self until you watch it again. An other reason to buy it so that we can keep making these movies. Marvel is waiting to see how well the sales are before they green light any more direct to dvd movies. So right now I'm here in TV land working on Super Hero Squad. Help save an artist, buy a Marvel DVD. Thanks!

Some production BGs from The Next Avengers!

2008-12-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some Backgrounds I digitally painted for the movie. Fedja Jovanovic designed these layouts. Starting from The Next Avengers through Planet Hulk which releases in 2010, Marvel/Lionsgate used basicly the same crew to create the art and design on these movies. I have to say, These are the some of best artists in the business and it has been a pleasure working with these guys. Fedja Jovanovic Is the Background designer. He is a great artist and I love to work on his designs. James Peters is the best Color Stylist I've ever worked with. He will put the characters over my backgrounds and make them sing! Not literally. Mitch Schauer designed Characters for both The Next Avengers and Hulk vs Thor. He is also great at what he does and is now using his Talents designing all the characters on Super Hero Squad and producing as well! Enjoy!

The Next Avengers for Christmas!

2008-12-17T11:37:00.000-08:00

My kids love this movie and so do all their friends. It is the only show I worked on that has "tested well" with my own.

Pixie Frog's Butt

2006-11-22T13:04:00.000-08:00

Another sick painting for My Gym Partner's a Monkey. Enjoy!

The White House

2006-09-06T03:50:00.000-07:00

Howl 'O Ween....Huh?

2006-09-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

This is a series of paintings I did for "My Gym Partner's a Monkey" cartoon on Cartoon Network. It is the Halloween special, which has already aired in the spring for some strange reason. This was a fun series to paint and that is what making cartoons is all about. A group of people having fun making each other laugh. Right? Right.

2006-08-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

Ridin' High

2006-08-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

This is another one of those still shots I did for "My Gym Partner's a Monkey." Since I started art directing it has been hard to find time to do these special paintings. I tried to delegate them out to other BG painters but I haven't found anyone who will get into them as much as I do. I decided that I will just have to find the time to do them because these paintings are so much fun.

Gym Partner paintings

2006-07-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

These are a couple of paintings I did for "My Gym Partner's a Monkey." Some of you have been bugging me to put up a new post so here it is.

Some characters from the train

2006-04-22T11:06:00.001-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa

2006-04-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

Tough Guys

2006-04-21T00:31:00.000-07:00

Nightly News

2006-03-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

It's interesting to see how these professionals deliver their lines each night. If you go through their dialog one frame at a time like I do you will start to see the art of how the right number of eye blinks, the timing of each turn of the head and the carefully placed nods are perfectly orchestrated to make your soul cry out in anguish, "HOLY SHIT! WE'RE ALL DOOMED!"

Retirement?

2006-03-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

I can't wait until I retire so I can play more golf.

Another Ted Blackman drawing of me

2006-02-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

I like to dish it out so I post these drawings so you can laugh at me while I'm laughing at you.

Holgate Lunch

2006-02-17T14:30:00.001-08:00

Ted's drawing of me

2006-02-15T15:10:00.000-08:00

my friend Fish

2006-02-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I let my drawings do the screaming

2006-02-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

This is a sketch I did on the train.

2006-02-10T12:32:00.000-08:00