The Hedge-Rhi-Raffe Hog

This past summer I was sketching trying to come up with some ideas for some monster designs. Nothing scary or whatever... think more Bill Peet. It wasn't really working for some reason, so I dug deep and searched my soul for an answer... So I posted on twitter (@mkalinauskas if you want to follow) for anyone to give me four animals to combine into one. So my friend Josie gave me Hedge Hog, Rhinoceros, Wart Hog, and Giraffe. This is what I came up with.

My pals Beth and Randeep also gave some good suggestions, but I haven't added colour to them yet.

-Matt

J is for Jaguar

I've been working on a alphabet book where I'd pair an animal up with a letter of the alphabet... you know how it works... there's been at least 249 versions of this type of book in the last 5 years alone. But, it gives me an excuse to draw a bunch of animals that I wouldn't normally draw... not that a Jaguar would make that "never drawn" list, they're just super cool. Anywho, here is my entry for the letter "J".

-Matt

A Balloon Girl

Here's a sketch I did for the Chuck Gammage Animation Studio. It was an odd day of random events. Among all the stuff that went down on Wednesday, September 15th, (job delay, indie music label asked to meet with my band) I had a meeting with Chuck at around 11am. I thought I'd just be going in to say "hi" and see the new studio... but as I entered, I was greeted by Chuck.

"Hey Matt! You like doing designs and stuff right?"

"Yeah... what's up?"

"I need you to help us with some character designs for this project we've got going. Here's a desk. Sit down."

"umm, ok..."

It turned out that I'd spend the rest of the day doing characters sketches for The Royal Winter Fair at Chuck Gammage Animation. A fun and random day.

I've also got a bunch of work I did over the past few months over at Yowza Animation that I need to pick up. The plan is to post it over the next little bit! Hopefully more tomorrow!

-Matt

Quaint, Comfortable, Acoustic

Here is a poster I did for my band The Breaking Lakes. We were asked to do an acoustic show (which usually means unplugged... though I'm sure ALL concerts are acoustic concerts, seeing as one is listening to the band's acoustics... but I digress) in Branford at Therapy Lounge. Normally the posters I do for concerts are a bit louder... but that's usually because the music will be as well. This is promised be an intimate "unplugged" show, so I figured a guitar with flowers growing out of it says quaint and comfortable.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon/Mutant Frog

I really enjoyed doing the Yeti yesterday down here at Yowza, so today I thought I'd do another monster type character. I'm just heading up to Orillia to visit my girlfriend's parents house and it got me thinking. There are a lot of lakes up there and all of them have loads of weeds and swamps all over the place. Who knows what kinds of things are under the water watching you while you swim and frolic in the Central Ontario summer water. I used to think of those things when I was a kid playing up at my friend Andrew's cottage over on Kashe Lake. I'd swim with my legs ticked under my body, trying to keep them as far from the bottom as possible... every centimeter counted. I'm older now and don't get bother by those things anymore, but it doesn't mean there still aren't weird creatures of the lakes ready to stike not far away. In any event, apparently salt helps.

Have fun swimming!

-Matt

My Yeti!

So here is a Yeti design I did up today at Yowza Animation here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It's only August and snow is quite a ways away. I'm not sure why I decided on yetis and snow as my theme today... My mom would tell me about how her brother (my uncle) would go around the house in the middle of summer and play Christmas music. Maybe I've got a bit of that gene in me.

All the Monsters

I was commissioned to do some illustrations for a friend of a friend of a friend (and so on). Here are the two of the four monsters I did up!

L8r!

-Matt

The Monster

Everyone calls him/it Frankenstein. But he's/it's not. It's just the Monster. Also... he/it doesn't get much credit for his smarts and cunning... but probably after you eat a bunch madens' heads off, your smarts rep would most likely take a nose dive and your brain eating rep would coincidentally go up... tragic.

Channeling my Picasso

Channeling my inner Picasso

New Tour Poster

Here's a tour poster I did for a tour that never really got off the ground... I still like the poster though.

Where I'm From - Part 1

So, My name is Matthew Kalinauskas. I have red hair and fair skin... and I live in Canada. I am not Irish, though I do tend to fit right in on St. Patrick's Day, and I am not Greek (I get that a lot, for some reason). I thought it would be fun to do three little pieces on my ancestry and here is piece one. I am 1/4 Austrian (that's where the red hair is from), 1/4 French/French Canadian, 1/2 Lithuanian (that's where I got the last name from), and 100% Awesome! I mean, Canadian. That still sounded lame. Either way, I'm sure the National Geographic Human Genome Project would tell me I'm from Asia or something anyway.

I looked for a long time to try and find the meaning of the name "Kalinauskas" and from what I can tell, it seems as though my family was named after a flowering tree or something. It's nothing crazy or heroic, but I like it. And it's long which makes it fun hearing people try to sound out my name when they have to read it out for the first time.

"Is it, Kalimakus?"
"No, just sound it out. Every letter counts."
"Kamlinakos?"
"NO! Okay, just like in grade one. KA"
"Ka"
"LI"
"Li"
"NAU"
"How about just Matt K?"
"Sure, whatever."

I get my Lithuanian roots from my dad's side. His parents came to Toronto after World War 2. They both passed away before I was born, but sometimes I'll say or do something and my mom and dad will say that is exactly something your tėvukas (grand father) would say/do. I like hearing that. It's usually when I would have done something good, so it's nice to know he was a good guy. My dad's parents met here in the Toronto Lithuanian community, which is actually quite substantial. There's a park in the city called Lithuania Park. There are also two Lithuanian Catholic Churches, a credit union and bunch of other stuff. I was born in Toronto, but we moved up to the country when I was only four years old. If we stayed down in the city, I'm told I would have been put in Lithuanian school (Saturday mornings... not fun) and I would have been involved in the community and stuff (which would have been more fun). I always envy my friends who are part of an ethnic community. It seems like a neat common understanding they all have amongst their group. I'm just on the fridge, holding on by my last name. Needless to say I don't speak any Lithuanian other than hello, thank you, and thank you very much. Not an extensive vocabulary.

Well, that's part of me! The Lithuanian part! I'll have more later

-Matt

New Poster for a New Band!

My band, The Breaking Lakes just announced our CD Release show. It's going to be Saturday, May 29th. It'll be fun. I designed the poster, so I figured I'd post it. I'll have more cartoons soon!!!1!!

-Matt

Sometimes It's Not That Big of a Deal

Big freaky monsters can get this way and so do people. At least I can. People have a lot of potential and sometimes they can let the little things get in their was of some pretty cool stuff. Excuses are useless... I got that from an Amway tape... but it's still true.

Okay, pep talk over. I drew this at the end of the day here at Yowza, in Toronto. It's a beautiful day out, it's spring, so obviously, love is in the air, and I've got a new project in the works... If I don't finish this one, someone punch me in the face. It doesn't have to do with monsters though. When I get deeper into some work on this thing I'll start posting stuff.

Peace out hombres

-Matt

I'm Blaming the Weather... i guess

So basically, this was today. Frustrated and unproductive. Even though it was Tuesday it was still the first day of the week. Easter weekend was amazing, bee tee bubs.

-Matt

Rikki Tikki Tavi the Mongoose

Here is a mongoose I just drew this afternoon. I'm on a bit of a Rikki Tikki Tavy kick these days. Also I'm in the middle of starting a second animation scene with this character. I designed him and stuff, but the animation isn't at a place yet where I can post it. It would all just look like blurs and weird pencil lines. Whatever, here is my rendition of Rikki Tikki Tavi :)

-Matt

OH CANADA!!!

Crosby seconds after scoring the Gold Medal Goal for Team Canada men's ice hockey... in OVER TIME! I was so crazy excited watching I almost had a heart attack! It was amazing!

Christine Nesbitt with a gold for Canada. She raced in many

Long Track Speed Skating events. She earned gold, however,

in the 1000 meter race!

Jon Montgomery after realizing that he had won gold for Canada in the men's Skeleton at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Later on after going for his drug test he got off the Blackcomb Gondola and walked through a crowd of people to get to his interview. As he walked some lady handed him a pitcher of beer. And of course he drank right from the pitcher. Wow, when I win a gold, I want that to happen! I saw the whole thing live in TV. It was truly an amazing Canadian moment.

Now that the games are done, I guess I and all of us have to get back to our normal lives. I would hope, however, that the joy, patriotism, and celebration of pure honest achievement never gets left behind. These games were truly an amazing time in my life, one that I will never forget... and I just watched it form my TV at home. There were SO many amazing moments in these Olympic Winter Games I couldn't list them all here. Here's a link to the CTV Olympic Channel on Youtube. There they have a whole bunch of great moments from the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.

I am so proud of ALL the athletes who represented Canada and followed their dreams to fruition. And I encourage ALL Canadian athletes who have a dream and are trying their best to represent Canada in the future be it in London 2012 or Sochi 2014 to not give up and do us proud. You've all inspired me to keep striving for my dreams too. When the going gets tough, and it will, I'll think of you.

God bless Canada, my home!

-Matt

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=127E3E4632DF9F3A&search_query=canada+gold+medals+vancouver

Intensity in 10 Cities Tour Poster

Hello Kelly

and To Tell present

Intensity in 10 Cities

10 exclusive shows across Ontrio

March 2010

Here is the poster I did for the "Intensity in 10 Cities" tour, featuring Hello Kelly and To Tell. Hello Kelly asked me to do this poster and some other variations of it. They wanted it to be intense and stuff, with bombs or something. I decided on this Russian missile and to give it kinda like an old WWII/Cold War theme. Those were pretty intense moments in time and they possessed lots of cool silk screen, one colour posters. I like how it turned out.

-Matt

New Hello Kelly tees

This are a couple t-shirt designs I did for my buddy Francois and his band Hello Kelly. They have a new album coming out this year and they'll be on tour in Ontario in the next month. Later they'll be off to the Eastern USA and after that Western Canada... they keep themselves moving. Anyway, I kinda liked these two so I thought I'd post them.

I'll post some more sketches soon, I just have to sort out the battle with my scanner... lame.

Have a great day!

-Matt

Mime: A True Story

P.S. Just put up a new post at the Film's Blog

The Breaking Lakes! Matthew's Gots a New Band!

The Breaking Lakes

In this Photo: Jeff (producer/engineer), Mike (Bass), Dave (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Jay (Keys/Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals)

Mike tuning up his bass. Getting ready for a marathon bass session.

A photo from behind the glass in the Blue Box Studios

Dave, Tamara (Mike's wife), Lilly (Mike and Tamara's youngest), and Mike rehearsing a new Breaking Lakes' song.

My brother and I and our good friend Jason, have got a new band going called "the Breaking Lakes". Here are some new pictures of Dave, Jay, Mike (our bass-in-the-face man), and Jeff (producer/engineer) in the Blue Box Studios. We're working on a new studio album. We're all pretty psyched... I'm behind the camera.

All right! Another Saga Entry

Here is another instalment to the ongoing Saga of Matt and Randeep and our journey through making a film. This one has a guest appearance of our friends Mel and Ian. This one's based on a true story... probably.

Also... here are some more designs from the film. Be sure to check out the film blog. I'm not posting everything on here. PLUS! Randeep has stuff up there too. So go check it out :)

-Matt

A new post for the film!

Here is a new piece I did for the film blog. Go check out the other posts by me and Randeep :)

-Matt

The Matt and Randeep Saga continues... AND a new film blog!

Here is a new little Matt and Randeep Saga instalment for you. ALSO!!! We just made a new blog for the film we're working on. Here are a couple character sketches I've done and Randeep just added a bunch of stuff yesterday. Go have a look. We'll be updating it regularly... I hope.

Two By Two

So my buddy Vlad just uploaded his student film "C-Block" to his blog and it got me thinking... why haven't I done that yet? So here it is. My student film from my graduating year out of the Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (breeaaath*) BAA - Animation program of 2008.

Enjoy!

-Matt

Matt and Randeep: Chapter 3

Yet another moment with Matt and Randeep... and introducing Vlad! He works at Pixar.

The Randeep and Matt Saga!!! Dun Dun Dun!

Yeah... we work together... a lot. It's time for the weekend... now!

Bringing in the New

Yeah, I came up with the original concept of this one a while ago... I'd say around last April or so.

I did these riding on the subway with my buddy Randeep on our way to some T.I.F.F. 2009 screenings.

I did these waiting with my Grandma and Grandpa at the hospital a couple of weeks ago.

Ok so, like I mentioned a few weeks ago my backpack and sketchbooks got stolen... bummer... but I have since gotten a new one of each and I am alive again. Huzzah! So it is filling up quick, but a lot of it has to be kept on the "DL" (down low) for a little while, just until Randeep and I figure out a the final story direction we choose to take with the film we're working on. That should take to about this Friday. BUT, until then here are some sketches I did recently on the Toronto Subway, at A Hospital, and an other I just remembered from one of my old sketchbooks. It kinda stands out.

Enjoy,

Matt

Smash and Grab

Sooo... my Band Van got busted into the other day and my backpack got stolen. It was, as the cops say, a 'smash and grab' job. So guess what was in that back pack? My sketchbooks. Awesome. Well I hope the dude who took them appreciates them.

I'll have new stuff coming probably with a better and more complete rendition of the story of that nights events.

See you later... and don't leave valuables in plain sight in your car when parking downtown.

-Matt

The Soap Family: Bro's and... ugh... Female Bros

Ok so it's been a while... again.

I did these two drawings a while ago but just never got around to posting them. They were inspired by a film I saw on Youtube one day called "Bro Rape". They went into some detail on what typically classifies one as a "bro". It turns out they tend to be people I don't have a great desire to be like. So with that short film still fresh in my mind, I found myself waiting for the rest of my band to show up to a gig we were playing here in Toronto, so I began to sketch out my impression of the quintessential "bro". A few days after completing that sketch, I decided that it's not fair to reserve the class of "ignorant, loud, horny, moron" to simply the male gender... even though we tend to excel at it. No, there must be a female equivalent. Enter the "chick".

I thought back to my days at Sheridan. If there was a place "chicks" resided in droves, it would be there. So after some careful meditation and planning, I proceeded to draw, what I felt, was the seminal version of what is to be called "the chick"... Or to be put more simply, the female "bro".

Now I don't want to say that everyone is a bro or a chick. I'm sure that if you read through the notes on the side of the pages you'll find a couple elements that would describe parts of your daily presentation to the world. Don't worry. Bro-ness or, for the fairer of the species, Chick-ness, is not one element here or there, but rather a collaboration of elements, assembled together to create a solid state of duche-baggery. To be made simply, if you regularly assemble (or even worse, put together an ensemble only on special occasions) with three or more of the articles listed in the images above, you are most likely a bro/chick... and I'm sorry but that includes, belly button rings (a recent addition though not listed above), and all other articles of clothing/accessory listed above that may be more of a permanent fixture.

And that makes me and many others sad... I'm sorry. But there is always help.

-Matt

For clarification on the subject please feel free to follow this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zvTRQr7ns8

Love and Apartments - A whole Mix of Emotions

This was a sketch I did on the subway one day on my way to York University to meet my brother. I was listening to the Beatles and this is kinda what came out. I just had fun with it. And that's the best part about a sketch book.

Well now I'm off to try and find an apartment. I've been looking for a little while but not too seriously. However, like all important life changing moments in my life, I left it until the last minute. I kinda' need to get one by the end of the week or I'm a bit out of luck. It's hard when all my friends already have a roommate, or have moved away doing it on your own sucks... and I know for many of you that's just how it is. But don't tell me you enjoyed it the first time you did it, because I know you're lying.

I'm stressing out. I hate change, and even though I'm getting better at it, it still sucks growing up. You hear that kids? Don't grow up, it's better that way. I think I need to go lie down and listen to some Beatles and relax... after I take care of some business first... I guess.