The Caveman Robot Project!

Image Study for the Upcoming Graphic Novel

2011-11-22T19:53:00.000-08:00

Page 65
Caveman Robot and Ape Lincoln crash out into the street, locked in combat.
Ape speaks to his delight to see Caveman Robot again, and how he finally understands what Caveman Robot is.
Ape leaps upon Caveman Robot and with little effort rips his left arm off at the shoulder, the coils schatter across the sky, falls to the ground in a mass of live wires and glowing circuits, revealing Pete’s puny human arm within..

Getting back to work...

2011-07-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

All the experiments, and workshops in the world, vacations and rewrites, don't make Caveman Robot, making Caveman Robot, makes Caveman Robot.
More to come...
Photo by JJ Sulin.

MASTERMIND NEEDS YOU

2011-06-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

Mastermind opens next Friday

2011-06-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

http://youtu.be/Gvvi7OSNULk

Caveman Robot at the Fountain Art Fair New York 2011

2011-03-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

-Jason Robert Bell

Work to do.....

2011-02-22T22:23:00.000-08:00

We are busy at work here in the SimuCave, more to come.

Fragment found on an recently found Hard Drive....

2011-02-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

Trying to clean up the studio and I found this story fragment, I think it was written back and forth between myself and Britton Walters, basically just information to write a script from....how many of us have these fragments floating about...

12. AGENT CROSS COMPLETES HER REPORT

The Professor greets Agent Gerri Cross and guides her through the lobby of his research facility. She is a professional-looking, black woman in her mid-thirties. Her hair falls freely and is full of tight, bouncy curls, but deep down inside she means business. Agent Cross’ face rarely breaks from a state of cool alertness. She is constantly ready for action, and is always armed with a large pistol, which is now concealed under a sophisticated, charcoal gray business suit. If she breaks from the traditional F.B.I. look, it is in her choice of footwear. Today, she crosses the lobby floor in smart-looking, knee-high black leather boots.

Cross has come for their statements about last night with Ape Lincoln. The Professor has no objections to the interview. He mentions that his family is used to dealing with the authorities by now. She asks him what he meant by “dealing with authorities?”

The Professor points out an old photo in a display about the Tuttlewell family and Caveman Robot. The picture shows the professor’s grandfather, Silas E. Tuttlewell, shortly after he found Caveman Robot while he was testing mining equipment out west. As far as Silas could tell, Caveman Robot had fallen prey to a cave-in and had been trapped under tons of rubble for an unknown amount of time. As Caveman Robot has little, if no ability to speak, we may never know how long he was buried.

After being freed by Silas, Caveman Robot joined the family, in a manner of speaking. The Professor says he comes from a long line of scientists and explorers. For several generations, Caveman Robot has joined them in their adventures and scientific pursuits. As he says this, she notices a magazine featuring the 1938 expedition to Mexico. He has even stepped in time to time to defend the well-being of humanity. Agent Cross chimes in that she and the Federal Government are well aware of Caveman Robot’s important role in society.

Suddenly, the Professor stops and turns to the agent. He remembers where he’s heard her name before. He asks her, “Are you related to Aaron Cross?” The professor recalls when he was in college, Caveman Robot had entered into a partnership in the seventies with a private detective named Aaron Cross. Adjusting his glasses he says that he thought Mr. Cross had a couple kids.

Gerri smiles, and says “Aaron Cross was her father. It was his influence that lead her to a career in law enforcement.” He died when she was young, but she remembers her father’s stories about cleaning up the bad streets of Monument City with Caveman Robot, so it is a great privilege to have been put on this case and finally meet her father’s old partner.

She then asks, “What exactly do you do here at the Tuttlewell Institute for Scientific Advancement?” As they enter the main area of the lab, the Professor explains that they’re a research laboratory. Their primary work is the study Caveman Robot’s unique technology. Most of his systems are more advanced than any current technology. The Professor relates he hasn’t a clue who built him, but points out that “thanks to our research, we’ve been able to introduce numerous unique technologies and products based on those found within his friend.”

He adds that, thanks to Caveman Robot, his family has been able find unique solutions to the world’s problems, and to delve into the farthest reaches of scientific exploration. He also says that he makes his facilities available to students of the sciences from the university, which he teaches at.

As the two climb up a flight of stairs, she asks, “How do you fund this facility?” The Professor states there’s “the old family fortune, money from patents and products we help to develop, and a small portion from various foundations and institutions.” He gestures for her to take a seat at a table.

Megan and Caveman Robot soon join agent Gerri Cross and the Professor at the table. Agent Cross introduces herself and extends her hand to Megan and Caveman Robot. Before she can say anything else, Caveman Robot scans her facial features, retinal pattern, and voiceprint.
In his mind, a blur of rapidly flipping mug shot-like images fly by. An image of Gerri’s father and one of her mother, Glammzon Rea, bring up another adventure from the 1970s. While facial comparisons are made to the woman standing before him, a memory file is played back. It is a point-of-view shot from Caveman Robot as he enters a hospital room. Aaron Cross beckons over to him and gestures to his wife and their new daughter in a hospital bed. Facing Gerri, in order to confirm his conclusion, he asks, “AARON’S DAUGHTER?”

She nods, smiles says, “Yes.” As he envelops Gerri in his massive arms, Megan chimes in that Caveman Robot has an excellent memory and a remarkable eye for details. Cross agrees and suggests Caveman Robot consider a career in the Bureau in the future. Laughter is heard around the table.

She collects statements from them regarding last night with Ape Lincoln. Caveman Robot silently draws a series of complex yet child-like pictures and presents them to Gerri. She looks them over, they show the entire night’s event with Ape Lincoln and the final drawing is of Caveman Robot handing his drawings to Cross. She smiles and thanks Caveman Robot and promises to add them to the case file. Caveman Robot says in a low grumble, “GOOD.”

Her statements collected, Cross thanks the three for their time, and says that it was a pleasure to finally meet Caveman Robot in person. She admits that some of her superiors told her to watch her step around him today. Cross continues, that once you get over the initial shock of seeing Caveman Robot in person and up close, he seems to really nice.

Megan says, “Some people just don’t trust Caveman Robot, and there’ve been problems with this in the past. People tend to see what they want him to be.” Cross says that she doesn’t understand, as Caveman Robot gets up and begins to stare out a window. He looks out over the river toward Monument City and at himself in the reflection. A large suspension bridge stretches across the river toward downtown. The roadway is supported by pairs of steel giants standing in the sparkling river.

The Professor says, “Caveman Robot is a kind of mirror, most people look at him and see the good, and so they see Caveman Robot as a hero. Others look at Caveman Robot and see the unknown. Their fears and distrust have turned him into a monster in their eyes.”

Caveman Robot reaches out and touches the glass of the window, tracing the path of a tugboat as it floats down the river. In his mind, a memory file begins to run. He is beside an older Aaron Cross on a rooftop. Almost the same skyline stretches out before them as they approach a nervous junkie. Aaron steps toward the junkie, who has taken a young woman hostage and whose gun darts back and forth between Caveman Robot and Aaron’s position.

The junkie screams out, “Stand back!” Aaron Cross pulls his gun out and places it on the ground. He assures the junkie, “We’re just here to help, we don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Caveman Robot watches as Aaron walks toward the man talking in a calm manner. The junkie loosens his grip a bit on the terrified woman.

Suddenly, the junkie tightens up and aims his gun at Caveman Robot. He screams out and tells Caveman Robot to leave. He’ll off the woman if the monster, Caveman Robot comes any closer. Aaron motions to Caveman Robot and assures the junkie, “We’re both here to help you, and you have nothing to fear.” The junkie disagrees, frantically pulling the woman closer to the edge of the rooftop, screaming what he’s seen Caveman Robot do. He cocks the hammer of the gun back.

Without a moment to lose, Aaron springs toward the man and reaches for the gun. Caveman Robot rushes forward to pull the hostage to safety, and the junkie screams in terror at the approaching titan. With the woman in his arms, Caveman Robot hears a loud bang.

He turns to see his friend Aaron face down on the rooftop. A puddle of deep red blood pours out of Aaron’s upper arm. The junkie looks up to see an angry Caveman Robot stomping toward him and screams again. Before he can reach him, afraid of Caveman Robot, the junkie leaps off the roof and plummets down to the alley below. Caveman Robot slowly turns back toward his injured friend and collapses onto his knees beside him. He picks up Aaron’s limp body, and leaps off the building to take him to the hospital.

Back in the lab, still in deep thought, Caveman Robot lowers his head with a sigh and leaves the room. At the table, Megan asks, “What’s being done with Ape Lincoln?” Agent Cross informs her that he has been taken to a special facility for unique and especially dangerous criminals known as “Special Location Zero.” The Professor says he knows about S. L. Zero, that he and Caveman Robot helped design and build the facility years ago to hold super-criminals. He adds some of his brightest students helped him. Professor Tuttlewell assures Megan that escape from Zero is impossible.

Above the group a fly observes the scene from a light fixture overhead.

More Pics from Miami

2010-12-31T01:27:00.000-08:00

Here are some new pics i just got, check them out! Oolar!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157625586550657/

Caveman Robot at the Fountain Art Fair

2010-12-07T11:27:00.001-08:00

Shepard Fairey was the DJ, while this was going on, which neither I nor Caveman Robot knew about when it was happening....

Check out more photos here...Marni Kotak's Sunny Blue Plymouth performance piece was the Car being destroyed.

http://www.beachedmiami.com/2010/12/05/fountain-art-fair-2010-shepard-fairey-party/#more-3447

Caveman Robot: The Invocation of Oolar, 2010

2010-11-30T22:31:00.000-08:00

CAVEMAN ROBOT WILL APPEAR AT FOUNTAIN MIAMI 2010 Grace Exhibition Space.
He will attempt to commune with his Goddess 0olar, the Great Listener. All are welcome to attend.
9:45 PM, SATURDAY DEC. 4th, 2010

Jill McDermid and Erik Hokanson Directors, Grace Exhibition Space (646) 578-3402 www.Grace-Exhibition-Space.com GRACE SPACE : PERFORMANCE ART LIVE : NOVEMBER 3 and 4 - LiVE ACTiON NY featuring some of the most important and emerging contemporary Scandinavian and North American performance artists in an intense and exciting event going beyond the mainstream.

Two more preview pages

2010-10-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

Two more preview pages of the new Caveman Robot graphic novel. The Bad Guy is called Krab Ran Goon, he is mine and Joe's mutation of my Lobster Ape character.

Jason Robert Bell

Preview of our new awesome Caveman Robot Book

2010-10-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

My good friend, Joe Infurnari and I are working a new Caveman Robot graphic novel, and it is going to be great!

The Dreaded Lobster Ape

2010-09-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

Concept art for a Caveman Robot villain, for a new Caveman Robot project.

I created The Dreaded Lobster Ape, when I was seven for a Post Cereal Box Top Contest, "Design your own Super Villain", the back of the boxes had a cut entry form with a half finished drawing of one of the Superfriends leaping into Battle with a blank space. You the child were intended to come up with a new super villain in that blank space. They even had actual watercolor dots printed on the back of the box to color it with. I don't think I ever actually mailed it in.

"One art crustacean, one part simian, ALL CHOAS!"

EVERY HUMAN EVER

2010-07-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

From Annie "Capt. Ass Kick" Pollock, and president of the west coast chapter of the Caveman Robot Evil Smasher Auxiliary-

Not sure if you have been following, but we rescued four tiny orphan kittens a few weeks ago (their Momma was hit by a car :/ ) and are raising them until they are old enough to be adopted out by friends.. I thought I would show you we are raising them well.. Their favorite cuddle-buddy is none other than Caveman Robot, as it should be with every feline! Nay.. EVERY HUMAN EVER.

New Animation Storyboards

2010-06-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

This is the first batch of scans from the storyboards for the caveman robot animation project.

Caveman Robot: The Invocation of Alexander Hamilton

2010-05-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

Escape from New York Opening and Exhibit
Paterson, New Jersey
May 15th, 2010
Ink, Charcoal, and Oil Stick on Five Museum Board Panels mounted on Wood

by Jason Robert Bell with assistance from Marni Kotak

Thanks to Olympia Lambert for putting together the exhibit...

the streets monumenta

2010-02-18T17:43:00.000-08:00

Here are some righteous inks by none other than Britton "The Fountainhead" Walters for the new concept art for the animation project.

SHAW!

2009-11-21T21:32:00.000-08:00

I was turning the tables on my Mentor Scott Shaw! and telling him that he should do a web comic about his life and he drew this picture.

Big in Japan

2009-10-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have been laid up the last few weeks with a bad case of sciatica, but thanks to lots of acupuncture from Katherine Irby, I have been able to slowly get back to work. Part of that work is fulling a month old order for Caveman Robot Dolls for Newtone Records in Japan. Just for fun I made a special badly translated Japanese Translation of Caveman Robot, which roughly translates back to english as Caveman The Robot.
-Jason Robert Bell

From the Vaults

2009-08-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

I am digging around today, trying to find an old word document, that has some important Caveman Robot ideas in it ( Big time ideas!) And I came across this gem from years ago, Joe Infurnari and I were trying to cook up some concept art, when we first started talking about getting a Caveman Robot animated project going, and this was one of the piece he ended up making. We were both messing around with 3-D programs at our dayjobs.
Here we see a battle in the snowy yeti-haunted wastelands, between Caveman Robot and his sometimes ally/foe Dr.Zarathustra, DDS.

Learning Blender

2009-08-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

I realized that I needed usable and dynamic 3-D figures for the animation figures that I can do 360 turnarounds of for some of the sequences, which means learning Blender and creating what I need with it. It is slow going, but every time I sit down and try I figure something out. Hopefully it will be fruitful.
I am not a big fan of full CGI pieces, but I do think it is a useful tool, that will help make the final piece have a life of it's own.

Loser Pete Blocks Uncle Ned's TV (rough)

2009-06-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

As Zarathustra waxing poetics about Caveman Robot on Monumenta's Airwaves. Pete blocks the view of his Uncle Ned.

Still feeling out the expressionist/photo collage/ drawing atop video, but I think the final product will embraced that "state of becoming".

Loser Pete's living room

2009-06-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

working on backgrounds, basically creating them from photo-collage of my actual apartment, oh the glamourous life of an artist.
Notice the vintage "Visit Beautiful Monumenta" poster on the lower right.

Chimps!

2009-06-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

Working on Chimps for the Animation, Ape Lincoln's ragtag army of chimps, pulled out of their mundane lives here on earth, via Ape's amazing simian charisma. The chimps become a mindless force of nature attacking the city, and taking the hapless Loser Pete captive. Many are from the Zoo, but others come from The circus, various medical testing labs, and the space program.

Progress on the Animation

2009-06-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

tooling along on the big fight between Caveman Robot and Ape Lincoln, I wanted to have them cast shadows on a billboard, and what better service to promote than "Invisible Donkey Removal Services!"

Loser Pete and the Chimps

2009-06-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

Slogging along here, I need to go to the Diamond District and take some photos for source material for the Backgrounds.

Loser Pete

2009-05-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

Here are the latest stills from the animation we see Peter "Loser Pete" Malfortuna, in his Televison enlighted living room.

What is on the wall in Loser Pete's apartment? One a mask from HIs Uncles travles, a portrait of Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, and a baby picture of Pete. Pete lives with his Uncle Ned and Aunt June, who are part of the native Esperanto speakers of the city of Monumenta. This came about because Monumenta was an attempt at an Utopian city, so all manner of dreamers and forward thinkers came there to try to make a go of it there. Really no much happens in this story that leads into Pete's background, it is more the idea that there could be later stories, where Pete's ability to speak Esperanto will save the day.

I know it might seem crazy to go to the trouble to draw the pictures on the wall for a background that will be seen for a few seconds, but that is what it is all about, this is the business of making worlds, worlds that don't fall apart in a few days, but last beyond the life of their creators.

My good friend, artist, and former student Jon Latiano, was the life model for Pete, beside being the right body type and age, Jon has the ernest heart of gold quality that I want to get across in Pete's character. Loser Pete was first used in a short story by Britton Walters in Caveman Robot #1, were he was Caveman Robot slacker roommate. He kept finding his way to the growing mythos of Caveman Robot over the years, and was masterfully portrayed by Chris Harcum, in The Adventures of Caveman Robot the Musical.

Comic-Con-Years-Artists-Writers-Friends

2009-05-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

I got an email from our old pal Adam McGovern, looks like Caveman Robot is right dab in the middle of this Sergio Aragones cover,
Comic-Con,40 Years of Artists, Writers, Fans, & Friends!

Caveman Robot has had a few run ends with Mr.Aragones, we thought he did not like us, really nice to be part of this history.

work so far

2009-05-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

I have been plugging away on this Caveman Robot animation project, here are most of the clips I have so far, basically I have 120 some odd clips planned out each one 2 to 30 seconds, I am treating each one as it's own little flim, and build them up and fitting them together, here we see Dr. Zarathustra, Caveman Robot, and the nefarious Ape Lincoln.

Great write up on Joe Infurnari

2009-05-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

http://graphicnyc.blogspot.com/2009/05/daring-to-be-different-with-joe.html

Check out this get write up of our own Joe Infurnari.

Yooouuutuuube.com

2009-05-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Yooouuutuuube.com is a site that allows users to create a frame-by-frame video wall display using any YouTube video link.

http://www.yooouuutuuube.com/

Prooooogreeesssss

2009-04-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

Working hard on the animation, will have more up soon, finding the right mix of media and elements.

-Jason Robert Bell

Zarathustra Introduces Caveman Robot Test

2009-04-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

Aging Adventure Dr. John Zarathustra, D.D.S., speaks his retirement ceremony , where he is about to pass on his position of official protector of Monumenta to Caveman Robot. Voice and Life Model Adam Swiderski. Text by Jeff Lewonczyk.
Art by Jason Robert Bell

Worked for a few days on this, mainly trying to out the right work flow, and building up a painterly/ old time projection flicker feel to it all.

A better version of this clip can be send on vimeo here.

Progress on the Animation...

2009-04-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

I am back on track working on the Caveman Robot Animation, going over all the live action footage and vectoring it up into keyed layers, which at best is a low budget rotoscoping, but I am using this method as a starting place, not a finish, once I have this done, I can then add in the limited, full, and cgi elements, along with the digital collage and mixed media ideas I have for this monster. It is a long process, and I am trying to come at it more the way I would my ink drawings on actual paper.
For way too long, I have been trying to make this project fit into other people's ideas about what a cartoon, or an animation should be, and other people's ideals about adventure. Since I am all alone in making this, I am free to make it what I want it to be, and discover what that is along the way.

Getting back on track

2009-04-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

I have had to put the animation project on the backburner, first to work on my gallery exhibit at Thomas Robertello Gallery a few months ago, then to work on the Love video with Chris Uphues and Istvan & His Imaginary Band, and then to do Caveman Robot Radio Adventure Hour at the 92nd Street Y's new tribeca space show with Trav S.D..
Hopefully I can spend the next few months working on this animation and getting it to where it needs to be. The two main ideas I am dealing with is getting a more natural organic feel to the line work, which has involved me trying out different ink quills and brushes and getting a better understanding of After Effects and how to better use that program with Toon Boom.

-Jason Robert Bell

THE HOBO AND THE HERO by Britton Walters

2009-04-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Our good pal and collaborator, Dr. Britton Walters, was so insprired by Caveman Robot recently crossed into the world of radio with an old time radio play broadcast on WFMU, That he did this drawing.

Status: Safely stored away in the Nerfect Worldwide North American Archives.

Caveman Robot animated by 2nd Graders

2009-03-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

I am doing a 4 day animation workshop with 10 2nd graders at the Bronx Charter School for the Arts. This out first test "walk cycle" using a Caveman Robot paper puppet I created last night.

Caveman Robot at Bronx Charter School for the Arts

2009-03-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Caveman Robot, did a guess appearance at the Bronx Charter School for the Arts as part of their Arts Week Parade.

It is funny, few years ago a tv exec told me that Caveman Robot was too "cool" and that kids could not relate to him, and then I have 300 kids hugging him, and proclaiming their love for him.

Caveman Robot Radio Adventure at 92nd Y went great

2009-03-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

I am going to post up more later.

People in order from left to right, Maya Wainhaus, Caveman Robot, Moira Stone, Chris Harcum , Robert Pinnock, Trav S.D., Richard Harrington, and Peter Mcnamara.

Photo by John Bell.

On the Air with Joey Reynolds

2009-03-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

Last night Trav SD and Myself, taped an interview for the Joey Reynolds Show on WOR Radio
We went to talk about out Radio/Performance/ Video Projection piece we had just done at the 92nd Street Y's new Tribeca Performance space. Instead we had a wonderfully insane discussion of metaphysics.
http://www.tetragrammatron.com/CR_on_joeyreynolds.mp3
You can download this mp3 to hear our interview.

Jason Robert Bell

Caveman Robot Radio Adventure at 92nd Y

2009-02-28T13:07:00.000-08:00

Here is the Invite image for the Caveman Robot Radio Adventure show we will be doing with Trav S.D. the night of March 25th, 8:00 pm, at the 92nd street Y's new Tribeca performance space. 200 Hudson St., New York, NY

Caveman Robot Radio Adventure Hour: Episode #167 Enter Boxcar Willie: The Supertramp!

Writer/ performer Trav S.D. (author of "No Applause, Just throw Money"), presents this old time radio show featuring the cult comics character Caveman Robot (http://www.cavemanrobot.com) , with performers the actual 7 foot tall Caveman Robot, Trav S.D., Robert Pinnock, Pete Macnamara, et al., TBA. Live music and sound effects and hand drawn animated video images of the adventure by Jason Robert Bell, with comedy for an experience calculated to make you all yell out Caveman Robot's battle cry “Oolar!”

Caveman Robot Figure Maquettes

2009-02-19T15:23:00.000-08:00

I am working full time on The Caveman Robot Animation project. To that end I am currently making Figure maquettes of the characters, mainly to work out ideas for lighting and poses. Here are process photos of Megan, Ape Lincoln, Zarathustra, and the start of the Professor. Also A fully posable 25 inch tall Caveman Robot figure. All the pieces are made from Sculpture wire, foam core, styrofoam, and oil based clay. I'll be updating the process over the next few days they can all be seen here on Flickr.

Nice little write up

2009-01-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.modernmythologypress.com Always nice to hear kind words about your efforts.

A Christmas Photo from Captain Ass Kick

2008-12-24T23:20:00.000-08:00

Annie Pollock, The West Coast President of the Caveman Robot Fan Club, sent us this today.

Past from the blast

2008-12-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

My old pal David Wells just sent this to me, he says that he made it in Second Life, so maybe you can find it there.

Do the CMR STOMP

2008-10-14T15:47:00.001-07:00

I am experimenting with laying animation from Toon Boom on top of video footage via After Effects, in this case I used the cartoon bible that Jonathan Latiano made from Joe Infurnari and my artwork. Caveman Robot looks like he is dancing to the music.

"Robot Cavernícola"

2008-09-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

Last week I did a guest speaker gig at Federico Santa María Technical University in Valparaíso, Chile, one of the most reputed engineering universities in Chile.

Gave a lecture on the use of Digital Media in my Fine Art and Comic Book Projects, and the development of ideas through interdisciplinary collaboration. Consulted with the school's administration on the develpoment of creative design course.
there were a good turn out and I was able to some them all the new animation work I have been doing.
Below is the first part of their press release for the lecture.

"Robot cavernícola" llega a la Universidad Santa María
Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María
Se trata de "Caveman robot", un proyecto del artista norteamericano Jason Bell, graduado de Master en Bellas Artes de la Universidad de Yale, quien contó su experiencia en el marco del Ciclo de Charlas organizado por el Departamento de Informática del Campus Valparaíso de esta Casa de Estudios.

Todo comenzó porque una amiga le comentó a Jason Bell que los hombres parecían unos robots cavernícolas. Y él, como broma, le hizo un dibujo de un robot cavernícola que luego dio origen a Caveman Robot. La idea fue tomando fuerza hasta transformarse en un cómic, pasando por la pintura, juguetería y el teatro a través de una obra musical presentada en Broadway.

Ape Lincoln Calls upon his Country apes!

2008-09-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

Ape Lincoln The interdimensional Villain uses his telepathic powers to control any simian within his charismatic and sinister domain, to attack Caveman Robot.

Ape Lincoln Fight Test

2008-09-21T14:52:00.000-07:00

Over the last two months, I have been working full time on developing Caveman Robot into a animation feature, since I have always been an expressionist of one kind or another I thought it was best to embrace a more direct and frankly brutal style for the action and fight segments.
In all honestly I have been thinking about Frank Espinosa's Rocketo and how to use a more freeform and gesture based drawing in mixture with the more highly rendered artwork we have been doing so far. In part because that is how I draw and since I am doing this it make no sense for me to fight my nature, You have to lean into the bite of the dog, if you fight it the bastard will take you down.

-Jason Robert Bell

Run Run Run take a drag or two....

2008-09-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

Heads, Heads, Heads

2008-09-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

Trying to come up with every way you can see Caveman Robot's Head is hard work, but somebody gots to do it.

Ape Lincoln with the What-A-Ma-Whositz!

2008-08-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

Over the course of working on this animation, I am realizing all the wonderful ways I can add to the story expand the universe and concepts in small, big, and wonderfully profound ways. I don't want to go into right now. But the above image might give you some ideas.
-Jason

Surrealist Club Gag

2008-08-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

We have been joking around about how Caveman Robot would get his club out for battle, this visual gag is a surrealist riff on Robocop, my friend Jon suggested that the club actually would grow, super fast.
Jason

The Golden Path

2008-08-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

Things are moving along faster now, am in the process of timing out each sequence, also realizing where I can cut things and kicj up the script and action/plot. We'll have to re-do the final spoken sound for some the lines. However I feel like I am actually getting somewhere.

-Jason

Walk Cycle Test

2008-08-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

Its not perfect, but I a finally getting to the point where I can make him walk and have it not look like total crap. I think the finally walk should be more of a lumbering affair, but this is fine for now.

Another Quick Animation Test

2008-08-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

Beside the iMovie pre-packed sound effects there is a guitar riff by Debby "musical goddess" Schwartz, from her great CMR song "his Robot queen"

-
Jason

The Dog That Thinks He is Steve Allen

2008-08-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

l

The Dog That Thinks He is Steve Allen, is a character that was created by Britton Walters when he and I wrote a Caveman Robot Movie Treatment. He is a freak experiment of Franklin Park's, that becomes the comic sidekick for Loser Pete, the tragic sidekick of Caveman Robot.
When it came time to design him, I drew him as a mutt with a portrait of the actual Steve Allen. Joe Infurnari and I came up with the idea that he speaks via a voice box around his collar, similar to Mr. Mind, from the Captain Marvel comics. I added the yes and no light as a homage to Clarabell the Clown.

So Here is a quick Animation Test of him speaking.

Jason

Baby Steps!

2008-08-09T10:37:00.000-07:00

Going through the process of creating a cut-out animation fully rigged figure, I have a ton more work to do, but am starting to see some real life in Caveman Robot.

- Jason

Watch close or your miss'em

2008-08-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

CMR head test

2008-08-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

I have gotten to the point where I have rigged up Caveman Robot's head, what is great about him is that his moods and speech are all done with two movements of his jaw and brow.

-Jason Robert Bell

Vectors

2008-08-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

There is something nice about that moment when you are able to actually get a program to start doing what you want it to. Here two screen shots of Caveman Robot and Zarathustra in the process of being rigged up for Toon Boom. I need to clean the lines up so that the overall drawing does not have that "vectored" look. But that might be a "post" issue.
-jason

Learning Toon Boom

2008-08-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

Now that I have time to myself, I can really focus on this project, I am currently teaching myself Toon Boom, and attempting to translate all of our design into it. It is rough going, but will be worth it once I know what I am doing.
-Jason

First Roughs

2008-07-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

Here are my first roughs for animation cells of the pilot, I used Flipbook to break the live action into stills, so now I have something like 10,000 stills!
Now going through the various shots and finding keyframes, drawing over the photographic images with the Wacom tablet in Photoshop, and coloring them as well. I am feeling out the overall effect and making sure that whatever the final product looks like, it will have HEART, that is what I think is lacking in most cartoons now. Your can be funny, sly, and have all kinds of post modern winks to the larger culture but can't you also have high adventure? Can't you have something that actually put itself out there and really tries to make people feel?

Caveman Robot Storyboards

2008-07-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

I just finished these New Storyboards, I need to work on locations and the fusion of the photographic materials with the cartoon and comic book materials.
-Jason Robert Bell

Greetings from Valparaiso!

2008-07-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

I am currently staying in Valparaiso, Chile, which is the “Chile’s Cultural Capital”, the entire port city is filled with abstract murals, great cartoon graffiti, and every building is something out of a postcard. The city was home to Pablo Neruda and other well know South American artist such as the cartoonist Renzo "Lukas" Pecchenino. I realized that mixing Valparaiso with New York City (home for the last 8 years) would be a great combo for Monumenta, the fictional city that is the setting for the Caveman Robot animation project I am working on down here.
I tried to take some pictures today, to start building a image bank from backdrops to use in the animation, they can all be seen here!
More to come.
Jason Robert Bell

Pilot Shoot and a Manifesto

2008-07-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all the actors for their time and great effort-

Adam Swiderski played DR. JOHN ZARATHUSTRA, D.D.S.
Jonathan Latiano played LOSER PETE
Hope Cartelli played MEGAN TUTTLEWELL
Jeff Lewonczyk played FRANKLIN PARK
Joe Infurnari played PROF. TUTTLEWELL
Shoshanna Weinberger played CHIMP, STAND IN, EXTRA
John Michael Bell played APE LINCOLN
Jason Robert Bell played CAVEMAN ROBOT and EDISON PARK

Photography by Shoshanna Weinberger and Jonathan Latiano
Cinematography by Jeff Lewonczyk

All the pictures can be seen here on Flickr

I have begone production of a animated short this summer, instead of going to this years San Diego Comic Con, I am focusing of actually making the Caveman Robot cartoon that we have been trying to get off the ground for the last five years. To that end I set up a photo/video shoot at the Brick last Saturday, to do a run through of the script, get the movement and action down, and record the rough sound. For the next three months I'll be working full time on this project, translating all this material and the last 13 some odd years of the Caveman Robot into an animated short.
I will be using this live footage, drawings, actual clay and paper sculptures to re-produce this pilot into a fully realized piece. This will entail creating a number of figures and dioramas of the sets, however the actual piece can be somewhat small and most of it can be shoot on a table-sized space. The over all effect will be a sort of fusion with paper collage animation, 3-D renders, hand drawings, and Photographic sources, but with an overall "organic feel". People will not look at this a see CGI- b.s., they will see a something new and beautiful.

If all goes as planned I should have the finished fully animated 3 min trailer done by the fall.

I feel that the only real hope for Caveman Robot getting onto the small and or large screen to focus on a production of this short and use it help with investment opportunities for the production of the complete “pilot” script as a animated short subject. Extending it to a 30 min piece, that could be available online, and for film festivals and the like. Instead of approaching this project as a pilot for TV, I suggested seeing it as a 30 min feature that will attempt really capture people’s imaginations.

The pillars of this project are two fold, great story and artistic innovation in animation. If we can create something that will get other artist, filmmakers, creative thinkers, animators, cartoon lovers, and cartoonist, talking, plus something that has a great story with broad, but smart appeal, We will really have something. At its core Caveman Robot has always been about collage and fusion of high and low, with a lot of wacky over the top action, and absurd humor thrown in, this should continue.

However I feel that a certain level of pathos should be pushed in both the Caveman Robot and Loser Pete characters, this can be done mainly with visuals and tone, beyond pathos I feel that these two characters and their interplay with the Zarathustra character can be used to create a larger cultural statement about Heroics, Pop culture, Mass marketing, success, and the individual in society, and the relationship between God and Man. (really, not kidding)

Films such as Persepolis, are a good a example of how high a Indy cartoon can go, and I think Caveman Robot has what is takes to better. I don’t think we should settle on some fly by night crappy affair, or waste years trying to get second-rate cable channels to give us a chance. All of the great cartoons features where attempts at making works of art, not commercials to sell toys. Snow White, Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings, Toy Story,

If we keep waiting for a giant white gloved hand to come lift up Caveman Robot into the limelight, it will never happen or they will turn it into crap. We Have to do it ourselves, and we can.
-JASON ROBERT BELL

The Transmigration of ULTRA-Lad!

2008-06-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

http://act-i-vate.com/56.comic

Long time Caveman Robot contributor, Joe Infuranri just launched another web comic, The Transmigration of ULTRA-Lad on Act-i-vate. As far as I know from talking about this project with Joe for the last year, the character came out of his love of the old Captain Marvel comics from C.C. Beck. ULTRA-Lad is a sort if invert of Captain Marvel, a meek middle-age man who transforms in a super powered 5 year old. Check it out when you get a chance.

-Jason Robert Bell

Caveman Robot Meets Robot Caveman!

2008-06-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

I was digging around the old hard drive today and I found this gem!
It was printed in Caveman Robot: Tales of Myth, Monsters, Mirrors, and Madmen!
The idea came from Britton Walters and I talking about how to do the classic evil twin/Bizarro of Caveman Robot, after some brainstorming Britton banged out a rough story with thumbnails, and I did the final artwork, lettering and layout. I think it came out really good. You can view it below via blogspot or read it all here

Blast from the Past

2008-05-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

I was ego-surfing on flickr and found this old photo of a Caveman Robot Action Figure that I created in 1996! That was for sale at Quimby'sin Chicago. This was part of a whole batch of figures that where made by taking any old plastic figure I could find, in this case a bootleg King Kong doll and dipping them in industrial aluminum paint adding the animal fur and calling it a day. This was still when I was making stuff under the "Monumental Comics Presents" inprint. The funny thing is I made about 50 of this back then and they all sold, so they must still be out there in the world, hope they are being taken care of.
-Jason

The Process was nominated for an Eisner!

2008-05-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

Our good friend, and artistic collaborator Joe Infurnari's webcomicThe Process was nominated for an Eisner! Joe is handsdown one of the best artist I have ever known, and I am proud to have been the first person to have published his comic work. Besides The Process, Check out Joe's great work on Caveman Robot Gigantic Mega Annual, Caveman Robot: Welcome to Monumenta, and Caveman Robot: Behold the Dodecatron!

Let's Go Joe!
-Jason Robert Bell

New Paintings!

2008-03-03T19:42:00.000-08:00

I thought you all might want to check out some of my paintings, besides this new portrait of Caveman Robot, there are lots of other characters to enjoy. Here, Here, Here, and the latest are HERE!

Thanks
Jason Robert Bell

Lost Caveman Robot by Dad

2007-12-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

I was cleaning up the studio and I found his great little water color painted by my Father last summer, he did a whole series of postcard size watercolors that we sold out of in San Diego, this one was done during that session.
-Jason Robert Bell

Caveman Robot at Alcove Gallery New York City!

2007-11-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

Caveman Robot, along with 99 other characters is part of my Dramatis Personae exhibit at the Alcove space, 547 w. 27th st. 6th fl. New York, New York.

Dramatis Personae involves 100 archetypal characters from all aspects of our lives, history, literature, myth, popular culture, and all points in-between. In 1997 I began this project, a process now it is a retroactively collaborating with my self. All of the characters in Dramatis Personae exist within the same idealized landscape, leading to the experience that this is a single ever-changing entity that is my own selfhood.

You might remember this same Caveman Robot image as the one my little brother John has permitly tattooed on his leg.

-Jason Robert Bell

Back from Sam Clam's Disco and LALA land!

2007-10-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a short and crazy trip out west, to sunny and fire threated Califorina for some Caveman Robot and completly unrelated to Caveman Robot work.

I was first in San Fransisco to do a project called the Twilight Kingdom, a three day performance/ art installation in Esprit Park, San Francisco, CA, Oct 19-21, 2007. presented as part of the citywide, COCA, Center for Outdoor Contemporary Art in community partnership with Neighborhood Parks Council, San Francisco, Curated by Elliot Lessing. The Twilight Kingdom combined my Trashsures series (sculptural lost objects, designed to be discovered by chance) with my ongoing interest in metaphysics, esoteric images, folklore, and mythology. I made daily appearaces as the wizardly and enigmatic "Old Man", modeled after Emperor Norton, who surveys the park -- offering visitors formal citizenship notes of this fantastic kingdom! I realized after seeing the large homeless population in the city that my project had more to do with reality than I had planned.
Also my good friend and patron Maria Carlson was in town to run the SF Marathon, we she came by afterwards for a short visit.

I was able to stay with the talented cartoonist Chris Wisnia and his lovley wife Elizabeth, and their genius child Oscar. Also Chris good friend Gary, was kind enough give the Wisnia's, Chris sister, and myself a private tour of the De Young Museum of Art.

Right before I left SF for the 6 hour drive down to LA, I stopped off for a short visit with Larry Strong, an amazing "outsider artist" that Caveman Robot Producer Dan Halperin turned me on to, Larry has been filling his Haight Ashbury apartment with hundreds of found object handmade beaded curtains for the last 25 years and as you can see from the one behind him in my picture they are really something special.

I got down to LA, in one piece, but not after hours of smelling the burning wood of half the state, and hoping that it did not get any worst than that. I made it to my good friends the Shaw's Pop culture fortress in Sherman Okas about 1AM.
Scott Shaw! who has taken the whole Caveman Robot gang under his wing, has just come out with a new Captain Carrot comic book that is a real delight to read, and it actually has a tiny Caveman Robot cameo in it, pick it up and see if you can find him!

Over all the time spent in LA, was good had a few meetings about getting Caveman robot onto the big screen and/or the Boob Tube, things are moving, but it is just a matter of making it happen, no one else can do it for you.
Perhaps one of the most unexpected events of the trip, besides being an eye witness to a bad motorcycle wreck, was meeting none other than, Jerry Eisenberg the creator of FANGFACE, one of my favortive childhood cartoons. He is an old friend of the Shaws and we bumped into him at the Bearpit Bar-B-Q joint. It was great to sit and eat Bar-B-Q with two guys that have given cartooning everything they could. Not only has Jerry worked on almost every cartoon you can think of (currently the new Scooby Doo), but his late father was one of the original Tom and Jerry creators, and Scott have know each other for atleast 30 years and have tons of great stories to retell.

Piper McKenzie on indietheater.org

2007-10-26T21:19:00.000-07:00

There is a nice write up of our good friends, and Caveman Robot contributors Hope and Jeff at http://indietheater.org. It gives and nice overview of the hard work from their last few years and even drops my name and Col. Threeheadedspacepony in the mix.

-Jason Robert Bell

Bob's Kids have grown a lot in two years!

2007-09-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

Footage from Comic Con on Fox

2007-08-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

Kristine Frazao attends her first Comic-Con and meets the Caveman Robot of her dreams.
It takes so time to load but there is pretty good footage of Caveman Robot Here and they were actually nice this time, instead some of the jerky interviews I have gotten in the past.

MGsoulcraft and Caveman Robot

2007-08-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

Finding thousand of new photos from the comic con, most of them are like this.

2007-08-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

AHHH...Caveman Robot with a very proud "Father" aka. Shoshanna

2007-08-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

BEHOLD the DODECATRON! Our new book this year ... an "ashcan" animation bible with 12 episodes and concept art for an animated series!

2007-08-05T22:40:00.000-07:00

CAVEY'S good pal Scott Shaw!

2007-07-31T21:20:00.000-07:00

Yet another TV interview for Cavey ... who stole the show!!!

2007-07-31T21:15:00.001-07:00

Cavey's Number 1 Fan> Annie aka. Captain Asskick and her man Ducky.
Thanks much for your help this year!!!

2007-07-31T18:44:00.000-07:00

APE LINCOLN!
Makes his in-person debut at this year's con!

UNICORN TURDS!!!! A big hit this year at our booth> available in KING SIZE, PARTY SIZE AND FUN SIZE!

2007-07-31T18:23:00.000-07:00

Ronny North Caveman Robot Fan and Friend

2007-07-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

Our pal Ronny North just sent us this great photo of himself with his Caveman Robot Doll and his brand new Caveman Robot custom Tee- you can find out more about Ronny and his music at his website.
www.ronnynorth.com

Cavey posed with quite a few famous heros ... like Mr. Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens in the Mexican Wrestling Mask) and Ernie Hudson from Ghostbusters!

2007-07-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

CAVEMAN ROBOT RETURNS COMIC CON '07 - Check out our booth and the Cavey goods we had this year!

2007-07-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

New video studies for the Cartoon!

2007-07-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the hard work of video editor Jon Latiano we now have These opening intro studies for the new Caveman Robot cartoon we have been working on, artwork by Joe Infurnari, , voice work by Jay Klaitz, Music by Dabby Schwartz, concept Jason Robert Bell.

New Stuff for San Diego!

2007-07-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

The last few days before any exhibit or convention, I often find my mind is racing with ideas, here are some of the things I have made in the last couple of days. Our now classic Dolls, T-Shrit (Chris Uphues our lovely model), and New Super Cute Boxy Caveman Robot foot tall figures!

San Diego Comic Con 2007!

2007-07-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

New Floating Action Caveman Robot

2007-07-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

We are going to have a very limited edition of Floating Action Caveman Robot toy(s), that I just got from Japan.
In Japan Caveman Robot, translates as "the Robot that lives in a Hole"

Here is my father taking a break from this sun tan to enjoy one of the toys.

Reading and Recording

2007-07-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

Today was a very busy day, I hosted a whole Menagerie of fine actors today for a reading and recording of the final pilot draft that Jeff just finished today. It went really well, and hopefully I'll be able to edit all the get the sound ready in a few weeks.
Devon, Jay, Hope, Jeff, and Jon all did a great job.
I have been working on new display items for the San Diego Comic Con, and this 20 inch Caveman Robot came out great-
_ Jason

Kids Love Caveman Robot

2007-07-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

I was given this great drawing of Caveman Robot by a little boy appropreately named Pablo.

Final Week then off to the Printer! Burned Out

2007-06-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a preview from the new book, this is the image for "The Candle is burning at both ends", which deals with Caveman Robot going head to head with Burn-Out, a former hippy superhero named Flame-Lad, that turned evil.
It took me three days of sitting in front of the computer with the wacom tablet and way too much coffee- but I got all the fully colored pages done to in the hands of Joe for final tweaks, then off to the printer on Monday-
Here are a few previous verizons of Burn-Out, to show you how that character has developed from Britton's idea in 2003 to now, the delightful Kevin "The Bitter Poet" Draine, played him in the musical last year.

Jason

BEHOLD!

2007-06-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

Here it is hot off the desktop from Joe Infurnari!, the cover of Caveman Robot: Behold the Dodecatron! This new book of concept art and animation proposals will be available for sale at the San Diego Comic Con 2007!

New Caveman Robot Tee for Sale

2007-06-25T12:58:00.001-07:00

The New Caveman Robot shrit is now for sale at Bountee click on these words to check it out.

Caveman Robot Teams up with Bad Spock Drawings!

2007-06-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

As a joke with Britton Walters, I started the Bad Spock Drawings blog, which has taken off into something beyond my expectations. Here is the latest one by yours truly.

First Caveman Robot Drawing

2007-06-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

I was digging thur tons of stuff from the Archives today to try to find this, the first ever Caveman Robot drawing from 1995! It will be a small part of our new book Caveman Robot:Behold The Dodecatron!

MONUMENTA: City on the Move!

2007-06-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

For years We have been building the city of Monumenta in our collective minds, here it is from Lowdown Height to the Captian Michael McCarty Abbandonned Airfield!