A Tiki inspired cartoon pilot I'm working on...

I wanted to let you know about a Tiki-worthy project that I’ve been working on. I am currently in the process of creating a cartoon pilot entitled “Tiki Bar”, which centers on a bartender born with a wooden Tiki head and the fun loving regulars that drop by. If I had to describe the whole idea in as few words as possible, it would be like watching “Cheers” after a Scorpion Bowl.

The artistic style is reminiscent of pop art of the day while trying not to encroach upon Shag’s style. I am currently recording and mixing dialogue before getting to the task of actual animation. I recently finished illustrating most of the characters for this as well.

I was going to wait to mention anything about this to the Tiki community until I got further along, but I wanted to start getting the word out that something Tiki was coming (hopefully) to a television near someone and see what kind of buzz got generated.

Up to this point, I’ve been creating this pilot on a shoestring (read: NO) budget, and if I could find anyone out there interested in throwing even just a few investment dollars my way to help make this happen, I’d always appreciate it. Even more wonderful would be if there were a Tikiphile who knew someone or actually had the power themselves to help make this a weekly show that everyone could enjoy. Even surf/lounge/exotica musicians who would be willing to donate some music time or whatever would be great. At this point, I just want to see my dream realized.

:)

There is a short QuickTime on my site (www.3rdmartini.com) that has a very rough draft of the intro credits to give an idea of the flavor I’m going for. Most characters seen in the video have changed slightly in appearance by now.

Hope you like the idea!

Good luck!

I had a splendid idea for a cartoon character last month, but I do not draw, so you are already ahead of me. }:)

Thanks! I'll keep the project's progress up to date in this topic.

Hey 3RD Martini, that was excellent. Please keep us informed when the final product is done. Good luck.

...looks cool.
Good demo reel too.

Conjure up your best Dino Martin voice and say to yourself, "jesh remmembuh ish all 'bout th' urp story."

This is VERY cool. I would like to pitch this to our PR person. The primary focus of her experience is in the entertainment industry. I don't know what the potential is (on our end) but I am willing to see what we can do. Pls tell me more...

3m,That looks pretty nifty and the music is perfect for the material. Best of luck to you. However, I think there is a more than a slight resemblance to Shag's characters and I have heard rumors that there is already a Shag endorsed toon in the works.

Chongolio

I became consicous of the "Shagness" that a lot of it had, and thus the reason for redrawing practically all the characters. Soon I hope to have something with the new characters available for viewing.

As for the Shag toon rumor, where did you hear this? I read an article with him in his Bottomless Cocktails book that said he had been approached a number of times to do a cartoon but was not really interested in doing any such thing.

3m, I think I heard the Shag toon rumor mentioned here on T.C. but I can not really remember where. It may be just a rumor. I am sure somebody will chime in with the facts. A lot of people on T.C. are buddies with man known as Shag.

Chongolio

Cool, thanks. At any rate, looks like I need to start working faster! :)

I know the feeling. I have been working on a few different animation/ cartoon projects. And I am laggin' on all of them, I only get to put a few hours a week into them. However, they are slowly moving forward.
Here is a link to a flash toon that I did last year. It is not Tiki at all, just surf. Check it out if you like:

http://www.lost-isle.com/deltoro.html

Chongolio

-- I believe that our Heavenly Father invented the monkey because he was disappointed in man."
... Mark Twain

[ Edited by: Chongolio on 2003-07-30 12:21 ]

Chongolio, that was fun!

3rdMartini, thanks for sharing your work. It looks great and I look forward to seeing more. I know how it is with the time, though. I'm very frustrated at not being able to do ANYTHING outside of work right now. Soon, though...

I've had an idea for a tiki-themed 3D short for some time now, but I don't think it will ever be done, at least not by me alone.

Keep up the excellent work.

3M,

Very Nice. You've got the Ghost of Dino, how about the "Gold Diggers"? Man, no one talks about them anymore. Damn, they sent me into puberty (in 1st Grade!)?

3rdMARTINI,
Looks like a happenin niche.
I do website designs for a living, specializing in audio, video and flash streaming, and would like to participate on the TIKI honor system.
What the hell does that mean? I don't f%ckin. know
Let me know of some void you might need to fill in your Tiki Toons, then I can respond from there.
The Best Of Luck!
Unga Bunga

A bit of an update to the Tiki Bar cartoon project:

The project has found itself a home at http://www.tikibarcartoon.com. There's all sorts of sketches and other information pertaining to the cartoon there.

I'm still in the audio mixing phase of the thing (two years later), but I've got some great voices, including the fabulous Barry Brumbelow from The Real Happy Hour podcast http://www.therealhappyhour.com. I've got emails into the Tiki Bar TV cast seeing if they'd like to do some voice cameos, but no reply as of yet.

I've also recently gotten interest from a great artist named Mr. Sid http://www.mrsid.net to do the set designs.

After a production hiatus, this project is back to rolling at a decent pace. Please tell all your Tiki loving friends about it!

3rdMARTINI|digitalstudio
"Everything looks better after 3rdMARTINI"

[ Edited by: 3rdMARTINI 2005-12-16 13:08 ]