Salem Secret Underground Sells Out Its First Order at Barnes & Noble

Hurry Up Get Yours Before There Gone!

We are on our second order at the Peabody Barnes & Noble. Two left on their shelf. Go grab one and help us get many orders from this great national chain! Get Salem Secret Underground:The History of the Tunnels in the City the book everyone digs Today!

James C. Christensen: Illustrator of the Week

Flying Fish and Pompous Bureaucrats with Cod Pieces...

James C. Christensen

I have been admiring this guy since grammar school! My mother always would get catalogs from the Greenwich Workshops and give them to me. These were my first reference photos. I would take pieces from several different illustrations to composite my own. I had cut out several images from them, to find out that three distinct styles I was hanging up were all from the same guy. It was James.

He does a great mixture of fairy tale and pun. Image if Bosch was a happy man, he would of painted like James. So take a look for yourself...

More About James C. Christensen:

Greenwich Workshop

Official Page

Wikipedia

Cheers,

Chris

Top Draw Animation!

Are You Afraid of the Dark....

Well Figaro Pho is, along with everything else!
Here is one of my favorite cartoons. High frame rates, ingenious plots, and two lovable characters. A little frightening, but only on Figaro Pho's part...
Check it out!

Seth Wouldn't Look So Cute.....

Man Behind the Curtain...

 

Webster Colcord
 I met him one day in Boston watching him line up the animation for Ted to Seth MacFarlane motion capture suit. I had been talking and watching him run the program for an hour or so. He was real cool to talk to and real personable. Then through some emails we realized we knew common people from Olive Jar who created those early MTV claymation pieces. Including my friend Chris Corkum who was a stand in for Don Dokken in a video Olive Jar produced. More about the zaniness of Corkum another day...

Webster has provided animation for CGI sequences in many of the blockbusters you are familiar with like Deadpool, Sin City 2, Ted, The Matrix, Night at the Museum, and Pirates of the Caribean. He got his start as the animator for the Raisin Bran and California Raisin commercials. 

He also is known for his work with Les Claypool and Primus videos. My favorite is his work in Monkey Bone and James and the Giant Peach.

Here is a trailer from Monkeybone with Brendan Fraser:

Here is an Inside Look at My Studio

So This is Where the Magic Happens...

This is where Gang Stories and Max Teller's Amazing Adventure was created. It was in the studio of the Wynot's Wand Shop. On the other side of the wall there was a wood turner creating magical wands. I had to contend for the space between a dynamic brother and sister ghost team and a few undines. Plus across the street was where Ann Bradstreet's mansion was. She was the first poet and female author in the country. It was a strange but magical place for a studio.

Cheers,

Chris

For More information about Chris and Salem House Press visit www.salemhousepress.com.

A Walk Through Salem~ A Magical and Whimsical Tour Through Salem

I Have Seen Everything When I see a Pig Fly...

Have you read the whimsical magical tale set in Salem called A Walk Through Salem, the first in the Salem Trilogy? A tale where fish fly tall ships drop anchor next to parking meters, church steeples blast off like rockets, and Vikings storm Dead Horse Beach. A tale in which you walk through the Unzipping Tree to follow Mr. Zac on a zany journey to the other side you may not return from. For you are the main character!
Get it today at Remember Salem, the Harry Potter store on Essex Street in Salem. Also available on Amazon.com.

Where is This in Salem Ma ?

Can You Name This Location?

You don't have to be a local to guess these locations. Salem has thousands of thousands who have visited us over the years. You might of been one of them. So go ahead and take your best guess where this image from A walk Through Salem is in town. I bet you can...

So take your guess. What do you have to loose...a kidney?

~Mr. Zac

To find out more about A Walk Through Salem visit www.salemhousepress.com. The book is available at 172 Essex Street in Salem, MA at Remember Salem and also on Amazon.com.