The SnowFLAKE & The FAKE Santa.

And now for the fourth and final Christmas toon. Drumroll please...!

About ten years ago, my 95 year old grandmother gave us this wind-up Santa Claus toy. She dug it out of some church basement somewhere and she was most likely convinced it would entertain and delight the multitudes.

She was wrong. Until now.



Yes, until now, this Santa has made me want to Crush, Kill and Destroy. Annihilate. Exterminate. Obliterate. Reduce to Rubble. But I showed restraint and I'm kinda glad I did. Because the Santa toy now stars alongside my little SnowFLAKE. I am all powerful.

Disclaimer:
The Santa in this video is a fake Santa. No real Santa's were harmed during the making of this video. No elves were harmed either. Or reindeer.

I did stay up all night finishing it though...

I made this for you, and I made it with love. I want nothing in return.
All good wishes from the now very sleepy JC. Don't wake me up until Boxing Day.

There's three more!
The SnowFLAKE & The Carrot  
The SnowFLAKE & The Chimney  
The SnowFLAKE & The Christmas Tree.  

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The SnowFLAKE & The Christmas Tree.

This Christmas series is fun for all ages heh heh.

Sometimes I get waaaay too busy with work (you know, animation for MONEY instead of bloggy LOVE) and I just don't have time for my characters. They come knocking at my door, wanting me to animate them, wondering why I've been ignoring them...making me feel guilty with the big, sad eyes. Yeesh.



*Sigh*...I guess my SnowFLAKE can take care of her self....*sob* ...so who needs me...?

There's three more!
The SnowFLAKE & The Carrot.
The SnowFLAKE & The Chimney.
The SnowFLAKE & The Fake Santa.

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The SnowFLAKE & The Chimney.

Here's some more Christmas funny. I get a big kick out of making my kids laugh with my animation. Maybe it's cuz they're my kids, but it's not so easy to get a belly laugh and they never fake it just to be nice.



My thirteen year old daughter is especially tough. If I can make her laugh? It's a WIN.

She never saw the surprise ending coming. How do you make your kids laugh?

There's three more!
The SnowFLAKE & The Carrot.
The SnowFLAKE & The Christmas Tree.
The SnowFLAKE & The FAKE Santa.

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The SnowFLAKE & The Carrot.

Say Hi to my cute little SnowFLAKE.

She's stars in my series of animated Season's Greetings. Every year, I make her do silly things. I love animation because I can dream up a character and give it personality.

To me, the SnowFLAKE is like... a real person. 



When I was a kid, I was smitten by The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. What are your favourite animated Christmas specials?

There's three more!
The SnowFLAKE & The Chimney.
The SnowFLAKE & The Christmas Tree.
The SnowFLAKE & The FAKE Santa.

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The BULLY.

When I was a kid, my mom called me "Bunny" because my two front teeth were really big. She said it with great affection and I felt loved. I hopped around her feet like a little bunny rabbit.

Then in high school, this one boy noticed my teeth.

He singled me out and decided to call me "Rat".

He got all the boys to call me Rat. "Rat! Rat! Rat! Rat! Rat! Rat! Rat!!!"

I tried to pretend they weren't there, that it wasn't happening. That I was safe.

Their laughter echoing all around me as I walked down the hall. Someone ran up behind me and shoved me to the floor. My books scattered...

It's really important not to cry at school....so I waited until I got home.

It went on for years...

Fast forward.

And I'm at my 25 year high school reunion. I see the boy has grown up into a family man and by chance I end up talking with him and his wife. He shyly asks if I remember him. "Of course I remember you. You used to call me "Rat" because of my two front teeth, " I say. ""Rat! Rat! Rat! Rat! Rat! Rat! Rat!!!" the laughter echoed all around me as I walked down the hall." I'm smiling confidently as I say this to him.

His jaw drops. "We called you "Rat"? But... in a good way, right?" He looks hopeful. His wife looks from me to him and back again.

I shake my head, smiling. "No. In a mean way." I smile again, my big front teeth shining, and I walk away.

I heard later on from a mutual friend that the wife really let him have it.

It's hard to believe this nice family man had been a horrible bully when he was a kid.

My mom still calls me "Bunny".

What would you say to the bullies if you met them now?

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I can do a Back FLIP.

Back flips? I do them every day, just like a lotta moms. Heck, just like a lot of people!
It's amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it. 



This post is cuz of a kind of a twitter-dare from Kimberly @TheGoToMom. She featured these break dancing mommas on MommytoMommy.tv called Momz-N-Da Hood. Anyways, I was just wondering if they'd let me audition to be in their dance group, even though I'm only thirty-eight ...forty-four ...um, forty-eight and a half.

Anything's possible at any age.

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ZOMBIE Dishwasher.

I came back from Cuba to find that our trusty dishwasher had passed away. Again.

Yeah, you know the kind of appliance I'm talking about. Bought fifteen years ago, runs like a tank, been repaired countless times. And just when you think it's gone for good, it lurches back to life, rattling and moaning with all the gusto of the undead.
My husband is determined to have it resuscitated one more time.
Re-animated. A ZOMBIE Appliance. The Washing Dead.

Meanwhile, I've been doing the dishes by hand. Which means I basically stand at the sink for 45 minutes, shouting directions at my kids.

"You there, clear the dish rack! You! Dry these pots! And you - put the yo-yo down and clear the table!"

A little quality family time.

Tell me what ZOMBIE Appliance lurks in the shadows of your home...

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YOU. Trevor.

Dear Trevor,

I heard about your upcoming operation from my friend The Peach. I wanted to just say hi and give you a little drawing to cheer you on. We got your back out here in the blogosphere, dude. And by the way, flowers that are drawn are almost as cool as real flowers. Plus they don't need a vase, and they last forever. They don't have a smell, but you don't have to worry about being allergic to them. Achoo!

Yours truly,

JC Little
The Animated Woman

This little boy is 12 years old, just a little older than my son. He's going in for heart surgery on November 30th and he must be very brave. Want to send Trevor a card? The awesome Being Peachy blogger will make it easy for you!

Thanks Peach, for giving me a chance to give. 

This is the third in a series called "YOU".  I draw YOU. Read the rules.

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Big ASS Wine GLASS.

Here's the wine glass that holds a whole bottle of wine (750 ml).

And...here's the proof!
But first, a DISCLAIMER - I realize it might be weird for you to see me in the flesh, with no make-up... weirder still to be faced with my ten year old boy wearing a towel on his head, and some random veges in a basket on the floor behind me, not to mention a green blanket thing which doesn't even belong to us I SWEAR. Please try to see beyond all that and just focus on the frikkin' glass.



Well that wasn't stressful at all, knowing that @DeeGirdler and @Lemonberry_ca , @Mrsvas and @danmoyle were waiting on me.

Cheeers! *raises glass with both hands*

For the record, the wine glass was a bit too big to be a good balance in my tiny hand. So yeah, we funnelled the wine back into the bottle and my husband and I shared it. With two normal sized glasses.

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Sometimes LOVE.

She lives in Australia. He lives in the USA. They're in love BIG TIME.

About four months ago Kelly asked me if I would do some animation for her as a gift to her boyfriend, Phil. She was planning another trip to the states to visit him and wanted it to go live as her plane landed. How could I resist that kind of romantic inspiration?!?

The trip had to be postponed, but the commitment to their love remains solid. So here's the little film, going live just as she would have cleared customs and rushed into his arms...it's a gift to you both, from me.



Kelly is A.K.A. @FeistyKel. Phil is A.K.A. @pRezanow.

UPDATE - May 23, 2011: A whole six months after this was posted - Kelly and Phil are finally together. They've just spent ten days in each other's arms coast hopping from LA to NYC and back. They part in a few hours, both hoping it won't be such a long separation. Kelly and Phil I give you my biggest hugs! Sometimes love is more than enough to conquer long distances....er, especially with Skype!

Are you in love? Tell me your love story.

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CUBA - Illustrated.

By now you guys know that I went to Cuba with my son to enjoy the hurricane weather and extreme credit card sports. How I wish it had turned out a little more like this fabulous guest post from Mom-O-matic...

Before she left for vacation JC asked if I would draw some pictures that showed what I imagined her trip to Cuba with her son would be like. Since my first exposure to Cuba was when the I Love Lucy show went to Havana I immediately pictured JC and her son arriving in full 1950's Cuban resort wear. Bongos included.

And then I envisioned JC being serenaded by a handsome Cuban band leader like in the book The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love.

But of course, in real life JC would want to spend less time swooning over tall dark Latin men in crisp white suits and more time showing her son the beautiful sights Cuba has to offer.

And she would surely pick up souvenirs to bring home for her family and friends.

But most of all, when I thought of JC and her son, I hoped they were having incredible adventures, eating delicious cuisine and smiling in the Cuban sunshine together.

Love,
Tanya (momomatic)

PS - Save me a Virgin Mary!

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YOU draw ME - in Cuba.

This here's a flip on my YOU series. Instead of me drawing YOU, I asked you to draw ME. As you prolly know, I'm exhausted / fried / wasted / pooped / cream'n'crackered and plum tuckered out from this ...and this. I went to Cuba to have some badly needed R & R with my little boy but I didn't leave enough time to get the post together properly before I left. So I'm doing it now!

It was great to get people drawing. And draw you did, all different, all meaningful, and all from wonderful people. I'll let you discover them for yourself...

This one's from Those2Girls blogger Lisa @those2girls! I'm singing Madonna's HOLIDAY. My bags are packed in the drawing, but they were not packed in real life. HAH!

 

From The Little Hen House blogger Morgan @littlehenhouse "Here is my favorite one. Had to write it on the back of a receipt. :)" When the creative hits, draw on anything you can - envelopes, napkins, your kid's forehead - don't hold back!

From Being Peachy blogger @ThePeachy1. If you read my blog, then you already know about weevers and slugs. Turns out, Cuba's hurricane season was not a huge improvement on the beaches of England's Cornish coast.

And from Liv and Let Dine blogger Olivia, AKA @Olithechef who lived in Cuba as a child, actually inside the Guantanamo army base from 1967 to 1970.

 

From the talented On the Eve of Insanity blogger @EverRose who wrote "It's hard to make a stick figure that doesn't look like one of your drawings!" I think she succeeded - it has it's own distinct style.

From Not Super...Just Mom blogger Miranda, @notsuperjustmom a colourful spin on heading for the beach.

The Ink Panther blogger, Rob @InkPanther's drawing really looks like me! And yeah, Animation Rules!!

From Mocha Dad blogger Fred AKA all around awesome dude @mochadad! You know, I did see some pretty awesome cars in Cuba.

This one is from my lovely 13 year old daughter.

We got my BFFF @TrashCanRoxanne drunk on Halloween and then asked her to draw this. Not bad for for a glow-in-the-dark witch eh? Here's her portfolio/blog!

 

From the adorable Mike AKA @artisticdork - check out my awesome silver streak!! He's a fellow artist and you can check out his work here.

Finally My Seven Kids blogger Nikki @mysevenkids drew this for me. I think it captures perfectly what I wanted to achieve on this vacay: some time alone with my son. With no distractions, no phones, no pressures....and even (I was shaking at the thought) NO TWITTER. We didn't get the sunshine, but we scored really high on quality time together.

And....it's thanks to this drawing that I remembered to pack my sunglasses, heheh.

Thank-you everyone!

There is one more Cuba guest post coming up ... from my friend Tanya, the lovely blogger extraordinaire Mom-o-matic. Stay tooned!

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I go to CUBA.

Let me tell you about my trip to Cuba. It started off sunny. The kid was smiling, and my hair looked fantastic.

But suddenly the skies turned dark, cloudy, cold, rainy, and windy.

We ventured down to the beach and it tried to eat us.

There were mosquitoes.

And several sudden unscheduled trips to the ladies room.

Usually I travel. But this was my first all inclusive resort type package holiday. It turned out to be weirdly isolating. The Happy Hotel Friends ignored us.

My hair did not look so fantastic. The flat iron I brought would not plug into the wall. Why on earth did I think it would?

And, shock horror, who knew that my trusty Mastercard would not work in Cuba?

It was like a black cloud was following me around...

We did have some good times though. HAH!

Did you miss me?

A nice round of applause to Why Is Daddy Crying for babysitting my blog last week while I was away in Cuba with my ten year old boy. There were several other contributors to the guest post though - some very fun drawings from wonderful people!


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Drawring Is Hard.

A guest post by Why Is Daddy Crying, AKA @WhyIsDaddyCryin

So the lovely and talented JC Little’s going to Cuba huh?
Didn’t she just freakin’ go on like some 8-month walk-about through Europe or something ridiculous?

Anyway, she sent me a note on Twitter kindly asking me if I’d try my hand at drawing a picture of her to put on her blog while she’s out gallivanting with Fidel Castro in Cuba.
How could I resist.

So, I opened up Microsoft Paint (please send me a check for that Mr. Gates!), looked at a few reference pics, and away I went.

Ten minutes later, there was still nothing on my screen. I realized that I had absolutely no idea what people do to vacation in Cuba!! I was a typical ignorant American who could only think of negative connotations with Cuba.

Were they going to go to a cigar shop for a week? Maybe spend time in the Eat Sh*t And Die Ronald Reagan museum? Chase goats through the streets?

Then, I started feeling really bad that I didn’t know what the 2 million-plus tourists that go to Cuba annually actually do there! (I got that figure off Wikipedia cause I can!)

Then I started reading about the rich heritage, amazing food, deep culture, and of course…Fidel and his nifty facial hair.

Now that I was educated I had stuff to draw!

Only….I SUCK at drawing! I started drawing JC first. I remembered her blog post about her knockers and knew she needed to have a nice set drawn on her. Then, my hand became possessed and all on its own drew her a nice booty to go with her knockers!

With my new found knowledge of Cuba…I drew a maraca which ended up just looking like a swatch ripped off Charlie Brown’s t-shirt.

Then I drew her hubby.

This is where I screwed up. She had said she was going with her 10-year-old son. Me being a man, didn’t listen to her and instead I drew her husband.

I remember the man wears aprons with no clothes underneath and loves his socks and sandals. Apparently I draw aprons like people draw barrels and his feet got run over by a semi-truck.

The cigar…well, I’d definitely buy me a nice Cuban cigar if I was there. And of course I’d wave the Cuban flag just to make damn sure Fidel didn’t find me and hang me from a telephone poll by my undies since my parents voted for Reagan in the 80s.

So, here you go JC. Here’s a picture that will haunt you for the rest of your life. I now have a complete understanding of how amazing your drawring talent really is.

I hope you have an amazing trip lady friend!

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YOU...logy. @AnnaMaryse

@AnnaMaryse has passed away. I'm real sad. So I'm thinking a lot about her. And I'm remembering....

When I met Maryse, the first thing I noticed was her mouth. When it was at rest, it was pursed.

And when she smiled, it was tickle-me wicked. Flared nostrils added to the effect.

Her eyes were very dark and soft. She was voluptuous, like a new-romantic Mae West.

It was the early eighties. Maryse was the Queen of the scene. She was cool and wore tons of make-up and big earrings. She moved into my building, and that's how we met. She was a little older and wiser than me.

She used to say things like "Coffee. Hurry. Emergency." or "Cigarette. Hurry. Emergency." She'd laugh so hard it would make her wheeze and turn into a coughing fit. I adored her.

She would pose for pictures by deliberately not looking at the camera and she'd pout. It was one of her favourite things. One day I stopped by at her place on the way home from Art school, and there was a guy hanging out there. The guy turned out to be an animator! It totally changed the direction of my life. You get what I'm saying here?

Maryse and I became very close over a ten year period. She was my Queen Bee.

We lost touch when I got married. These things happen I guess. I didn't hear of her for almost two decades. I missed her from time to time, but I had small children and there was no Facebook back then.

And then just this spring, we found each other again. We were both pretty happy. She mentioned she was taking it easy, that she'd had something "really f*cking scary" happen to her. But she didn't want to make a big deal about it so I didn't press it. I assumed it was going to be ok.

I didn't know she was dying. That she was being brave.

We did some catching up. She'd had a great career as  a producer. Her son was all grown up and she was so proud of him. Maryse was planning a trip to Montreal and said she was  "THRILLED to know I'll be seeing you if/when this happens. I can't wait to inspect your brood :)"

She wrote some really nice things to me. She said she was proud of me and always knew I'd prevail. I'm so glad I have these FB messages. For a moment yesterday, I was in a panic because I thought I'd lost them. But it was just a little FB fail.

Late on the night of the 26th, I heard from a mutual friend that she'd gone. And here I am drawing this tribute. I think she'd have liked it. I can still hear her laugh-wheeze-coff.

Good-bye my Queen Bee! I'll never forget you.

Maryse liked cats.

This is the second in a series called "YOU".  I draw YOU. Read the rules.

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