Howl! At the Cartoon Art Museum

The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco will be putting on an exhibit featuring the art from the movie "Howl"  from May 14 – September 11, 2011  

Curated by Andrew Farago, Eric Drooker and Chris Lanier


I served as the animation art director, and animation production supervisor on "Howl." 

Above: A few colorscript panels from the movie by me, and the art team at "The Monk."

San Francisco, CA: Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's film, Howl, produced by Werc Werk Works, opened the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Featuring James Franco as the beat poet Allen Ginsberg, the film took an experimental approach to documenting the creation and performance of Ginsberg's revolutionary poem, "Howl"– as well as the obscenity trial that followed when, after undercover policemen purchased copies of Howl and Other Poems from City Lights Bookstore, the state tried to suppress its publication. The film blends glimpses of Ginsberg's personal life, recreations of the obscenity trial, and animated sequences that accompany Franco's performance of the poem, riffing on its ideas and images.
The Art of Howl gives a revealing look behind the scenes at the creative process of turning poetry into animation. The film directors enlisted Eric Drooker to design the animation; Drooker, a graphic novelist and painter, was friends with Ginsberg and had collaborated with him on the book Illuminated Poems. John Hays, a San Francisco-based animation veteran, directed the sequences, which were animated by The Monk Studios in Thailand. -from comic art news

Above: A young Allen Ginsberg modeled at The Monk Studios, based on Eric Drooker's drawing. The museum exhibit will show the process used in making the animated portions of "Howl."

 Above: Backgrounds, and concepts for billboards by the art dept at "The Monk."