Category Archives: Artwork

I have a wide range of artistic talents, so you never know what I might be working on!

We Unsnapped Ourselves! 8-Leafer Studios Filmography Page Back Up And Running!

See our newly updated 8-Leafer Studios Film Portfolio at josephcarlson77.com!

Hello Everyone!  It’s been a few months since the infamous “Thanos-Snap of Youtube,” when the iconic online video platform enacted its new rules imposing strict penalties on those who didn’t obviously fit the new standards.  We don’t have a gripe here at 8-Leafer Studios, we support steps to better filter content for children, but it was an expensive inconvenience when we realized the content we had linked via Youtube resided in a gray-area.  Our videos had a lot of colorful sculpted backgrounds, and some videos contained expletives, so we had a little content crossing each side of the line just enough that we decided to take our content down.  It took a site upgrade to be able to host our own videos, but we’ve crossed that hurdle and finally brought our babies home.  It was unfortunate that the change in policy at Youtube had to come so soon after the Catalyst Content Festival, here in Duluth.  We made a lot of connections there, although unfortunately the web-address on the cards we shared undoubtedly led many of our new contacts to a filmography page with dead links on it.  You can imagine how excited we are to have our content back up for you.

In this new chapter of 8-Leafer Studios, we’d like to invite as many new players as possible, so we intend to increase our community involvement.  We welcome short story submissions, and if you live in the Duluth area and wish to be involved as an actor, crew member, or featured model, contact us and we will see what we can do to get you some exposure.   We don’t have access to much funding here, only what we can spare from out-of-pocket, but we intend to compensate any new talent.  Life-events of staff members combined with the unavailability of our filmography, and now the Coronavirus, have all slowed things here for a while, but despite the lull in our production, we have continued to invest in our future projects.  All-new characters, costumes, and filming equipment are each waiting for their chances to be utilized to bring some ridiculous science-fiction tale to life.  Check out our newly updated filmography page right here, and we hope you enjoy it!

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We Got Snapped!!!!

Cloverman Disintegrating

Hey everyone, Cloverman Joe Carlson here.  You might have heard of the recent “YouTube Thanos Snap,” or the new rules Youtube put into effect to better label children’s media.  Basically, it boils down into big fines for anybody who doesn’t get it right.  Well, here at 8-Leafer Studios, we fell into a grey area: our content is too colorful, like labelling it for adults would be misleading.  Rather than deal with that crap, we’re working to upgrade our website to post our own videos.  It might take us (me) some time, but it shouldn’t be too long before our videos are back up to view.    Feel free to browse around the art sections until then!

Cloverman and the Catalyst Festival

Hi friends, it’s Cloverman Joe Carlson.  This has been an intense week for 8-Leafer Studios, probably its most important week so far since I started it in 2014.  I was recently lucky enough to represent 8-Leafer Studios at the 2019 Catalyst Content Festival.  It was an amazing ride.  I saw tons of pilots and panels, secured a few business relationships, and was able to put the work belonging to my team and I in front of the eyes of several potential new contacts from all over the US, as well as representing some other locals who were unable to attend.  It was a real dream come true for me no matter how you look at it.  There were VIP parties that broke local records, and I met Nancy Cartwright after she gave an amazingly compelling speech, all in my city, at a yearly festival just for creators.  It was awesome to see some new friends win their awards, I saw a lot of dreams come true.  We at 8-Leafer studios will be working towards a submission for next year, so wish us luck!

Here’s an inside look at the festival!

The Catalyst Symbol projected onto Glensheen Mansion for the second VIP Party.

Cloverman Joe Carlson running around Glensheen.

Cloverman Joe Carlson Catching the exhibits at Glensheen.

Cloverman Joe Carlson meets Actress Dana Weddell from “Inpatient” at the Glensheen VIP Party.

Nancy Cartwright accepts her Lifetime Achievement Award.

Nancy Cartwright with Cloverman Joe Carlson.

The Catalyst symbols projected next to the doors of the Duluth Depot for the third VIP Party.

Cloverman Joe Carlson on his way into the Depot VIP Party.

The Swing Band at the Depot VIP Party.

A friend I went to school with wandered in off the street past the checkpoint with no idea what was going on. Highlight of the evening.

The Red Carpet from the Catalyst Award Ceremony at Greysolon Plaza.

Cloverman Joe Carlson takes a Bathroom-Selfy before attending the Awards Ceremony.

The reception area of the Moorish Room at Greysolon Plaza before the Ceremony.

The Catalyst Festival Award Ceremony in the Greysolon Ballroom

There is a red carpet photo of me in someones camera at Getty Images but I’m not sure how to get a copy of it 😦  But I was so happy to be there and hope to go again with a submission next year!

8-Leafer Studios Lands Childrens Book Trailer For Local Talent, Erika Adams *UPDATE BELOW

Good evening, and welcome back to the 8-Leafer Studios Blog!  I’m Cloverman Joe Carlson, and a lot has happened in the past weeks concerning my team and I.  As you may know, our last film project had a digital disaster and we had to cancel it until we all had the time.  One of our new team members, Erika Adams, would have been playing the role of a space-farer named Nixie.  Although she is still scheduled to appear in another project, she’s been so on board I consider her a part of 8-Leafer Studios already.  She is a local radio talent here in Duluth, and recently she had her 50th episode of her show as champion to the art of storytelling, and recently wrote a wonderful children’s book, called “New Moon’s Family.”  She came to me with some wonderful illustrations by Eric Soderstrom, and asked me to animate them into a trailer and whip up a music track to accompany them.  I felt really connected to this project, I have some scheduled to reach the moon next year on the Moon Arts Ark, so you can imagine how I like the recurring theme here.  You will find the final trailer below. It went through a last second re-rendering because I wasn’t available to fix something properly but I don’t think it lost enough resolution to matter. It was a really fun project and I hope she writes many more books!  Find copies on Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, and Itasca, and check out her site at elatales.com!

SEE UPDATE BELOW!

*** UPDATE ***

The “New Moon’s Family” Book Trailer has been moved!   

Here’s it’s new location: https://www.elatales.com/new-moons-family.html

 

8-Leafer Studios to Begin Filming Another Sci-Fi Comedy Piece This Spring *UPDATE AT BOTTOM

Hi potential fans, we’ve missed you!  It’s a cold winter here at 8-Leafer Studios, and it’s been a while since we last brought you into the world of Captain Tombstone, the depth of Cloverman, and longer since we first heard the golden writings of Eric Blair.  Well, life is complicated, but a few months ago, we got the ball rolling to bring you an all-star installment wrapping this whole world together.  We bought some new equipment, stepped up our costumes, got a local guest star, and are even aiming for a longer product.  Let’s get the sum of things:

First, I want to go ahead and announce our joy to be working with Duluth local radio personality, Erika Adams, who agreed to star as our first female character, “Nixie.”  Erika is a local author and radio host here in Duluth, Minnesota. Erika’s radio show on 99.5 KTWH, titled “The Tale Collector,” acts as a shining tribute to storytelling in all of it’s wonderful and unexpected forms, and we’re honored that she steps out of the mic booth and front of our camera to help us tell a tall tale about goofballs in space.  You can find her youtube channel here.

Our next project will be our biggest yet, with the biggest sets, longest scripts, biggest cast, and most complicated shots and effects yet.  You could say that the only real difference that matters is the bigger budget.  Eric, Jack and I all went in on a 16×20 ft. Bluescreen (I love those guys), and since this is all pretty much my baby I went and bought some more accessories for our familiar characters, so you have those aesthetic upgrades to look forward to, but my greatest and most unique challenge for this project (also most expensive) was designing and costuming a space pixie (designing and costuming are different lol).  Erika and I worked together to come up with a great character and we’re all excited to have Erika bring it life when we try again.

Yes, again.  We actually started filming in Deceber 2017, at an almost astronomical alignment of our schedules, and we got most of it filmed until somebody slept through a critical shoot (Jack lol), and on top of that, we had some formatting errors that we blame on 2 years of inactivity (all me), but the kinks are ironed out and come spring we hope for smooth sailing.  We’ve never had to start over before, and it was humbling, so we can at least promise no repeat mistakes, as long as everybody shows up, knock on wood.

In our next video, we will be bringing out some old characters from the 8-Leafer Universe, like Captain Tombstone, Cloverman, and Dane Kirschnott, cramming them together into one of the most unlikely places.  What possible circumstances could bring these minds together in one video?  And what role could Erika Adams’ Nixie play in the 8-Leafer Universe?   We hope to show you later this year, in “Pilot Away!”

https://josephcarlson77.wordpress.com/

 

*UPDATE:  This project became our first cancellation due to a catastrophic data failure.  A reshoot is probable, but it would need significant changes to be an entry at the Catalyst Content Festival next year, but that is the plan, for now.

The Launch Date of the ANDY Rover, Carrying The Moon Arts Ark, Postponed

Hey Everyone!  I’d like to share this update regarding the new liftoff date of the ANDY Rover (lunar.cs.cmu.edu/andy/#andy-banner), and the small sample of my artwork (moondrawings.org) that ANDY will be carrying to the Moon on “The Moon Arts Ark” (moonarts.org).

“Two of the teams competing for the prestigious Google Lunar XPRIZE have announced a partnership, bringing them one step closer to landing on the moon. The HAKUTO team’s rover will hitch a ride on the Astrobotic Griffin lander when it sets off in the second half of 2016.”
– Chris Wood of Gizmag.com

So, this is as specific as I can find so far for the launch date.  See more on the Team-Up from the Source below!

Source: Two Google Lunar XPRIZE teams are working together to get to the moon



8-Leafer Studios Homepage

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Easter is Coming

Hi everyone!  Life has been a handful lately, so I have fallen behind on some of my production, but we’re in the process of writing more adventures with Captain Tombstone.  I have taken it upon myself to be overly festive over the past year, and I decided to share my latest project with you.  I made these for my coworkers.  My Grandmother used to paint eggs, not quite like these, but I have always wanted to carry that on in my own way.

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