A VISION OF MY QUEST

These are a couple designs I've been working on the past few days. I discovered the 'smudge' tool during working on these... and used it for pretty much everything; hair, fabrics, feathers... hands?

This ones not quite finished yet, I gots a bit of tweaking to do.

DOCS AND DAVE P.

Freelance designs I recently did. Don't really have much to say about them... I don't really have time to talk about them, been sooooooo busy lately.

I want to say thanks again to Dave Pimentel for being one of the coolest guys in the universe. He has a great blog up with some very important handouts on storyboarding, I advise anybody interested in the subject to check it out;
http://drawingsfromamexican.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html

I can feel myself learning just looking at Dave's work.

TOUNG IN CHEEKS

This is a quicky T-Shirt design I did for an event my sister is holding. I guess they're taking a whole bunch of kids to a museum and talking to them about healthy eating and the digestive system... I bet they'll be a lot of giggles towards the rear end of the tour. I don't know if they're making the shirts for the kids, but I hope they do!

I ♥ HORTON!

I just saw Blue Sky's Horton Hears a Who, and it was absolutely incredible. By far the best movie I've seen in theaters over the past couple years.
It's the CARTOONiest 3D movie I've ever seen, and I think Blue Sky is going to carve out a real niche for themselves in the market with this kind of stuff. It was pretty funny and had a lot of great 2D oriented gags which was awesome to see in 3D. There is also about 3-4 minutes of 2D animation in the film which was a great surprise, and they made it work. Originally I wasn't too keen on the voice cast, but as the movie progressed they actually fell into place really nicely.

Taking a kids book like that and adapting it into an hour plus film will surely have its difficulties, and it showed. There was some filler bits, but I think they kept a great flow to the movie that was entertaining enough to distract from the fact. I think one of the reasons it succeeded was because it treated its filler sequences as animated shorts; the whole bridge scene for example, could stand alone as a short (if you remove the spec from the scene). A giant elephant who has to cross a thin decaying old rope bridge. That's a great gag short. They did not fill the extra time with irrelevant dialogue or scenes in which they establish characters/relationships that ultimately have no significance in the movie's entirety.



Does anybody else smell a sequal...

LIVE NUDES

Drawings from another class at Dreamworks I've been sitting in on. I never really like my figure drawings, so I don't really look at them. After each class I'll just put all the drawings in the back of my car, and that's where they've been the last few weeks. But I finally looked at them, and was quite surprised to find a few that I actually liked.

I WAS GONNA TITLE THIS POST "GO FIGURE", BUT THAT'S REALLY CHEESY. I'LL THINK OF SOMETHING FUNNY IN A FEW MINUTES...

This is an assortment of not-so-terrible drawings from a class I've been sitting in on at Dreamworks. The class is run by Dave Pimentel, an absolutely incredible guy and artist. He's been so kind as to mentor me through the wacky world of feature animation, and I've learned so much from him already. The most recent session was probably the most fun I've had drawing in a long looooooong time.

These range from 1-2 minute poses.

TUNNEL VISION

This is another Mock poster I've been working on for the past 72 hours straight. I'm really happy with how it came out (I've still got a few things to tweak). But I think this is one of the first times where I was actually able to put down on paper/computer-screen what I actually saw in my head... or at least pretty close.

It's the most extensive piece of digital art I've ever done (topping the poster 2 posts down), and I learned a lot doing it. I used to hate photoshop because I didn't think it was very user freindly, but now I'm starting to Dig it.

BLOG TIME NO SCENE

I haven't blogged in for-ages. Sorry about that, (the appology is assuming there are actually people who care?) I've been rediculously busy lately, I'm working on so many different projects they're all just starting to blur together.

But for now, enjoy (or don't) this random assortment of drawings, mostly copied poses.


This is a horse I designed, I really like the shapes, I like the style actually more. I might try to do a line-up exploring the style.

THE LUCKIEST POST EVER!!!!

This is another "mock" poster I did for a project I'm pitching to Dreamworks. This is probably one of the most extensive pieces of art I've ever done in photoshop, and actually had my very talented friend Tony Scheppard (aka T-square) help me out with it.

Good luck trying to figure out what the movie's about...

And also, to all the people who frequent or less-than-frequent my blog, you've stumbled upon another bizzare note of "counting". When I checked my counter, right before I posted this blog, I found that up to this point, I've had 777 views, possibly the luckiest number ever.

Running total of visits to the above URL since 21 Jan 2008: 777

What are the chances of that? 1 out of 777? maybe. Anyways, hopefully it's a sign of goodluck for the project, and in that case, thank you.

BIG FOOT AND GNOME- - - CONFIDENTIAL- - -

So as Big Foot and Gnome moves forward and gets closer to production, my good friend Joey G. and I have both decided to hold out on posting any new artwork. We have some exciting plans for the project, and will be sure to keep you updated.

Thanks to everyone who commented on the project.

FOR MY DEAR FRIEND MR.ALASKA

So apparently, according to my "counter" there is 1 lad in Alaska who visited my blog, which is odd, because I didn't even know they had computers in Alaska, but nonetheless, welcome to my blog, hope its not too cold in here for you. Also, I saw your movie, Juno, it was ok.

I have decided to give something back to the online community who have shown such a mild interest in my blog with some never before seen (by you) character designs, with a special message from me;

Thank you! I like that shirt on you.

Anywho, these are some character designs I've been working on of late. They're for a project I plan on pitching to fox, not anytime soon, just in general.


I started the model sheet below with the 3/4 view pose, and then soon realized that every front view I tired looked disgusting... ew.
Shapes:

Side burns and butt.

Goodnight Alaska.

PITCHING A TENT

This is a quick piece of inspirational art I did for a project I pitched to Dreamworks. It's a mock poster, and the original has text and a logline on it, but I took it off as to not give away the concept/plot.So either you'll be able to figure out the plot and then you can steal my idea, or you have no idea what's going on and I'm a terrible artist. Either way you win.

WELL LAH DE DAH

This is an excerise I do where I'll watch a classic cartoon, pause it, and copy the poses. But instead of just copying the character, I'll use my own character and try to match the pose. Does this excersize actually do anything for your drawing abilities...? I dunno, I just like doing it.

It's from a Tom and Jerry cartoon, "Cat Fishing" the best Tom and Jerry I've ever seen, the only good Tom and Jerry I've ever seen. I hate tom and jerry's, they're super boring. But I saw this one and loved it, and then I found out one of the lead animators was Michael Lah, Tex Avery's right hand man, and my favorite animator of all times. He animated the bests scenes too.




So, not too many posts ago I proclaimed Tex Avery's MGM cartoons are the greatest cartoons ever made. Well I was wrong again, kind of. I recently saw a few cartoons Avery did for Walter Lantz, after leaving MGM. One of them in specific, a chilly willy cartoon entitled "The Legend of Rockabye point", is one of the single funniest cartoons I've ever seen.

The budget for the cartoon was lower than those he produced at MGM, and is evident with 1. More recycled BG's than usual (for a Tex cartoon) and 2. More holds than usual (for a Tex cartoon). But that's not a bad thing, in fact, this is how limited animation should look.

CREATIONISM

This is a little piece I did, I thought it was a funny idea. I did it all in flash, and actually put it together pretty quickly. I call it "The Creation of Bloo". I think it's pretty obvious what work of art this is based off of, and if you don't know, well then you're probably blind. Which is weird because I don't know how you'd be reading this post?

BIRD LOVERS

This is a t-shirt design I did for a contest being held on behalf of Jason Mraz to design new merchandise for his web-store.

BIG FOOT AND GNOME

Finally, after posts of speculation, the truth is revealed... Here's a little logo I threw together. I did it fast just because I wanted something to put on our storyboard templates, you know, to make it look more "official", and the logo just kinda stuck. I'm sure we'll tweak it later, but, just thought I'd put it up.


Also, this character above has nothing to do with Big Foot and Gnome, just an old character I'd thought I'd post. I like it.

TEX MESSAGING

So I'm obsessed with Tex Avery cartoons. Not his WB ones, but his MGM cartoons. A buddy of mine gave me a copy of the Avery Collection (which was originally on laser disc I think), and has every cartoon he did at MGM.

Prior to seeing the Avery Collection, I had been fixated on WB cartoons (I tend to go through phases), and was convinced that they were the greatest cartoons ever made specifically the Road Runner/Coyote series... I was wrong. I can't believe how incredible Tex's MGM cartoons are. I have been watching them non-stop for about 2 months now, and they have yet to get old. They are the most entertaining and captivating pieces of cinema I have ever seen. After watching only the 1st disc of a five disc set, Tex Avery had completely changed my perception of what animation should be.

I think today his genius may be somewhat overlooked. A lot of the gags you see in his cartoons were so radical and groundbreaking at the time. I'm sure when people first saw his cartoons they thought "what the hell is he on?". However, over the years, people have repeatedly stolen Avery gags and executed them with less than perfect timing, poor staging, and unappealing drawings. It's gotten to a point where Avery gags are standard in most cartoons, the completely original and innovative jokes he created have broken into a realm of normalcy, I think maybe even subconsiously (spelling?) . We now KNOW for a fact that when a male character sees a sexy character his eyes pop out of his head. I mean, Avery came up with at over 60 years ago, and since then, no one has come up with a new "take". Why not!? The only shows I actually see trying are Spongebob and Chowder (Which is absolutly brilliant). Chowder is pushing the envelope on gags more than any show since Spongebob. Chowder also has what appears to be a specific vision which creator Carl Grenblatt (also a Spongebob board artist (and an emmy winning board artist to some)) executes without flaw. I feel like there are probably a lot of people saying "what the hell is he on?" right now, however when 5 or 6 shows come out copying the style and sense of humor of Chowder it will become a standard. On a side note, (not that this post hasn't already taken one... or two), What kind of logic do we use today where whenever someone comes up with something original and creative we say "what the hell is he/she on?". Why is the only way someone can be creative through the use of halucinagens?
Anyways, in closing, Tex Avery is single greatest animation director of all time, "Hick Chick" by Avery is the best animated short of all time, "The Three Little Pups" by Avery is the best looking animated short of all time, and you should watch Chowder on Cartoon Network.

If you read that whole thing... cool, and thanks.
Oh yeah, here are some Avery model sheets I copied.

TOP SECRETER DEVELPOMENT WORK

These are some concept sketches of the other main character... you don't win anything for guessing what he is. He didn't change too much through out the whole development process, which could be a bad thing, but the final version is pretty hillarious.


Potential Squirells. Now I'm not saying there are squirells in the project, but if there are, these are them... potentially.
Some additional Big Foot concepts and shapes. I forgot how many of these I did, there are about 4 more pages as well.
I like the one that looks like a cactus.

TOP SECRET PROJECT- DEVELOPMENT WORK

This is some development work I've been doing for a super top-secret project I'm working on with a friend of mine, Joey G. We're both really excited about the project, and hopefully I'll have quite a bit of artwork to continually post as we press onward.

I tried to start pretty much with just shapes, exploring all kinds of possibilities (Very much inspired by the work of Shane Prigmore and Shannon Tindle.) These are concept designs for one of the main characters, can anybody guess what he is? (The final design is not included on either page).

DODGEBALL

These are some rough sketches I did of my puppy Dodger, aka Dodgeball, aka Beaster. He's an akita, and big and pretty old, so he lies around a lot which makes it easy to do gesture drawings.



The beast himself;

I SEE PROPHET BUDDY IN YOUR FUTURE

Prophet Buddy is an online animated series by a buddy of mine Eric Pringle. He is one of the best flash animators around, and Prophet Buddy is some of the best flash animation on the web. I highly recomend giving it a watch.

If you like it, there are super cool Prohpet Buddy shirts available for purchase, I bet they make great christmas presents, but what do I know, I'm a jew. Anyways, check out Prophet Buddy.

PHOTOSHOP FUN

This is another piece inspired by the artwork of Shane Prigmore. I'm trying to get a lot more comfortable with photoshop. I'm going to need it a lot when I start working on the Deese Nuts shorts.

I don't know that he's necessarily a bear?

BEAR CLAW IN THE HONEY JAR

I was just messing around in photoshop, did this little piece. It was inspired by the artwork of Shane Prigmore. He's a super talented character designer.

CHECK OUT DEESE NUTS

These are some character designs I did for a project being pitched to adult swim, The Legend of Deese Nuts. I got to work with some really cool guys, they gave me a lot of creative freedom and I'm super happy with the outcome (Especially beacuse I don't draw human characters?).

The website is up, Deesenuts.com but it's still in the priliminary stages. There is a whole merchanidsing line (including nut sacks), and a lot more to come in the future as we plan to integrate the new designs in.


We're going to make some flash shorts in the near future. Hopefully the project will take off, its pretty hillarious, and I enjoyed working with these guys so much.

The characters are still subject to change, these are very concept, so I'd love any feedback you can offer? (I won't be mad if you hate them.)

HUMAN?

I called him Zander, I dunno why. I don't even like that name, it just sort of came out.

FOSTER'S HOME CHARACTER TEST

When I was interning on Foster's they gave me a character test as an excersize. I didn't like any of the stuff I came up with on my first pass, so I tried again. This is what I came up with.

Craig McCracken has had such a huge influence on my style, especially my work post-internship. I find myself doing a lot of; eyes lying flat on the head, and not overlapping. As opposed to say, Spongebob-esque opticals, which, about 4 months ago, I would draw for every character.

Below; Eye's flat on head/body. No overlap.




Above: Eye's have volume. Overlap.

RATS

These are some designs I've done lately, a sort assignment, I guess. I'm trying to explore shapes more, branch out from my usual choices.

UNLUCKY BUNNY

These are stills from a new short I'm working on. I'm really happy with how these scenes came out. The whole short was inspired by Eric Pringle and his new "Strips" Prophet Buddy (Here's the blog; http://prophetbuddy.blogspot.com/.

I got a chance to meet Eric during my internship on Foster's Home. He's the animation supervisor for the show and one of the sickest flash guys around (and he uses a mouse! (like me)), not to mention, a really cool guy too . His new "Strips" are really funny, and the animation is fun-credible. So with those as inspiration, I set out to make a quick, simple short (Not that Eric's are simple). However, as usual with my projects, I get carried away and they take on a life of their own, and I end up planning an epic of... epic porportions. So it looks like its gonna take a while, but i'm really excited about it, so hopefully I'll be able to keep the motivation up.


Any advice? Comments? Hate mail?