Baby Sloth children's book

I've held off posting these because I wanted to present them together, but I've been working on a children's book this whole semester and it's been a long process but really enjoyable.  At this point the entire story is written, the pencil dummy is complete but needs a second, cleaner draft, and I present the cover, and two interiors (one spread, one single).

thanks for looking :)

how I wonder

My last illustration assignment for the semester.  It will be printed as a standard size greeting card with information about polar bears on the inside.

Polar bear populations are dwindling fast; scientists estimate that 2/3 of all polar bears will be gone by the year 2050. There is still time to help reverse their decline though! Find out how you can help by visiting www.polarbearsinternational.org.

Gesture Drawing the Pixar Way (notes from CTNX 2011)

Last month I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Creative Talent Network Animation Expo in Burbank, California.  I can not understate how great of a time I had the three days I was there.  I met so many awesome students and professionals who all share my love of the animation industry, and also had the opportunity to attend several extremely informative workshops and panels.  One of the ones I enjoyed most was Gesture: The Soul of Drawing - the Pixar Way!, by Pixar artists Alex Woo and Matt Jones.  These are the notes I took during their panel; a few people have expressed interest in seeing them so I thought I'd post them up here for anyone who might benefit from them.

7 Foundational Topics

Line of Action - what is the main idea of the pose?

Shape - how can you simplify the complex form you see into basic shapes?

Silhouette - successful silhouettes depict the model/character's pose without confusion, choose an angle to draw from where the viewer will be able to correctly read the pose quickly and easily

Space - where is the model in relation to the space he/she is in?  This where perspective and foreshortening plays into your drawing

Exaggeration - push the pose farther than what you see in front of you to give it more life; when viewing a live model your eyes take in so much more information than when viewing a drawing so you have to exaggerate the drawn pose to compensate

Extrapolation - seeing beyond the pose, "Nobody is going to know if you changed the pose, just make it interesting;"use the model as your jumping off point, don't be married to it.  In the photo below the top drawing is of the model's actual pose, the bottom is how Matt interpreted it.

Story - contextualizing your drawing.  In the photo below Matt demonstrates how simple it is to create story out of the model's pose by adding the figure on the right. 

"A strong drawing is one that blends solid draftsmanship with vitality" - Alex Woo

all the creatures were stirring

Recently I was asked to be a part of a small student-curated gallery show at Ringling, so of course I gladly said yes!  The theme for the show was simply "cute" so I decided to do some holiday themed pieces.  Being home for thanksgiving and doing some early Christmas shopping at Crate and Barrel with my mom definitely had a hand in that decision :)

And the final setup:

I had about a day and a half to complete all of the artwork, from concept to final illustrations.  The little stuffed animal guy in the middle there is the only exception; I had made him about a year ago and my mom knitted the scarf for me :)

sketchbook post

back to school fresh from CTN in burbank.  I had a wonderful time and learned an incredible amount in the three short days I was there.  I have a bunch of illustrations to post, including a set of five I did over the thanksgiving holiday for a show on campus that opens tonight!  Those will be up shortly, but for now here are some scans of my recent sketchbook work. 

I know, I know.  It's a lot of dogs... but I always watch the National Dog show after Thanksgiving and I was also home with my own dog for the holiday this year so I couldn't help myself :)

also thought I'd throw this up here.  At CTN this year I had the pleasure of meeting Andreas Deja, an animator who's work has been an inspiration to me for many years.  The whole weekend was quite an experience to say the least! 

pretty girls and cute dogs

Did these to practice drawing Claire, and having some fun with what she might wear since the "photographs" I've been drawing for her blog haven't really showcased her personal style very much.  That last one I had to doodle just because I had "singing in the rain" on repeat for most of the day :)

Claire and Charley enjoying a cup of tea and some bedtime stories :)  These are just too fun to draw.

From my last blog entry at the findingclaireity blog; Charlie and Claire at the Alamo in San Antonio.  A couple summers ago I drove from AZ to FL with my Dad (the original inspiration for the project) and he made such a big deal about stopping at the Alamo so I just had to include it for the blog :)

Switch gears now!  These were part of a collaborative project between the talented Bree Lundberg and myself.  The illustrations were for a matching card/memory type game aimed at children ages 3-5 with the theme obviously being dinosaurs!   Each of us contributed six designs, the ones above are mine :)

a photo of the final cards printed and showing the backs as well

last but not least, a poster I threw together yesterday to promote a local greyhound adoption event that I will be volunteering at next saturday!  If you're local, come check it out, there will be over 100 lovable greyhounds all in one place :)

Thanks for looking!!

Visit scenic arches national park!

So we've started a new project in my concept class and this time I'm doing a story about a girl named Claire and her dog Charlie who are road-tripping across the American west.  Instead of just doing illustrations and boring old character turn-arounds (been there, done that) I decided to set up a blog "written by" Claire.  Each blog post will have a "photograph" of the characters (like above) and an entry about the particular place or activity the two of them visited that day.  You can track the blog's progress here: http://findingclaireity.tumblr.com/ 
This is the first of the photographs so far.  I'll try to cross-post the artwork as I complete them that they'll be on this blog also, but the text entries will be limited to the tumblr.  As always, thanks for looking :)

The Little Prince

Illustrations inspired by my favorite line of text in The Little Prince, "You become responsible forever for what you have tamed."  The full story is available to read online here in pdf form.   Enjoy!

"Ruff" Decisions

starting a new project and these are the characters :)  I think the dog's name will be Orville (a la Wilbur and Orville Wright) but I'm not sure if that will stick yet or not.  Still mulling over names for the girl.  Any suggestions?

design shop

Everyone loves sloths right??  Even better, baby sloths!  The above are extremely preliminary studies for characters from my children's book in progress.  The human mother character is giving me the hardest time design-wise, but she'll get there :)  As always, thanks for checking out my work.

cute animal things

more cutesy alaskan animal things, enjoy!

thanks for looking :)

warm spirits on a cold night

another concept piece from my inuit story :)  enjoying each other's company will full bellies,  a warm fire, and the northern lights over head, what more could you ask for?

Mr. Crocodile, do you like codfish?

First illustration assignment of the year!  My focus for this year is dynamic composition and improving my  use of value and color.  I love the story of Peter Pan because of the great characters, so here's victorious Peter taunting Captain Hook who doesn't quite realize he has bigger problems to worry about.  Enjoy! :)

danger and beauty

concept art from my Inuit story.  The orca isn't an important/specific character in the plot, I just really wanted to draw one :)  I imagine they'd come across one at some point or another in their travels though.

model sheets

a couple of characters from an alaskan/inuit/pacific-northwest influenced project I am working on.  stay tuned, there's more to come :)

miscellany