Wisdom from Dickens

Speculation is a round game; the players see little or nothing of their cards at first starting; gains may be great - and so may losses. The run of luck went against Mr Nickleby; a mania prevailed, a bubble burst, four stockbrokers took villa residences at Florence, four hundred nobodies were ruined, and among them Mr Nickleby.

- Charles Dickens from Nicholas Nickleby

The Long Break

So while I have not updated this blog for a while, I HAVE been keeping myself busy. I moved into a new studio space (above) with excellent light during the morning to afternoon hours, when I do most of my work. I couldn't have asked for a better space!

Layout (underdrawing)

So its the start of a new quarter! For most of the break I didnt really do much in terms of animation, design or Illustration. Instead, I was painting and posting on my other blog. I was feeling like my drawings were becoming a little too tight so I spent the last week loosening up. Anyhow, the above drawing is my latest project. I also did some character designs in the beginning of the week that I may post later. I will be painting this in Photoshop... stay tuned.

New Blog

I started a new blog where I will post some of my more non-traditional/abstract work...check it out!

Illustration Friday: Clutter

Well... its been a while, but I have been keeping myself busy with drawing. Here is something I did as my first submission for Illustration Friday. The subject is "Clutter"... quite appropriate since it describes exactly how I have been feeling of late. Drawn in col-erase pencil and refined in pen and ink, painted in Photoshop.

L.A.

Last week I took a trip down to L.A. for Siggraph 2008. I was a student volunteer this year... perhaps the only year I will be able to do it since I will have graduated by this time next year. The conference was pretty intense... way too many things to look at and sooo little time, but I did manage to make my way to a few booths of note. Laika had an awesome booth that showcased some stop motion sets and puppets for their upcoming film "Coraline". I also checked out the Walt Disney Animation Studios booth where I got a ticket to show my portfolio reel. I got some excellent feedback on my work and I met some great people there... very exciting.

Of course Siggraph wasn't the only thing I did when I was there. I reconnected with old friends and made some new ones. I attended the annual AM Siggraph Industry party and had ball hanging out with AM classmates and mentors... some of which traveled from as far away as Sweden to be there. The cherry on top came at the end of my trip. A few of my friends and I were invited to take a tour of Walt Disney Animation Studios by our mutual mentor Mike Belzer (aka nicest guy on earth!). The picture above is from the end of our tour (I am in the light shirt next to Mike...right below the A). All in all, I had a really good time... it really put everything into perspective... it made me look forward to the upcoming job search.

I should have a few drawings up soon... also I hope to post more work from here on in as I continue to prepare my portfolio and reel.

Portrait of a "henpecked husband"

This is a portrait of my rendition of a youngish Rip Van Winkle (click to see it larger). The facial features changed a tiny bit from the last (un-rendered) sketch below, but I really like how he turned out. I painted this in Photoshop and used techniques similar to Oil Painting including a glaze made up of three overlay layers of primary Red, Blue and Yellow at varying opacities.

The next step in my little character design challenge is to develop the body characteristics which I have already started to do in my sketchbook. I am hoping to paint the final full body design in the same sort of Dutch/Flemish painterly style.