Family Funtimes

Once upon a time, many moons ago, a little tangerine-haired girl clad in a cruddy green sweater popped up in my head, dancing to a song by the band Blonde Redhead. That last detail isn't so important to her character, but she stuck around for years later.  

Here rambunctious Angie is living it up at the carnival with her parents. One day I'll conquer my distaste for backgrounds. Look, they're standing on a patch of ground! That's one step up from floating in an aimless white abyss.

I am the best blogger....

...in all the land. My annual posts are all the rage with the kids these days.

Ahhhh I'm not making much sense right now.  You just caught me at the tail end of 2 days of AMAAAAAZING lectures of story and animation at the Pixar Masterclass in Chicago!  If you can shell out the money for tuition (and airfare if necessary) it will change how you tell and think about storytelling, acting, and human behavior.  Pretty lofty words for a 2 day lecture, but seriously.  Four years of schooling packed into an 8 hour day each.  It was intense.  It was gold!

I "whipped" up and revamped a few character studies the past few days in preparation for the class.  They seem so weak and BLAH now, after all that we covered, that I just want to trash them and apply everything that I've learned. Well ok that's too drastic; there are some salvageable bits in them.  But a TON to improve!  And there's no better feeling in the world than to have fresh eyes and actually know what you need to fix!  That you've got a road map as a guide to communicating better (through art anyway, words are still derpy) instead of just fluffy artsy fartsy "It's your art maannnnnn, create and you'll find your way!".  It wasn't just philosophy and theories, the Pixar artists gave you tools to strengthen your own style and ways of working.

Mmmmm my love for animation has been rekindled.  It's pretty daunting to dust off the pencil and light table and tackle animating again, but the itch is driving me up the wall!  I've gotta do SOMEthing, even a crappy walk cycle or a bouncing ball.  I think I'll take on the witch girl and go from there...

Happy Bday mom!

_{Photoshop CS5}

My mom spent the majority of her childhood sneaking into her neighbor's yard and hanging out in their fruit trees, snacking away. A lot of her friends would do the same, but she was the only one wily enough to never get caught. :)

Tried pushing my color palette in a different direction (read: not throwing down every dang candy-colored hue in the world) aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I like where this is going. How about that.

Brush Your Teefs

The little girl, Angie, who was featured in my first blog post makes another appearance! This time in color! I'm preparing a portfolio geared towards children's publishing (picture books, educational workbooks, magazines, etc.) showing little kids doing little kid things. Like brushing your teeth! That's very important, especially when you eat as much candy as Angie. This was originally a simple color comp for a watercolor illustration that got a little carried away.



Dalmatian sketches! One or two of these may make it to the watercolor stage. It'll be fun splashing down color against the white and black spindly little bodies.

One of These Things Does Not Belong...

Every year for my Grandma's birthday, I make her a painting. This year I imagined how her lifelong love of elephants came to be (her house is overrun with plush pachyderms and ceramic... c..c...you get the idea). As a little girl, she worked on a farm feeding the chickens, caring for cows and such. One day, perhaps a particularly exotic animal snuck out of a traveling circus and sought refuge at her farm...

Frou Frou Finished

Added a frame to that froufrou illustration! It definitely needed something to finish it off. I don't fancy myself a decorative arts person (I commend anyone who can create beautiful non-figurative designs), but gotta admit, getting lost in the swirls and petals was therapeutic. Maybe I'll dabble in it again. :D

Bed Buddies

Just when you thought it was safe to hide under the covers...

I've had this picture in my mind forever and finally got it out. Is this creature kind or cruel? Is it an inch away from nipping off a little toe or is it as frightened of the dark as the little girl is? I'm not sure where my recent fascination with monsters popped up from, but expect more monster-themed illustrations.

I wanna be 6 again

Well, not really, but I sure do miss recess.

Kiddos have invaded my brains! They're everywhere! Especially these two gals (Chloe with the bouncy-flouncy dress, and Angie the running-pouncing-grimacing one). They tell me that they want their own stories, not just content to do random things in white space. So, it shall be, my dears.

My first post!

in...well. You don't need to know how many years. Let's just get on to the artwork, shaaaaaallll weeee?


While watching Amityville Horror (1979), I was struck by Margot Kidder's beautiful, magical cheekbones and had to draw her. Of course, this looks nothing like her, but it was still fun.
This lucky ballerina was blessed with the gift of curdled legs.
Random gals who apparently know something we don't.
Pig tails! I think her name is Angie. We'll have to talk more.
I love cute little old ladies. So sweet with their woolen shawls and angry glares.

That's it for now! Thanks for looking. :)