Atlantis, The Discovery

I drew this one for Disney -- *gasp* ten years ago! Oh, I feel old, especially since my birthday is coming up this Sunday; I'm going to be 42.

OK, when I drew this one back in the day when visual development was drawn on "papyrus," I was playing around with the composition. There are rules about staging, silhouette, composition and focus, and then there are opportunities when you can break them. This was such an occasion.

I wanted the focus to first go to the view of the little harbor, but I slipped a couple subtle silhouettes of some of the characters in the foreground to take you into the foreground – allowing them to become the second-read.

I think I mentioned it before that I really enjoyed working on Disney’s Atlantis. It’s just a shame the story didn’t hold together as well as most of the designs and animation.

I drew this one with graphite and ink and brush on ledger paper.

The Golden Shekel Award

Remember that event in December at my church where they built a little Bethlehem town -- and my daughter and I performed as the flower vendors? Well, this past weekend we had our wrap party for the cast and crew. We got to see slides and a video presentation of our four days during the event. We also had a chance to mingle with each other, swap stories and eat desserts.

Afterwards, our church gave out the Golden Shekel award to the most spirited contributors, as in organization, construction, training, contribution and performance. Guess what? I won the Golden Shekel for the best performer! It helps that people can't win the award more than once, but I got it!

I won the award for being the nutty flower vendor that wouldn't take "no" for an answer.

I’m not going to kid myself, it’s not the Academy Awards, but you should have seen the expression on my kid’s faces! It might as well have been the Academy Awards when they called me up to the lectern! They were so proud of me, it was an incredible feeling to give them that experience. I always tell them to do the best they can at what ever they do, and here I had a chance to show them that I practice what I preach. The award proudly sits atop our mantle at home...where the kids can see it.

Open Season Artwork

Here's one you won't find in the Open Season book. Actually, the image is in the book, but it is a painted version by then-production designer, Michael Humphries. (By the way, he did a beautiful job using traditional media.)

I highly recommend getting the book, I have to say, it is by far the best Making-Of book I've ever seen, it beats out any Disney Making-Of book. Not only is the artwork stunning, but the way the book was packaged, presented and designed is truly a gem. This book is a must see!

I digress, I drew this image as a test. We were trying to figure out how to stylize the edge of water in how it interacted with the shoreline. We were also testing reflections, atmosphere and of course the stylization.

The end result was stunning -- too bad no one other than us in vis dev had a chance to see it. But, if you saw the movie Open Season, you saw the fruits of such exercises and tests.

The image was drawn using graphite on ledger paper.

Happy New Year

I thought I would go ahead and post a sketchbook page from my Sketchclub sketchbook (try saying that three times fast!).

These were drawn during our Friday get together lunch we call Sketchclub. You see, the first part of Sketchclub is dedicated to good food, good friends, and some fun drawing. We have to draw these without being spotted, so sometimes I draw with my sketchbook on my lap and the book nearly concealed under the table. Unless I can find a wall to sit up against so no one can sneak up behind me and say, "Hey, my nose isn't that big!" Fortunately, I draw with a very intense expression on my face, which tends to frighten off most lookie-loos. Only the bravest approach me.

The latter part of Sketchclub is the part when we draw someone from memory. If you want to see some memory sketches, check out the link on the left hand side.

Happy New Year everyone! CHEERS! ...here's to another year of fun blogging.