VIGNALI STUDIO

I've just finished the latest booklet on my figure drawing Fractal Method. Whereas the first book discusses the basics of the Fractal Method, this second book discusses balance, and proportions. In total, it will be 32 pages.

These aren't human anatomy books, but rather books describing the method in which I draw. It's a method I developed to hone my design skills. It's a designer's approach to drawing.

This is much more useful for designers than the traditional approach to figure drawing. Painters have their method of drawing, fine artists have their method, now designers have the Fractal Method.

The reason I didn't include anatomy lessons in these books is because I think the study of anatomy should be independent from design. That's why I don't go into a break down of muscles and muscle groups, instead what you get is a concentration of rhythm and movement, the core elements of design.

This book will be ready for sale at CTN. I'll also let everyone know when I get come copies off to Stuart Ng.

I'll be at CTN this November 15-17 in Burbank at the Burbank Airport Marriott® Hotel & Convention Center. The address is:
2500 Hollywood Way
Burbank, California 91505 USA

I'll have my latest booklet on life drawing with the fractal method. It's a figure drawing system that is specifically tailored to being a designer. I'll also have my usual wares in tow, original artwork and such.

Click this link to see our Youtube Video.

To see this image move, click this link. I was playing around in After Effects, trying to learn how to cut up an image and make it move using this program. Again, a special thanks to Todd Pilger for technical support.

The musical group is Christian Thrash-Metal band Haste the Day.

I'm a fan of Argentine folk poetry, and a huge admirer of Jose Larralde's work. I made an illustration to accompany one of his beautiful poems.

My grandmother Maria grew up in the countryside of Argentina, and would often share with us amazing stories of what life was like for her back then. It was an amazing life, filled with inspiration, I'm blessed to have had her in my life.

I created the image in layers using Photoshop, and then moved those layers using After Effects. My good friend Todd Pilger helped me with the AE tech side. A special appreciation goes out to him for his help and know-how.

Here's another drawing from my time on Snow Queen. With Disney's release of Snow Queen quickly approaching, I thought it would be fitting to see some development work that took place a dozen years ago.

The drawing was done in pen and ink, and watercolor. There is no digital manipulation, it is as I painted it all those many years ago.

While working on the Snow Queen in 2001, I did a variety of various drawings as we were all searching for a style for each of the sequences. In this case, I wanted to create a more naturalistic approach, and then contrast that with a stylized approach when the character falls in love -- hence the stave church in the background, nestled among the trees.

These drawings were looser and rougher than the previous drawing I posted, but drawing this way allowed me to cover more territory quickly. If the directors wanted me to I would work up these sketches into a more polished drawing, but I guess these drawings were sufficient and they remained this way.

All of these drawings were done as freelance work, while I was living and working in St. George, Utah. I would email them to the studio, at a time when emailing a file would take over an hour. It certainly was difficult when I had a lot of sketches I was trying to email in. Sometimes I would start sending files around 8:00pm, and keep sending files until 2:00am! Ah, the good ol' days.

These drawings were drawn in graphite on ledger paper.

In 2001, I did this drawing for the Walt Disney Studio. I had lost a copy of this drawing, but just recently discovered a CDR with various images -- and thought I would post some of the artwork.  I'll be posting artwork from that bygone project. Gosh, 12 years ago!!!

It must have had some effect because I've seen other images based on this drawing of mine. 

A little history: I was working freelance for Disney at the time, and I worked for nine or ten months on the Snow Queen project. However, It was a strange time for the industry. After the dot.com crash in 1999, and the attack on September 11th in 2001, the studio tightened its belt and dropped my contract. It was also the beginning of the end for 2D animation. Shortly afterward, the studio began selling its animation desks.

There was no Photoshop done to this image, it is as I drew it -- sans, of course, my name and the added respective copyright.

The good news is that Walt Disney is still planning to release the Snow Queen, but in CG and with a different title.

I did a dry brush doodle, and thought this looked very 1970s fashion magazine-like. So, I dropped in some dated color, shapes and type.

Just experimenting.

I did an interview for Animated News with Jérémie Noyer. It's a pretty indepth interview with several images from the Making-of Book.

Jérémie is an author, a journalist and a teacher, working and living in the region of Toulon, France. He's written the 20th anniversary book for Disneyland Paris too.

This image never made it to the movie. It was a shrine that Dracula had made to his late wife. We changed it so that this same scene could take place in Dracula's bedroom. I thought the bedroom was a much better choice. The original design had two stained glass windows on either side of the curtains, and only the curtain on the painting was used for the reveal.

It was later replaced with this image which took place in the dark, and Dracula was only using the candles like a flashlight to illuminate spots in the room. We were using both the light and the curtain on the painting as a reveal. You'll note that the painting in this frame was only a temporary painting while we were working on the original.

This was a drawing I did for Hotel Transylvania. Back in 2008, I was given the task of designing Mavis' bedroom.

This was an illustration for an earlier version of the story with the highly respected director Jill Culton. In Jill's version of the story Dracula's daughter, Mavis, was half human -- only she (Mavis) didn't know it! Mavis wondered why she couldn't turn herself into a bat,  or when her fangs would finally grow-in. Dracula just explained to her that she was simply a late-bloomer -- concealing the fact that Mavis' mother was human.

In Jill's version of the story Dracula was still the over-bearing and controlling father as he is in the final version of the story that made it into theaters. But, in this version, Dracula had intimidated all the other monsters in the hotel to play along and convince Mavis she was simply a late bloomer. His fear was that would discover she was human, and leave the hotel.

When the Johnathan-character (love interest) arrives at the hotel, Mavis soon discovers that she isn't a monster, and that she's been lied to all this time. And, that is the moment I chose to illustrate in this drawing.

In this drawing, Mavis has discovered that by being human she no longer has to avoid the sun, and for the first time opens up the windows to her room and allows the sunlight to come in. Her father, in an attempt to explain things, is caught in an awkward position of having to have "the-talk" with her. Rather than about the birds-and-the-bees, it's about the history of vampires and humans.

I divided the composition between light and dark, Mavis in the light, and Dracula in the shadows. We see that Dracula is careful not to get his toes in the light as he attempts to bridge the gap between the two of them with his books and facts -- hence the reason the book is in both light and shadow.

But, the chasm is seemingly insurmountable: divided by light and shadow, youth and age, truth and lies, vampire and human, and ultimately daughter and father.

The design for Mavis was originally created by Annette Marnat, and the design for Dracula (in this particular drawing) was of my own creation.

Made in Hollywood also did a segment on me! Check out this episode with me. You'll also see my office, and some of my hand-drawn/painted artwork -- along with some tips on how I work.

And, as an added bonus, a sneak peak into my sketchbook.

Made In Hollywood did a segment on Hotel Transylvania. It has interviews with our director Genndy Tartakovsky, and various others. You can see me in a few of the clips. There will be a part two where I get my two cents in.

Video clip

I got myself a Twitter account, in hopes I can better communicate with everyone. I'm going to be at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra this weekend doing my book signing, and I'll be tweeting from there. I'll be heading over to see Hotel Transylvania immediately afterward. I want to see how the audience reacts.

And, later on this year, I'll be tweeting from the CTN Expo. Just to let you know, I'll be doing a lecture and a demo. More to come on that subject very soon.

Please follow me on Twitter at @Vignalistudio, or you can look me up by my name, Marcelo Vignali.

The making-of book for Hotel Transylvania is coming soon, and I'll be signing copies of the book at Gallery Nucleus on September 29.

Admission is FREE, and there will be an artists panel discussion from noon - 1 pm. Followed by a Q & A till - 1:30. Then, from 1:30 - 3 pm there will be a book signing.

Don't miss this opportunity to get the inside scoop on this long awaited film, ask your questions, and get your book signed by several of the artists.

As the production designer for this film, I'll be discussing the early development of this film, and many of the design decisions that came about during the six years I worked on this picture.

Along with me the Hotel Transylvania panel will also feature:
Rebecca Sugar (Story Artist)
Andy Erekson (Story Artist)
Glenn Harmon (Story Artist)

Want 15% off this art-book? Share this event on Facebook or Twitter before September 20 and Gallery Nucleus will give you 15% off the art-of book when you purchase in-store.

I just got back from a vacation trip to Hawaii with my family. No doubt it was the inspiration for this image. What a beautiful island paradise. The hula is an amazing dance: it really is hypnotic. The swaying of the grass skirts and fluid motions of the body look very much like the swaying palm trees and ocean waves. Really relaxing.

I had been to Kauai on a photo research trip many years ago, Disney sent a group of us doing visual development for Lilo & Stitch. But, this was the first time I was able to vacation in Hawaii.

Here's another sketch along the lines of  the last post.

Again, there is no reference used for these images, personally I think that's part of the charm. Sometimes too much reference adds too much information that becomes distracting. However, when we draw from our imaginations we only draw those things which are relevant to the mood or the point we wish to get across to the viewer.

I just love tasteful fantasy illustrations, and my friend Craig Elliot and the Gallery Girls put together a life drawing event called "Girls and Flowers." Sadly, I wasn't able to attend, but it certainly inspired me to draw a  few sketches along those lines. Here is one I gave to my friend Omar Smith.

I drew this purely from my imagination (no reference) with Prismacolor Pencils on toned paper, and used whiteout for the whites on the flowers.

Yesterday we got together for our weekly Sketchclub lunch. When we were all done eating, sketching and chatting, we spotted our mark getting ready to cross the street. Hopefully, we'll have several people draw the mark this time around so we can compare the details. Go and check us out at Sketchclub.

This one was drawn during a figure drawing class. This was a five minute sketch, dry brush on newsprint. The textured paper was added digitally.

Here's another dry brush sketch.

The sole purpose of this exercise isn't to render a drawing in dry brush, but to draw it quickly -- forcing my mind to think quickly. In total, the sketch was drawn within five minutes.

I could feel the rust growing!

Again, as we were coming down the finish line on Hotel Transylvania, I was working late and found myself incredibly busy at work. And, as such, I couldn't keep up on my practicing. I managed to keep our Sketchclub going, but I had stopped going to our figure drawing classes. It's been about six months since I was able to draw the figure.

I thought I would go ahead and start practicing my traditional skills again by doing some sketches. Here's a dry brush sketch I did just recently.

I've posted on the sketchclub blog! I know it's been a while, I've been swamped with work trying to finish up on Hotel Transylvania. Now that I've come up for air, I managed to get the memory sketch done for the week.

To view the entire image of FOUR CHARACTERS, go check out the blog.

I just did an interview with I'm not bad on a project I did TWENTY YEARS AGO -- and what seems like another lifetime ago.

In 1989 I was hired at Disney Imagineering, and a year later became the lead designer for the Roger Rabbit Car-Toon Spin Ride. (Yes, at one point in my career I was a theme park designer.) The interview covers my work on the ride, and how the Toontown project started.

The photo is of me the year the ride opened up to the public in 1994. Interesting to note, the ride was completed a few months after Toontown opened in 1993, but Disney marketing wanted to sit on the ride and open it up in 1994. It literally just sat there under lock and key. But, since I was a friend of Roger, I was able to get my picture with him. That's me on the left, sporting the Walt Disney 'stache.

Here's an image of Big Ben that was featured in the trailer for Hotel Transylvania.

In this sequence, monsters from all over the world are coming to the hotel. So, we needed to create images from various well-known international locations.

What's also exciting is that our director, Genndy Tartakovsky, made a trip last weekend to Cancun, Mexico, to present 17 minutes of footage to the international press. The more stuff continues to come out about our movie, the more I can show you all a bit more.

Sony Pictures Animation is finally coming out with the long awaited Hotel Transylvania, and the first trailer has finally been posted! You can check it out at Hotel Transylvania Trailer.

I've been working on Hotel Transylvania throughout it's various iterations, a total of six years -- by far the longest I've ever worked on any one project. As the Production Designer for Hotel Transylvania, I'm really grateful to Sony Corporate for seeing the potential I saw in this project and didn't give up on it. It would have been very easy for the studio to simply say, "no, this is taking too long,"and simply pulled the plug. However, it took courage to get behind this film and complete it. And for that, I couldn't be more thankful.

I'm really looking forward to showing all the work I've done on this project throughout these past six years. But of course that will have to wait till after the film is released in September.

This particular image is posted on the trailer, and so I thought I would post the artwork that inspired the windmill image in the trailer.

My good friend and coworker Ron Lukas has ventured into the blog-sphere! He's so unbelievably talented, he's responsible for much of the amazing color on Surf's Up, and now Hotel Transylvania.

Ron studied under Sergei Bongart, the famed Russian painter. And, several years later Ron would have his own school in Washington State where he himself taught painting. But, fortunately for us, Ron transitioned into the world of animation -- lending his expert eye to help with color.

Ron's mastery (and I don't use that word lightly) of traditional painting has enabled him to become one of the top artists in animation today. But his talent and contributions don't stop there, his visual development and design drawings are simply amazing. His drawings and illustrations have that rare quality of that bygone era of Dulac, Bauer and Rackham.

Ron Lukas has set up a portfolio blog, and I'd like to invite all of you to come and take a look. Ron is perhaps one of the most accomplished artists in the animation industry today.

There's a restaurant near the Sony studio called Royal T, and the waitresses there dress with these French maid-like uniforms. However, this time one of the waitresses was wearing these enormous boots! They were so big they looked like fishing waders, complimented of course with her demure good nature nature. But you know, they kinda worked!

I think I'm the only one who did the "mark" for this past week.

It's been years since I've done straight watercolors, and it makes me wonder, why the heck did I stop, they're so much fun? Oh, that's right, I have kids!

Let's see if someone posts their version of this wimpy kid at, Sketchclub.

I decided I would dust off the watercolors during our weekly Sketchclub gathering. I painted these during my lunch hour.

I really enjoy painting on these buckslips. The paper texture and weight on these buckslips is perfect.

In earlier days at Sony, the studio had these made for one of our directors -- complete with his name at the bottom of the buckslip. But, when he left the studio, he left behind a stack of these. They laid around the studio for a few years when I discovered them. I quickly grabbed them, took them to the paper cutter and cut the name off the bottom, and have been steadily working my way through the stack of buckslips. Gosh, I don't know what I'll do when I run out!

This poor girl was so skinny, she couldn't even fill out those Daisy-Duke shorts she was wearing. Hah, but she was working it, just ask that kid!

Happy new year everyone, lots of changes!

For starters, I lost my home office space to my daughter. Yes, my office has been boxed up and now resides in the confines of my garage, my former home office has been converted into a bedroom for my teenage daughter. I spent the last week scraping, sanding and painting, and it looks fantastic. She's really happy to finally have her own room.

But, since I've downsized my office, the consolation is that I now have a Cintiq! My office now consists of a small corner in my bedroom with a computer table. Unfortunately, I'm working with Photoshop 7 on a nine year old computer. I'll have to manage to make this work for now.

This is a test I made using my Cintiq.

Todd Hampson has a wonderful blog called Timbuktoon. Todd was also one of the people that attended my "Conversation with the Creator" sit-in chat at the CTN Expo -- and he took lots of notes. If you're intersted in some of the topics we discussed, go and check it out.

Well, Sony has finally started to show some of the artwork related to our next family feature film, Hotel Transylvania! Or, as we commonly refer to it, Hotel T.

This is the movie I've been working on...throughout the various iterations. I started working on a different version of this film right after Surf's Up, it's taken this long to find the right story. As the production designer for this project, I'm looking forward to showing some of the amazing artwork we've been creating -- I'm really proud of my crew.

The castle in this image was designed by Luc Desmarchelier and painted by the very talented Joty Man Lam. The character design for Mavis was done by Annette Marnat .

See you at the CTN Expo this weekend! Look me up in the schedule, I'll be there all three days.

Here's an oldie that's been collecting dust in the Vignali vault!

I think I drew this one for Disney's Atlantis, sometime in 1997. I was splitting my time between Atlantis, and Emperor's New Groove. Only then it was called Kingdom of the Sun.

Just to let everyone know, I'll be at the CTN EXPO! I'll be there November 18-20. Hope to see you there. I'll be posting about it soon.

Here's a couple sketches I drew on some Magic proofs. Sandy, the proud owner of these two sketches held them up for a picture. One of Lilo & Stitch, and the other of a faerie.

The Comikaze Expo is surprisingly large and well run -- for this being their first year. Come by and check it out.

I'll be at the Comickaze Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center this weekend (November 5-6, 2011). I'll be signing prints, cards, booklets, and drawing commission sketches. You can find me in Artists Alley, at booth 99!

Just click: Comickaze Expo

When I was at the San Diego Comic Con I picked up Jason Brubaker's reMind, it has to be one of the freshest comics I've seen in a very long time. Jason's artwork and page layout are a refreshing cold glass of water in a tepid sea of status quo comics.

Jason Brubaker has the entire reMIND comic book posted on-line, but I suggest having a look, and then buying this comic. Even his approach to advertising his comic book is unconventional, he'll let you read the entire comic.

I just did an interview with Rondal Scott at Fuel Your Illustration.

It's an interesting interview, Rondal asked me about my past in the sport of prize fighting. I came away from boxing with more than just scars and a couple broken noses -- I learned how to be a better artist. Imagine that?

You know me, I'm always more honest than I should be -- enjoy the interview.

By the way, this drawing is one I did for Brother Bear back in 1999. Yeah, I had to dig deep into the archives for this one.

Ever notice those people that cry out for attention, but when you look at them they're surprised that you're looking at them? This young gal had dyed her hair with blue streaks, yet when she caught me looking at her she became nervous and uncomfortable.

Sadly, we all knew this day was coming.

For a while I remember thinking Amy Winehouse should get her life together so she can get back to singing. But, as she continued to spiral out of control, I remember thinking she should just get her life together so she can get back to the land of the living.

Even the late night jokes stopped when everyone realized how much danger she was in. It's like we were all watching her die right in front of us, but no one could save her from herself.

In her short life, Amy made a profound impact in the music industry. Few singers are able to transcend the medium of their vocals and allow their voice to become an instrument -- Amy did that -- combined with the raw passion and heartfelt emotion she poured into her music, fans loved her for it.

The great Tuna Bora also did a tribute.

This is the first page for the comic I've been working on. It's part of a larger project that the Sony artists are contributing towards. The project is called the Exquisite Corpse, as per an old Victorian parlor game in which people contribute only a part to a larger drawing -- without being able to see the drawing in its entirety. However, the actual title of the comic book remains undecided. I guess we'll have a better idea when all the contributers turn in their pages.

I've already turned in my eight page story, and so I thought I would post page one. Lia Abbate had the story right before me, and she picked the theme with faeries. Since I love the subject of the faerie world, I decided to go along with her last panel. I soon realized I was drawing my own daughters, as they ended up being the inspiration for the characters. The name of my story is Awakening.

My friend and mentor, Fil Barlow, has finally gotten off his bony butt and created a blog, and a Deviantart page.

Ever wonder who created Zooniverse? Ever wonder who created the look for the cartoon version of Alf, the animated Starship Troopers, the animated Godzilla, Tutenstein, Igor, Chronicals of Riddick, Heavy Gear, Extreme Ghost Busters, The Real Ghost Busters, the X Files, Eight Crazy Nights? Look no further than Fil Barlow.

Fil is Australian born, and he is the creator of his own comic books, a publisher of his own magazine, a gallery painter, a character designer, a puppet designer and a puppeteer. Fil is also a 2D animation artist, as well as a CG modeler! He's a literal renaissance man, and perhaps one of the most sincere and genuine people in the business.

When I first saw Fil's Zooniverse comic book, I was hooked, and I knew then I wanted to work with him. However, when he showed up in America, I was surprised to discover he was only a couple years older than I was! Imagine, he published Zooniverse when he was only 24 years old!

We worked together at DIC Entertainment in the late 1980s, and he's been my mentor and friend ever since. Please welcome, Fil Barlow.

Yeah, you heard right, 2012! Just to let everyone know, I'll be at the Radisson LAX on 6225 W Century Blvd this coming Saturday, July 9th, 2011. It's a Sunmesa sponsored event, and it's a prerelease for Magic 2012.

This is a Magic prerelease and tournament. I've never been to one of these events, so it should be interesting to see all the gamers duel it out.

Click this LINK to get more information on this event.

I drew this for a Christmas gift exchange at work. Why? I have no idea. I guess it just popped into my brain that that moment.

Of all the people that could have gotten the gift, it turns out Glenn Harmon (my good friend and carpool buddy) won it! Good thing I didn't show it to him before hand! Sheesh, I would have spoiled the surprise.

I'm sorry for not posting in a while - I guess things have gotten pretty hectic lately. Regardless, here's a recent sketch I did at Sketchclub.

Yep, the temperatures are rising, here in here come the hot-pants. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of this skinny girl to fill out her hot-pants.

Just to let everyone know, I'll be at table 1114 this weekend at the Ahaheim Comic Con! I'll have prints, and a convention sketchbook for sale. I'll also be signing proofs, doing commission sketches, and talking with all of you.