Which Way Did He Go, George?

Here's a rough turn-around of a character design I'm working on; cleaned-up one, along with facial expressions and action poses, will be coming soon. His name's George, and I'm using him and another character for a dialogue piece I'm animating. Check it out!

He's kind of like an old Italian grandpa living in the Bronx with his wife Alice. They argue quite a bit but love each other dearly. He's more of the rational, down-to-earth, yet stubborn and grumpy type. He's got a big appetite, especially for traditional Italian food and the regular dishes served at Super Bowl parties. A retired teacher (taught music and basketball); can make a trombone sound sorrowful and an accordion sweetly pleasant. Strong dislike for squirrels.

"I will come with you to Alderaan..."

For those of you who are reading (anyone? Bueller?), I've officially -- as of 4 weeks ago -- started up my first term at Animation Mentor and it's been awesome! There's so much to learn from this program -- from the mentors, classmates, and wealth of information they provide. It's sweet!

If you'd like to learn more about animation / get tips on animating but aren't sure if you even want to sign up for Animation Mentor, there's a great link you should check out . Shawn Kelly, one of the co-founders of AM, has a blog that he regularly updates with advice on working with this art form. Check it out:

http://animationtipsandtricks.com/

Sketch Studies - "Batman" (1966 version)

BAM! BIFF! POW!!! That's right, folks -- you're looking at gestures from the old campy Batman TV show from the 1960s. Most of these were drawn from fight sequences, one in the villains' hideout, the other on the deck of their surfaced submarine.

I'll be posting more work in the near future, kids, so tune in again...same Drawing time, same Drawing channel!!!

Sketch Studies - "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

Some more sketch studies! Indy does a lot of punching and kicking in this film, evidently.

Sketch Studies - "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"

Above are some sketches I did after watching the classic film "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World".  I got the idea to do this from a fellow artist and pal of mine.  She recently posted some cool sketches / gestures of characters from the "The Lucy Show" on her blog.  She was inspired by the work of Alex Woo, one of Pixar's story artists.  His sketches wonderfully capture movement, gesture, staging, expression, weight, etc...all great things animators should aim to do.  Like my friend, I didn't really have access to a model, and so I looked for some fun poses in this film instead.

Also, before I got to sketching people I became caught up in watching the death speech of Smiler Grogan (played by Jimmy Durante) in the opening scene.  He's only on camera for a couple minutes, and his character is supposed to be slowly dying; and yet he exhibits so many emotions in one short scene.  It's the mark of a great actor to show subtle inflections in character and still evoke the general mood of a given scene.  Gotta look for more moments like this!

The Hooper - Revisited!

I did this for a recent portfolio application.  Took the Hooper's design and made it into a poster, harkening back to the 1950s-style advertisements.  Since it was so much fun to work on, I may consider doing posters for other characters in the same series (though each would be stylized in probably a different genre, depending on the character).

Avast! 'Tis Air Pirates Ye See!

Here's a piece I did for a portfolio application.  The point was to make something in the same vein as the old-school Mario / Kirby characters.  I was always a fan of "Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island", so I looked at a bunch of the designs in that game for inspiration.  The main character is a young, rocket boot -wearing swashbuckler; he has just taken some loot from his arch-nemesis, the skull-masked pirate captain below.  I'm working on some additional character concepts (bad guys, bosses, etc.) that I'll post here in the future, or should I say, fut-arrrr me mateys!

OK, please don't beat me up for that last pun.

Wayfarers...Part 2!

Here's the finalized version of the duo I posted earlier.  Thanks to the advice of two friends of mine, I realized that (in the original) the guy's right forearm looked a little funky and his legs were too short.  Along with fixing those things, I've thrown some color (and a tad of texture) into the piece.  Enjoy!

"I Snore" - Lip Sync, Blocking 2

Above is the Blocking 2 pass (still in progress) of an animation I'm working on for my reel. The quote is spoken by Charles (David Ogden Stiers) from the TV show "M*A*S*H". I'll post the final piece once I get the chance. Enjoy!

Wayfarers of the Sea and Woods

Here's a sketch of two of the main characters in a story that's been floating around in my mind for many years now.  Perhaps one day I'll write it!  The image is just of the line drawings.  After I tweak a few problem areas here and there, I'll post the colored version up soon.  

For a bit of background about the pair (though not to give too much away), the young man and woman are best friends from a harbor town.  He's just returned from a right-of-passage voyage.  She helps her father keep watch over the surrounding woods nearby.