Monkeys

Just some monkeys from a trip to the zoo earlier this year, with David Scott Smith.

Hipster

I love the retro 50's and 60's style of artwork, but am always hesitant to do much of it because I feel that there are so many people who do it better and are more knowledgable about what it really is- so often "retro" is applied to things and it's become a very watered-down term. But I've been playing with my brush pen, still trying to figure out what it's best used for, and I doodled this guy. Hope you like him.

December sketchdump

Sorry- I've had a lot going on lately- I have been neglecting my blog far too much, but here are a few random things that have accumulated since my last post.

 

 

Pull up a stool, Matey...

I'm working to flesh out some of my Pirate Cat designs. I posted a sketch of this guy over 2 years ago and thought he had such great personality that he was a natural cantidate to paint. The fun part was figuring out just what type of cat he should be. Here he is, in a shadowy corner of the Keelhauled Kitty Pub, regaling listeners with a tale of his adventures.

 

Gouache on Illustration Board

This reminds me of something Neil Gaiman said: “Anyone who believes what a cat tells him deserves all he gets.”

Expo Ahoy!

I'm going to the Creative Talent Network Animation Expo this weekend, so I threw together this postcard to promote my blog, and specifically my Pirate Cats.

 

Will you be at the Expo?

Dr. Sketchy's- Aubree Servillo

I finally went to a figure drawing session at my local Dr. Sketchy's. Being just a few days before Halloween, there was a Day of the Dead theme, and the model, Aubree Servillo, had appropriately macabre makeup. Figure drawing is such a challenge for me, but here are two drawings that I'm not totally ashamed of.

 



 

Owl perch and wand holder

This isn't the sort of thing that I normally post about, but I have historically shown a few crafty things I've made, so I thought I'd show this.

 



My daughter is a huge Harry Potter fan (ok, my wife and I are too) and last year we went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Florida. She came home with a ton of merchandise. I immediately started thinking about neat ways to display some of it, rather than just shoving it in her closet. It took about a year, but this year for her birthday I finally made her this combination owl perch and wand holder. I wanted it to look like something that might be standard issue in a Hogwarts dormitory, so I stained it red and added a gold medallion and G for Gryffindor. My initial plans called for much more distressing and even fake owl poop to really make it look old and worn. But for time's sake, and making sure it would be something that a little girl would like, I kept the final one nice and clean. Also, the little ramikan was just something I put on there for the picture. I did want to have a worn clay dish or something either filled with birdseed or little mouse bones, for the owl to nibble on, but again, budget and time won out.

Little sister

Lion Tamarin

This is from a trip to the zoo back in the spring. These little guys are so cute!

Electronic Mechanized Felinoid

Here's the robot cat I drew for Space Base 8, the cool webcomic drawn by my friend David Scott Smith. He posts submissions of Rockets, Robots, and Raygun's on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You should send him one.

Jarrod Boutcher Puppets

This is something I did for Jarrod Boutcher, super talented puppet designer/creator who did the Little Brother puppet I blogged about ever so long ago. Jarrod always amazes me with the variety of characters that he creates and I've long wanted to paint some of his characters. You should really check out his blog here .

Monkey Gargoyle

Another rainspout in the shape of an animal.

 

Cat Gargoyle

 



It's a baby! It's a cat! It's a pirate!

What more could you ask for?

Animal sketch dump

Icky Tiki

Aarrrggg!

Yes, another Pirate Cat. And he likes to wrestle.

Great galloping gizmoids!

I drew another robot for SpaceBase8's Robot Wednesdays.

These are more fun to do than I anticipated. You should do one too!

Let's multi-task

Over at SpaceBase8, the nifty webcomic drawn by my friend David Scott Smith, Wednesdays are Robot days. New strips are posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but every Wednesday, Dave posts a drawing of a robot- the great part is that he'll post your drawings too. Here's mine.

Send him one. Send iiiiiit! Or if robots aren't your thing, maybe you can draw a Raygun (he posts drawings of those on Mondays) or a Rocketship (posted on Fridays). You can email your submissions to spacebase8@gmail.com .

Squirelly

Project Omni

A little while ago, I wrote an atypically cryptic blog post about the 1960's and sci-fi stuff like miniaturization and molecules and things. And I showed a picture of a logo I had designed. Remember? Well that logo was just a small part of a short film that my friend Roby Brown at Windup JetPack  was working on. He wanted to create a Preshow Film for the classic Disneyland attraction Adventure Thru Inner Space which operated from 1967 until 1985.  If you were fortunate enough to ride that attraction, you'll remember that while you got a lot of information waiting to board your "atommobile", there was no Preshow Film persay- Roby, like all good creative people saw this absence and saw it as an opportunity to make something. It's an awesome little film and I'm happy he asked me to help. Check it out below.




Makes you want to don mouse ears and hop in line to get miniaturized doesn't it? Or at least to dust off the old chemistry set.

Before you do though, here are just a few of the various versions of the logo I designed for ATOM, the Association To Optimize Miniaturization. I love 60's styling, so it was fun to design the corporate logo for this fictional firm.

Beach Girl

Approaching Adventure

The 1960's: a decade of unprecedented technological advancement. Despite the chaos of the times, American industry kept a hopeful eye on the goal of the moon, and further, on outer space. But what if instead of trying to reach the moon, those industries had turned their efforts inward. Not to the stars, but towards the very molecules that composed our world.

One company did.

Association To Optimize Miniaturization

Coming Soon...

Kids today

Animal sketch dump

Oh yeah.. the reveal

I just realized that I never revealed which of the fifty some paintings for the Chuck Jones Center For Creativity Red Dot auction was mine. It's this one:

I think I said before, this was very fun to do. I do a lot of work for Disney, but love Chuck's work and style, and haven't painted on canvas in a very long time. It's always fun to do something different.

The event was exciting- my first real Gallery showing, and with the added thrill of all of the pieces being up for auction. I didn't care how much it sold for, as long as it sold!

Look- Bids! Whew!

Never did get to meet the winner, but I hope they are enjoying the piece.