ArenaGirl Voting Begins!

Yes! Voting has started for your favorite fist-a-cuffs card girl!

So head on over to the Fist-a-Cuffs blog and cast a vote for your favorite flaming hula-hoop, belly dancing chica this side of the blog-o-sphere!

Note, you have to have a complete blogger account to vote!

One more!

One more ghoulish bit before the 31st! This time after John Singer Sargent's Lord Ribblesdale. I know my work doesnt show much of it, but tons of history's greatest painters have always been an influence to me. The most considerable being; Michelangelo of course, Caravaggio, I loved Pontormo's figure studies, Rubens, Boucher, Ingres,Watteau, for their draftsmanship (animators much check out their drawings!), Delacroix ( over his contemporary David, although I shouldn't have to pit them against each other!), Velazquez (Las Meninas!), Sargent's exhibition here in Seattle, when I was a student,blew me away, Matisse, Picasso for his bravery, versatility, & creativity. So so many more that escape me right now.

An ex co-worker and I liked to go back and forth between who was a better draftsman, Rubens or Sargent. Hey man! Sargents amazing, but Rubens was a beast!

On a semi-related note, I've really enjoyed looking at artists' posting step-by-step processes lately. Always fascinating stuff. My favorites are always when the intial sketches are flurries of lines, ideas, energy, mistakes ; I dig the rough stuff.
I usually am pretty haphazard, and do a lot of wandering off. But on a focused day, this is what it comes down to. Nothin special really, although I have to say, I often spend for-ever noodling with colors. Thats the hardest part .**Also, my first meeting with Stephen Gregory for the tutorship is Nov 5th!

And check it out! ABC News did a feature on THE Sartorialist!

Braaaaains

A bit o lunchtime summoning to prepare for Hallows Eve!

Pacquiao

I've been wanting to do a drawing of Manny Pacquiao for a while. I figured nows a good a time as any considering his win over Barerra last week!

Barbarella

Again with the ladies?! Yes I'm afraid so. This week, Barbarella, for this weeks Sketchwich. The topic is futuristic.Her wingman.

Still keeping busy w/ work, life, waiting for the tutorship, & trying to squeeze in some drawing time whenever I can! I get a little antsy when I don't have any personal projects, art or otherwise, going on outside of work, and it just feels a little weird for me to go to sleep early.

And on a bit of a random note, I just realized I have 353 art blogs currently bookmarked/subscribed to!! Jeeze!! They range from 3D animators to 2D illustrators, students to pros to superstars, to people whose art I'm not even sure I like so much but I like what they have to say about things.

I wonder if looking at so much art is doing more good or bad. What do you mean bad, how could that be bad? Well I mean bad as in, the inevitable, perpetual comparison of my work to theirs. Which, at times for me, breeds just as much discouragment as much as it does inspiration. There is just SO MUCH GOOD stuff out there, it can get overwhelming! But I guess that's why an artist's best work is always his/her most personal. Picasso always had his own way of doing things, AND he had the balls to put his whole life out on display!

Reminds me of something that Maurice Noble said, "Everything has been done before, you just have to do it your own way."

Whoa! Sorry to get to introspective on this blog! Thats a rarity!

Some news on the animation front!

Great news in fact! I recently was picked to be a part of a private animation tutoring program with Pixar animator, Stephen Gregory! It goes without saying that I'm stoked to be a part of it! For this session he could only afford time for like 5 students (tutees?) so I feel pretty fortunate, like I won a golden ticket or something. I dont know all the specific details about the program so far, I do that it is going to run a few months, we meet with him every week one on one, and everyones assignments are based on their skill level, and what specifically they want to accomplish. Which are two sexy bullet points for me. Oh and Cheryl's a lil happier that I dont have to spend so much money this semester for AM.

Plus, hell, I've never heard of anything like this go on, so he's kind of trailblazing here, and its exciting to be on board! I dont really know what to expect, which is always dangerous fun. That said, I'll definitely be posting by progress here just in case people are thinkin about taking it sometime. It'd be nice to know what you're getting into no?

Find out more info about the program here!
The Spline Doctors

Pereferral Vision Girls

Cheryl and I saw Stardust the other night and we loved it! Heres a drawing of Michelle Pfeiffer's character, Lamia. My favorite character in the movie.And this one I did for Sam Hiti's fist-a-cuffs site. I think I might've submitted a little late, but it was fun to do anyway. I already forgot what I decided to name her, it was something hot slash awesome like Hoopnotical or Hoopnotic. Shes based on someone I saw perform at E3 one year.
I just realized that her and Lamia are looking at the same thing, I dont know why that happened. Something about the glancing-to-the-side expression thats really appealing to me. Gotta stop with that, all my drawings are looking the same!

AM- Class 2 Progress Reel

Well here it is, another class, another progress reel! Hope you like!

Trike

AM Class 2- Last Q n A

Tonight was our last Q & A with Greg Kyle, I should keep in touch cause I'll miss him. For any AM students going into Class 2, try to work the system and get Mr. Kyle. I really appreciated his candor and his commitment to share everything he knows about animation w/ our class, plus he's freakin funny. To be frank, this quater got a little bit frustrating at times, because I continued to use 3D Max, and there was no shortage of Maya-specific questions during Q & A (understandably). But he never was frustrated, and was always open and willing to share his experiences and thoughts about the industry. And times would still be around w/ us well over the 8-9 Q&A schedule. Once I remember Q & A went a little past 10:30 man!
I also made a few more new friends this class which I'm thankful for. Still I wish I had more time to drop by other students' workspaces, as I did in Class 1. Next class I'll really make an effort to do so. That and I wish I wasnt so lazy, otherwise I'd share things Greg shared with us here on this blog regularly. Hmm. Maybe next class I 'll even have the courage to jump into Maya!

Oh and , I'll upload my class 2 progress reel here soon! Going through it, I felt like I was doing the best I could do, but lookin back at the work, I feel like I could've pushed a little more. Dont you hate that feeling?

Lunchtime tomfoolery.

happy bday cheryl!

Cheryl's bday was this past weekend and it was a blast! A group of us went camping at the San Juan Islands. We also "fishing", petted camels, went whale watching, went wine tasting, and we were( more or less) attacked by a fox! Which was scary because we even brought the dogs! Well Cheryl was real delighted it all worked out so well, so I was happy. I'll upload some pictures later!This is what I gave Cheryl, framed. I just wanted to do something that would make her happy whenever she glanced at it. She loves koi fish, and is always pushing me to do more art for the house. "Arent you an artist, why arent you doing art for our walls?!" My response is always that my stuff isnt good enough and it isnt. Not that this is. But I had big ambitions to actually give it a more painterly look, but I was rushed for time. Plus I was reminded that I can't paint to save my life, and I just went with what I knew. I wanted it to say something positive but not as plain as "happy." So I thesaurus-dot-commed "happy" and settled on bliss. Could've been worse, could've settled on "chipper."

Popozao!

A sketch to end the week and break in a new brush. I actually got to draw all week at work which was freakin awesome! I feel really rusty man, I was drawing all the time doing traditional anim. at my very first gig, after that I got into ArenaNet, and stopped drawing seriously for like 3 years because I was so deep into learning 3D! So I got alot of catching up to do. Having this blog helps. I feel like it'll feel negelected if I dont feed her something, anything!, for a long period of time.

So far, at Gas Powered, its been a good balance of animating in 3D and doing concepts here and there. I imagined before that it'd be easy constantly going back n forth between the two on the fly, but its actually pretty hard for me to get into the back into the groove of one or the other. Its challenging fun. On another note, I was lookin thru the Meet the Robinsons art book again, and Joe Moshiers designs are...just delicious. Deliciousness.

So the days nowadays pretty much go; leave the house at 9:00, get home from work, spend time w/ Cheryl and the pups, if I'm not too lazy hit the gym, and finally work on Animation Mentor stuff until 3-ish. So I've been pretty tired the past weeks. Which means more coffee in the mornings, which mean harder caffeine crashes in the evening, or whenever I'm not drinking coffee.

And so bumbershoot this weekend!! Rod Y Gab, its gonna be off the chain! And if you havent yet check out MIA's new album Kala. Its freaking sick.

AM Assignment 3- Blocking

Pulling Assignment- Polish Pass

Blocking for the last assignment of this class! Got some beef with how this is coming out? Please lemme know!

**After a couple of iterations I've uploaded a version of this one in polish phase! Yeah boy!

AM Assignment 2- Polish Pass

Another pass on this one after Greg Kyle's comments last night! I'm just gonna be polishing this the rest of the week and then its on to the next one!
So here are some plans and rough keys thumbs for the next one!

Ukelele girl

Done today for a good friend of mine to christen his new apartment!!

AM, Cadaver Parts, and Comic-Con Swag!

AM- Assignment 2 (Spline Pass)

Making more progress on the second assignment in Class 2! I've been super tired all week. Bring on the weekend!!And heres a lunchtime sketch for my co-worker and friend, Paul. Who had knee surgery today and apparently might score some cadaver replacements for his leg! Recover well soon buddy!

So again I didnt get to make it down to Comic-Con this year. But I did have a few books that I had a friend, Chris, so graciously pick up for me this year!

Oogeley Boogeley, Pascal Campion.
Filled w/ Pascal's awesome illustrations that all seem to nail great design, color, composition, and tell a story in one panel. I recently got into his work, dug in the archives, and found that he was doing at least one of these a day!

The Art of Deanna Marsigliese.
Killer animation artist from Sheridan. Filled with great character designs. Shes gonna be doing big things in the future. She also did an awesome little doodle inside.

She also left her number somewhere below, but to respect her privacy I wont post it here. =)
And my crown jewel of the con, Belle du Jour, Bill Presing.
This book is stunning. From the presentation to the packaging. The content from finished illustrations, to rough sketches and watercolour tests. And to top it all off, Chris managed to snag a limited edition w/ an original art piece attached to the inside cover. I was a little apprehensive because it costs so much more, but when I cracked it open and took a look at the original piece (below, bee suit-girl.), I felt vindicated. Look at that man!!! That piece is freaking stunning. The dude has some real skills.
One of the pages from Belle Du Jour.My original art piece from Bill Presing.

So lastly, I wanna say thanks to my friend, Chris Turnham , for picking these up for me. And a big congrats to Chris for scoring a new position as a designer at Laika animation studios! Thats freaking rad man Good luck.

Sarts dude

Saw this
guy on
the Sartorialist
and couldn't
not draw
him.
How does
he even
tie his
shoes
you ask?
Easy, he
wears
slip-ons.

AM Class2-Assignment 2

Animation Mentor-Class2 Assignment 2 (Blocking Pass)

This weeks lesson is on locomotion! Heres my keys/breakdowns pass for this week!
**Edit: Made changes n tweaks based on Greg's feedback!

Biking!

For fun.

This really is amazing to see:
Its Glen Keane quickly animating a scene, straight ahead, for a lecture at Cal Arts. One drawing at a time, this character really does begin to come alive in front of you. He really does believe it, and you can be startled (along with the class) when he rolls the drawings and the guy actually comes alive. Its really quite something, and I dont think any other artform can give you the same feeling. And for those of you that know me, know that Glen's work was and is a big reason why I decided to pursue animation in art school.

Oh and look who it is! Just me chillin with my Pixar peeps, hangin out online, shootin the poop, drinkin beers.

In reality its from a Ratatouille q & a session ( with Robert Russ and Doug Dooley) Animation Mentor held tonight. I was so excited I can barely remember the answers to the questions I had, as a matter of fact I can barely remember the questions I had.

I did remember to ask what some of the biggest lessons they learned on the project. Both of them mentioned specifically they learned more about posing than ever before. Especially since Pixar brought on a lot of newer traditional animators they dubbed the French Connection. Bolhem Bouchiba, Kristophe Vergne, Theirry Martin among others. I did recognize these names from the Tarzan animation team, who was animated at the France studio. (Off the record: I'm a huge fan of Bolhem, dude, he animated Jumba in Lilo and Stitch. Who was RAD! ) Anyway, these guys came in and taught them so much about graphic solid posing, strengthening their work.

I cut out early to walk the dogs and spend time with Cheryl, but at least I got a question in and walked away with some sage advice. And that is:
In this industry, if you're not French, dont bother.

Kidding!

Or am I?

Assignment 1- Polish Pass!

AnimationMentor-Class 2 Assignment 1 (Polish Pass)

Tryin to put this one to bed ! Until tommorow morning when I see something to fix. I swear you could tweak some of these scenes up until the very last minute. Theres always something.

Lion!..

....Tiger and Bear not so much! Lately I've been only drawing what I'm comforable with. I've always been intimidated by doing animals, so In the spirit of pushing myself, heres an attempt at a lion! Uh sorta. I need to hit up the zoo more!

Another.
Gah. Apologies for the Lion Kingy-ness of this one, I was just trying for some appealing shapes. Kind of turned out looking like bad clip art.

If you wanna see drawings from someone who really knows what they're doing, check out these sketches by Andreas Deja from Victor Ens' blog! Thanks for sharing these Victor!

On another Disney note, I found this relatively unknown, but fantastic, Disney Animation short linked from another blog, CartoonColin:
"One By One" (2004), a short that was apparently created for the never completed Fantasia 2006, directed by Pixote Hunt and plopped on the Lion King II DVD:


I loved Fantasia 2000, well done short films animated to music make for an amazing experience. It doesnt get an better than Rhapsody in Blue and the Firebird Suite was sweet I dont care what you say Katy. Watching this is just as awesome and I wish I could see it on the big screen!

Robinson Crusoe & the 50 foot woman.

For this weeks Sketchwich.For the next weeks Unleaded Artists.

ARRR!

My submissions for this week's Sketchwich!

Pirette.Captain Morgan and Jose Cuervo. Bosom Buddies.
Quickie sketch done at work.
Not very pirate-related. Just another lunchtime quickie sketch.
Maybe shes doin a pirate jig! yo ho yo ho!
For this weeks Chades Challenge, the theme was Flamboyant Armadillo.

Class 2- First Assignment!

Back at Animation Mentor!
One of the choices for our first assignment was to have "Ballie"(Ball character with two legs) kick a ball. Kicking a ball was considered a one star difficulty, while another choice, turning around 180 degrees, was a two star. Really? Turning around? I didnt want to seem like I opted for the easier one , still, I thought'd be fun to have him kick a ball.
My idea was just to have Ballie ready himself to kick what he thinks is a rubber kickball. But shh get this.... What he doesnt know, is that its actually a bowling ball! hahaha! Take that Ballie! To the bank Ballie!
Anyways here is some of my ref footage. Hopefully this doesnt come out assy.
Animation Mentor-Class2 Assignment 1 (Reference Footage)

back in action

I'm back from from the Philippines, again! I'm gonna just start taking two week vacations every month.

Check out this super rad sculpture I scored! Not quite as cool as barrel man, but a little bit cooler than phallic ashtray.

I know right?!

Tonight is supposed to be my first night back in Animation Mentor, but for some reason I cant seem to log in. And considering the price tag every one of these sessions is precious. I dont even know who my mentor is yet. If this goes on any longer, I better get like, Brad Bird or something. Or anyone French. Like a Gobelins student or something, I'd settle for that.

**Update** Finally got to log in and my new mentor is Greg Kyle! Sweet.

Heres a quickie done for the Unleaded Artists site, a blog started by some Gas Powered Games artists. It just started up so theres not much yet, but heres my meager, unfunny contribution!
The theme was "The unathletic, promiscuous priest who was genetically engineered".

My brain cant process that many words in one sentence. So heres my unathletic priest.

Bad Robot.

One more theme drawing for sketchwich, World Killer.
Now! I'm off to the Philippines! See you later!

I'm Sorry.

My "Elderly Mermaids" entry for the Chades Challenge. New entries are 'sposed to be up friday, but I'll be in the Philippines by then, again!

Apologies if this is in poor taste. I'm just jealous, is all. Insanely jealous.

Check more awesome sketches here!

rat city roller grrrrl.

My base sketch for the sketchwich theme this week. I'm not sure I understand the theme, but here mine is anyway. I'll color this one soon!

**Edit: heres the color:**
So new gig is a blast so far, I'm animating the cartooniest stuff I've ever done, by a longshot. I'm constantly having to push myself out of my "comfort zone" since the animation style is so completely different than what I've been used to. I love it though, it's the kind of crazy stuff I've always wanted to do, and before I know it, the day's over. The team is right now is pretty small, and most of us are going to be doing multiple tasks. It really kind of reminds me of my first gig where we were smaller and all of the artists were doing a little bit of everything; storyboards, designs, and animation included.
I'm also a little apprehensive about drawing on the job again, its been a long while. Like I feel like everyday is going to be one of those days where you feel like you cant draw a damn thing. And you look over, and see someone like Raf doin some crazy stuff and you feel even worse and you dont wanna pin it up on the wall. I dunno, I'm up for the challenge though I'll just have to get over that initial hump! BRING IT ON, uh...... Art! ..thats, not crappy!

BTW, why is my site straight purple on everyones screen except mine.

**Edit- Check it! My first cintiq drawing ever! Her name is Cintiqua.
Turns out Cintiqs dont make my drawings any more awesomer. What a rip off, eh? **

Goodbye ArenaNet

So yesterday was my last official day at ArenaNet. Still kind of broken up about it because I'll miss everyone. But I've accepted a position as a Sr. Animator/character designer at Gas Powered Games (in Redmond) on a new project that is unlike anything they've done before, and is super cartoony, which is right up my alley. I've been wanting to push my career into a more of a hybrid 2d/3d position and it'll also serve as a radical change from the work I've done on Guild Wars, style wise. I start monday!

My awesome awesome co-workers held a chamapagne/wine toast last friday, an all-company ice cream social in the animator room after work yesterday( which I hope to get pictures of) ,and a final send off party last night at my place. I got an awesome goodbye card/drawjam and Jason Juan gave me some great framed life drawings as a parting gift!

But lets talk about our feelings. I'll always be thankful to ANet for takin a chance on me when I had no 3D experience (which is one of the most stressful things to deal with, how am I supposed to get experience if everyone wants experience yadda yadda.) and trusting me to take on the player characters, takin me to E3 twice and paying for my breakfast, Lisa getting our lunch everyday, the list goes on and on. I've made a lot of good friends who I've loved hanging out with in and outside work, and have been completely humbled by freakishly talented artists working here.

Okay so here are some pics, random and from my last day.

I just realized Katy is not in any of these! Lame!

Yeah son.

With Venturini. This picture makes no sense.
With Huge and Hern.
Goodbye desk.Passing my animation secrets onto LL.

One last breakdancing session by request.

the ANet animation team.