Winter Girl

This was an afternoon sketch.  No deep meaning, just playing with sketches and this came out.  I sketched her from a photo on "Deviant Art" great source for references.  I like the way the hair came out....
Stay warm...

Happy Snowmen

Here is the color version for tomorrow...wish me luck with the little people .....

Art Parent Day...hopefully...

Getting ready for Art Parent day with the 2nd graders.  Hoping to squeeze an hour in before the Christmas break.  Snowmen should be fun and easy to work with, no perspective, or complex shapes,  yet a lot of facial expressions.  We did robots in the past with the same ideas of simple forms and plenty of freedom to create what you want. Hope this works well...

Old Heros

Just playing with the idea of Batman and others in their 80's and 90's...don't know why, just thought it would be good fuel for sketching....

Santa is coming!

The kids were getting into the Christmas mood, wearing their Santa hats around the house.

Oscar the Puppet

Natalie got a new puppet for "Stop Motion Animation" today.  She is very excited to see if the new puppet will talk with Noddy, the visiting Elf on the shelf as Christmas gets near. I think they will get along just fine. Here was a bedtime sketch we did together....(well the kids were to slap happy to do much sketching so  it was mostly me...)
The puppet named "Oscar"

The bed time sketch....

Furby

Sketching Furby with my daughter today....funny little quick sketch.  Trying to show fur textures and shading techniques. using the side of the pencil with line work combinations.  Still trying to figure out how to introduce shading and light to kids.  Looking at proportions, shading and line-work and not sure how to bring the kids along on this.  Back in the class room in December or January and still need to pull together some quick handouts and examples .....more to come

Camping Indoors

kids and TV

Watching TV on a Sunday morning...

Drawing live models

Went to the Plymouth Arts Council open drawing session, live models.

http://www.plymoutharts.com/

"Drawn to the night" monthly live drawing session....These are open sessions they are just starting. 

They had drinks and snacks and even live music.  Nice setting, form 7:00 to 9:00 ...I hope to be at the next one in January!

Kids Love Animation Class

We have been taking a really wonderful animation class at our local Arts Council!
The teacher is Chase Woolner  look him up!
His Class..click here













The kids love the class, they make there own "stop-motion" animation with puppets they make from clay, wire, batting and epoxy.  They had a great time creating characters and bringing them to life. Below are my notes from his class on construction.....fun to sketch....

More on this to follow .... he has a new class starting this weekend....

Late night sketching ....worried little robot rolling in the dark....

Good time last night even with the rain!  Here is what the witches did to the house...
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

my witch in the door

Here is a re-color of the "Witch in the Door" I had to change the proportions after measuring the window. Now I need to plot, cut and mount these  to have them ready for Halloween. I am planning a lighting element to add for better effect at night! This should be cool!

Color me' witches...

Here is the first shot at color and using Manga 5EX software.  This will be plotted out at about 40" wide by 60" tall ....mounted on foam core and placed in my front window ....even thinking about lighting on the bottom for a little effects glow!  I do love Halloween!

Witches in the window

Getting ready for Halloween!  These ladies will be gathered at my front window, plotted out at full size to greet the kids....how scary ...color to follow in the next few days...time for bed now.

Door Witch

Working on a poster for the front door this Halloween....sometimes I even backlight these...My front door has a large picture window, so I plot these out at work and put them up on the big night...here is the first draft ....we will see what changes.  Also just got Manga Studio 5EX this is the first color piece from that program....

The trick

A doodle from work, while my computer was crunching an animation...

Congress

Just so frustrated with the recent shut down.  Trying not to start a fight, not that anyone reads this posting anyway...but I definitely have my opinions on who is to blame for this shutdown.  But I guess that's the problem ...everyone has picked sides and there can be no compromise....

40 seconds studies

A few more 40 second quick studies ...thanks for the feedback on your tools and processes.

My little girl rollerblading in the house

Bedtime Comic

This one was last night, Ethan said we should start with a submarine and go from there....
The Hammer Head monster turns out to be less of a threat than we first thought.

bedtime 2

Another little half hour bedtime Comic with the kids. We Saw "Despicable Me 2" so we all have Minions on the brain!

Page 10, Cosmo's Apples

The Final Page!

Thanks for reading my early attempt at story telling.  I hope you enjoyed it.

Originally I had the troll stand up greet the children.  In this version he looked more like a monster than a magical creature the kids could appreciate.  So I reshuffled the panels again and created a seated Troll instead. I brought back the idea of Cosmo's Apples as a closure with Lady Ellis and tried to imply that the apples were a result of Cosmo's friendship with the Troll and the Trolls connection with nature.

    

Nasty Little Rabbit!

Practice in inks and trying to put more story into a piece.  Looking at "the Bean" and Travis Hansen .
I really like his craftsmanship and themes in his work, very playful and great illustrations.
In this piece both dragon and little boy are nervous about the dangers that are hidden in the woods...not that they would have much to worry about from the nasty little rabbit....need to work on black placement...didn't get the dragon's face to pop enough....used a custom brush on the leaves and some to the dragon scales.

One more before bed.

 Struggling with a duck character I have been working on. The kids have voted and given me their favorite.

Minion fish

 Four panels at bedtime with the kids, instead of a bedtime story.   Very fun, and good practice!  They chose the topic and we all worked together.

Page 9, Cosmo's Apples

Please come back next Monday for the final page of Cosmo's Apples!
And the Troll was near beside you the whole time.
After looking at the whole story I needed to add this page to tell Lady Ellis's story from the Troll' point of view. I tried to wrap up the story in the last two pages and which may be rushed.  We see how the troll's story was a misunderstanding, trying to reinforce the idea of patience and understanding for children. The thumbnails come easier with a clearer idea of what I want the panels to say.  I am still not writing a script at this point and I did not have dialog either...Next time I will  take the story to this level and add dialog before and final inking, digital or not.  Sounds obvious, but what is good as a principle is not always as easy in practice.

 

Bad Kitty

He is always in the shadows ready to pounce just when all seems to be going well.  He enjoys the attack, the chase and the end, the spoiler, the fly in your milk.  I don't have a name for him yet,  but he will be the fear in my hero's eyes and the reason for the chase.  Still to come are the back stories and a few more characters....

Gruff Character Study

Worked on this character last night, these are more like the original character sketches done with the kids. I am wondering if this guy looks to old and grumpy...instead of more puppy and floppy as last night...I still need to put more of a back story to this guy.  Gruff is a good guy who will be the helpful muscle for my little lost mice in the story.  I need him to be kind but also a tougher side when challenged...more to come

Struggling

Struggling tonight with this character... Tried  to simplify shapes but not getting what I want, looking for insecure little puppy.

inks for bugze

the kids enjoyed feeding little Bugze

Page 8. Cosmo's Apples

Please come back next Monday for page 9!
The kids decide they have been watching Cosmo long enough, time to find out what he knows about the forest Troll....

Originally the confrontation was the primary focus of the page.  Looking at the story in sequence I decided to again bring more a focus on what the kids were thinking.  So I added more panels with the kids perspective. I have to find a good balance between the thumbnails and script.  I really like to put the visuals together first, sketching key shots, but need to refine a script and dialog in tandem. This is something I really need to work on.