A few weeks ago, I promised a few more images..

Back at Halloween I promised a few more images from an Egyptian underworld film pitch that I worked on. The film was never made but I think the these images look pretty cool. Pardon the rough bits. If you ever worked on a development team you know how quickly these paintings need to be made!

Happy Halloween!

As an illustrator known for chubby mice and tea drinking kitties it can be tough to find something to post for Halloween. I did however remember this last minute addition to a delivery on a film project. The film was never made but some of the art looked pretty cool and I will post some of it in the coming weeks. This sketch was created in the minutes before the meeting, and as it goes with these things, they loved it. Hope you do as well.

What It Feels Like To Be A Freelancer. Yup, it can happen to anyone.

Happy Halloween!

CTNEXPO 2010

Its official! I will be in Burbank again this year for the CTNEXPO conference.

I have been asked to be part of a panel.

Animation Designers Who Illustrate and Vice Versa

Are you an illustrator and have been wondering if you should take your skill set into the world of animation design. Or maybe you are an animator or animation artist and have been wondering if you should take your skill set into the world of Children’s Book Illustration or art. What are the similarities and differences that these top artists who work both in animation and book illustration go through to create and stories visually.

Pretty cool. The panel will be moderated by the incredibly talented Carol Kieffer Police. Sitting on the panel are; Brain Ajar, Chris Appelhans, and myself. These folks are amazing so click on their names to check out their work or read about the discussion by clicking on this link;

http://www.CTNANIMATIONEXPO.com/animation-designers-who-illustrate-and-vice-versa/

Pastels, Redwall, and the pre-digital age, part 1.

I am on the middle of a huge project and crazy deadline right now so I can't share any of the current images but I have received a number of emails in the last few months regarding my pastel technique. As chance would have it, I stumbled across a few process photos taken while I was creating my cover for A Redwall Winters Tale by Brian Jacques. This is all pre-digital so please excuse any blurriness!

The image on the left is the finish line. But where did I start?

In a quiet studio...then in many meetings.

Everything that you read about the value of a strong showing at your point of purchase is true. The cover a picture book is incredibly important in the life and

success of the project. It is also one of the most difficult and sometimes frustrating parts of the process. When the time comes for an illustrator to do his or her job, the publishers, designers, authors, and editors have already invested a great deal of time and money in this thing. Naturally, when it comes time to decide what our first impression of the book will look like, everyone, including the folks from marketing, want a seat at the table. There are allot of people trying to steer this ship. To do your job as an illustrator, you need to understand the book so that you can be flexible in your solution, address as many of the needs expressed by all parties involved (wants are optional) AND stay true to the material.

Step 1. Understanding the material.

I am a strong advocate of designing the entire book and starting the finished art before exploring the cover image. Why?

Picture books become these strange little animals that come to life and run around in your studio. They often start to move in directions that you did not anticipate. It is akin to how many authors describe the phenomenon of their characters taking on a life of their own and telling the author where they need to go and what they should say. Unfortunately, in my experience, picture books don't speak English and you need to be attentive to them to see where these creatures need to go. Redwall picture books are not small creatures either,......more like....., pet sitting for your friend that owns an buffalo.

So I read, sketch, design re-read, sketch and begin painting the images keeping a watchful eye on where this thing is heading.

Next week, less pre-amble and more images. Here is a preview.

Less IS in fact MORE. A Portfolio makeover.

Three weeks ago I was lucky enough to find myself at the CTN Expo taking in the forum discussions, catching up with friends, and toting my wares around to the studios. I was not able to show the recent film work because the movies have not yet been made or released but I had enough new stuff that it was time to freshen up my book. Thus began the task of designing a new portfolio. There are plenty of places on the web with great advice about putting together your book, most notably Escape from Illustration Island, and most are well worth the time it takes to read them even for someone that has been showing work for more than twenty years. Much of the advice is standard so I will not go into the details but will share a few observations that I had in this most recent go-round.

First off it was far more difficult than I remembered so your first stop should be to check your calendar. The day that you read about a conference like CTN or Siggraph that you may want to attend, you need to build time into your production schedule. Treat it like a job because your next one may depend upon it. Build in time for going through your images, designing the thing, editing, feedback, more editing, and finally printing and shipping. I used Blurb and was very happy once again with the results though I would recommend spending the extra money for the paper upgrade.

OK, so you have picked some recent images of work that you like. These are pieces that you enjoyed making and show the type work that you would like to get more of. I put together a contact sheet like this:

The portfolio that preceded this version, and there have been many, looked wonderful but as a friend of mine pointed out it was a bit of an embarrassment of riches. It was well received but clocked in at a hefty 34 pages. Even people that loved my work were stuffed by page 20.

I was a prime candidate for a radical intervention on Portfolios Biggest Losers. If you have a copy, I am sure that it looks very nice on your coffee table but my goal this time around was to make something a bit more user friendly. How? Simple. Edit until it hurts. I am good at critiquing, in fact I used to get paid to crit and edit while teaching at RISD but when it comes to your own book, we all need a fresh eye. So I sent it off to my friend Buck Lewis. I received something like this back.

Ouch! Thought this guy was my friend?-well he is. Buck was able to cut through the redundancy and the fluff and get me to show a range of work that highlighted my strengths in character design and visual development. Trust the process and make the cuts. You want to treat your art director, recruiter, or production designer to a nice cappuccino and fresh croissant not the open buffet at the Radisson. Don't get stuck in the trap of thinking that "if they only saw this piece then they would realize I am perfect for their project". You want to show them potential not every single decent piece that you have created in the past year. Give them a taste, let your work shine, save some trees, and get a gig. Trust me-it works. I am lean after shedding over 20 pages of portfolio fat and my friends, family and most importantly, my clients are amazed!

Bella and Stella Come Home, more character development.

and a detail from the interior of the book...

Anika Denise, the author of Bella & Stella Come Home, and my wife, has also posted a more detailed account of Bella's early stages on her blog, http://anikadenise.blogspot.com/,

Check it out!

Face Book Page

Brown bagging it....

Sketch and finish from The Great Redwall Feast.

What I have for breakfast, my itunes shuffle, my process, and lots of sketches and art!

I had the pleasure of being interviewd by Jules at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. If you are not familiar with her blog you should be. Jules has archived interviews with some of the most amazing authors and illustrators working in the children's book industry. How about knowing more about Mo Willems, Jane Yolen, Ed Young, Harry Bliss, Giselle Potter, or Dave McKlean? 

 

The interviews are just long enough that you get a real sense of the artists but not so long that you feel like you are reading every entry on their face book page. The insights shared through a very thoughtful q/a are enlightening and often hilarious. 

The posts are choc full of nicely sized images in a very clean, well organized format.  So if you want to know more about the people that created the books that you love, or discover a new favorite, a visit to her blog is time well spent. http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/