Happy Halloween!

I think I want to color my hair blue next year instead of pink - it's just so awesome. :) The pink in my hair is so faded at this point in any case, you can't really see the streaks at all in this photo. Blue would really stand out, I think. I do wonder though what the blue with my blonde looks like when it's fading. Does it turn purple?

I was lame and didn't do any make-up effects for the office dress-up, just did another variation on that fun costume standby of mine, the witch. Maybe I will do something different (hmm...the cowardly lioness?) for next year's party, wherever that is.

Haunted Pet Parade WIP

Pet Cemetery was one of the creepiest, chilling, horrific, freaky...well, I can go on and on with the adjectives; but if you've read it, you may understand what I mean. Particularly if you had any family pets that you've lost in the past and then read the book all in one sitting on Christmas night. At least, that's the main reason why that story disturbed me and later gave me a few nightmares.

Could only read it once, silly me.

In any case, what with it being just about Halloween now, and then me dreaming lately about some former beloved pets of mine...I decided to paint a little personal project I'm calling my "Haunted Pet Parade". Yup, these were my little pet friends from way back...to not too long ago. A few of them had fairly long and happy lives before they died peacefully. Others were only around for far too short a time before they died tragically - lingering illness, euthanized, eaten, hit by car, shot by dad, or beaten to death by their next owner. :(

I miss them all.

So. This is the beginning of a rough sketch to help me figure out the composition, layout and so on. It was time to post some more of "my work in progress". Nope, not all of the characters have as of yet been included. Scary, isn't it.

Strategy

Tonight's quick sketch and color considerations (just starting) with one of the characters I've been playing around with in various scenes. Figure I'll do some more doodling around before moving on from this character. I'll post if I like 'em. :)

Got to see Lemony Snicket on Friday up at the Barnes and Noble in Frisco, but missed out on getting an autographed book, darn it. Fun hearing him as the musician from the Gothic Archies, too. I'm seriously curious to see what he comes up with next after his Series of Unfortunate Events now that it's over with Book Thirteen.

Went to a fun Halloween party on Saturday, in my witch's costume of course! Besides, it was the best match for my pink hair. ha! Helped drink a few of the Pumpkin Ale brews that we brought for the hosts. Mmmmm, tasty. Got to see some more people I hadn't seen in a long while from DNA and met some new folks, too. Creative people doing all sorts of things in all kinds of places.

Hear Me Roar...er, Meow?

Until Sarah posted that comment about a Dorothy costume, I hadn't actually considered any of the other characters from Oz as a costume possibility. I've just always fallen back on the Wicked Witch cause I've had to play that part for so many random Halloweens. Which means I have at least a nice broom to start with. ha.

In any case, I could always go as the Cowardly Lioness. :) I'll have to ask Leslie at work (our plush/sewing department head) how difficult it would be to make the plush legs and tail based on my above concept sketch. For next year. Meow.

What to Wear...

Trying to figure out a quick costume to wear to both a weekend party and then to work on Halloween a few days later.... Thinking about recycling a bit of what I already have and make it something new with some different accessories. Hmm....maybe add a nice large crooked nose. Would match the hat.

Exploration

Some head sketches for a couple of new characters I'm thinking about. Still dabbling with my Dahlia, but I'm not ready to post progress. Have some other stuff going on, too; might post a bit of that this week sometime.

Ordered the new Ryan Church DVD from Gnomon on Concept Art Workflow (with Painter) this morning. It's just been released. This particular tutorial seems most applicable to the kind of Painter techniques I'm interested in learning, although the subject matter...maybe not. :)

In the mail today I finally got the Don Hertzfeldt Animation Shorts dvd that I pre-ordered about, oh..hmm, a year ago seems like. It's definitely been awhile. It's nice to finally have it for my animation dvd library. I will admit Billy's Balloon is still my favorite.

I'm simply wicked that way I guess.

Fooling Around...with Color

I have a general idea of where I want to go with the coloring of my Dahlia sketch, so I'm just throwing that down with my mouse at the moment to block in the areas. Planning on doing two color/style interpretations of this one: one "painterly" with PS and Painter (need the practice) and using my wacom; the other via Illustrator and vector shapes. I'll finish this up over the weekend. Have plans for Friday - gotta try some of those Octoberfest beers. ;)

Now that I've started checking out the various Halloween displays set up at different retailers, I have to admit it's kind of cool to see and recognize product that I've worked on or developed initial concepts for (a couple of years ago, imagine that) in stores at last.

Those Pretty Blue Eyes

I went to see The Black Dahlia the other night with a friend. Loved the movie poster - got my attention the first time I saw that in the trailer, too; lovely slow red drip on white. Pretty good movie - I especially appreciated the dialogue style and how de Palma really kept a film noir feel with his film direction. If you're a fan of those old black and white films then you'll notice it, too. A bit odd at the end though. It felt like every loose bit in the story had to suddenly get tied up neatly which made it all slightly confusing. This would be the part if you were watching the DVD version where you'd go, "What just happened?", and then rewind for a second watch and listen. :)

My take on the Elizabeth "Black Dahlia" Short character as played by Mia Kirshner.
Time tonight: sketching about 45 minutes....Alright, yes, I was watching tv, too.
I'll color it in tomorrow night.

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Met the art director (at last) on Saturday along with the other concept artists on the team for the CG feature pitch. Nice group. Mostly students, but not all. The art director, Johan, has some excellent animation experiences...based on the resume I found posted online after I did a wee bit of research. :) He did talk a little bit about some of his prior projects and employers (Disney, Pixar, etc.). Turns out he'll be teaching for a while at AI, along with working on some other outside projects. Funny, I'd just talked earlier with one of my artist friends about how I wouldn't mind taking an evening class now and then...and this guy while we're working on the project wants to teach us, critique our work, and help us gain some practical experience to finally get our foot in the animation industry as visual development artists.

That works for me.