Got Legs?

I was reading a book the other day that had some six-legged Snowcats. I wonder if the author was trying to do a kind of homage to the Princess of Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I also remembered a somewhat similar book cover by Michael Whelan that had a multi-legged lion-like creature along with the usual scantily dressed Martian female. Anyways, I didn't like the Snowcat that was on this particular book cover, "Rebel Ice"...it wasn't as well done as the humans. So I decided to do my own concepts. Surprise!

I figure part of why I didn't like the artist's cat was that the body appeared to be too short to allow much freedom of movement of the extra pair of legs. Also, while the artist did use a snow leopard as a reference for the cat which fit the climate (mostly) that they were in, for the type of action required for the animals in the story (they carried riders and equipment on occasion), there did not appear to be enough size or strength to enable the cats in the illustration to do what they needed to do. Not that there ever was an explanation for why the critter needed six legs in the first place...it never used them for carrying stuff or grasping. I know, I'm fussing. But these questions did inspire me to do my own studies. :)

For my cat sketch, I decided to bulk up the shoulders for added stamina and strength; lengthen the torso to allow for larger lung capacity and space for extra vertebrae on the spine for a second set of shoulder bones and legs, while still leaving room for intestines and other viscera. Fun!

Later, while wandering around on the web, I happened to discover a rather interesting blog - "The Blackwing Diaries" by a story artist named Jenny Lerew. My thanks to the Seward Street blog for finding it and passing it on to the rest of us. :)

And for the final leg of my evening chat, my dear brother-n-law, Jim. He was injured in a driving accident last weekend when an oncoming driver veered into his lane and slammed into him and his truck. Lots of ouch to all. Surgery is definitely required, and recovery will take some time. I wish him the best! Hang in there, dude!

In the meantime, after the surgery I do look forward to having him as my new stationary subject for character studies while he's on the road to recovery. ;)

JK!!

Happy Chinese New Year!

The factories we work with in China are closed for the next week in order to celebrate the Chinese New Year. At work on Friday, we had a nice company lunch brought in from a local Korean restaurant which serves more authentic Chinese food (not the usual fried rice) to honor our Chinese co-workers. This year will be the Year of the Dog. According to the Chinese Zodiac, I was born in the Year of the Snake.

Not that I ever feel reptilian (ha), but Zodiacs are always fun to think about. The above picture is of me when I was only 5 weeks old. I was looking through some old photos today for a photo of a baby reference and I knew that I had a couple of me around somewheres. There's an art student that I occasionally mentor who is doing an illustration of a baby and I wanted a reference or two to help explain why there were some problems with the baby's pose.

This weekend has been an exercise in Halloween thinking and a bit of artwork. We have a meeting on Monday to discuss the Halloween 2007 styleguide with the Product Line manager, so I've been working on my bit of the guide as well as squeezing in some of my own stuff and wrapping up some Easter and Valentine artwork. For some reason, it doesn't feel like I had a weekend. I had to miss the ABOSG meeting on Saturday which was something I look forward to each month. It's a chance to hear a little bit about what's going on in the Dallas Animation Community. I'll have to go to the next one for sure.

All that thinking about Halloween reminded me of one of my favorite illustrators, Robin Jacques. He illustrated many of my favorite fairy tales and scary stories for kids. He also created artwork for a few adventure stories. His line work is very distinctive and something I've always recognized and appreciated.

Speaking of reptiles, after reading a new book this weekend in the Dragon Delasangre series, I did a quick sketch during the hour it took to feed my two snakes today, Ghost (rat snake) and Copper (corn snake). They're both about 16 years old, and have lived quite a bit longer than I figured. I guess I'm doing something right. At least, unlike the dragons, my snakes don't rip and tear up their prey...although they do choke the mice and swallow them whole. I'm glad they only eat once a month or so.

Why the Animation Industry...

A friend emailed me the other day, "Your work is too good not to end up on screen for some studio..." Believe me, I know it's not because he saw the cat animation I did when I was in school. Ha!

It's sweet to hear when someone appreciates my art, but seeing my stuff on screen is actually not why I want to work in the animation industry (it would be a bonus though, heh). It's really because of all the creative jobs I've either researched, done professionally or spoken with other artists about...well, it happens to be the industry that satisfies all of my creative goals:

- I am/may be involved in developing the story (storyboards, layout, character development, etc.)
- I would be able to work on projects that are kid friendly, and not solely for adults
- I get to work with a team or teams of artists
- I am not required to travel periodically to China
- I do not need to dress up in costume for sales shows
- I can use my artistic skills to illustrate characters, environments and props
- I get paid for doing creative work I enjoy

As a freelance illustrator, while I *might* write and illustrate the story, I do not have the opportunity to work with other artists which is something I really enjoy and have appreciated with almost every team I've worked with in the past. I get lonely working at home by myself. I like working with other artists, bouncing around ideas and discussing techniques and learning from each other.

As a toy designer, I do not have the opportunity to work on products or projects where I can develop stories or my own characters from stories I've written or have the time to get to understand the licensed characters I'm designing into products - production time is far too rapid for that. In some instances, the concept I developed that morning is already turned into a sample by the next day in China to sell to a client. And over half the time the end product looks like a step-child of my original concept. Bleh. Plus, the only way to advance within this industry, or so I've been told, is to become a product manager and/or travel frequently to China and work in the factories over there. Neither of which is an attractive creative career path to me.

As a game artist, I would most likely be involved in developing characters and environments that I have little or no interest in, particularly if I stayed in Texas where most game companies develop first-person shooters, and other kill- or be-killed games. My preference is developing projects for kids, not war games; additionally, as a game artist I would be expected to develop concept art and model and rigg and texture and animate. Game companies, at least at the moment and those that I am most familiar with, still prefer generalists rather than specialists. There would be little opportunity to focus on only 2D visual development or that and 3D modeling and texturing. Although, if given the opportunity to work on games for kids, I'd certainly consider it; but I would likely have to accept a much more junior level role because of my lack of experience with 3D development on a day-to-day basis. And, while I like to play Doom now and then (and EQ2) I definitely don't have a "passion for games" - a frequently noted requirement on game artist job descriptions.

My artistic passion is for animation, illustration and story development, not games. The animation industry itself has long fascinated me and has definitely inspired my artwork. If traditional animation was still a strong part of the animation industry today in the U.S., that's likely where I'd be focusing more of my career interest. Hmm... Maybe one day, we'll have a kind of Studio Ghibli here, too. Now, there's another interesting related goal to strive for... :)

My most satisfying creative job was working as a multimedia artist on a contract with Houghton-Mifflin where I did a bit of storyboarding, character design, layouts, interface design, inking, coloring and 2D animation. I worked with some awesome creative people and we loved the work we did and were proud of the products we created.

And that's part of what I look forward to when I finally start my career in the animation industry.

Texas Burn Ban

I had to call the police tonight.

Not something I was planning on for my Saturday night, not at all. Seems almost like a stupid, silly mistake, but the potential results could have been devastating. That's why there's codes and law upon law and additional precautions even added - we have had such a bad drought in our area that even using barbeque grills in your backyard in at least one county is illegal at the moment.

Some idiot neighbor of mine at my apartment complex was grilling with a charcoal BBQ grill on his balcony.

I told you, it seems like a silly mistake. But it's at least a $2000 fine. Could be even more right now because of the burn bans that are in effect over most of Texas. What makes it worse, though, is the city law here has been in effect for over 10 years and is a similar law throughout most Texas cities - absolutely no grilling on your apartment balcony; and any grills must be at least 10 feet away from any building structures. That's the law.

Now, the apartment complex does have to have tenants sign in their lease agreement that they have been informed of this regulation. And I remember signing it when I renewed my lease this past November because this same neighbor had been grilling on his balcony several times over the summer. I didn't say anything to him then, but I did tell the apartment office when I was there picking up some mail that one of my neighbors was occasionally grilling on his balcony. At that time I was informed that it was illegal and that there should be a sign posted on our balcony stating so. And that was something I'd seen at all of my previous apartment residences. I'd hoped that the apartment office would send out flyers complex-wide reminding all tenants about this law and if they didn't have a sticker, to let the office know so one could be posted. Simple, right?

There's no sign posted on my balcony. Still. I told them that at the office again today, when I was there to pick up my mail (my new dvd burner, yay!). I also asked them what I should do the next time I saw somebody grilling on their balcony or patio. Needless to say, this person wasn't the only idiot I'd seen grilling lately. They told me not to confront the tenant, but to call the police.

So tonight, when I saw my neighbor grilling, the flames leaping up out of the grill, and smelled the burning, I did. I called the police.

I felt bad. That's alot of money to have to pay for a stupid mistake. But you know what? This is the same idiot that during Christmas week when I was taking out my garbage one evening, I saw him grilling on his balcony...the smoke rising up into the apartment above him (he's on the second floor). So, I asked him, "Is that a grill?" He said, "Yes." And told me that he was grilling something for the company lunch at work the next day. I said, "Did you know that it's against the law to grill on your balcony? That it could be a $2000 fine?" He said, "No way!" Didn't know it at all. Had not had any trouble in the months that he'd been doing so. I told him to talk to the apartment office if he had any questions about it. And left him at it.

I told the police that it wasn't an emergency (I didn't call 911, but rather the listed number in the phone book), but that one of my neighbors was grilling on his balcony and that since there were so many burn bans in effect, I needed to know who to talk to about it and what I needed to do. They connected me with the fire department. And they came over.

They were glad that I called.

Maybe if I hadn't had the apartment complex burn down one street over because some idiot set off fireworks...maybe if a couple of years ago, I wouldn't have woken up to smoke in my bedroom because of the fire at another tenant's apartment unit only 10 feet away from my own home - caused by his neglected grill that set his own balcony on fire...maybe then I wouldn't have been so anxious and determined about calling to report this violation. I don't know.

Another house burned down today. It was caused by their neighbor grilling in his own backyard. The grass and then the fence caught fire. And a family lost their home.

Into the West...

Looks like I'm off to California in a few weeks for a few days to chat with some of the Disney creative staff.

Actually, it's part of my current job and has nothing to do with what I'm working toward in my career. Darn it. But it should be interesting and an opportunity to find out some of the upcoming styleguides and design trends that the Disney Product and Licensing group is developing. I might be going to Germany as well to see the Christmas Trade Show. I'm thinking the next couple of weeks will have me seriously busy. And traveling. But not vacation. sigh.

And I have a cold. Poor me. "Arme kranke kleine Katze," my mom used to say when I was sick and miserable. It means, "Poor sick little cat." Meow.
Eh, I'm never happy these days. Time for a change.

Like I haven't said that before. D'oh!

Happy New Year!

First sketch of the new year, yay!

This illustration is the start of several digital paintings that I'll be creating this year using Photoshop and Painter. One of my New Year's resolutions, ha. It's a nice change of pace from my toy and other product designs. Plus, I need to work on my Painter skills...we're getting the software at work and I somehow managed to get volunteered to teach my creative team how to use it. D'oh!

I'll post some more progress as I continue working on the detailed underdrawing. Have some fixes that I already know I have to do (horrible arms!!!), and I don't know what I'm going to do for the background. Whatever I feel like, I guess.

And no, I'm not sharing what my other resolutions are... ;)

What's Ado

Ah, lovely! I just got a new animation production book by Jean Ann Wright called Animation Writing and Development : From Script Development to Pitch. This would be a great book for classroom use. Gives some in-depth and insider information to animation development; not so much drawing but rather the writing and production and pre-development of an animation project. I particularly like the end of chapter exercises. A nice addition to my animation library.

I've been really focused on my various projects, so I've not been posting on my blog as frequently. What have I been working on...

Well, as usual there's always "The Job" which lately means in addition to my toy design work I'm developing a catalog of the company's artwork, from early concept sketches to final factory art, in order for us to be able to search through all submitted art by artist, category, year, used/not used, etc.. Plus, I'm creating a "New Artist" binder to give to interns and new hires as a resource which includes a FAQ and various production processes that can help them understand how their artwork would be applied and what information they need to develop a particular product. Something I would have loved to have when I first started working at my job, particularly since half the time I wasn't even sure what questions to ask. Everyone's really excited about that, too; and they've all been giving me suggestions about what to include in both projects. Fun!

As far as my personal projects go, I've been giving my website a complete over-haul; getting rid of old stuff and adding new work as well as a new design and layout for the whole site. The last version was more in line with what the Art Institute wanted me to have for graduation. Now, I'd like it to focus more on my interest in character design and animation development as I continue to apply at various studios for my first creative opportunity.

Then there are the things that go bump in the night...

Well, I first read about some random scary creature on another blogger's site which amused me to no end. Even funnier when I ended up with a monster of my own on the apartment stairwell one evening. At first I thought it was dead (guess that's what possum's are supposed to do, ha!), but then it turned its head to check me out. I'm thinking the possum was after one of my neighbors' garbage bags as they like to set those out by their doors almost every evening. Just like the characters in the upcoming "Over the Hedge", the possum was checking the human leftovers for dinner. That critter was pretty big - those bars in the pictures are spaced about 4-5 inches apart, so just the body itself was practically two feet long.

I decided to take the other stairway down instead.

I've also been working on some caricature art I'm doing of family and friends to give as Christmas presents. Most everyone that saw my quick caricature of myself, really liked it and wondered if I'd do one of them...so that seems like a good Christmas gift this year. :)

Speaking of Christmas...it's that time to assemble my Christmas cards. I figure I've created enough art over the past year (some used, some not) to have plenty of options to make a few cards to send out to friends and family. Yay! No parties this coming weekend, so I'll have a couple nights and part of the weekend to get every thing out by Monday, Dec 12 (or sooner).

Progress is slow on the animation short, but I think I've finally capture the look of the title character. Not the traditional garden gnome as created by Rien Poortvliet in his various Gnome illustrations, but something different. The other characters have been practically finalized, but I'd still like to create some model sheets and facial expressions in addition to the standard character turns. And I'm also still finishing up the storyboards, something I've been having alot of fun developing.

And, of course, there's my mysterious graphic novel... That's been really a joy. Can't wait to see how that turns out. :)

Then there's modeling...as in 3D art, not lingerie. Although, that can certainly be a pleasure on some occasions. ha! I'm just not getting the development time that I really need in order to progress further. Not enough time in the day, but I really want to improve my knowledge of Lightwave and Maya modeling techniques and that can only happen with practice. Must find a way... And, no, that does not mean going back to school.

I'll figure it all out. Eventually.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dallas Animation: a work in progress

Today I had the opportunity to see Brad Bird accept the new Tex Avery Animation Award.

An excellent speaker - if you ever have the opportunity to see him, please do! While Vince from ABOSG did ask what Brad Bird's next project was (and what he was working on currently), Bird refused to chat about that, although he did talk about his previous projects...Iron Giant, The Incredibles, his early work at Disney and his mentor, Milt Kahl. Fun stuff! And, yes, all very inspirational.

When I first started to try and gain some animation experience at school in the late eighties, there was no place here in Dallas where I could either learn the skills or find a mentor. Now, there are game art and development curriculums, technical schools focused on teaching Maya or 3D Studio Max or whatever is the most popular 3D program of the moment, and even BFA's offered in computer animation. These days the DFW area has various studios that do commercial animation, post-production, game development, game cinematics and feature animation. Some are focused in one area, others are doing whatever it takes to stay in business. It's all good. And it's really exciting to finally see growth and exciting prospects for the animation industry in Dallas, Texas.

It's that time of year

Well, actually it could be Christmas on any day at work. As a product designer for seasonal and novelty products (let's just call them toys for short, heh) some days I work on Christmas toys and decor, sometimes it's Halloween and animatronics that go, "Boo!" and reach out at you. Then there's Party and Easter and...well, it goes on and on. The variety of categories and types of products I have had the opportunity to work on keep my job rather interesting and challenging. Oh, and just because it's seasonal doesn't mean we haven't found a way to hit all those other "un-seasonal" or "un-holiday" labelled days - we simply call that the "Every Day" season. ha!

So, here are a few old projects that show a bit of my thought process...from when I get the brief or art request document and start doodling rough sketches, to a final concept.

This one is part of a series of banners I created for Christmas decor using my Photoshop paintings:

Here are some rough sketches that I did of some ideas I had for a couple of table-top animated plush scenes with Pooh and friends (Licensed art being a sub-category for every season...yup, I do alot of Disney product art requests):

And here's a color version of a table-top animated plush with callouts that never made it to sample production even. Basically, what that means is - for all that there's an art request made, it doesn't mean that the concept actually gets through all of the checks and balances and art reviews and products reviews to becoming a sample series made that we can put in our showrooms and sell to our buyers.

Here is another set of little animated plush bunnies I designed for Easter that never got made into samples or got approved for factory production. I had so much fun picking out materials that were soft to the touch to help make them sweet and huggable. Oh, well.

And then, for contrast, there's always something for Halloween that pops up:

Making the Dragon Mask

As promised, here are the progress photos that I took whilst creating the paper mache' dragon mask. I promised a friend that I'd start a new project with her and her daughter. Should be alot of fun! :)

Here chick, chick, chick...

Alrighty, I just came back from seeing the new Disney animated feature, Chicken Little.

Hmm...what to say. I liked it. Did I love it? Nope.

The audience really seemed to enjoy it, especially the little kids and all the grandparents that seemed to be around for this particular afternoon showing. I would say that there were more laughs over the bits of comedy in this one than there were for Madagascar, if I had to use a comparison to a recent animated feature. I haven't seen the special 3D version of Chicken Little, but I'd like to try that in the next couple of weeks, once the NASCAR event is finished with so I won't be sitting in traffic for a couple of hours (the theater that's playing the 3D viewing version is over in that direction). After reading a variety of negative commentary about the movie (like this article from a year ago), I'm curious if some of it is in part or because of the changes that are going on with the management of Walt Disney and the Pixar distribution deal.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Here's what I LIKED:
- the friendship and camaraderie between the main characters, Chicken Little, Ugly Duckling, Runt of the Litter, and Fish Out of Water
- Kirby, the little alien fuzzy kid (soft hair, cute, big eyes...3, in fact...what's not to like? Great toy potential! ha. However, the samples I've seen sucked - I know they could've done a much better job)
- the customized houses that matched the families that lived there (chicken coop for Chicken Little and his Dad for example)
- the energetic twitching (puff, puff, puff) that most of the cars seemed to have as they were driving along
- Fish Out of Water (so simple, so right!)
- Buck Cluck's eyebrows (fascinated me...I couldn't stop watching them when he was on screen)
- the panic "attack" by the aliens because of a missing child (but nobody died...or DID they...)
- the flash cards. heh
- it wasn't a musical. YAY!!!
- the scene where Chicken Little is sitting outside the principal's office listening to his father and the principal discuss his behavior (I loved the lighting and layout for this particular scene. The silhouettes of the two adults also really held my attention. Nice.)
- the overall design and layout of some of the scenes. nicely done. I especially liked how they did close-ups of some of the characters (something I'll have to look and mention the specifics when I see it again, in 3D-vision)
- the errors of technology. heh

Here's what I DIDN'T LIKE:
- it's another father/son buddy story
(please...something more original. what's wrong with having a mom? that's alive? or both parents even? things could still go wrong, you know! and why do practically all the "girl" stories have to be fairy tales about princesses who find "True Luv"? ARGH! ok, I won't go there)
- parent doesn't believe child (ever. until parent's nose is rubbed in evidence and he sees aliens)
- child doesn't listen to adults (coach, father) because child knows better (whatever - there are other more positive ways to show how a child's curiousity or experience can give them a different opinion of how their goals can be reached)
- the pop references (one or two is ok and kinda funny, but when it's three or more it gets tedious and turns into a Dreamworks story prop. yes, those movies made some money...but that doesn't make them classics or even a good story. I love a good story.)
- the romance between Chicken Little and Ugly Duckling (that was just totally lame and didn't suit either the age of the characters or the target audience)
- the pacing (as I'm learning more about story development in my ongoing studies, I'm gaining a better appreciation of a good story and story pacing...and how much it can all go bleh when it's just not well-written)
- Chicken Little's eyes (weird, I know, but the lack of a pupil disturbed me, especially since his father's eyes and all the other characters had the obvious iris and pupil; and they even seemed occasionally cloudy although that may have been because of the glasses)
- all that texture stretching during movement and the plastic clothes; as "real" as they seemed to go with the overall design, that stretching seemed out of place (Pixar's Toy Story does a much better job in the texture and rigging department and that was created a while ago...and besides those were toys)
- The floating walk/slide that Chicken Little had in a couple of shots (tsk, tsk, that's a basic character animation skill)

Eh, that's enough with the negativity. After all, I did actually like the movie... I'll remember the others when I buy the DVD and watch it again. ;)

I'm really curious to find out what were some of the other story lines the director and producer, Mark Dindal and Randy Fullmer (the ones that previously crafted "the Emperor's New Groove") threw away before settling on this particular version. I wonder if any of those ideas would have crafted a stronger story than what was finally shown in theaters this weekend.

More old work

Here is some artwork, 2D illustration and 3D modeling, that I've done in the past. Some of which (the 3D bits especially) I worked on when I went back to school about 3 years ago to take classes in 3D modeling and animation.

I used to do alot of pastel portraits at my very first creative job (1980-84...soooo long ago, heh), working summers at Six Flags Over Texas amusement park as a caricature/portrait artist. Did that all during high school, in fact. Great opportunity to get practice with life drawing that's for sure! Some days I'd do 17 full portraits in a day. Rain or shine. 110 degrees...in the shade. Hey, that's Texas for you. ha. Anyways, I still have a certain fondness for working with pastels although I don't do much of that these days...most of my stuff is strictly digital.

Old alien sketches

Some sketches I did about a year ago which was part of discussion about aliens and their pets.

Happy Halloween!

My Halloween greeting card sent to friends and family today, based on one of my many Halloween projects at work:

And....drumroll, please!

Yay, I finished my paper mache dragon mask in time for Halloween! I'll post some progress pictures later...from the aluminum foil, crumpled up magazine pages and masking tape to the grand finale. :)

Getting in Disguise

I've been working on a new little project at home in the evenings the last couple of weeks or so: a paper mache' dragon mask for my Halloween costume. Here's my concept sketch I've been referencing:

I was trying to figure out the best way to actually create it without making it so heavy that I couldn't wear it for more than 5 minutes when I thought about using paper mache'. I haven't worked with paper mache' since I was in 2nd grade in 1972. LOL! I had to do some research to figure out the best way to make the paste and what other papers I could use that could be easily painted.

Does the current dragon look like my reference? Not exactly. But I'm having fun and I'm curious to see how it turns out. I've been taking pictures of the progress, from the initial simple wire form to the foil and scrunched up paper sculpture to the laying on of paper mache'. And what a mess that has been!! Glue and water all over the place. But still fun. :) I'll post the pictures next week once it's been painted and everything.

Oh, yes - I'm using peacock feathers on the back bit to mimic the dragon hairs in my sketch. Fun!

It's Alive!!

Lovely find today: a new Character Designer Blog!

While there seems to be plenty of animators posting insights about becoming a character animator, showing some bits of their animation shots, and talking about their professional experiences (not a bad thing, believe me), there hasn't been much from the many visual development artists who help create and design the characters those animators bring to life. So, I was very excited to find this site and look forward to reading more interviews from these professional artists.

Yay!

From the Character Design Blogsite:

THINGS THAT YOU WILL SEE AND READ
* You will be able to read in depth and very detailed instructions on how the designer works.
* What medium they use and some tips on how to use that medium.
* You will find out what they have worked on and what they are working on now.
* You will see step by step drawings all the way to the finished design.
* Read what the artist was thinking while designing the characters.
* See unpublished art and portfolio pieces.
* Get links to the artists own website or blog.
* View up and coming (non-professional) character designers work.

Hmm. Not so sure I really want to see "non-professional" character designers' work. Can already get plenty of that on forums like CGTalk and ConceptArt.org as well as a few other discussion and art forums. Will just have to see how that goes.

Still excited, though!

Something Borrowed

I was inspired today by the artwork of Gris Grimly to do a quick self-portrait similar to his style of Goth character design. Lots of fun!

Something New

Here's a quote that I really like -
"I much prefer to work with people who have big enthusiasm, even if they don't have big experience" - Sylvain Chomet, director of the feature animation The Triplets of Belleville.

If only....

New Intern
Yup - we have a new intern who starts work with the toy design department on Monday. Strangely, our creative manager did not forward us any information about the intern until yesterday. Turns out that the intern was emailing the information under a different name or something like that and so my boss was deleting the email...thought it was spam. ha! Curious to see how the new intern does. I totally enjoyed working with the two girls from NYC this summer. This one though, isn't in a toy design program at all, but evidently went to the same school our creative manager did. Guess I'll find out more on Monday. :)

New Showroom
Meanwhile, the showroom buyer/vendor shows have been going on as usual. So far, so good. We all also had the opportunity (finally) to get a walk-through of the showroom with a couple of the product line managers so that we had a better understanding of what they're presenting to the vendors as well as a bit of what the buyers are thinking as they see our new products for 2006. Seems like the costume show we've been putting on every time has really been well received (although all of us performers are rather less than enthusiastic of the little skits we do and the costumes we have to wear). It is really cool to see the samples of projects that I've worked on in the various sets we have in the showroom. Also funny to recall what the original concept was...and the added tweaks or revisions that our creative manager felt necessary to "enhance" the final sample. Have to admit, I frequently don't agree with his decisions as far as that goes, but hey, that's why he's the manager. Those aren't my decisions to make. And I'm really happy for that.

My current toy design projects include a variety of pieces - from animatronic characters to detailed illustration or graphic design for high resolution printing, and then the usual concepts for license and department store specialties (plush or table decor...or something else). As usual, I'm still behind on my production art log, but I'm slowly catching up once again. Hopefully next week will be static (and little or no revisions or "emergencies") so that I can churn out my current concepts and finally start on some new ones. To help get an idea of our daily production quota...while we may work on up to five different rough concepts or drafts per day (more or less), by the end of the day we want to have produced a minimum of two final concepts (concept sketch approved by our creative manager and the product manager, clean line art and turn-arounds created, and gone to color, and provided on forms for factory production (with callouts/comments as needed) and presentation.

It keeps us busy.

Here's a sample of one of my earlier projects on a production form. It includes color callouts and preferred materials as well as comments on animation (it's a simple type of animatronic):





















New Movie
I saw the new movie, Corpse Bride by Tim Burton, yesterday evening. I really enjoyed it! In fact, although most reviewers say otherwise, I liked it better than Nightmare Before Christmas. Guess I'm just weird. I had the opportunity to see some of the new toys that McFarlane is creating based on the movie when I was at the San Diego Comic Con back in July. Nice stuff! I'll be using a wee bit of my paycheck for some of the characters next month. They tend to have that interesting manneristic style with a Burtonesque twist. I like it. There's a really good interview given by the Head of the Puppet Department for the movie, Graham G. Maiden, about how they did some of the puppet making for the stop-motion animation.

New Project
And for the rest of my ongoing personal projects...got something new going on there that I'm pretty excited about. I've been asked to help out with an animation pitch of a new 3D tv series for a major animation studio (sadly not DNA). I'll help out with the continued visual development of the project as well as some of the modeling. And definitely whatever else I can do to assist. On the plus side, I'll gain some valuable experience and get the chance to be mentored by some creative professionals who have or are currently working in the animation industry in one capacity or another and I don't have to relocate (for the moment). On the negative, I'm not getting paid for any of the work I do. D'oh!

As relates to my portfolio submissions...nothing new. :(

Something Different

This sketch is more in line with the fantasy style of some of my older work. Sometimes it's good to go back and revisit those kinds of things. I've also been working a bit more on my storyboards and the characters for the animation short. While progress has been slower than I'd like, I'm happy to say I'm still moving forward and not quitting.

More stuff coming soon! Along with the occasional random post, here and there, just for something different. :)

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

My immediate family wasn't directly effected by Hurricane Katrina, however I do have friends and co-workers whose families have been. So much sadness....

Since I live here in North Texas, I have various opportunities to volunteer to help out the evacuees from New Orleans. The Texas branches of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators are also looking for ways to provide long-term help for families affected by this disaster. I received the following information today and I'd like to share it with you all in case you can help, too.

Thanks!
t
----------------------------

Message from Stephen Mooser, SCBWI President on the SCBWI website:

SCBWI Members Affected by Hurricane Katrina
If you are an SCBWI Member in need of help because of Hurricane Katrina, whether it be transportation, food, shelter, or other services, please call the SCBWI Hurricane Hotline at 1-877-547-2294 and let us know:
* what services you need.
* the best way to reach you (phone, email, etc.).
Our staff will return your call as soon as possible with resources or a local contact for immediate help.

SCBWI Members in the Surrounding Areas
If you are an SCBWI Member in Texas, Mississippi, Florida, Missouri,
Georgia, or another nearby state, and would like to offer transportation, food, shelter, or other services, please email helpinghand@scbwi.org with your contact information and what help you can offer.

SCBWI Members in Other Areas
The SCBWI will be establishing a fund to provide help to schools and libraries in the Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi areas. Watch this space for more information. Right now, we are more concerned with saving lives and encourage you in the meantime to donate to emergency relief efforts:

* Network for Good
http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes
offers a comprehensive list of nonprofits accepting donations

* American Red Cross
http://store.yahoo.com/redcross-donate2
donation site hosted by Yahoo!

* Louisiana Library Association Disaster Relief
http://www.llaonline.org
monetary donations to schools & libraries

* State Library of Louisiana Hurricane Assistance Links
http://www.state.lib.la.us/links
links to help children, shelters, and more

From the North Texas SCBWI:
I want to encourage each of you to reach into your hearts and find a way to be involved in helping those involved, whether through the many national organizations, local ones, churches, community groups and so on.

Many of the SCBWI's are wanting to get books to the children who will be sitting in these temporary homes for weeks as their families try to put their lives together. The Haynes suggested a possible book drive at our conference to get to these kids, though I think that anything you can do more immediately would be greatly helpful.

If you have any ideas on how we can get donated books to the various areas or want to contact someone as to how this might be done, please contact me and we'll see what we can get going. With our region so large and the evacuees being in Dallas, Arlington, and Fort Worth and more, there are definitely more than one place that we can help with donations of our own books and used books we might have or purchase.

Kathryn Lay
rlay15@aol.com

Those Interesting Arctic Animals...

My friend Sara Jane posted a comment on IM when she was away at lunch one day....and it got my Polar Bears all riled up. Fear the Ninja Penguin Army? Ha! That's all the challenge we needed, heh; and we both started coming up with some other fun away messages during our lunch breaks. Here's a couple of my quick sketches based on that bit of fun.

And, of course, the story continues.... :)