Time to Teach....again

I very rarely have time to teach, but I love doing it. So this year I have made it my resolution to go out and teach again. First up is an in depth lecture on design,development,and visual storytelling at the Art Institute of California Inland Empire (My home town). See the flier above for details. Maybe I'll see you there.

A little itch.....

One afternoon a couple years ago I got an itch and sculpted this little guy. A little stress reliever. You may see more elaborate sculpting attempts here in the future.

Have a good one

HALLOWEEN Cal Arts Workshop (Prt 2)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Here is one of the "Al Hirschfeld" style Vampires I created as part of the Cal Arts Halloween inspired Character design workshop that Shannon Tindle and myself conducted last year around this time. Read and see more about it in my previous post (below).

HALLOWEEN Cal Arts workshop (prt 1)

Last year around this time,Shannon Tindle and myself taught a character design workshop at Cal Arts. It being the Halloween season, the assignment we gave the students was to design a vampire in several different styles: One in the Style of Ronald Searle, One in the style of Al Hirschfeild, One in the style of Shrek, and one in whatever style they wished. As usual Shannon and myself tackled the assignment as well. Below are my "Searle" vampires from that workshop. (I couldn't do just one.) More to come.

SPACEHEADZ BOOK #3 IS HERE!

....In which everything changes. I love this story. Read and enjoy. Catch up on more of the SPHDZ action HERE!

SPHDZ PHOTOS!!!

Here are some photos from the SPHDZ LA tour with Jon Scieszka, Casey Scieska, Steven Weinberg and myself(I'm in the plaid shirt). SO COOL! Very exciting. Some kids even dressed up like the characters. A bunch of kids drew there own SPHDZ art work. It was SPHDZ crazy.

UPDATED SPACEHEADZ EVENTS FOR MARCH!!!

Here are the updated dates, times, and places, for the Spaceheadz events and signings for the first week in March. VERY Unfortunately my busy schedule only allows me to attend one of these events at the moment(Friday, March 4th). But very fortunately, Jon Scieszka(author/creator), Casey Scieszka, and Steven Weinberg(SPHDZ Web and media) will be present at ALL of them. They (and we on the 4th) will be talking, signing, (and I will be drawing) Spaceheadz.

March 1st
6:00PM
Signing at Barnes & Noble #2743
7881 Edinger Avenue
Huntington Beach, CA 82647
Phone: 714-897-8781

March 2nd
5:00PM
Signing at Mrs. Nelson’s Toys and Books
1030 Bonita Avenue
La Verne, CA 91750
Phone: 909-599-4558

March 3rd
4:00PM
Signing at Whale of a Tale Children's Bookshoppe
4199 Campus Dr. Suite A
Irvine, Ca. 92612
949-854-8288

March 4th
7:00 PM:
SIgning at ONCE UPON A TIME book store
2207 Honolulu Ave
Montrose, CA.91020
Phone: 818-248-9668
(I will be appearing at this one)

It's gonna be a lot of fun. I'll be posting about the school visits (not for the general public) afterwards as well. !! BE SPHDZ !!

One of my pieces for PEABODY and SHERMAN.

Dreamworks announced the Peabody and Sherman feature film in this weeks issue of Entertainment Weekly, and they happened to include one of my early concept paintings of Mr. Peabody himself. Right there next to Robert Downey Jr. (the voice of the smartest dog on earth).

Peabody and Sherman was actually the first project I came to Dreamworks to help develop. There is much more development work by some very talented artists that I'm sure you'll be seeing in an art of Peabody and Sherman book sometime soon. The original 1960s concept of the worlds smartest dog, his boy, and a TIME MACHINE made this film so much fun to explore and play with!
(The image on the top left is a still from the original TV show.)

SPACEHEADZ!! BOOK #2 is HERE!!!!

Spaceheadz book #2 is now here and available in bookstores and on-line EVERYWHERE! The 2nd novel in the series written by the amazing Jon Scieszka (and illustrated by...myself) follows the continuing adventures of Bob, Jennifer, Major fluffy, Michael K., and Agent Umber. This book has more agents, More tentacles, pudding rage, energy wave freak outs, monarch butterflies, monkey suits, Kilroy references, bathroom emergencies, A wolf, donuts, sewer pipes, more dogs, more whales, fried chicken, and an oddly cloaked Kindergarten class thrown into the mix. Very, very fun! Book 2 is Packed with all new illustrations (almost twice book #1). MUCH more elaborate. Check it out! Have fun! Above is a tiny mish-mash teaser sample of just a couple of my illustrations from book #2

ME and my SHADOW

A quick (but late) update. The film I have been working on for the past year was recently announced by Dreamworks. It is entitled "ME and MY SHADOW". It is a computer animation/traditional animation hybrid about a fun shadow that is stuck with a boring guy. The shadows in the film are all traditionally (hand drawn)animated. The team on this film is absolutely incredible and we have all been cranking to make something really special. I am proud to be the head of story on Me and My Shadow. I am working with Mark Dindal who developed the concept for the film and is our fun and fearless director. The film is scheduled to be released in March 2013.(this image is a promotional photo for the film "Shadow of a doubt". Not our film.)

MOONSHINE and MEGAMIND:

Two Dreamworks Art books were released this month, and I happen to have artwork in both of them.

MOONSHINE is a compilation of personal artwork from the Dreamworks Visual development artists. Pretty Awesome. I have a fun little spread in there. The ART of MEGAMIND was released as well. A slew of my early development work appears in the book. Below are some examples.

Now on page 57 of the Art of Magamind book, there is a series of color Roxanne expressions that are all credited to me. But in fact I am only responsible for the girl in the gray tank top with the sunglasses on her head. Shannon Tindle did all the others. Mis-credits happen in every art of book, so Its good we have blogs.

SPACEHEADZ!! Book#1: Ready for Humans!

FRESH SCENT! LONG LASTING!
I guess I am officially a Children's Book Illustrator. Spaceheads book#1 is now available for sale online and in book stores everywhere! If you ever wondered why I never have time to update my blog, here it is. This was one heck of a first book to be a part of as I was lucky to work with Simon and Schuster, Jon Scieszka, and Francesco Sedita. Holy Moly! A short while back I received a call out of the blue from Dan Potash and Justin Chanda (Creative powerhouses) at Simon and Schuster asking if I would be interested in illustrating books for them. "Uhhh...Yeah." So they sent me a manuscript for a new book/novel series they had in mind entitled Spaceheadz. I absolutely loved it! The story, the characters, the pop culture craziness, the pace and flow was incredibly inventive and fun. As soon as I read chapter 5B "Fluffy Speaks" I called S&S back and told them that I had to do this series. I get to play with two completely different styles of illustration throughout these books. Each serves their purpose, but I approached the look with what I thought was right for the story,the writing, and the author's vision. Check it out, Read it, Have Fun. This is the first in a 4 book series. Books #2 through #4 are coming soon! BE SPHDZ!

(FAR TOP: Cover image for Book#1/ MIDDLE: A small, teaser, sample collage of just a few illustrations from book#1/ DIRECTLY ABOVE: My Illustration on a book store display at Barnes and Noble. To the right a kid is checkin' it all out. Neat! No, I did not know or stage the kid. But I did stage Major Fluffy the hamster on the left.)

GO SEE HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON !!!

In the 3 years I've been at Dreamworks I have been lucky to witness and be part of some pretty incredible things. This film and its crew happen to be a couple of those. I am so proud of Dreamworks for How to Train Your Dragon. Directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois (Lilo and Stitch) came on in the final hour to completely re-rout this story from scratch from scratch. They collaborated with an incredible crew and the entire studio under an impossible deadline to create something that is truly awe inspiring and special.(and not just for Dreamworks.)
Chris and Dean asked me to come on board to collaborate with them and my friends Nico Marlet (lead designer/genius) and Takao Noguchi(awesome designer) to finalize the design of the main Character "Hiccup". Then a small team of us were asked to explore an entirely new Dragon and main character "Toothless the Night Fury".(Below are a couple of my pieces that appear in the art of book.) The environment was always open and collaborative. A couple character thoughts I suggested even made it to the screen in all of this. My contributions were definitely a speck in the big scheme of Dragons, So read the credits in the theater and give that amazing crew a round of applause. They've earned it. Dreamworks takes a lot of flack about their films both story wise and look wise, and sure, some of it is justified."SOME" of it. It's great that Kung Fu Panda opened some eyes, But wait, there's more. An incredibly talented team from many varied backgrounds and experiences came together to make Dragons something special. Go see it and have a blast!!!


Artwork copyright Dreamworks Animation.

I WON SOMETHING ?!!!

An Annie Award for best character design in an animated feature film for Coraline! Wow! I can not believe all of the kind words and messages since the awards. Thank you so much.It means more than you know. Thank you ASIFA! And on Coraline, Thank you to the inspiring story crew, To the BRILLIANT sculptors and puppet fabricators that brought these designs to fruition, and to the absolutely genius animation team that gave these guys life. THIS TEAM WAS FEARLESS! Thanks Henry Selick!!
And I stated it at the awards, and I will say it again. It was an honor to work alongside Shannon Tindle and Dan Krall as a team on Coraline. I have to share this with them.
But this award was truly incredible and Very generous on ASIFA's part. Thank you.
And It was an honor to be nominated alongside the insanely talented Mr. Daniel Lopez Munoz (UP). Congrats to all!

ANNIE AWARD NOMINATION !

I Just found out I have been nominated for an ANNIE AWARD in the category of "Character Design in a Feature Production" for my work on Coraline.....Wow!...... I am honored to be nominated alongside my good friend Shannon Tindle (Coraline), and the incredibly talented Daniel Lopez Munoz (UP).

I only wish that Mr. Dan Krall might have been nominated in some category for his incredible contributions on Coraline as well. There were so many talented people from every studio that were not nominated this year, so hats off to all of you.

and, BEST OF LUCK TO EVERYONE!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

IRON GIANT 10 YEAR REUNION !!!!!

Recently I was asked to take part in the Iron Giant 10th anniversary reunion on Oct. 23rd, 2009. It was amazing seeing everyone again. The Iron Giant was my first real job in feature animation. I was a kid, still in school, and Brad and the crew really took us kids under their wings. On the Panel my buddy Eddie Rosas and I talked about what it was like being rookie kids working with Brad and the crew on that amazing film. We definitely had stories (thats me in the white shirt embarrassing Brad). Working on that film changed my life. It is amazing to see how many people have come to love Giant, especially after its less than blockbuster opening weekend 10 years ago, August 6th 1999. You've come a long way Giant! SUUUUU - PER - MAAAAN.
Ryan Savas has VIDEO OF THE EVENT HERE !
(photo above from L to R: Brad Bird, Jeff Lynch, Eddie Rosas, Me.)
(photo below: all of the crew that was there!)

CORALINE is now on DVD and BLUE-RAY !

Coraline was just released on DVD and Blue-Ray, So here is another (and last for a very long time , I promise) tiny sample of some of my work from the film. The Coraline and Other Mother pencil drawings are some of the first pieces I did for the film , way back in October , 2005....Before I even moved to Oregon to work in house at Laika in January , 2006. As mentioned in my previous Coraline Posts : On "CORALINE", Dan Krall , Shannon Tindle and Myself , under the direction of Mr. Henry Selick ,were responsible for the final character design in the film. I also very proudly designed and developed the Facial Animation , expressions , and dialogue for the film. Please Read my previous , in depth , Coraline blog posts for more on the making of Coraline, and the AMAZINGLY talented people involved in its creation. Enjoy...

MICHAEL JACKSON MEMORIAL 7-7-2009 , STAPLES CENTER. I WAS REALLY THERE !!!!

Yes, I won a golden ticket!
I was there....It was crazy.....It felt historical.


It was a genuinely reverent and heartfelt event. I will definitely never forget it. I got to be a part of pop culture history.

Michael Jackson Nerd

Anyone who has known me longer than a day knows I am a Michael Jackson nerd. Specificaly about his work from 1968 to 1987. I am a product of the 80's and remember Motown 25 and the premiere of Thriller fondly. You're not going to see me on Hollywood Blvd crying over his star or anything,(I will gladly attend a very exclusive, organized , historiacl memorial you can only attend if you happen to be one of 8,000 people out of 1,700,000 chosen at random.),but I have always had a great admiration for his craft , passion and work as an entertainer. In a world filled with kids who want and expect everything for nothing , Michael Jackson is the constant reminder of working on , researching and honing ones craft.

Why will no one in entertainment ever match what Michael has done ? This is why: No one in entertainment history has ever or will ever work harder and learn more about their craft than MJ did. When he was 10 years old MJ studied other performers, broke down their process and art , and perfected it! As he grew he started looking outside of his own craft and started to study and incorporate all art. He studied the sculpture of Michaelangelo for the design of a pose. He studied Charlie Chaplin , Buster Keaton , and the great mime Marcel Marseau for the design of movement and silhouette. He studied Gene Kelly and Fred Astair Dance routines relentlessly , getting to the essence of their performances. The reason MJ wore short tight pants and thick bright socks (Motown 25 , Thriller , Beat it) Is because Gene Kelly did that to create a clear silhouette and make the feet the focus of the performance. You can track these bright socks like anchor points for the movement.
Jackson studied Indian Dance , the movement of sports athletes , Sword play and fencing , He studied animation for movement. Michael searched out the best street dancers , found them, and learned most of his moves (Moonwalk , Hits , Glides, etc...) from Bugaloo Shrimp , POPPIN TACO , Poppin Pete, Shabadoo, Sugar Pop , Hugo Huizar , and all the Electric Boogaloos out here in California. That is straight from Kid Flash(Pete Gomez)who was part of it all. Taco and Poppin Pete are seen leaning on either side of MJ in smooth criminal(Moonwalker), and are the first two pop locking prisoners MJ frees from their pillar prisons in Captain EO. AMAZING! AND so much more. THEN MICHAEL APPLIED EVERYTHING HE LEARNED AND HONED IT WITH HARD WORK and tireless experimentation !
It is so easy to brush off accomplishment , craft , and passion like that with all the weird stuff surrounding Michael Jackson. And yes I think it is really weird and sad too. But , man that guy was talented. He knew entertainment like nobodies business.

I was at Disneyland on Thursday , June 25th 2009. I was eating a Dole whip in front of the Tiki Room when someone in the crowd started talking about it. I had to interrupt the person and inquire. The person said: "yeah I just got a text about it." I said "What? Come on." Then other people started getting phone calls and texts. More murmers. Then the guy I asked pulled up a news web page on his phone : " MICHAEL JACKSON DEAD". WHAT ? Now everyone was talking about it. Friends were calling me. Then from all over Disneyland you started to hear people yelling: " Michael Jackson Died!!!"Everyone was talking to everyone else about it. "They need to bring back Captain EO in remembrance"... some woman said.
Then a couple hours later I was sitting in Tomorrowland (home of Captain EO) , when Suddenly the Tomorrowland stage starts to rise and a very distinctive beat starts playing: "So you wanta be startin' somethin' , got to be startin' Somethin'"... People started cheering and running towards the stage. It was NUTS!! Everyone was dancing . Then immediately after that they played Thriller! By this time people were just mobbing the area . It was so surreal.
So here are some MJ doodles....Quick impressions of some of my favorite MJ moments over the years. HEEEE HEEEEEEE ! WHOOOOOOOOO!

CORALINE FACIAL ANIMATION !

After having been a Principal Character Designer on Coraline(see previous post), Henry Selick, knowing I was also an animator, asked me if I might Design , Develop and Test all of the Facial Animation (Expressions, Mouth shapes, Dialogue,Teeth) for every character in the film. How they will emote, and talk and hold their mouths and move their brows from every angle. I WAS ECSTATIC!! I did thousands of drawings designing the MASSIVE library of mouth shapes and expressions, and a SLEW of traditional animation dialogue tests to make sure everything worked just right. Henry wanted something special and I took this task very seriously. I am a huge stop motion fan , so to be involved in this part of the process after having designed many of these guys was a dream come true. My drawings and tests for each character were then translated into 3D and the best stop motion team in the world took what I did and went to town. THEY ARE BRILLIANT ! Here is a VERY , VERY , TINY sample of just some of my facial animation design work.