A different Mona Lisa

A few years ago in 2006 when I was familiarizing myself with Photoshop I was doing experimental work discovering different ways to use the software. While listening to the radio Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa" was playing. It was a hit song in 1950. I was inspired to do a few versions of a Mona Lisa type of character described in the lyrics. I used multiple layers in this composition isolating the line in certain areas and sweeping my brush strokes for a unique effect. Touched this up a bit prior to posting. She's based upon someone I used to now in my college days.

Hello there Skeletor

Nope. It's not this guy. This was a doodle from class the other night.

Which lead to this. For some reason I drew a skull head character.

Which in turn lead to this interpretation of what was forming in my mind's eye. One of my students thought it was a new version of Skeletor who is He-Man's prime adversary. So why not?

J&K - The Road to Daxter - Part 2

Here's the follow up to my entry on December 17 2012 when I started featuring concept designs for the development of Daxter from the Jak and Daxter game series. There was a huge amount of work that I did for the character. More so than any other video game I was involved with. These are from the earliest days of Daxter's coming into being.

Angel and Devil

Everybody has a little of both in them.

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing that 2013 is healthy and prosperous and creative for you! I'm really looking forward to this year. I've got a special project in the works that I'm excited about. Looking forward to launching it soon! Meantime...

Not exactly sure when these class demonstrations were done. I think it was around 2003 so that's what I'll go with. Starting with a concept sketch I used a light box to redraw the images onto watercolor paper and   then give them some pigment. Like everything dealing with life we choose which way to swing. Yin and Yong, positive or negative, day or night, angel or devil. So let's begin 2013 with a wee bit of contemplation and a couple of fun characters

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Thank You and Happy New Year !!!

I thought about an appropriate last post for 2012 and decided this would make a good entry. It's a class demonstration I did in 2000. I used watercolors and black line over a blue pencil sketch. My way of communicating thanks for visiting and for helping to make this experience a special one. I'll remember 2012 in large part for the launch of my personal art blog. It's been 7 months since I got it going and the traffic and page views it gets are inspiring me to get into creating even more. In 2013 I have something exciting on the way and am looking forward to showcasing it. Meantime thanks again very much for stopping by and for the very positive experience. 

All the best to you and yours in the coming New Year !!!

Head gear heads

In the summer of last year in 2011 I worked on a project for a while with a group that was looking to do something different with their approach to video games. Unfortunately it wasn't able to move forward due to internal issues they were having. But it did provide me an opportunity to create a good body of new images in a game related property. 

These guys were creatively influenced by Avatar and Jak & Daxter and it was a challenge at times to work with them as they got into a habit of heavily art directing which is not always beneficial at the beginning of a project. Much of what I came up with for the project shows the influence of their direction. None the less I still had a good time and there's plenty of content to feature as a result.

One of the characters they were attempting to come up with wore headgear and goggles so I created these concept sketches. I drew them in black line pen and later embellished some of the images with grey tones in Photoshop.

Skull creature sketch

The other evening on Thursday December 27 we had a special session at the Academy for students to come in and work over the Holiday break. I started to doodle with a little skull head design and it kept on going into this odd looking character. Blue pencil sketch followed by black line and finished with blue pencil on 12 field animation paper.

Crash and Spyro Christmas Tree

This picture was a nice surprise which I'd like to share. Posted on The Animation Academy's Facebook page by Aaron Wood. It's a Christmas tree his family put together decorated with Crash and Spyro ornaments which are actually little toys they picked up on Ebay. What a cool tree! An appreciative thank you to Aaron Wood and his family from yours truly. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Clicking on the picture will give you a better view.

A Crash & Cortex Christmas 2012

This is a special gift for all the Crash Bandicoot fans who frequent my blog. Since the time I launched seven months ago in late May you've been a big part of the experience. You've given me a lot of traffic and helped to revive my interest in Crash as well as inspire me to do new things. Thanks very much for helping to make 2012 a memorable and creative year. This is for you! Merry Christmas!!!

ArtShark says "Merry Christmas"

I like to buck trends. That's how trends are created. 

When the Happy Holidays craze was in full bore in society I wanted the Academy's greeting to be "Merry Christmas". Prior to 2005  I had friends and students do the school's Photoshop work. Foremost being the latest ArtShark who is the Academy's logo/brand mascot. By 2005 I had picked up enough on Photoshop to start illustrating him myself. This is my first attempt at digital color on ArtShark.   

 

I added text to the full color image for a Christmas greeting on the school's website and blog. 

For educational purposes here's how this version of ArtShark developed. The drawing below is the final line clean up I made from the concept rough. This was scanned and the line work tightened and cleaned further in Photoshop.

It started with the initial concept rough which could grow out of a thumbnail sketch. With this approach the design information is built upon a core structure of the character's anatomy. The composition is constructed from the inside out. Thus the feeling of solidity and substance along with weight and volume.

    

And that's how this came about! So from everyone associated with The Animation Academy here in the heart of Burbank California USA to whomever may be looking and reading these words... A Very Merry and Happy Christmas to you and yours! 

May All Your Dreams Come True!

Keep Creating!