New book - The Crash Bandicoot Files - Dark Horse Comics

Hey there folks. Heard about this a few weeks ago and wanted to let you know that a new book was published this past Tuesday on March 27 from Dark Horse Comics. It's called "The Crash Bandicoot Files: How Willy the Wombat Sparked Marsupial Mania". The publisher is Dark Horse Comics. 

Well for those of you wondering what the original Crash production bible contained this looks to be it. You can purchase it at the Dark Horse Comics site or on Amazon. The front cover features some of my early sketches of Crash back when he was still called Willy. If I new back then that they'd be using these drawings and others for the cover of a book 23 years later I'd of done a better job. These images were just preliminary doodles. I didn't think in terms of a public presentation. Ya never know what can happen in time! 

Here's the cover. Authored by Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin of Naughty Dog. Has a lot of Joe Pearson's art and also David Siller's work. 

Character concept demo backwards

Hello there! Hope you're doing great and thank you for continuing to follow my blog. It's been pretty darn intense lately as my school and life in general keeps me very busy. When I'm in these phases I just hold on tight and ride the bucking bronco waiting for a window where things slow down a little and I can catch the wind and go on to smoother sailing.

Earlier in the month I created a demo for my students in Character Design 2 which involves creating images with more complexity especially in the area of human anatomy. This is what I ended up with.

Before that the drawing was taken to a black line level on top of the blue pencil sketch.

And before that this is what the blue pencil image looked like.

And in the beginning we started with establishing the basic anatomy of the character.

If you take this approach with your own work you'll likely wind up with a stronger composition and solid characters. It's all about fundamentals!

Character concept color sketch

I have a project in mind and thought I'd do a quick doodle in color to explore one of the characters. Primarily in terms of costume and general appearance. Not necessarily in personality or attitude just appearance. Something simple and fun to do using the open source software I mentioned before called Krita. 

Crash drawing Crash

Testing new software - Krita for digital painting

One of my online students told me about a digital painting program he's using that is similar to Photshop. It's called Krita and the good news is that it's fee to download on your computer. So I did and this evening I took some time to doodle a color sketch and test the tools especially the brushes. 

Works great! This is what I came up with. 

A used a whole bunch of brushes to see what the effects would be. It may be reflected in the hodgepodge of shapes of color within the composition. Also I used an old Bamboo graphics tablet from Wacom to do the art. It's a very crude input device but it worked out okay plus it's excellent practice to use technology this challenging. If you can do it with a Bamboo you can do it with just about anything. If you're interested in Krita follow this link to the company website and try it out for yourself. An excellent alternative to the more expensive programs.

Can't stop the Bandicoot

Crash says it all ...

High school art - Delacroix's "The Lion Hunt"

I was going through my old art and found something I did in high school. I think I was 16 years old and a sophomore. This was an assignment in art class. We were told to copy a work of a great master so I chose one of the hardest ones I could find which was "The Lion Hunt" by Eugene Delacroix in 1861. He was a great French artist. This is what I did.

It measures 18" x 23". I used Crap-pas which is something of a cross between crayons and pastels. I remember I started at the left and worked across the paper towards the right. I don't think I created a preliminary sketch. I went straight ahead. I was very proud of it. Here's a picture of the actual work by Delacroix.

Here's a comparison between the two. I had a limited palette as there weren't that many colors. I recall I had to do a lot of blending to get a color that was something in line with the original.

And what do you think I did with that teenage mind of mine? I used the back of the art to take notes in my driver's ed class! What was I thinking?

 And I folded the work in thirds! Man I just wasn't using my head.

The good news is that in spite of the way I handled the art it held up after all that time!

Sharing the Joy - My School is 20 Years Old

Just wanted to take a moment and let all you great people know that my school The Animation Academy in Burbank California is celebrating its 20th anniversary as of last Friday. Started in the back room of a local restaurant in 1998. Went on to make a dramatic difference in the lives of many artists and also made a positive impact on the industry. It wasn't easy. There were good times and bad times, difficult struggles and happy accomplishments. Through it all it's been a fun adventure. Thanks to all of our students both past and present and to all the fantastic people that helped us to reach this noteworthy milestone.

Grave sites of great Hollywood actors and celebrities

Every year on December 5 which is Walt Disney's birthday I visit his grave site. On my latest visit last month I took some time to take photos of the grave sites of several of the famous people who are also interred at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale California. Perhaps the most beautiful cemetery in the world. It's a who's who of some of the great stars who ever lived. They left a lasting legacy in Hollywood and in other areas of entertainment and American culture that endures to this day.

Let's start with this shot which is a view of downtown Los Angeles from the area around Disney's grave. Notice the city skyline in the center of the photo way off in the distance above the tree line.

This is Alan Ladd. He's best known for his lead role in the all time classic western "Shane" from 1950. A great movie actor.

Here's Casey Stengel. He was the manager of the champion New York Yankees in the 1950's and the first manager of the New York Mets. He was quite a character. At the bottom of his bronze plate is this memorable epitaph of his... "There Comes A Time In Every Man's Life And I've Had Plenty Of Them".

Next up is the immortal Clara Bow. She's known as the "IT" girl because she had "it" which was also the title of her best known film in 1927. She was the biggest female star in Hollywood during that phase of the silent movie era. The first on film to embody the spirit of the contemporary 20th century woman.

The one and only Errol Flynn. The greatest of the Hollywood swashbucklers. He was the movie's biggest actor in the late 1930's. The little red flower is my homage to him. He was one of my favorite movie stars growing up as a kid. I was captivated and heavily influenced by his action films.

This is one of Hollywood's most famous couples. The husband and wife team of George Burns and Gracie Allen. They were popular radio stars and they also had a long running TV series in the 1950's.

Another couple from the golden age of Hollywood. Gene Raymond and Jeanette McDonald were husband and wife. They were very popular movie stars in the 1930's.

Did you ever see the 1939 movie "Heidi" with Shirley Temple? If you did then you'll recognize this actor. This is the grave of Jean Hersholt who played the memorable role of Heidi's grandfather.

This entertainer needs no introduction. Michael Jackson is entombed in this building. There's 24 hour security here and no way anyone can enter unless you're family or you have special permission. I chose to feature Michael as a youngster in his early days when he burst onto the scene with his brothers as The Jackson 5. He's a native son of Gary Indiana.

This is what the view of Forest Lawn looks like from Michael Jackson's grave site. It's a huge cemetery with at least 250,000 graves I'm told.

The great Nat King Cole. A voice as smooth as satin and silk. He was one of the finest singers in the history of American popular music.

Here's the final resting place of Spencer Tracy. Another of Hollywood's most talented actors. The photo at the lower right is a close up of his name at the grave site. 

Last but certainly not least among the pantheon of Hollywood's best is this building where some of the greatest of all time are resting. Photos aren't allowed inside so I took a picture of the structure and am featuring 4 of the many individuals whose earthly remains are contained therein. Starting with Elizabeth Taylor at the upper left and Red Skelton just beneath her. He was a hugely popular comedian who had a weekly TV variety show that lasted for many years. At the upper right is Carol Lombard who died tragically in a plane crash in the early 1940's. She was a movie star and married to Clark Gable who's pictured below her. They're buried next to each other.

There are many more stars and memorable individuals buried at Forest Lawn. This is a look at a few of them. If you're ever in the LA area make it a point to visit Forest Lawn. It's a fascinating place. Hope you enjoyed this presentation.