Today a new animated film is being released in theaters across the United States called Norm of the North. I was one of the character designers.
I worked for several months on Norm back in 2014. At that time, Stephen Silver and I designed most of the main characters and some incidentals, while some other designs came from a studio in Ireland.
Two of my favorite creations for the film are these two caribou brothers seen below. I never did get a script to read, so I’m not sure what their function is in the movie other than what I saw in the trailer, but they sure were fun to draw.
These two caribou designs were my personal favorites to create for “Norm of the North.”
I also came up with the look for a crotchety old seagull character named Socrates (voiced by Bill Nighy) that in early designs was based on Michael Caine from the 1960s, then later became more John Gielgud with Caine’s old glasses. His CG interpretation in the trailer looked pretty close to my 2D drawings.
Other characters from my pen for the movie were some incidental humans, along with finessing designs by others, and breaking down attitudes and movement for Norm (voiced by Rob Schneider), Mr. Green (voiced by Ken Jeong), and the lemmings. It is always fun working on characters, and the ones for this film were especially fun to draw because director Trevor Wall was interested in being really cartoony with them. You don’t have to twist a cartoonist’s arm very hard to get him to draw in a cartoony way.
Well, here it is. The grand finale of the week long Sketch Challenge between me and my friend Andy Heckathorne. Since tomorrow is Halloween, and this being the last day of the challenge, it seemed appropriate to break out the ink in grand style with a caricature portrait of the master of the scary short story – Edgar Allan Poe.
I always found it interesting that those tales of gothic woe came flowing from the mind of a man who looked like he could be the subject of his own stories. Perhaps when he wrote in the first person, he really was the subject of his own stories. Hmm, something to ponder.
Well, here he is with the title character of his most well-known story, The Raven, in ink and white gouache on a dark gray shade of Canson paper.
Is there another day in this Sketch Challenge? Quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”
Thanks for tap, tap, tapping on your keyboards and mobile devices to come see my sketchy efforts. I hope you have enjoyed this week of sketch posts! And thanks to Andy for putting me up to the five day challenge. I hope I met your expectations, my friend.
Day four in this week’s Sketch Challenge brings with it the wrath and menace of a crazed cat behind the controls of a mouse zapping spaceship, enough to send a chill through the spine of Buck Rogers himself!
So THIS answers the question, “What does my cat do while I’m at work?”
Day three has arrived of the sketch duel between me and my good friend Andy Heckathorne. My friendship with Andy goes back to my days in college where we took many art classes together by day, and worked on the school newspaper together by night. It is because of this close friendship that I won’t claim ownership of this contest quite yet. All bets are off on Friday, though.
For those of you who have frequented my blog in years past, I usually post a monster each weekday during the month of October in what I call Monster Month. Unfortunately, real work schedules have kept me from doing those personal pieces this year, but seeing that we are still in October, there is no way I can let a week of sketches go by without adding a monster to the mix.
I present to you this orange beast master of flame, a fire breathing dragon complete with a hot dog accessory!
This guy would be really handy on a camping trip.
Another sketch comes to you tomorrow in the great 2015 Sketch Challenge!
Okay, okay. So yesterday we started off with a bang (so to speak) with some cowboys in this week’s Sketch Challenge between me and my buddy, Andy Heckathorne. Andy drew me getting punched out complete with a black eye (which you can see by clicking here). Today, I return the favor by sending him a bear that will maul Andy, if the bear doesn’t tickle him to death first.
I love drawing bears. There are lots of them on my blog. It is almost like it is a necessity for me to draw them now and again. There’s something about being able to put a goofy grin on them, and they have that lumbering, plump exterior that you can twist and turn any which way you’d like. I drew this guy on some brown Canson paper with ink, with added drybrush touches of white gouache.
Never trust a grinning bear.
Come back tomorrow to see what Day 3 in this Sketch Challenge will bring!
I thought it was time that I posted another selfie. No, not a photo of myself, but rather it was time to try a new version of my toony self by way of a self-caricature. It takes a little longer than holding out a camera and snapping the image, and it is much less blurry this way, but it is fun to see how far the image can be pushed and have it still look like me. Really, it all comes down to just wanting to make a new profile picture for Facebook.
If you would like to see past samples of self indulgence, CLICK HERE!
They say “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but I imagine this would inspire the Cliff’s Notes version.
Now, I have not worked on the Disney show Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but I do remember seeing Jake and his merry band of pirates being developed by some of the fellas who worked in the cubicles around me on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse a few years back. It turned into a very charming show that also happens to have very charming toys.
Recently a friend asked if I could draw Jake for his daughter, and was happy to oblige. Perhaps you might enjoy seeing Jake as well….
Jake is a spin-off from the world of Disney’s “Peter Pan.”
This past Saturday, December 6, approximately forty professional artists from the world of comics and animation descended upon the Warner Bros. Ranch studio in Burbank, California, to draw pictures for the kids and families coming to a holiday party sponsored by the Ronald McDonald House organization. It was such a blast to spend three hours of our day putting smiles on the faces of these kids.
It was hard to to draw with some clown looking over my shoulder, so I stood up to pose for a picture with the boss man himself!
You see, throughout the year Ronald McDonald House helps out families that have kids with some serious health problems. Each December Warner Bros. graciously opens their property to a wonderful party for those families who have needed Ronald McDonald House that year. They come and can ride on carnival rides, they are fed all kinds of goodies, they can meet Santa, they meet Ronald McDonald, there is face painting, free Christmas hats made by a senior citizens group, they can meet child actors that come, and they get lots of toys all for free.
The best part is, they come to the artists for free drawings of whatever they would like, or whatever the artist is able to draw. Sometimes the two don’t exactly match. I’m not afraid to tell folks I don’t know how to draw a particular character, but sometimes they pull up an image on their phones which makes me obliged to accommodate their requests.
Enough chit-chat. How about I let some photos do the talking…
I had a few requests for Baymax from “Big Hero 6”. This customer was satisfied with his drawing.Chris Hubbard, a story artist for Disney drawing a Sulley and Mike for a child.A trio of ladies with their Disney sketches from yours truly.This was my view from the end of the table. Next to me there in the hat is storyboard artist Dan Kubat with whom I worked last year.After I finished this Jack Skellington, Hannah informed me that I had drawn one for her last year, too. She eased my mind by letting me know I drew him differently this year. Whew!Artists Rafael Navarro & Geoffrey Wheeler.The crowds around the artist’s tables were enthusiastic, and very polite. You didn’t mind one bit drawing for these folks.I had quite a few requests for Olaf from Disney’s “Frozen.” Hadn’t drawn him before that day. Olaf would have enjoyed the summery weather we had.Yes, the kids could get free drawings from the great Dean Yeagle!Storyboard artist Gavin Freitas working feverishly to meet the demands of his clients!Art Leonardi (at right), known for his work on the classic Pink Panther cartoons, always organizes the artists for this event together with his daughter Lisa Leonardi-Knight.More happy customers!Here is a group shot of all the artists that came to draw for the kids!And my very last drawing of the day had to be the most challenging. Elsa from Disney’s “Frozen”. Since I had never drawn Elsa before, I had been turning down requests for her all day, until that very last one when this girl’s mother pulled up a picture on her phone.
So, that was the great event! Looking forward to joining the group again next year with the hope that we won’t see some of these same kids again because they healed!
