Every now and then you have a dead moment (so to speak) at work waiting for your next assignment. Such a moment was upon me today, so instead of surfing the net or getting a sixth cup of coffee, I decided to start doodling. While keeping things very sketchy and rough, the doodle kept expanding in size, scope, and hideousness until it arrived at this heaping hulk of a concept monster.
Is he a brute with beastly intentions? Perhaps a misunderstood miscreant with a heart of gold? Or maybe it is someone who just regrets not having taken better care of his teeth in his younger years.
Whoever he may be, he most definitely is a sketch who evolved in a moment of a little workday idleness.
Spring is coming. You can feel it in the air! Well, maybe not those of you on the east coast who have been hit with a dollop of snow in recent weeks. Here in Los Angeles, we have been setting heat records for this time of year with it being in the 90s. I tend to enjoy things a little cooler than that, but we make do.
So with spring around the corner, I felt like sketching a smiling little bunny rabbit. Perhaps you might enjoy looking at it from your sunny front porch, or from your snow fort – whichever the case may be.
Recently I started working on storyboards for a new animated film called Animal Crackers. I had some time between assignments last week, and just to keep busy, I started sketching. This bear came out of hibernation by way of my Cintiq screen. (That’s a monitor you can draw on with a stylus.)
While the film does include many animals, this is not one from the movie lest your hopes were up for a sneak peek. For that, you should visit the Animal Crackers Facebook page where you can see some of the characters as designed by the amazing Carter Goodrich!
Just in case you were wondering, this bear does NOT use Charmin.
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.
Yes, that day has arrived once again where we shamelessly tell someone we think they are neat-o with a card featuring a silly cartoon drawing and a heart-shaped box of chocolates mostly filled with sweet stuff nobody likes until they find the one with caramel. Nothing can relay our heartfelt intentions more sincerely than that……until the showoff comes along who makes us all look bad by hiring a skywriter to declare their love in a message in a puff of pollution for all in a 5 mile radius to see.
So, to get you started on your day of wooing, here are a couple of cupids ready to rise to the occasion…
HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody!!!! Now, for the next month or so, try real hard to not write 2014 on letters, checks, or other important documents. I’m still trying to stop writing 2013, but it is much easier to make a 3 look like a 5 than it is to do so to a 4, so I’ll be okay.
I had the good fortune to visit the country of Russia last year during the summer when the weather was nice. There were hot days, and there were warm days, but was reminded several times by the locals that the winters are long and cold there. I also was told that Christmas isn’t celebrated there so much as New Years is.
So, here is a little painting of the New Year’s celebration in Russia. Go nuts, guys, and dream of summer!
As we enter into the Christmas week, amidst all the hustle and bustle, keep in mind the sobering thought that God came to earth as Jesus to live among men and save those who believe from our sin. Now THAT is something to celebrate! Merry Christmas indeed!
All handmade in gouache and colored pencil in case you are curious.
Several weeks ago on a visit to one of my favorite jaunts, a little restaurant known as Chili John’s in Burbank, California, I doodled a monster on one of their paper placemats. It was just one of those things that happened when a ball point pen met a piece of paper while I was enjoying conversation with the great folks who work there. They liked it, and pinned it up on their wall which in a way is a challenge to anyone else who comes in to do better.
You can see that I am a very neat eater – no chili spills on the placemat.
To “do better” is not very hard in this eating establishment, because cartoonists from all the animation studios sit at Chili John’s lunch counter each and every day. They are always doing drawings, most of which go on display in the back room for the amusement of the owners and staff.
Chili John’s is the second oldest restaurant in Burbank (only The Smokehouse is older) established in their current location in the 1940s. The fare is simple – good solid no filler spicy chili in beef, chicken, vegetarian, and here at Thanksgiving – turkey. You can have it served over rice, spaghetti, beans, a chili filled tamale, or a hot dog. That’s it! The food is good, and the clientele from all walks of life come in to dine. It is not unusual to see their share of famous people past and present such as Tom Bosley, “Weird” Al Yankovic, Grant Show, Roseanne Barr, Greg Proops, Anne Hathaway, Daniel Roebuck, and any number of recording artists who inhabit the hidden studios along Burbank Blvd. Just last week the CBS show CSI was taping two doors down at the hobby shop, and cast & crew kept coming in for some of that good ol’ chili! It got to where the Craft Services cook came and got a supply to put on the buffet outside. Even Guy Fieri featured it on his show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network. But I digress.
So, back to the monster sketch! Someone DID decide to pick up a pen and meet the challenge. In my absence, Delilah – age 8 – came in with her mother, saw my monster sketch, and decided she was going to draw him, too. She studied and concentrated and came up with her own beautiful version of my beast. She also one-upped me by giving him a name – Lumpy!
Delilah has an eye for monsters, but also a taste for excellent chili!
I LOVE IT Delilah – whoever you are! Well done! Please keep drawing and drawing so that one day I can copy your work, ok? Hopefully sometime we can meet each other there at Chili John’s. We can enjoy a bowl of hot chili together and laugh at each other’s placemat doodles. Then maybe Anne Hathaway will have to follow in OUR footsteps. 😉
