Ricky Covers

As I'm getting ready to post the cover of Icky Ricky #3, I wanted to share theses cover sketches for book #1.

Astronaut #15

Can't believe I never posted this.  This was done last year, it's 100% digital, except for some paper textures.

It makes me think of my favorite line from Star Wars, "No blasters! No blasters!"

Shapes!

Here's some more animation design work.  In my picture books I never get this extreme with shapes, and this doesn't come naturally to me.  One thing I am having a tough time with is combining gesture and design into one image.  I think I'll get there.

I have no idea why I chose to draw bikers.

A new direction...

With the possibility of the Fangbone! pilot being picked up, I'm trying to develop some animation design techniques.  This is not a style that I have ever focused on, so these initial attempts will most likely be lacking.  These two a from another idea I have been working on for a while.  One's a scientist, one's a presidential type.  I like the shapes, but the line work needs to be taken to the next level.

The eyes have it...

One thing I've been meaning to do lately is to take some time to learn to animate a GIF.  It actually was quite easy and I'm bummed I didn't do it earlier.

Book ideas...

I'm not really sure how the next few months will play out.  I could be working on a TV show, or I could still be doing my books.

I get many ideas for books.  Some are good, some are lousy.  Some get all figured out, some don't make it past a notion.  This year, I am going to try to make covers for some of the ideas, just so that I can have a record of them, and I can try out new techniques.

"If You Met a Guy from Outer Space" is a little picture book idea I've been thinking about the last few weeks. I can't really say what it's about because I have a few, very different concepts for it.  However, last night I had some time and put this together.

I liked the design, but didn't like the characters.  The kid was way too bland, and no different than how I have been drawing kids for ages.  This afternoon, I took a bit of time and re-drew the characters, and I think they're much more appealing.

Sketches...

Here are two very different sketches from the last few months.  I added the digital color a few weeks ago. I'm still trying to figure out how to combine line and textures, with a minimal palette.  I'm getting there. The monster drawing was only about an inch wide, and was blown up quite a bit so that the quality of the line would change.

Happy New Year!

I had an entire other New Year's post ready to go, and then as I pulled up this piece of art, it occurred to me that I didn't actually draw it.  This is a promo piece for the Fangbone! pilot which will be done soon.  This year is a huge roll of the dice and I must admit that I am very nervous.  The show could get picked up which would be amazing and a life-long dream to be working in TV/Film.  (Before I took my illustration career seriously I studied Film at SVA.)

Or, knock on wood, the show doesn't get picked up, then...well, then I have to make peace with that somehow.

But here's the thing...I'm proud of the work I've done on the show.  I'm thrilled that the producers have treated me with such respect and have kept my so involved. I'm over-the-moon happy with the work that the writers and animators have put into it.  It's really, really good and I can't wait for it to be seen.  It's taken years to learn this, but at the end of the day, I must be content with knowing that I did my best.  Whether people like my books, or my art, or the show, well, I can't control that.

Here's to 2014 and doing my best!

Fangbone 4?

I keep getting e-mails asking if I am working on Fangbone! #4.  Sadly, I'm not.  But I have been working on a pilot for Disney Xd Cananda.  Check out this video!

If you want to got, go here!  Choose the voice of Fangbone!

Puss in Boots

I did a quick program cover for the Chatham Community Player's production of "Puss in Boots."  My biggest concern was that it didn't look like the Dreamworks version.  The sketches were done at the dinner table while my boys were doing their homework.  I think I spent more time on the text than on the cat himself.

I need a volunteer...

One of the things I do during my school visits is have a child from the audience pose for me. I ask the student to act as if he or she is fighting a battle, and then I give them props and costume.  This is probably the most fun part of my visit.  I then use the child as a model while the audience watches me draw.  When doing this, I stress the idea of looking at something while drawing it, and that even a professional such as myself might make a mistake.

Also during my visit I talk about the writing process, and how I don’t just write my stories once, but I write them “again, and again, and again…” to make sure that they are as good as they can be.  And when I’m done with all of that writing, I feel like the guy on the screen in the last photo.

Thanks to Arielle Goldstein for the great photos.  You can read Arielle's blog here TechnicallyLibrarian

Fangbone! Pumpkin

I just got this excellent shot of a Fangbone! pumpkin from Tom Angleberger.  Yes, the same Tom Angleberger that is responsible for the very funny and hugely popular "Origami Yoda" series of books.  It seems that he's a pretty big fan of Fangbone!  Check out how the horns are made of pumpkin as well.  Look closely, and you can see there's a little carved skull on the top.

I've never net Tom, but we have chatted through e-mail a handful of times.  One of these days I hope to run into him in person. Thanks for taking the time to make this, Tom, and for sending along the picture.

Cowboy Ducks

I've been really busy the last few weeks.  I am just about done with Icky Ricky #3, the Fangbone! pilot continues to roll along and now we are developing two more scripts.  I took a little time over the weekend to do these Duck Cowboys for our local elementary school's art auction.  These were drawn with a fine pen bought at Staples, and rendered with Dr. Ph. Martin's concentrated water colors.

Fangbone! TV Pilot Art

Wow!  I have a great big pile of Fangbone! TV pilot art to share with you today.  I've been sitting on this all summer, but was recently given the go-ahead to post it.  All of the below work was drawn by the wonderful people at Mercury Filmworks.  None of it is mine.

This is what Fangbone's cave looks like now.

The kitchen in Bill's house.

 This is a battle dummy that Fangbone uses to develop his barbarian skills.

 Here are the two other Skullbania warriors that will be regulars on the show.

You can nevr have enough trolls.

 Here's a sketch of Drool's throne room.  This was used to determine scale.  That little red guy is Drool.

Action pose of Fangbone.  This was one of the first pieces that was produced to get a sense of what the who would look like.

Two types of sketches...

Over the last two weeks I have had very little time to do any "real" work.  Camp is over, but school has not started yet.  That means I have the boys at home all day.  We have a lot of fun, and I keep them busy. I get some work done at night after they are in bed, but sometimes I'm just too wiped out.   I have, however, had some time to sketch and just have fun with my drawings.

Below are two sets of sketches.  The first is observational drawings, and the second is creative work. However, all the sketches were done with the same materials and technique.  For these drawings, I put in the goldish/brown value first using watercolor, and then drew all of the lines.  I'm usually a slave to line, so this was a good opportunity for me to try to shake off some of my bad habits.