Sunday, September 18, 2011

Budding Ideas

I'm not feeling especially chatty tonight. However, I have work to show, so I suppose I gotta throw some words in with them, right? Right.

My boss at Powerhouse Animation Studios recently started an organization called Artists Against Cancer to benefit an employee currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, as well as anybody unlucky enough to be struck with any form of cancer. On the 27th of October, Artists Against Cancer (AAC) is putting on a benefit concert headlined by some local Austin bands. Our most recent task for "The Luck of the Draw", our biweekly drawing contest, was to create a poster for the event.



This marked my first piece completed with my brand new Wacom Cintiq 21UX. It's incredibly rewarding and relieving to know that I can literally jump in and create whenever I want. That's not to say I couldn't do that before with paints and pencils and the like, but I've settled into a pretty regulated workflow that is digital-centric. That said, I've wanted to get back into painting, as a complete omission of traditional techniques would be counter productive, considering my digital method is intended to evoke the traditional. It would be forgetting one's roots. So maybe look forward to some good ol' gouache stuff in the future. That used to be my bread and butter, but I've been spoiled to the user-friendly and time saving techniques inherent to digital creation.

The next matter of business is this idea I've got kickin' around my head. Caitlin has recently been getting really great feedback on her illustration work, and got some pointers for self promotion as well from book publishers. It was suggested that she create a mock series of consistent characters and story to better allow children's book publishers to see your ability to continue and carry a story through your illustration. It's a pretty self explanatory concept, but it never occurred to me that my menagerie of individual illustrations wouldn't get the whole point across. Needless to say, I'm taking the advice as well.

With that in mind, a little idea started in my head. I've always been a fan of very simple children's books. The kind involving a main character and merely snippets of a loose story. The kind meant for early readers that entertain by color changes, alliteration, and an expressive single character. Perhaps I can't exactly explain what I mean there, but I can at least show you what I intend to do.



This is Daredevil Darryl. He's an adrenaline junky. I intend to flesh out his character more, and put him in other activities, while keeping with the 'D' alliteration. Daredevil Darry dives, dirtbikes, drives, dunks, etc. All while teaching a moral of safety, making sure he is always depicted as fully prepared for each situation. A children's book has to have a moral, after all! I haven't decided on a changing color palette, but I've been thinking a simple swap of the single color (in this case, the red), while retaining the rough paper base, and the blacks and whites.

Sorry to split, but I've run out of words and feel like sketching! Laaaater.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

I BOUGHT A CINTIQ

It's true! I did! Snagged the last one at the online store I stumbled upon. $1,999. More than the market value of my car. AWWEEEEESOME. I should hope this will cause a huge spike in productivity. I mean how can I not draw when I have the sheer awesome power of this product? You can't, that's how! BAM.

I'm excited...but also loopy. I think I will sleep now. G'night!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Minor Site Update

Minor site update today. There's an addition to my resume page and pdf to include Powerhouse Animation Studios as my current employer. Don't let that scare you potential clients. I still have plenty of time for freelance in the evenings and weekends. Seriously! The contact page now has a mailing address (y'know if snail mail is your thing), and I added a new portrait and some new descriptors to the about page. Goody!

Have a great Labor Day weekend, everyone! Err...what's left of it.