Andy the Illustrator's Happening Sketch Blog

Smarty Pants Travel

2011-12-23T16:35:00.007-07:00

Howdy Folks!

I'm excited to share a new illustration with you! Josh Stromberg, a smart young man who's going places (literally!), asked me to create a banner for his travel blog:

http://smartypantstravel.wordpress.com/about/

Needless to say, I was impressed by his blog and his thorough reviews. Here are the designs I came up with. I was having such a good time that I did a few color combos for fun.

Thanks for visiting! Happy Holidays!

Evergreen Hospital Art Show

2011-11-27T14:34:00.005-07:00

Howdy howdy!

I hope you all at a super cosmic Thanksgiving! I'm writing to tell you that coming up in February, a large exhibition of my artwork will be displayed at the Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, WA. About 20-25 of my paintings and drawings will be hung in the Silver Gallery, which is right next door to the emergency room.

This is the most work I've ever exhibited, so it will be exciting to see it all hanging. The show will last from February to April and the hospital is open 24/7, so you can visit anytime that's convenient for you! Here's a link to the hospital's website, I'll also post more info as the date gets closer:

http://www.evergreenhospital.org/art

Hope to see you there! Thanks for visiting my blog!

Unicorn Tears

2011-11-01T16:33:00.004-06:00

At work a short while back, Lauren (who is in charge of the awesome) informed me that things weren't quite as awesome as they should be. As it turned out, lots of folks had been leaving their dirty dishes in the studio sink for others to clean. To remedy this sad state of affairs, she commissioned me to draw a picture so sad that it would shame these characters into washing their own dishes.

Ok, maybe things weren't really that bad. But the kitchen definitely needed to be decorated. Here is the finished piece. Feel free to print it out and post it anywhere that dishes need washing. Thanks to Lauren for giving me an excuse to draw this, and thanks to Run Studio for allowing me to hang this in their kitchen. And thank you for visiting my blog!

Artwork in Hometown Hospital

2011-10-16T14:23:00.005-06:00

Howdy hey!

Just want to let you know that a large print of one of my paintings is hanging at the hospital in Newberg, OR!

A year or two ago, I was exploring selling giclee prints of my artwork and had a ginormous print made of one of my paintings. The giclee business idea never panned out and the print stayed in storage. Then my parents had the great idea of donating it to the hospital in my hometown, where it now hangs near the ER. It feels stellar to know that the print has a great home and hopefully brightens a few people's days.

Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Atlanta Underground Film Fest & Shorts Fest

2011-08-30T22:32:00.003-06:00

Howdy One and All!

I’m super excited to announce that my short film “What’s the Deals?” will screen at two festivals in Atlanta this September:

The Atlanta Underground Film Festival, September 22 – 25

The Atlanta Shorts Fest, September 8 – 10.

Both festivals take place at the Goat Farm Arts Center, and judging from the name alone, it sounds like it will be a mind blowing experience! Below is a synopsis of “What’s the Deals?”

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And that certainly seems to be true for this poker-playing robot. Or is it? What’s the deal?”

If you make it down to Atlanta, I hope you enjoy the film and have a blast!

Big Ole Website Update Magic

2011-07-09T21:42:00.004-06:00

Howdy howdy!

I just updated my website! Woot woot! I would be super honored if you'd take a moment to check out my new work. There is a new Concept Art section (a true feast for the eyes) and new animations and illustrations: www.andymusser.com

I'm also excited to tell you that the Run Studios website was updated recently and that I've been added to the employee sketch wall!
http://runstudios.com/about-us.html
If you visit their website, I encourage you to poke around and definitely check out the new reel.

Below is some of my new work, head over to my website to see the rest.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy.

Telly Awards

2011-05-25T11:05:00.004-06:00

Hi Folks!

I'm really excited to tell you that a project I worked on won two Tellys! Woot woot! The project was on a super short ten day deadline, so it's really exciting that it turned out and people enjoy it!

The crew at Run Studios is super awesome and it's great to be on the team. For this project, I worked on concept art and during production I designed and painted the props and backgrounds. Enjoy! Thanks for visiting!

NFFTY - What's The Deals?

2011-04-24T20:21:00.007-06:00

Come see my film "What's the Deals?" at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth! It will premiere Saturday, April 30th, at 1pm at the SIFF Cinema in Seattle. For tickets and more info, check out their website: nffty.org

I uploaded a little bit of info about the film on my website, you can check it out here:

http://andymusser.com/animation/whatsthedeals.html

Below is the trailer for the film fest, which showcases great clips from some of the films that will screen this year. The festival is really incredible and it would be great to see you there. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Fancy Birds

2011-03-13T17:07:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago, I had a few gifts to make so I busted out the pens and watercolors. They were a lot of fun to make, I hope you enjoy them. Thanks for looking!

Hippo Poem

2011-03-13T17:06:00.001-06:00

Howdy Folks!

Here is a little painting/sketch I did for fun the other night. As a break from sitting on a computer all day, I busted out the acrylics and color pencils for a hour. I was looking for a toned working surface, so I painted on the back of some illustration board. Originally, I was going to paint several animals, but a poem seemed more appropriate. Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking!

The Adventures of Inky Pete

2011-03-13T16:46:00.007-06:00

Howdy howdy!

Here is a new/old illustration I dug up. I did the drawing in pencil and then finished the coloring in Photoshop. It was a lot of fun to work on. I wrote a few stories about Inky Pete that I will hopefully illustrate sometime in the near future.

Whenever I get a chance, I head over to Seattle with my sketching buddies for a day of drawing. Here are some of the sketches I threw down the past few weeks:

Super Cosmic Film Festival in Seattle

2011-03-09T14:34:00.007-07:00

Hi Folks!

I am extremely stoked to tell you that my latest film will be screened at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth! NFFTY takes place every year during the last weekend of April in and around the Seattle Space Needle complex. All the filmmakers are 22 and under and are from all over the world, making for a really fun and exciting mix of films.

My short is a little comedy about card playing robots. If you want to stick around after the screening, I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have. The festival is a blast, I recommend you come for all four days of it. This year the opening night after party is going to be on the top of the Space Needle. There are also panels and industry pros who attend, so there is a lot to learn as well as see.

My film, "Whats the Deals?" will be playing on Saturday, April 29th, at 1pm at the SIFF Cinema. For more info, directions, and tickets, visit the website (My film is playing in the "Animation!" screening):

http://nffty.org/events/animation

Hope to see you there!

Bird Girl Postcard

2011-01-31T21:24:00.003-07:00

Howdy howdy!

This month I sent this illustration out as a postcard. Below are a few of the sketches I did in preparation for the painting. Since I've been using ballpoint pen and watercolors in my sketchbook recently, I thought I would try using the media for a finished illustration. To make things easy, I used my travel kit consisting of a small watercolor palette, two travel brushes, and a ballpoint pen. It was oodles of fun!

I also revamped my website and super sized all the images, check it out! www.andymusser.com

Run Studios Greeting Card

2010-12-02T22:35:00.004-07:00

Happy Holidays!

Back at the Studios, I was given the great honor of helping to design the holiday greeting card. Brett Ciacco, Will Hardin, and I did a lot of sketches and came up with a pile of ideas. After the direction was decided on by our bosses, I painted the final illustration. Chris Lorance did an amazing job adding the lens flare, which in my opinion, makes the piece. And there's nothing quite like a good lens flare!

Birds For Brittany

2010-11-30T23:00:00.005-07:00

Howdy Howdy!

Here is a quick little sketch I did for my friend Brittany. It was inspired by some seabirds I saw chilling on the pier when I took the ferry last week.

Happy Holidays!

Late Night Creature Feature

2010-10-22T17:15:00.005-06:00

Howdy Folks!

Here are a few silly late night drawings. The first was the result of a challenge to draw a self portrait as a gnome. The costume design was inspired by Rufio from the movie "Hook." Not the whole costume, just the shirt-cut-in-half part. The second had to feature a vampire.

P.S. You should really check out Kit Seaton's blog! She recently finished a sketchbook on the theme "Happy Thoughts" and it's been a huge inspiration to me. It's totally off the hook! I promise it will blow your brain box! You gotta pop a lid on it: http://www.kitseaton.com/blog/?p=378

The Will and Brett Show

2010-10-21T22:27:00.007-06:00

Greetings Folks!

Fall is upon us! Halloween, pumpkins, butternut squash, Sasquatch...

Anyways, as I've mentioned in past posts, at the studio where I work we do weekly creative exercises to keep the creative juices flowing through our brain boxes. We also like to draw caricatures of each other. This tradition was started by my co-workers Will Hardin and Brett Ciacco long before I came into the studio, and the legacy continues daily. No one in the office is safe from the constant caricaturizations, but more often than not, I find myself drawing Will and Brett in response to their silly and skillful drawings of me.

"Moonbeam Blast-off" was a theme during the first weekly exercise. Both Will and Brett are great storytellers, they often regale me with stories of yore. When hearing their banter, it's not hard to imagine them as characters on a sitcom.

This last drawing was for the theme "Chin of Doom." As you can see, the Cosmic Conductor is battling an evil mustachioed robot. I'm sorry to say that, although he sports a mullet endowed with magical powers, things don't end well for the Conductor.

Thanks for taking a look!

Now for Something Quite Strange

2010-09-30T10:26:00.004-06:00

So there it is, "Attack of Dr. Cheeze Whiz and his Cow Milk Clones." What, you might ask, inspired me to do something so strange and disturbing? Well, it all started with an innocent creative exercise called "Out of the Bag"...

At work one day, the benevolent and well-bearded Animation Lead, Will Hardin, came up with the superb idea of doing a weekly creative challenge. So everyone in the office wrote down words and sentences on scraps of paper and put them in an old paper take-out bag from Chipotle (yes, we proudly recycle). Once a week, we draw two pieces of paper from this wondrous bag and these two phrases create the theme. The challenge is to produce something interesting, and preferably artistic, by the time we reconvene in a week.

So what two phrases produced "Dr. Cheese Whiz"? The two offending scraps of paper said:

(1) Cheeeee-eeeze
(2) Out de door

When I read them, I wasn't sure what they actually meant, all I knew was that I had to draw a cow blasting someone with her udders. Then I started thinking about where milk comes from, and how gross and preverted it is to milk a cow and disgrace it by turning its milk into yellow, moldy bricks. Think about it.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll have something nifty (and hopefully less disturbing) to share with you next time.

P.S. While we're on the subject of bizarre yet amazing art, I recommend that you check out the blog that Will Hardin and Brett Ciacco maintain (be aware that some of their drawings can be pretty far out) : Gnomes, Jamsters and Other Unsorted Sundries

Happy Journey Collective

2010-08-11T10:41:00.014-06:00

Hello Folks!

I'd like to direct you towards a great website, Happy Journey Collective! The website was started by a group of talented artists who wanted to create fresh and exciting custom coffin designs.

I feel highly honored that they asked me to create a design for their radical website! Below are some photos of my process. To see a higher resolution image of the finished illustration, please visit their website.

The Wild West

2010-08-09T23:41:00.002-06:00

Howdy howdy!

A short while ago, a fine gentleman and talented artist by the name of Tony Elmore asked me to join a collective he had started. All the artists started in locations west of the Mississippi, so he came up with the slick name of the Wild West Collective. Every month, Tony interviews a different artist from the collective and features some of their artwork on the website. I feel greatly honored to say that I am the featured artist for August! Please visit the Wild West Collective website and check out what it's got going on, there are a lot of links to some great artists!

P.S. If you look closely at the painting I did for the WWC, you'll notice that it is a mix of acrylic paint and ballpoint pen!

Super Cosmic 2D Animation

2010-07-17T01:58:00.008-06:00

Howdy Folks!

I'm really excited about what I have to share with you in this post! As I mentioned before, I've been interning at the super cosmic Run Studios since June. Everyone who works there is mega rad, you should check out their website: www.runstudios.com

The first project I had the opportunity to work on was an amazing 2D extravaganza! We did it pretty old school, drawing and "inking" all the frames by hand. The boomin' crew at Run have some mad 2D skills and feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with them.

The video was for the Yahoo/Microsoft Search Alliance, you can check out the video here as well:

http://www.searchalliance.com/home

I was given the great privilege of working on several really cool parts of this video. I'm especially proud of the fire breathing dragon and the man throwing sunglasses that I got to animate. All the animation for the background characters is mine as well. There are some few other misc. shots as well as a lot of scanning and laying out frames that I got to work on. But in the end, I was a small part of the Run team. The crew at Run is so passionate and supportive, and I'm really glad to be working there.

Thanks for reading!

Feeling Cosmic in Washington

2010-06-20T23:38:00.004-06:00

Howdy Folks!

In the time that's passed since my last post I moved to Washington state! I'm living in the radical town of Kirkland and doing an internship at the super cosmic Run Studios. Everything has been stellar so far and I'm just a short ride from Seattle! Speaking of Seattle, here are a few doodles I did when I was there last week. I saw these people walking around and I'm pretty sure that if I had heard them speak, this is what they would have said:

Well, that's all for now. But I have many projects in the works, so I hope to have something to share with you soon! Thanks for taking a look!

The Unicorn Yeti and the Bushman

2010-05-25T13:53:00.005-06:00

Greetings One and All!

Here are some fancy new drawings from my book of sketches! I'm in the process of moving, so I haven't had time to do full scale illustrations, but I've been having lots of fun just dinking around with pens and watercolors.

I did these first two when I was at the airport a while back. I was looking at a potted plant and I started thinking about the creatures that might live inside. I want to give a big shout out to my friend, Ryan, whose work was a huge inspiration for these guys. Ryan's got an amazing menagerie of characters and creatures in his portfolio, so I recommend you go and check that out (right now! Do it!): www.secoraillustrations.com

This last guy here is from last week when I went to the zoo. Thanks for taking a look! Ya'll come back now!

Birdland - Part I

2010-05-15T16:29:00.004-06:00

Howdy there!

I'm chilling at the Denver airport, so I thought I'd do a little update. Lately, I've been drawing some funky little birds and I'd like to hear what you guys think of them. In the next few days I'm planning on coloring them and posting the finished product for you all to dig. I've been in love with Charlie Harper's book "Birds and Words" for some time, so it was fun to do something in the same vein.

While waiting here at the airport, I ran into my friend Blake. You should really peel a lid on his blog, because he spends a lot of time doing nifty drawings of people at the airport as well as creating an array of funk-tacular creatures: http://bachamness.blogspot.com/

To wrap things up, I would like to direct you to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators website. Last year I was lucky enough to get a scholarship to attend the Rocky Mt. chapter's fall conference, and they posted one of my illustrations and a quote: http://www.scbwi.org/Regional-Chapters.aspx?R=40&sec=News

Zoo Animals

2010-05-12T10:33:00.008-06:00

(click image to enlarge)

Howdy Folks!

At the end of last month I went to the Denver zoo with some of my drawing buddies. The above drawing is the Dandy Lion. My buddy, Chris, came up with the name which inspired me to create this crazy, yet nattily dressed lion. Below are sketches from the building that I like to call The Reptile Room.

(click image to enlarge)

And this here is a moving picture of a swimming lizard.

Colorful Animals in the Sketchbook

2010-04-24T19:36:00.006-06:00

A few days back, I did these little sketches when I was at the coffee shop hanging with some friends. I had brought along my portable watercolor palette and two of those nifty brushes that hold water in their handles. It was a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy!

King Yeti Love Jazz

2010-03-30T09:47:00.008-06:00

Howdy folks!

Just finished a new illustration! I've been told that digital illustration is the wave of the future, so thought I might give it a try.

Here is a little movie showing the final stages of the process. Thanks for taking a look!

Pencil Test Magic

2010-03-20T09:52:00.003-06:00

Howdy Folks!

Lately, I've been working on a short animated intro for my portfolio. I decided that it would really benefit if it had a running giant in it. Enjoy!

Robot Jazz Lessons

2010-03-09T15:45:00.003-07:00

New Painting!

Robot Jazz Lessons! Only 50 cents each, what a steal!

New Sketchbook Pages!

2010-03-04T10:50:00.007-07:00

Howdy howdy!

I am happy to inform you that I have updated my website! Most specifically, I divided the sketchbook page into three sections: creative, people, and animal. There are some spiffy new drawings (if I do say so myself) and I would be most honored if you would take a moment to check them out: http://andymusser.com/Sketchbook/sketchbook.html

Additionally, the homepage has been redesigned so that thumbnails of new work can be continually added and updated. So from now on, you can just go to www.andymusser.com and check out the "New Work" bar to see all the great new stuff on the site!

Oh, and recently I finished "Mail-Order Octopus," a new black and white painting! Dig it!

6 Different Ways to Tie Your Shoes

2010-02-20T14:17:00.005-07:00

Howdy!

Below is a little Flash experiment that I would like to share with you! A few days ago, I did some sketches of people tying their shoes. I was really digging the color pencil drawings but wasn't exactly sure what to do with them. It occurred to me that it would be fun to make them into a little Flash presentation! Below you will find the resulting interactive presentation! Enjoy!

(Press the "Next" button to scroll through the drawings)

Demo Reel, Super Deal!

2010-02-17T17:11:00.004-07:00

Howdy Folkettes!

I have much to share with you! I just finished a new illustration and I compiled my demo reel!

The illustration was done for a competition in which the theme was diversity. My concept behind this picture is that the old lady is knitting sweaters for all the fairy tale creatures to show her love and acceptance. Everyone is having a great time, especially the Big Bad Wolf, who has made friends with all his enemies. Life is good!

The demo reel was made to generally showcase my animation skills. I'd like to thank Flo Musser, who wrote and performed the neat little song that I used for the sound track. She wrote the tune and we recorded it in the space of five hours!

We'll, I'm back to the drawing board! I'll write again soon!

Oui oui, I designed a T!

2010-02-03T19:18:00.004-07:00

Hello Foxy Mamas and Hep Daddies!

I recently designed a t-shirt for Threadless.com! The battle isn't over yet, however, because I need your vote! If you have a moment, please use the link below and cast your vote (and you can even leave a quote)! Thank you kindly!

Score this design: "Heavy Beats," to help it get printed on Threadless!

Monochrome Magic!

2010-01-25T08:49:00.007-07:00

Howdy Hi!

I have some new illustrations to share with you all! Lately, I've been working on developing black and white spot illustrations for my portfolio. To add a bit of a challenge, I have been trying to finish each in under two days. My process has started to develop into a routine, I usually come up with the idea at night and then the next morning I finish the illustration in a few hours.

To speed things up, all of these illustrations were done in mixed media, utilizing India ink, acrylics, and pencil. In a few places I even used ballpoint pen to add small details. I used Photoshop for clean-up, but the pieces were done pretty analog.

"Southwest Santa," acrylics,ink, and pencil on illustration board.

Description: After the holidays ended, I was listening to Bob Dylan's cover of "Must be Santa" and felt oddly inspired to do something Christmas themed. I guess Bob can have that effect on people. On a side note, the cactus is named "Mr. Wactus the Talking Cactus."

"Mr.Whiskers and His Magical Cats," acrylics,ink, and pencil on illustration board.

Description: A little while back I did an illustration for a story called "The Magical Cat," about a man/cat that rides the train. In the intro, it briefly mentions how many feral cats ride the train too. When I did this sketch last year I really liked the composition (and I love to draw cats! But who doesn't?!) so I was very happy to be able to do a finished piece.

"The Three Little Pigs," acrylics,ink, and pencil on illustration board.

Description: Classic folktales and strong silhouettes are always fun too! I've been studying the illustrations in the old Wizard of Oz books, and realized that John R. Neill broke things down into a really simple value range. Often times he used only black, white, and simulated gray (through cross hatching). In this fashion, I try to use only three values in my sketches to get the basic silhouettes and composition. My palette for the final piece has a six step value range, which allows me to work relatively quickly.

You can also view these illustrations in the new Black and White illustration section on my website! Check it out: Black and White Illustrations on andymusser.com

Three New Paintings and Process Photos

2009-12-10T19:31:00.009-07:00

Howdy Folks!

Boy, things have been busy since my last post! I have three new paintings to share with you, I redesigned my website, and I'm graduating from college! Wow wee!

Here are the three new paintings. You can view them here or view them on my spiffed up website: www.andymusser.com

This one here is an illustration for the first "Doctor Dolittle" Book.

This one is an illustration for a children's book I'm working on.

While I was painting the third, I took some random pictures of the process. So please enjoy the painting of "Sam's Repair Shop"...in reverse!

The finished piece!

Laying down the darks

At this stage, I did a tight line drawing on watercolor paper and began painting.

color study

Early sketch

Unfold the Possibilities

2009-11-12T14:39:00.006-07:00

Hey hey!

Here's a little video I completed this summer. It was created for a contest held by Amazon.com. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to work with two talented artists; Kit Seaton did a fantastic job reading the narration and Flo Musser composed and performed a wonderful soundtrack. Enjoy!

Unfold the Possibilities from Andy Musser on Vimeo.

The Magical Cat

2009-11-11T13:27:00.007-07:00

Howdy Howdy!

Here is an illustration I just finished last weekend. It was made to accompany a story by Gianni Rodari called El Gato Viajero (The Traveling Cat). The Traveling Cat is a fun yarn about a dapper cat that takes a train ride. Accompanying the story are several different endings that the viewer may choose from; my illustration shows the cat as a magician in disguise.

I would like to say a big thank you to Elisa Wikey for giving me the idea of using the geometric shapes as "magic" in the image. It was really a brilliant idea to wrap the shapes around the edges as a subtle border. So thank you very much, Elisa!

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

2009-11-07T17:28:00.007-07:00

Hi!

This here is my latest illustration. It was made to accompany the classic fairy tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." In my version, the princesses wait in a swamp as the princes arrive on their floating row boats.

I tried a slightly experimental approach for this piece. After finishing a tight line drawing, I scanned it in to the computer and printed it out on a nice weight drawing paper. The print was then glued to an illustration board and pressed it under some weight. I used a wax paper to protect the surface and felt to absorb the water during the pressing. When I checked the board the next day, the combination of the felt and wax paper had created a wavy pattern in the paper. What a great happy accident!

Colony of Cats

2009-10-04T10:32:00.006-06:00

Hello one and all!

Here is an illustration I just finished, it is titled "Colony of Cats." The story is about a secret colony of cats somewhere along the Silk Road. In the illustration, a Siamese emperor is buying a little catnip.

The media is acrylics on watercolor paper. I glued the paper to mat board to give it support so it wouldn't buckle. To read a little more about the story visit my portfolio page: Colony of Cats

Adventures in Etsyland

2009-08-13T14:47:00.008-06:00

Good day, Ladies and Gentlemen!

I just finished working on an animation project, Adventures in Etsyland, and I can't wait to share the results with you! It was collaborative effort with my artist friend Kit Seaton. We developed the story together and then split the work up between us. She did all of the character design and most of the drawings, I handled the coloring and animation. Flo Musser was generous enough to compose and perform a sound track.

Adventures in Etsyland was created for the "Handmade Moment" contest held by Etsy.com, and the number of views the video gets is one of main factors that determines the finalist. So please take a moment to watch this short, 30 second film: http://www.andymusser.com/animation/adventuresinetsyland.html. And if you dig it please, we would greatly appreciate it if you share it with others that you know will enjoy it.
Thank you very much and enjoy!

Lesley Barne's Fantastico Bookmarks

2009-08-06T07:56:00.003-06:00

(Image by Lesley Barnes)

Greetings folks!

My friend Lesley just posted some new bookmark designs on Etsy, and I think they're spiff! I got one myself and it's beautiful! Clever, whimsical illustrations mounted on elegant, sumptuous leather - what else could you ask for?! They also come packaged with all manner of fun stickers and neat packaging, perfect for a gift! And as of this post, they're only $5.99!

(Images by Lesley Barnes)

Her shop on Etsy is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7409705

And she's also selling them here: http://www.somagallery.co.uk/shop/shopmain.html

If you dig her bookmarks, then you should check out her illustration and animation: lesleybarnes.co.uk

Her film Herzog and the Monsters has been a huge inspiration to me:

From the Deepest Wilds of Africa

2009-07-25T12:08:00.005-06:00

"From the Heart of Africa" - Pochade #1
5"x7", Acrylics on Illustration Board
(click image to enlarge)

"From the Heart of Africa" - Pochade #2
5.75"x5.75", Acrylics on Illustration Board

(click image to enlarge)

Yesterday, I once again ventured to the zoo with my illustrator buddy for a little painting (and the paintings were literally little...ha ha!). We brought our easels and paints this time, and set up near a group of African-looking huts for some plein air painting. Standing in the same place, I painted two small pochades in a series that I playful named "From the Heart of Africa" (which was obviously far from the truth since I was at the Denver Zoo). I only spent about an hour on each painting, my goal for the day was just to have fun painting and playing with color. As a new exercise, I tried painting with my glasses off. This reduced everything into colorful shapes, which was quite beneficial for simplifying the composition. When I was packing up, I noticed a happy accident. By placing the paintings side-by-side, they create a panorama! This was a completely unplanned, but a welcome accident.

(click image to enlarge)

Paul Bunyan Eats an Onion

2009-07-16T18:51:00.006-06:00

Hello again!

Here is a small doodle I did for fun, it's the legendary Paul Bunyan calling for is giant ox Blue. I hope to color it when I get a bit of time.

(click image to enlarge)

I haven't posted in a while because I've been working on a short animated commercial. Unfortunately, I can't share the finished piece with you at the moment, but I shall in the future. Stay tuned!

2009-06-14T15:51:00.006-06:00

Here is a small plein air sketch I painted a few months back. At the end of April, I made a visit to the Portland (Oregon) area. On a frigid morning, I rode the Light Rail train into downtown P-town for a day of bumming around. When I arrived at 7am, I found that nothing was really open that early. So I sat in park and painted until the shops opened up. It was breath fogging, finger freezing, knee knocking cold! On the positive side, I didn't have to worry about my paint drying too quickly

Below is a picture of the set up I used. Out of all the tools in this picture, I'd have to say the most important was that cup full of warm caffeine. Very important indeed.

Prehistoric Waddles

2009-06-13T14:35:00.004-06:00

Yesterday at the zoo, I made a visit to my friend the Double Waddled Cassowary. This fellow is a huge, prehistoric-looking bird. He has massive dinosaur legs, feathers that resemble black hair, and a small bird face with a large horn and colorful waddles on his neck. On the whole, is a very unique, terrifying individual. I plan to visit him often. I drew the cassowary's portrait in pen and then did a quick pencil sketch.

(click image to enlarge)

A bit earlier I was visiting the pachyderms. It was meal time and this elephant seemed to be quite happy with the day's menu.

(click image to enlarge)

Nffty Film Clip

2009-06-11T19:37:00.003-06:00

A little while back, on the last weekend of April, I attended the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) in beautiful Seattle, Washington. The fest was amazing; it was well organized and highly enjoyable. Meeting the filmmakers and other particapites was a fun and inspiring experience. I was lucky enough to have my film Fall in Line screened alongside the other great films at NFFTY. Recently, they posted a video with some highlights of the festival. If you look closely, you can see me 42 seconds into it as well at 2:45.

Zooy Louie the Explorer

2009-06-06T10:20:00.009-06:00

Hello everybody! I went to the zoo yesterday and did a little drawing. Here are some quick sketches of the Bongos in Prismacolor marker.

(click image to enlarge)

While sketching with one of my illustrator buddies, a kid came up and asked if we were explorers. I don't know what gave him this idea (perhaps it was my bright yellow sombrero), nevertheless, I was completely flattered he would make this assumption.

A little earlier, Mr.Mandrill also made a rare appearance. He seemed quite pleased with himself. Perhaps it's the fact that the food booths at the zoo sell six different flavors of Icees.

(click image to enlarge)

Howdy Folks!

2009-06-02T20:26:00.004-06:00

Greetings one and all! I am an illustrator/animator operating out of Colorado in the USA. In a short while, I will be graduating with my BFA from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design.

Lately, I've been visiting the zoo with a few friends who are also illustrators. I thought I'd start this blog by sharing some drawings and paintings from those trips.

(click image to enlarge)

This is a quick color sketch (about 5 x 3 inches) of the giraffes. I used acrylics on a scrap piece of mat board. It's always fun drawing and painting at the zoo, people love to comment and share stories.

(click image to enlarge)

Here are a few quick sketches I drew in pen. This summer there are a couple of young giraffes at the zoo. I very much enjoy watching them as they strut jauntily about.