Christmas Pup: A Sculpture

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is having a nice holiday!

This year I decided to make my little sister a desktop sculpture of her dog for Christmas, so here it is! Made with Sculpey Clay and foil, and painted with acrylic. I did add some clear nail polish to the eyes and nose so they would look wet, and embroidery thread for her collar. I have included some pictures of my work in progress too; I think it's interesting to see the difference paint makes!

Doodle: Swirls and Dots

Swirls and Dots! A cartoony doodle that turned into a fun paint. You can still see most of my pencil, and I finished the paint in Corel Painter 12.

Halloween Pumpkin Pattern!

A late happy Halloween from my art blog! This was my Halloween 2013 jack-o-lantern! I really wanted to do a pumpkin inspired by Brad Bird's The Iron Giant, 1999 this year. All I could find online were patterns for his silhouette in the forest, which looked awesome but I was afraid it would not last long (large cut-outs and unsupported pieces). So I made this one! He has held up quite well. This pattern works better with a larger pumpkin since the cut-outs are quite slender. When I carved it out, I also cut slightly outside my original pattern lines so they'd glow brighter. I know it is too late for this year, but maybe this can be used by other Iron Giant lovers next Halloween!

(Click an image to enlarge)

I do NOT claim any rights to The Iron Giant or the characters! This is fan art.

Rainy Day Painting

This painting is in honor of the rain I have missed so much!

I started with a colored pencil drawing in my sketchbook and took to painting in Corel Painter 12.

Little Dog Problem

Life is tough for a little dog! Especially when you have to drag your little self from your comfy bed to beg at your family's feet for treats. So hard.

I drew our adorable Iris while she was waiting for my sister to give in to her puppy dog eyes. Colored pencil on paper.

Some fun! Pokemon Fan Art

A rainy day means Pokemon fan art time! These are a few goofy quick sketches I did earlier today on my tablet. Long live the first 151!

 I do NOT claim any rights to Pokemon or the characters! This is fan art. Thank you.

Piggy! A Boar Character Model

This is a work in progress! It is a character I have modeled for a friend's animated short film "Dusters". The character concept and much of the design was done by Zack Aller. I did all the modeling including blend shapes! The model shown below is the working model I rigged and skinned for use in his film.

The boar is the first quadruped I have modeled so I got to encounter some interesting problems, like hot to best organize the flow of geometry for the legs. I found it especially difficult to find the best way to organize the hind area for the best movement of the legs. So those areas will really need more work I am sure! But I wanted to post my progress so far. Below is a video turn-around of the model, and some silly screenshots showing the blends I've got working at this point.

DreamWorks Animation DreamCrit Gallery Show!

This past Thursday I had the honor to be an exhibitor at the "DreamWorks Animation DreamCrit Gallery Show" at DreamWorks studio in Glendale!

It all started with the modeling DreamCrit in March. For those unfamiliar with this amazing cooperative between DreamWorks and the Cal State system, I have to elaborate! Cal State Fullerton University (my school!) is one of five schools in the Cal State system that have the opportunity to participate in DreamCrits throughout the school year. Each "Animation DreamCrit" has a specific focus (e.g. modeling, animation, concept design…) and two students from each school are nominated by their professors to actually have their work critiqued by DreamWorks professionals!

The modeling DreamCrit was such a great opportunity for me to learn how to better my models! It was so exciting to have my work so constructively critiqued by the professional artist! I came away from it with a mini-sketch book full of notes on how to improve, and such positive energy and excitement toward my work.

Later on, I was again honored by receiving an invitation to submit one of my updated and improved models for the gallery show! The show consisted of animation and modeling reels playing on a screen, wonderful designs and paintings hanging on the walls, and a whole bunch of happy animation and illustration students and professors. It was a fantastic opportunity and I am so glad I was able to be part of it!!! I cannot thank my professors enough.

Showing below is the reel I submitted to the "modeling DreamCrit" and under that is the turn around of my improved ranger model that is part of the gallery. I am still not done improving her, and I really want to apply the critique suggestions to Boris Bear soon as well!


My modeling reel:  Featuring Boris Bear, Ranger, and Donnan B. Goat

My improved ranger turn-around reel, shown at DreamWorks!

Animal Motion Studies

Some more animal and wildlife drawing! I did these motion studies a bit ago by referencing BBC Motion Gallery footage (Links below). The first study is of a border collie herding some sheep, and the second is of a baby wildebeest playing. They were both done on paper with Prismacolor colored pencil.

Video reference for dog:  http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com/gallery/clip/996080_017.do?assetId=

For baby wildebeest:  http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com/gallery/clip/3B2FBBC8_0362.do?assetId=clip_29536380

Self Portrait: New Blog Banner Painting!

After uploading my most recent head and hands drawings, I took a look at my blog and decided it was high time to update my blog banner painting! I drew this in pencil on paper, then brought it into Photoshop CS5 for some color and cleanup!

Sketches: Bernard the Rat

Okay. I have been really, really bad about keeping up on my animal drawing!!! So today is day one of getting back into it! I decided to start with some life drawings of my pet rat Bernard. He proved to be a good warm up since he never sits still! Except for the last one since I petted him to sleep.... Anyway these are the best of his little super-quick sketch portraits.

Drawings: Heads and Hands

This collection of drawings are some of my favorites showing some of what I learned in my Drawing and Painting Heads and Hands class.


Character Head Still Life

Charcoal on toned paper

Planes of face/ Lighting Study Still Life

Charcoal on toned paper

Eye Lighting Study

Charcoal on toned paper

Facial Features Still Life Drawing

Charcoal on toned paper

Character Hands Still Life Drawing 

Charcoal on toned paper

Character Hands and Structure Study

Composite of Tracing Paper Work-up Layers, Charcoal

BORIS: My student short-film!

Here it is! Finally! After two super crazy semesters and one very busy summer worth of work, it's done! When making my short-film "Boris', the goal was not to produce polished/finished animation, but to become a one-woman studio and learn all the processes of animated film making. I am happy to say that I learned a lot! I enjoyed making all the models and have a new-found appreciation for animators and riggers along with the rest of the film making crew. But especially animators and riggers (seemed to be the most difficult jobs for me)! It was a tough challenge, but I am thankful for the experience and hope you have a bit of fun watching! Thanks!

With special thanks to Amanda Leahy for the music, Zachary Aller for his creative input and troubleshooting, my family, and all my professors and classmates who gave great suggestions and support!




Also you can click below to see...

Character Models:  Boris Bear
                               Ranger
               
Environment Models:  Ranger House and Trees

Learning Mudbox: Mermaid

My first time using Mudbox! Yup this past semester I decided to use my special studies class to begin using Mudbox! I chose to learn by doing a project, in this case a character model of a mermaid. I began by researching and doing my own original mermaid design shown below. Then I started the model in Maya 2013 for the basic form and transferred it over to Mudbox 2013 where I did most of my sculpting. All of the painting was done inside the program as well using PTEX. I am still learning and getting the hang of the program, so I have much more practice ahead of me! I am looking forward to using the posing tools inside Mudbox too!