The Comic Creators For Freedom are working together to end modern-day slavery.

Every person who donates will receive an awesome desktop wallpaper featuring a character drawn by every creator in the CCF! This year’s theme is ‘Epic Snowball Fight’!

As you can see in the image above, Harriet The Parasaurolophus is representing my comic, Greg The Megabeaver’s Prehistoric Sideshow.

Our third drive ends tomorrow night at midnight! As of right now, the total is $6,350!

Click here to learn more and make a donation. Seriously, any amount helps. 100% of the funds will directly benefit children in dire situations all over the world.

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• 5 Tips to make the new year productive and creatively fulfilling.
• New Year’s resolutions I DON’T recommend.
• What art & religion have in common.
• How to learn to love early mornings.

PLUS: Music by Good Old War!

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This was the first Visual Development painting that I did for ‘Pixie Hollow Games’ (line art by Ritsuko Notani; art direction by Fred Warter).

This is an early piece of “Rumble” concept art. Rumble is Glimmer‘s partner on the storm team and the antagonist of the story.  He’s not really a villain but it was fun to be able to play with some classic “Disney Villain” qualities while designing this character.

Our original vision for Rumble was sort of a Disney Fairies version of John Travolta’s “Danny Zuko” from Grease.  He evolved into a more athletic, David Beckham type by the final film, but I’m still a fan of this original version.

Read on for more insights and detail images…

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CTN-X 2011 is here!

Character Design Round Table:

I will be joining three incredible artists for a Character Design round table discussion on Saturday morning from 10am-12pm in Parlor 131.

Here’s the description from the CTN:

The top 5 portfolios have been pre-selected to be critiqued live by the best character design eyes in the business. In a round table format they will discuss what works, what can be done better and give personal tips that everyone needs to hear.

Sounds like fun, huh?! Wow. I have NO idea how I ended up on the same panel as Nate Wragg, Jose Lopez and Florian Satzinger. These guys are flippin’ geniuses! I am humbled and terrified. …and I can’t wait.

My Disney Booth Schedule:

I will also be reviewing portfolios at the Disney booth on Saturday from 4pm-6pm and on Sunday from 10am-12pm.  Stop by and say hi to me and my lovely colleagues.

Stop By My Booth For A Postcard:

The rest of the weekend, I will be hanging out at booth T-47 with my buddy Jason Pruett.  I’ll be handing out postcards that feature my comic characters (a rare opportunity to get a sneak peek at some brand new prehistoric freaks) as well as my Forest Demon painting.

I am so jazzed for this weekend! I hope to see you there!

In May of 2010, I was promoted to Character Visual Development Artist as I joined the crew of ‘Pixie Hollow Games.’

Suddenly, I went from designing props and tertiary background characters to designing brand new principal characters.  …a rare and precious opportunity.

My favorite of all the new characters we created for ‘Pixie Hollow Games’ is Glimmer (shown above) a lightning fairy and a member of the Storm Team (painting by Chris Oatley based on LineArt by Ritsuko Notani).

I’ve posted some detail images below, so click through for a closer look…

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Greg The Megabeaver’s Prehistoric Sideshow could ensure the survival of the freakish in a world ruled by dinosaur celebrities.
In 2006, I told my friend Brian Campbell that I had been doing research about these weird prehistoric creatures…

…not the dinosaurs.

I loved that they were kind of like the sideshow freaks of pre-history (and still do).

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My friend, Dani Jones honored me with the opportunity to be featured in the first collected print edition of her webcomic ‘My Sister, The Freak’.  (Now available for pre-order at MySisterTheFreak.com)

I recorded the entire painting process and broke it up into three parts.

Part One Covers:

• How to avoid re-drawing your line art by using the Lasso & Warp Tools.
• Painterly techniques in Photoshop CS3.
• How to create an active, textural surface without over-working the painting.
• How to merge two separate styles into one.
• Why artists should spend more time in the early planning stages, before moving into the digital painting process.

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People always ask me about my daily routine.

Sometimes this question is code for or coupled-with “Do you ever sleep?” and sometimes they just want to know what my work days are like at Disney.

Although a worthwhile productivity talk requires more words than this post can hold, I’ll share about my daily routine and my life at the studio. …which will give a little insight into my disciplines for productivity.

If you have more questions after reading this, please post them in the comments below and I will respond.

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Dreamworks Animator Alexis Wanneroy directed a really cool short documentary about Dreamworks Animation artists Sam Michlap, Nicolas Weis, Christian Schellewald, Paul Duncan, Marcos Mateu, and Nathan Fowkes. Watch the ten minute documentary using the player above.

Here’s a quote from the director about the film:

DreamWorks first personal art publication, Moonshine, was conceived as an opportunity to highlight the breath of artistic development talent at Dreamworks. This short documentary gives you a sneak peek into the personal works from the artists.

Did you watch the film? Did you get any new ideas or inspiration while watching it?

Share in the comments below.

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IN THIS EPISODE:

I interview one of my heroes Cyril Pedrosa author of my favorite graphic novel ‘Three Shadows’ and the beautiful new web comic ‘Portugal’.

Cyril shares about his early days at the Disney studio in Paris and his break from animation to pursue his true calling as a comics artist.

He shares insights into his own process, his thoughts on what it means to be an artist and the development of his multiple drawing styles through experimentation and emotional connection with the story.

Plus music by Gaby Moreno!

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 Disney just released an official image from The Pixie Hollow Games – 2011′s installment of the Disney Fairies franchise.

In the summer and fall of 2009, I did character and prop VisDev on this Disney Channel special.

My art director and mentor, Fred Warter gave me the freedom and inspiration to significantly influence the designs of almost all of the new characters (Chloe is only one of several). I even helped to design the costumes!

Under Fred’s art direction and working from line art by Ritsuko Notani, I painted the designs for the Rosetta/ Chloe ‘competition’ outfits that are shown in the image above.

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IN THIS EPISODE:

I share THREE practices that all artists can apply to their own process that will instantly improve the quality of their finished works of art.

Also, I talk about my NEW podcast and web-community: Paper Wings.

AND… I explain how YOU could WIN a WACOM Intuos 4 Tablet by entering the FIRST Paper Wings Challenge!

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Every day at 3pm I was hit with back pain and fatigue.  Coffee didn’t help.  Lots of stretching didn’t help.

I consulted the ergonomics department at Disney about creating a sit/ stand workstation and I’ve been in love with it since the day we set it up.  I used to sit all day, hunched over my Cintiq and now I stand pretty much all day, every day.

My back pain has been alleviated and I stay more focused throughout the entire day.  It keeps me energized throughout the day AND I’m burning calories the entire time!

Since I recorded an episode of Chris Oatley’s ArtCast mentioning this, many people have expressed interest in seeing exactly what my streamlined setup looks like…

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I choose to be really accessible for a lot of reasons. One result of that accessibility is the inundation of critique requests.

Unfortunately, there’s just no way I can critique the portfolios or websites of everyone who asks.

The best advice I can give for getting professional and/ or experienced eyes on your work is to build relationship and add value.

Join Twitter, the blogs and the other communities where these professionals hover. Respond and comment. Be helpful and answer questions, provide recommendations, encouragement and never pester them. That’s how you get on the radar.

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People are always asking me how to pitch their ideas for animated TV shows.

I usually refer them to my  ArtCast episodes about pitching (find those here, here, here and here) and the book recommendations contained therein.

Pitching – as a concept is both complex and vague and my own opinions about pitching have dramatically changed over the last two years (listen to the episodes linked above).

That said, I just listened to the BEST advice about pitching that I have ever heard.

Heather Kenyon’s presentation How To Create A Pitch Bible is great in many ways: It’s concise (only about 40 minutes long), it’s informed (she’s an experienced, credible source) and it’s current.

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