My good friend Andy Friz and I went to the zoo today to draw animals.  Drawing the animals at the zoo is one of my favorite things to do.  Its a real artistic recharge.

We had beautiful weather and good conversation.  Almost all of the animals were up and active and the lion tried to pee on us.  It was a fantastic day.

Here are a few that I was pretty happy with.

For those of you who are wondering where I’ve been these last few weeks, the answer is ‘in front of my computer with no time for anything but art.’

I’ve been doing animation on a commercial, character designs for yet another commercial, concept art for a new line of action figures, concept art for another top-secret project (not my secret, but someone else’s), setting up a new job with Disney and all the while, trying to finish up a pro-bono project for a friend’s web comic.

I spent some time in Chicago with my wife and a couple of our best friends, Brian and Lorah.  That helped revive me from the art-zombie status that I had fallen into (wake, work, sleep,wake, work, sleep, eat occasionally, etc…)  And though the constant flood of freelance has not subsided (I’m not complaining, mind you, its good to be working a lot) I feel somewhat refreshed and ready to take on the next string of projects.

I don’t foresee a break in any of this until well into May, but I will try to keep adding stuff to the site every Monday, whether it is new materials in the portfolio/ sketchbook/ archives, or a new blog post.

For now, enjoy these butterflies and caterpillars.  I just did some design work on a commercial for J.J. Sedelmaier’s studio, and these are all the ones that we didn’t use.

Let me know what you think…

(A cartoon version of Ollie is seen in the photo above (Ollie is on the right) beside his long-time friend and collaborator, Frank Thomas in this image from The Disney/Pixar animated film, The Incredibles.)

I was heartbroken this afternoon as I learned that animation legend Ollie Johnston has passed away at 95.  Ollie played one of the more significant roles in defining the art of animation.

You can find information about him and his work all over the internet, but I will direct you to one source in particular.  It is a fantastic animation site called ‘Cartoon Brew.’  They have recently made several wonderful posts in tribute to Ollie, his life and work.

Seeing as how there are many other sites that will do a much better job than I could at covering the historical impact that Ollie had in this world, I will take this opportunity to simply say a few personal words.

Though this is a very sad time for many people, (Ollie’s close friends and family as well as those of us who are fans of his work and admirers of his life) I am filled with gratitude that I get to be a part of what he started.

I never had the honor of meeting him, but after years of studying his life and work (no pursuit within the field of animation is complete without such a study) I feel like I knew him.  He made a significant investment in my life personally and as an artist.

My life has been impacted by his book, (co-authored by Frank Thomas), the documentary about their lives and work and, of course, by the famous degree of ‘heart’ in his animation.

Here’s a video where another animation great, Glen Keane, talks about Ollie’s work:

Ollie made me want to be a better friend to my friends and a better friend to my coworkers.  From what I know, he loved his wife and his art and managed to balance those two relationships with faithfulness and honesty.  He seemed like a very loyal person in every way and I have often been challenged and sort of emotionally re-calibrated when I witness these truths about his life.

To say the least, he was one of the best artists this industry has ever seen or will ever see.  I pray that when my days on earth are done, that I can see in my own life sincerity, faithfulness and prolific creative contribution, as I believe Ollie Johnston could.

My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.