My Little Dog's big operation

I'll admit to being a little nervous. My little puppy Leela is going in for a big operation today. Last nite was the first night she's ever been away from me. It's gonna be a very long very nervous day.....

She's my lil girl and i make a shocker of a worried parent.

In the meantime here's some more Fable 2 fan art.

Storyboards

Full on day today. So glad I practiced that comic drawing on the weekend, especially the sketchy layouts.
Needed to do some storyboards for a TV sizzle ad for one of our new products today. It was flat stick but actually really good fun. I love doing storyboards! Got it all done and I must say they turned out fantastic. Very happy!

CG folio hits 70,000 views!

Allow in dire need of a coffee to jumpstart me into this week (pretty sure i walked through today in a daze) i am still pretty stoked to discover my CG Society online portfolio has hit 70,000 views. I'm also on 79 other artists favourites lists so i'm feeling pretty chuffed.

http://redfrog.cgsociety.org/gallery/

To celebrate i think i'm gonna go play some Fable. The girlfriend has been monopolising it all weekend but apparently her character has become fat so she's depressed and is giving the game a break :). It's a classic that girls even worry about the wieght of their virtual characters too!

Oh, and before i go, it seems that my company's latest showing at tradefair went down a treat and one of my babies (products) has been very well received! Ahhhh....and that is what makes all the hard work and frustrations all worthwhile!

Rabbit versus Bear 01

All future posts for Rabbit versus Bear will be on the individual bog.

Well I stayed true to my motivation for the weekend and completed most of the POW challenge on concept art.org. Got two of the pages inked yesterday.

This up and down weather is messing me round though - i don't care if its hot or cold - just not both so close to each other...aaaaarrrgggh! :)

Woke up this morning and feel like i've had about an hour sleep (which isn't true - i had a full nites sleep) but this hot weather at nite is a bummer.

Back to work today...sigh...I think I need a Berocca :)

The girlfriend is still depressed about her fable character getting fat. Have to admit thats pretty funny! (Hope she doesn't read this :) )

Anyway here's my two inked pages...

Panels of the Week challenge

Well it looks like the motivation is holding strong. With the exception of a couple of interuptions to ferry a very drunken girlfriend and her friend jellybean around to a party and so forth, I've been able to knock over four pages of rough layouts for my entry.
Now I've gotta properly design the characters and do some refinement to the page art.
Die Hard is on the tv now, and toy story movies were on before that so theres been plenty of background stimulation as well :)

Rabbit versus Bear

Ok then...
The older I get the stranger I get.
I've just started a blog titled Rabbit versus Bear. The damn thing has been stuck in my head for over six months now, so I've turned it into a blog. I don't even know what it is yet, other than a muddled creative dump where two fictional characters battle it out to expunge the crap that goes on in my head.
Wow, it's Friday nite and I'm not even making sense to myself...
Check it out if you want...
http://rabbitversusbear.blogspot.com/

Rabbit versus Bear

Rabbit and Bear are a couple of characters i have developed who are constantly coming up with new ways to blow each other up.

Here's a quick scribble i did this morning depicting Rabbit.

I am so looking forard to the weekend this week. Lots of stuff to do on the art front. Will be interesting to see if ambition turns into productivity...

Branding update

Have been invited by one of my Facebook buddies to participate in her gallery opening of "Something Wicked This Way Comes". She's a really cool uban plush designer. Her Kooky Spook designs are awesome stuff!

Anyway there's gonna be a few artists doing live works at the opening at the Rooftop Gallery in Melbourne on the 6th December, between 1pm and 5pm.

Should be a lot of fun. So i figured with this in mind it was time for a bit of a branding update. Wanted to still keep my trademark 'x' and gasmask dude, but wanted to reflect the more stylistic direction i've been going of late with the high contrast stuf and my love for all things urban vinyl.

Anyway, here's the result...

More Fable 2 fan art

Well as promised, I said i'd shut up and do some drawing. I also played a dose of Fable 2 last nite, which would also account for the subject matter of this sketch.

I present you with "His Lordship's matched luggage"

Hump Day

Ha!
What a day. It started off bad, came good, dropped again, came back up. I feel kind of seasick! :)
Ever had one of those days where you stop for petrol, fill up your car and then realise you have left your wallet at home? Well that was how mine started.
Fortunately it all worked out and even better didn't set a trend for the day. It may have had its moments, but it had its good one's too!
Pretty much the perfect incarnation of hump day!
I had the fulfilling sensation of finishing of some new concepts at work. I can't say what, but needless to say i was pretty chuffed with these ones.
We are also in the middle of a trade fair and initial reports seem to be pretty positive which is always good.
Now for my question of the day. If you are an illustrator and you have an online avatar (photo etc) why would you use a glamour shot of yourself? Wouldn't you use one of your pictures? Maybe i'm just daft and don't understand, but who in their right mind would want to see a glamour picture of me? It always made sense to me to represent yourself as one of your creations - even if its a caricature of yourself - at least that shows something of what you're about - not that you can pull a sexy pout?
Anyway, that runs a little close to a gripe, well, actually its just something that has bewildered me for a long time and now all you good people that are taking the time to read my blog have just had me waste five minutes of your time with this useless dribble.
Apologies - I promise I'll go draw something and get back on track :)

Fable 2 character rendition

This game is so cool. The girlfriend is currently monopolising the game (hehe :) ) so i thought i'd take the opportunity to do an overly dramatic representation of my character. Hmmm...i can still hear her playing in the other room...

Fable 2 released

Picked up my preorder release of Fable 2 on Friday (this may be one of the reasons for the lack of entries on my blog lately!). Sooo Cool.
Sure the critical could pick their share of flaws with the game, but for me it is awesome! It has a real storybook charm, great art style and a really quirky sense of humour! Over the last few months during the countdown to release i have also been submitting some fan art to their sit which is posted in their gallery on the website. To check out the gallery go to:
http://community.lionhead.com/photos/fable_2_fan-art/default.aspx

Here are some samples of the stuff i submitted

Spawn : Endgame contest results

And so the voting closes on the endgame comp. Was a real blast to make it to the topt 25 with 2 of my buds, Brad and Yves.
Yves represented our studio with flying colours pulling in 166 votes and finishing 4th. I think I ended up 16th with 33 and Brad 19th with 11.
Personally I think Brad should have polled a lot higher but i guess thats the internet for you. I'll admit to being a little surprised by the winner but conrats to them for the awesome job they did on their sculpture. The quality of the entries was fantastic and i certainly would have found it difficult to pick a winner.

No Life Drawing class..

Turned up at class tonite to find it cancelled. Fortunately we were able to drwon our sorrows with a pizza. Mmmmm...pizza.

Can't really think of anything worthwhile to write tonite (some may say that's never held me back before) so i think i'll call it a nite.

Strange ole day today...
Had it's ups and downs. Nothing of stand out note today.
Spent a little bit of time on the latest darksiders fan art.
Here's the progress (really early stage)...

A good start to the week

Well it seems my good weekend has rolled over into Monday. I love it when the first day of the working week kicks off well. It sets the tone for the rest of the week (at least I hope so! :) ).
After 4 or so weeks of drawing modelling specs and making comments on model prototypes in a mad rush (why are we always so disorganised?) for the latest toyfair, I finally got the opportunity to sink my teeth into some conceptual layout sketchs and even more refined pack art.
They say a change is as good as a holiday, so for the time being this will definitely satisfy. Now if i can just get some time allocated to render the sucker i'll be over the moon!
Meanwhile on the home art front i have been doing a little more progress on my latest Darksiders fan art. I have a bad feeling this lil baby is starting to go pear shaped. It getting a lil noisy and i've already had to knock the buildings back. Let's see what colour brings to the party?...

The little things

I am a very easily amused and pleased individual sometimes it seems!
My folio just got a mini spotlight on CGsociety as one of the popular folios.
Its not a huge spotlight but i think it usually means the folio is getting some decent traffic through it. I think at last count it had 66541 views and was on 76 favourites lists.
It all helps and its all very encouraging.
Shanx for checking out my folio people!!!

Home studio starts to take shape

Its been a pretty good weekend. Wall-E was awesome, Bathurst was on, and my new desk and filing cabinet arrived for my home studio. So for most of the weekend i've been putting together furniture, configuring the studio, updating the folio and just generally getting myself into serious gear.
I'm loving the new setup. Truckloads of desk space, a more ergonomic layout, dedicated drawing board space and just a whole new professional feel to the room. Since we bought the house in June i've been itching to get this studio set up and running and now it finally feels like progress is being made.
It's amazing how something like this can blow out the cobwebs and envigorate you.
Yep, its been a good weekend!

Finally got to see Wall-E

I finally got to see Wall-E!

In a word...wow!!! I had extremely high expectations going in, and they were totally blown away. It really seems apparent to me that Pixar are in a whole other category to any other 3d filmhouse at the moment. Their ability to create memorable characters and tell a wonderful story are second to none.
Without doubt the character of Wall-E is one of the cutest, most endearing and memorable characters to come along in a long while. The design feat in itself to get such expression and personality in such a minimal character is astounding.
The story is definitely where Pixar shine though. Its a mature, almost adult theme told with a childlike magic and niavette.It really is a beautiful tale and serious kudos have to go out to Pixar for having the bravery to take a punt on the idea of having virtually no human speech dialogue for almost the first hour. It would've been a massive risk and props definitely should be given to the visionaries at pixar and also the decision makers for making such a bold decision.
I highly recommend anybody go see this film. Recapture some of that childhood wonder and open yourself up to an endearing and thoroughly enjoyable cinema experience!

Darksiders Art Spotlight!

Ok, so its been an average week but its ending awesomely!

My Darksiders fan art has just got a front page spotlight mention on the game website.

Now i am seriously chuffed. I just dropped ten years and feel like a little kid again! My stuff featured on the same website as Joe Mad! So awesome!! (I am such a tragic!).

Mine may only be fan art but its still on the same website....ahh now all i need is to find out Santa is real and the week will have truly have turned around!

check it out!!!

http://community.darksidersvideogame.com/

Is it the weekend yet?

Its been a tough ole week and getting worse as the week goes on...bring on the weekend...

And so to avoid this post turning into a gripe i'm just gonna insert a sketch! :)

Life Drawing Class No 2

Still reminiscing about the pizza we had before life drawing class.

mmmmmm....pizza.

I'm actually trying to work out if I go to life drawing on a wednesday nite for the drawing practice or the pizza. Jury is still out on that one :)

Anyway as promised here are last nite's sketches and also the week before for a bit of comparison. The hope is that eventually i'll get better (I did say hope!)

Spawn :Endgame Contest

Just got back from my second weekly Life drawing class. Its seems a little easier this week. Its amazing how easily you lose the ability when you spend all day drawing iinto squashed, disproportionate templates.
It comes as a real refreshing change to get back into some traditional drawing. Have been going the last two weeks with my fellow studio illustrators, Scooter and Yves. will be posting tonites artwork up tomorrow once i've scanned the stuff.

On another note; just thought i'd mention the Spawn:Endgame contest that myself and fellow Moose studio illustrators Brad and Yves entered in. Amazingly we all made the editorial teams final 25 which was a massive blast and a nice bit of recognition...made sure our bosses at Moose knew we made the cut (hint hint....:) ).
Alas my dreams of comic stardom have taken a hit as at last count i think i was 16th with only 26 votes. the internet can be a funny forum.
the good news is however that my bud Yves is powering on in awesome fashion, holding down 3rd place with a whopping 142 votes. Fine recognition for an awesome Spawn rendition.
and as for Bradley's, in all honesty his entry should be wiping the floor with the competition it thats' good.
I feel very proud to be amongst such high callibre competition.
Meanwhile its back to the drawing board to try and refine my comics drawing skills in order to fulfil my dream of being a world reknowned comic artist (ha! would you just listen to the boy).
I must admit tho, I do like the fact that the comic industry readily acknowledges its illustrators (as opposed to the poor old toy industry that makes a point to keep its illustrators and designers anonymous - hey! I thought i said i wouldn't gripe!! )
...and on another note - didn't get to see Wall-E yet. Old age is making me to tired at nite at the moment. either that or my body is yet to acclimatise to the daylight savings change.

anyway I'll finish off tonite with my humble Spawn:Endgame contest entry. If anybody wants to go check out the final 25 then go to http://endgame.spawn.com/?p=299

Decisions to make and more Darksiders art

I was sitting at my computer this morning mashing my head against my monitor when i thought to myself, what does one write in their blog. I could sit here and gripe about the issues in my day, but who the heck wants to sit here and listen to somebody else complain when they have their own problems.

So i've decided i'm going to keep this blog as upbeat and positive as possible, with maybe the occassional pinch of sarcasm just to keep us on our toes.

My goal tonire is to finally go and see Wall-E. I've been trying to get to the cinemas for a coupla weeks now trying to see this. The reviews have been awesome so expectations are high.

I've also made some more progress on my Darksiders fanart when i crawled out of bed this morning at stoopid o 'clock...check it out.

Virgin Blog and some Darksiders fan art

Well here goes...

My virgin foray into the world of blogging. I've seen so many of them, read their rants, absorbed their opinions, and basked in some of their beautiful artwork... and so finally I've decided to do my own...

Heaven help us all.

I've always been curious as to how many people read these things, and i guess now i'm gonna find out. It may very turn out that this is some obscure medium for me just to talk to myself. I guess that could be entertaining. I'm one of the fortunate few who sometimes feel that it would be entertaining to listen to me.

The real question is: what am i gonna talk about in this blog. I figure (knowing me) that topics will range anywhere from movies, my latest artwork, video games, comics, music, the toy industry (my current professional field), my dogs, and even the hammock i bought for myself the other day.

mmmmmm....hammock! Is it a sign of old age when you enjoy the thought of a good hammock? Or maybe i just do lazy really well.

Anyway, enough dribble...Let's kick the art side of things off with my latest sketch i'm workin on. Its actually a fan art piece for an Xbox 360 game coming out next year called Darksiders: wrath of War. the concept art and creature design for this game rocks and i recommend anybody to check this title out. In the meantime here is my humble homage. Sketch first and then refinement. This baby is also gonna get the full color treatment.

Anyway folks, hope you're still reading, and welcome aboard!!!