Ups and Downs

Been almost a week since i last posted here.

Trust me when i say it isn't due to laziness. Its been a real up and down week with plenty of stuff on. Having been working on a book cover which is now starting to take shape ( and interesting project and a nice change) as well as a few other projects. Recently did the character of the week challenge at conceptart.org. Was a cool topic - Goblin gunslinger. Mine was a bit rushed but he was still a lot of fun to draw.

Work has been...sigh...yeah, ups and downs i guess. I have a toy i designed going off at retail but as with all things there are always negatives to every positive....and i said i'd never gripe on this blog!

Rabbit versus Bear / Fish Bank

Sometimes it can be so hard to write stuff..how do people do it so easily.

Some good news to report. Fish Bank sales are absolutely going off. sales have gone well beyond our expectations. Bit of a surprise, and also a massive relief. Makes all the hard work worthwhile.

Also my Rabbit Versus Bear skits are starting to attract some favourable response as well. Guess this means I'll keep doin' em then. Just for the hell of it - Here's the latest one...

Speedpainting

As another weekend comes to a close i find myself dwelling on those artists that have mastered the technique of speedpainting. Alas whilst I pride myself on being able to work extremely fast i have never truly grasped the ability to speedpaint.
Is it in the brushes? The grasp of light and shadow? Is it the color? Probably a mix of all i'd say. I have always found that due to my toy background i tend to oversaturate colors and become lost when i try to implement a more realistic palette. it is certainly something i want to aim to perfect,
Tonite i tried a quick 20 minute speedpaint. I had no idea what i would paint or where it would go. I'll admit to say it was an uncomfartable xperience to say the least...

Zombies and a long week

Its been a long week with no chance to get to the blog, or maybe i've just been lazy.
My product that i worked on, Fish Bank is going great guns in the UK and Australian domestic markets so far. Retailers are reordering and sales are strong so its a good sign. Bit of a sleeper this one. To be honest, I had feared it might be too niche, but so far so good!
in what has been a relatively unproductive week for personal work i did manage to rush a submission for the Left 4 Dead contest on moddb.com. Here's my entry - I call her the breeder. Apologies to those that might find her a little distasteful.
Anyway, gotta go watch the second innings of the 20/20 cricket :)

Back to work tomorrow...

Oh well, 3 days off was nice but alas it's over.
Did another refinied pencil page today whilst i watched the V8 supercars.
Watched "There will be Blood" last nite. Very intriguing movie. Love the segments with no speaking and just music. Movie makers seem to be giving the viewers more credit these days. Movies like There will be blood, Wall-E, and No country for old men all do this very successfully. There seems to be a lot of good films out there these days. Daniel Day Lewis' performance in "There will be blood" was amazing!
On another note: my puppy gets her lamp shade taken off her head tomorrow so thats a definite plus. Can't say i'm gonna miss that walking Pixar lamp! :)

Comic page pencils

For a day that started with a mild hangover, it was actually pretty good. Knocked over this refined pencil page this afternoon and now its time for a video marathon with the girlfriend.

More comic layouts

Been muckin around with my layouts for the latest POW challenge. These are reall rough. Will go and do the proper refinied pencils next. Sigh...do i have to go back to work next week? Holidays are so much fun!

Nice to be on holidays

Enjoying my time off. Was the girlfriends birthday today so we had a pretty fun laidback day. Did get a little bit of a chance to do some drawing. Am doing the latest P.O.W challenge at conceptart.org.
Started on my main character design and page layouts. Must admitted the tone and theme of the story is definitely influenced by the amount i've been playing of fallout 3 lately. Too many good games out at the moment and too little time. Such a good problem to have.

Holidays and Halftone screens

Sigh....I have the rest of the week off. Am really gonna enjoy this holiday as I've felt a little on the strung out side. My usually short fuse has seemed almost no existant of late.

The great news is that little Leela is feeling much better. She slept the whole nite through with no dramas. That also meant I got to sleep the whole nite through. As wierd as it sounds me and the pup had a little slumber party in the entertainment room, watched some dvds and crashed out there for the nite. Hey, those futons are surprisingly comfy :)

Also mucked around with some halftone screens on my comic pages. Loving the effest. Just have to make sure I don't get too carried away with them, as that can happen with me. Anyway I'm back on track and refuelled with creative energy. More to come soon!

They turned my dog into a lamp?

Lil Leela's operation seems to have gone well.
She's gonna need some supervision for the next few days but it looks good.
Can't help tho and make the comparision between her and the Pixar lamp mascot.
Now where do i plug her in? :)