Vinylmation Villains

I'm very proud to have been a part of this project.

I will get to the dolls in a moment, but first I wanted to mention the packaging. I designed the 3" box and artist cards for this series. This involved creating the logo, choosing the color palette and fonts, finding a background pattern and creating some supplemental graphic elements. It was also challenging to fit the English and French legalese (choking hazard, return policy, etc.) into the design. Lastly, a number of parties were shown the design (as well as my handmade mock-up of the box), and it was approved. All in all it was another rare occasion of a design hitting the market exactly the way I wanted it to look, so I'm excited to see it released.
Anytime you get to represent a legendary character like Cruella (and being such a fan of everyone involved in the movie, the animators, Bill Peet, Ronald Searle, etc.), it's a thrill. I'm happy with how she came out, and it's one of the few times you can still show someone smoking!

Shan-Yu was also fun to design. I enjoyed adding the chinese characters of his name (单于) to the design.
I don't know how well known this fact is, but these dolls were all designed at the Disney Store home base in Pasadena. It is the first time a group of artists outside the Florida Parks team has created Vinylmation dolls, and I think our team did a fantastic job.

Sumi-E style Disney Princesses

Back in April of this year I did some Sumi-E brushstroke artwork for Disney Store. I see that the product using the art is in some stores now, most notably the New York Times Square store. The lady signing a canvas print of my artwork is the voice of Ariel, Jodi Benson. I have some other Sumi-E work that I did years ago, here. I'm glad that I got to break out the bamboo brush again.

Old Freelance Jobs Never Die

I came across this artwork recently. I did this character art job in 2002 or so, and someone is still using them! I can't say they're used brilliantly, but it still gave me a chuckle to see them.

Nightmare Before Christmas Mugs

In September of 2009 I was working on NBC product for Fall 2010, and I proposed this figural mug idea for Jack and Sally mugs. Once it got the go-ahead, I created the art, color and size specifications for the sculptor to follow. The sculptor overseas did a great job - and now, almost a year later, they're in the store! I'm biased, but I think they came out just great. This is truly the thrill of my job: having an idea, and then having that idea become real product. Fun!

Work

I don't usually post things I've done at work, but these were never used for anything. They were just done for fun during down time. The Tink was from a screen grab I was looking at, and the Pinocchios are studies based on the Pinocchio animation expression model sheets.

Co-Worker Sketch

Meeting Sketches

Totoro

Mr. Farenheit

Last night after watercolor class I was driving home listening to Queen, and I wanted to do some watercolor sketches of Freddie. When I got home I was drawing him, and having a great time doing it. This morning as soon as I woke up I gave it another try, and this just spilled out. It's not even the greatest drawing, and I'm going to refine it, but I haven't had so much fun drawing something for myself in some time now. So for me this is a really special sketch.

Poe-trait

From my watercolor class.

Starbuck's

Always good for drawing people's backs!

Vegas sketches

One thing I learned was that my brush pens turn into ink faucets in the Las Vegas heat. So I was only able to get a few of those drawings in before I had to switch to another pen. Darn.

Lunchtime Watercolors

I'm a real beginner at watercolors, so I'm still getting familiar with some basic principles, like painting solid tones and developing brush control. I went to Starbuck's for lunch, bought a sandwich and banana, and found a spot outside to paint. I approached each banana sketch differently, trying different techniques that my watercolor instructor has told us about. I learned a lot with each attempt. And as a bonus, few things are as relaxing as painting outside on a beautiful day!

Silhouettes

I'm taking a watercolor class, and my instructor suggested keeping a sketchbook of brush pen/silhouette art. I've been using a brush pen for a little while already, but drawing in silhouette was not something I tried to do very much. It's been very refreshing to look at subjects this way.

Caricature

3 Tries, 1 guy. The first is with a brush pen, the other 2 are with the Brushes app.

I Need a Car Wash

I drew this the last time I went there.

Brush Pen Fun

The top one is from Saturday, and the bottom two are from today.

Lunch Today

I like the restaurants that have paper on the tables. This was at Saladang in Pasadena.

At the end of a long week...

...Alice daydreams about tea. Happy Friday everyone!

Brush Pen Fun

Tears of a Goofy Clown

A spontaneous sketch I did for fun.

Corner Bakery

Corner Bakery/Whole Foods

I've Sold Out!

That is, a garment using a piece of art I designed has sold out. The Snow White Top by Disney Couture for Women debuted last week on DisneyStore.com. I went to check on it so I could tell my folks about it, and found that it had already sold out!

It is also being sold at the new, funky, and hip D Street store at Downtown Disney. The inspiration for this shirt and others was the Art of the Disney Princess book. The garment design was created by the funky and hip folks at Disney Consumer Products, and I'm flattered that they chose my art for the garment. I love it!