Dan's Sketches

Artwork for Sale at Disney Vault 28

2011-11-05T01:46:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked to sign canvas prints of these Snow White and Aurora designs, from the Art of the Disney Princess book.

These canvas prints are on sale now at the Disney Vault 28 store, located in Downtown Disney. Check them out next time you're there!

The End

2011-10-17T01:43:00.000-07:00

A quick drawing for the Halloween of it. This is The End, from Silver Comics' stable of characters.

Mens Clothing

2011-10-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

Sketches from a mens clothing catalog.

Freelance

2011-09-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

These were rough concepts/layouts for a freelance job.

Toshiro Mifune

2011-09-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

Nightmare Before Christmas Product

2011-08-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

I worked on the Fall 2011 Nightmare Before Christmas program for Disney Store. I concepted and drew the artwork, then handed it off to another team of designers to apply the art to product.

I really enjoyed drawing in this style. Above is a sample of how the design and packaging team at Disney Store applied the artwork to product. They're on sale now at Disney Store.

Music

2011-08-22T01:33:00.001-07:00

As some of you know, I write, sing, and play guitar. Here's a site where I posted some of my music. You can listen to my playlist, as well as buy my album! Check it out!

San Francisco Exclusive Vinylmation 3"

2011-06-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

This Vinylmation will be exclusive to the San Francisco Disney Store. I also designed the tin packaging.

9" Vinylmation - Gothy

2011-06-22T05:06:00.000-07:00

From the Cutesters Like You series. This one was a lot of fun to design.

Cutesters Like You

2011-05-28T12:11:00.001-07:00

As far as I know, this is the first 12-set collection that was designed by one artist. I think they came out great. I designed these on the original vinylmation mold. When the series went to production, they used the newer mold. Regardless, I think they're still very cute and I'm happy with the result.

Silhouette Princesses: Sleeping Beauty

2011-05-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

This is from 2007, for Disney Store. This art was used on an apparel line. Unfortunately this series was never made into stationery or any paper printed use. I think this art would make great postcards or posters. However I'm still proud of how it came out.

Rooster

2011-05-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

My parents' house was adopted by a rooster last year. He's one of those Cochin roosters with feathers all the way down to his feet. I did some sketches and then a Brushes sketch. The Brushes sketch is unfinished, and probably will remain so.

Graceful Bear

2011-03-31T15:45:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Taylor

2011-03-24T03:11:00.000-07:00

I can't say I was a big fan of Elizabeth Taylor. But I do have romantic notions about the Old Hollywood movie star status that she represented.

Vinylmation Villains

2010-12-27T21:56:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-11T00:58:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-28T21:33:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-06T17:07:00.001-07:00

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

2010-06-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

Meeting Sketches

2010-06-24T15:30:00.001-07:00

Totoro

2010-06-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Mr. Farenheit

2010-06-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

From my watercolor class.

Starbuck's

2010-05-25T11:30:00.001-07:00

Always good for drawing people's backs!

Vegas sketches

2010-05-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-12T15:34:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-07T15:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

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

I Need a Car Wash

2010-04-19T14:52:00.001-07:00

I drew this the last time I went there.

Brush Pen Fun

2010-04-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

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

Lunch Today

2010-04-14T17:27:00.000-07:00

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

At the end of a long week...

2010-04-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

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

Brush Pen Fun

2010-04-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

Tears of a Goofy Clown

2010-04-06T15:10:00.001-07:00

A spontaneous sketch I did for fun.

Corner Bakery

2010-03-30T17:10:00.001-07:00

Corner Bakery/Whole Foods

2010-03-30T11:46:00.001-07:00

I've Sold Out!

2010-01-25T18:13:00.001-08:00

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!

DCA and Whole Foods

2009-11-28T17:23:00.000-08:00

A nighttime sketch at DCA and one at Whole Foods.

Brushes Sketch

2009-11-10T05:25:00.001-08:00

A lunchtime sketch.

Head Drawing Class

2009-10-25T11:23:00.000-07:00

I'm now among the initiated after taking Bob Kato's head drawing class at DCP. His class is always hard to register for because of its popularity, so I'm glad I was able to squeeze in. These pieces were too big to scan, so I just took pictures of them.

Mickey Practice

2009-10-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

I need lots of it...still, this was fun! These are from the short "The Pointer."

Another Brushes sketch

2009-10-09T08:57:00.001-07:00

Anna sure talks alot in presentations. Just for that I drew her.

I'm in a Book!

2009-10-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

I admit it... I'm excited to be in a book! It's called The Art of the Disney Princess. It features artwork by myself and lots of other artists within the Disney company. The cover art shown is by Chad Sommers.

You can buy 100 copies of it here on Amazon.com.

I also found this article in the Examiner about a promotional event held for the book. I was invited to this gallery/book signing event. It was a real pleasure to meet several other artists who are in the book. Another cool thing that night was meeting Julie Newmar, who was at the event. Why was she there? Who knows? But it was cool. She took a few pictures with me next to my artwork, and with any luck I can track those pictures down. There are two slideshows in the Examiner article, and she's in one of them. You can find my mug in there too!

iPhone Brushes

2009-10-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

This has been lots of fun. More recently I've been using the app as a sketching tool, but there are a few in here that were done while I still had the patience for painting.

Photoshop Sketches

2009-09-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

These are fun; I need to do them more often.

These are fun; I need to do them more often.

North By Northwest

2009-09-07T12:55:00.001-07:00

Sketching and movie watching...2 of my favorite things.....

Hospital Sketches

2009-09-07T12:47:00.001-07:00

I was sitting by an elevator at the hospital when I sketched these:

Some old, some new

2009-05-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some old and new sketches. Most of them were done at Corner Bakery in Pasadena. The first 2 jpegs were drawn just last week. It was the first time in years that I used pencil in my sketchbook. I might get crazy and do that twice in one year.

The sketch above was in a hospital room, visiting my Dad (he's fine now :)), and below are sketches of my aunt during that same day.

Here I sketched Janet Leigh as I was watching Psycho. "A man should have a hobby..."

This was a man I saw while I ate lunch at Lucky Boy in Pasadena. I've had this napkin for over a year...now that it's scanned I can finally put it away!

How I Pack

2009-02-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

Whenever I visit my folks or go on a long trip, I hate to pack. I always over-pack. So some years back I just drew it all out first, so that way I'd visually know I have something for each day. I still over-pack, but this helps. So anyway I found this one from maybe 2 Christmases ago. Now you know what I wore.

In a Meeting

2009-01-15T17:28:00.000-08:00

Thanks for staying still, Justine!

I Saw Them Standing There

2008-11-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

If you stay still long enough, I'll draw you. Unless you say, "draw me! Draw me!" Then I probably won't.

A Trip to the Disney Studios

2008-11-27T07:46:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I went with our design team from Disney Store to the Disney Animation Studios. First we met with Peter Del Vecho, who is a producer on the new Disney feature, The Princess and the Frog. We showed him product we're working on, and asked him questions that will help us stay true to the movie while we're making product.

The building we met at was the famous "Hat" building, built in 1994 and visible off the 134 Freeway. We met in this rectangular office, whose walls were covered with beautiful concept sketches, character studies, environment explorations, and story moments. In the center of the room was a long rectangular table, and on top of the table were stacks of white, glue-bound sketchpads about 1" thick. The pads looked like they were widescreen ratio (1:1.85) - cool! Next to the pads were pencil cups filled with grease pencils. Most people grabbed a sketchpad and took notes. I already brought something for notes, so I used a grease pencil and pad for drawing Peter.

He was a nice guy and very helpful. It was really exciting to draw something inside the Disney Animation Studio, even if it was just for myself.

More sketches...

2008-11-23T15:31:00.000-08:00

Here are some more that I've done over the year, as I work towards catching up to present day.
The one directly below was drawn in Westwood, where I still get my haircut by the same guy who cut my hair in college.
Mom's parakeets below:

The Hollywood Bowl, during an opening act for the Radiohead show this past August. I can't say enough about how amazing that Radiohead show was.

Hey! Ho! Let's Go!

2008-11-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

I'll start with some sketches from the past year, mostly in chronological order. Most of these were sketched either at lunch, or while I'm doing laundry, or somewhere else while I'm waiting.