Looking out my backdoor

dooo...dooo...dooo

He Works Hard for the Mummy

 I've seen lots of themed races lately:  warrior, zombie, mud, etc....but I haven't seen a mummy race yet.

Music Brings Us All Together

Merman?

Dream

I woke up in the middle of the night about a month ago and had this image stuck in my head for some reason.  I quickly scribbled it on to a sticky note and fell back asleep.  I could see it in color.   Not exactly like this, but close.

Side Project...

I've been working on a side project,  here and there, when I get time... and motivation.  Here's a little glimpse at some of the characters I'm developing.

Football

The Art of Rio 2: Book Signing & Artist Panel

If you're in the LA area...A handful of us animators and storyboard artists will be at Gallery Nucleus talking about working on the film and signing some books.  Come on out!

Art With a Heart Fundraiser

 A friend of mine, Amy, asked me to submit something for the Art With A Heart Fundraiser next month.  I had a lot of fun experimenting with this one.  It's a print, a drawing and a painting all in one!  Here's an in-progress shot.
*Update* finished piece

Frankie sleeping

I like to draw cowboys

Winter

More Dogs

It's winter. It's cold. Our dog hates the cold. I'm back from Blue Sky, cleaning, drawing, looking for jobs and relaxing.  I hope those of you in the wintery parts of the world are staying warm. And those of you in the warm parts of the world are enjoying it!

Random Characters

Greetings from Blue Sky

...some doodles waiting for notes from the supervisors...

Manny

Letting Sleeping Dogs Lay

The Nut Job

 I just finished up animating on The Nut Job. It was a great film to work on. There's a good variety of character personalities and the designs are very appealing.  Nearly every shot had potential for interesting acting choices and/or good physical challenges. 
For anyone wondering whether small studios or big studios are for them, consider this. At Duncan Studio where there were about 15 of us animators.  We got to work on a lot of different shots in a short period of time.  I have about 90 seconds of 'reel-worthy' animation from this job in 3 months.  When I worked at Sony Imageworks for about 9 months, there were roughly 50-100 of us animators (depending on the film) and I have about 15 seconds of 'reel-worthy' animation to show for it.  There are a lot of factors that go into this, and neither way is right or wrong.  Both jobs were great experiences and both had equally talented animators, supervisors, and leads.  There are advantages/disadvantages, but in my opinion, if you want to get better faster, consider the smaller studio.
The film is scheduled to be in theaters January 17, 2014.

NephropApocalypse

A good friend of mine has a rare kidney disease. He helps to raise money every year for the Cincinnati Kidney Walk.  This year I got to design his team banner and T-shirt.  If you're going to be in the Cincinnati Ohio area June 2nd, sign-up for the walk or donate and support a good cause. More info about the walk here.

Dragons

(updated in COLOR!)