Infected Raider

"Infected Raider"

sketch by Bryan Thompson, AAU Visual Development Graduate 2010

Looks like this Raider tried to take over the wrong region...then got BIT!!!!

Robots!... some "Aliens"... and a bird.

pen, ink, and pencil

Artist Profile #17: Mattias Adolfsson

Okay boys and girls...

grab your pens, your ink, and some adult diapers... 

because you're about to sh*t yourselves.

That was a bit blue... sorry.

Mattias Adolfsson is a freelance illustrator based just outside of Stockholm Sweden.

And he's a wizard... which would make his quill, his wand.

He has such an inventive and creative mind when it comes to telling stories, and then he only compliments that with his intricacy and attention to detail. 

His style is very loose (and by loose, I mean wobbly), but it always serves the illustration. 

He's always been a reminder to me that even if your style doesn't "fit" into what the industry might be looking for... if it's strong, you can make a niche for yourself: Because you'll be the only place the industry can go to get that particular branch of art.

Make it happen!

Be sure to check out his sketchbook walkthroughs at the bottom. 

They... are... insaaaaaaane!

And his blog has SO much more brilliant art.

Enjoy!

The Art of Newt

This was a Disney/Pixar venture that unfortunately got cancelled a while back. 

I think Sony's Rio might have had something to do with it.

Nonetheless, the art is still very cool. 

Enjoy!

Artist Profile #16: John Nevarez

Hold onto your hats! 

This is John Nevarez.

He's a visual development artist.

And he's awesome.

... and by awesome..... I mean AWESOME!

There's just no other word to describe him.

Artist Profile #15: Kevin Keele

Kevin Keele works for Disney Interactive Studios/Avalanche.
Some cool stuff to make you drool a bit.
... especially over the hair.

Here are some of my in class intermediate figure drawings. These are long poses (2-4 hours) and they are with yellow ochre and sanguine nupastels and black/white charcoal.

Artist Profile #14: Noah Klocek

Noah Klocek is an Art Director at Pixar Animation Studios, and, my god, there's a reason why.

There are some artists that you'd think pure light was coming out of their pencil instead of graphite, based on how well they capture the palette of light. 

Noah is one of those artists.

Look at each of these pastel paintings, and study how he lights the scene(s) to convey the mood he's going for. It's captured perfectly. Plus, his designs are incredibly unique. A little over-stylized for my taste, but in terms of color and light, I'm a big fan.

Artist Profile #13: De'Von Stubblefield

You know those artists that are so good they make you hate yourself?

De'Von Stubblefield is one of them.

Keep in mind, he's 17. 

Dammit.

Artist Profile #12: David Hong

Okay..... so up until now, I've been feeling this blog has been far too shallow. 

We need some depth.

To help us, here's some digital paintings from David Hong.

Artist Profile #11: Maxime Mary

Let's start off December with a great designer... shall we?

Maxime Mary

He's a brilliant character designer and visual development artist from Paris. 

Talk about putting life into your drawings! His character never stand still! And even when they do stand still, they're still breathing heavily.

Enjoy!

42 Faces

Here's 42 faces to marvel at, by the great Andre Medina!

http://andremedina.blogspot.com/

http://characterdesign.blogspot.com/2010/04/andre-medina-interview.html

Artist Profile #10: Denis Zilber

Okay, here's one for ya!

Denis Zilber.

He is a freelance illustrator who, I believe, does mostly editorial work. 

His work is just, stunning. His designs are so colorful. 

And let me make it clear that I mean, his designs are both abounding in actual color; while also being rich, striking, and full of life.

His storytelling choices are so interestingly original, and he uses EVERY element of the picture to tell them.

For instance, the one of the shark smiling under a lineup of swimmers..... He didn't just draw any old legs, dangling beneath the surface.... He made the legs plump, juicy, and helpless... like a hungry shark would want. Storytelling!

Also, notice how most of the time, his work is very dimensional, fully rendered, round, and exaggerated; Then  every once in while, he changes everything altogether and goes very graphic. But!..... his brilliant storytelling never fades a bit! I've always believed it's important to be able to switch gears when the assignment calls for it.

Artist Profile #9: Nikolas Ilic

Another great character designer for this "special" Thanksgiving Artist Profile. 

Nikolas Ilic is a recent graduate of the Sheridan College Animation program.

He's just got a great feel to his characters. He uses such graphic, simple shapes and renders just as simply. Plus, he has a great eye for color. 

Enjoy! and Happy Thanksgiving!

Artist Profile #8: Chris Sasaki

I try to follow as many artists as I can (from as broad a range of styles as possible) to keep reminding myself just how many possibilities there are to accomplish a story. And I am floored every day, I must say.

There's everything from the realistic approach, to the abstract approach, and literally, everything in-between.

And every once in a while, I'll land on an artist who's work is just, plain, FUN.

That's Chris Sasaki.

His style of characters is just, fun.
It's just shameless, unapologetic caricature... telling very simple vignettes.
And I love it.

Look at the shapes of his characters, and how just the shape alone, is telling it's own part of the overall story.
The witch, for example, is not perfectly circular.... in all of her forms (arm, chin, head, breasts, etc.) she's in a slight state of SQUASH (squash and stretch principle). This helps sell the feeling her being heavy and a bit squishy. Which...... matches her broom!

Character! Storytelling! Genius!

Artist Profile #7: Luc Desmarchelier

Luc Desmarchelier is an amazing visual development artist who's worked on shows like Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, Open Season, Curious George, Spirit, Road to El Dorado, The Prince of Egypt, and most recently, Hotel Transylvania. 

He's got a great eye for staging and environment lighting, as well as a great sense of design in architecture. His style is very dark, but it's also very clear. The environment reads instantly, so you can focus on the story of the frame... which should be the ultimate goal of all art: Get the technical stuff out of the way so you can focus on the real meat of the scene.

Most of the posted pieces are from Corpse Bride and Hotel Transylvania, but please check out his blog at the bottom, because there are tons of beautiful pieces from other projects.

Hey everyone so this a bit older but only by a few weeks . I specialized in working with illustrator and making things work in 2d cell shading . I really find illustrator to be really easy and fun and I will soon put up tutorial videos via you tube for people that have a bit of a struggle with using the software . I start off with sketches then from the sketches I pick the best one and then go from there using the software.

Hey everyone I would like to introduce my self my name is Sanjit Choudhury . I am a digital illustrator at a small studio called Fantage.com. This is my take of Darth Maul I posted this up on the facebook page but I want to put it on here as well . I will be posting up work that I am doing in the studio once they are released on the web from the company I will be putting them up on here . I am glad to be a part of this because Academy of Art have so many great artists and I am happy to be a part of the group .

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend

Cheers ,
Sanjit

Project: Concept Artists Needed

**UPDATE** THE POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED.

Artist Profile #6: Natalie Hall

I can't help myself... there's just so many artists that I love and want to share with you guys!

Natalie Hall is an amazing illustrator from the Ringling College of Art and Design. 

She has a very fluid style, and she uses such interesting shapes to describe her characters. There's just so much life and movement in her drawings. 

I've always loved her work. I picked a selection that really shows off her ideation skills.

11172011_Digital Painting Practice

Just doing some practice~ I haven't touched my tablet since this piece from earlier in the year so I wanted to see where I faired then to now; I'm quite happy with the progress.
Oddly enough, I owe the progress to Still Life painting.

Working from a reference for colour, and I'll post whose it is when I post the finished piece~


**UPDATE: Here's the final piece!

Original Post

Brave

This is going to be epic.

Also, check out stills from the trailer at:
http://characterdesign.blogspot.com/2011/11/brave.html

Artist Profile #5: Brittney Lee

Brittney Lee has an incredible sense of design and color;

Her paper collages are to die for; 

And she is quite possibly the NICEST person in the world. 

Well... that's an overstatement... I haven't met everyone yet. 

But she's gotta be right up there! 

Enjoy!

Red Shirt

This is an older drawing I brought out to do a test with Prismacolor colored pencils. 

I was very surprised at the results.

I like using colored pencils. Who knew?

prismacolor pencils on a grocery bag, 5"x5"

I took a note from David Colman, on this one.

NEW PROJECTS!!

Hey everyone!
So we've received quite a few projects in need of help, such as character designs, environment designs, storyboards, etc. If you have the time and are looking for a challenge, check out the list below. FYI, any work you do in these can go towards your portfolio.

"Small Fry"

This is Pixar's new short, Small Fry.

It'll be attached to The Muppets, in theaters November 23rd.

Check out more information and synopsis at The Pixar Blog Big Screen Animation:

***which is awesome and you should be following this blog anyways! :)**

http://www.bigscreenanimation.com/2011/11/first-look-at-small-fry.html

Artist Profile #4: Audrey Kawasaki

"The themes in Audrey Kawasaki's work are contradictions within themselves. Her work is both innocent and erotic. Each subject is attractive yet disturbing. Audrey's precise technical style is at once influenced by both manga comics and Art Nouveau. Her sharp graphic imagery is combined with the natural grain of the wood panels she paints on, bringing an unexpected warmth to enigmatic subject matter. 

The figures she paints are seductive and contain an air of melancholy. They exist in their own sensually esoteric realm, yet at the same time present a sense of accessibility that draws the observer to them. These mysterious young women captivate with the direct stare of their bedroom eyes."

The wonderful Audrey Kawasaki. I couldn't find any other words than those on her info page to describe her art style. It's mystical, whimsical, with a hint of yearning enveloped in beauty. Her work, aside from Brian Viveros, which I featured earlier, is part of my inspiration.

Artist Profile #3: Peter de Sève

Peter de Sève is an accomplished illustrator and visual development artist, mostly known for his amazing New Yorker covers, and his delightful character designs for the Ice Age films.
He's the guy who designed Scrat. 

Yeah. That guy. He's awesome.

The greatest thing about his illustrations is the incredibly amount of character and design he infuses into them. I talk a lot about story, because I think it's the most important thing an artist can consider when designing for a film... or anything really. And it would seem that's all Peter does is focus on story, because his paintings are so rich with it, it's just insane.

110911_Moleskine Sketches

Today, since I can spare the time, I've taken the moment to scan some things I have in my Moleskine. :)

Opening pages in Acrylic and Ballpoint Pen.

Acrylic and red Colerase on a white spray-paint base.

Colerase Nonphotocopy Blue, Blue, Indigo and Red with slight Ballpoint accents and ink.

HB Lead pencil.

Original Post

Poses: Book of Mormon

I don't know if you guys have jumped on the Book of Mormon bandwagon yet, but you should!

I don't follow a lot of Broadway musicals on my own... but my sister, the theater major, does. And she turned me onto this AMAZING, Tony-Award-for-Best Musical-winning musical a few months ago, and I've been hooked ever since. 

A very quick plug for the show:

It was written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park), and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q).

My exposure to the show is limited to the soundtrack and some minor bootleg footage, but even still.... it has some of the funniest, wittiest, snarkiest (it's a word), crudest, tongue-in-cheek, and still incredibly heartfelt material I've ever heard. Just... brilliant. Try listening to snippets on iTunes if you can. Totally worth it.

But I digress....

A great thing about any Broadway play (and all theater, really) is that they don't have the benefit of the close-up. So they're forced to tell the story with much broader strokes, which creates some great byproducts. In order to make an action, pose, or gesture read the same from the front row and the back row, they have to over-exaggerate almost everything: In some shows, almost to the point of turning their characters into cartoons. But what they usually get out of doing this, are very strong, dynamic poses that tell the story very efficiently.

The Book of Mormon is a perfect example of this.

This is a still from the first song of the show:

**sorry for the crappy resolution... not important, really**

Notice how each character has his own story within the larger context. Each character is holding the same prop, is wearing the same costume, and doing the same basic thing, but each one has their own VERY unique character.

It's a great example of ideation! 

So next time you need to come up with ten variations on "Mormons holding Bibles".... here ya go!

Artist Profile #2: Brian Viveros

So I'm following Logan's wonderful example and I'd like to share one of my favourite artists of our time:

Brian Viveros

He's a painter "internationally embraced for his erotic paintings of doe-eyed beauties," utilizing a mixed-media style that consists of oil, airbrush, acrylic, and ink. 

What I particularly like about his work is just the atmosphere and expression his sexualized beauties exude, as well as his choice in colours, composition and design when it comes to things like hair or the carnations and roses he often incorporates into each piece.

Artist Profile #1: Pascal Campion

So I thought it might be cool if very once in a while we shared the work of our favorite artists. I know I have QUITE a few... so I'll get the ball rolling with....

Pascal Campion.

He's a French-American illustrator and animator living here in San Francisco. He mainly works in Flash, and then finishes in Photoshop.

What I love most about his paintings is how much character is infused into each one of them. They tell a STORY. Which, to me, is Rule #1 when creating an illustration. In the words of Mr. Lasseter, "Story is king." Without it, you're painting can still be beautiful, and can even possibly move someone (in the moment), but it's the story that will stick with them, and make a long-term change inside the viewer.

Also, his use of color, composition, and sense of light is amazing. Great for studying how simple design and color can go a LONG way. Enjoy!

*Feel free to introduce us to your favorite artists as well!

Phoenix

acrylic, colored pencils, digital

 detail

Watching TV

digital

The Beginning of Something

So, this is the beginning of something that will hopefully blossom into something really cool.

This blog is dedicated to the artwork and musings of the members of the AAU Ideation Club.

This is a place where you should feel free to post our work in progress, sketches, finished illustrations, or just ideas on art and professionals in our industry. This should be a place where people can critique, engage, and participate in your art-making process... and such collaboration should be encouraged, considering it's how the industry (which we want to join) works, after-all.

Explore, create, and most importantly, have fun!