Artist Profile #27: Justin Coffee

Justin Coffee is a freelance illustrator, working at Brandstudio Press,

(creation of the great, Alberto Ruiz [who is, awesome])

and does some amazing pinup work!

Very much in the same vein of Genevieve Farley-Tremblay and Bill Presing 

(which I will be doing profiles on, very soon, I promise... why?... because they too, are awesome!)

Artist Profile #26: Avner Geller

Avner Geller is a recent Ringling grad, and has an amazing sense of style to his work.

His caricatures of figures are so expressive, interesting, and fun to look at!

His short film, Defective Detective (co-directed by another very talented illustrator, Stevie Lewis),
is a real treat to watch as well!

Artist Profile #25: Cory Loftis

Cory Loftis is a visual development artist at Walt Disney Animation.

A good illustration
(among many other things... but for the purpose of this post...)
hopefully, has a good balance of the following:

1) story
2) design
3) character
4) appeal

Cory's stuff has all of these!
There's a clear story, his design is exaggerated in all the right places,
the scenes are dripping with character,
and his appeal is unbelievably..... appealing!

Enjoy!

Meeting Minutes: February 10, 2012

Meeting Minutes: February 3, 2012

Artist Profile #24: Matt Jones

Matt Jones is a story artist, and has worked for Disney, Pixar, and Sony on various projects.

Currently he's working on Pete Docter's (Monsters, Inc., Up) new "Mind" project.

(very exciting!) 

He's also worked on Arthur Christmas and A Monster in Paris.

What I love most about his sketches is how he captures San Francisco.
As artists, everything we put to paper is about our individual choices. So, more than likely you can see the artist in the art. And, to me, Matt's lines capture the city beautifully. They genuinely show the charm, complexity, and life that this city has.

Matt has such a clever way of capturing city scenes with only a marker.
That same cleverness is extremely apparent in his gesture drawings. Look at how much character and story is infused in such simple and fast scribblings.

And if his stuff looks like Ronald Searle, it's probably because Matt is a super fan of Mr. Searle's.
Check out his fan site here.

Artist Profile #23: Goro Fujita

This is Goro Fujita. He's a visual development artist at Dreamworks.

His illustrations are so playful, and full of character and color.

Plus, the color scripts he did for Megamind are amazing!

Artist Profile #22: Lorelay Bove

Lorelay Bove is a CalArts graduate, and currently a 

visual development artist at Disney Animation. 

I've always looked to her as a modern-day Mary Blair.

Such great color design and storytelling.

Artist Profile #21: Kendra Melton

We all struggle with figure drawing. 

And even if we nail the pose, figure drawings seem to all look alike (basically),
from one artist to the next. 

As character designers, our "worth" is our original spin on that pose: How we translate that pose into something original. 

Sometimes it can be incredibly tough to take that next step.

But, it can be done! And Kendra Melton is proof.

Artist Profile #20: Gabby Zapata

Gabby Zapata is a wonderful illustrator from right here is San Francisco. 

She recently graduated from Ringling and works for Digital Domain as a visual development artist.

I love how her illustrations and characters have such a delightful whimsy about them --- 

and her technique of making the background light absorb the scene
adds such a great sense of atmosphere.

So simple!

Animation Backgrounds

If you're ever looking for inspiration,
check out this great collection of restored animation backgrounds.

http://animationbackgrounds.blogspot.com/

Artist Profile #19: David Colman

David Colman is an amazing character designer and story artist,

and has worked with pretty much everybody!

Here's to a great Spring semester!

Nun Thumbs

Blood Elf

"Blood elf mage! Much more pleased than with my worgen. To put her more into the WoW universe, I looked to Glenn Rane's previous Blood Elf work for inspiration, then added my own tweaks to it. So it's a semi-original design."

Typewriter Lighting Study

This is a lighting study I did for practice using a great layout from Joao Bessa Ribeiro.

version 2

version1

digital

original

Artist Profile #18: Joao Bessa Ribeiro

And now for one of our own.

A fellow Academy grad....

Joao Bessa Ribeiro

A "short" story...

My first week in San Francisco, I took a walkthrough of the Powell building, and immediately started drooling over the amazing designs on the walls. I made it to the third floor (caught my breath), and saw this amazing layout design of a typewriter repair shop/closet that had been done for a past Spring Show (I think).

I was floored. It was just incredible to look at. The story, the perspective, the design! 

It was a soul-crushing experience for my first week in San Francisco, to say the least. But it did set the standard for what was to be expected of me, and what the prize might at least look like. So I kept my eye on it. I checked for who the artist was.... no name. Damn.

Fast forward two or so months...

I randomly land on Joao's blog, and again, I'm floored by the level of the work Academy students are producing. It's mostly digital, lots of creature and vehicle designs. Just... amazing... stuff. The colors are so vivid, and the designs are so tight. He has some great character development work from his thesis. It's just great. And then, as I scroll down.... I see the typewriter layout! uh-- yeah. It's the same guy!

Long story short (too late)...

Make sure you check out his blog. Check out the process video at the bottom. Be amazed. 

Happy New Year!