I swear I do work on things.

Not the best at running a blog, am I?

Hi new visitors from Ottawa! That was a blast, wasn't it?

As mentioned back in May I did take a bit of a hiatus from art. The film is deep in production now and I'm going to try to start updating here a bit more.

I got my first taste of film yesterday when Steve Stanchfield and Richard Roy shot wedge tests for a little drive in theater policy trailer we're finally wrapping up after 3 years on-and-off of work. Man that's going to be great to see done. It was really interesting to see the Oxberry launch into action and I'm just more excited to shoot my own work.

Here's something I should have posted ages ago! I follow Evan Dahm's Webcomics like a diehard fan and in celebration of him starting his third (3rd!!!) online graphic novel this summer I painted our heroine Vattu. He was nice enough to post it on his site but I never shared it here!

More Concept-ie Stuff

More potential concept thesis stuff. Definitely getting stronger but still not at the look I want. Either way, enjoy!

I Like Kitschy Houses

I truly do.

Old Art is still Tasty

I was actually going to post something new, but when I went to find the file for it, I stumbled upon this old piece. Two years ago I did some super quick character/style concept for the Biore web spots I did a bit of work on. They went for a different look in the end but they were trying to get something that "was flash but didn't feel like flash".
Either way, I still like these.

Patterns Are Delicious.

Have some concept art. :D

Sooooo Many Buildings.

I should update this blog with new stuff about my film, but it seems I am unreliable about that (plus I'm rather reluctant to show work to the wide web, my film festival chances are too valuable.) Rest assured the film goes on. Nearly finished all the leaves in the first 2 shots, about to head on to shot 3, then 4, and then I'll be in the second act.
But I'm being a craaazy spring breaker and ignoring my film for this!

The school has partnered with the Ann Arbor Film Festival to allow us students to make sponsor bumpers that play before and after the screenings. The Festival people will be picking 5 to use! Mine is a flash piece and if all goes well, terribly endearing.

Crazy times in Character Design

Wow I've been getting doozy assignments in Character Development the past two weeks. Last time it was 6 villains, most of which I posted, this week was 12 designs for a made up film called "Attack of the Oogly Boogly". The rough part is our class was canceled Wdnesday, and I only got the email Friday afternoon. So I haven't been able to get feedback on any of my questions! Right now I'm stuck on an Elephant-like Dragon. It's all pretty confusing because I don't have any idea how these character's connect, but I'm still having fun! I described my inspirations as "60's Beach Party Brofest meets Space Ace meets Kitchy low-budget si-fi"
Well anyways, heres some of those characters I don't know the purpose of yet. 6 evil little devils. Are there devils in space then? Only Monday morning will tell.

Today's Post Brought to you by VILLAINS!

I have Character Development with Keith Newton this semester and it's been a really great class so far. Our last assignment was to redesign iconic villains. I could babble about my concepts behind all of these but that's boring.

Professor Moriarity from Sherlock Holmes


The Bogeyman


Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty


The White Queen from The Chronicles of Narnia

Pa pa pa preview

In productioooooooooon:

Oh Mr Sun!

My friend Rob Aird used to talk about this awesome 30's animation tribute film he wanted to make called "Mr. Sun Comes To Town", and I always told him, "Rob if you don't start making that film, I will." Well Rob, it's been 2 years. I'm totally gunna build off your concept for my final project in Experimental Techniques if you don't get on that.

In the mean time, have some beautiful concept art I took a photo of with the iSight camera on my mac. Classy.

Giraffetaur?

This little concept I've been playing with was actually inspired by some really bad anatomy I saw. :b

OH GOD IT'S OIAF.

Heeeet guyyyyyys. I've been incredibly busy keeping up with school, student government, and prepping for the Ottawa International Animation Festival. And part of that prepping is a new (properly done this time around) portfolio!
Also, I noticed I've never posted any figure work here, so I'm posting the figure pages of my Mini-Ottawa-Portfolios. Enjoy!

I < 3 Music.

You hear it all the time, but music really is incredibly inspiring sometimes. Sufjan Steven's Greetings from Michigan is one of my favorite albums right now. The songs just FEEL like Michigan, and as a resident of this state for 13 years, the familiarity is a wonderful muse. The song Romulus is definitely my favorite. It's a hauntingly sad and simple story about a poor mother and her children. I got completely stuck on it, put it on repeat, and happily doodled this piece. It was nice to do something and not give a damn about it's final quality.

And now for something completely different.

I've been posting a lot! of animation work, so here's something from a different vein. I did this tattoo a) for a character reference and b) because in a perfect world I'd alter the composition to fit my back and get it! It's from 2007. Man, that seems so long ago!


It's based on traditional irezumi designs. The dragon, curling around the eddy of water, surrounded by the koi fish, tells the legend that if a carp swims all the way up the Longmen Falls, it turns into a dragon. It represents struggle, perseverance and then successes in all aspects of life.