Fennec Fox

Here's a picture I made for a friend to help decorate their new apartment. I *think* I remember her mentioning, in passing, that she really loved foxes. Man, I hope it was foxes. I hope foxes don't freak them out.

In other news, I've started my last term at Animation Mentor this week! So animation (or at least most of it ) should be done by this summer. I'm finishing off the program with Keith Sintay! Someone I've never had, but have kept in contact with , since I started. He has both 2d and 3d animation experience, which , for me, is always a good thing!

Goofy: HOW TO DANCE

These modern, lean yet stylish backgrounds are from Disney, and the Goofy "How To" series.





Here's a huge digitally re-created pan background:

So you can better enjoy the details, here's the left side...

And the right side...

THE RESCUERS (1977)

Beautiful B/G art from the scene: In search of "the Devil's Eye..."

Tuke

I've been busy with the film of course and some freelance recently, so just a quick random one from me this week, just as an excuse to keep the blog updated!

More Rigs

Speaking of new rigs out there...This is a rig that just was released this month. I played around with him a bit and he seems very "animator" friendly. Not to mention that he has many looks which is great. It is the first version so I'm sure there will be updates to follow. You can get him on HighEnd 3D. Enjoy!

Norman Rig Public

I'm a bit late to the party, but apparently most people don't know this yet. The Norman rig has been finally made public...its' free! Made famous by the Pixar Classes at the Academy of Art in SF, It is by far one of the more appealing, easy to modify, and animator friendly rigs out there.

Get Norman Here

Newsie

Cheryl: "I dont like this one because you are promoting smoking."

Dually noted, Smoking is bad for your health kids!

DUMBO

This wonderful background art from DUMBO was provided by our friend Andrea Giglio. Enjoy!

OSWALD is back at LUCKY Brand!

Oswald the Rabbit is happily receiving "star treatment" once again, after decades of obscurity. While not exactly related to background art, I trust you'll find this of interest. I know I did!

Oswald starred in a series of 26 silent cartoons made by Walt Disney between 1927 and 1928 for Charles Mintz, who contracted with Universal for the distribution. When Walt lost the rights to Oswald, he came up with the character of Mickey Mouse. The Oswald character was later continued by Walter Lantz. Sound was added by Universal, the copyright holder, to some of the Disney Oswald cartoons in the early days of television. Oswald was the first Disney character to generate merchandise: a candy bar, a stencil set, and a pinback button. Not long ago, Oswald "came home" to the Walt Disney Company through a trade with NBC/Universal.

Here's the official press release:

LUCKY BRAND JEANS AND DISNEY ARE WELCOMING THE LIMITED EDITION T-SHIRTS INSPIRED BY OSWALD THE LUCKY
RABBIT BACK TO LUCKY BRAND

(New York, NY) March 12, 2009 - After their first season of the sell-out collection, Lucky Brand, America's neighborhood jeans store, and Disney Consumer Products today announce that they will give rebirth to Walt Disney's first icon, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The predecessor to Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit returned to The Walt Disney Company in 2006, long after his original theatrical debut in 1927. Just in time for summer, this limited-edition collection of T-shirts, featuring Oswald will be sold only at Lucky Kid, Lucky Brand stores and online at luckybrand.com.

About Lucky Brand Jeans

Rooted in rock 'n' roll and vintage-inspired, Lucky Brand Jeans designs and produces denim, sportswear, knits, wovens, outerwear, t-shirts, active wear, handbags, and jewelry, and has recently launched Lucky Kid. Additional Lucky Brand licensed products include swimwear, and accessories for men and women. Lucky Brand Jeans has over 175 neighborhood jeans stores nationwide and internationally. The Lucky Brand collections are carried at better department and specialty stores and at luckybrandjeans.com. For Lucky Brand products or more information, please visit

luckybrandjeans.com.

Her mom.

Thanks for the all the kind words below. After the last post, I got a request to sketch her mom , Sally Jupiter. So here she is! In all of her ridiculously costumed glory! What's the point of the skirt, really?

And you heard it here first, Bobby Chiu plans to don a black bananahammmock & blue body paint as Dr. Manhanttan this year as SDCC, so be on the look out for that. Thanks for steppin up to the plate Bobby!

Laurie Jupiter

Work on the film continues, in the mean time here's a sketch I did tonight of Jupiter from the Watchmen. Not the greatest movie ever, but entertaining nonetheless. If anything, it makes me want to finally crack open the book I got for Christmas. What was her power again? I'm not even sure she had one. Meh. My prediction though is a TON of watchmen cosplay at the comic con this year. I can't wait to see who has the balls to go as Mr. Manhattan!

Also, I stumbled upon these pretty cool interviews with two guys whose work I admire. The first one with Joe Moshier and James Baxter.

Animated Views- Joe Moshier
Animated Views- James Baxter

I met Joe Moshier last year at the San Diego Comic Con at his Conduct Happiness booth. Suuuuper freaking nice dude, and extremely humble about his work. I mean, this guy is one of the most prolific in the industry, and there was was zero ego. Total fanboy style, I kind of gushed to him about his work. Said embarassing, ridiculous things like "Damn you look young! How old are you?" Instead he preferred to rave about other artists he worked with.

It's cool to read in that interview about how he fell into character design at Disney, basically being asked to design pigeons on the Hunchback of Notre Dame production. Obviously it snowballed from there and he went on to design characters exclusively. There doesnt seem to be many interviews with Joe online so check it out!

HAMPA STUDIOS

I recently received a note from Diana Rodriguez, of HAMPA STUDIOS in Valencia, Spain.

The company has an 11 year history, but only 3 as an animation studio.

“Margaret” is their very first short film. It is a story about leaving our daily routine and being brave enough to chase dreams.

The story is inspired by an original poem call “Margarita” written by Ruben Dario, a Nicaraguan writer of IXX century and a highly regarded exponent of the modernist movement.

Hampa Studio chose this poem because is "a travel thru the reality and a magic world, where a really young princess leaves her perfect world just to follow her dream: go up to sky and cut the most perfect and beautiful star she has ever seen."

Their animation team is comprised of 4 animators, 1 background designer, 1 3D technician, director Alex Cervantes, and adnd Diana Rodriguez herself who is in charge of the production department. You can “meet” the artists on their blog which contains a lot of information about the production process:

http://margaritashortfilm.blogspot.com

They also have a website (http://www.margaritacortometraje.com/index_eng.html).

They have come up with a new and original way to finance their film. Since the story is about following a star, they started a “STAR SALE” where everyone its free to make a donation thru PayPal in exchange for one star of Margaret’s sky.

I love everything about this story. It is through the passion of artists like this that animation remains a great art form.

I've not seen their animation, but the background art is lovely and remarkable.

Here's wishing HAMPA STUDIO and its artists great success!

Today, a first - background art released to "ANIMATION BACKGROUNDS" directly from a studio, from a film in progress.

Thank you Diana!

Latika

FINALLY saw Slumdog Millionaire w/ a packed house tonight, it's fantastic! But you already knew that. The soundtrack is killer too.