The Little Vehicle That Could

So, I have a lot of vehicles in my story. This one was really fun and I like the "character" that came out of it. I wanted to make it playful looking because while machines in my story are a bit scary, I also needed one that the characters would follow out of curiosity and something huge and extremely severe would scare them away, so this little machine came to life for me. In the next few weeks I'll be posting the "scary" one that is in complete contrast to this one.

River's Bend

Here is a shot with one of my main characters seeing how logs that once were a part of his home are transported by man. I chose a the truck to be far off on the bridge and a bit vague because that's how the character would feel when he's introduced to such a foreign thing he's never seen that is invading his life. He doesn't know anything about it but it will soon become something he can't avoid and will learn more than he ever wanted to know about it.

I do a lot of these value study shots just to set up a composition that sets a mood. It's one of my favorite things to do and I find it so much easier to do in photoshop because if I don't like a foreground or mid ground object I can move it quickly. Now most of my initial thumbnails I jot down on paper simply because ideas don't always happen when I'm near my computer but you can always have or even find paper ( I know some people who actually prefer napkins because they are such a throw-away thing- love people like that).

Lunch Sketch

So I did this quick sketch at lunch a few weeks ago and since someone (I'll save that person any humiliation :)) really wanted to see the face of the bear I decided to post this. It's just a quick concept and really not thoroughly thought out. There will be more sketches of this guy posted later.

The Verge

I know I haven't posted in awhile but I've actually been working on some stuff and have had some real inspiration thanks to my new art directors at work. They've become mentors for me, so everything I post from now on is totally dedicated to and inspired by Rob Corley, Tom Bancroft, and Chuck Vollmer. They're awesome artist and great people who inspire and encourage me day to day, so many thanks to them.

For this painting, I looked at a lot of Disney paintings (Bambi was a huge inspiration) as well as Chuck Vollmer's paintings, and Xiangyuan Jie (an amazing painter who did concept work for Disney, Blue Sky, etc). I'm doing a little project with a bear, a beaver , and a squirrel. I'll be posting the stuff I've been working on and even in-progress stuff from now on. I have a lot in-progress. I tend to be one of those people who works on several paintings and ideas all at once...it's just who I am. Take care and I'll post more later. Now, back to painting!