Illustration gif

Trying out a gif. Here's sketch to paint for a page in the "Return of the Jedi" Little Golden Book...

New Golden Book - "I am a Jedi"

Just got samples of the next Little Golden Book! Again, very grateful for the opportunity to work on these. So much fun. This one will be on shelves on January 5, 2016.

Little Golden Book - "Return of the Jedi"

So excited to get the opportunity to illustrate this Little Golden Book. This was really a blast! If you enjoy this one, please be sure to check out the rest in the series, by phenomenal artists like Chris Kennett. There is even a box set of the first six Episodes.

Animation pencil test - Turner Internship (Hanna Barbera) 1993

I thought it would be fun to repost this little animation test from a 1993 summer internship in Hollywood. Our assignment was to show a character caught steeling cookies from a cookie jar, and "Jurassic Park" had recently been released. When everyone's tests were completed, the instructors held a literal gong show, complete with a little gong for the tests that were less-than-par. Thankfully, I survived that one!

Shortly after, I brought this pencil test along as part of my reel and portfolio to Industrial Light and Magic (ILM); they had flown me up to be interviewed as they ramped up the CG animation in "Casper". It was so awesome to meet people like Spaz Williams, who had recently built and animated the groundbreaking digital T-Rex in the aforementioned "Jurassic Park"... and there I was timidly showing this little guy to them!

After I then finished my second year at CalArts, on June 6, 1994, I was hired at Disney Feature Animation in Glendale. Ten years later, when the Florida studio was closing, ILM was one of the many studios that came down to look at prospective artists, and once again I showed them my work.

Interviewed on Pixar fan blog

What a privilege to be interviewed on Dan Taylor's blog - he really knows his Pixar merchandise!!

http://www.danthepixarfan.com/2014/09/interview-behind-scenes-of-vinylmation.html

New bus wrap

Just recently saw the latest Disney Cruise Line buses driving around WDW property, with some of my art. I penciled the ducks - based partly on the dimensional figures on the stern of the Disney Wonder - and when approved, inked and painted them digitally. I painted Mickey as well, but it was a pre-existing pose.

Pixar Creative Camp

About 7 years ago, a group of us from the Disney Design Group (from Orlando) collaborated with the talented team from Disney Consumer Products (from Glendale) to come up with a wide assortment of product ideas and rough artwork involving Pixar's film properties. This took place during an incredibly fun week up at Pixar Animation Studios, in Emeryville, CA. These are a couple of B-movie style posters I designed around some of the Toy Story characters.

Special screenings

For the 25th anniversary of Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly the Disney/MGM Studios), some of us had the honor of being invited back to the Animation building to host private screenings of two of the films we helped create here in Florida, "Mulan" and "Lilo and Stitch". The audience consisted of current Cast Members who work at that Park and their guests, and it was a pleasure to share our experiences and answer questions about a studio that contributed so much to the heritage of the Company.

A couple of studios

Back in 1995, at the almost finished Feature Animation building in Burbank, CA (I'm the second guy on the left).

I moved to the Florida Studio in 1997, a year or two before this photo was taken. This building was finished after completion of "Mulan".

Doodles

Haunted Mansion digital model

Around that same time, I also dabbled with modeling inanimate structures in Maya - such as Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, referring to some elevations published in an Imagineering book.

3D character modeling

Before the Florida studio closed ten years ago, we were being trained in 3D animation software. One of the tutorials was of this monster, that I sculpted and polypainted in Maya.