Obligatory Guilt Post

I never post anything. And the worst of it is that I'm not witty enough to make up for it! If I could only write something brilliant and hilarious, I am certain that my legions of adoring blog fans (by which I mean my husband, because no one reads a blog that never gets updated, but I plan on forcing him to read it because THAT'S WHAT YOU SIGNED UP FOR WHEN YOU MARRIED ME) would instantly forgive my apparent allergy to self-promotion.

Alas, it is not to be. But because I keep discovering other blogs whose owners DO update them regularly, I've managed to guilt myself into creating a post.... devoid of new artwork, of course, but a post nonetheless! Here's an image to break up this giant text block!

You see, I work at Rivet Games in San Francisco (that's me on the homepage in the matchy-matchy brown polka dots), where I am busily creating artwork for a rockin' new game with a team of talented folk.  I draw at work every day.... which means that when I get home at the end of the day, I want to do anything but draw. Maybe I'm just not passionate enough about art, or maybe I have ADHD, but in any case, after 6pm, I can usually be found reading my Kindle (which I love, adore, and worship, wondering where it has been all my life).

At some point in the near-ish future, the game will launch and I will start posting art and animation from it (or not, considering my track record), and my husband (who will STILL be the only person reading this blog) will oooh and aaah over how great it is.  Meantime, I'm going to hang onto this motivational guilt for all it's worth, and try to draw something worthy or write something witty to put on the blog ASAP.  Which could be, you know, next year.  But hopefully sooner. :)

Perennial Update? and some sketches

Since I last posted, the new job, new city, and new house(s) have kept me mighty busy, so while I've been doing a lot, you certainly wouldn't be able to tell from my online presence (or lack thereof)! Though I'm excited about Rivet's newly-launched game, Pet Tales, and about our upcoming launch, *CURRENTLY UNANNOUNCED HAHA!*, I've run into that old problem of not being able to show much of my work until I receive official approval. Curse you, NDAs!

Fortunately, I've discovered some live model sessions here, so please enjoy the fruits of that most recent endeavor. And go play Pet Tales!

Explanation for crazy-long Post Fail

Hello from sunny (well, usually) California!  I thought I should post a quick note about the whole vanishing act again, but I promise I have a REALLY REALLY good excuse this time!  I have accepted a new position with a social media game development company in San Francisco, California, and am in fact freshly moved out West as of only a few days ago!  Crazy, right?  Anywhoodle, the move was managed in under a month, so I've been quite preoccupied, and before that it was more freelance work, a friend's wedding, and various Oktoberfest and Halloween happenings.

Until I am able to give the full update, complete with images, please watch this and then get your butt to the theater to see Tangled, in my opinion the best Disney animated feature since the 90s!

An Overview of my Flash work

Well, it seems the time has come for more shameless self-promotion.  No, really: I get a lot of questions along the lines of "what do you do?" and the answer is always difficult, because what I do tends to change by the minute.  On any given day, I might be managing a web or game development project, which means lots of budgets and schedules (which I LOVE, because numbers rock and you don't always get to spend a lot of time with them in the art and design universe), creating assets for a social media game (????), creating hand-drawn animation for a Department of Defense commercial, designing characters for a short or show, painting an architectural rendering of a speculative dream-house, or fighting with Actionscript to create a Flash demo.  In any case, it's a pretty broad spectrum, so I thought I'd provide a brief overview of some of the work I've done frequently over the last few years: namely, that completed in the wonderful and infuriating program that is Adobe Flash.

First, a comparative sample of both studio and home work:

Then, a sample of a more corporate-style demo, more motion graphics than character animation:

http://www.lumension.com/Resources/Demo-Center/Overview-Endpoint-Protection.aspx

And then one you've seen before if you visited the old blog:

Relient K "Sleigh Ride" from Gotee Records on Vimeo.

(Everything up to where the main bunny sees his buddies is mine, and the PLOP! into the Sleigh shortly thereafter is also moi.)

And finally, this one's kind of cheating, because it's IN Flash, but hand-animated:

(Property of Radical Axis, Inc.)

There's TONS more, but this gives a good sample of the variety you can achieve with Flash, which certainly is what makes it most appealing to me.  These days, I'm using the program to create assets for Facebook games, which is opening up a whole new world of Flash-y possibilities.

Stay tuned (tooned!), and enjoy the rest of your blistering Summer!

**EDIT**  I'll do a post for more of my hand-drawn work later, but since I've had a couple requests, here's a Flapjack bit I completed for a commercial and a personal piece.

The Big Heroes Con Post

I realize it's a month later, BUT! I shall keep my promise to compose an epic post about my adventures at Heroes Con 2010.  After all, "Girl loses way and then finds renewed inspiration" is always a good story.....

I've never been to a Con before.  I did attend the 4th Annual Disney Institute Animation Event back in 2001, but as it was only attended by about 120 people, it wasn't quite the same thing.  When the opportunity to attend this one within driving distance came up, I decided to give it a try, knowing that at a bare minimum, I would get the opportunity to finally meet Tom Bancroft in person: followers of the old blog will recognize him from the Reliant K music video project, and you Disney fans had darn well better know who he is!

I've never really been much of a comics fan, although I've loved French comics ever since visiting France in 2005, and I can appreciate the skill of many prominent cover artists.  As for the popular American superheroes, however, I tend to consume their stories in the form of TV and movies, and so am far more familiar with Bruce Timm and Bryan Singer than with any comic artist.  In any case, I expected to be bored after just a day of the three-day event, assuming it wasn't really "my thing."

WOW.  Was I ever wrong.  Not only was I not bored, but I found myself wishing that Heroes Con was a week-long event!  Not only was there a tremendous variety of art, toys, and books to consume, but the artists were tremendously accessible and friendly.  Events went on all day and all night, including professional panels, some raucous partying in the hotel, and one very crazy art auction (top sellers went for $8K).  Among others, we met Adam Hughes (who has a new book out: Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes (Adam Hughes Cover to Cover) go get it!), J Scott Campbell (tremendously patient and friendly, even with never-ending lines in front of his booth), Frank Cho (also super-friendly and with an excellent sense of humor), and Sean "Cheeks" Galloway (does he ever stop smiling? Nope!).

And of course, we got to meet Tom Bancroft and his lovely wife, Jen.  Both were an absolute pleasure to meet, and their laid-back and goofy senses of humor made for some great times over the two days we were there.  The only thing better than geeking out about animation with friends is geeking out about animation with a former Disney animator who also works in the Southeast (where the entertainment community is small but growing!).  I even managed to snag a few of Tom's drawings, and they just warm my little animation-geek heart.  Example:

We made it home with quite a lot of swag besides this as well, leading me to the conclusion that next year, I'd better save up so that I can buy even MORE sketchbooks and original art.

Obviously, I couldn't help but be inspired by all of this talent, but there was on more person I met who had quite an effect on me.  While perusing Artist Alley, I came across the work of the very talented Otis Frampton.  I immediately found his drawing style and particularly his color work appealing, and we fell into conversation about our respective careers.  He explained that he had no formal art education, but had created his first comic book while serving in the Air Force.  You could say Otis attended the "School of Hard Knocks," as he owes his fantastic style to constant hard work and refinement, exhibiting a drive that is the only possible road to success.

When he asked me about my work, I told him that I'd graduated from SCAD, and that I'd been working in animation since then.  But, when he asked if I had an online gallery or demo reel, I suddenly realized that I had no recent work to show.  And it hit me that I'd been using my full-time job as an excuse not to pursue personal projects or work at improving my art, as though the good fortune of being employed exempted me from the dedication any self-respecting professional ought to have.  It was a moment of extraordinary shame for me, to realize I was wasting that good fortune (and education) while Otis was making something great of himself.  I bought a sketchbook from him (and you all should, too, because he rocks), and came home with the determination to get back on the horse and start creating.

It hasn't been easy, as old habits die hard and I've gotten very good these last few years at coming up with excuses not to work.  However, I've managed to attend some models sessions recently and have been trying to do a drawing a day, and though the results have been generally atrocious, it feels fabulous to be moving forward again.  So, here's to a successful Con, and I wish all possible success to the artists I met, including the ones I forgot to mention.  See you all at Heroes Con 2011!

Famous for a Day

My husband seems to have accidentally achieved nationwide fame for a day for his "fix" of the immortal Jim Lee's somewhat disappointing Wonder Woman redesign. It's even showing up in the news now: "Wonder Woman Updated, Then Fixed." How awesome is that, seriously?! I think we should all try redesigns of DC's favorite Amazon - I'd love to see the results!

* With respect to Mr. Jim Lee, who is still rockin'.

Zombies and Ladies

Since the project is currently undisclosed, I can't give details about what we're currently working on at Anthem. However, I will drop this little sample of character design, because we didn't end up using these ones. They are a zombie and a survivor, and I dig the lady because she looks like she could totally survive the zombie apocalypse, no?

Zombies aren't really my thing, however, so I thought I'd also include this from a recent model session.

Not the best I've ever done, but since I draw so few clothed models, I like to give it a go every now and then. As it is, I probably won't be returning to this model session for some time, because the organizers (whom I know and who are awesome) chose the seediest spot in Atlanta to hold it. This probably has to do with budget limitations or similar issues, but being the prudish square that I am, I think I'll wait until they move again. I know, I know, "You draw naked people, but you don't want to go to a strip club?" Well, they're not the same thing! Exactly. Quite.....

Coming soon: a huge, gushing post about Heroes Con 2010!