Boy Scout Poses

Here are all the poses for my Boy Scout character together. I really like the way they have turned out and it's been really refreshing working in a new style. Next up expressions!

Another Boy Scout Pose!

Getting this one in before the weekend. I'm really enjoying posing this character, he's fairly simple so its quite easy to do and I've got so many ideas for him! Hope you like him!

Boy Scout Poses

I've been working on this little guy and his poses today. I tried softening the lines and I think he looks a lot better. I love the style, it's completely different to what I'm used to doing but I'm really enjoying working in it.

Boy Scout

A quick character design of a boy scout I created today. Really enjoying working with these new brushes!

Warm up Sketch

This is a quick 45 min warm up painting I created before getting on with other work. Still trying to get used to these new brushes.

Thumbnail Painting Postbox

A quick digital thumbnail before I start my latest traditional commission. I created the composition myself as I didn't have a photo that was appropriate and changed the angle of the robin and postbox. I also knocked back the wall to highlight the robin. I will post the final picture in the near future!

Timmy the T-Rex Hallway

Finally managed to get this finished. Decided to take away the rounded walls out and go with straight ones. I think it looks a lot better and easier to read.

Elves on the Fireplace

This is my first digital painting in a while. I wanted to try out some of the brushes I recently purchased from Kyle Webster. I'm very impressed with them and would highly recommend them to anyone. Also trying out various new styles within my work over the forthcoming weeks. I hope you like it!

The Best Animated Feature Films of 2015

I wrote my second article for Skwigly this week reviewing the best animated films of 2015. It was a massive honour to be able to look over the amazing films that have been released this year and give my opinion on the good and not so good. Have a look at the article via the link below!

Skwigly The Best Animated Feature Films of 2015

Manchester Animation Festival

I attended the first ever Manchester Animation Festival last week which was awesome. I really enjoyed meeting new people and learning new things. I also wrote my first article for Skwigly on MAF which you can view via the link below!

Skwigly Manchester Animation Festival - Overview

WIP Timmy the T-Rex's House

It's been a while since I created any 2D backgrounds so it was nice to get back into doing them. I had a blast creating the initial line drawing and now I'm just working on the colours and lighting to make sure everything right, but heres what I've got so far.

Hotel Transylvania 2

I finally got around to watching Hotel Transylvania 2 yesterday and I have to say I'm glad I went to see it. In my opinion it's one of the best sequels I've seen in a long time, and where as a lot of sequels seem forced and made simply to make money, Hotel Transylvania 2 had a fantastic storyline that picked up right where the first film left off. The opening sequence introduced the plot of the film, starting at Mavis's wedding and quickly moving to the birth of her first child, Dennis whom the story is based around. Once we get past the fairly soppy yet quite endearing opening sequence we encounter the initial problem, is Dennis a vampire or a human? As he is nearing the age of five and has still not show any signs of vampirism Mavis and Johnny have a big decision to make, will they stay in Transylvania where it could be potentially dangerous for a human child to grow up, or move to California where Johnny's family lives. Here we begin to see some fantastic comedic moments as Dracula desperately try's to find the monster in Dennis to prevent his precious daughter Mavis from moving away.

Every other scene has a laugh out loud moment, I particularly liked the introduction of technology to the hotel and Drac's struggle to use it throughout made the film current, relatable and hilarious. The film is directed by animation veteran Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Lab, Samurai Jack) and you can see his 2D background influencing the over the top animation which successfully incorporated 2D techniques such squash and stretch to the CG rigs full potential. Drac's facial expressions are a major highlight in the film for me as they tell you what he is thinking and feeling at all times without him having to say anything, but combined with Adam Sandler’s brilliant voice acting Drac is an eccentric, lovable character who drives the story along.

Each and every character in Hotel Transylvania 2 is well formed and realistic, showing not only the characters strengths but also their weaknesses. The older monsters all have their little quirks, which make them more relatable. Wayne the werewolf can't stop chasing balls when he is supposed to be teaching tennis, Murray the mummy has a bad back and can't perform his curses anymore and Griffin the invisible man pretends to have an invisible girlfriend to hide his loneliness. The introduction of Dennis juxtaposes all these old ‘scary’ monsters with one of the most adorable characters I have ever seen in an Animated film. His tiny little body, big head covered in curly ginger locks and wide, expressive eyes captured my heart and brought the essence of an innocent, unassuming five year old to a adult filled film. He is such an innocent well loved character that when his heart is almost broken by his favorite TV character, Kakie the Cake Monster, I couldn’t help but empathize with him.

My only complaint would be that the resolution was fairly predictable and following in suit with the original the film ends with a strange dance sequence that to me wasn't needed. Overall it was a fantastic family film, well written with real laugh out loud comedy that I think anybody who is in the mood for some spooky entertainment would enjoy. I would even go as far as to say it's even better than the original.

Inktober Day 31

Happy Halloween.  Here's a quick sketch of dracula rising from his coffin. Now back to the festivities!

Inktober Day 30

I feel like I skipped Halloween this year and went straight to Christmas. Here's a biro elf!

Inktober Day 29

Mexican fly who is also a fly Mexican. Didn't have a lot of time tonight so I just created this quick sketch.

Inktober Day 28

I've really enjoyed drawing children and mermaids recently.

Inktober Day 27

Halloween totem pole created with a pentel brush pen and pro markers. I'm still getting used to using my new brush pen, it's a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Inktober Day 26

Shrunken heads in biro.

Inktober Day 24

Messing around with my new brush pen today. Had loads of fun experimenting and then added colour using pro markers after.

          

Inktober Day 23

Bad panda! I wish games like GTA had biker pandas in them. It would be way more fun.

Inktober Day 22

A quick one today again. Fluffy cat!

Inktober Day 21

Quick bat sketch. I've had a really busy day.

Inktober Day 20

Creepy child in biro.

Inktober Day 19

Frankenstien uni - ball drawing. I had a bit of fun with my line thickness on this. I ordered a pentel brush pen yesterday so I'm looking forward to that coming!

Inktober Day 18

Hedgehog in the rain. I love hedgehogs and he looks so sweet in his little wellies with his umbrella!

Inktober Day 17

It's splatfest tonight so I did a quick sketch of my character splatting!

Inktober Day 16

Snotzilla!  He looks how I feel. I can tell winter is coming I feel like a snottasaurus and I can't stop blowing my nose.

Inktober Day 14

Dia de los muertos character head sketches.

Inktober Day 15

Peacock lady created with fineliner and water.

Inktober Day 13

This took me back to my fine art days. I had way too much fun creating this. I did it by smudging the fine liner with water and adding biro for the details.

Inktober Day 12

A quick detective doodle created in biro.

Inktober Day 11

Second day of Play Expo. It's been a fantastic weekend and I enjoyed playing the retro games the most, particularly Space Invaders. Later we had pizza! Hence my inktober day 11 drawing. Delivery van to the rescue! Save my pizza!

Inktober Day 10

I went to Play Expo in Manchester today which was awesome. I got to play Super Smash Bros as Kirby and then ate Krispy Kreme's, hence my inktober day 10 doodle.

Inktober Day 9

I bought a pear tree for the garden yesterday so I created a happy pear for inktober today. Plus I don't have much time today, hope you like it!

Inktober Day 8

Pumpkin kitty!

Inktober Day 7

I'm on a roll and happy I've managed to do a drawing in ink everyday for a week. Even if some of them have been better than others. Here's my second attempt at writing inktober in ink. Significantly better than the first. I'm clearly better at typography if it comes in the form of a character!

Inktober Day 6

Ity bity vampire kitty! Biro is definitely working better for me. Really enjoyed creating this little guy!

Inktober Day 5

Man unicorn! I'm a lot happier with this drawing. Switching to biro was definately a good idea. People always draw female unicorns, so I decided a man unicorn was the way forward.

Inktober Day 4

Not happy with this at all. I'm definately switching to biro tomorrow.

Inktober Day 3

Apparently I only put this on twitter last night so here it is a little late on blogger. I'm really enjoying doing these and using ink. I haven't had the opportunity to work in traditional media much in the past few years so this has given me a great excuse to practice and I've seen some amazing artwork so far!

Inktober Day 2

Pumpkins! I think I need to invest in some better paper!

Inktober Day 1

This is my first year taking part. I mostly do everything digital now so going back to traditional media, particularly inks is going to be fun! I hope you like it and enjoy the rest of my posts throughout October!

New Profile Pic

I finally got round to creating a new profile picture for all my social media! I hope you like it!

MA Animation

I've just completed my MA! I'm going to take a couple of weeks to catch up on everything thats got behind while I've been completing my MA and then I'm getting back to creating new and exciting pieces!

1 Hour 15 Min Church Study

A quick study of a church. I think its really hard to paint architecture generally and doing it quickly doesn't help. However I am fairly happy with this piece and the amount I'm able to achieve in such a short space of time. I need to concentrate on spending only 1 hour though and not going over the time limit getting caught up in the details.

40 min Face Study

A quick 40 min face study. I like painting different ages I think there is a lot of things to be learned to help with character design and development.

Cadi Expressions

To create this expression sheet I used both Photoshop and Sketchbook. Since Photoshop doesn't have a smoothing tool and the only one available (lazy nezumi) doesn't work for Mac the next best option was Sketchbook. I created the drawing in Sketchbooks and added the greyscale tone in Photoshop as I find the application more familiar. I really enjoyed creating these expressions and again drew from the work of the character designers from Paranorman who have been a great inspiration for me.

Cadi Turnaround

I've always struggled with turnarounds but after four years of practice they seem to be becoming easier. This is the first time I've created 5 sides and I think it's a great idea to include the back as I often come to draw characters from behind and have no idea what they look like! I'm really happy with the pose and the way it seems to work on all sides. I took inspiration for the layout from the designs for Paranorman. David Vandervoort is a great draftsman and the way he lays out her turnarounds for stop motion is clear and easy to read. Putting a size guide next to them and using a grid really helps keep the characters in perspective to one another and the turnaround is easily created when you have lines to follow. Fantastic inspiration!

Norman turnaround by David Vandervoort. Available at: http://livlily.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/paranorman-2012-character-design.html