•DoodleWood•

The Year of the Dragon is now a Story App

2012-01-29T13:39:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!

The Year of the Dragon has been transformed into a really fun and super cute interactive animated 3D story app by the talented folks at Mobad Media. I saw a sneak preview of it awhile back and was very impressed by the work they put into it. When I was told an app for the book was being made I really had no idea what to expect and this went way beyond any expectations I had, they really did an awesome job. Please check out the preview video:

The app is currently available for the Ipad/Iphone and also Mac OS 10.7:

Ipad/Iphone App

Mac App Store

And thanks so much again for all your support!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2012-01-02T20:47:00.000-08:00

The Year of the Dragon is now available, yay!

I recently received my copies and it was very exciting to finally see my first children's book in print!

To anyone interested in purchasing a copy you can find it over at Immedium's website here or click the image above.

And a big thank you in advance to all who do pick up a copy-your support is greatly appreciated and I hope you enjoy the book!

Happy 2012!

Feeling Crafty

2011-12-19T16:12:00.000-08:00

So recently I've become quite obsessed with needle-felting. This is Charley, he was my first attempt and I had so much fun making him that I couldn't wait to make more. He's about 13 inches long from tail tip to nose. I pretty much taught myself using a few tutorials online and also stabbing my fingers a bunch of times - For those who aren't familiar, needle-felting involves using a special barbed (and very sharp) needle to shape and adhere raw wool fibers together. I really enjoy the process of working with the raw wool. It's a new and refreshingly welcome challenge that I've found has combined my interest in sculpting and knitting into something I absolutely love. It's also a nice break from hours spent staring at a computer screen...

Hatching Soon!

2011-12-04T22:35:00.000-08:00

The children's book I illustrated, The Year of the Dragon should be released soon. This is another character promo piece I did of young Dominic the dragon with his proud parents. Here's the rough drawing too and also the rough of the lineup I posted awhile back, I had fun drawing and painting these.

FlapMutts

2011-11-19T23:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the silly looking dogs I did for the same episode of "Flapjack" that featured all the cats:

FlapCats

2011-11-01T00:57:00.000-07:00

Some more stuff from my time on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
These are all from the episode called "Who Let the Cats Out of the Old Bag's House?" which is probably my favorite episode I was assigned--I got to draw a ton of cats : ) The story involves Flapjack accidentally releasing all the cats from the crazy cat lady's house and they run amok in Stormalong. There also are a bunch of dogs in this episode which I'll try to share in another post.
Many of these felines were based on real kitties that my art director has and I also snuck my own crazy cat in this episode:

Sable Antelope

2011-10-10T22:43:00.000-07:00

Just a practice painting for fun.

Announcement!

2011-09-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

First off I want to thank anyone who actually still visits this blog, I know it has suffered from a lack of posts lately but I have had a very good explanation for my long absence which I am excited to finally share (since it's starting to appear elsewhere on the web I figured it was time).....

For the past several months I have been extremely busy working hard on what will be my first published children's book.
I was very honored to have the opportunity to work alongside the wonderful Oliver Chin illustrating the next installment of his Chinese Zodiac series "The Year of the Dragon". Children's books have always been a passion of mine which I am excited to have the chance to finally pursue and I've really had alot of fun through this process. For those interested the book should be available in time for the 2012 New Year.
I'll be sharing more info in the coming months and hopefully updating this blog more frequently again. In the meantime I've included a sneak peak of the character lineup and some of the early rough character sketches I did (the final designs changed slightly).

Also please check out the earlier installments of the series that were illustrated by the talented Justin Roth and Miah Alcorn and other books by Immedium, the publisher. Immedium is dedicated to providing fun and engaging books for children and really champions alot of wonderful artists, many of whom also work in the animation industry. Please visit their site: www.immedium.com
And if you happen to be in the San Francisco area this weekend (Sep. 17th-18th) head on over to Treasure Island for the San Francisco Dragon Boat Festival where you might find a super special limited edition promo t-shirt for the book featuring one of the illustrations.

Lots of Kids...

2011-05-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

...some observational sketches done over the past year at various locations.

Sketchbook Stuff

2011-04-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

....still don't have time for this blog but here's some sketches...

New Post!

2011-03-02T23:57:00.000-08:00

...it's been awhile........ just haven't had time for this blog lately (it's rather nice to take a break from it too)...
In the meantime here's some stuff from "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack". I had the opportunity to work on the last season of the show at Cartoon Network and it was super fun drawing zany expressions and special poses for these characters, I got to draw Flapjack in particular alot...

These were a few of the incidentals I did for various episodes...

Leopards

2010-12-15T22:51:00.000-08:00

Sketching while watching a nature program on leopards...colored digitally later.

Pangtiddler

2010-12-02T00:09:00.000-08:00

Another Tak critter with a crazy name, one of the last I did for the show-he was sort of a monster bird with a magic tail feather...Below are a few of the rejects...some of these were probably a bit overly complicated (the simplest solution is most often the best). But this kinda shows the development process. I generally work pretty fast at this stage, not spending too much time on any one drawing and just trying to get out as many ideas as possible. Once the ideas are out it's easier to narrow it down and focus on developing the strongest designs. Special thanks to the talented storyboard artists and my directors who helped with this character(as well as the others). Working on any animated production is a team effort with many people involved and I've been privileged to work with some amazing artists and crew members.

Cowboys and Pirates

2010-11-18T00:18:00.000-08:00

From narrative life drawing sessions.

Rainbow Juju

2010-11-11T00:16:00.000-08:00

More old work stuff...There were alot of wacky, weird juju in "Tak"-unfortunately this particular one was cut from the show.

The Elusive Chicken-Griffin

2010-11-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

um.....some sillyness...

Scribblings

2010-10-21T00:24:00.000-07:00

just a couple random sketchbook pages...

Rosie

2010-10-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

This is Rosie, she's a sweet little donkey at the LA Equestrian Center. There's always a sketch or doodle of her somewhere within the pages of my sketchbooks-thought I'd compile a few of them together...

Sand Fox

2010-09-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

Painted in Photoshop

Tiger Cub

2010-09-15T23:17:00.000-07:00

Unfinished sketchbook drawings...I drew this one on a bunch of post-its. This was actually the first drawing I did which initially was only a doodle of a tiger's head on one post-it which I later decided needed a body. I enjoyed drawing this character so I drew the others-I was going to do more finalized drawings but never got around to it.

Grouchy

2010-09-01T23:45:00.000-07:00

old work stuff....

Seven Silly Gators

2010-08-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

Ants 'n Cream

2010-08-04T20:45:00.000-07:00

My friend and I like to give each other dumb little drawing assignments every so often, most recently she said I should draw an anteater eating ice cream so here he is--fits the season I think. These little challenges are a fun way to keep the creative juices flowing...
(watercolor, colored pencil and ink)

Welcome (Color Version)

2010-07-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to painting this....Painted with traditional gouache on watercolor paper which I'm still trying to get a handle on, I did do a tiny bit of digital touch-up and color correction after scanning. The girl's face is slightly altered from the original and I may go back and repaint it to match this digital version but for now I thought it would be simplier to fix digitally- gouache can be touchy if you build up too many layers but I do enjoy using it.

Sketchbook Koi

2010-07-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

Sheltie

2010-07-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

just a quick drawing to test a new pencil (color added digitally)

Olli

2010-07-01T23:51:00.000-07:00

(photoshop)

Scoundrels

2010-06-25T00:06:00.000-07:00

......i'm still here sorta...

2010-06-18T02:00:00.000-07:00

....been busy job-hunting/trying to figure out what I want to do next and also took a long overdue roadtrip up north where I had fun exploring the redwoods and wild places of Northern California--definitely a stress-reliever...Didn't get a chance to sketch too much but the few scribbles I did made me realize I need to work on my environment drawing skills at least to improve my confidence. I've been spending alot of time designing characters and props which I absolutely love doing but I also feel like I've neglected some other areas and I would like to feel more comfortable with my composition, layout and perspective particularly when drawing from life-something to improve upon for the future...

Girl in Overalls

2010-05-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

Another Sculpey Critter

2010-05-05T23:28:00.000-07:00

(sculpey & acrylic)
Based loosely off that little unicorn drawing from a few posts back...it's fun to make these though I wish I'd taken the class back in school...

Gone Fishin

2010-04-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

A Goat Named Ferguson

2010-04-16T00:16:00.000-07:00

Pink-Tailed Lemur

2010-04-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

haven't thought of a name for this guy yet....

Sketchbook People....

2010-03-31T23:58:00.000-07:00

Little Unicorn

2010-03-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

Watercolor Studies

2010-03-12T00:13:00.000-08:00

From the equestrian center...
and some recent little studies done while exploring Griffith Park...

Familia Exoticus

2010-02-24T01:54:00.000-08:00

Digital: Painter

Coyote

2010-02-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

Once, not so very long ago, I was walking to class from my dorm in college when along the path heading towards me came a trotting coyote. For a very brief moment we stopped and stood only a few feet apart regarding each other in startled silence and then he quickly turned and disappeared among the buildings. It was the one and only time I ever saw a coyote on campus...(that memory came back to me while I was drawing this.)

Sketching from a Sketch

2010-01-28T00:34:00.000-08:00

just some practice doodlings from a sketch I did while out and about...

Fauns Love Cupcakes

2010-01-14T21:00:00.000-08:00

Eat Your Veggies

2009-12-16T23:44:00.000-08:00

I struggled a bit initially while trying to design this character for "Tak". I wasn't given much description of him except that he was weird and goofy....I remember snacking on some carrots at the time which inspired a silly quick sketch of this guy that ended up getting approved by the director..... (I never saw how he turned out in the show, I know it was a very brief scene in one of the last episodes)...

A Critter

2009-12-09T23:27:00.000-08:00

Horses

2009-12-02T23:15:00.000-08:00

Finally getting around to scanning some of these...My visits to the equestrian center haven't been as frequent and I'm feeling out of practice...

Four Random Doodles...

2009-11-19T00:34:00.000-08:00

...from three different sketchbooks.

Kitty

2009-11-11T01:24:00.001-08:00

Spider Juju

2009-10-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Little Raccoon

2009-10-22T01:40:00.000-07:00

I did this a while back when I was practicing with illustrator and a simpler style-kinda the pre-school show look I suppose. As a character designer I find it's good to be a bit of a chameleon and able to mimic different styles since I never know what kind of show I may end up working on. Though it may be a struggle at times, I rather enjoy the challenge of trying to match a new or unfamiliar style. I often discover after working for a period of time on a particular show that it's style seeps into my own personal work which can be either a good thing or a not-so-good thing....but there's always something new to learn which I find motivating.

........

2009-10-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

Haven't had much time to keep up with this blog lately.....here's a chubby doggie...

Welcome

2009-09-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

For this weeks IF topic.....plan on painting this later.

Birds of a Feather

2009-09-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

...miscellaneous bird doodles

Traveller

2009-09-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

(Click image for larger version)I recently read the novel, "Traveller", by one of my favorite authors, Richard Adams (he also wrote "Watership Down"). It's a Civil War story told through the eyes of General Robert E. Lee's horse, Traveller, and I highly recommend it. It's interesting to see the Civil War from a horse's perspective. Anyways while reading the book I was inspired to paint this-I tried to stay loose, been feeling like I'm tightening up too much lately...
(Painter/Photoshop)

Bug Juju

2009-08-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

Concepts:Final Design+Expressions:

Stag & Doe

2009-08-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

I drew this on the cover of my new sketchbook which was probably not such a great idea since he will most likely end up smeared and smudged...And this might be his shy doe (inside the sketchbook this time)...

Afternoon Stroll

2009-07-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

This is something I've been working on for quite some time. It started as a silly doodle I did in my sketchbook back in 2006: I initially wanted to color it then but couldn't decide whether to do it digitally or traditionally and ultimately got busy with other things and put it off....But I came back to it last year and redrew the sketch deciding I really wanted to break into my brand new pastels which I've had since college and never really used :O ...I did a few rough pastel thumbnails to figure out the color scheme but was hesitant to start the final illustration mostly due to anxiety over whether I'd be able to pull it off since I haven't used pastels in so long.......but at some point you just have to shed your fear and jump in and so I finally started working on it recently, finishing it within the last few weeks.... I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed pastels despite the messiness and I had fun relearning even though I made mistakes(getting a bit too heavy in some areas and I'm not especially happy with those roses.) It's probably the largest traditional illustration I've done in a long time-it's about 14x19". I couldn't scan it easily so I photographed it instead and the colors and contrast aren't reproducing quite right but I wanted to share it anyway.

Chunky Unicorn

2009-07-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed working on this guy, I was asked to design a fat unicorn for a silly scene in an episode of "Tak"(it was kinda meant to be an homage to that horse in the Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Opera, Doc?")...Quick, rough exploratory sketches...This was the final approved design.

Lemurs

2009-07-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

Kitty Portrait

2009-06-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

A quick portrait of my cat-the result of experimenting with creating custom brushes in photoshop(fun!) and playing with cgtextures.com(check it out, there's some cool stuff there)
:)

Lunch Doodles

2009-06-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted any sketchbook doodles in a while, here's some scribblings I did today:
Getting close to the end of this particular sketchbook, gonna have to get a new one soon...

Toucans & Cockatoos

2009-06-04T00:25:00.000-07:00

Hunted

2009-05-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

marker and colored pencil on vellum

Hrumpyfrump Puppykins

2009-05-20T23:13:00.000-07:00

I think that's what this guy was called...Ruff concepts that didn't make it....

Springtime Serenade

2009-05-06T23:45:00.000-07:00

(Painted that old sketch I posted awhile back with a few changes)
Since I saved this in stages I thought I'd share my progress work along with the finished version:Digital: Painter, Photoshop

Fishies

2009-04-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

Curiosity

2009-04-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much opportunity to visit the equestian center as often as I used to and I've missed sketching my equine friends. Hopefully I'll be able to pay a visit again soon.

Jeera

2009-04-01T23:10:00.000-07:00

Been super busy.......anyhow, here's a compilation of concept stuff I did for Jeera. She was fun to draw.Quick postit doodles....old hair style...Expressions...new hair style...The final design...there's a larger version on my website here.

Just Practice

2009-03-11T22:50:00.000-07:00

Generally I don't have much confidence when it comes to my plein air abilities but it was such a pretty day it seemed a shame not to at least make an attempt....... I had fun playing with my pastels anyway.

SillyHeads

2009-03-04T22:26:00.001-08:00

Chameleon

2009-02-25T23:45:00.000-08:00

I did the horned chameleon first but it was decided that a hornless version would be better....personally I rather liked the one with the horn.

Girl in a Pink Coat

2009-02-18T23:57:00.000-08:00

Pastel (in my sketchbook)

Log Hermit

2009-02-11T23:18:00.000-08:00

Galago (a.k.a. BushBaby)

2009-02-04T22:57:00.000-08:00

Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop

More Lunch Doodles...

2009-01-22T21:33:00.000-08:00

Equine Doodles

2009-01-15T00:10:00.000-08:00

(Might color this later when I have time....)

Developing Jeera

2009-01-07T23:22:00.000-08:00

Early development art of Jeera from Tak: Since Jeera was one of the main characters for the show alot of time was spent exploring and reworking her design. These are a few of the many development drawings I did before her final design was approved.

Gift Guineas

2008-12-26T18:38:00.000-08:00

I made these little critters as a surprise for my friend. They are inspired by her two real live guinea pigs, Moe and Gordon.
Happy Holidays!(sculpey & acrylic)

.......

2008-12-17T22:25:00.000-08:00

....been busy with work and battling a cold, haven't had energy for much else.....all I have is this old Tak stuff for now...

Wild Child

2008-12-03T23:35:00.000-08:00

Bongos

2008-11-19T23:58:00.000-08:00

Pastel studies from a recent visit to the LA Zoo:

Ringtails

2008-11-12T21:39:00.000-08:00

Incidentals

2008-10-30T00:47:00.000-07:00

I have a box full of this stuff and thought I'd dig through it and see what I could find....these are a bunch of incidentals from my days on "Catscratch". Although I see things I would change now if I drew them over I enjoyed drawing these characters at the time. It was a fun show to work on for my first job and I learned alot. It's interesting to look at old drawings and see how you've progressed...
Various Incidentals:Rootbeer Drinkers:Last but not least...a falling yak?

Lunch Doodles

2008-10-22T23:35:00.000-07:00

This little girl would much rather have had a lollypop instead of lunch...

Kookaburras are Kool

2008-10-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

Some Old Stuff...

2008-10-01T23:54:00.000-07:00

Preliminary development sketches from Tak...

Snails & Sculpey

2008-09-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

Soooo, I decided to try something out of the norm and play with some sculpey. I've never sculpted anything before so it was a whole new way of thinking and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I thought my snail character from my student film would be a good subject for my first attempt. It took alot of concentration and patience, particularly the eyes(which I still don't think look quite right) but it was fun, I think I'll sculpt more of my characters :)
Now I just have to figure out how to bake and paint this....

....critter in my sketchbook

2008-09-10T23:05:00.000-07:00

Meeting In The Reeds

2008-08-27T23:32:00.000-07:00

....this is something I've been playing with on and off for a while now whenever I had free time or simply needed a break. It started when I was just doodling a fox in Painter and somehow transformed into this.

Mongatu Lizard

2008-08-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

Concepts from Tak...

Some Old, Some New....

2008-08-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

.....all from the zoo...

Bug-eyed Tapir

2008-07-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

Found this while rummaging through some stuff-something I did probably over a year ago during a break at work.

Scruffy

2008-07-16T00:12:00.000-07:00

Evolution of a Mammoth

2008-07-02T23:51:00.000-07:00

This is Mitchell the Mammoth from an episode of Catscratch entitled "A Wooly Adventure". He was one of the first major incidental characters I got to work on for the show back in 2005 and he went through many stages of development.
Below is a typical page of roughs--quick stuff just trying out shapes and ideas and generally making a mess. I like to use post-it notes for this stage-this page is actually layered in post-its, there are several on top of each other as I kept varying the drawing beneath each one:More early concepts:After all the feedback, notes and revisions from the director, storyboard artists, etc. this is what he finally ended up looking like: I was rather nervous to do the turnarounds on this guy at the time since it was one of the first I'd ever done and he seemed complicated but after doing them over several times I felt more confident in myself (once you can turn a mammoth you can turn anything :)

Myrna

2008-06-25T23:27:00.000-07:00

....this is based on an old doodle I did a long time ago that I redid in Illustrator for practice.

Spring Cleaning

2008-06-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

....a silly illustration I did for the last SCBWI contest

Choo Choo

2008-06-04T23:40:00.000-07:00

I got to ride on this over the weekend, it was fun! During a stop I tried to do a few quick sketches.... it's a bit outside my comfort zone so they're kinda messy....Here's a photo of the real thing:My dad helped restore this 1927 steam locomotive during most of my childhood, it almost feels like a family member, so it was really neat to finally take a ride on her down the Southern California coast : )

Tatercat!

2008-05-28T23:40:00.000-07:00

Something Fishy...

2008-05-21T23:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Gator

2008-05-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

I've been having fun playing with Illustrator recently, mostly just trying to remember how it works since I don't use it too often and it's good to try something different once in a while.
Nothing fancy here, just a happy little gator....

Creature Concept

2008-04-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

Another old concept from Tak: I really enjoyed designing this one even though it ended up never being used in the show. I did the painting outside of work, just cuz it was fun.

Fuzzy Family

2008-04-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

While hiking in the hills recently I stumbled upon this little family-out in the daylight(generally possums are nocturnal).....
Yeah, I know most people think possums are ugly critters but I have a bit of a soft spot for them and actually think they're kinda cute...even though they used to eat the pet chickens I had growing up....