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.
...some observational sketches done over the past year at various locations.
....still don't have time for this blog but here's some sketches...
These were a few of the incidentals I did for various episodes...
Sketching while watching a nature program on leopards...colored digitally later.
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.
From narrative life drawing sessions.
More old work stuff...There were alot of wacky, weird juju in "Tak"-unfortunately this particular one was cut from the show.
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...
Painted in Photoshop
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.
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...
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.
just a quick drawing to test a new pencil (color added digitally)
(photoshop)