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.
I had fun signing books at the Immedium booth during Wondercon. Those who stopped by the booth got a glimpse of my Dominic the Dragon feltie who's been my mascot at the various book signing events I've been doing. He's probably my most ambitious felted critter -there were lots of little details involved, the eyes and claws are made of sculpey that I painted; again the photos aren't really doing him justice. He was challenging but alot of fun to make and he seems to be holding up pretty well through all the traveling and being pawed and petted by cute little kids (he did lose an eye a couple times). In related news the first printing of The Year of the Dragon is apparently almost sold out! Thanks so much to everyone who picked up a copy, the last few months have been a bit surreal for me but all the support and positive feedback has really meant alot.
...uggg, why isn't there more time in the day....
just practice, trying to loosen-up....
Here's her real alter ego minus wings:
And here's a little sketchy doodle I did to figure out how I was going to make her, yep drawing still comes in handy when making these.
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...
The children's book I illustrated, 
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:
Just a practice painting for fun.
...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.