Tentatively Titled: Rainforest Roomies

As I overindulge in revisiting my favorite childhood cartoons, I started thinking (inevitably) about my own body of work and what I could do next.  I started thinking--perhaps dangerously--about what hasn't been done yet, and I realized that we really haven't had an animal-centric show located in the rainforest about a resort/spa run by said rainforest animals!  So, I decided to make one.  Still doing animal research--there are so many to choose from!--but I'm liking the capybara and the tapir as two early front-runners for main characters.  Also doing some "location scouting".  Below are some early, quick animal sketches as I do my research.  I've also begun to develop the capybara character, which I see as being a John Candy type--lovable, but slow.  More to follow..

♫ Summer Sketchin', had me a blast... ♪

Here's a collection of some of the things I've been sketching this summer.  I've been rekindling my love of "The Angry Beavers", since Netflix has the first two seasons streaming from their site. (I've actually only watched the first season.  Twenty-five episodes in a season??  Not in today's world!)  Also some Toy Story 3 sketches as I flipped through the amazing "Art of" book.  Currently working on some really cool stuff--now that I've given up on my Lil' Drac revamp--that I hope to share soon!  Enjoy!

Lil' Drac: The Re-Deadening

ERGH!!!  After several days experiencing a personal "story retreat", I've come to the unfortunate realization that, in order for this epic story to work, I need to make the audience hate the person that kills Dracula.  Lil' Drac would have to kill the man who killed his father, but his father killed a bunch of villagers that didn't really do anything to deserve it....so....looks like I'll be shelving my Lil' Drac resurrection story...for now, at least.

Grrr...look at all those wasted notes and story sketches!

Lil' Drac: The Resurrection

Since I'm not taking summer classes at the Academy of Art this year, I figured I'd better find my own project to work on to keep my skills sharp.  I've been debating a lot of different ideas.  I have several story ideas I want to flesh out, storyboard, and create an animatic for.  But then I figured I'll be doing a lot of that for my Thesis Project during the next year or so.  And so I started looking back over what else I've got up my sleeve. As a kid, I had created my own comic series with my friend and even wanted to be a comic artist before getting into animation, but I haven't given it much thought since.  Then, I was watching this great interview over at CTN Animation Expo about the importance of story at Pixar.  All four of these Pixar story artists also do comic books!  That's when I had my epiphany to do my own comic book, which I think will be a nice addition to my portfolio when I graduate.  But a comic about what?  Well, that's when I decided to finally revisit my undergraduate masterpiece: Lil' Drac!  I figure, if it won me the Best of Show Portfolio Award, it must be fairly descent, at least.  After I had created the animatic for class, I had continued to fiddle around with the characters and the world, expanding and refining it.  I had even written a second script to use for another animatic, but I never ended up producing it--too many story changes from the original at that point.  I feel like now's the perfect time to finally redefine my creation and adapt him for the comic book/graphic novel world!  Working heavily on story, at the moment, but here are some of the sketches I've been doing as I re-imagine the world of Lil' Drac...

Let's Go YouTubin'!

Just added a dozen animations to my YouTube channel!  They're all from my undergraduate classes, so they're pretty bad.  They made me laugh though...and reminded me why I'm in pre-production.  Some are traditional, others are using 3D Studio Max, like this little gem here:



Be sure to check them out at youtube.com/casemanartist!

Getting Further Tangled...

Naturally, there will be a 3-D trailer for Disney's winter 2010 release "Tangled" premiering in theaters before the wonder that is "Toy Story 3", but did you realize that you can already view said trailer by heading over to the Official Tangled website?  Well, you can.  And IT. IS. AWESOME!!!  I am so friggin' pumped for this movie!  Glen Keane is a god and I simply cannot wait to see what his Midas Touch will do for Walt Disney Animation's 50th Feature Animated Movie!!!
Below are some screenshots from the trailer, for your (and my) viewing pleasure...