“3-2-1 Penguins!” Photo Illustrations

For the most recent episode of 3-2-1 Penguins! (titled “Pratical Hoax” and directed by Tom Bancroft), the script called for photographs to appear in various scenes. Since the show is built and animated in 3D, and since each photo would only be seen on screen for a few seconds, and since television deadlines are so brutal, rather than to build the characters and backgrounds in the computer the best solution was for me to just illustrate the photos. Since this is a cartoon show with wacky humor, we could get away with cartoony illustrations rather than realistic 3D images.

Television production is pretty fast-paced so I had to crank them out quickly. To help them feel more like photographs I experimented with a new technique. I avoided outlining anything. Instead I drew each shape in Photoshop with the path tool , selected it with the magic wand tool, and then on a separate layer I threw in some flat color. Once I was satisfied with the overall tonal balance of the colors I used the airbrush tool to paint in the shading and highlights on yet another layer.

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This “photo” was projected on the ship’s monitor screen for a gag about a peace treaty between a planet inhabited by dogs and tennis ball aliens. In hindsight I wish I’d have made the sling and bandages a little darker and less washed-out.

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In this episode the main characters fill in as substitute teachers at “The Academy”, which is their old high school/college. Since the show takes place in outer space, the student body is composed of various aliens (lifted from past episodes of Penguins). In one scene the camera pans a series of framed photos showing Captain Zidgel as a young cadet. I illustrated the above “photos” as part of that series.

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Finally, we also see some photos of the villain, Bert the Hamster, during his days as a young cadet. Here he is posing with an early version of his invention, the Galeezel (a device used throughout the series to shrink and enlarge things). The idea was to show an early version of the device using 1980’s-era technology. Looking at it now, I should have made the tabletop a darker color so that Bert’s feet and the computer would stand out a bit more.

“3-2-1 Penguins!” Character Designs

On Saturday morning NBC aired another episode of “3-2-1 Penguins!” which I was fortunate enough to work on. For much of the series my job was to design various aliens which the Penguins would encounter as they hopped from planet to planet. If the script called for a prop or gag that would change a character’s appearance, it was also my job to do a concept sketch and/or turnaround drawings so that the modelers and animators could replicate it correctly.

This particular episode (“Practical Hoax”) didn’t require any new characters. However, the script called for several “photographs” of various characters and it was my job to illustrate the “photos”. I’ll show you those tomorrow. In the mean time, here’s a few of the concept sketches I did for this episode:

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This episode featured several practical jokes. Here Zidgel, the ships science officer, gets hit in the face with a pie.

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Midgel gets stuck in some glue.

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For another practical joke, someone puts guacamole in Captain Zidgel’s hair gel. I did a few sketches to experiment with how that might look.

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Ultimately the director chose version A.

Tomorrow: Cartoon “photos”!

Thinking About Inking

After viewing my last post, artist Robert Miller wrote me and asked:

What do you use to ink your art? These are cool rabbit illos!

I thought his question would make a good blog post, so here goes.

Earlier this year I bought a Cintiq and started inking everything digitally (more on that below), but for many years I experimented with various inking methods on paper.

Pen and Ink. I first learned how to ink by using a dip pen with Hunt 102 nibs and a bottle of good-old India Ink, and inked my drawings on smooth bristol board. This was back in the late 80’s, before computers, when cartoonists were still using rubber cement and x-acto knives to create layouts, and inkers used white-out to fix their goofs. I used the Hunt pen tips for many years, and with them I was able to get a clean, cartoony line.Read More

Chasing Skinny Rabbits (Part 2)

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I recently illustrated the new book Chasing Skinny Rabbits by John Trent. Here’s a few of the final illustrations for the book. Each illustration required a different rabbit character, but they let me use the original rabbit design to add some humor to a chapter on marriage:

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Chasing Skinny Rabbits can be purchased here.

Chasing Skinny Rabbits (Part 1)

A few months ago I was hired to do some spot illustrations for a new book for the Christian market entitled Chasing Skinny Rabbits, written by John Trent and published by Thomas Nelson. The concept is that, like a hunting dog chasing a scrawny rabbit, there are “skinny rabbits” in life that can lead Christians away from obeying God, until we eventually discover that we are on a rabbit trail chasing a thin and wasted substitute for obedience.

The book was just released, so I can show some of the illustrations that I did. The original idea was to create a humorous but villainous “skinny rabbit” character that would appear in various spot illustrations throughout the book. Here’s a few concept sketches and the final design:

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I then created a series of interior illustrations for the book featuring this character, and also a rough mock-up for the cover. Here’s a few samples:

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After the artwork was completed, the publisher decided they wanted to go in a slightly different direction. Instead of one negative rabbit character, they wanted to populate the book with a variety of skinny rabbits that were more pleasant, or at least neutral. So with the publication deadline looming, I re-illustrated the entire book from scratch. (I was of course paid extra for my trouble). I’ll post a few of those illustrations tomorrow.

Chasing Skinny Rabbits can be purchased here.

Curious George

Happy New Year to one and all!

Here’s one reason I’ve been looking forward to 2008….

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One of the drawbacks of freelancing is that, for legal reasons, you often can’t publicly display the artwork you do for a client until the client gives you permission. Such is the case with these Curious George illustrations.

Way back in August of 2006 I was contacted by Houghton Mifflin, a publishing company that owns the rights to Curious George. The animated Curious George movie had been released earlier in the year, and Houghton-Mifflin was now preparing a project that would feature several new illustrations of Curious George and his adventures visiting a farm. They wanted to steer away from the slick animated movie version of the character and go back to the charming hand-drawn style of the original books illustrated by H. A. Rey. Rey’s illustrations were simple charcoal drawings with watercolor splashed in, and they wanted an artist who could replicate his low-tech technique.

Several artists were being considered for the project, including me. We were each asked to do some sample illustrations of Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat, and told the client would ultimately choose one of us to work on the project (a common practice when dealing with licensed characters). To mimic Rey’s style I did the line drawings with a china marker on copy paper. Then I scanned in the drawings and colored them using various watercolor and charcoal brushes in Photoshop.

Ultimately another artist was chosen, but it was still a thrill to be considered for the project.

I was paid for my efforts, but our contract stated that Houghton Mifflin owned all of the artwork and that I wasn’t allowed to display it publicly until January 1 of the year of publication, and even then only for my own self-promotion purposes. (I consider this blog to be an extension of my promotional campaign, since I use it primarily to raise awareness of me and my work.) Since the curriculum was set to be published in 2008, I can now finally display these samples!