// walking light //

Bravest Warriors at NYCC 2012

It's already well underway, but for those of you heading to New York Comic Con this weekend, I’ll be part of the official Bravest Warriors launch, signing the NYCC exclusive issue of BOOM! Studios Bravest Warriors #1 with Breehn Burns (series writer/producer) at Jim Hanley’s Universe in Manhattan from 6pm - 9pm, Friday night. Open to the public! No pass or badge required.

I drew the limited edition cover (above) specifically for this event, so it'll be your only chance to get your hands on a copy. There will be a sneak peek screening of an animated episode of Bravest Warriors as well. So, come say hello!

More information here and here.

In other news.... 

.... THIS happened.  (braaaiiiiiiinnnnnnn ... )

slumberland ...

Cute and cuddly

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd been drawing a bunch of cute little characters lately, and they come in sets. Here's the first, the product of a morning of doodling at FableVision. You'll have to click on these buggers to view the larger image.

The prompt: Draw a bunch of friendly characters for kids! --OK!

Here's a closer shot of my personal favorite of the set.

I had a similar prompt for the next set of characters—a group I designed in collaboration with animator Bob Boyle, for preschoolers. He drew a little, I drew a little, and we landed on these critters. Almost huggable, right? It was a fun change to bounce around ideas with another Bob. (Again, click to view large.)

In even larger furry orange territory, I made this picture for my great friends Renee & Keith, who are soon to be married—in just a couple weeks! (WOOOOOOOO!) It also features their cat, Timmy. Congrats, you guys. Adventure awaits....in cat balloon!

That about wraps up all things cute. In other news, I recently acquired a Cintiq! So far I'm really digging the combination of inking on it with Manga Studio, where I drew my tired and exhausted little friend, the brain. Kind of how I've been feeling lately—lots to do, getting it done. (Phew!)

Blue and yellow

I've been drawing a lot of cute little furry critters lately, so here's a return to some of my more organic, blobby, lumpier tendencies. The same framework goes into a drawing for me, whether or not I add lumps or fur. It's like applying a texture. They have the same rubber-hose cartoon underpinning.

// dripper //

// shooting hoops //

I drew these guys in Flash. Maybe I'll do a red one to finish off the primary color set. These images (and more) arrive first over on tumblr, so follow me over there if you like.

Monster Tattoos

Jess Smart Smiley and Julia Green just launched a new project called Tattoo Club, which is a group that publishes limited-edition packs of temporary tattoos. For their first release, MONSTER PACK, they invited a number of their favorite illustrators and artists to design monster-themed tattoos—and I'm one of them! These are my designs: the blue guy is new, and you may recognize the durquil.

What really makes this edition awesome is everyone else who's in the pack: Ghostshrimp, Meg Hunt, Chris 'Elio', Jeffrey Lamm, Drew Millward, Sam Alden, and Jess and Julia as well. Look at some of the samples below—imagine them on your flexed bicep! (and elsewhere!) How many monsters could you fit on yourself at once?

MONSTER PACK is being funded via Kickstarter ---> over here!

So now's your chance to snatch up a pack (or multiple packs) of temporary tattoos! Each pack includes 16 original designs (about 2 by each artist). You can see them by scrolling down the preview site. This Kickstarter goes for a month, but it could use your support right now to reach the fund-raising goal. Thanks!

Bravest Warriors

(click to view larger)

I took some time on the 4th to draw off-model versions of the team of warriors that I've been drawing on-model for the past couple months now: Chris, Danny, Beth, and Wallow. If you haven't heard already, Frederator Studios has a new cartoon series in production called Bravest Warriors. You can read all about it, here. It's based on the original short by Pen Ward (creator of Adventure Time).

art by Natasha Allegri

I was brought on in April to help with character design, pre-storyboarding development, and key poses to aid in animation. Which means I've been doing a lot of drawing. Once in awhile the production blog posts images to the public—below are a few.

As the weeks go on, I'm sure they'll be sharing more of the work I've been doing. It's been a great experience; I get early scripts and I've been working directly with Breehn Burns (executive producer along with Fred Seibert) to develop new characters for each episode and work out any requirements for the main characters.

The series of shorts is due to air this fall on the YouTube Channel, Cartoon Hangover. You may have also read that like Adventure Time, a comic book series is arriving in October by Boom! Studios' KaBOOM! imprint (cover art previews and more info on that via Comics Alliance --> here.)

Finally, here's one of my favorite characters so far that came out of a collaborative effort with Breehn. A little dude named Impossibear (an early concept color sketch).

Comic for Root Rot

This is a 2-pager I did for a forest themed anthology co-edited by Michael DeForge and Annie Koyama, from 2011. You may recall this earlier post when the book debuted at TCAF, but I never shared the full comic until now. Look for Root Rot in comics shops, though they may be hard to come by—Annie tells me more distribution is in the works.

(click image above to view comic much larger)

/ update /  Root Rot is newly available through the Secret Acres Emporium, here!

weirdo plop walk

I messed around in Toon Boom Animate again last night before I went to bed. Drew this. Some sort of improvised cycle that I figured out as I went along. I'm remembering how much I like animating. I added the strobe to cheat some energy into it, but if it's messing messing with your eyes, here's a separated version:

all ones and zeros