Sunday, September 28, 2008

Animalympics Week 4: POLE VAULT!

First off, apologies for the slightly sub-par color job this week - I've just started an exciting new project that's taking a lot of time and giving me a chance to stretch artistically. I'll be posting it soon!



WEEK 3 RESULTS!



Results are in: the Rhino steamrolled the competition with the largest margin of victory yet, making him an early favorite for the upcoming championship round.

After three weeks, the Orangutan, Cheetah, and Rhino stand atop the leaderboard, with one spot left to fill. The bracket as it currently stands:



Get in your votes this week, and then choose your athlete for the Final Four, beginning next Monday!



Also - big thanks to Charles Zembillas over at the Animation Nation forum for the plug. I took a character design class from Charles at his Animation Academy a while back - this guy knows his stuff, and has also just published his first book, "Controlling Illusion." It's made up of in-class demonstrations, and if the class I took was any indication, its well worth picking up. Check it out:

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Animalympics Week 3: THROWING EVENTS!



WEEK 2 RESULTS!



Week 2 was a barnburner! Despite a commanding early lead (up 14 votes after day one!) the Cheetah nearly blew the race, and with less than ten hours to go in the voting was locked in a dead tie with the Deer. He somehow managed to cross the finish line up by two votes, allegations of late-week vote-changing notwithstanding. :)

The Falcon, despite being, according to my engineer-genius brother-in-law, "the fastest animal on the planet" with its ability to reach speeds of over 200mph, managed to finish a dismal third.

Which is all fine and good - I'd rather have visitors vote for their favorite drawing than mentally handicap the race with scientific fact. Although I am noticing an alarming trend: so far, whoever I vote for loses. (which means I either have bad taste, or I'm sweet at picking losers! Hooray, I think!)


The bracket as it currently stands:


A big thanks to all who stopped by - there were a total of 92 votes this time around, 32 more than last week! It's cool to know so many people visit and like my drawings enough to vote - what great motivation to draw more! Thanks!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Animalympics Week 2: 100M SPRINT!



Sunday, September 14, 2008

RESULTS ARE IN!



First of all a massive thanks to everyone who stopped by and voted! Round 1 was a close contest down to the wire, with the Orangutan ultimately triumphing by a mere three votes. (For the record, I voted bulldog)

Also, I've decided to change the format of the contest, at a friend's suggestion. Instead of having one winner each week to end up with four total champions in four separate events, I've decided to up the stakes a little...

*drumroll*

As of today, the champion of each round (in this case the Orangutan) will move on to the next round to meet the champion from a different event (I know it's not very Olympic-y, go cry to your mother). Which means a Final Four, resulting in ONE CHAMPION (bwu-hahahaha) from all twelve animal participants. Sorry, Bulldog and Warthog: your journey ends here.





So choose your animal wisely, rally support and check the bracket above for matchup dates. May the best animalympian win!



Last off - a big thanks to the fine folks at the RedFence Project for the plug.
The RedFence Project is a budding collective of Los Angeles area artists whose members run the gamut from fire sculptors to film-makers and everything inbetween.

After getting their start online, they published their first ever print edition last month, a compelling mix of stories, poetry, photos, and eclectic reviews (Ever wondered what the "Best Tea for Breaking Up" is?). I bought one, read it cover to cover, and highly recommend it.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Animalympics Week 1: Weightlifting





Don't forget to vote for your favorite on the top right!
The ANIMALYMPICS have arrived!



Are you going through Olympic withdrawal? Do you like muscular animals with humanoid bodies wearing skintight spandex? Then you've come to the right blog!

For the next month, I'll be posting a series of original character designs with a common theme: all of the characters are animals, and all of the characters are also olympic athletes.

Here's how it works: each Monday I'll post a new event with three new character designs. You can vote for your favorite design in the poll at the top right column. Whichever character has the most votes at the end of the week will win the gold medal. You can leave commments to voice your support of a particular character, and even recruit your baby mama to come vote if you want - it's open to everyone.

Here's the schedule:

Monday, September 8: Round 1 (Weightlifting)
Monday, September 15: Round 2 (TBA)
Monday, September 22: Round 3 (TBA)
Monday, September 29: Round 4 (TBA)


I've done a little blog redesign as a form of opening ceremonies, but alas, my army of terrifying militant unison drummers (TMUD's) backed out at the last minute. Good luck to all the competitors!



p.s.

Here's a link to the television cartoon of the same name (which debuted in 1980 and actually featured the animation talent of one Brad Bird). I don't remember watching it, but I'm sure it played a role in this idea somehow.

No sue-me, no sue-me! (It's like "no whammy" but different.)

Friday, September 05, 2008



Here's a piece I worked up for the cover of my portfolio with the heading "World's Tallest Cartoonist" but decided not to use for the following two reasons:

1) While I like the simple triangular composition, the line of figures to the left is too cluttered visually and doesn't read very well.

2) The "conceited" vibe is a little too strong (woo hoo everybody look at me-ee-ee!). Which, regrettably accurate though it may be on occasion, is probably not the best impression to present to prospective employers.