Another Background

It has been so long since I've posted anything, so  I wanted to share another background with you.  This summer I hope to really make some progress with my film and I'll try to share my progress on the blog.  As always, click the image to see it a little larger.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas, Everybody!

  Hope you all are having a wonderful day with family and friends.  Here are my final 3 Magicians Christmas paintings as my present to you!

The 3 Magi follow the star to find the Gift of Christmas!

On the shore we can see 

the very brightest Christmas Tree!

3 Magicians Christmas!

It has been so long, but I finally have something new in the works to show you.  I'm working on two little pieces for Christmas, both involving the 3 Magicians.  Today I'm posting some of the studies I've done for them and I will post the finished pieces later this week.  I just started painting the finals of both today so make sure you come back to visit in a few days.

The first is a Nativity scene, except I have transformed Bethlehem into the Georgia woods and the 3 Magi into you know who.  You can't tell as much from the studies, but the characters are inspired from this amazing Nativity set I bought last week during a trip to Mexico of hand painted clay figurines.

The second piece is based on one of my favorite things about Christmas: The lights!  More specifically, memories of sitting on the couch as a little girl opposite the Christmas tree.  At 5 or 6 a Christmas tree seems massive, and I used to relax my eyes so all the lights would blur into giant soft orbs of color.

Ringling College Perspectives Magazine

Last year I was featured in the Ringling College of Art and Design's fall issue of Perspectives, an alumni magazine.  There was a little blurb about me under the class of 2003 and a nice little picture of a promo painting I did for 3 Magicians.  I just saw that they published it online so here you go, better late than never :-)

3 Magicians Progress Oct. 10

Doing a little color work in Flash today.  Working on my laptop as I watch a Scrubs marathon on Comedy Central.  Slow and steady wins the race :-)

It Has Begun (Again)

This week I officially resumed production on 3 Magicians.  There is still a long way to go, but I'll get there eventually.  I'm going to try to start posting some of my progress as I go along.

Another 3 Magicians Background

Here is another background painting for the 3 Magicians.  This is a strawberry field at the edge of the woods where the 3 Magicians go to find turtles.  The box turtles love to eat wild strawberries and make their homes in holes beneath the grass.

3 Magicians Background

Here is one of the actual backgrounds for 3 Magicians.  Thought I'd share it with you since I'm gearing up to start production again.  Look for more soon...

Explorers!

A watercolor piece from my sketchbook.

Character Sketches!

 Here are some little sketches of my 3 Magicians.  The character designs were finalized a couple of years ago based off the concept of my little brothers and I as matryoshka dolls.  However, since I plan on starting production again next month I've been coming up with lots of little story pieces about my heroes that veer away from the original designs.  These little visual development pieces explore the characters personalities a little more.  All of the vignettes I've been doing take place in the enchanted pine woods in the first house I lived in when we moved to Augusta, GA.  At that age the creek and woods behind our house were mysterious and magical.  I love the idea of sharing the magic of that place and bringing it to life. Hope you enjoy these little sketches.  There are a lot more coming so stay tuned!

3 Magicians Color Study

Here is a color study I did for a 3 Magicians development piece.  I don't know if I'll make it into a finished illustration, but it was a fun little sketch!  Enjoy.

The 3 Magicians Return!

I've been a busy girl this past year finishing my thesis film Grampa Kevorkian, and starting a job as a background painter on the FX show Archer among other things.  With everything that's been going on, I had to put production for 3 Magicians aside for a little while.  Well, this summer I'll be picking up production again with the hope of finishing sometime next year.  In that spirit, I've started gearing up by doing some 3 Magicians inspired paintings and character development.  Here are a couple of watercolors I did of my 3 little heroes in my sketchbook.  Enjoy and keep your eye out for more coming soon.

A New Picture About the 3 Magicians

This is a little illustration about the 3 Magicians I did in watercolor along with some of the preliminary sketches.


Eyes in the Trees...

And some studies

New Art in the Mean Time

So production for 3 Magicians is temporarily on hold until I can finish my thesis film. However, this past week or two I've been doing some paintings relating to 3 Magicians. The characters in the film are based on a set of Russian Matroyshka dolls I used to play with when I was younger. When I was little I thought the dolls resembled me, my mother and my brothers and sister. So recently, I've been doing some exploratory paintings of Matroyshka dolls based off both of the original set I owned as a girl and a newer set. I love the pattern and bright colors and I've been playing with how I can adapt those types of patterns into my own personal folk art. Anyway here is what I've been up to.

Pastels

Watercolors





I'm sure there will be more to come shortly. Hope you like them.

Sorry for the Delay

Well, as you may have noticed, the blog hasn't been updated in a while. I had to put production on hold until I finish my thesis work for my MFA. As soon as that film is completed I'll get right back on the ball with 3 Magicians and I can't wait! Keep your eyes peeled.

Animatic

Style Frames

These are some visual development pieces I created as a guide for what the over all mood and imagery should feel like in the final shots.

Storyboards

3 Magicians is a whimsical story that plays out like a poem. The images flow in and out of one another taking the viewer on a lyrical journey through a mysterious world.

Some Character Development

Inspiration

Based on childhood memories of playing with my two younger brothers, 3 Magicians is an animated film which will be approx 2:30 min long when finished. The audience follows these 3 young magicians on a typical day in their life which turns out to be anything but typical. With a completion deadline in early 2009 this piece combines digital 2D and 3D techniques.

As an animator, I am interested in the idea of memory and dream as a powerful tool to communicate emotion and experience. This is the basis on which I constructed 3 Magicians. Instead of telling the story of three children at play in a Georgia back yard, I'm showing the experience of those games and inviting the audience to come along. Even the design of the children is based on Russian Matryoshka dolls I used to play with as a child. Through this film I want to evoke the sense of being closer to the earth, and boundless imagination children posses.