Biff! Pow! Sketch!

More doodles of Batman characters. Surprise, surprise. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the latest Chades Challenge (Angry Harpies). I'll be posting the feathery monstrosities this Friday!

26 days...

Pub Trivia

My local watering-hole, The Albatross, has a weekly Pub Trivia night. Being the types who jump at any chance to win free beer, Chris Chua and I made an appearance last night. Berkeley barflies aren't your usual beer-guzzlers, and trivia night in particular attracts the local intellects (like the one below, sketched on my iPhone).

Chris and I didn't stand much chance against the Berkeley grad students, but we did manage to score major points whenever the subject matter delved into nerd territory, like HP Lovecraft.

Alas, we didn't win any free beer (we placed 7th out of 30 teams). But we won something even better: knowledge. Okay, yeah, the beer would have been nice.

27 days...

Rango

I borrowed Rango from my buddy Ken, and if there's anything I've learned from Arrested Development, it's to always leave a note.

This is a great film, by the way! Hats off to Gore Verbinksi for an animated film that pays homage to classic westerns yet still manages to break the mold! I hope they take home the animated film Oscar (how was Los Lobos not even nominated for their fantastic original song?).

Now if they'd only gotten Nico Marlet to design those animals...

31 days...

AbomiNATEable

A belated birthday card for my pal, Nate, best artist South of the North Pole!

32 days...

Bravisimo!

Congrats to Enrico Casarosa and all my fellow La Luna crew for our Academy Award nomination! Working on this little gem was some of the most fun I've had at Pixar yet!

33 days...

Sketches from The Big Game

I saw a couple of sporting events this weekend, but one is still too sad and close to my heart to discuss. So I'll focus on the more positive of the two: a minor league hockey game that I attended with my first animation teacher, Shawn Sullivan, and his lovely family. Yeah, he's a Raiders fan, but nobody's perfect.

Bert the Bunny was certainly happy to watch his first live hockey game.

Unfortunately Bert, like many of his fuzzy brethren, ended up on the wrong size of the ice.

There was also a lot of player-on-snowman violence. Hockey rinks are just not a place for cute critters of any ilk.

Shawn and I enjoyed the game the best way we knew how: by drawing it.

After all, shouting words is a great way to taunt the opponents' goalie, and a picture is worth a thousand words. 

And, of course, no hockey game is complete without a good fight. This is why I could never be a hockey player. I'd be waaaay too tempted to use the knives on my feet.

Our team, the Stockton Thunder, won their game against the Vegas Wranglers. I guess those who play hockey in Vegas should stay in Vegas.

34 days...

ChewROCKa

I suggest a new strategy, Artoo. Let the wookiee rock.

 

37 days...

Another Jolly Dragon

I did this card for a friend yesterday, but I think it applies to all of us who are in crunchtime.

Breathe in, breathe out. But, please, don't breathe fire out.

39 days...

Wild Sylvan

My gaming group, The Dandies, dove back into its Dragon Age campaign last night. The last time we had played, we left on quite a cliffhanger, but everyone was just too busy with work to continue. Now that we're even busier at work, we need our gaming sessions more than ever.

Nothing beats relieving stress like hacking a demon-possessed marsh shrub to pieces.


40 days...

Adam and Dog

Adam and dog Trailer from Minkyu on Vimeo.

A gorgeous new animated short film from Disney animator, Minkyu Lee. I had the honor of animating a scene on this one! For more updates, check out AdamAndDog.tumblr.com.

47 days...

Bane Process

Based on the poll to the right, you guys would like to see more detailing the process of an illustration, so I'll start with last week's Bane! 

These first few exploratory sketches are always the most fun, messing around with the character's proportions, poses, and costume.

I wanted to be truer to the comic Bane's mask than the movie, but also wanted to steer clear of the luchador territory. Early on, I had the idea of putting the bat symbol on his face to show how obsessed he is with killing Batman.

Nobody wants to see a static character pose, so I figured I'd reimagine the classic Knightfall cover. I figured unmasking Batman while you paralyze him adds just the right amount of insult to injury. For pencils, I always keep it super loose and just try to capture the energy and weight of the characters.

When I got to inking, I altered Batman's pose to be a little more active. I tore up his costume a bit, to give some history to the scene. I've never been a fan of all the loose piping most Banes have. 99% of the time, Batman defeats Bane by snipping his venom-tubes, so my Bane keeps his cropped close to his costume.

The Batman design is a nod to Burton's design (my personal favorite). Bane was fun to mess around with. I like the militaristic feel they're giving him in the film, so I went with mottled green. I'm not sure why they're fighting in a sandstorm; maybe I've still got Ghost Protocol on the mind.

Things are getting busy on Brave, so Chades Challenges might not make it past the pencil stage for a while, but I shall endeavor to continue posting! Happy Monday everyone!

48 days...

Chades Challenge LXV: Bane

You know what they say: no pain, no Bane.

If you have any Bane designs, let me know, and I'll post them below. Otherwise, you can join in January 20th for...

Chades Challenge LXVI: Angry Harpies

Chris "Kick-Assthma' Fraser

Doug "Chekerdbane" Chekerdmian

Nate "The Dark Knyfe" Wragg

51 days...

Ronald Searle (1920-2011)

So passes one of the greatest illustrators to ever put pen to paper. Ronald Searle inspired much of what we think as the "Disney" and "Warner Brothers" styles. Both Milt Kahl and Chuck Jones drew heavily from Searle's style; he had a unique was of distilling a subject to it's simplest, most ridiculous and truthful form.

Searle was one of my greatest artistic inspirations, so I leapt at the chance to contribute to a sketchbook Pixar artists were assembling last year for his 91st birthday. You can see the collected art at Matt Jones' blog here.

After receiving the tome of fan art, Mr. Searle sent us the following note:

Federal Express were at the door at dawn this morning with a bulging box. When all it contained was revealed, I was totally overwhelmed with the generosity.  All those animation friends spending precious time to mark the celebration and such a wonderful shower of messages. I really was very touched by the kindness. It was worth hanging on for 91 years to receive such a gem.

I shall treasure it. THANK YOU EVERYBODY!

Ronald

And thank you, Mr. Searle, for a lifetime of astounding art that will always be the standard we strive for!

55 days...