Monday, April 25, 2011

The Boy Who Cried, "Nessy!"


This is my contribution to a promotional book for TR!CKSTER, a brand-spanking new convention for comic creators. TR!CKSTER is the brainchild of Pixar story artists Ted Mathot and Scott Morse. What SDCC is for fans who want to get a sneak-peak at the latest block-busting summer tentpole, TR!CKSTER will be for artists, filmmakers, and comic creators who are more interested in learning how to get their own original work published/distributed.

Scott and Ted's assignment for the promotional book was to illustrate your own version of the archetypal trickster character. My thoughts immediately turned to the boy who cried wolf, but Plesiosaurs are so much more fun to draw than wolves...

To complete the day's dinosaurian schenanigans, we had a screening of Jurassic Park at work tonight. As you can see below, it was a B.Y.O.D. (bring your own dinosaur) event.


The gate was made by my buddy Sean Feeley for his jeep to come crashing through during the Red Bull Soap Box Derby. Sean's team is defending the championship title they won last year with their Brutal Legend van.

Good luck, Sean! Remember, objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

11 days...

20 comments:

Robert Moon said...

I really love these posts of your comic. Will you be compiling them into books for retail? I'm curious, how did you make them? What program do you use? And do you use a Cintiq 21ux?

Sam G said...

That. Is. Awesome. Would Bigfoot qualify as a Trickster?

Carrie Liao said...

haha great work! I love how inquisitive the Plesiosaur is...very cute :)

davor said...

Love it! Really funny illo. the blue jay is a great touch, too!

Unknown said...

Thanks, guys!

Rooney- The comic will be available along with other short stories from Pixar artists in a graphic novel called "Afterworks III", which will debut at TR!CKSTER and hit the shelves later in the Summer.

Sam- Bigfoot could definitely be a trickster, depending on how you play him. In my mind, the kid is the trickster in this case, having inadvertently fooled Nessy into believing he was a fellow Plesiosaur.

Carrie- thanks! I was just perusing your blog, Carrie. Your stuff cracks me up!

David- thank you. The bird is actually a British blue tit, native to Scotland (thusly native to Loch Ness).

Jez Tuya said...

fantastic stuff, sir! Love the Plesiosaur :D It's jawesome

Megan Nicole Dong said...

I absolutely love this!! Haha, I also love that the boy took the time to put eyelashes on his Nessy disguise.

Logan Pearsall said...

There is some really good design going on here! Always an inspiration Austin!

chris be said...

hah, great drawing, great gag

Mark Oftedal said...

Nice illustration! Love your comic posts, too...

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog Austin, much appreciated :) Superb work you have here! i might meet you someday at Pixar, i'm up there sometimes.

Unknown said...

Jez- Jez. Thanks! You have some fantastic work yourself!

Megan- haha, in hindsight, it might have been funnier to make the fake Nessy the more boyish one, and give the eyelashes to real Nessy. Oh well!

Logan- thanks man, the faux-Nessy is an homage to Cecil from Beanie and Cecil

Chris- thanks!

Stephane- yes, please let me know next time you're up. Do you do freelance for us?

Marie Bower said...

I've never been afraid of the Loch ness monster, but I am now. :)

On a side note I had no idea that Thor needed an official car! hahaha

tinylittlesandra said...

I nearly chocked on my lunch laughing at this post! As much fun as always and Beautiful color work too.

BYOD...hahaha

And I'm havin a rare auld time checking out your superhumans list. Some Major talent out there!

Ryan Green said...

Beautiful! Love paint job...and the leaves.

And have to expose you as a Target clothing shopper, cuz I totally have that Coke shirt at home. :p

Unknown said...

Mark- thanks, Mark! I love the tone of your comic work, if mine is half as successful, I'll be happy.

Marie- haha, yeah it's no Batmobile is it? No reason to fear Nessy, the dino seems friendly enough to me. :)

Sandra- thanks Sandra. Color's always a struggle for me, so that's awesome to hear you dig the palette.

Ryan- haha, damn you. It is a target shirt.

Unknown said...

happy to have stumbled across your incredible blog!

Unknown said...

Hey Austin, no, I work for Disney Consumer Products, so I come to Pixar when I work on character art for various projects, i was there a lot for Cars 2 and now new things.
Looking forward to meet you :)

little BIG Illustrations said...

Nice concept, it's a very fun illustration!

Unknown said...

Ghetto Fab-Much obliged.

Stephane-Please do!

Little Big- Thanks. I dig your blog banner!