Happy Birthday, You Old Relic

For my buddy Eric, on his 29th birthday. This is a guy who played the Indiana Jones theme at his wedding. 29 years old...he belongs in a museum!

4 days...

Nerd of the Rings

Pixar's improv team, The Improvibles, is delving into the land of trolls, hobbits, and level eight gelatinous cubes tonight with our first Dungeons & Dragons show (the first of many, this bard hopes). What makes this show particularly special is our guest star, Brave director Mark Andrews!

One show to rule them all!

7 days...

Yo.

Every now and then, working at Pixar gets a little surreal. Standing in front of a giant lamp and fictional vehicle, with a mini stone henge looming in the distance is one of those moments.

We also have the Brave wrap party coming up, so naturally everyone's getting fitted for kilts, provided by St Kilda USA.

As always, accessories make the man. And no kilt is complete without a quality sporran. The selection on the left is dire wolf fur, I believe.

And, finally, the formal jacket. Brah brecht, moonlit necht tonecht!!

8 days...

Flashkick

More X-Men sketches. This is my buddy Tim's character, Flashkick, who has the ability to open rifts in space time through which she can teleport, or just reach out and slap someone from across the room. (Sketch by Everett Downing)

The original concept was a bit too Jubilee-ish. So we traded in the 90's jacket for the traditional unitard. (Sketch by Ev)

She's an ESL student from Korea. Her lack of communication skills have made it difficult to correct the constant mangling of her callsign. (Sketch by Emma Coats)

9 days...

Meatbag

Last week, my friends and I played an X-Men RPG. Rather than play classic characters, we decided to create our own team! This is Meatbag, who's mutation is prehensile flesh. Yeah, gross. (Sketch by Ev Downing)

The character went through several interpretations including the gumdrop-like ginger above. We figured if Meatbag could control his skin, he would have whatever body type he wanted. (Sketch by me)

So, while he may usually look like Russell from Up, he might be able to shift into Brandon Lee mode should any ladies appear. (Sketch by Mach Kobayashi)

10 days...

The Not-So-Dark Knight

Experimenting with every-color pencils. I was aaaalmost able to control which color was coming out.

11 days...

Chades Challenge LXXI: The Avengers

Now this is the Avengers movie I want to see. Diana Rigg as Black Widow and a Hulked-out Patrick MacNee--now that would be a jolly good show!

If you have any Avengers concepts of your own, let me know and I'll post them below. Otherwise, join in May 4th for...

Chades Challenge LXXII: Star Wars Cantina Patrons

15 days...

Impulse

Paul's character in this week's X-Men RPG was the excitable youth, Impulse. Impulse is a big fan of the X-Men and can't wait to be part of the team. There's one Canadian hero he looks up to in particular.

Impulse's mutation is lighting-fast reflexes, bordering on precognition. This skill is particularly handy in the Danger Room, where there's a surprise around every corner.

Like assassin drones...

Sync gets a little irritated by Impulse's fanboy behavior sometimes, but ultimately recognizes his value as part of the team.

Tomorrow, I'll be taking a break from the X-Men sketches and switching to another part of the Marvel Universe for Chades Challenge LXXI: The Avengers!

16 days...

Sync

As I was saying yesterday, my friends and I played an X-Men RPG this week, and came out of it with a bushel of sketches. Today's art is by Emma Coats. The subject is her character Sync, the upperclassman and self-appointed team leader.

The first few sketches of a character are always exploratory, but once you find that defining trait (like a douchey, emo haircut) the character really starts to emerge.

Sync's mutation is to imitate the powers of the supers around him. The one super he can't seem to stop imitating is his hero, Cyclops.

17 days...

X-Games

Last night, Ev ran an X-Men RPG for us. Rather than using classic characters, we decided to create a bunch of teenage C-stringers who are enrolled in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. (sketch by Emma Coats)

Here's our roster (from left):

Meatbag (played by Mach)- has super stretch ability, and prehensile flesh (shudder)

Puff (played by me)- "the magic dragon" whose powers include flight and fire-breath

Flashkick (played by Tim)- a teleporter

Sync (played by Emma)- has the ability to mimic other supers' powers

Impulse (played by Paul)- lighting fast reflexes bordering on precognition

I'll share more sketches from our session (we drew quite a bit) over the next couple of days. Stay tuned!

18 days...

Herman the Merman

Why are there no stories about Mermen? Oh yeah, the male body is just awful.


19 days...

A Poster for Ariel

My friend Kai asked me to draw up a poster for a girl named Ariel who has been struggling with cancer. Kai's idea was to have Ariel's 'Avengers' (her favorite characters) assembled to support her. I'm glad Merida made the cut!

Here's Kai with the final poster. When I was a kid, I was always comforted by visuals of heroic figures like Superman and Luke Skywalker, so I hope this poster does the same for Ariel, who is as brave as any hero could hope to be!

23 days...

Easter is Coming

Happy Easter, everyone! Make sure to hunt very thoroughly for those Easter Eggs. You never know which of them will hatch a dragon.

27 days...

Chades Challenge LXX: Game of Thrones

The king does as the king likes. 

As always, all are welcome to contribute to the semi-weekly Chades (Character Design) Challenge. If you designed any denizens of Westeros, just let me know and I'll post them below. Otherwise you can join in April 20th for...

Chades Challenge LXXI: The Avengers

 Vince "The Imp" Vassallo

John "The Khal" Dusenberry

dSroden

28 days...

Yutyrannus

Weighing in at one and a half tons, tip-to-tail as long as a school bus, and sporting an impressive coat of feathers. Now that's a big bird.

Yesterday, scientists announced the discovery of Yutyrannus (or "beautiful feathered tyrant"), the largest feathered animal known to man. We know smaller theropods like Velociraptor had feathers and we've even been able to discern the colors and patterns in their down, but Yutyrannus (who lived long before T. rex, in the early Cretaceous) is the first evidence of fully feathered dinosaurs on a large scale. Even terror bird would have bowed to the beautiful feathered tyrant.

29 days...

Dober-Man

My friend Everett and I were joking about how Batman's ears look more like a doberman's than a bat's. Because that's the kind of sophisticated conversation we engage in. This is the alternate superhero we came up with.

Possible villains include The Botweiller, The Boxer, and Pugnacious. We're still working on a backstory, but I'm pretty sure he was part of a police canine unit when his dog died in the line of duty. Here are a few of Ev's sketches:

30 days...

McQuarrie Tribute

A few of us Pixarians were invited to do tribute sketches for the late great Ralph McQuarrie. These will be up in a gallery at ILM before they're donated to his wife, Joan.

Return of the Jedi was my favorite movie as a kid, and now I know that Mr. McQuarrie had a hand in everything from the cuddly Ewoks to the slobbering Gamorreans. I still think Jabba would have been better off using the badass teddy bears to guard his palace.

31 days...

Game of Thrones

Bust out those Iron Grill aprons and throw an aurochs on the bbq, it's time for a feast!

0 days...Winter is Here!