YOU GO GORE!!

Gore and Green seemed to be the BUZZ words at the Oscars last night.....so, I thought I would combine the two.

Callan Molinari

This is the work of one of the brightest young illustators in my class, Callan Molinari. She is destined for a long and wonderful career in illustration. I love her work and a sweeter person you will not find. Please check out her delightful and charming blog by clicking on her name above, it will link you directly!

Homage to Sargent

John Singer Sargent believed that work was a form of prayer, in fact on his tombstone it is written "laborare est orare" which simply tanslates from Latin as "to work is to pray". This man worked at his craft, day in and day out from the age of 14. One day I hope someone makes a film of his life because it is an amazing and inspiring story. The painting is "Lady with the Rose (Charlotte Louise Burckhardt)" in the Metropolitan.

This was drawn this past Summer.

Gravity

Or the effects thereof.....

Sal

This is a caricature I did of my teacher and friend Sal Catalano a few years back. Of course the people who know him will appreciate this the most because I feel it is very much like him, but I think as a drawing it worked really well too. I just came across it and thought I should post it.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Depending on who you ask, this year is the year of the pig or the boar...so with that said I did not discriminate. According to Chinese astrology, people born in pig years are polite, honest, hardworking and loyal.

The Art of Disney: Magic

The USPS decided to release a fourth set of stamps with our beloved Disney characters, this time showing more of their magical side. These were done last summer and the images have been released to the public in anticipation of their formal release in August for purchasing.



I like the Mickey image the best and they are using him as part of their advertising for this years collectible stamps. This is also the first time Mickey has ever appeared on a stamp by himself, so I suppose it is kind of a big deal. When the release date is set (all I know is August right now and I have no idea which Disney park the ceremony will be at) I will post it.

Crash!....well, almost!

For Illustration Friday.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Done in a hurry, but done nonetheless!

This is the image I created for Jared's Valentine's Day card.

Recent cafe and train trips

A New Post.....Finally!

....and a weak one at that. I have been working, but not on stuff I can post just yet and I do have a bunch of sketchbook stuff I have to get on here as well.

This is from a book I was working on that got scrapped (not because of my illustrations, thank you very much!) and I thought it was kinda cute. The shame is I was finished with a lot of the book when they cancelled it. Needless to say I did not get the payoff I was expecting! Oh well, that is the business I suppose.

Thanks for continuing to check in and I promise I will be more regular (no fiber jokes please)!

Trailblazers & Trendsetters: Art of the Stamp

On Nov 16th I have the great honor of having my work appear in a year long exhibition at The National Postal Museum of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, entitled Trailblazers & Trendsetters: Art of the Stamp.

Originally the images that were to appear were the Mickey, Donald and Goofy image from the Art of Disney:Friendship pane and the Lady & the Tramp image from the Art of Disney:Romance pane. However, I was asked by the kind folks at the Postal Service if I would submit my preliminary sketches for the two images because they had decided that my work would be amongst a few select artists to have our work displayed in a case as opposed to having it hang in the gallery.

Needless to say I was thrilled and submitted all that I had (I keep everything!) and it turned out that they preferred to show all the work I sent them regarding the MD&G image (so L&T is out, sorry folks!)

In this post you will see some of the steps that were taken to create this image, starting from my initial character sketches and where I started to piece them together. You will also see how they evolved and that Mickey basically is the only character to have the same look from the start. Donald and Goofy were changed to have a more antique feeling and I think they fit the look we were going for perfectly. You will also see the color rough which is very similar to the final and then the actual stamp image as it appeared when printed.

If you are in DC please stop by and see the show, it is free admission and the website for further information is below.

http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/

"You can be a BARBER again!"

In the story "Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" Sweeney has been wronged by the corrupt Judge Turpin who (fifteen years earlier) raped his wife, stole his child and finally sent him to jail in Australia. When this happened his neighbor Mrs. Lovett took Sweeney's razors and kept them thinking " Who knows? The poor silly blighter might be back again someday and need 'em!"

In this scene Mrs. Lovett informs Mr. T (as she calls him) that he doesn't have to resort to living in the sewer or the plague hospital upon his return but can in fact be a barber again. She has no idea what she has started!

"Give Up Yer Aul Sins"

One of the best animated shorts EVER!

A little girl retells the story of John the Baptist. The audio track is actually from the 1960s--a very battered tape recording of the children retelling bible stories made by school teacher, Margaret Cunningham, of her inner city Dublin primary class.

Photos from the stamp event- FINALLY!

I would normally not post photos of myself, but I thought these were kind of fun. These are images from "The Art of Disney- Romance" stamp event around Easter time. I finally downloaded the pictures and thought I should put them up. The event coincided (as some of you may remember from my post around that time) with the International Flower and Garden show in EPCOT center. Large replicas of the stamp images were made out of flowers and were unveiled during the ceremony. I hope these pictures show you even a little of how magnificent they were. Sadly they were disassembled right after the ceremony was over and no one really got to enjoy them. The other shot is of me and my gorgeous nieces with Tony and Lady & the Tramp. I was so thrilled to have my whole family together for this event . The last pic is of me getting a trim for the festivities in the barber shop on Main Street the day before. Needless to say they go a little to far with the "show".

I don't think they get many adults.

Disney Dollar Concepts

When I took over as chief illustrator for The Disneyland Resort, one of my jobs was to design new illustrations for "Disney Dollars". I was excited about the project because I remember when they came out (I was a child visiting Walt Disney World when they were released) and thought it would be a great time to do something different other than just using portraits of Mickey,Minnie, Donald, & Goofy as they had used for so long. Even the management showed excitement for a change and was happy to see something new,and approved everything I sent along for a concept.

Images were chosen and we were going to highlight Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 (It was being released that year) and I thought I did some concepts worth looking at. In the end, one week before the images had to go to the US Mint to be printed (Yes they are actually printed at the Mint and are considered legal tender) the idiots I worked for (Yes, they were two of the stupidest people I ever met) decided the illustrations were too avant-garde and might not be collectible enough and I had less than one week to redesign them from start to finish using portraits Mickey, Donald and Goofy.

Oh Well........Anyway- Here are some of the original concepts

Royalty at the Beach!

When I was at Disney I was asked to do some sketches of what the Princesses would look like dressed to go to the beach. I recently came across a couple of them, and I thought I would post them considering the idea never went anywhere. It was fun to modify their costumes I must admit. Please keep in mind they never got past the rough drawing stage so excuse the overall crudeness.

"His hands were quick,his fingers strong.....

....it stung a little, but not for long. And those who thought him a simple clod were soon reconsidering under the sod. Confined there with a friendly prod, from Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street."

Sweeney Redesigned

I have to be honest , I was not truly happy with my Sweeney design. As a character on his own he was scary and skeletal, but I think I overshot. I decided to set the story further back in time (the early 19th century) and to make him more of a man than a monster. He relates better now to my Mrs. Lovett and will be much more fun due to his wig and fancier clothes. Feel free to share your thoughts.

"He kept a shop in London town...

...of fancy clients and good renown. And what if none of their souls were saved? They went to their maker impeccably shaved.