Beep Boop Beep Beep

It's been waaay too long!

I had hoped to make it a new year's resolution to update the blog at least once a month; but, I'll spare all of you the gory details. I will say that after two-and-a-half years, I'm no longer working for Toon Boom Animation. I still love their software, but sometimes it's better not seeing what happens behind the curtain.

 

I do have another job lined up, down the road; but until then, I thought I'd take the opportunity to stretch my drawing muscles again after barely touching a pencil during the last few years, and actually do some art stuffs!

 

So what's with the "beeps" and "boops"?  Many of you might know that despite me not being a fan of drawing robots, I tend to draw a LOT of them, and this month has been no exception! Here's the breakdown:

 

• I'm creating my own table-top card game about -- fighting robots.
• I'm finally learning Maya, and the first tutorial is to -- build a robot.
• Finishing up an old piece of demo 2D animation -- of a Transformer.
• And Palladium/Robotech fans might be happy to hear I'll be doing a few pieces of art for the upcoming sourcebook, Robotech Expeditionary Force Marines!

 

Lots of stuff to keep you all updated on!

And for my half-year resolution, I promise to update at least once a month!

 

Until the next post, here's an early thumbnail sketch of one of the upcoming Robotech pictures:



Work in Progress

We can Rebuild Him...

We have the
technology

It's been a while. Too long.

 

As it turned out, I did indeed need surgery for my back. It had gotten to the point where I could barely move due to the pain. I went under the knife at the end of July, and I'm glad to say everything went well, though it did take another two months to recover.

 

Of course, right after that, I had some issues with my drawing hand, which apparently also needed surgery for just last month. Thankfully, it's also recovering.

 

Needless to say, not much real drawing or animating from me over the last year.

 

So, aside from work, I've also been spending some time playing lots of board games, getting re-acquainted with programing for video games, and of course keeping up with advances in animation software.

 

 

I'm looking forward to starting the new year, fully functional and ready to draw again!

 

In the meantime, here's my very first attempt at stop-motion.
Even added some drawn animated effects as well, just for kicks.

 

 

2012 - A Retrospective

2012 was a wild year for me. I guess I wasn't kidding when I said it was a roller coaster!!

For the first few months, I was working on a production for my own animated web series: the content of which I still can't disclose. By April, I was already dealing with some big names in the industry, including Disney! Unfortunately, if you've been following this blog, you already know, things didn't pan out, and I was forced to shut the whole thing down.

Not to let that deter me, just a couple weeks later I was packing my bags and moving to Montreal to work as an international animation/software instructor for ToonBoom Animation! Most of my summer was spent in Italy, various parts of the USA, and even Mexico (in that order). While I was practically living out of my suitcase, I was meeting tons of people, visiting lots of studios and schools, and really enjoying the work I was doing.

Alas, for every UP in a roller-coaster, there's always a DOWN.

I'm still not sure how, or why it happened; but early in September my right foot started to hurt. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it kept getting worse, moving up to the rest of my leg. During what was supposed to be a short visit to Toronto, I decided to get it checked out. It turned out that I had effectively broken my back: herniated a spinal disc to be exact - what's also known as true sciatica. I've been in Toronto ever since.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem bad enough to warrant surgery; but it has been painful enough to keep me from doing even basic movements, never mind having to put all my art and travelling work on hiatus.

It is now January 2013, Four months later. I've done some minor side projects here and there, but I'm mostly trying to focus on getting better with lots of exercise and therapy sessions. Speaking of which, I've got a session in about 20 mins...

Here's hoping I'll be on my feet again soon, and 2013 will be a little more teacups and a little less loop-de-loop.

May Update!

It happened, it finally happened...
After almost two years of teaching freelance for ToonBoom, I've been officially given the job as one of their international software trainers. Essentially, I work both in-house and abroad, teaching individuals, schools, and studios, how to use their various animation applications. I also get to draw, rig, design, and animate, all sorts of art stuff, in-house, for various clients, not to mention constantly meeting new people throughout the animation and art industry, all over the world! So it's pretty exciting, super busy, and a lot of fun!

All this happened though, in the blink of an eye. One minute I'm in Toronto, and the next, I'm in Montreal, literally looking for a place to live the moment my plane touched down in Trudeau airport! I'm still not quite settled in, and there's a 50/50 chance I may be moving again in the fall. Until then, I'm bouncing from place to place, meeting various locals, and getting a lot of walking done in the process, hehe.

I'm hoping once I get my bearings, and something loosely resembling an actual routine, I'll have the chance to do some drawing for myself again (yeah, I know I keep saying stuff like that).

Also, huge shout out to all the fans at this year's Palladium Open House! Wish I could have made it to see everyone, but with everything happening all at once, there was no way for me to make it to down to Michigan. Hopefully, they'll decide to do at least one more in 2014...

Okay, enough talk, here's a zodiac Art Jam pic I drew celebrating all you Taureans out there (myself included).

Ringing in 2012!

2012 has proven to be one heck of roller-coaster of a year so far.

For example, that epic top-secret project I was working on, along with Palladium Books... has been one of the most professionally demanding and creatively rewarding endeavours I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on. For the last four months I worked as a creative director, eating, sleeping, and breathing that project: writing, drawing, researching, planning, meeting... and in mid-February, it came to a crashing halt.

I still can’t go into detail on what the project was or what happened, since the parties involved are still involved. I can say we had the chance to bring something really cool and unique to life, but between a very small window of opportunity, and some unexpected financial risk, we were simply unable to sustain the project. I don’t know if I’ll ever have the chance to go back and work on this project again in the future, but never say “never” as they say. Hopefully it’ll see the light of day in one form or another.

In the wake of that experience, I’ve been travelling and talking to various studios. I’m currently working with one animation studio from home, and in a week I’ll be flying across the ocean to conduct some animation training for a couple places in Europe. With all this travelling going on, it’s very likely I’ll be moving in the next couple months, though the actual destination hasn’t been decided yet.

This also has me unsure if I’ll be able make it to the Palladium Open House in Michigan (May 4-6, 2012). I had originally hoped to be there to unveil my big project, but now I honestly don’t know where in the world I’ll be at that time.

Admittedly, with everything going on, I've fallen quite behind in my Art Jam drawings, so here’s a couple to make up for it!

Inspired by the development art of Nico Marlet from How to Train  your Dragon.
I wish I had the art book for reference before working on this piece, but it was still a blast to draw!

The theme for this was to draw a super hero or villain  as their opposite gender.
Here's female Shredder of the Ninja Turtles series drawn on my iPhone using Sketchbook Mobile!

End of Year Art Post

Looks like another one of those weeks that turned into a month...

This new top secret project of mine seems to just keep getting bigger and bigger, not to mention taking up almost all of my time. Not that I'm complaining, since I think it'll all be worth it; course I'll let you all be the judge once it's done!

Okay, to make up for lost time, here's a huge art post for you!

The first is a preview of some of my all new interior character art from the Robotech®: New Generation™ Sourcebook, published by Palladium Books and written by Irvin Jackson.

From left to right: Lunk, Annie, and Lancer

Next up, Art Jam pieces! The theme for this was favourite cartoons vs other people's favourite cartoons, and of course my pick was Transformers!

Omega Supreme vs TMNT's Krang

Insecticon Bombshell vs Pokémon's Mewtwo

Bumblebee vs Metabot's Metabee

And last, but not least, here's an art piece I did a few years back as a Christmas card for Palladium Books.

That's it until January.
Here's wishing you a festive holiday season, and all the best in the new year!!

Apollo

The New Robotech Cover has been Released!!

Took some time, but got me a snazzy new computer and I'm now fully up and running!

For the next while I'll no longer be teaching or freelancing, as I've started a HUGE Top Secret project which I've only so far spoken to a few people in the industry about (not telling which industry). All I can say is that as much as I can't believe what I've gotten myself into, it's super exciting, and can't wait until I can say more about it (hopefully early in the new year).

In the meantime, I'm going to continue to post up my Art Jam pieces, starting next week; because this week, the cover of the Robotech®: New Generation™ Sourcebook has been released!

Limited glossy prints are available (other Robotech cover prints are also still available). I'll post up a link soon, or if you're interested, you can send me an e-mail directly.

This cover was a bit of a departure from the rest of the series, so I'd love to hear what you guys think of it!

Experiencing Technical Difficulties

I've been back in the Toronto area for a little while now, and though I had a blast in Georgia, I'm glad to be back home, with one exception. The Dell computer I've been struggling with over the past year decided to call it quits. The breakdown was gradual, but it was enough to corrupt the files for my Robotech New Generation cover. Thankfully, I was able to quickly put something together in time for Harmony Gold to take a look at it and still meet the deadline. I was even able to squeeze in some character art as well just before my computer went completely bust. The cover's not quite up to the standard I was hoping for, given I had to rush through it, but after many sleepless nights, I hope you'll still like the final result.

Thankfully, I realized my computer was dying early and promptly ordered a new computer (not a Dell), and I'm hoping it'll arrive any day now. When it does, I'll have some new Art Jam pieces to show you, and even some animation from the trip to Atlanta!

Signing off until then, courtesy of my iPhone!
(Ain't technology great, hehe)

24-Hour Film! - The Bearfather

The only software I have down here in Atlanta with me is Toon Boom's Animate Pro; so, when a number of fellow animators decided to spend 24 hours of the weekend (hosted by Ashlyn Anstee) and whip up quick animated short films, I jumped at the chance to join in the fun (albeit a little late getting started).
The theme for the shorts were coveting, or wanting something, and who would be more demanding than mobster boss, the Bearfather...

Off to Atlanta!

After a whirlwind turn of events, for the next month and a half, I'll be teaching animation just outside the city of Atlanta, Georgia! Unfortunately, that means I'll be missing out on Toronto's TFcon, and Indy's Gen Con. Between teaching, and finishing up the Robotech book cover,  it also means I won't likely have any updates here until September.

That said, I want to leave you with my latest art jam piece. It's a bit of a rush job, but cute, I think. The theme was dinosaur buddies, so I drew dinosaur baby buddies! Awww.