The Fun Team

There are two sides to our creative team at work, character artists and designers. I fall into the latter category. In meetings, I've noticed that the designers like to fold their arms and comment on everything, while the character artists like to quietly look down into their sketchbooks and draw caricatures of EVERYONE in the room. They always seem to have a smirk on their face while doing so. I decided to take a stand and do as the character artists do because frankly, they look like they're having a lot more fun. During a recent meeting, sketchbook in hand, here's what I came up with. I wanted to do something nastier, cuz it seems to be a qualification for a lot of their caricatures, but the two folks pictured have the power to fire me so I played it safe. I discovered that it was waaaaay more fun than having to fold my arms and talk! Oh, and on their coffee breaks, the character artists like to rip on everyone who happens to walk by. I LOVE THESE GUYS!!! By hanging out more and more with them, I hope I get to be a nasty SOB too!..and better at drawing stuff.

RATS!

Every now and then at work, I get the opportunity to design posters for the animated films Pixar and Disney creates. For Ratatouille, we used A.M. Cassandre's vintage french posters as our main inspiration. It's always a surprise where the finished product ends up, and this is definitely no exception. The atrium on the Pixar campus is an amazing and inspiring spot one you step through the main entrance. An immediate sense of creativity flows through that place. With the posters, I'm just glad to be a part of that, even for a few weeks or so. Once the film opens, I'll be sure to post them HUGE so that you can actually see them.

Much thanks to Stephane Kardos, an unbelievably talented artist from our U.K. team, for contributing his amazing posters as well.

Who likes video games?!?!?!

Rich and I will be part of iam8bit group show this tuesday at Gallery 1988. We were able to see a bunch of the pieces on saturday and there's a lot of amazing stuff. And most importantly, there will be beer there!!!! Not just any old beer, FREE beer!!!! See you there!

Not as easy as riding a bike.

I'm slowly starting to finish a couple of paintings for gallery shows this month. One is the 8-bit show at Gallery 1988 in Hollywood and the other is for an A.P.E. related show at 1988's new gallery up in San Francisco (these 2 are for that show). It's been kind of a weird/ frustrating/ insomnia-inducing experience for me. But it's also been some of the most fun I've ever had! My last painting before doing these is dated 1996 (You can visibly see the rust!). Back then, I painted a lot. Graphic design & college then took over and so did the computer. Now I might sketch out a poster idea or a character but before I know it, I'm on that crazy computer again. The thought of painting again was as scary as jumping outta a plane. Didn't know how much I missed it til my coworker Rich convinced me to grab a brush and jump. Thanks for the push dude!

Fun with silkscreening!

I apologize for not posting stuff for a while. I was drunk. Here's some silkscreened prints I created for a two-man show last year. The concept deals with advertising posters for an institution populated by kids with mental "gifts". They're not necessarily super-powered, they just have these unexplainable, and for the most part problematic quirks. This was the first time that my studiomate/coworker Rich Tuzon and I tried our hand at silkscreening. And it is also our last! j/k. It was quite the challenge of trial and error. In the end, it was also the most rewarding experience. We finally got through it with the help of enough alcohol to kill a small bear. Enjoy!