Here's my hat, fellas...

I really really like the movie 'Hello Dolly'. It's so flamboyant and the characters are so... ah, character filled, and hah it was the roll that Barbara Streisand was born to play. She made it. And boy oh boy, could they whip out an amazing amount of dance moves in this film. I don't know if there has been a film to beat it since. 

So I think, I just have a sneaking suspicion, that I might be putting up a few HD inspired sketches over the next coupla days (if I can find the time)... so to kick things off: this one is inspired by the delightful Irene Malloy. 

Another day, another opportunity...

Well had a good start to the day today. Got to go out for a coffee with my Dad to a very cool cafe in Birkenhead. It's so cool to be able to do stuff like that right? I'm all for taking time out to spend time with your friends and family - life is too short not to take the opportunity. And any excuse to visit a sweet cafe too - I love cafes, and we do them well in New Zealand. : )

Speaking of which, Andr (my flatmate) and I discovered the coolest tea shop the other night! It sells every kind of tea you could imagine and serves up cup cakes and treats on cake stands, and has all these cute as teapots all different shapes and sizes. So we have decided that we definitely have to take our Mums there someday. 

Anyway...

A turtle, coz turtles are very cool and I like them a lot. : )

It might seem a bit random putting the above drawings on here - but I was going through one of my folders and spotted the sketches, and I had so much fun doing them that I thought I'd share them, just in case there is someone out there who is just as random as I am and would find them amusing. One of our assignments last year was do to a key animation of a flour sack, getting from one point to another. So to start with we just did a whole pile of preliminary drawings to get as much gesture and personality into the sack as possible, and it was amazingly fun! I think he's quite cute (coz he is a 'he'). : )

Peeps

So here are some more of my peeps. These are some that I did last year for practice. It's kinda nice to be able to pop up work that I already have - that's one thing that I have loved about studying is that we are all constantly producing more artwork - it's what we do! And I haven't been in that position for a really long time, so it's very very cool. : )

This fine specimen of a woman is Mrs. Rice who is a character from a poem that my very good buddy and flat-mate and cuzzy-in-law and I wrote. Hopefully one day I will have an illustrated version of the poem that I can share... that's the plan anyway.

Mrs. Rice actually has a rather minor role, but it's an important one involving bright red lasers and a lot of jumping up and down. : )

Tangled!!!

I am fully loving Tangled. I have been to see it a couple of times, and I would see it more if I could afford it. Next step... the DVD. : ) So I have the book 'The Art of Tangled' too - I am that much of a geek: and the artwork in it is A-MAZING. Glen Keane is a legend of epic proportions. So the credit for the following drawings go fully to him - they are his creations - I have merely attempted to mimic him. : )

I love this one above - again, I couldn't do it as well as Glen...

A bit more stuff....

Just a few more sketches that I have been working on over the past coupla days... 

nuff said. : )

It's actually Tuesday!

I've noticed this morning that the time on Blogger is set to US time - so I popped up a post yesterday which was our Monday at around 10am or something - posts up on here as Sunday! Kinda cool! Anywho, that was random.


Today I am trying (I promise!) to get more work done on the book - but am getting distracted with doing random sketches. It's just too much fun! I have dug up a whole pile of quills and some beoootiful indian ink and have been loving working with that and some watercolours. I am not very practiced with watercolours so have had a few boo-boos. But from what I have heard that is what watercolours is all about! And after using coloured pencils for soooo long which can have the tendency to take soooo long - watercolour is highly refreshing.

So this one is just a work in progress - got an exhibition coming up in April which is going to be held at the Aotea Centre in Auckland central - which is a pretty big venue so excited much! Putting up the in progress work will hopefully encourage me to get it finished faster!

And a little sketch I did the other day for my classmate Leon - the caption is 'Sometimes life gives you a combover'. I don't know exactly what that means, but it's up to individual interpretation! : ) Well that's enough of my ramblings for now...


Peace out!

Gussie

Our oh so charming and elegant ragdoll cat; 

who has a tendency to sleep in... let's just say, random ways.

Wowee

Wow.
I just want to say today that there are some incredibly talented artists out there. I've been browsing around blogland for a little while (even though I really should be working) and it's SUCH a privilege to be able to see other people's work. The side effects of these kinds of discoveries on me are two-fold:


Firstly: I realise how far I have to go and that I am the teeny tiniest fish - in an ocean the size of the universe.


BUT


Secondly: I realise what I have to aim for and I'm so thankful for the amazing inspiration that is out there.
So thank you amazing artsy people for sharing your work, passion, humour and skill with the world. It makes me happy. : )

Bahahaha

Self-portrait - although I don't know when a self portrait is not longer a self portrait due to the fact that you have idealised yourself beyond recognition. : D

However I figure, if you can draw yourself - you might as well draw yourself idealised!

And I wish that my hair sat nice like that.

Lamentations 3: 22-26

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,

for His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion;

therefore I will wait for Him.'

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him,

to the one who seeks Him;

it is good to wait quietly 

for the salvation of the Lord."

Hmmmm

Often it seems that things don't go the way we think they should right? Situations arise, bumps in the road, even roadblocks sometimes, that just drive you nuts. And you find yourself wanting to stamp your foot and yell to the skies, 'That wasn't supposed to happen!!!'

But who am I to say that right? Am in control of the universe? Do I govern the seas? Control the orbit of the stars? Plan the migration patterns of birds? 

Everyone will be thankful (as am I) to hear that I am not any of the above things. What I can govern (to the best of my abilities) are the decisions that I make in my every day life (and even that seems like a big ask). And I don't know about you - great big world wide web void out there - but I am thankful that there is someone bigger controlling all that other stuff. *Phew*

Right now that I have that out of my system... sketch 'o the day. Thanks world wide web void for hearing out my spiel. : ) 

Just a coupla quick sketches of random people.

Just coz I can! :)

Ok so I couldn't resist...

...here's just a little sneak peek of a small part of one of my illustrations for the book. This is just a corner of a bigger drawing. I have entitled it: 'Bear with Bellyache'. : )

Down in the cavern

These are just a few sketches from last week. I'm currently working on illustrating my first ever children's book, and it's pretty exciting! Although the sun is shining outside each day and I'm stuck down in my cavern. However it's a small price to pay for the realisation of a dream!!!

Kudos by the way to my high school art teacher, Mrs. Rikken (can't remember if that is actually how you spell it). I only had her for a couple of years and she was mostly assisting my other art teacher. But I still remember really clearly that she said to me that she believed that I could be an illustrator if I wanted to be one - and she even went so far as to say that she would look for my name on a book in the future. That meant a lot to me that someone believed in me that much. Funnily enough I never thought that I would achieve the goal - but here I am!!! I will really celebrate once a see it in print tho... so we'll hold off the champagne until then. : ) But thanks Mrs. Rikken - wherever you are!

Blue Girl

I actually like the blue sketch of this drawing better than the coloured final. I just love sketches. There can often be more life captured in them then in final drawings - which in my case are often just too overworked! Agh, the joys of being a beginner. 

I'm LOVING learning tho. : )

2011

I needed something that would encourage me to post up my work and potentially (hopefully) get some feedback from other people! So, a blog it is. : ) 


I'm starting my second year of studying 2D animation, and looking forward to it big time. : ) Great school (Freelance Animation school), inspiring tutors, and cool as fellow students. So here's to an educational year! Who knows what the future holds...