The Wood Carver's Cottage

I ran across this little place the other day while hiking through the Pine Woods on the far side of Gwelf. A very peaceful area to walk as you can well imagine. The hypnotic smell of nutmeg and apples was thick on the afternoon breeze - his wife must have been baking. What's interesting about the area around his cottage is all the little bits of carving you come upon. Ornate little designs carved into tree trunks and grotesque heads fashioned out of old stumps turn up in the most unlikely places. I would highly recommend this walk to anyone the next time you're in the area. I would however avoid the mushrooms in that part of the forest. They are, for the most part very hallucinogenic and will undoubtedly make your return trip an unexpected challenge.

Happy Travels.

More soon.

Designing Oliver Part Two - Fagin

 This is the second part of the little self imposed assignment I gave myself this past Easter Weekend to design some characters from the classic Dickens novel, Oliver Twist. Here I'm thinking about the arch villain of the story and the most evil character among a wide ranging group of nasty characters. Fagin is a paranoid, greedy, two faced, back stabbing fence and exploiter of children - just awful, but really fun to draw - so here are some variations on Fagin.

More soon.

Designing Oliver Part One - Bill Sikes

This was a little assignment I gave myself over this past long weekend. As I've stated before in previous posts, character design for animation is a field I am very much interested in, and having recently had the opportunity to do a little design work for a feature 3d film, I'm convinced that I want to do more of this kind of work. I thought I would start my Oliver Twist assignment with Bill Sikes. He is a brute, a pimp, a house breaker and a beater of women. He also has a dog named Bulls Eye - his only redeeming characteristic and the one aspect of his character that makes him less evil than Fagin.

I love this kind of work and could draw character variations all day long. However I have other things to get to so the fun had to stop here.

More soon.

The Hall Of Giants - Troll Documentary.

I was recently contacted by Michael Falcone, a documentary film maker concerning his film The Hall of Giants. It's about the legendary Fremont Troll Sculpture in Seattle. He wanted to use my Troll Image in his film as an example of what trolls can, and of course "do" look like. I was happy to let him use my pic and took this old image back into Photoshop and spruced it up a little.

Here's a link to a trailer on Vimeo for his film. The password is Troll - http://vimeo.com/29587103
It looks like fun.

Travel safely and peace be with you.

Cheers.

Birds

 Some birds, just for fun.

More soon.

A Bit of Life Drawing

I happened to be in a mall a few weeks back with a bit of time to kill so I treated myself to a wee bit of life drawing - the best practice ever. I set myself up in front of the Tim Horton's Coffee kiosk, where there was a long and continuous line for coffee and donuts - which explains why many of the figures are pointing the same way. Line ups are good for drawing because it forces people to remain relatively still for a few moments which gives us half chance at drawing them, but you still have to be fast. I could really use a bit more of this.

Once you get into the groove of drawing everybody starts to look like a character design. That's when it starts to get fun. Anyway - more soon.

Cheers and travel safely.

Back To ToonTown

I've just signed on to do visual development work for an animated feature film which is just going into production. This means I will be designing environments and characters for them. This also means that there is a very good chance that this blog is going to take on a rather animation/cartoon slant. Some of you may be thinking that it already has a cartoon slant and you're probably right, but it may become more pronounced in the future. I'm just giving you fair warning in case you find cartoons irritating - I know, but some people do.

As we all know, in production films are very hush, hush and this one is no exception. I won't be able to say anything about it or show the work I'm doing for it, but it is my intention to keep this blog going and let it be about  visual development  work and drawing for animated movies. I hope you will find this interesting, and hopefully we will both learn a few things along the way.

More soon.

Travel safely.

Goofy Sketchbook

Some recent sketchbook work. There is some Dickens motivation here as well as some other stuff.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers.

Sherwood

Robin, Little John and Friar Tuck. Just for fun.

More soon.

Cheers

More Troll Business

I want to take a moment and clarify a few of the facts concerning that recent troll business we've all heard about. I realize that many of you have been receiving inaccurate information concerning this unfortunate scenario and I would like to set the record straight. Misinformation in situations like this can only lead to further misunderstanding, name calling and muckraking.

Firstly and most importantly, there were no fatalities, nor were there any injuries. All sorts of things can go wrong during a storm and when trolls are involved the accidents can pile up quickly, but lets take a look at what really happened.

As we all know, the troll in question moved into the area last winter and by all accounts was very well behaved. He kept to himself and was very neat and tidy. The local residents, recognizing that a peaceful and in some cases even helpful creature was in their midst, welcomed him into the area with open arms. Some were even leaving food out for him. Everyone agreed that having a troll nearby kept wolves and unfriendly strangers away. Everybody was getting along fine until last spring on the night of the big storm. According to Emily and Rupert Sandstone, the owners at Easterbrook cottage who lost a stairwell and guest bedroom that night - "It wasn't his fault at all. He just got turned around in the storm, that's all. It was dark, rainy and windy, lightning too. He backed into our guest bedroom and knocked down a wall. He didn't mean to. Scared Penrose Cranston half to death but she walked away without a scratch. Startled her though which led to all that screaming and yelling. That's what set him off. He went crashing down the lane, over the bridge and fell into the creek. We haven't seen him since."

It's at this point that we need to pay attention to the facts. All of our eye witnesses agree. This was not an attack or an offensive gesture. Nobody was hurt. No one's compost heap was disturbed and all the out-houses are still in tact. There have been a lot of wild rumours flying around the area lately, but as far as we can tell, none of them are true.

All agree that this little community is not the same without him and he is missed. The Sandstones are already rebuilding their guest quarters and harbour no ill feelings. Everyone is anxious for things to get back to normal. Peace offerings of wool blankets and baked goods have been left out for him but so far remain untouched. With any luck he will soon be back, his protecting presence casting a warm and secure glow over this little area and everyone in it.

Wolves have been heard howling in the woods again and dark strangers have been recently observed on several local roads.

I hope this clears things up.

More soon. Peace be with you.

The Sleeping Troll

Well, I was finally able to scrape a few minutes together over the Christmas break and actually make a picture for myself. It has been quite a while since I've had the chance to do this and I really wanted to make the most of this little opportunity. There had been a story circulating around the taverns and roadhouses outside Gwelf for a few years now concerning a company of armoured knights engaged in a pitched battle with a band of brigand trolls on the old bridge at Albion. I thought this would make a terrific subject for my next piece and wanted to be sure to do it justice.

There were still a few details I wanted to clarify so I decided to conduct a little investigation and see what I could find out. I wanted my depiction of these historic events to be as accurate as possible and so I decided to interview the eye witnesses and see if I could track down anyone who was actually in the battle. After conducting a number of covert interviews and eves dropping on several very secretive conversations the truth began to appear. As it turns out, the company of armoured knights became a handful of terrified farmers and the band of brigand trolls became one peaceful and snoozy troll asleep under a bridge with a large jug of vintage pear cider. After a brief verbal exchange the troll agreed to vacate the vicinity by the end of the day. Everyone went home satisfied. Lamps were lit and dramatic war stories were told by the fire side. I much prefer this version of the story and that is what I've depicted.

More soon.

Peace be with you.

The Toad and Teasel

Lets consider this a seasonal post. A little heads-up as to where you might want to stay if you should happen to find yourself on the other side of the ethereal border this holiday season. Travelling in the Faerie Realm, as we all know, can be a little tricky, what with booby traps, disguised personalities, hauntings and many other dark magic shenanigans to contend with. A little caution is always advisable.

So this time we would like to point you in the direction of a charming little pub called The Toad and Teasel, located on the East Road when leaving Gwelf and heading for Inverary. The Toad and Teasel comes highly recommended from many reliable sources including your truly. The food is first rate - good old fashioned pub fare that sticks to your ribs and makes you warm and happy. The ale is dark and rich and goes straight to your head with a pleasant hum. The rooms are warm, dry and comfortable and fully protected by powerful spells of defense and safety. The invisible lodger in room 3 was banished once and for all during a lively ceremony last summer, rendering all rumours to the contrary wholly untrue. You can rest easily and without worry at the Toad and Teasel.

The proprietors, Mr. Duncan Cheesewater and his wife Penelope will go out of their way to make you feel welcome and right at home. You'll find Duncan at his usual station behind the bar and Penelope up to he elbows in the kitchen, toiling away to make sure your stay is warm, cozy and festive, unless you are allergic to cats of course. There's one in every room and there doesn't seem to be a thing anyone can do about it. "They have their ways and we have ours" as Duncan often says. "It makes you wonder whose feeding them".

Duncan and Penelope

If you should happen to make it over to the Gwelf area in the next couple of weeks you will be able to take part in the local festivities. The Midwinter celebrations will be going full bore until the end of the month. Even if you are unfamiliar with the Winter Solstice holiday we're sure you will feel right at home. The customs are very similar to ours with eating, drinking and singing being among the favourites. Be sure to celebrate safely though. Every year we lose a few careless revelers to witch attacks, so be sure to stick to the main roads.

Happy holidays everyone and peace be with you.

One more thing while I'm thinking about it. Wood Gnomes, Flickers and Pixies have all been spotted recently in the vicinity of the Toad and Teasel. This is a very good sign as these little forest creatures only appear where the spirits are high and a general feeling of good humour is present.

God's speed one and all.

Willow Cottage

This is a typical example of the kind of witch dwelling found in the Hill Country just north of Gwelf. This area is very remote and unforgiving. Much caution and care need to be taken if you should ever happen to find yourself traveling in this dangerous region. Although the dark and unholy occupant of this cottage has not yet been observed, the troll (below) has been reported in the area several times and is believed to be defending her property.

More soon - peace be with you.

Recent Graphite

A few more Faeries that will be added to the final version of the Lavender Blue cover. Thomas Haller Buchanan, our intrepid designer and art director will be putting it all together with his golden age inspired expertise. The final composition will be in his hands. I'm sending the work over to him and he is assembling it. We've decided that we want the cover to have a sketchy, pencilly hand drawn kind of look to it. Now that I've sent everything over to Thom I'll be sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting to see how he puts it all together.

November is really closing in now. The wind is out of the north and the trees are naked silhouettes against the grey evening sky. You better throw another log on the fire and fish that old, woolly sweater out of the cedar chest, it's going to be a cold one.

Cheers and peace be with you.

Lavender - Back Cover

Here we have the back cover cover image for the new cover concept we discussed in the previous post.  The idea is to keep it somewhat sketchy so that it will relate to the pencil drawings that are going to be surrounding it. However I think I rendered it out a bit more that I meant to. It was supposed to be a bit sketchier around the edges but the watercolour was going down so nicely on the hot press paper that I just couldn't stop myself. Here again I'm doing the limited palette approach I like so much - just a couple of colours - raw umber, paynes grey, prussian blue and ultra-marine blue - just a wee bit of burnt umber on his beard. Also - I thought it might be fun to revisit the Leprechaun house but show it from the other side.

Anyway - Happy Halloween and Peace be with you.