tobitoon BLOG! by Tobias Schwarz

Winter Update

2012-01-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

...freezing temperatures outside and everything covered in white. It must be winter.
I have been plenty busy working away and feeding my wood burning oven to keep me warm. Only recently I discovered some great inteviews with some fantastic fellow story artists currently working in the USA (on the schoolism website). I have not had the time to listen to all of them, but I can highly recommend (to those of you interested in story art) these ones for now:

Alex Woo (Pixar)
Louie Del Carmen (Dreamworks)
Kris Pearn (Sony Animation)
James Robertson (Pixar)

Also I have been listening to most of the interviews on the animationguild blog.
The latest for instance with story artist/ director Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Dreamworks) about Kung Fu Panda 2.

part 1
part 2

Going through my hard drive over the holidays I rediscovered two quicktimes I boarded a couple years ago. Created from a simple, few sentence outline with a 2.5 minutes cap and no dialogue (you have to provide your own sound effects while watching). There was a comfortable amount of freedom interpreting the outline while doing them, except for the fixed budget. The episodes were then finished directly by an animator in a cut out style and aired as animated segments during a kids show. I am sure they have changed some more, but I have never had the chance to see the result of these to episodes.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-23T01:33:00.000-08:00

...signing off for the holidays wishing everyone a very festive holiday season and a fantastic 2012. thanks for stopping by and see you here again soon!

update

2011-11-10T07:05:00.000-08:00

I have been such a lazy blogger this year. Lately I have been wrecking my brain how to create a new website. It is on its way now...at least the main design theme and coding is done. Have a look at www.storyartist.de. and let me know of any issues or suggestions, cheers!

here are some more ruffs of my storyboard work from the just released Laura film. I did post more panels on the new site.

googlef2512e014bfe9c45.html

firefly: attempting a short film

2011-10-10T01:37:00.000-07:00

These are a couple of panels of one of my latest storyboard work. I was recently asked to do a story test for a studio abroad and I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to use it as an exercise to work out a story-board for a short film. Since the narration has to take place in only a 100 panels, the story itself is kept very simple. It’s a story about a small boy and unexpected encounter. I am pleased with the results and we are editing the animatic right now. I am hoping we can eventually proceed to making it into a short film. This process of creating a story and its visuals under a very tight time frame really teaches us to be humble. It is so easy to criticize a finished film and see all the faults, but soooo hard to create one (even a tiny one). It’s a lot of fun though.

Once every little while I escape my little studio space and visit the big cities. Last weekend we drove to Berlin with an invitation to see the premiere of Laura`s Stern with family and friends. I think it ended up being a cute little film. Especially for little kids. I especially loved the art direction. Vancouver based colleague Matthias Lechner art directed and features some of his beautiful artwork on his personal website here. Also Hamburg based Manu Arenas created many of the designs for the film. I am a huge fan of his work. Besides his blog: Yaxin the Faun, you can see his artwork on his personal website here.

While in Berlin we took in some culture… - film culture that is of course! We visited the German Kinemathek . It is located just opposite the cinema at the Potsdamer Platz and showed a rare exhibition of storyboards. Samples from Hitchcock`s “Birds” (check this link for more of Hitchcocks storyboards), Spielberg`s “Raiders of the lost Arc”, Ben Hur to name just a few (the exhibition will move to Toronto next year. So if you are in the vicinity and have the time, I recommend you go visit it). It was great to see the original artwork up close for a change. (I have to admit I was also really hoping to see some of Ridley Scott and James Cameron work as well, but unfortunately none of their work was on display) I nevertheless purchased the exhibit catalog for future reference J. We could also caught a classical exhibit during our short trip. We went to see the “Renaissance Faces” exhibition, organized by the Bode Museum Berlin and the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Over 50 famous museums have contributed with unique loans. Allowing a great display of portraiture and busts from fifteenth century Italian Artists. The Exhibit shows the evolution of early portraiture, giving a great insight into the different Schools of Art and their main focus. Such great artwork, we spent hours looking at the paintings.

Lauras Stern : Traumonster

2011-09-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

I have just watched the trailer for the upcoming feature film Lauras Stern und dieTraumonster (Lauras Star and the Dreamcatcher) by Rothkirch/ Cartoon Film. Directed by Thilo Rothkirch and Ute von Münchow-Pohl. Storyboarding for the film wrapped about two years ago. I have not seen any of production since, as I have been busy with other projects. It was a great experience working on the story, working with the other story artists and the directors . I cant wait to see how the final film turned out. The first shots in the trailer are part of my first sequence that I had worked on at the start of the picture. You can watch the trailer (in german language only) here

Also ...I am just wrapping a different film today: Rusty Knight, trying to give my brain a few days rest before starting on another script. I have been working at the studio in Munich for long stretches and I am already missing everybody there. Its gonna be another long wait to see how the film will work out (and to share any of my work) My daughter (9 years now) did a little arts and crafts project one day, while we were all in Munich (And we hauled the heavy sculture back with us) I finally took a Foto. You can see Rusty Knight on the right and Lady Bo on the left (Coke the Dragon is on the back)

Story

2011-08-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

It is surprisingly rare to hear story artist talk about their art. For anyone interested in what we do, this is a great panel discussion to watch.

The Story Begins from Creative Talent Network on Vimeo.

coming up soon....

2011-07-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

we are getting very close to the upcoming exhibition. very exciting and I´d better get started on thinking of some clever words to say for my introduction. Its the first time the city of Uelzen is exhibiting works of sequential art. Thanks a million to my beautiful wife for designing the invitations and preparing the exhibition!

Summer Vacation

2011-07-15T03:08:00.000-07:00

Not much vacation time this summer, not much of a summer either. We are preparing some of the sketches and strips for a small exhibition this coming august (I will keep you posted). On this occasion I wanted to finally close that gap in my comic strips. I inked them some years ago. We were on a long weekend on Vancouver Island. I am not entirely certain how or if I will continue the crockidz strips. I had not much time to finish any new strips lately, not for the lack of stories and I am working on a longer story about one crazy time in my life.

In the meantime I am drawing some more knights, dragons and princesses for the animated feature I am involved in.

Spring

2011-05-20T01:15:00.000-07:00

we had a last hailstorm last sunday here in northern germany. finally time to loose the snowflakes in the blog header. It took me quite a while to get back to my birthplace Munich where I have been spending the past months working on an animated feature about knights and castles. I took the opportunity to visit some real castles also while I was there ; like the stunning castle neuschwanstein.

I had a great time in Munich and looking forward to spending some more time there. But first I will be back to Augsburg next week teaching storyboarding for a few days. see you there.

Kinder Surprise

2011-03-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

March is almost over. How did that happen? Life is busy, spring around the corner.
These are the pitch boards for the Kinder Surprise spot I uploaded a few posts earlier. Only a few of the ideas made it into the final version.

Actimel Boards

2011-03-08T07:12:00.000-08:00

These are some of the boards I drew for the Actimel spot I posted before.
The concept works a bit like a mini feature told in 40 seconds and sometimes cut down to much less.
I start my boarding with thumbnails which I discuss with the director. This pitch was presented as an animatic, but more in the ways of a traditional production animatic, so there were quite a few panels which I had to finish in order to make the story work and give the editor enough possibilities to try some different versions. Considering the time constraints I am usually given on these types of commercials I usually try to avoid the use of color. But I thought it helped a bit on this one.

Kinder Surprise Looney Toones

2011-02-23T05:01:00.000-08:00

Just out...Kinder surprise...
I got the chance to board this commercial including the looney toones last autumn.

Team Actimel Action Discs

2011-02-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

...another team actimel commercial I boarded last year, at least the first pitch. It came out quite nice I think.

I really want some of those action discs now.

Guppies

2011-02-10T23:26:00.000-08:00

...great to see the trailer from the BubbleGuppies...it brings back some memories from working overseas a couple of years ago. I believe the show currently is airing in North America. I am glad Nick had the strength to pursue their vision and hoping the show is looking as good as all the clips I have seen so far.

Speaking about trailers. I just watched the 2 minute preview of Blue Sky´s RIO. Really nice!!! (almost as good as Bubble Guppies) (click here to watch it)

I should get back to posting some artwork again soonish...

Currently

2011-02-02T06:58:00.000-08:00

...busy times. As I cannot share any of my latest work I got my kids to draw some of the characters i am working on at the moment. There is a metal knight, a dragon, a maid....you get the idea...

Little Big Panda

2011-01-19T00:35:00.000-08:00

Just found this via Paul and Alex posts, who both worked on the animation. Too bad I cannot understand what they are saying.

the postman

2011-01-16T11:01:00.000-08:00

If I remember correctly I was meeting with some friends to draw in a cafe downtown vancouver. we were all between jobs and were wondering (once again) about our choice of careers. Becoming a postman seems to come up during these times for some reason. I was wondering how my dogs would change their behaviour towards me once I would be a postman....

Off to another gig in the morning. Hopefully with some time to fill my sketchbook in the coming weeks...

Seasons Greetings

2010-12-21T04:17:00.000-08:00

Seasons Greetings to all of you. Thanks for following my artwork throughout the year!

On this side of the pond everything is covered in freezing snow in time for Christmas. 2010 was an exciting year for me and all the signs promise more good things to come in 2011. I feel very lucky to be part of so many interesting projects, also to have the pleasure working with amazing artists all over the world. Two of the projects will finally be aired in 2011. "Bubble Guppies" from Nickelodeon I worked on the TV show almost 3 years ago and it now seems to be scheduled for 2011. The second one is Lauras Stern und die Traumonster, which is scheduled for theatrical release later on in 2011 on which I boarded a few sections.

I particularly enjoyed working with students in 2010: I learned A LOT from you, thanks to all of you in case you make it to my blog. If the airports will be open for business again I will do a little talk in Dublin about the industry on the 8th of January at the ISA. My first time back in Ireland since 95. Hope to see some of you there.

Inks

2010-12-13T11:05:00.000-08:00

...this has taken way toooo long. eventually it will be in color.

a different Panda

2010-12-05T03:01:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across this story-board reel from the BigB studio in Berlin. The boards are from a 2d feature directed by Greg Manwaring "little Big Panda" I had the pleasure working on last year. I believe the film is in the final stages, but I am not sure when and where it will be released. A few of the panels are from my incredibly talented colleagues Satjit Matharu , Gareth O`Donoghue and Peter Dodd. A few are from myself. thanks for sharing!

Pain Frites

2010-12-02T02:23:00.000-08:00

....December already. Snow and freezing temperatures. Finally done with my travels for this year and hoping to squeeze in some personal work before the year is over. Not looking too promising though for the lack of spare time. On my last day in Brussels I stood in line for 30minutes to buy some frites. A friend from Vancouver recommended the stand (Thanks Michael!). I had to get the "pain frites" and as you can see even took a picture. You, who have met me, probably remember that I am no huge fan of the potato. I survived 2 years in Dublin where even the chinese take out served chips with their meals and tried eating french fries with chop sticks in Korea. Back in Sydney, our belgien friend Cris was always talking about "crusty cross bread". Finally I know what she was talking about. Great baguette (even without frites)!

Next posts. back with some drawings and less talking :)

POP

2010-11-19T12:44:00.000-08:00

Just saw this on another blog and thought...wow. since i cannot post anything of my own for the time being (on the road, on the job)...

bernard used to always animate on his flash shows while working at the disney studios in australia. time well spent!

Turtle Spot

2010-11-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

...just found this spot through facebook. I storyboarded this commercial a little more than two years ago, but its the first time I get a chance to see how my boards turned out.

Vancouver

2010-11-09T07:48:00.000-08:00

having a great time out and about in BC,Canada right now with the added benefit of visiting lots of friends and collegues over here. The animation industry looks really healthy in Vancouver at the moment which is so nice to see, after a seemingly long lasting dip in activity.

I just read the news that MGM filed for bancrupcy and on a much smaller note Trickompany in Germany did just the same (not related in the least I am almost certain ). It will be interesting to see if Trickompany will manage to relaunch for a third time...

November

2010-11-01T08:19:00.001-07:00

...did I say every monday? October has been unexpectedly busy and the upcoming weeks appear to be no different. There is another old strip finally colored (german version on www.crockidz.de) and another sketch for a new one...

Popcorn

2010-10-18T06:31:00.001-07:00

once more, an older tobitoon is on the toonpool homepage as the daily toon.
...as well as another crockidz strip on www.crockidz.com

have a great start into the week!

Late For Work

2010-10-11T00:20:00.001-07:00

...good morning everyone. You can read he german version on www.crockidz.com.

Day Of Cartoons

2010-10-05T23:30:00.000-07:00

Toonpool decided to feature one of my older cartoons as their daily toon today.
The other day I received my first 2011 calender. The good folks of Medlinq combined all 12 cartoons I created for them in a calender for their customers and staff. Thanks, its always a treat to see my artwork printed.

Stumbling

2010-10-04T00:19:00.001-07:00

As being mainly australian cattle dog, Lucy used to follow us everywhere. Somebody told me they also call this breed "velcro" dog in Arizona. I cannot recall how many times I fell down, because she was right behind me.

read the german version on www.crockidz.de

I noticed quite a few returning visitors to the crockidz site, so I thought I will try to do my crockidz updates on mondays. I am still in the progress to built a more streamlined, faster loading webpresence, also include a newsletter of some sorts.
Lets first try the monday shedule ;)

Sketching

2010-09-30T04:51:00.001-07:00

some recent sketchbookwork

Socks

2010-09-27T00:27:00.001-07:00

I am getting back into a more regular posting cycle for the crockidz. I am still catching up with
coloring older ones though and only have a few more to go before I wil get around publishing new ones (read the german version at www.crockidz.de) .

Here is the original scribble from some time ago.

I have added a few more animation based links on the side. Two of them I just discovered via Florian Satzingers blog Paperwalker. The hand-drawn-animation.blogspot and its sister site characterdesignnotes.blogspot. Very interesting reads!

There is a long post entry from Cameron Fielding on flip about his experiences with moving (you are going to hollywood), relocating, visas and so on. For animation artists relocating with the job is such a huge part of life, but very few colleagues write about their experiences in any great lengths.

Lucy s Fat

2010-09-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

Another older strip, finally colored (read the German version on www.crockidz.de) . This happened right after we moved to Vancouver. The dogs had to stay in a kennel together for a week or so, until we could find a place to stay with them. Lucy ate all the dog food. Tarzan was pretty slim afterwards.

Kinder Surprise Boards

2010-09-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

the boards for the kinder surprise commercial. director daniel fraas had some fun ideas and many made it in the finished spot.

trumpeting elephant

2010-09-15T11:52:00.000-07:00

way back when, I animated a so called "name slate" in college that resembled an elephant, with tones and sfx, cell painted it, but never got around to shoot it on film. I thought this would be a fun little side project for me to animate a part of this past project again, while teaching animation at the animation school hamburg. well, I guess I talked way too much during the course , because all I got to show for after weeks of teaching is this test. I will try to finish it off using toonboom animate in the coming weeks...hopefully. which reminds me I still have to color some old crockidz comics, let alone ink some new ones...

kinder surprise

2010-09-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

here my thumbnail pass for the kinder surprise commercial.

ferrero grossstadthunde

2010-09-11T01:03:00.000-07:00

almost missed this one. Another commercial I story-boarded has already aired.
Some fun animation here.

Sunshine

2010-09-10T00:08:00.001-07:00

...part of a T-shirt I drew for my nieces birthday.
With all the rain we had the past days over here a bit of sunshine would be nice!

Have I Grown Too?

2010-09-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

...the last part of the growing wall. I uploaded the previous one once more because I noticed that the lettering was hard to read. You can read the german (as well as the english) version on www.crockidz.de

Medlinq_August

2010-09-02T23:58:00.001-07:00

Digital or Analog

2010-09-02T01:57:00.000-07:00

After quite a while I have again setup my old, solid metal animation disk in my office. I love working on this disk to draw or animate. I have gotten so used to it that I retrofitted the Cintiq onto my original animation desk. I don't think there really is a question whether to work digital or analog in traditional animation. I prefer paper, but only if somebody else scans the work.
Besides that, the work has to speak for itself no matter the medium used.
Teaching animation I have to say, that I do appreciate the digital work-flow. It somehow helps the students not to worry about the drawings only, but first about the movement.

Cheyenne Is Shrinking...

2010-08-31T02:30:00.000-07:00

...finished updating this one in color. What I remember vividly from our place we were living in then is the red carpet. The red and very old carpet. We were waiting for 3 months for our moving container to arrive. The house was pretty much empty, but this red carpet.
The second day we moved in, the kids played on the carpet. Cheyenne had a rash all over her face minutes after. We rushed out to steam clean the carpet for a day.

2010-08-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

some more animals. The Hannover Zoo has opened its new Canada section with a Yukon and British Colombia theme. What a coincidence.
There is, as in any Zoo I guess, a section with local farm animals, such as cows, goats, chicken ... I appreaciated the cows for the first time. We are living in one of the most remote and farm based areas of Germany, but you hardly ever get to see cows nowadays (partly because the dicount prices for milk forced many local cow farmers to declare bankruptcy during the past couple of years).

train sketching

2010-08-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

I am spending a fair amount of time traveling in trains, subways and buses. One of the benefits of a being in a big city is people watching (its not quite as easy in a small town, but not for the lack of characters mind you) These sketches are some from the past few days.

zoo sketching 02

2010-08-23T13:56:00.001-07:00

zoo sketching

2010-08-22T04:39:00.001-07:00

I was at the hannover zoo yesterday with a bunch of students and got to draw myself. beautiful sunny weather and what a fantastic zoo, just a bit too crowded for getting a good view at the animals. There were 4 baby elefants. fantastic. never had the chance to sketch them before. unfortunately it was very hot by then and they could not keep their heads up and all fell fast asleep. I had a chance to sketch some farm animals as well, which is quite handy, since I am working on a show with a rooster, a pig and a field mouse (+ some other farm animals) right now. some more sketches next week, when I have more time to scan them in.

2010-08-20T00:35:00.000-07:00

some gestural drawings for a change (from yesterdays life drawing session at the school).

Medlinq_June

2010-08-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

Scarf

2010-08-13T01:14:00.000-07:00

I have just started doing a series of character studies as I did last year . I have been busy all week teaching classical animation. To clear my head afterwards I usually just doodle and sketch from magazines, before starting other work. I kind of like the color contrast on this one, but did not get the smile on her face right.

Superman Cant Fly

2010-08-01T08:18:00.001-07:00

...this is another superman episode that continues last years strips
superman is superstrong and
superman has no kids

(it has just taken me that long to bring it to paper, sorry. read the german version on http://crockidz.de )

Flipping 2010

2010-07-26T12:24:00.001-07:00

...this is a first for me. reposting an old post (this one about flipping from 2007, one of the first posts on this blog).
I started teaching a course in classical animation at the hamburg animation school. a student asked me to show him how to "flip" paper. This has been the first time in quite some time, that I actually flipped animation paper. Nice! Funny enough its still one of these things I missed most from the old 2d days.

Lucy _ RIP

2010-07-24T06:44:00.000-07:00

WIP_You Cant Fly

2010-07-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

...finally the inks are done on this one. Hopefully I can find some time to do the colors a bit faster.

Medlinq_March

2010-07-19T23:32:00.000-07:00

...I actually missed posting this one from March...
busy day today and off to do a workshop in the morning.

Union Der Helden

2010-07-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

Arne at Union der Helden put up a crockidz cartoon for the day, as part of featuring all 10 contestants of the web-sondermann competition. thanks Arne!

Voting is still going on for another week here, so ....vote for crockidz :)

Where Is The Vacation?

2010-07-14T04:39:00.000-07:00

...I can only wish that I was at the beach right now. This happened almost like this a couple of years ago in Canada, even though the beach scene is a memory from a sunny day at the beach in Australia.

you can read the German version (even though I think it works somehow better in the english version) of this strip here

Medlinq_July

2010-07-13T00:38:00.001-07:00

a brand new medlinq cartoon.
remeber, you can still vote for crockidz for best webcomic here

vacation

2010-07-09T06:19:00.001-07:00

another old one. we were on a short vacation in vancouver island in canada. after escaping the deadliest creatures in australia, stinging cacti in the south west of america we did encounter the wildlife up north. never a cougar though.

2010-07-09T00:39:00.000-07:00

... and finally the aired commercial.
Fun to do.

sondermann

2010-07-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

I got an email this morning telling me, that the crockidz, which I submitted for the web-sondermann 2010 are in the next round.

thanks for everybody who was so kind to vote for me in this first round. in case you want to get me to the finals, vote again!
since the crockidz are doing pretty miserable on this first day of voting (its all in german as far as i know, even though i saw an english tab somewhere)

hey, two posts in one day (just because i am a bit confused with the new blogger design thing)!

hooverboard

2010-07-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

...actually got to design a hooverboard for that commercial as well. well, it existed before .... but still.

Team Actimel

2010-06-29T01:43:00.000-07:00

...tried to match the boards with the screenshots

Actimel

2010-06-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

... a few screenshots for a commercial I boarded earlier this year.

the return....

2010-06-20T02:25:00.000-07:00

THE RETURN OF JOHN FRUM from christian schlaeffer on Vimeo.

...back from a few days of teaching story-boarding thanks to my colleague meister puille and professor rose. except for the relentless rainy weather a great experience.

since I have to catch up on a lot of work, I thought I post this short film from one of the students (I did not have the pleasure of teaching)... well worth watching...

more posts next week and thanks for stopping by!

Nothing....

2010-06-11T00:07:00.001-07:00

... an older one, which I only now colored to put on the crockidz site. I was picking her up up from daycare on a typical rainy day on the canadian westcoast.

Superman Cannot Fly _ WIP

2010-06-04T00:44:00.000-07:00

...took me more than a year to finally sketch this. its part three of the superman strips from last year. which reminds me, that i still have to continue the treehouse episodes....

In the meantime I put a couple of strips up for the sonderman competition for webcomics. In case some of you like to stop by and take a vote...that would be awesome (unfortunately its all in german only).

off to some teaching tomorrow and lots of work for next week to be finished. have a great weekend

...for Dalee...

2010-06-03T01:34:00.000-07:00

WIP_inks

2010-06-02T02:12:00.000-07:00

inks done....

Blond Hair _WIP

2010-05-31T05:23:00.000-07:00

...400 th post today. thanks for stopping by!

Zaldi Video

2010-05-20T03:20:00.000-07:00

My australian friend and great, great artist Zaldi posted this short "tutorial" on how he illustrated a childrens book. He makes it seem so quick and simple. Also visit his blog here http://rizaldyvalenciaart.blogspot.com/

...jumping thing

2010-05-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

...earlier this year I got a request to help out with a quick animation. even though I already had too much on my plate I squeezed this one in with very short turn around. It was fun to do, even though I wished I would have a lot (!) more time. Unfortunately I never got to see the finished version with comp and color (maybe one of my colleagues has seen it somewhere on the web and can point me towards it?)

Medlinq_May

2010-05-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

...this months Medlinq Cartoon. for the German version please go to their website here.

oliver jeffers

2010-05-11T00:19:00.000-07:00

...just watched this on the http://www.swiss-miss.com/ blog.

I am a huge fan of his books and so are my kids. thabks for recording this!

2010/04 Oliver Jeffers from CreativeMornings on Vimeo.

blu monster

2010-05-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

... what I found somewhere in the bin....

....some time ago

2010-05-10T05:02:00.000-07:00

I published a comic art magazine . Since I mentioned this on my profile ( and for the lack of posting anything else) I thought it would be nice to scan the covers. These issues 01 to 05 were published between 1986 and 87...pre digital times. They all included original short stories by several artists, including myself. Really time consuming to publish, but a great experience.

crockidz website

2010-05-05T03:23:00.000-07:00

...as I am building/ updating my websites at the moment, I started practicing with another web project first, the crockidz site.

When I started the strips in 2007 our kids were still mainly speaking English, but have since then switched almost entirely to German. So I decided a while ago to translate them and publish both versions on the net (I am no website genius, so please stop by the site and let me know of any bugs) I am gonna update with some more old/new strips in the coming months.

Dresses

2010-05-02T03:16:00.000-07:00

WIP_inks

2010-04-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

inking done on this one. tried to add some more bg this time as well as doing the tones before I start working on the colors.

"Dresses" WIP

2010-04-29T02:49:00.000-07:00

sketch 06

2010-04-27T02:48:00.000-07:00

Medlinq_April

2010-04-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

....another Cartoon for Medlinq just got released.
Have a great Monday!

sketch 05

2010-04-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

......sundayyyyyy :)

sketch 04

2010-04-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

I am glad the colder season is over.
Off teaching today.

sketch 03

2010-04-23T00:16:00.000-07:00

sketch_02

2010-04-21T23:44:00.000-07:00

Sketch

2010-04-21T01:11:00.000-07:00

haven´t posted any sketches in a while. I made a habit of carrying my little sketchbook anywhere. Now that the weather is getting better its really fun to sit outside and sketch people again. I ´ll post somemore in the next few days.

Poster

2010-04-19T00:25:00.000-07:00

Our cattledog Lucy is looking at an illustration I finished earlier this year (I am pretty sure this has been about the largest format I ever illustrated so far).

Vivinox

2010-04-09T01:41:00.000-07:00

Back from my easter break. Just released. A commercial I did help out on some of the animation.

News from Captain Kirk

2010-03-17T01:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry to hear that C.O.R.E. has suddenly closed its doors this week.

You can read about it at the canadian resources website

Head Massage

2010-03-16T00:45:00.000-07:00

Paperless

2010-03-15T02:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.medlinq.com/

The first Medlinq Cartoon just went online.

Crockidz WIP

2010-03-11T01:47:00.000-08:00

I have been busy designing and drawing cartoons for clients this week and got back to inking one of my sketches that was collecting dust. Its been a few months, I think, since I inked the last crockidz. Originally I created them on a daily base, very quick sketches of our live. I experimented a lot with differet styles and formats and finally decided to use the syndicate style and send them around. Kings Syndicate quite liked them and encouraged me to submit more, but I did not get around to it. The "head massage" is one of the few, that I redrew a couple of times. I never was quite happy with the end results and I am still not. I am sure I will redraw the strip again in little while, but I thought it would be fun to see the different versions on one page, before I color the latest attempt.

Tangeled

2010-03-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

Like many of you I have been following the making of "Tangled" (aka "Rapunzel) over the years. One reason being because it is so much part of the 2d/3d debate, as well as Disney/Pixar debate and many more. There are some recent articles on that subject in the LA Times, one of them featured a cartoon from Floyd Normans Blog. I love his GagWall. click on the image to get there and check it out for yourself.

Iron Giant Model Sheets

2010-03-04T03:19:00.000-08:00

As I was just animating away today on a commercial job, I stumbled onto this resource site of Iron Giant Model sheets during my research this morning. I am a total Geek, when it comes to Model Sheets from traditional animation. And I know some of you are too. And if you have not watched the Iron Giant, go and rent the film now!

Here´s the link

Monsters

2010-03-02T02:09:00.001-08:00

Besides Pirates, I sometimes also get to draw some monsters. These are some quick doodles I did for a pitch a few weeks ago. Did not go anywhere, but was fun to do.

Tati and the Illusionist

2010-02-25T08:14:00.000-08:00

...Unfortunately I missed the premier in Berlin.
The Illusionist is based on an original script from the late french writer/director Tati and done in traditional (pencil) animation. I joined Django for a few weeks to decide if I would join the film for the longrun, but decided to jump on another project instead.
All the artwork and animation I saw then was absolutely stunning and I have the greatest respect for the whole crew, credited and uncredited (actually there seemed to be no credits at all on the film, or so I heard). I love the idea to keep a wide lens throughout the film and limited amounts of dialog. I hope to see it very soon. Victor found this interview on Arte (a bilingual (french/german) TV channel of which has some clips from the film.
enjoy.

almost weekend

2010-02-25T07:58:00.001-08:00

Here is a little Illustration I did a few weeks ago for a local client.
2010 has been so busy that I barely had time to breath, let alone do work on my own projects.
Slowly catching up though.

Pirates

2010-02-19T09:20:00.001-08:00

Teaching and Practising

2010-02-08T01:49:00.001-08:00

Last year I started a collaboration with a client who develops and distributes software for the hospital field Medlinq . The goal is to develop a series of cartoons that reach their (prospective) clients in a fun, but also thought-provoking way. Not an easy task and this one did not make the cut, but I will post the ones that did once they are published. Sorry, this one is only in German, but all finished ones will eventually be in English also.

I am just back after a full day of teaching anatomy to a group of future comic book artists at the Comicademy. i am so thrilled to be part of this school. During the years I met so many great artists that came out of the comic art schools (which mostly teach animation as well) of Belgium, France and the US. This kind of education is still light years away for German students interested in the art of the graphic novel, but it could be one step towards it.

check it out by clicking on the icon.

Oops, already february!

2010-02-04T05:38:00.001-08:00

Seems to me like I have been shoveling snow every day for the past month (...and it has been very cold here with snow storms. How nice it is not having to commute.) and somehow forgot to post some new stuff. My sketches are waiting there ready to be inked, while I am racing through some more contract work. February was supposed to be less busy, but that does not seem likely at this point. I am not complaining, but missing time to work on my own projects and posting new work. In the meantime, thank you all so much for stopping by my blog! even during the slow times!

...Next One!

2010-01-22T00:23:00.001-08:00

with a slight bit of pressure and two kids watching over my shoulder judging every paint stroke.