I was lucky to be able to get out for a bit this Sunday morning, and I got a quick study done in an hour and a half. I was getting over a bug, but felt good enough to get out for a quick session. I'm doing a plein air event in a month, so I want to get back out as often as I can. This one needs more work, but I blocked in the light as much as I could. Luckily, the light cooperated...

Just a quick post...sketch from the DMV.
The movie has only a few months left in production, and we will be reaching our destination soon.
July, 2012!
It's looking great, and the work that has gone into it is, as always, unbelievable.

First, a big congratulations to everyone who was involved with SKETCHTRAVEL! The biggest laurels going to Dice and Gerald for coming up with such a great endeavor. What they achieved was nothing short of incredible. The book and the autographed copies that they sold at the auction raised over (gulp,) $100,000 for the Room to Read organization. Thanks again to both of them for letting me contribute. I was honored to be a part of it.

Now about the painting. It is of a friend, Clara, that was nice enough to pose on a blistering hot afternoon a few years back in Central Park. I managed to get the block in done before it started to get too hot, and then I tweaked the values later. I pulled this out recently and liked it more than I used to, once I got a second look with fresh eyes.

I wanted to repost the drawing I did for the SKETCHTRAVEL project to announce the upcoming AUCTION! (It seems like years ago, because it was!) This book has literally been around the world, and in the hands of some of my favorite artists... Visit the websites, too, because they are works of art, too.

The poster is by the phenomenal artist, Tadahiro Uesugi, and is the perfect image to launch the auction. Proceeds from the auction will literally go toward Room to Read, which is an international non-profit dedicated to increasing child literacy in developing countries. The goal is to build a library and sponsor local children's book publishing in a developing country.

I am really happy to be a part of this project. And I rediscovered how much I enjoy watercolors...The process takes a while, as does the prep, but the results (and even the happy accidents) have a real tactile, warm quality to them. The piece is called "Nomad" and the painting is a moment from a bigger story I'm working on. (And I feel like watercolors are the way to go)

Here is my rough sketch that is on the board now...
It's part of a short story, but it is related to the idea of 'home', which is the theme of the auction.
It's for a great cause, so please check out the website for the auction. Lots of animation industry friends are part of this auction!

I'm getting the itch to work on color images for a kid's book pitch...again.
I liked this layout, although the story has changed. My story for the OOP2 book was based loosely on this one.