storyboard drawings

I often have to bang out a bunch of storyboards for TV spots at work. In the heat of the fire, there isn't time to noodle the drawing to perfection. In fact, most of these drawings are whipped out within a 10 to 20 minute time frame. I have to just except what I've drawn and move onto the next panel or frame in the storyboard.

When I do these drawings, I tend to grab the nearest light-colored "Col-Erase" animators pencil on hand. Then I go over my scribbles with a darker color... picking out the lines I want.

Simple, and rough, but hopefully, able to communicate the idea.

Here are a few samples.

drawing during a meeting

Meetings are important...yes... but they also result in some of my favorite little sketches. Like, for instance, this one I did last Friday during a planning meeting at work.

I don't know why there is a bunny.

Black Yei Illustration

Here's the final version of the Navajo Diety "Black Yei". I wanted to have him glowing from within with the cold brilliance of starlight while being bathed in the warm reflection from the flame held in his hands.

You can see the glow of the starlight shining from the symbol of the seven sisters star cluster on his left brow and from his eyes.

I'm not happy with the background. Although I'd wanted it to be simple, with flat colors, I'd like to work it some more sometime.

All in all tho, I still like the final results.

I fractured my right shoulderblade over the holidays. Fell off a ladder. Wish it had been while wrestling a bear or fighting off a pack of ravenous wolves... alas... a freaken ladder. Couldn't draw at all for several weeks. Still wearing the sling now, but mostly as a reminder to take it easy until the bone has healed completely.

I wanted to upload final examples of my two entries into the Deities book. Looking back at the finished work, all I can see are the obvious flaws and silly mistakes. But I'm still pleased with how they both turned out.

Here is a shot of the final version of the Buhdi Pallien piece. Watercolor and lead pencil on cold-press watercolor board. We (the viewers) and the one little boy manage to see this larger than life, glorious feline goddess lying within touching distance of all the tourists. This was a fun one to do. Watercolor requires an enormous amount of self confidence and an ego to match.

My second entry for the Deities themed book from the guys at Tiki Machine is based on a Hindu goddess named Budhi Pallien. She's one of the earlier, elder gods. It's said that she liked to roam the jungles and forests of Northern India in the form of a tigress. Aaaand... it's said that she still does so today.

Well, that got me to thinking. How would a 10,000 (or so) year old tiger-goddess respond to our world today? What would she think of us? How would she interact with us? If at all.
And, how would we react to her?

I did some rough sketches of how she might look...




...meh... although I did like the simple stripe treatment.

And then decided that she HAD to be bigger than life. She's a freaken goddess. And I wanted to place her in plain site, yet be unseen by those all around her who can't be bothered to see the world around them.



This piece will be a simple one. A rough pencil drawing with water color washes on cold-press illustration board.

Been working with the guys over at The Tiki Machine on their new book.
The theme for this one is on "Deities". Kinda cool.

There will be two of my illustrations in the book. I wanted to do something from the native American peoples (specifically the Navajo) as the subject matter for the first illustration. Black Yei is my current favorite. Basically, he's the guy that's in charge of the stars and constellations, and he's the one who invented fire. The story goes that he used to keep the constellation of the Seven Sisters tied around his left ankle. However, whenever he danced, that star cluster would fly up from his kicking feet and smack him on the left brow. This happened so frequently, that he finally just had the Seven Sisters constellation mounted to his brow permanently.

I like the gentle humour found in many of the stories about the Navajo deities.

Can't show the final piece, but I can show you a rough sketch. This one will be digitally painted. I want to have the flame glowing with warm, yellows and oranges, while the stars glow with blue light. If I can pull it off, I also want the eye holes of his mask and the Seven Sisters star cluster to glow with the same star light. He IS a god after all.

Here's a quick, pencil sketch of another paper model design. It's an... a... er... Idunno. A steampunk vehicle thingy. Designed for exploration of rugged terrain. Lightly armed with a turret-mount machine-gun for protection. Lot's of rivets, gears and rust.

Will put this design in-line behind the other paper model projects I need to finish first. Must... finish... the... Kolywopter...