Mom! It's hot in here.

So these were done for a client awhile ago. They wanted me to design these pajamas that sort of doubled as plush animals when not being worn. Could you imagine seeing one of these beasts lumbering down a dimly lit hallway from a 3am trip to the bathroom in your house? This is how accidents happen people!

Lipstuck

 Speaking of things that don't pan out.....this was for a guy I never met back east who wanted some silicone sheathed packaging ideas for his cosmetic line.....I whipped these out as a first pass and shot it off to him and never heard from him again. I'm thinking he must have loooooved it! 
Lesson: Stick to what you know.

Jolly ol' Elf.....

I did these quick comps for a client last year. They wanted some traditional Santa's as well as some stylized approaches for figurines. Not sure where this went...if anywhere...but I had fun as always. I love getting to do different things...even if they don't pan out.

New Amsterdam Theatre Poster

Also while cleaning the garage this weekend, I came across a couple of these posters that my lovely bride Kara, designed in the early nineties when Disney signed a 99 year lease with the famous Broadway theatre on 42nd street. I have no idea if these were ever distributed anywhere outside of the company, but I think it's a fantastic looking poster. I'm very proud of her.
Kudos also go to Antoinette Portis who was Kara's Design Director at the time. They did some beautiful work together including some killer old school big budget styleguides for the Lion King, Mulan, Hunchback of Notre Dame, etc.

Look! I Found Some old Pooh in the Garage...

Back in the day, the Disney Store used to have a catalog that they put out every month. We used to get the opportunity to provide cover illustrations now and then. Mind you, this was in the mid to late 90's.

I found these in my garage today and thought I'd post them.

If I recall, I did the layout and pencil for the top one and I actually designed and illustrated the bottom one.

Little Mer....huh?

I was asked to try to come up with some quick non-traditional (read purposely off model) explorations for Ariel...these were my first submissions. I think they were too far out for the client, so I did another set that was closer to her original model. I did enjoy the opportunity to break some rules in this case. Actually, I'm pretty awful when it comes to drawing Princesses in the first place....
If you want to see somebody who can draw women, go see Mr. Bryan Mon's blog here.

Villains Color Study WIP

Business has been slow of late so I decided to do a digital color study on this before going forward in oils on canvas. I'm definitely no Rembrandt, but I'm enjoying trying to account for all of the light sources and reflected lights so far.
The fireplace on the right of the composition will be fun as it will really add a strong warm light source to play off the moonlight that will be coming through the center window along with Chernabog and his own glowing eyes.

Eye Caramba!

These are a bunch of styleguide designs I did for a burgeoning franchise last year....click the image for a closer look.

Monster 'o' the week

I designed a bunch of monsters for a client recently that will be made into plush. This is one of the designs that didn't get picked. I think I'm gonna paint the orphans one at a time and post them here. Let's just name this one Gerard.

The BOTS are back in town!

I think this series will be very well received. Robots 3 is one of the last Vinylmation sets that I Art Directed and designed pieces for while at TDS. The final product came out beautiful.
Kudos to my buddies: Enrique Pita, Gerald Mendez, Oskar Mendez, Ignacio Rodriguez, Kyle Jensen and Quincy Sutton.
See and if you are so inclined, buy the whole set here.

Too serious?

I designed these badges and some supporting elements for a younger boys program. At the time we had a "leather-ish" Mickey themed jacket that was performing well. It was thought that they were too sophisticated and they were never used.

Director Mickey Wins!

I just finished listening to Destination Vinylmations 2012 Dee Vee Award Show and learned that this little guy won a couple of awards including "Best 3 inch Vinylmation Figure of the Year!" That's out of a few thousand different 3"vinyls designed this year!
Wow! How cool is that? 
What an honor to be amongst such talented designers like Thomas Scott, Maria Clapsis, Eric Caszatt, my buddies at the Disney Store...I'm really touched....damn....I miss designing these things!

Mother Gothel made the top ten as well....

R.I.P.

I really wanted these Marvel items to have a die cut 3D panel sewn on top made of the same material as the item that looked like the characters were ripping through the item in a heroic testosterone laden aggressive manner. Ultimately, though the Merchant tried, the vendor balked and decided they couldn't pull it off. Oh well.....Would've been pretty cool I think.

.300

The next few posts will feature some of the concepts that I came up with while at TDS that essentially went nowhere....okay, sure, maybe they just sucked....but one of the aspects of this business that it took me a long time used to is the the sheer amount of work that goes into an idea and the uber-slim odds of that idea actually getting through the arduous, multi-stakeholder process of getting mass-produced and placed onto a shelf somewhere for sale to the public. They say that a Major League Baseball player who hits safely 3 out of 10 times over the length of his career is destined for the Hall of Fame. Similiarly, In the world of Product Design that same .300 avg. would make one an absolute legend!

Fleece Navidad

One of the things I really enjoy doing is designing apparel. It doesn't always mean creating the original artwork per se. The skill is in the process of arranging existing art and perhaps some original elements to create a strong, unique overall aesthetic. Here are some hoodies that I did a couple of years ago. The final items were somewhat close to these but some elements were ultimately left out. I learned to ask for more detail than you think you can get early in the design process. That way, you'll likely end up with more after the cost reducing commences.

Quick Lil' Monster

I just started playing with Zbrush again today after not touching it in a couple of years. This took a couple of hours. I really enjoy this program and I would like to actually get proficient at it. Right now, I'm barely able to get around in it....

Disney Store Holiday 2012 Dated 3" Vinylmation

I'm really happy to see how this piece came out. I don't have a sample of my own so I guess I'll need to get to the Store today to get me one! The idea is that somehow those rascally Chipmunks, Chip and Dale got poor Donald trapped inside a snowglobe....how that happened is up to your imagination....as is the following thought: How long can Donald Duck hold his breath?
Here's an image of the Final Mechanical Art (FMA) that I supplied the factory of Disney elves to produce this baby.

Disney Villains Boy's Night Out

Okay...I'm posting this to keep myself honest. I did this sketch almost a year ago with the intention of doing an oil painting. I've actually transferred it onto a huge 48"x 36"canvas, but I haven't pulled the trigger to undertake the painting. I want it to have a dark dramatic vibe with moonlight and warm light from the fireplace. There are 18 villains in this piece: Bruce, Big Bad Wolf, Gaston, Hook, Skar, Stromboli, Hades, Radcliffe, Chernabog, Kaa, J. Worthington Foul Fellow, Mortimer Mouse, Jack In The Box (Fantasia 2000), Ed Hyena, Jafar, Lotso and Big Bad Pete.  To be blunt, I'm daunted by the prospect.

Before They Were Famous...

About a decade ago, as successful companies are apt to do, Disney Consumer Products was trying to extend the then fabulously popular Pooh Brand by coming up with novel approaches to augment the storytelling of the original franchise. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but ultimately it resulted in a sharp divergence from the heart of the Winnie the Pooh phenomenon and combined with an over saturation of product in the marketplace and a Disney Channel show featuring the characters in oddly designed CG (yikes!) Pooh as a property fell into relative obscurity.

These sketches represent my early attempt to re-imagine the characters as babies....as if plush animals go through a physiological developmental cycle....I know...I know.....
Hey, I was just doing my job....chill.

Haute Couture Minnie

This art was done last year for an adult assortment at Disney Store.....as I recall, the product came out looking really nice.

Fraggle Rock Contest Entry

Jim Henson Co. is hosting a contest through Talenthouse to come up with some art for Fraggle Rock's 30th Anniversary Celebration. This was my entry. I wanted to explore a retro-rock poster look as if the Fraggles were announcing a 30 year Anniversary world tour. Hey! Maybe they could open for the Stones. I like that! I can see the headline: "Fraggles Rock with the Rolling Stones." Henson could create a giant Lip Puppet as a new character. Somebody stop me!

Feel free to go on over there and vote for me if you are so inclined...

Alice In Chunkyland

Initial "quick" comps for a project before the client went in a totally different direction...like so much else out there, it was inspired by the incomparable Mary Blair.

Pick an ISM....any ISM

I was recently honored to be invited to participate in the 10 year anniversary exhibition at Grand Central Art Center at Cal State Fullerton in which participants were asked to depict their preferred "ism" such as liberalism, communism, capitalism, etc. I assure you, there are more "ism's" than you can imagine. After much thought and a few false starts, I decided to do something around "Mammonism" and "Apocalypticism." Both seemed to be obscure but relevant subjects given both the state of the world economy and the 2012 end of the world hysteria going on.

It opens on July 7.....Information about the exhibit is here.

Mam´mon`ism:Devotion to the pursuit of wealth; worldliness. The pursuit of material wealth and possessions, especially a dedication to riches that is tantamount to devotion.

"Mammonism"-16"x20" Oil on Cash

Apocalypticism: Belief in apocalyptic prophecies, especially regarding the imminent destruction of the world and the foundation  of a new world order as a result of the triumph of good over evil.

"Apocalypticism"-12"x16" Oil on canvas board

Disney Store 25th Anniversary Vinylmation Series

After overcoming a wee little hiccup in the original delivery plan, a glittering new set of twelve of these little guys are hitting the market today at your local Disney Store. These have been anticipated for awhile now and I'm really happy with the outcome.
The idea was to try to stylize the characters a bit so they don't look too close to character designs in past Parks animation series' and yet we wanted them to tie into the whole TDS 25th product assortment and aesthetic.
In the end, I think we managed to come up with a nifty little set of figures that are unique and dare I say...a little bit magical?
There. I  said it.

Designed to work in Sorcerer Mickey's light up stand.

When Bob Cares Enough to Send the Very Best

It seems Mr. Iger needed some cards designed to send to the Disney board members last Christmas and TDS was asked to supply some designs. These were my offerings and
I guess he liked them because they got printed and sent to "the man" himself. No problem Bob, you're very welcomed! Let's do Sushi sometime. I secured one printed copy of each.

Mystery Bear Design

Did this last year for Ahmet Zappa for a pitch he was working on. That's all I can share because I don't know what became of it.
The head turn was done in Z-brush. A sample plush bear was created from this that ended up looking really cool. I wish I had some photos of it.