Bonaparte

Here is a new painting I did of young Napoléon at play in his Ajaccio family home, in 1776. I bet he liked sneaking in his dad's office to play with forbidden grown-up things!


And here are some sketches and colour studies.

Day and Night

I'm proud to share this tidbit of information with you. I had the chance to work on Teddy Newton's latest short film "Day and Night" which will open June 18th with "Toy Story 3" (another film I did character work for). This was so much fun not only because of the brilliant film idea but because of the spirited crew we had, led by Teddy himself, animation director Tom Gately, and production designer Don Shank. Don even designed the titles typeface. He wrote about the film here.
Get excited for this one - it is unlike anything you have seen before!!!

LEGO

The other day I saw a primary-coloured ship loading at the Port of Oakland. When you think of it those crane operators above are paid to play with giant LEGO blocks all day.

Big Sur

I'm pretty busy with our film at work so I try to relax as much as I can come the weekend. Last week I spent time with friends near Russian River and the last two days James and I traveled South to Big Sur, one of the most beautiful places we've been to.
This morning I painted these 2" by 3" little things to remember the big picture by.

Look, A Ship!

I see cargo ships every day on my way to work (under those Imperial AT-AT Walkers at the Port of Oakland ). I'm amazed by the size and capacity of the freighters, and I especially wonder where they're off to. I also love how the departing ships, full to the brim with colourful containers, become real-life Paul Klee paintings.

Here is one from the Maersk line.

November Pause

Not much drawing, a little bit of traveling.

Pig Headed

My second favourite boar at Four Barrel.

Tuesday Gestures II

From a quick session today!

Tuesday Gestures I

Inspired by the recent and long overdue publication of Walt Stanchfield's notes, "Drawn To Life", I decided to make time for Tom Gately's Tuesday Gesture Class.


Tom was one of Walt's most devoted students and is to this day one of the master's greatest advocates, well committed to the transmission of his legacy. He structures our drawing sessions here at Pixar very much like Walt did at Disney in the 80s and 90s - by asking us to do quick, economic, story and character driven drawings. Here you don't learn about bones or muscles (though anatomy should be second nature), you are not praised for acute or accurate observation (though believable perception is a must), but rather you are encouraged to find the story in each pose and to push it into a strong and clear statement. What every animation drawing should be.

Here's a humble offering from my latest attendance:

UP

In three days it will be one year since I started working at Pixar, and although I arrived too late to be part of UP, I can't think of a better way to celebrate now than going to see it this weekend!

I don't necessarily want to promote the film, as I think it speaks for itself (you'll know what I mean when you see it), but I'd like to applaud my friends, old and new, who have shared Pete Docter's vision and made an inspired work of art.

Nick, Ronnie, Enrico, Bill, Tony, Justin, Josh, Bobby, and the rest of the Story Department, Daniel, Albert, Lou, Don, Greg, Ralph, Noah, Ricky, Katy, Huy, and all those in the Art Department who put pixel and pencil mileage into the visuals, and of course the animators (too many to list), who made Carl extra grumpy and Russell that much more lovable - congratulations to you all!

Hats off to the UP crew!

Images by Pete Docter, Daniel López Muñoz, Albert Lozano, Ricky Nierva and Lou Romano, colour script by Lou Romano. Visit his blog for a lot more UP art.