More pre sketch sketches....

Some more sketches for the book or the animation oh what the hell Both!.

Sketching the book

My children's book is coming along... and in doing so lots of other ideas have come to the fore.
Here are some early illustrations for the Hairy Diary.

Thoughts and doodles

Been a busy bee recently, lot's of admin, preparing my masterclasses and workshops in comedy, character development and improvisation. (if anyone is interested please contact me). I've been writing them also for animators as well as theatre students and professional actors and performers.

Speaking of animation I spent a fantastic weekend down  Montreal at the Cinametheque for a masterclass by PIXAR. Matthew Lhun was superb sharing his vast knowledge of 'story'. What I found amazing were the links and parallels between Animation and or film and creating shows and acts. Character development and physicality is a huge part of the animation process at Pixar and for us clown/actors as well. So my creative juices are flowing and all the things that needed to be reinforced, were.

My book is slowly coming, having two kids at home means my work rate has slowed a little but it is moving and soon school starts. Some little sketches...

Sketchbook

We have a bird nesting in one of hanging baskets around the front door.

My wife found a nest in the basket and brought it out for the kids to see.... later I saw a bird flying in and out of the basket.. hhmmm I thought, thats nice... later still I thought, wait a minute maybe she is building another one (Dont ask me why I thought like that, maybe they just love to build) I went to check and there were two little eggs... Aaah

Then the click moment. She made the nest to lay her eggs in it! WOW sometimes I'm surprised I can get out of bed in the morning. Anyway we replaced the nest and managed to get her eggs in there without touching them with our hands. So now she is very happy sitting in her nest.

Mind you we really played with her head. Nest, no nest, eggs, eggs and nest ?!?!?!?!?!?! So in tribute to all feathery things...

Animation for Kilimandjaro

Just did a simple little animation for my wife's mother. 

She is climbing Kilimanjaro and raising money for Mira and organisation that "works to help disabled individuals lead their lives independently as functioning members of society. We do this by providing dogs bred and trained to respond to their adaptation and rehabilitation needs."

Good luck Marie Claire...

Here's the link to the animation ~ http://www.youthebiscuit.com/marieclaire.html

Animation in an App ~ Task Dude is out!

Well at last the anti procrastination app is out... took 10 long years of distractions... No not really.

I did the illustrations and animation for this neat handy little app. I think its a great idea as we... OK, I always need an elbow in the ribs to get back on track. You can download the app here ~ http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/taskdude/id428891160?mt=8&ls=1#

And the developers web site is here ~ www.inspirapption.com

Hope you enjoy it!!

Incident at tower 37

Chris Perry released his independent short animation for world water day. Brilliant.

Character illustration

Another character that didnt make it... 

They end up here in the characters junk yard... the ones that didnt cut it... the almosts...hhhmmm maybe I'll start a new site, character junk yard . com and we can all share the ones that never made it.

Frog cartoon character..

Some character designs. Didn't get used in the end but I like them....

Frog

Illustration and animation of jokes...

This is the animation I made for Punchline Tees. I created the character, the setting, I really like the curtains I made... its the details eh? They ended up asking if I could do the voice as well, why not? There are about 4 jokes I've animated so I might post so more. All done in Flash and exported for iPad as Quicktime.

Books...

Book characters...

Stand Up

Working on a stand up comedian for a client. Telling jokes and drinking... and thats just me!?!

I'm currently producing my animated book... its on its way but very much in its infancy. Here are quick character studies... more to be revealed as we go along. Stayed tuned.

Artwork

Another collection of artwork done in Flash. Playing with characters, scenes and props.

More of those scenes and characters all mixed.

Been having fu testing out the creations. Making stories and narratives, here's a little taste.

Characters and Scenes

Here's a little mix of what I've been doing for Whaang.

All Flash, vector based graphics, super lite...

Backgrounds

I've been developing some backgrounds for an online comic client and thought I'd share some ideas. Created in Flash.... they are also designed to give a feel of a place where something could happen. I feel its always the ordinary where the extra-ordinary happens.

Thinking, freedom, creativity and true success.

Flash Artwork

Here's a little look at a couple of characters I've been working for Whaang.. should be going live soon, very excited about it. Users can choose backgrounds or situations, then drop in characters with different props to create there own comic stories, its a lot of fun and a great concept.

Design...

Recently been embedded in Flash illustration and to get me re energized and fresh I go out and cut the lawn or go for a run... Now these two things have recently had great change and given great thoughts.

Mowing the lawn was a chore, I had an anti Eco petrol mower that spread all the dust, twigs, small stones and occasional blades of grass over a mile radius of my garden. The kids, my wife and dog locked up safe inside as I blasted my country location with noise and fumes... NO MORE. I have an old fashioned Hodder der der (Thanks Eddie Izzard) But its more than a leap in ecological gardening, its a brilliant design. When Brilliant designs arrive you know immediately because its form and function in perfect harmony. Its like walking in the park, yes 'G and T' in one hand, kids running around, the grass looking healthy, birds singing and an amazing feeling of really enjoying myself. Another huge design feature, by accident or on purpose, is when you push the mower there is a slight by very satisfying resistance... it kicks in a split second after you start pushing giving you enough time to push with ease before it gets slightly harder and ... it feels really good. Its that simple, immediate bio feedback. Addictive and satisfying.

Now running. The foot. Michael Angelo called it the greatest of designs and now I'm trusting in evolution and my body by running barefoot. The first time just 10 minutes down the track in the woods... I smiled the whole way, it was liberating and I had so much energy. Day two rested as my calves certainly felt the difference. Day 3, 15 minutes in the woods.. feeling really good. So I just started but so far it feels right. After all they were designed for this. Inspired by Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and Barefoot Ted. Its all about thinking, really thinking about why we do what we do.

I know, no Flash in there but it'll all come out in the wash.