This morning is off to a good start.

True story.  Also, I don't know how to make comics.  Good night.

Gallery Show Portraits

I forgot to post a better image of the artwork I did for the Character Animation Gallery Show, so here it is!

 These are portraits of very important, but lesser known historical figures.  I plan to explore their universe further.  Lots of stories to tell there.  The Tiger fellow is done in Acrylic, and the other two are Gouache. 

The question

Lola

It's crunch time here at school.  I'm working like mad now on my film.  I'll share stuff from that later...maybe after the deadline.
Here's a little spur of the moment drawing I did while doing some research.   I love fashion and color from the 50s.  I based this on some old adverts I found.

Food Group

I picked up these plushy fruits and veggies in the clearance aisle after Christmas.  I thought they could use a little more personality.

Just some acrylic paint and a little time.  As you can see, some of these guys are starting to go bad, but that strawberry, well he's definitely a zombie.  This is my first time delving into the world of zombie produce, and I don't think it'll be the last.
Eat your fruits and veggies people!

Character Animation Gallery Show

Come on down!  Doctor Thadeus Zebulon is exhibiting some of his collection.  Sneak peek below.  See you there.

Sad and Happy

In-class exercise with Lisa Keene.

Sad/Happy - Photoshop

Goodbye free time

Today was my first day of classes this semester.  I'm very pleased with the variety of subjects I get to study.  Along with animation (CG and 2D) I'll have sculpture, visual development, and advanced character design.  All that, and I have to make my film!  It's delightfully scary.
So here's the first project I started for sculpture. This was an unplanned piece.  We were meant to focus on starting off with simple shapes, building rough and making it up as we go.  The piece is about six or seven inches tall I'd say, minus the horns.

 Mahoney showed us some amazing monster and creature sculptures, so I just had to make something monstrous.  I'll finish this up next week, and I may paint it when it dries.  Hopefully I'll get some maquettes for my film characters done soon.
Good luck to all my fellow students.  Make this a fantastic semester! 

Goofy Pirates

I'm officially in love with Autodesk SketchBook.  This is my first time really taking it for a spin, and I am certain that I'm hooked.  I think I might even drop the 30 bucks for the full version.  Oh yeah, it's that good.

Goofy Pirates - Autodesk Sketchbook Express

Pirates were on the brain tonight.  Surprise surprise.

Wizard Schmizard

Wizard of Oz Character Lineup - Pencil/Photoshop

Wow, the semester is almost over.  I can't believe how much I've experienced and created this semester.  It's such a fantastic time here at school.  There have been so many lectures and inspiring artists come to visit.  I am very excited to get going with my film.  I'm going to go finish the animatic right now, so enjoy this for the time being.  Character design for Phil's class.  Wizard of Oz, as if you didn't know.  I tried to give it an old illustrated book feel in this final lineup.  Off to work I go.  More to come over winter break.

Looking forward

Here's a little procrastination sketch, just to clear my head a little.
I realize that I haven't posted here much lately.  I'll rectify that over the Thanksgiving break.
This semester has been pretty amazing.  New computers in the labs, new and wonderful classes, great teachers.  It's pretty wonderful.  Doing a (very short) film this year.  Still working on the story boards, but hope to have an animatic in the next two weeks.  I don't know if I'll be posting that here, but I promise there will be some  film related art showing up.

Fishing in Paris - Photoshop

Beautiful Decay

In doing some research for a story assignment, I discovered the work of Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre.  This is just so inspiring, I had to share.  Their photography, from what I can gather, is mostly of vacant, abandoned, and forgotten buildings and landmarks.  Their photographs of "The Ruins of Detroit" is simply stunning.  It's impossible not to be electrified by these images.  There's an article about the Detroit photos on TIME, with a little more insight about the locations,  just click here.

Monument

Gouache on paper, 2" x 3"

Ice Dragon

The colors on these gouache scans is just terrible. I swear they aren't as snot colored in person.

Gouache on paper, about 1" x 3.5"

Run Bunny Run!

Gouache on paper, 1.5" X 2.5"

Runway

A little memory painting from a recent trip to San Francisco.
Gouache on Paper, about 3" X 2.5"

Steadfast Pup

India Ink Brush Pen at 1:00 am.

Muppetization

My buddy Ronnie is awesome. The only way he could be more awesome, is if he was a Muppet:
Just a doodle that occurred one night at CSSSA. Miss you CSSSA buddies!

Mornin' Bear

"A spot of tea, with lots of honey, and the gazette if you don't mind".

Benny

Benny is waiting for the train.
I don't have a scanner right now, so this will have to do for the time being. Thanks Photo Booth!

Le Jazz Hot

Arr...

10 minute doodle in photoshop. I love the multiply function so.

Making a film...

...feels like this.

Something I hardly see

Sometimes staying up all night has its rewards. I got to see this todayWhat a good way to start the day. Off to work on my film, with new-found inspiration.

Out of the dark

Something is brewing.

Me post now

CTN Expo was so awesome.
Thank you so much Tina Price!
More on that later...

Anyways, it's too early in the morning for me to make with the sense so here's some pictures to look at if you wanna.

Old Galactic General

Diner Doodles

Some happy diners I found over summer.

Tram Jam

On the tram at Disneyland this summer.

Round and Round

Old sketch from summer. Saw this guy and his kid at the mall. He actually said that.

When hinges creek in doorless chambers...

A spooky layout, since it's October. This is a study for a possible film I might make. Still test driving it. School is crazy, but you know that. I'm having a blast. I'm not sleeping enough. Oh how I love Cal Arts.

Anchor

It's a Corgi. It's a Pirate. You're just going to have to accept it.

Lunch Sketches

You'll always have some great faces to sketch at a buffet.

Part of a complete breakfast.

Thanks for letting me borrow your pancakes Eric.

Trader Joes Song

I like Trader Joes. I like this video. If you go there a lot, you'll understand.
Found this on someone's blog and had to share it. It's so catchy.

I didn't make this, but I wish I did.

Wanna see a Grizzly bear do a trick!?

Well hello there. I realized that I never posted my film I made this semester. It's really something to distract you from the lack of more interesting things I could post that I'm not posting because I'm too busy trying to find a job. Anyways, here it is. Maybe I'll post some new things I've been working on later this week...or not. Peace love and pencils my friends!

Theo from Michael Herrera on Vimeo.

The story of a daydreaming Grizzly bear in a zoo, who longs to perform for an adoring audience.

This is the work in progress cut of my first year film at Cal Arts.

It all starts here...

First year at Cal Arts is over.
This is the start of something good.

Disney Inspire Days=Awesome

On Monday I went to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank for the first time in my life. I was there for the Disney Inspire Days, a day for animation school students to visit the studio for presentations from artists and attend tours to get a better insight to the studio process. It...was...amazing! It was probably one of the greatest days of my life. Since I was so inspired, I should probably go work on my film. I'll talk more about that day later. For now here are some pictures. That top floor corner office used to be Walt's!

Chefs a plenty

I know I know, you're getting sick of me drawing chefs. Well tough. They're fun to draw. Muaha ha ha.
Thank you Life photo archive!
There were some really great picture of chefs on there and they're all so goofy and amazing looking. I tried some new things here technique-wise. I'm still trying to get photoshop to work like traditional drawing materials for me. It's a slow but steady journey, getting computers to do what you want them to do.

Ratty Rats

This was from an assignment for a character design workshop with Rick Maki. The first fella is a conman with a sharp tongue and a wicked temper. He dons the accessories of action figures to symbolize his authority. He has a gang too, but I've only drawn one of his goons below.