Animating in marker!

It's not easy, but it's really fun!
I'll have some "pencil" tests of this guy up soon.

Business Shark

Bumpy Birds

Something from a while back.

His name is Ashley

I thought it would be fun if the big bad wolf had a not so big bad name.

Pen, marker, and photoshop.

Lone Chicken

Squish

Just a little test using TV Paint.  Tried to do it fast while getting to know the program.

Squish from Michael Herrera on Vimeo.

Sudden vacation

Well, not really a vacation, but a wedding.  Kind of a vacation too I guess.
My big brother is getting married in the Virgin Islands.  Wahoo!  Gotta run.
Have a great Thanksgiving!

Little Bad Wolf

Dogs

Some warm-up sketches on the Cintiq at school.  Still getting used to it.

Nose

This guy will be used to make a mold and then cast in latex an painted. I can't wait. I haven't cast any of my sculptures yet. Should be fun trying to paint some realistic skin effects.

I will make one more detail pass on this guy, to add some more skin imperfections, wrinkles, and a few warts.  

Big Bad Wolf

Working on an adaptation of the Three Little Pigs story.
Doesn't he just look like a nice fella?

Shaboom

My friend Tahnee Gehm made a great little film for LACMA's Halloween costume ball.

It's quite delightful.  Great job Tahnee!

Two ships

Just starting to figure out how to use textures in Photoshop.  Had lots of fun splattering ink and paint all over stuff.  The most dominant texture is from the cover of a very old book.  Yippee.

Man of steel in clay

Another sculpting assignment. Had to sculpt from my imagination. I've been reading the original superman comics so I guess that was stuck in my head.

(testing out the new blogger app. Hope this works.)

Corbin

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.