My Dad The Giant

 So, this was tremendously entertaining. I finally had the opportunity to complete coloring on the promotional poster for my good buddy Patrick's short film in production, "My Dad The Giant." This was quite the awesome exercise in general, as I've had so little time in Photoshop over the past many months, as a recent feature gig has kept me headlong in to Nuke-based compositing instead. It was actually quite fun to jump from that to a more painterly look coloring this poster - I learned a great deal very quickly. 

Anyhow, do be sure to check out Patrick's production blog for the film, if you get the chance, it's a fantastic piece. Thanks for viewing! And thanks again, Patrick, for such a fun and challenging commission project.

I'm hoping to have some personal project-related art to show you all soon. Keep an eye out. :)

Cheers,

Mel

MDTG Poster Previews

Here's a couple of previews of the My Dad The Giant promo poster I finally have the opportunity to color. Should have this one completed soon. Thanks for viewing!

-Mel

Loosen Up!

Greetings new watchers! Thank you for taking the time to check out my blog.

So, for the first time in a very long time, I'm taking a couple weeks off from my usual maddening 60-80 hour a week work schedule. Of this, artwork for fun, a trip up north, updated demo reels, and very likely, a commission or three will come to fruition. One of the things I started with almost immediately this week is getting back to quick, rough sketching. SO much (really, the majority) of the scant drawing I've had time to do in recent months has been clean-up line art for other folks for their personal projects - awesome fun, but sticking to clean-up only tends to bring a level of rigidity to my own drawing that just won't do (particularly with animation.)

So I'm back to sketching roughly whenever I get the chance, with the goal of getting back into the flow of doing so with some level of speed and visual cohesion. Above are some examples - the lower two image sets were first attempts two days ago - the topmost image is from today, managing to hold a bit more form then previous attempts, which was nice to see. All of these images are from a re-sparked drive for my TKP project. I'm particularly keep on taking the top image of Remi, and the running sketch of Deloco to closer states of completion. They're surprisingly spot-on to how I currently see the characters in my head.

More art soon,

Mel

Snarls and Slytherins

I really love the bold, graphical look and feel to the cell-shade style of coloring I recently used on the ARMSmasters Pitch Party add, and decided to fiddle around with it some more, briefly, for the fun of it. Moxie here was the Guinea Pig. I'll definitely have to keep up with this style of coloring when I get the opportunity - it's quite fun.

Also, some line art-in-progress.

I’m still futzing about with what exactly I’d like to do for the background - or really, how extensive I want to get with it. Minimally, I know Hogwarts will be ablaze. We’ll see where else it takes me from there. For now, though, enjoy some Slytherins :)

Based in an interview quote by JK Rowling:

“A part of the final battle that made me smile was Slughorn galloping back with Slytherins. But they’d gone off to get reinforcements first, you know what I’m saying? But yes, they came back, they came back to fight (…) I’m sure that many people would say “Well, that’s common sense, isn’t it? Isn’t that smart, to get out, get more people and come back with them?”

Unfortunate for Slytherin fans, this was never made a clear point in the book, and who knows if Filmmakers will bother to depict it in the final film, either. Chances are genuinely slim that they will. So, here you have it. My depiction-in-progress of the Slytherins returning with Professor Slughorn to the Final Battle at Hogwarts. Characters clockwise from back left: Malcolm Baddock, Graham Pritchard, Theodore Nott, Horace Slughorn, Tracy Davis, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass. I’ll post more progress as I make it :)

And yes, as a matter of fact. In my mind, Horace Slughorn totally has a monocle.

Cheers,

Mel

Inspirations on Tumblr

So it just dawned on me - I haven't shared my Tumblr account with you all yet. My apologies! With as busy as I've been as of late, it completely passed me by.

Anyhow! Please feel free to join me at The Shimmy Spot - my little online hub for anything and everything that moves me, from artwork (Including my own process work and thoughts) to images, music, quotes, videos, philosophies, silliness, fan-geekery and more. I'd love to see you there :)

Next post will be artwork, I promise. Thanks for sticking with me!

-Mel

To everyone curious about when I’ll be taking commissions next :)

I’ve had so many people asking in the past two weeks alone - you guys make me giddy, seriously. Thank you for your interest, it’s always a thrill to know folks enjoy my art that much. ♥ As for when? I’m shooting for being able to take on more within the next 3 to 4 weeks. Having spent the past 6 months straight working 60-80 hours a week, I’m definitely in need of a little R&R, so that I can be rested and able to produce quickly for you guys once I start drawing for you again (As always - I want to do my best for my customers!) So, yes - soon! I’ll absolutely announce everywhere (Tumblr, Twitter, DA, FA, etc) as soon as I open up for available slots.

Thanks again, all! You help make this art-for-a-living gig as awesome as it is with your wonderful support ♥
-Mel