ARMSmasters Valentines

My buddy and fellow artist Mike Winn tasked me with creating this week’s themed artwork for The ARMSmasters Project. The theme? Valentines Day! So, I thought I’d put together a cute piece of one of the cast’s feistier couples (Who also happen to be two of my favorite characters. OTP!) Rune and Inari.

Hope everyone had a very Happy Valentines Day.

-Mel

Youmacon 2013

 

Had an absolute blast at Youmacon 2013 with my buds from Alpha Omega Animation and Ninja Dust Publishing. Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by our booth!

-Mel

Aeslyn 2013 Model Sheet

So, I am heinously behind on updating this art blog - for that I do apologize. 2012 was a very busy year professionally, and left little time for personal work as a result. Granted, 2013 is already (blessedly) shaping up to be just as busy. However, I am going to make a concerted effort to update my Blogger account here more often this year.

So to start with a  slew of "catch-up" updates, here's a fresh new model sheet for Aeslyn from The ARMSmasters Project. Its original sketch and tie-down was done by ~mikewinn. Clean-up and Color by me.

Thanks for sticking with me :)

-Mel

Charity

I cannot put into words how good it feels to be painting on an illustrative basis again! It's a breath of fresh air, for certain. Here's the completed first of 7 headshots for the wonderful Renee Atkinson, of her original characters, in this case, it is the sassy miss Charity.

Also, I wanted to lend a tremendous THANK YOU to everyone here for checking out my friends at Alpha Omega Animation and I's recent Kickstarter relaunch. We did in fact reach our funding goal, and we couldn't have done it without you. Again, our whole group is deeply appreciative, and we look forward to doing you all proud with our further endeavors in the ARMSmasters Project.

Cheers,

Mel

ARMSmasters and Flight on Kickstarter!

Hi everyone! My apologies for my quietness and relative inactivity over the past few months. I've had the pleasure to be hard at work on a rather large scale project, and it has had my nose to the light table for as long. I'll be able to tell you more about this soon - I'm quite excited!

Also, great news! The animated action-adventure ARMSmasters project has returned for round two on Kickstarter! We have 30 days left in our fundraiser, and we have already reached 40% of our funding goal (Thank you SO SO MUCH to everyone who has already contributed and gotten us this far, we are elated and incredibly grateful!) So the momentum is strong. We have a bunch of exciting new updates to our production blog as well (Link below) which include new concept art and multiple proof-of-concept storyboard animatics.

If you would be so kind to check out the new Kickstarter, spread the word and lend if you are able, we would really appreciate it. And again, a HUGE thank yo to everyone for so much support. You guys inspire us daily!  

The ARMSmasters Kickstarter

The ARMSmasters Production Blog

The Official Website

Also of note, my talented friend and fellow CCS alumni Mel McCann now has a kickstarter up for her traditionally animated short film, Flight. Mel is a wonderful gal, and this film has a ton of heart and skill packed into it - I would love to see it reach its funding goals! Check out Flight on Kickstarter here!

Cheers,
Mel

CCS Film Showcase Article

Much thanks to Tiffany Esshaki for including my work is a recent article for candgnews.com. The article features information on the work by myself and a number of good friends of mine to be hosted at the CCS Film Showcase on, July 28th, by The Stratton Foundation. The article also mentions the ARMSmasters Project - promotion greatly appreciated as the Project itself furthers its Kickstarter campaign. You can read the full article here.

And as always, you can help make the ARMSmasters animated pilot episode a reality through our Kickstarter fundraiser, and get awesome swag for your donations!

New ARMSmasters Trailer Track

Check out our updated Animation Teaser for The ARMSmasters Project; now featuring a demo of music crafted just on our behalf by Andrew Prahlow who was an assistant composer on The Legend of Korra and Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness among other things. His generous donation of time and creativity yielded us the first of our ARMSmasters specific tracks and enabled us to update our teaser. Thank you, Andrew! More updates from this past week are forth coming on the ARMSmasters Production Blog.

Help make the ARMSmasters animated pilot episode a reality through our Kickstarter fundraiser, and get awesome swag for your donations!

Tyr In Action

Here's another quick collab with my buddy ~mikewinn - his drawing and flat colors, my lighting and shading of Tyr, one of the main characters from The ARMSmasters Project.

Want to see more of Tyr in action? Help us reach our funding goal on Kickstarter for ARMSmaster's animated pilot episode! (You'll get some awesome swag for your donation as well!)

I ended up unexpectedtly having quite the ARMSmasters ART weekend there - added some snapshots from my Art-and-XFiles-o-thon below.

Thanks, all!
-Mel

ARMSmaster's Aeslyn: Magic Caster

Another collaboration with Michael Winn - this is Aeslyn from The ARMSmasters Project. Mike drew and flat-colored this one, I added shading, lighting, and VFX.

For anyone who has not yet had the opportunity, I'd like to encourage you to check out our fundraising efforts for this animated pilot over on Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/760823342/the-armsmasters-project-the-animated-pilot

It's an exciting opportunity to not only make this action-adventure animation a reality, but to support Michigan artists and our local film industry.

How do Kickstarter donations work? Here's a great explanation from Mike:

Kickstarter is a crowd source funding website where you can back creative projects financially.(No withdraws happen from your bank account until after the end of the funding deadline)

As a result: If you have intentions of backing us and haven't done so - it's actually a good idea to just go ahead and pledge. You can always adjust your pledge amount afterwards and it helps push our project further by increasing our backer numbers and our current figures. The more backers we have and the higher our totals the more we get noticed, so please back us sooner rather then later if it is your intention to do so. :)

Thanks again!

- Mel

ARMSmasters on Kickstarter!

Hi everyone - great news! I am proud and excited to note that The ARMSmasters Project has officially launched onto Kickstarter!

We've set a goal of $25,000 to enable us to produce and finish a short film which will double as a brief animated pilot and introduction to the ARMSmasters animated series. We are extremely excited as well as ambitious because we want to be able to share this project with the world at large and expose what we've been working on to a wide audience.

With the help of backers, we will be able to truly focus on getting ARMSmasters developed with the attention to detail and the quality that it deserves and also in a -timely- manner, uninterrupted by the needs of other projects stepping in. Success on Kickstarter is a game changer in a lot of ways and we have high hopes it will open up many doors and enable us to push forward on this effort and on future ones as well.

 Please pass the word around and help us. We're going to need all the help we can get. We are going to be diligently campaigning on a weekly basis through our social networks and on as many sites as we can find that will allow us to push this project ahead. Furthermore, the ARMSmasters Production Blog will be updated more frequently now - on Monday's and on Friday's - to continue to keep you up to date on our progress and to share the plethora of back logged imagery and information we have to show you. So here's to a successful Day 1 Launch and a count down to seeing what we can accomplish.

Thanks everyone!

 -Mel & the AoA Team

Motor City Comic Con 2012

Hi everyone! So, this past weekend was my first foray into a comic book convention, as I attended the Motor City Comic Con with my friends and artistic cohorts from the ARMSmasters Project crew, as a part of Alpha Omega Animation's artist alley table. Admittedly I'm still completely dazed from such an awesome experience, but suffice to say, the con was fantastic, the huge collection of artists gathered there were wildly inspiring, and the sheer quantity of amazing geek merchandise available from the vendors? Well, lets just say it was very hard to show any spending impulse control. I'm still amazed that the only thing I walked out with was a red shirt Star Trek house robe, because let me tell you - I wanted all of the things.

We had so much fun though, my friends, fiance and I - I was able to sell quite a few prints as well as create a number of on-the-spot sketch commissions for a bunch of lovely folks as well, which just added to the excitement. I'm already looking forward to next year's event!

A huge thanks to everyone I had the opportunity to speak to at the con - it was great to meet you , and your kind words and support mean so much. The AoA crew and I are already talking about attending more conventions this year - I'll let you know as soon as we have our tables booked, and where. For now - here's some photos from MCCC.

 A couple of the various sketches I created while there as well (Lots of requests for pretty ladies! lol. Including my own OC Remi, though, which was especially cool. Also pictured: Black Cat and Red Sonja.)

Cheers,
Mel

Fireflies Lines and Poster Process

Line Art for a new commission for Marie and her husband of their wonderful characters, Tyra and Marthin. I went through probably 6 potential compositions for this - I've been sketching like a madwoman! lol - and settled on this one, as I think it'll be a fun, story-telling illustration once it is complete. Here, late one evening, Tyra and Marthin set up camp deep within a mysterious forest. As Tyra sets up a dry, cozy place for them to sleep, Marthin casts spells by the fire, assuring that their campfire will stay alight and warm without the need for rekindling through the night, and setting a couple of protective spells about as well, to assure they will rest unthreatened.  I thought it would be fun if, this deep in the magical woods, there is a type of nocturnal luminescent moth that is attracted to spell-casting. As Marthin casts his spells, these beautiful, silent little bugs draw near, glowing prettily, feeding off of the energy conjured by Marthin's magic. Tyra is bemused as one flies before her, watching her curiously.

 Also! By request, I created a process step-by-step for the recently completed ARMSmosters poster. For a full-res look at this process presentation, check out my submission over at DeviantART here.

-Mel

ARMSmasters Poster Variations

A brief break from drawing for colors - and the latest ARMSmasters promo poster is complete. The fun part about this particular deign is the ability to present two different images for its final render. Below is variation number 2, which, unlike the above poster wherein a large portion of the cast calls upon the ground, they become the primary focus of a bright, bold image.

The poster as a whole was a 3-way collaboration. The original layout concept was conceived by VanAndy Prevalus, which was fleshed out in a rough sketch by the concept's creator, Mike Winn. From there, I created the clean, final line art for the piece, colored it, and comped the final poster layout. For more on the ARMSmasters Project, check out the series' production blog here.

-Mel

ARMSposter Flat Colors

Taking a slight pit stop from drawing to focus on colors for the latest ARMSmasters poster. Pending any requested alterations to the flat colors, the rest should come together pretty quickly. On to shade and lighting!

-Mel

ARMSboarding (Part 1)

Hi everyone! I hope you all have been having a safe and happy holiday season. News on the art front: Storyboards for the newly minted script for The ARMSmasters Project's Stage Zero are underway! Here's a glimpse at the first couple of boards for my designated scene. More will be coming soon.

-Mel

ARMSmasters Townsfolk Ideation

Our weekly Sketchbook Jam tonight finally loosened me out of an art block following a studio-based freelance compositing blitzkrieg I took part in this past week - It's great to get back into the swing of drawing after such a focused stint in the digital realm. I ended up producing a couple of "Towns Folk" character ideas for the ARMSmasters pilot currently in production. I'll design more soon, I think, after I make a proper dent in my storyboard sequences for the same project.

I had a go at various classes and types of characters to start, a rather horrible, fashionably stunted Noblewoman, a middle class pain-in-the-ass punk teenager (Tried to consider what general style the "cool kids" may wear in this world, and pushed her clothes similar to Collette's for this reason) a middle-aged middle-class fellow amidst his trip to the market, and a poor, lower-class beggar. These were a great deal of fun to doodle.

More soon,

Mel

Holy LineArt, Batman!

Hi all! Here's  lineart I completed for two of three images today (The third of which is a commissioned gift, which I won't be able to share until it reaches its recipient.) Above is a new promo-poster-in-progress for the ArMSmasters Project, which is yet another collaboration between myself and the project's creator, Mike Winn - He sketched the image, I'm cleaning up and coloring it. In the foreground is the show's leading man, Riot, while, clockwise from top left is Aeslyn, Tyr, Kongou, Inari, Rune, and Colette. It's great to see the whole gang together in a poster, since the recent finalization of their designs!

And here is the line art for Gabrielle's commission, of she and her fiance's characters Rara and Ossy. Both these pieces and my gift-commission will be moving on into color stages this evening. Should be fun!

Thanks for viewing,

Mel

ARMS, Eden and a Fluffy Fellow

Happy Halloween, Everyone! Have some artwork :)

The above line was created by my good friend and talented artist, Mr. Mike Winn.

Characters are (L-R): Rune, Tug, Aeslyn, and Inari.

A recent flux in production efforts, as well as improvements in the story's plot (And the creation of a script, no less) has prompted the need for revisited, finalized looks for the main ARMSmasters Project character line-up. So, while Mike (The series' creator) is compiling his drawings of these final designs, it's been up to me to solidify their color designs. Hence, the above line-art is his, while the color and final shading/lighting are my own.

This is only a portion of the cast however - more will be coming soon!

 

Above is a birthday present for my good buddy Kate NY, of her lovely original character, Eden. This was a fun bit of practice - created start to finish digitally, as opposed to my usual hand-drawn-lines method. Again, Happy Birthday, Kate! :)

Here's the current state of line art for my current commission from a fellow from FA, Collin, whose character I'm helping him design. In the end, the commission will contain a front and back pose in simple flat, digital color. Most of the time spent has been/will be in the creation process itself, establishing the character's physical appearance and markings. While these lines may be tweaked a little in the upcoming week, I rather enjoy how they look at current, so I thought I'd share. 

Cheers,

Mel

Riot Model Sheet

After much finagling, Mike and I have finally worked ARMSmasters' leading man, Riot, in to a model sheet. While I suspect a couple of tweaks may still be on this character's horizon, as he is ever evolving, it's pretty exciting to see him so solidified as a character as he stands now. Riot is definitely finding his own as the host to the series' awesome cast, and I'm very please to have had a small hand in that process.

Initial sketches to these drawings were by Mike Winn. Clean up and final color are by myself. For more on the ARMSmasters Project, check out the series' production blog. Thanks for viewing!

-Mel

ARMSmasters Project - 2011 Teaser

Cross-posted from The ARMSmasters Production Blog:
 (As written by Mike Winn)

This video has been a long time coming! For awhile now we've had videos that showed what our intention was for a finished complete look for ARMSmasters and it was my desire to string these together to create another teaser trailer that featured these most complete and finished looking shots. Well time and circumstance stepped in and I wasn't able to get -every- shot that I wanted done in this fashion done and so as a result I pushed back the creation of this new teaser, and pushed and pushed. Well recent events have lit a fire under me and I decided to just use what I had to create the current edit. While working on it I was again struck by how much artistic talent is available here in southeastern Michigan and the colors and effect treatments were done by people on their own time and with no budget!

This will likely be the last edit that uses the original short footage, excepting a smoothing out of things here or there or an addition if another shot is finished, but we intend to look forward towards a Pilot Episode teaser, Kickstarter and hopefully results and direction following our participation in the Pitch Party for Animation Magazine. Thanks for continuing to send your support!

For more on The ARMSmasters Project, visit www.armsmastersproject.com

-Mel