2014 Design & Illustration Portfolio

  

Hi all! Here's my latest pass at a general Animation Design and Illustration portfolio. Click each image if you'd like a closer look. If you have any questions or are interested in hiring, feel free to contact me at artbymelb@gmail.com. Thanks for viewing! -M

TKP Page 001

I’ve always had a pretty keen interest in comic book illustration. This is the proof-of-concept first page for a graphic novel project to-be whose concept I’ve been tinkering around with in my head for a good long while now. Will be curious to see where it goes, as I’d love to bring the story into its own.

My artwork can also be found on Facebook & Tumblr.

-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

A Color Design Exercise

 2008                                                2012

As a quick practice exercise outside of work-related-art this evening, I decided to grab an old PSD file from 2008 of a character of mine, and completely re-tackle the color design. I wanted to try to grasp the warmth and mood I'd hoped for but failed to attain a few years ago. Around 15 minutes of tinkering snagged me the newest version of the image, whose color I'm infinitely happier with. Thank goodness for an improved eye and skill with each year's passing experience.

Cheers,

Mel

TKP One-Shot Line Art

So as it happened, February was completely gobbled up by freelance concept work: Last week alone, I pulled over 80 hours, for example. That work appears to be leading to a full-time staff position with the studio, however, which is positively wonderful - I couldn't be happier.

I wanted to start adhering to more blog posts again, though, so here's something new: I drew this in January, actually, before this latest job and I crossed paths in full force: A large one-shot illustration of a number of characters of mine, from one of my own personal projects - the largest, in fact, being TKP. This drawing, really, is purely self indulgent - for the fun of it. I've completed flat colors as well, and will be painting away at it on the side, amongst job, commissions and other things as, hey, everyone needs that little extra fancy. TKP reminds me often why I do what I do - this crazy art for a living thing - the pure, honest, passionate creation of it all - for curious characters in far-off worlds. I love it.

-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

TKP's Leading Ladies - Complete!

Raven, Remedy and Akinah.

I'm currently amidst re-compiling my portfolio - completing this image for it was a must in mind! I had a blast coloring this - it was challenging, yet utterly therapeutic. Colored in Photoshop CS3 utilizing the lasso and gradient tool shown in my recent "OZzy" color demo video. It is also wonderful to see these particular gals together in color. You can view the original line art in this previous post. Cheers.

♥Mel

TKP: Deloco finalized, Raine Doodle & Color Preview

Judah's Sire: Deloco's Therian form.

I've finally been able to get back to musing over one of my longest running and most beloved personal projects over the past few weeks, and will continue to do so verbatim for the foreseeable future... simply because I can, really. It's wonderful to have regained that level of creative freedom back. A little gift, care of graduation.

One of the series' villains is a particularly seedy, deceitful, weasily little bastard by the name of Deloco, oftentimes simply referred to as "Del".

As I'm slowly going through and creating up-to-date reference images of many of the characters from this whole expansive story, I decided (finally!) to do a more definitive image of Deloco in his anthro form. (Seen above.) For referral's sake, below is also a quick BIC doodle of the same seedy sap in his Human form, though the drawing, at this point, is rather old, created in 2007.

Deloco's human form... unsavory as ever!

I've also started to better flesh out the rather mysterious, river-dwelling tribe from the series, including the group's two leaders, Rio and Raine who, up to this point, have been woefully neglected art-wise. Below is a quick (and first!) sketchbook doodle of miss Raine. I'm particularly tickled with the decision that her Therian form is highly reminiscent of a Fennec fox. Cute!

Soft-spoken, sweet natured Raine of the Hayataiga. Leave the boisterousness to her mate, Rio!

And, last but not least, a little preview of the "TKP: Leading Ladies" colors that are still underway. I'm taking my time on this one and thoroughly enjoying it, mostly because it's wonderful to not have a set deadline, for once. Hooray, art for leisure!

Raven in Technicolour

♥Mel

TKP: Leading Ladies (Line Art)

The leading Ladies of the Kemono Prophecy: (L-R) Raven, Remedy and Akinah.

Three characters very near and dear to my heart and 14-year-long creative musing: the leading ladies from my TKP original story concept, Raven, Remedy (Yes, Anathemas Remedy, to my curious DeviantArt watchers) and Akinah. It was an absolute joy to be able to sit down and draw them properly again. I'm equally excited to color this... and do an image of the leading fellas from the series as well, soon!

Cheers, and as always, thanks for viewing!
♥Mel

The Young Guru

Another installment from Quirk. This is TKP's resident forest guardian, The Guru, in his much-sprightlier years. Another piece drawn entirely in Prisma markers and Micron pens - no pencil or eraser involved.

-Mel

Maxiim in Markers

A side-character from my TKP series, Maxiim, from my latest outing in my new sketchbook, Quirk. Max here is yet another attempt at drawing entirely in Prismacolor marker and Micron pen - no pencil and eraser involved.

The Art of Quirk (Post 001)

It's been ages since I've last challenged myself to keep a proper sketchbook - not out of my desire to do so, but out of sheer lack of time, what with having a 6+ minute film to create for my thesis. I decided this past week, though, that it was not only more then time to try, but needed, simply for the ability to draw things outside of Caravan, and excise the ridiculousness that routinely runs rampant in my mind.

So, I bought a sketchbook and a mitt-full of markers. I named said sketchbook Quirk. From here on out, Quirk will be filled primarily in marker-and-ink drawings where I will not allow myself to erase, and push myself to draw faster, and commit more readily to line. So far, it's been a fruitful production.

A Cynic's Life For Me

A teensy bit of a self portrait. Anyone who sees me on a daily basis can pretty much count on this outfit or some variation thereof. Ah, the predictability of animators with nary enough free time to consider that fashion... stuff.

'Guin and Carl.

'Guin discovers Carl, the stupid-happy turnip. Boop.

Inkster, PP, and V

Inkster the creepy comb-over Octopus (Originally doodles for my roommate's awesome "Draw an octopus!" challenge) Velocity, a new-ish character I've been considering for Nexus, and the Pillow Puppy.

WTF

My other half Niles and I had a dinner-out-n-draw-weird-shit date Saturday, and decided upon the following odd combos to doodle: A rabbit and a chimp, a lemur and an armadillo, and a goldfish and an old man.

The Gully Draconis

Dragon-esque creatures in my TKP series are called the "Draconis" species, and they are comprised of numerous types. Little forest-dwelling Dracs (roughly the size of your living room coffee table, are a breed I'd not yet drawn. Despite some proportional fail brought on by making myself draw as fast as I could swing it, I enjoy how this fellow turned out.

More again soon,
Mel

Oldies but Goodies (Take Two)

The things one finds while organizing their hard drives! Here are two drawing of mine that are years old at this point, but ones I'm still, after so long, quite fond of. Both are from my original series concept, TKP.

Grullo and the Blood Pelt (2005)

Grullo, the bulky, witless and undeniably cruel leader of an antagonistic tribe stumbles across what appears to be a lone survivor - young Anathema - of the small tribal campsite his warriors have just raided and demolished.

The Warrior and the Rookie (2004)

Badger, as always, takes a wizened, good-humored approach to speaking with the cocky-self assured Damien.... whether Damien cares for the kinship or not.

♥Mel

Koronis Doodle & Ottawa Screening!

... because sometimes a gal gets itching to draw something a little bit more detailed than a cartoon 8 year old. I love Caravan, and animating for the film so far has been a blast, but I needed to do a quick something (entirely) different just to get it out of my system. So, here. Koronis... an ancient ram-wolf... thing.

In other news, Niles' short film Code Monkey (which I worked on environment color renders for) will be showing Friday night at Club Saw for the 2009 Ottawa Animation Festival after party! I will be in attendance at said party as well as the festival as a whole. Looking forward to it, and tremendous thanks to OIAF for the air time!

-Mel

"TKP" Concept Art

Update: I received comments from a couple of people telling me that they were unable to full view these images - sure enough, the HTML was quirked beyond repair. You should be able to view them now, however. Thanks! ♥

My latest portfolio pieces, created for the first half of the semester for my "Advanced Environments and Characters" class. Below is concept art for my original personal project, "TKP." All images and characters are copyright 2009 of Mel Miller, and are part of a pitch for an in-depth animated or graphic novel series.

Environment: Trias

Character: Anathema

Character: Damien

Character: Bellicose

♥Mel

Nanmia Character Study

The rather charming old gal I've been animating in recent weeks, Nanmia, from my TKP series concept. This was the initial study sheet I scrawled out prior to starting the current animation I'm working with. I really do love this character - tenfold since animating her. She's both charming and an incredibel challange in all of her loose, floppy skin and quirky expression. I'll hopefully get the pencil test posted here for you soon.

♥Mel

Doodles!

I needed a break from the animation lab, so I thought I'd share a couple of doodles with you all. Here's two tied down frames from the 20 second long pencil test I'm working on at the moment, as well as a little toon of me as a kitty... just because, really.

-Mel

Akinah Expressions Test

A quick pencil test from this evening - our assignment was simply to animate the transition between three different facial expressions in a character. So, here's poor Akinah, having a rather bad day. I wish I'd had more time to putz around with it then just a couple hours this evening, but cest la vie! Onto the next assignment first thing tomorrow morning. Also of note: The nifty music clip there is from RoyaltyFreeMusic.Com

♥Mel

Zensei "Bank" Image Progression

I enjoy creating these, actually - it's another step by step display of the progression of my Zensei "Bank" image (which, in all actuality, is really a tradesman's tent for the Zensei clan) for the Environments and Characters class I took last semester. Set to "The Fremen Qizarate" by Brian Tyler from the Children of Dune soundtrack, a tune I tend to lean back upon frequently when thinking about this particular tribe of people from TKP.

♥Mel

The Dawn Watchman (Tobias Rough Pencil Test)

A rough, 7-second, three scene pencil test for my Tech 2 midterm assignment. Tobias ("Toby") hears danger approach Kemono territory, and alerts the post on the edge of the forest across the way. A smoke signal tells him that his warning call has been a success.

Update: Also, to answer the question of, "ugh, why isn't it longer?" Trust me, I think this thing could benefit from at least another 15 seconds of acting time. Unfortunately, per the assignment, we had to be exact in the timing down to the very frame in this assignment, or we failed. So, 1 second (24 frames ) for the first shot, 4 seconds (96 frames) for the second shot, and 2 seconds, 7 frames (56 frames) for the third. Hope that helps!

♥Mel