What Cyril will do for shortcake...

Originally, this was a throw-away drawing from a sketchbook. It felt awkward and clumsily drawn when I did it a few months ago. Then I realized that this one is more about the character and less about the drawing. ( Hey, that's my excuse for a bad drawing, what can I say!) I've added the wallpaper and shadows in photoshop. Maybe it needs a picture of Cyril's Ma and Pa on the wall behind him, dunno what the relatives look like yet...


posted by Arna

body worlds sketching...

Yesterday we spent the evening at the Ontario Science Centre where BODY WORLDS 2: 'The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies' is showing just until February 26th. It was Friday night, we got there at 8:30 and stayed till closing time, midnight. The place was fairly crowded but the crowds were rapt and somewhat quiet. We found a few places to draw and really just got warmed up when it was time to go. I wish that we'd gone once a week for the last month. With more practice I might discover a way of exploring the flayed figures and exposed structures of these bodies. The top three sketches are by Arna and the bottom three sketches are by John:

Body Worlds related posts:

NEW! February 24th, 06: Smook sketches!
Drazen Kozjan at Hypnotic Eye
Matt Jones

rainy night cab ride...

This winter in Toronto is not so snowy, so far. It's colder now, but a few weeks ago there was no snow and it felt a bit like a raw early spring. The night I took these pix, the wet streets were reflecting light. I found myself snapping. The digital camera sure is fun to play with.

the cab driver's office:

crossing the Don river:

Dundas Street near Jarvis:

Filmores 'burlesque':

people waiting for a bus near University avenue:

we turned on to University:

posted by Arna.

figures in watercolour...

A watercolour and India ink sketch of two figures from my first year at OCA:

From my last year at OCA, a graffiti-covered wall in Florence:


Posted by John.

scribble

This top image is an update on the ones below. In the older version, the menacing figure in the doorway seemed a bit cliche. I mentioned to Smook that it might look better if the figure in the doorway was something less predictable for instance, like a small alien child. This new version is actually a mash-up of a photoshop illustration I did of a child figure that was not working in it's original context. I like this new version better. It's interesting to see how the feeling in the woman's face seems to change, depending on what she's reacting to in the doorway.

Hop over to Elliot, who has posted some photos on a related theme.


This is the original pencil sketch:

Here's a version of the original with some mayang textures added:

Posted by Arna.

Mr. Coolman goes to Stuttgart...

We're happy to announce that two of the COOLMAN! shows; DEEP SEA BLUES and HOOTCHY KOOTCHY HAIKU, have been selected for the competition ANIMATED SERIES at the 13th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film to take place on April 27 – May 2, 2006 in Stuttgart, Germany. This is a big deal and an honour.

As a change of pace, here's a taste of the storyboard from DEEP SEA BLUES, written by John van Bruggen and storyboarded by Steve Whitehouse. Steve was Flash animation designer for COOLMAN!, and also animator for the entire five minute DEEP SEA BLUES. Congrats to Steve!

Our animators for Hootchy Kootchy Haiku were: Jens Pindal, Daniela Strijleva and James Robertson of Iron Scythe fame. Congratulations, guys!

costume sketches...

These are both from an earlier time. I'm posting the green woman pretty much as I painted her. For the woman in the robe, I just goofed around with some free textures from a site that Gerben Steenks recommended:

http://www.mayang.com/textures/

Thanks Gur-B, for passing on the tip! Ain't blogging grand.



(Posted by Arna)

BG Fun!

Because he does them so well, we can't resist posting this. It's a Clive Powsey bg. The image links to Clive's blog.

waiting...

Here are some sketches John did while in a hospital waiting room, and on the GO train:

those damn, dirty apes...

Arna's son, Max Douglas (AKA Salgood Sam), has a new comic out, scripted by Ty Templeton & Joe O'Brien and coloured by Max's friend and fellow Montreal comic artist Bernie Mireault.

Here's a link to the Mr. Comics site for more cool preview pix and info.

Here's a link to an interview with Max.

King Horse

Just to shake it up a bit. This one's a not so recent sketch by Arna. Guache and india ink.

these are the guys whose house we live in...

Kiki on a chair...

Jasper on the prowl...

Happy New Year All!

Have a merry one!

We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2006! Thanks to everyone who visited our blog in the last few months. We've enjoyed the chance to meet you and to re-connect with so many of our friends. We've found inspiration visiting amazing creative bloggers around the world. Here's to 2006 and more blog adventures for us all!

John took this photo in the village when we were last in New York.

Clive Powsey

esteemed background artist and fine painter... started blogging and you must visit. The paintings and drawings speak for themselves.

Clive Powsey's new blog

Clive's website

show us yer wienies part 2...

Updated December 18_05:

Here are some more wienies from far and wide. To add your wienie dog drawing: post your wienie on your blog and please let us know in the comments on this post, so we can copy your dog and put it up here.

By the way, there seems to be many ways to (miss) spell dachsund daschund dashound and the American Kennel Club spelling: dachshund. So we've got all kinds of spellings on this post. No biggy as far as I'm concerned. As well, I misspelled the word 'wiener' and I've corrected the spelling most places except in the comments.

From the delightful Michael Schlingmann of DRAWNOGRAPHY fame: Dachshund (or Dackel for short) is indeed the correct spelling, Dachs being the german word for Badger and hund being the German word for hound. Bread originally with short enough legs to run at speed through a badgers home and flush them out towards the hunters.

According to the Kennel Club: The Dachshund temperament is clever, lively and courageous to the point of rashness, persevering in above and below ground work, with all the senses well-developed. Any display of shyness is a serious fault.

Note: all these wienies are copyright of their respective creators!

From Pat Pakula:
From Jeff Shelly:
Two from Smook:




From Elliot Cowan:


From Gerald, San Rafael, Ca:


From Smook again:


From John T Quinn:


One more from Jeff Shelly :


From Steve Daye: