Chivalry is not dead!

Can you tell I loved Venice?

I loved Venice, and one colour study just was not enough! This gouache came together really easily, the colours were just popping!
Prague and Croatia are on their way

Monument Valley just after sunrise

I was very fortunate in 2010 to stay a night in Monument Valley with the Navaho tribe in a Hogan. The next morning we rose at 5am for one of the most memorable sunrises of my life. This painting shows just how much colour is out there, and was a real learning curb for me mixing saturated colours so they would fall out of the foreground and create atmosphere. This travel memory is one of my favourites.

Portland Colour Study

I loved Portland. I have never seen a prettier Autumn and the colours were too much fun to paint!

Playing with INK

Nothing fancy, but I have just been doing some quick studies with ink again. They maybe quick & ugly but it's has been too long and its been hella fun!

I love painting with gouache

I have taken the advice I received in CTN and I am creating more colour references, and getting off the computer is an amazing thing! After completing some paintings at the beach earlier this year, it made a huge impact on how I treat colour and atmosphere, the only thing is I can not do this every weekend. One solution, I could quit my job and become a beach bum, But instead i came back to reality &  I can complete one of these gouache studies per night.
I hope to stretch some canvas's soon and get the oils out, all in good time.

Happy Easter Friends

I hope everyone is taking the time to eat way too many hot cross buns and chocolate eggs over the next couple of days, just as I intend to on my long weekend at the beach with family! Happy Easter!

CTN 2012

Its a bit delayed, but here is my CTN summary!
It was Awesome! Done, I kid, I kid.

This year felt like I received so much advice that gave my art a new direction, and notably closer to my goals. The 14 hour flight, I wont lie, was a bit rough. A quick nap some shopping and over to Burbank. I met some other CTN goers in the lobby and scored a ride over to Dreamworks for a sneak peak at Rise of the Guardians. I don't understand why this movie wasn't a great success for Dreamworks, because I was blown away. The visual effects of the sand was out of this world! The Fights in the sky were action-packed. I would of loved to pause the movie and thumb-nailed the compositions. The Easter bunny voiced by Hugh Jackman, dropping little Australian sayings, and I was the  single Aussie in the audience laughing at them. A great inspirational beginning to my LA weekend away.

Friday I caught up on the jetlag before catching up with my fellow Oatley Academy students at Chris Oatley's booth. It was great to follow each others progress throughout the year, and so exciting to meet in person! Went to Brenda Chapman's opening talk for the weekend and within a couple of hours I totally remembered why I love this convention.

My Favourite Moments: 
Glen Keane's talk! Let you pencil kiss the paper, need I say more.

The Visual Development Design Powerhouse Talk - Evgeni Tomov, Noah Klocek, Armand Baltazar, followed by an amazing Q&A next to the pool where Noah critiqued my portfolio. So many great tips on where to improve.

Talking to Armand Serrano at the Sony booth. I got to thank him for inspiring me in 2010 with a thumbnail talk, that simply changed my artist direction. Check it out click HERE!
His environments are amazing, look up his Surf's Up work, amazeballs. He was the nicest guy and took so much time to give me specific advice and was encouraging my art. My head almost exploded.

Ty Carter was so genuine and just and all round great guy. He gave a talk on how he went from being a student,  to interning at Pixar, to how he landed his gig at Blue Sky as a visual development artist. I got to thank him in person for supporting my blog. That's the thing about CTN. It is an opportunity where you can really connect with all these amazing artists. If you are thinking of going, don't think twice, go!

Pascal Campion who is a colour genius! So much heart in his work, and he remembered my art from the year before, and had pages of advice for me. (I think you can you get the feeling why I left this weekend so inspired!) After our chat I now have the goal to add rhythm into my colour work, and to create more story and heart in my art.

A highlight was thanking Don Hahn for his career of work, but especially for writing Brain Storm, which helped me break through a creative block.

And summarising CTN, I can not leave out the one Artist who has truly changed my career.
Chris Oatley. After listening to his artcast and the paperwings podcast, learning from his experience as a Character Designer at Disney, I built my folio and brought it in 2011. At his booth gave so much practical advice, and encouraged me to return in 2012. A lot of my folio improvements were due to his amazing passion and heart he gives to his students. So my hat if off to you Sir Oatley. If you would like to study with him check out his site here.

In 2012 I got to meet a whole heap of Wingers and Lora Innes, along with my fellow Oatley Academy students, it was great! A very different experience to 2010 when I was backpacking alone and stumbled across the expo. I should also mention I caught up with many friends from previous years and made many more. If I collected your business card over the weekend, I have now subscribed to your blog, so now my CTN inspiration will continue through out the year!

As tradition, I finished the weekend at Walt Disney studios for a screening. What a weekend!

End of summer painting!

So summer is not ending in Australia which is great! Took the time this weekend to walk up to a look out point and get a quick colour study painting complete before running back down the hill to swim! only so long you can last with the sun beaming on your back!

Enjoying the sunshine & painting

So I always take while at the beginning of the year to kick it back into my art schedule, and here is my reason, Australian beautiful sunny beaches. So on the weekend I combined the 2. A quick 20min gouache painting is all I could handle before diving into the ocean. Learning so much from painting from life, and owe Mike Humphries a big thank you to push me to do it! Find his work here: http://www.michaelhumphries.net/modules/gallery/index.php?category=3

 Look forward to more.

The sketching continues in 2013

I can not believe we are in February! I have already gone through a number of markers this year and thought I would post some of my sketches. This is for a Baby boys card! How cute is a sleeping baby!

Happy New Years!

And the count down is on! I can not believe 2012 has almost come to an end! This year has been one of the best years artistically for myself! Being chosen by Chris Oatley for his first Painting Drama course has completely changed the way I approach my art now and can not wait to learn more from the great man himself! And of course taking the gamble and flying over to CTN Animation expo in Burbank LA was the most rewarding weekend, (I promise to post about the weekend soon!) Not only did I get to meet great artists and be inspired by their work, but received some fantastic feedback and direction that I am excited on where my art will take me in 2013! Hope you have an amazing New Year and happy holidays! I know I can not wait for the time off at the beach!

CTN Feedback leads to more sketches!

CTN was amazing! I will be updating with more stories and development of some pieces. So much feedback that just clicked, which makes me really excited to create and update my art. One on the list is Sleeping Beauty's Kingdom. Here are some rough sketches where I am exploring the details of how this community works!

Sleeping Beauty on a far away planet. The moment when the princess and prince meet for the first time.
Capturing the moment when the prince and princess fall in love, once upon a dream. A simple gesture.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Sleeping Beauty's Castle on afar away planet.

Sleeping Beauty Castle Design

Exploring shapes and patterns for my kingdom design of Sleeping Beauty set on a far away planet.

The beginning of a new world

Here is a little taster on the work I have been creating at The Chris Oatley Academy.
This colour study is exploring an environment design of another worlds forrest, full of caves and craters.

More Life Drawing

Life Drawing

 I am currently studying at the Oatley Academy, and the difference to my drawing approach is amazing, and a strong impact on my life drawing.
http://chrisoatley.com/

Tree studies

This is the year I learn the basics again, by staying off the computer for as long as I can and create art from observation. It was fantastic to mix and build colours again.

Train Life Studies

Using the paint app Brushes, I have put my train commute to good use, and created a large quantity of Life Studies. Passengers who were fixated on their smart phone or asleep allowed longer painting time, others are quick minute colour studies.

Paris VS New York City

After sketching so many of the great cities I have been to, New York and Paris as my favourites. Both are uniquely beautiful, one with power & one with romance. Their structure & characteristics contrast each other and is quite evident in the simple sketch. Which city do you prefer?

NEW YORK NEW YORK!

The first time I arrived in New York City, was after a month of cruising around the Greek Islands. The contrast between the two environments was so strong, I was so excited to be in a loud vibrant city, and New York lived up to all the hype, and the city took my heart. I really enjoyed revisiting these memories and playing with the sky-scrappers and the shadows all these buildings create. Thanks for checking my sketches out!