Thursday, January 30, 2014

COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG STYLE


but ima explain it
differently this time:

Okay.

Let's say you own a
company that
makes 
Handmade
Artisanal
Taco
Wallets.

You know...
so your taco does't get all smashed
in your back pocket.


Anyway...
let's also say
you want to sell taco wallets with 
Courage The Cowardly Dog 
on them
because
AWESOME.


Well, 
first you're gonna have to pay
Cartoon Network
a licensing fee for permission to use the character
on taco wallets.
Other folks will pay similar fees to put
Courage on
t-shirts
pooper scoopers
and
packages of bacon.

You?
You get the taco wallets.

But if Cartoon Network is gonna let you
put Courage on your stuff
it better look tight like this:


NOT
like
this:


That's why you need a style guide:


Inside is a book and a disc:


The book has boat loads of info on
the design of Courage's world:


There's plenty of art:


Pretty backgrounds:


3-D character turnarounds:


Color palettes:


Patterns:


And product ideas:



The disc is stacked high with
 approved digital artwork
that you can use right out of the box
or as reference for your own 
artists to draw from.
















 I love style guides.
They're great windows into the design sensibilities
of other people and productions.



























Monday, January 27, 2014

A SKETCHBOOK FROM 2005


Yeesh...
I'm nowhere near finishing my latest 
sketchbook.

So maybe we oughta dust off an old
one in the meantime:


There's not a lot of drawing 
in this one.
Back in the mid 1990's I was
primarily using my sketchbooks to break down
Codename: Kids Next Door stories.
But there are some doodles 
here and there.



We were just starting 
season 6
around this time.
Here's an early rough outline for
OPERATION: RECESS:


and early work on
WHITEHOUSE
(nee WAKE-UP)


Operation: TRICYCLE:



Trying to break 
OPERATION: SPINACH:


Here are some Neilson ratings
from a night around that time.
Getting a 4 in those days
was considered pretty rockin'.



This comic by
still makes me giggle:


I loved seeing the KND
in toy ads:


This is really cool!
When Mo was first telling me about his big idea
for a series of early reader books,
he sketched out a pic of what
ELEPHANT AND PIGGIE
were going to look like:


Speaking of artists,
here's a drawing a young
KND fan did for me while I was
vacationing in Aruba:


Some made the cut... some didn't;
Playing around with KND story ideas:



 And lastly,
the inked original of
a drawing I did for press stuff.
Not sure about that nose, tho:


Hopefully I'll have a
NEW
sketchbook 
finished for you soon!



Thursday, January 23, 2014

A BELATED BON APPETIT!


 UGH!

Last November I had to miss another 
Disney TV Animation
Art Show
because
work
and
holidays
and
and 
you know...

REASONS!

Regrettably,
I missed out on a good one.
It was called

BON APPETIT:
THE FOOD SHOW

And I finally got a chance to snap some pics
of the works on display:




That's a 
Noah Z. Jones
there in the middle:




Sooper awesome
Phineas and Ferb
storyboard artist
hung like 50
napkins she draws 
for her daughters lunches:





Way cool knit pumpkin:







creator
Daron Nefcy
done did this one:




I love seeing what people come up 
with for these 
shows.

Next time I'm in.

I swear.

(maybe)


SOOPER BONUS SECTION


There's some cool classic artwork
hanging around the
Sonora
TVA building