J. Randy Hayes' Sketch Portfolio

"Halt, Luthor, You SCOUNDREL!"

2012-01-26T22:38:00.003-06:00

Why is Luthor stealing money when he is already enormously wealthy? The world may never know.

Bizniss Cards 2011

2011-11-27T23:10:00.004-06:00

Just thought I'd toss these up as well. If you see me in person, it's highly likely I'll have these on my person. So if you want one, I'll be happy to oblige. Thought I'd show them here for grins, too.

Made these for CTN this year, and was pleased with the results. Check out overnightprints.com if you're in the market, they do great work, I've used them a couple times now and have always been happy with the results.

Light N Shade Experiment

2011-11-27T16:39:00.005-06:00

Knocked this one out in maybe 3 or 4 hours. Perspective's off in a few places, but anyhow, I had fun playing with the light and shade idea of the simple black and white. Whatchya think? Seems like it reads ok to me but I'm open to critique, I'm not really used to this kind of piece.

I normally stay away from buildings and such because they just have so many details to think thru, but in this black-n-white treatment they were pretty fun. Also some of the tools in sketchbook pro work well for these kinds of buildings and window designs.

I don't like throwing away work, so I thought I'd show the process on this and show some of the stuff I left out of the final piece, like the elevated train, Wondy's ear, and some other minor details. Anyhow, maybe this'll help somebody out.

Enjoy!
R

CTN Weekend

2011-11-22T22:04:00.004-06:00

Ok so I got this picture while it was too dark, but I swear that's the DWA building behind me. Or a very large McDonald's.

This weekend I was out in LA for CTN Expo, which is, Lord-willing, gonna be an annual stop for me. I had the best weekend in a long time, getting to pal around with a ton of artists and meet even a few of my heroes.

I procured a number of sketchbooks from several talented people and got to see some old friends from my early Reel FX days. Got to meet a lot of cool new people, and even had a couple of people sign and/or sketch in the books I bought from them, so that was super cool.

I drove by most of the major studios, and even got to visit an interesting place or two. You wish I could tell you about it here. ...yes, you do, don't argue with me.

If you ever get out to LA, eat at Musso & Frank's in Hollywood while you're there. It's amazing.

And to top it all off, I heard the master animator Eric Goldberg saw the Sylvester & Tweety short I worked on and apparently *raved* about it, saying it was the best 2D-to-CG adaptation yet. High praise, coming from that gentleman! My one regret is that I didn't stop and shake his hand in the hallway because I was too nervous the one time I saw him! Darnit! Woulda been nice to hear his comments first hand!

Anyhow, I'm back in Dallas and back to work, but CTN was great. Made a number of (I hope) new friends and hope to see them all again next year.

~R

New Looney Tunes

2011-11-13T15:32:00.008-06:00

The new Sylvester & Tweety short film, "I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat!" was released this past weekend, in front of Happy Feet 2. Follow this link below and you'll see some images from the short, two of which are from one of my shots in the film!

http://www.dailyblam.com/news/2011/11/11/new-3d-looney-toons-short-to-premiere-in-theaters-with-happy-feet-2

June Foray watched (and voiced) our Cartoon!
http://www.animationmagazine.net/events/june-foray-attends-special-puddy-tat-premiere/

Entertainment Weekly has a short clip:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/11/14/tweety-bird-sylvester-looney-tunes-clip-exclusive/

And last, but not least, Warner Bros.' Official site for the short:
http://thatsallfolks.com/

Enjoy!
R

If He Be Worthy...

2011-10-29T23:26:00.004-05:00

This is a painting I did a couple months back for my animator pal Trevor who recently relocated to Bluer Skies. I'm told it now adorns his desk at the house that Scrat built.

Had fun practicing painting with this piece. A rare occasion for me to paint with real media, but I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I The sketch itself looked a bit cooler, I think I overrendered the face a bit once I got to defining things. Anyhoo...

Hope y'all digs.

MonkeyCapeGuy

2011-10-23T20:48:00.004-05:00

Still working on my color technique. Slowly getting better...I think. :)

Snow Horse Rough

2011-10-21T23:20:00.001-05:00

Not sure this is really finished, but we'll see how I like it in the morning. Anyhow, it is what it is.

I Float, Therefore I am...

2011-10-08T01:02:00.002-05:00

Another piece I redid from my sketchbook. Hope y'all likey. BTW, I'm doing the digital work almost entirely in Sketchbook Pro, with a couple of layer placement tweaks in Photoshop. ...In case somebody was wondering...

Enraptured

2011-10-06T23:43:00.004-05:00

First try at cleanup on a cintiq. About 4 hours. ...is that normal? Yeesh. The original for this was done in my sketchbook, so I did some fixes over the scan and made some costume changes. But anyhow, thought this one turned out fun.

Is the face too Ariel-y? I dunno... but either way, hope ya enjoy it!

R

Looney Tunes Shorts now online!

2011-09-11T21:06:00.000-05:00

Now available online, in their entirety, in beautiful 720p. You can even read the credits. Enjoy. :)

Coyote Falls:
Looney Tunes - Coyote Falls [HD 720P] by Mister3ZE

Fur of Flying:
Looney Tunes - Fur of Flying [HD 720P] by Mister3ZE
Rabid Rider: (my favorite)
Looney Tunes - Rabid Rider [HD 720P] by Mister3ZE

Demo Reel Update!

2011-09-05T18:58:00.003-05:00

Just threw some new stuff on my reel, so check it out here:
http://www.drawinglife.com/demoReel.html

You can also check out Nader Husseini's music video, which I had a small part in:

"Take Your Medicine" by Transfer Official Music Video from Nader Husseini on Vimeo.

Enjoy!
R

Don't Look at Me...

2011-08-06T13:16:00.002-05:00

Needed to practice with paints again. Last thing I painted was probably an action figure. ...a long time ago.

What're you lookin at?

2011-08-06T00:43:00.003-05:00

Orion. No, this isn't a repeat of the old post I did a while back, but it's um...pretty much the same subject. Started drawing a big Kiry ensemble shot and this was the only part of it I liked well enough to finish. Just looked back at that old post. ...spit take! Wow. Ok, I think it's safe to say I'm improving a lot.

Feels good to be back. Work has been crazy this year, so posting has slowed down quite a bit. Hopefully I'll get some more content up here, but you know how it is. Thanks for stopping by!

Snow Horse...ish...thing.

2011-02-22T22:26:00.003-06:00

I dunno what's up with the face, I didn't wanna draw a normal horse face, and initially intended this guy to have wings. ...but yeah, I couldn't get em to work so, a jump it is.

Enjoy,

SupermanJack

2011-02-22T21:25:00.003-06:00

Superman with a littl Samurai Jack-style flair. And an outline. Enjoy!

More Sketchinesses...es.

2011-02-13T22:05:00.004-06:00

More sketchbook goodies for ya. Hope ya enjoy!

Sketches to freshen things up with...

2011-02-02T22:45:00.004-06:00

Wow, been a while. Sorry, I was making a movie and some short cartoons and living life for a while. Also I got on facebook a couple times. Hope ya enjoy!

Looney Tunes Work I Done Did Worked On

2010-10-06T22:34:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the long break in posting, but I been busy!

This spring I was fortunate to get to work on the newest batch of Looney Tunes short films for Warner Brothers, right here in good old Texas. Here are the promotional clips Warner has released for the first two of three shorts. In the Bungee cord clip, I didn't do any of the animation, I'm just showing it cuz it's cool, and I did work on the full short. The clip where Wile flies thru the canyon is one where my work did make it into the promo clip. It's the first shot where Wile's handlebars break off.

Enjoy!
~R

Fur of Flying: (Playing now in front of "Legend of the Guardians!")

Coyote Falls:

Incense

2010-02-14T22:09:00.002-06:00

Sketchbookings Update

2010-02-10T21:51:00.009-06:00

Reel FX Art Department Blog

2010-02-04T23:26:00.004-06:00

Hey just wanted to give a shout out to my readers that Reel FX's art department has started a blog, and invited me to contribute, so I'll be popping up there now and again, along with several other, more talented, artists. Check us out and add us to your follow and/or links lists!

http://reelfx.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

~R

Completing the Trio

2010-01-06T23:25:00.008-06:00

Had to polish off the Trio of DC's Main heroes, so here's Wondy for 2010. If you're interested, you can see how much I've grown as an artist over the past year or so by checking out this post.

I'm really happy with how the line art turned out on these, so I'm reposting the final line art for each of the trio.

Hope you enjoy!
~R

Happy New Year, Punks!

2009-12-31T23:54:00.004-06:00

Happy 2010, folks! Looks like 2009 has been shuffled off to Arkham for rehabilitation, after Batman here crashed the party. Hope this coming year finds you on the right side of the law, so this guy doesn't come after you and yours. :)

Hope ya diggit!

God's grace and my best wishes to you and yours in the new year!

~Randy

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T13:54:00.004-06:00

I hope all of you have a great Christmas, and an equally great new year.

If you're a Christian, like me, I hope the above greeting will be an encouragement to you, and a reminder of the indescribable, incomparable, unearned, undeserved, and freely gifted salvation we share in Christ.

If you're not a believer, I hope this will serve to put a pebble in your mental shoe, and give you a moment to pause and think about how something so morbidly unsettling as a crucifixion could lead to such a worldwide celebration. I hope it points out how Christianity turns so many things on their head, so that now, when we think of the winter, we don't think of death, as the ancients did, we think of life, hope, and joy. The truth is, this card only shows half of the story, though. If Jesus only died, we wouldn't be celebrating. If he were just a great teacher who passed on like the rest of us, there'd be nothing special to mark our calendars by. ...but we have convincing reasons to believe he didn't just stay dead. And that has profound implications for our lives.

If you'd like to see some of those reasons explained, check out this site:

http://www.garyhabermas.com/

Mr. Habermas is likely the formeost authority on this subject, and he's read everything there is to read on it in at least 3 languages. And he thinks Jesus didn't stay dead. His reasons might surprise you, so check it out.

If you have other questions, get in touch through the blog here and I'll help where I can.

Again, I hope you have a great Christmas, and take some time to ponder the real gift we'll be celebrating in a couple months here, while others are hiding some eggs in the yard.

Superman!!!

2009-12-12T17:31:00.003-06:00

Thanks again to all my peeps who gave feedback on this one. It really helped! I'm not totally sold that I colored this "right," but it'll have to do. I'm callin this one done!

Enjoy!

WIP Superman step 2...ish

2009-12-11T01:16:00.003-06:00

Hrm...Got some great feedback from Brittany, Eric, and Sterling, tried to incorporate it here. Must've redrawn that right foot ten times. I think it's still too low, so I'll have to go back in and move it up slightly, but I think the proportions feel better overall, now. I raised his left arm, and got it out a bit away from the body so it reads better, and tried to eliminate the tangents in the feet that the last version had. Also reworked the placement of the knees and the overall length of the legs to work better into the top half.

Anyhow, this is a quick pass on the BG, and a color fill for supes which helps me not to color outside the lines once I get into shading and such.

Anyhoo... hopeyadigginit!

WIP Superman

2009-12-10T08:34:00.003-06:00

His left leg needs a lot of help, but I'm pretty happy with how this one's turning out. Forcontext, I really should show you my previous attempts at Superman, but I wouldn't want to put your eyes out.

Anyway, showing these two so you can get a look under the hood of my process, and hopefully it'll keep me accountable to post a finished version of this down the road.

Lemme know whatchya think!

~R

Caption This! round two...

2009-11-05T22:44:00.002-06:00

This looks like it's time for another Caption This! Contest, because this drawing makes no sense at all.

Enjoy.

Can the Invisible Woman fly?

2009-10-30T23:22:00.003-05:00

...I guess she can now. :) For some reason I can't recall if Invisible Woman can do anything else super or not... I think that's a weird combo of powers I've given her in this drawing. I don't think she has the ability to do the heroic cool-float, but oh well.

Tried doing something with the entire Fantastic Four, but Sue was the only one who turned out interesting enough to finish. ...not sure what her left hand pose is about, but anyhoo...

Have a good weekend, everybody!

today's doodles

2009-10-28T23:06:00.003-05:00

I dunno what these are. Just some experimentation with different shapes and ideas. Anyhoo...hope y'all enjoy em.

~R

wolf sketch

2009-10-27T21:52:00.002-05:00

just a doodle. trying to draw more often.

Robin

2009-10-25T23:16:00.002-05:00

Barda Doodle

2009-10-24T23:49:00.001-05:00

Just a quick sketch, hope ya like.

Process Detail

2009-10-10T22:21:00.005-05:00

Ok, here's the process detail explaining my layers and my setup. Let me know if thee's anything that needs clarification.

Oh, btw, this piece was done entirely in Sketchbook Pro. ...but the techniques will still work in Photoshop as well, so no worries. I like the interface in Sketchbook Pro better, so that's where I'm at. And the pencil brushes are more lifelike.

Hope y'all enjoy.

Family

2009-10-10T18:50:00.002-05:00

Not exactly a common subject for superheroes, but I always like Mr. Miracle and Oberon's gig.

I might cobble together a process post for how I'm doing these in Sketchbook, if anybody's interested. Let me know.

~R

One Night in the Sewer...

2009-10-04T23:13:00.003-05:00

Pretty self-explanatory. Started off as a drawing of Killer Croc, and then I thought it would be better if I added Batman and made it a fight scene. I like making Batman little compared to KC, seems like I often get into too much "size twinning" sometimes, where all my characters are the same size, so it's nice to push things now and again. Fun times...

Hope y'all enjoy.

Nightwing

2009-10-04T18:37:00.002-05:00

Nightwing seems to be attacking something. ...hopefully it's the interest rate on my upcoming mortgage... keep it low, Nightwing, keep it low.

Webosaurs Dino Dig

2009-09-10T20:00:00.006-05:00

The first of two shorts I co-directed for Webosaurs.com. The site's pretty fun (and addictive) you should check it out.

Kent Alfred co-directed with me, and animated the first shot, with Pterry digging through the fossils. I animated the last shot where he finds Horns (the triceratops), and says "eurekasaurus!"

Woohyun Nam did the sweet matte paintings, and Seth Olson did the wicked sick VFX in AfterEffects, with Ahren Shaw doing the honors in editorial. Liz Hauser and Julie Terrell did an awesome job on the lighting as well. Justin Barret is the inimitable voice of Pterry, and Justin Harder digs deep to bring us Horns, the triceratops. Thanks for the awesome work, guys!

Enjoy!

Parasite vs. Superman

2009-08-11T22:07:00.004-05:00

Just came up with this one after the Hulk sketch and had to get it out of my head. ...why is this stuff so much easier than all the cool, meaningful stuff I have in my head? ugh. I should have been working on my story development stuff. ...instead, superheroes.

oh well, hope you likee.

The Hulk...Incredible

2009-08-11T19:04:00.002-05:00

I finally took the time to rent last summer's "The Incredible Hulk." It was actually really good. Not perfect, and not for kids, but reasonably accurate to my recollection of the character, and a fun couple hours. And the Tony Stark cameo at the end was great, even though I knew it was coming.

Anyhow, thought I'd give the green monster a place here on the blog, so I did this as my kindof warm-up-for-fun sketch today. I gotta get my drawing day started earlier, I think. :)

Anyhow, hope you enjoy.

Daredevil

2009-07-19T23:03:00.004-05:00

Swingin his way into a back brace, it's... Daredevil! This blind lawyer was one of my favorite Marvel guys, back in the day when I liked Marvel guys. I still like the classic versions, but for some reason, I can't make myself pick up a Marvel book that isn't written by Stan Lee, drawn by Jack Kirby, or both. The current stuff is too "gritty" for my taste.

Anyhow, I think I bent his back too far in this drawing, but hopefully it feels like ole' hornhead is really givin it his all to save the city. I'll work on the pose a little longer next time.

On the positive side, I really dig his right hand, and the overall asymmetry in the pose. I really pushed and pulled this one a lot in the posing phase, trying to get something really dynamic, so hopefully that comes across.

Excelsior!

Plastic-Man!

2009-07-15T22:59:00.004-05:00

Had a lot of fun with this one, considering what a lame character it is.

Enjoy!

Orion-tchya gonna post a new drawing?

2009-07-05T23:15:00.002-05:00

Just a quick rough tonight. I have so little skill in inking it's not even funny. The rough sketch of this, pre-blackline looked really cool. ...I promise.

Might try to finish this one, but we'll see. Might jsut need to do it over. ...in any case, there's something about it that makes me enjoy it, hence the posting.

~R

Help Free Gao

2009-06-12T21:11:00.003-05:00

Go to
http://www.freegao.com/

And please sign the petition to free an innocent man, who has been kidnapped by Chinese government officials. Please go to the site and add your name to the petition, it takes very little time, and the cause is good.

Thanks,
~R

a doodle for you-dle. ...sorry.

2009-05-16T23:08:00.002-05:00

messy, but I thought it was fun in its own way.

Two Months since I posted a drawing...

2009-05-06T23:15:00.002-05:00

This week's DrawerGeeks topic was "Space Girl." This is my contribution.

Lots of not-drawing going on with me. Hope I can get some decent stuff done soon to keep up the postings...

Pepsi Throwback

2009-04-30T22:46:00.002-05:00

Here's a commercial I worked on.
http://motionographer.com/theater/radium-pepsi-throwback/

I animated the birds at the end. Also did some other stuff that's harder to point out.

Saw the spot on NBC tonight, during The Office. Fun times!

~R

Can a Shy Person Make It in the Arts?

2009-04-29T23:07:00.003-05:00

I was recently asked by a student about how well shy people can do in the art/animation industry. I thought my answers, though a bit long-winded, might be helpful to others, so here's a slightly altered version for you guys.

***********************

You may not believe me when I tell you this, but I'm actually a pretty shy person. I have learned to be outgoing as I've gotten older, but I still worry about and avoid some social events. I'm not a party person, but I've grown more confident as I've grown older.

In my experience, most of my shyness comes from pride. I want them to think well of me, so I often don't approach people unless I think I can impress them. Really, when this happens it's because I have two conflicting views of myself. One is, "I'm better than them because..." and the other is a fear that I'm not better and that the reality will be made obvious to everyone, and I'll be embarrassed.

These ideas/fears can come into play when people critique my work, when I'm talking with someone at a party, interviewing for a job, really all the time.

Now the thing that has helped me is that as I've stepped out to try things, God has placed people in my path who could help me. They didn't always respect my work at first, they didn't always think I was amazing as an artist, and they told me so. But as I've taken their advice, and grown as an artist under their watch, they tell me often that they are really proud of my work, and they brag about me to other people. Now, my pride was initially hurt by their criticisms, but those same crits were what enabled me to eventually earn their genuine respect.

I expect that if you'll look at your own experience, you'll see the same/similar pride factors coming into play for you. Now in the end, what would you rather have? The faint praise of "hey, nice work..." or the reality of respect borne out of experience?

My boss knows what my animation used to look like. It was embarrassing! He knows because he trained me to animate from pretty much the ground up. So when he tells his boss I'm doing good work, his boss knows he means it.

In the end, your pride is something that you have to discipline out of your life. It's not a helpful attitude. See, most people are proud of themselves, even when they haven't accomplished anything to prove their pride well founded. I was that way with animation, and still am in some areas. When your pride is in your own greatness/worth/esteem/supposed skill level, it's a dream. Nobody else can see it, because it has no evidence. What you have to decide is whether the dream of being great is more valuable than the reality.

The dream of being great is easy. Everybody has that. Being great is hard work and requires a lot of failures mixed with a few successes. But I can tell you from my limited experience with success, the reality of success is worth all the little failures along the way, and all the embarrassment that those failures entail. And little successes are a whole lot better than the dream of being great.

Social confidence will come slowly for some, and faster for others. But a confidence borne out of a dream is no confidence at all. As Christians, our confidence comes from what Jesus did on the cross. Even if we mess up, God is not condemning us anymore, that debt is paid. So the ultimate issue is settled for those who are in Christ. If we can approach God with freedom and confidence, how much more can we talk with other people?

Now for a practical side: You and I have a little anxiety in social situations, and that can even be helpful if it keeps us honest about ourselves. In my experience, my shyness goes away when I can talk out of an accomplishment. It's something concrete and factual that I can point to. I'm not asking people to just believe I'm great/skilled/smart/talented, I'm pointing to something that shows my skill in a concrete, measurable way.

Also remember that in our field, most of the people know what it's like to be inside drawing pictures while other kids play sports. They know what it's like to feel different or alone in that way. If you're talking to an artist, you automatically have something in common with them. If you're struggling with some aspect of your artwork, use that as a point of conversation, and ask for help. Most people can recommend a good book or resource or offer some tips, and people are usually quite willing to help. And they'll remember that you asked, and that usually reflects well on you, because it shows you're teachable.

If you get the chance to meet pro artists, or just people more skilled than you, make a point of asking questions only. When they say something you don't quite grasp, admit it, and ask for clarification. Most people love to pontificate. Just look at how long this email is! :)

In the end, shyness that is pride-related will go by the wayside as you gain true confidence in your skills, based on your accomplishments. Shy people can get by in the industry, if they are willing to push past it occassionally. Others will reciprocate when you meet them halfway, so it's not all on you. As the people you work with become your friends, you'll relax more and learn more and get along fine.

**************************

Anyhow, perhaps that long exhalation of text will prove helpful to someone out there. If it does, I'd love to hear about it.

~R

Metron and his amazing Mobius Chair!

2009-02-25T00:10:00.004-06:00

Never understood why his chair was green while his costume was blue... Still a really cool gimmick though, flying around the universe in a high-backed chair.

Hope you likee!

Canvas for a Cause

2009-02-16T08:45:00.000-06:00

my contribution to our recent charity event at the studio.

OS2 Screening and Swag

2009-02-11T08:22:00.004-06:00

SAY IT VIT ME: "IM VILD!" This sketch was for a (sadly) unproduced OS2 crew shirt. Too bad he's off model... His eyes are too big. Anyhow...

the studio recently gave out some swag to those of us who worked on Open Season 2. It included an "Art of" Coffee table tome from the original film, OS2 plushies, and even a thank you letter from Sony folks. Also an imageworks tote bag. But I didn't take a picture of that.

Last night the company held a screening for the staff and their families, which means I got to see the movie on the big screen! It was really fun, and it holds up very well. Though since I'v watched it several times over the past two weeks, it is starting to get old. I'll have to wait a while to watch it again, I think.

Also, a quick welcome to some new blogger "followers!" Thanks for joining up! Hope you enjoy.

It's HERE!

2009-01-27T08:03:00.001-06:00

New Site's up and running.

Check it out!

http://www.drawinglife.com

~R

2008 Recap

2008-12-31T22:07:00.016-06:00

Well, it's almost 2009, and yes, I'm at home, being a homebody, blogging away on new year's eve. But I knew that once you got up and remembered that Friday is a workday, you'd be in the mood for new sketches, so I just couldn't dissappoint you by slacking off.

I figured since it's the end of the year, I'd run thru my 2008 sketch folder and find some unpublished treats for ya. The Flash illo was one of my favorites, but kinda got overloooked here on the blog... The Hellboy drawing and the "Getaway" Boy logo sketch were shown before in color, so I thought I'd post the line art for the heck of it.

It's been a huge year for me, that's for sure. I have been incredibly blessed, far beyond what I deserve. I was fortunate to start the year employed as a contractor for Reel FX Creative Studios, working on an animated feature film, Open Season 2. We wrapped animation in June, and I was called upon to do key preparatory work for our commercial tie-in spots for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. I have gotten the opportunity this year to do concept and character design work for the studio. I've been tapped to write documentation (manuals) for our department, and even been able to learn a little bit of programming. I got to enjoy watching our new apprentice learn and grow and that was awesome to watch, having gone through that myself. I also got to purchase my first screen credit, on the Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five DVD. And I am ending the year as a full-time staffer!

In February, I was able to move into my first apartment, which has been a real blessing. I've been able to furnish it a little too, which has been fun. Never thought I'd be a decorator, but when it's your own place, it's more fun. I also got to set up my own first "tradition" at my house, which is that of my folks coming over to watch The UNIT (in HD!) on Sunday nights. And yes, Chrystal, I know I still need to buy a chair...

This year has been fun on a personal level too. My co-former-apprentice, Kent Alfred has really become one of my best friends, and continues to challenge me to grow as an artist all the time. Thanks man! He also calls me "Uncle Randy" when his little boy is around, which is fun and a unique experience for me. His boy is awesome. The best baby around.

I've gotten to be good friends with another co-worker, Tom D. Tom worked on VeggieTales back in the day, and has really proven to be a huge encouragment to me in my walk with Christ. His bold witness and genuine love for people is always inspiring to me. Thanks, Tom!

I also got the opportunity to hear one of my favorite speakers, Greg Koukl (http://www.str.org/), in person this year. And not only to hear him speak, but I got to have dinner with him and a small group of fellow believers. Props to Scott S. for setting that up. ...boy, that was a great night.

I could potentially go on about friends and 2008's accomplishments forever. At least for a year. :) But that would take forever.

I'll just mention a few more people:
Justin B. - Thanks for all your help at work and for following the blog!
Dave V. - Thanks for your encouragement in life and work!
Bryan E. - Thanks for your friendship.
Tim L. - Thanks for your constructive advice
C-Money - Thanks for being around, and listening to my rants

Scott B. - Thanks for letting me geek out about Comics

Brad W. - Thanks for letting me geek out about theology!

To everybody else who follows the blog - THANK YOU! I really enjoy hearing from you, so keep commenting! No, really, all three of you out there, post a comment! ..hello? ...hello? :)

All kidding aside, I am very thankful to God for an awesome year in '08. He has blessed me immeasurably, and helped me to grow and understand more about him than I ever have before. That's been one of the most fun and challenging parts of this year, but I wouldn't trade it. He who begins a good work in you is faithful to complete it. Sometimes a surgeon, sometimes a comforter. ...but He finishes what he starts. I hope each of you who reads this will come to understand and experience the hope I have in Christ. Without that hope, a new trip around the sun holds nothing worth celebrating. But because of God's great mercy on display in Christ's finished work on the cross, and Christ's resurrection from death, each day is worth celebrating because I've been moved out of the crosshairs of judgment, into the clutches of His sovereign grace.

"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified [declared not guilty] by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus..."

Romans 3:21-24

"...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God."

Romans 5:8,9

"Jesus Answered them..."My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

John 10:25, 29-30

If you're interested in learning about Christ, the Gospel, or whether these things really happened, contact me, or check out the links below:

Are You a Good Person?

Read Jesus in His Own Words, for Yourself

http://www.str.org/

http://garyhabermas.com/

God bless each of you in 2009! I gotta go watch some ball drop...

Forager!

2008-12-14T23:39:00.002-06:00

To Yoga, or not to Yoga...

2008-12-08T20:52:00.002-06:00

A short primer on what Hinduism teaches about Yoga. I'm not a practitioner myself, but I see this becoming very popular among western people, and even many professing Christians, which troubles me, given what I've found in my research. I have found most of this information from other sources as well, but this is fairly well put-together. Only the first part of a longer video, unfortunately...

Anyhow, have a look and feel free to post comments.
~R

God's Choice

2008-11-28T16:54:00.001-06:00

This brother knows how to speak the truth!

Sketch Dump...

2008-11-25T22:06:00.008-06:00

Half old, half new. Santa was drawn tonight, as was the Pterodactyl. Supes was a few days back, and the monster thing was a few weeks, etc.

Enjoy!

~R

Demo Reel Update!

2008-11-22T13:22:00.004-06:00

New Shots are up in higher quality than YouTube. Also, my Mad2/McDonald's work is posted as well. Click the image to check it out!!!

Caption Winner!

2008-11-21T22:57:00.003-06:00

Last week's Caption Contest Winner is....

Justin Barrett! With two Ts! And way more entries than anyone else.

My favorite was: "No way, man...my paper covers your rock. Pay up."

And as for the rest of you who didn't enter, shame on you! Just cuz there ain't no prize mentioned don't mean there ain't one comin!

So, what prize does JB win?

Well, you're not gonna believe it!

You're not!

I'm tellin you, you ain't gonna believe it!

It's unbelievable!

Here it comes!

Get Ready!

Justin wins...

The use of my tallness to help him move Aja's/his gazebo!!!! ...oh wait... we already did that...

Congratulations, Justin!!!

:)

New Setup at Work

2008-11-21T22:52:00.006-06:00

Okay, so to you, it probably doesn't look all that different. But the lights and the petal over the top, and the cabinet to the right all help to close in the space and leave me feeling less "outside-ish" so it's lots new to me.

Thanks to Ray for the new petal, and to justin for the shelf, table, and mag rack. ...and to Dave for the poster of Mad2. And Eric H for the poster of Batman. And...whoa, I must have won an award or something... where's my trophy?

Caption This!

2008-11-12T22:40:00.002-06:00

I drew this and decided it was bizarre and random. Therefore, it must be the perfect subject for a caption contest!

In keeping with the theme, the captions may also be bizarre and random. :)

Get to it!

~R

Back to drawings!

2008-11-11T21:01:00.004-06:00

After a long sabbatical (read: season of laziness), I returned to ReelFX's bi-weekly life drawing session. New model, Troy, I hadn't drawn him before. Very cool guy, great, dynamic poses. These were 5 and 7-minute drawings. The 1-minute gestures were where I scraped off some rust, so those I didn't keep.

Enjoy!

Dinner with Greg!

2008-11-09T22:29:00.005-06:00

Today and tonight were awesome. Just a really fun time. I had a blast getting some training to help me as a follower of Christ, got to hang out with some old and new friends, and meet one of the most influential thinkers in my own life, Greg Koukl, founder of Stand to Reason. I was even a member of a select few people who got to enjoy eating dinner with Greg and chat with him more informally. I even got to snap this photo with my friend Brad, Greg and I after dinner, just before we all realized we were standing in the cold with no coats on.

It was great having dinner with Greg, because you get to see that he is much the same in person as he is on the air. I had to keep reminding myself that this guy was the real, flesh and blood guy, sitting in front of me, not just the voice coming from my iPod. I could interact with this guy! I could chime in on the discussion, and he was just as lucid on the fly, in person as he is on the show. It was awesome.

Thanks to my new friend, Scott, for setting up the event today, and letting me hang around. and thanks to Greg for all the hard work he put in creating and disseminating this material.

Oh, yeah, did I mention I got to hear 4 hours of great training? ...that too. :)

My First Purchase-able Screen Credit!!!

2008-11-08T16:08:00.002-06:00

I'm official!!! Woot! Best Buy had the DVDs on sale a day early, so I snagged my copy and have been freezeframing my name and rewinding my shots ever since.

Congrats to all the pals o mine who did much more work on the show than I. It looks great, even if DW did cheap out and not give us a blu-ray version of the film...

Mad2 Promo Work

2008-11-07T22:46:00.003-06:00

I did the shot where the Zebra (Marty) says "and you picked this?" and the shot where the Penguin falls and lands on the branch, getting hit on the head with a note.

Thanks, youtube, no I don't have to update my demo reel! :)

And don't forget, your Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five DVD comes out this Sunday (weird, I know), which contains my first screen credit! I really only worked on a couple of shots at the very end of that production, but nonetheless, my name is included. Hooray!!! Congrats to all my friends who did more work than I did. Seems like the reviews so far are very complimentary of our animation work.

Greg's Coming to Town!!!

2008-11-04T23:13:00.000-06:00

(Republishing this post to move it to the top for your convenience)

Below is an email I recieved from my favorite organization, Stand to Reason (http://www.str.org/).

I encourage anyone who is local to the DFW area to attend either the services in the morning where Greg Koukl (founder of STR) will be speaking, or else the afternoon talks he'll be giving. The talks in the afternoon have an admission price of $10, but the one charge does cover all the talks, so it's really not costly at all. I'll be at the afternoon seminars, myself, even though I've heard some of these talk before. ...Yeah, it's that good.

**********
On November 9th, [Greg] will be speaking at Wood Creek Church in Dallas, TX. At the 9am and 10:45am services, his topic will be "The Bible: Has God Spoken?".

He will also be speaking at several afternoon seminars beginning at 3pm. His topics will be "Bad Arguments against Religion", "Evil, Suffering and the Goodness of God", "Tactics in Defending the Faith", and "Effective Ambassador Skills".

The conference cost is $10. You can find out more at www.woodcreekchurch.com.
We hope to see you there!

**************
As do I!
~R

Kir-be-headed!

2008-10-30T23:38:00.002-05:00

Didn't really intend this to be a halloween-themed image, but a floating head is probably appropriate, so take it that way if you like.

Too Funny...

2008-10-29T21:42:00.002-05:00

Totally what my videos woulda been like if I had become a rapper. KJ-52 bringin it old school.

KJ-52 = Awesome.

Mobius Returns!

2008-10-23T21:52:00.003-05:00

My car returned successfully from the repair shop today. His band-aids have been removed, and he is feeling very spiffy. From what I can tell, Mobius will now attempt to play nicer with all the other kids on the road. That's what a little time out and a visit to the car dentist (who apparently got "all up in my grill") will do for one's manners, so all you parents take note!

Dry Bones...

2008-10-21T22:30:00.002-05:00

Unfinished Drawings: a 2-for-1 Special!

2008-10-16T12:04:00.003-05:00

Jack "King" Kirby's Mr. Miracle, and his bride.

Random guy with a staff. :) Obviously, my crosshatching is very lazy here. I hardly ever do it, so it shows. My apologies to those with more discerning tastes.

Flipbook: SuperJumpers 2!

2008-10-15T22:47:00.004-05:00

Finally! I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for the second installment of the cult classic SuperJumper franchise, and here it is! Get your popcorn, and don't attempt to eat all of it before this blink-of-an-eye animated moshpit flings you aside like last month's rock star!

It' stream-of-consciousness animation at its most straight-ahead-est. No editing allowed! Better quality is available on my facebook page, so find me there if you wanna see it.

Profiles in Kirby-age...

2008-10-13T00:21:00.005-05:00

Orion. Tried a couple of other things tonight, but none really took. Gotta go to bed now, so this is what you get. :)

Enjoy!

Pray for Our Brothers

2008-10-11T17:44:00.003-05:00

An AP Story today caught my eye. Read it, and if you're a follower of Christ, pray for your brothers and sisters in Iraq.

3000 Christians Flee Iraq's Mosul

Some 3,000 Christians have fled the city over the past week alone in a "major displacement," said Duraid Mohammed Kashmoula, the governor of northern Iraq's Ninevah province. He said most have left for churches, monasteries and the homes of relatives in nearby Christian villages and towns.
"The Christians were subjected to abduction attempts and paid ransom, but now they are subjected to a killing campaign," Kashmoula said, adding he believed "al-Qaida" elements were to blame and called for a renewed drive to root them out...

Read More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081011/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

Worst Tagline EVER.

2008-10-11T02:01:00.004-05:00

Not the best cover in the world. But worth posting, since we can finally announce a release date! Open Season 2 is available for pre-order (like you care) on several sites, and will be in stores January 27th, 2009.

So all of you that were going to buy me a copy for Christmas, well you'll have to buy me something else instead. :)

The Scarlet Speedster...

2008-10-11T01:44:00.002-05:00

Car Woes...

2008-10-08T21:38:00.003-05:00

My car is in the shop. Spent too much time looking over my shoulder, turn around and WHAM! Sorry the drawing of the car is a bit on the lousy side. I don't often do vehicles.

Too Funny Not to Share

2008-10-07T21:44:00.001-05:00

Also do a search for Fresh Prince of Gotham. ...a little corny, but not bad.

Ruff Stuff

2008-10-06T00:22:00.004-05:00

Rough drawing of Samson, and an un-used concept.

Dumber Than We Look...

2008-10-02T22:56:00.003-05:00

This is a great "highlight reel" for a longer video I watched this evening. The lady in the video is Mrs. Charlotte Iserbyt, formerly the chief national policy advisor in the Dept. of Education. I encourage you to snag a whiff of this mental coffee.
~R

Poly-Tics.

2008-09-25T00:11:00.004-05:00

Currently, there's a bill before Congress which would give sweeping new powers to the Secretary of the Treasury. Below is the jist of the information, but feel free to google it to find out more. If you're as displeased with this legislation as I am, I'm encouraging you to write your congressmen and tell them to vote it down and work against similar ideas in future bills. Below is a link to a list of congressmen from my home state of Texas.
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc&state=tx

For convenience, I'll even post my letter in the comments page, so you can see what I wrote and plagiarize it if you will.

~R

*************
Whenever a Great Bipartisan Consensus is announced, and a compliant media assures everyone that the wondrous actions of our wise leaders are being taken for our own good, you can know with absolute certainty that disaster is about to strike.

The events of the past week are no exception.

The bailout package that is about to be rammed down Congress' throat is not just economically foolish. It is downright sinister. It makes a mockery of our Constitution, which our leaders should never again bother pretending is still in effect. It promises the American people a never-ending nightmare of ever-greater debt liabilities they will have to shoulder. Two weeks ago, financial analyst Jim Rogers said the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made America more communist than China! "This is welfare for the rich," he said. "This is socialism for the rich. It's bailing out the financiers, the banks, the Wall Streeters." That describes the current bailout package to a T. And we're being told it's unavoidable.

The claim that the market caused all this is so staggeringly foolish that only politicians and the media could pretend to believe it. But that has become the conventional wisdom, with the desired result that those responsible for the credit bubble and its predictable consequences - predictable, that is, to those who understand sound, Austrian economics - are being let off the hook. The Federal Reserve System is actually positioning itself as the savior, rather than the culprit, in this mess!

• The Treasury Secretary is authorized to purchase up to $700 billion in mortgage-related assets at any one time. That means $700 billion is only the very beginning of what will hit us.
• Financial institutions are "designated as financial agents of the Government." This is the New Deal to end all New Deals.

• Then there's this: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." Translation: the Secretary can buy up whatever junk debt he wants to, burden the American people with it, and be subject to no one in the process. There goes your country.

Even some so-called free-market economists are calling all this "sadly necessary." Sad, yes. Necessary? Don't make me laugh.

Our one-party system is complicit in yet another crime against the American people. The two major party candidates for president themselves initially indicated their strong support for bailouts of this kind - another example of the big choice we're supposedly presented with this November: yes or yes. Now, with a backlash brewing, they're not quite sure what their views are. A sad display, really.

Although the present bailout package is almost certainly not the end of the political atrocities we'll witness in connection with the crisis, time is short. Congress may vote as soon as tomorrow. With a Rasmussen poll finding support for the bailout at an anemic seven percent, some members of Congress are afraid to vote for it. Call them! Let them hear from you! Tell them you will never vote for anyone who supports this atrocity.

The issue boils down to this: do we care about freedom? Do we care about responsibility and accountability? Do we care that our government and media have been bought and paid for? Do we care that average Americans are about to be looted in order to subsidize the fattest of cats on Wall Street and in government? Do we care?

When the chips are down, will we stand up and fight, even if it means standing up against every stripe of fashionable opinion in politics and the media?

Times like these have a way of telling us what kind of a people we are, and what kind of country we shall be.

In liberty,
Ron Paul
*******************************
From an Email Released 9/23

The Bat...

2008-09-24T00:12:00.002-05:00

Superman

2008-09-20T15:44:00.001-05:00

'nuff said. :)

Church Illo

2008-09-14T22:39:00.005-05:00

Here's that logo image for my church I talked about a while back. For convenience, I'm reposting the pic of the boy, so you can see more detail.

The car was done in photoshop, after an original sketch, but the characters were done in Sketchbook Pro, and colored in photoshop. I still haven't gotten a handle on Illustrator well enough to tackle something this complex, so all the vector stuff and colorign was done in PS.

I do have some alternates and wip versions, so if anyone's interested, let me know.

Enjoy.

The Penguin!

2008-09-10T23:53:00.001-05:00

Do You Have Yours???

2008-09-10T21:10:00.005-05:00

I just got my copy of Gabriele Pennacchioli's "The Young Minotaur" in the mail today. It's a really great book, from one of my favorite bloggers. He even includes an original sketch and signature on th inside cover, which is what you see above.

Check out his awesome blog by clicking here.

Just don't forget to mosey back here now and then, okay? :)

~R

Doodles...

2008-09-10T08:41:00.002-05:00

Surprise!!!!

2008-09-04T22:29:00.004-05:00

The Trailer for Open Season 2 is now online!!! I found it tonight, without warning, on the Reel FX website, and surprise surprise, I have five (count 'em...FIVE!) shots in the trailer!

The pics above are a handy key to which five shots I animated, and the logo is just there for good looks. I dunno why this wasn't announced with fanfare at the studio, but anyhow, here it is!

ReelFX.com

Just click on "Open Season 2" in the teal area of the page.

As an aside, you might notice a few places where lipsync is off. ...that's because they switched some audio around for the trailer. It looks great in the show, I swear. :)

Enjoy!

A Good Day...

2008-09-04T19:23:00.004-05:00

It's been a fun day today. Didn't really start out special, but ended well.

Today we had a screening of one of our recently-completed projects, which contained my first screen credit!!!! Actually not the first project I worked on where I'll be named, but the first one anyone will get to see my name on. It was very fun. However, none of my work from that project can go on my reel, because I really didn't do anything but retakes and fixes. So while I did actually work on the project, I can't claim the end product individually enough to include it on my reel. But it was definitely cool to see my name on the screen.

The project looks great, and I can't wait for everyone to see it... The team did a great job on it, so enjoy their work (and look for my name in the credits) when it hits stores in November.

We also got toys to mark the occasion, which is always good. :)

But now that I think about it, I can't recall if we've been announced as working on it, so I'll hold off saying what project it was.

~R

Whoa...

2008-09-02T23:26:00.002-05:00

This guy would make for one awkward life drawing session...

Toon Batman

2008-08-28T00:11:00.004-05:00

Whoa! I've been posting a lot lately! Sweet. That means I'm drawing more, which is good.

Hope you like this one. Most of what I drew tonight didn't come out well, but I dug around and found a sketch I had roughed out a while back, which I had meant to pull out and finish, so I cleaned it up and colored it tonight, after a few bad warmups. Yeah, I know, I've been doing a lot of superheroes, but c'mon, I work on talking animals all day long!

Enjoy!

more toon characters...

2008-08-26T22:58:00.003-05:00

Bears! Oh my!

2008-08-24T23:13:00.002-05:00

Icons

2008-08-23T22:26:00.002-05:00

Ain't it crazy how you know who these gus are without any real details or logos? They *are* their own logos. That's what icons are. It's amazing when a character is so versatile that they work in any style. So many modern characters lack this transcendant malleability. You can make superman into a cartoon, a comic, a liveaction movie, a video game, a bumper sticker, a tshirt, a board game, a lego figure, a baby, a kid, an old man, or whatever. You can have him drawn by any artist, doing any style, whether detailed or photo-real, and he'll still come out as Sueprman. He'll still be recognizable. His essential qualities survive the transition. Same with Batman.

They make Buzz Lightyear (already a cartoon) into a serial cartoon and it stinks on ice. A cartoon where he both looks and acts like himself, and it still doesn't work. It's just not the same. He works so well in one storyline, but he just doesn't ever really transcend it.

One could say the same about a number of classic characters, though, even Aragorn or Frodo. Nobody cares what happened after Frodo got back from destroying the ring, the characters serve the story.

Both are valid, it's just interesting, that we don't seem to create icons much anymore.

Comments? Other examples? Contrasting examples? Anyone?

tumbleweed rolls by...

Facebook...

2008-08-23T22:21:00.002-05:00

...is a really solid way to waste some time. I was weak. I signed up. I got addicted. Don't let this happen to you!

Illo

2008-08-22T08:27:00.002-05:00

Here's a piece of an illo I recently completed, for an event at my church. I'll post the whole thing once it's announced. Turned out to be a challenging but fun project.

Shape Portraits...

2008-08-20T22:52:00.002-05:00

The Yeti is for this week's DrawerGeeks topic. The other sketch was just for fun.

Return of the Supers...

2008-08-16T02:01:00.003-05:00

More of my superhero kick... Long Live King Kirby!

New Animation Online!

2008-08-14T22:24:00.003-05:00

One of my shots from Open Season 2 made it into the company demo reel, which was released this week at Siggraph. You can see it by clicking the link below and choosing "General Reel 2008" from the orange area of the menu. My shot is the last OS2 shot on the reel, and the next-to-last shot overall. Ironically, it's the first shot I completed on the film, almost a year ago now.

Here's the link:
http://www.reelfx.com/launch.html

You can also see more of our Open Season 2 work (and the same shot of mine again) by clicking on "Animation" and then "Animation Reel 2008." There's also some fine work in there from my pals Justin Barrett, Ray Ross, and Tom Danen.

Enjoy!

~R