Creativity flows on Monday

Man, I've just been bursting with ideas about Banjo Rat! His story is developing quite nicely, it's nothing like I originally intended, but I'm diggin' it anyway. I need to animate this guy, he's just begging for it.

So first we have Banjo Rat beating up Scrawny Weasel for saying mean jokes about banjos. Banjo Rat does not tolerate banjo jokes. I was originally just going to have B.R. punching Mr. Weasel, but without his banjo he's just Rat and that just doesn't work. So he's smashing Weasel's face in with his indestructible banjo :)

I also finished this piece digitally, so here's that. My favorite part is the blood, I love splatter brushes :)

I've also been developing Banjo Rat's friend, Accordion Bear (or Sqeezebox Bear, I can't decided what to call him) He's a romantic black bear with a torrid past.  He came from France and immigrated to Louisiana when he was a young adult.  He smokes and wears a watch on left wrist.  He's remarkably  dedicated to his work and sometimes goes days without eating if he can't get a tune right. He sacrifices much of himself for his music, and you can tell when you hear him play. Banjo Rat is drawn to him because of this intense passion and they connect on a level that Banjo Rat has never really known before. They are great friends

I'm still figuring out his design, but I've got some concrete things there. Mostly I just need to draw more bears to get the anatomy right. I had reference for all the images in the second one, except the big dark one.  

I'm really enjoying developing this story, I don't know exactly what will come of this story, but I figure it can only get better and that it's good practice for Pixar :)

Mondaaaaaaaaaay

Banjo Rat makes a comeback! I seriously love drawing this guy, his story just writes itself.

So here's Banjo rat and his friend Trumpet Muskrat jammin' away in the Bayou. Looks like they are having fun.  I need to make an animated short of these guys, they are just asking for it.

They really make me immensely happy. They lend themselves well to the digital media I think. Some of the people I've shown this too think that the background looks to realistic and the characters too toony, what do you all think?

Monday is a day of doodles

Bunch of random sketches for this week :) One of the favorite things about my current sketchbook is the toned paper. I love the earthy color of the paper because I can go on top of my black sketches with a white pen. It adds a lot more depth I think. I'm also experimenting with markers and color fields.

This is a just a little swimmy amphibian guy. He's got a snorkle mask and an over excited beaver :)

 This one was just what I doodled while listening to Arcade Fire's "We Use to Wait" 

I like what the white pen does when I draw over the markers :)

Playing around, getting use to the markers and white gel pen. I love the grace and slenderness of cranes

I had this image in my head and it didn't quite turned out like I envisioned it, but I still like how it came out a lot