Magic Kingdom - Cinderella's Castle

First drawing in the new Moleskine sketchbook.
OK, it's not another Charles M. Schulz Museum/Snoopy Moleskine sketchbook,
but I'm working on that.

Hayden Auditorium

Quick sketches of exterior and interior of Auditorium.
No sketchbook yet, just the flimsy folded brochure, printed on copy paper.
Medium: bic pen found at the bottom of my wife's purse.

US Capitol Building

This is the last drawing in my Charles M. Schulz Museum Moleskine sketchbook. I started drawing in this sketchbook on May 2011 in Santa Rosa, CA. It's been to NYC, Lake Placid, Montreal, Back to NYC (to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon  w/ Of Monsters and Men; and to the The Eugene O'Neil Theater), Stockbridge MA (The Norman Rockwell Museum,) Salem MA and Canobe Park in NH (where I saw the best Michael Jackson impersonator of all time.) Lot of fun sketches and memories. Sooooo thank you, Snoopy sketchbook, for being my trusty sketchy travel companion. Now, sadly, you are out of pages. Time to replace the old dog with a new Snoopy Sketchbook.  :o)

Bird sketching

Apple vs Broccoli and Fish

We went to a Fine Art Press for a day to make mono prints. "Fish" was one of my more successful attempts. I added some ink with a Crowquill to tighten up. Then I was inspired to work with water color and ink to make "Apple vs. Broccoli." Haven't worked with traditional medium in quite a while, but it felt good to push ink around on paper again rather than pixels on a screen.

Packages from Planet X

Check out our 2 minute trailer (HERE) for Packages from Planet X, created by the folks at DHX Media in Vancouver. The show will air on Disney XD sometime in the summer of 2013. Stay tuned!

Jeff Harter's Mental Block Party

Some of the characters I created over the past few years...

birds building a bridge

Chairman's Award

A bit of exciting news! Earlier this year I was nominated for a Chairman's Award at American Greetings in the Category of Creativity and Innovation. Last Wednesday I found out that I was the Grand Finalist/winner. I couldn't be more thrilled and honored!

The nomination was for creating two TV show concepts: Packages from Planet X, and another TV show concept currently in development. Packages is in production as we speak at DHX Media in Vancouver Canada, and is scheduled to air in the Spring of 2012 on Disney XD. Thanks to everyone at American Greetings Intellectual Properties for believing in these shows, and to all of our partners for doing such great work! Stay tuned for PFPX and be sure to contact your cable provider if you don't already have Disney XD.... and keep your fingers crossed for that other show!

Crab Octopus Robot thingy...

...Craboctobot?
...Crabtobot?
...Roboctocrab?

Eye Robot

Yeti

More Sketches from New England

New England

 I took a trip from upstate New York to Boston with some stops along the way: the Fenimore Museum in Cooperstown, NY, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA (top), the Eric Carle Museum, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Salem Witch Museum. Loved the Fenimore. They had a great collection of American impressionism and early American Folk Art. The Norman Rockwell museum was as I expected... great. Very inspirational to see his Post covers and original paintings. Eric Carle had original art from his books and art from "A Snowy Day" by Erza Keats. I just missed a Mo Williams visit (rats). The Salem Witch museum was a bit hokey, but still interesting. I spoke to a kid who worked at the museum and asked him what it was like in Salem during Halloween. Apparently they get "a million people" in town on Halloween night. He avoids town that night. Saw an amazing Michael Jackson impersonator at Canobie Park in Salem New Hampshire. His 15 minute show blew away the Immortal World Tour by Cirque Du Soleil, which cost 80 bucks in Cleveland OH.

Here are a few quick sketches of some of the sights and people I encountered along the way.

Happy Father's Day

This is probably the first thing any good dad would do
if he were shipwrecked on a deserted island with his family...

Robot Boy

I did this a while ago. I like this version better without the background.

NYC sketches

Sketch from the Eugene O'Niel Theatre in NYC, where I saw the Book of Mormon. 

Also saw the best free show in New York: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. 

Guests: Cameron Diaz, Michael Phelps, and Of Monsters and Men.

New York City

Went to New York City last week for a meeting and to find inspiration. Found plenty of that. Here is a sketch of the restaurant at Ace Hotel. Delicious food. I had the baked egg with spicy tomatoes and Chorizo sausage. Yum. I also got tickets for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Here are some people that I sketched while waiting for the show to start. I saw "Of Monsters and Men" at the show. What a fantastic band.

Is this class over yet?

My wife and I are taking a night class. It's 3 hours long x 13 classes. This particular night I had a really hard time staying awake.  Did I already mention that the class is 3 hours long?

Packages from Planet X update

More public info released for Packages from Planet X. These are links to Disney, Variety,  and Kidscreen. All briefly mention that Packages From Planet X is one of the new animated series acquired by Disney XD,  and will debut in early 2013.

Bigfoot

Igor and Me!

Another card with characters that I illustrated for AG, just in time for Halloween!

I created this image for a poster and guest talk for Lyndon State college in Vermont. 

Fish Taco

"Fish Taco" illustration for the just Wink card line.

Want to play a game of TSA?

Humorous illustration re: TSA
Copyright: American Greetings

Another card...

Oops!

...another greeting card illo.

Maryoku Yummy

This show appearing on The Hub  

is Maryoku Yummy, animated by OddBot. This has turned into a 
very cute show for pre-school aged children. Before Maryoku evolved 
into what it istoday, I did some really early visual development of 
environments like Nozomu and the Wish Mill. It was a while ago, but 
these were a lot of fun to work on... Above is a sketch of Nozomu,
a magical place where Wishes and their Wish Sitters live. 

 The idea for this image is that under ground roots trap drops 
of water (center). The Yummy live in these mushroom houses, 
which  defy gravity and crawl around on the underground roots 
like snails.

A very early concept of the Wish Mill... wishes would

drop down through roots in the ground and float

through a system of water ways to Nozomu.

Another Wish Mill Concept... Wishes drop down through roots 

in the ground into another series of tubes, then enter the "mill."

The area below is where the wishes would be nurtured.

... and yet another Wish Mill concept.

This concept of the Wish Mill includes an early concept of Tapotapo/

mill. He's sort of controlling the whole process and all the wishes
go through him.

Another Tapotapo/Wish Mill concept.

The Twisted Whiskers Show

 

"The Twisted Whiskers Show" is now on the HUB,  formerly the Discovery Kids channel. I had fun working on the early development stage of the show, designing some of the backgrounds and characters.  (see below for more...)

Packages From Planet X

A bit more info was released on Packages from Planet X, an animated TV show concept that I created while at American Greetings... this is from the September 30 Spotlight section of Kidscreen.com:

...AGP is also working with Disney XD on the new action series Packages from Planet X. Kidscreen cited the series as a Cool New Show in October 2008 and it's now entering the pilot stage.

Click links to read the full article from September 30, 2010, and October 2008. The good news is that everything seems to be moving in a positive direction... keep fingers crossed and stay tuned!

Malibu

Taxi

I imagine this guy stranded on an island or in the middle of the wilderness and he hallucinates that he's still in New York city trying to flag down a cab, but he's really chasing after a dolphin or a moose.

What makes animation funny part 2

I am fortunate to be developing two animated comedies for TV (keep your fingers crossed), along with creating goofy characters in humorous situations for the alternative humor card team at American Greetings. So I am on a constant prowl to find good nuggets that will inspire my sense of humor. Without sucking the joy, spontaneity and gut feeling out of my own sense of humor, it's also a way of understanding and making a science out of what and why certain things make people laugh. A while back I asked the question: what makes a cartoon funny? A bunch of you pointed out bits of animation and the reasons why you thought they were funny. To follow up that post, I found this podcast from the web site Speaking of Animation. And just like the web site points out, Ken Fountain, Ben Rush, David Weatherly, and Steven P Gordon give their insight on what it's like to animate comedic shots and why something might be funny.

The thing that struck me most in listening to this is the idea of being funny without looking like you are trying to be funny. The choreographed "funny," and, wait for those punch line drums... followed by polite laughter, often falls flat. The best comedy is spontaneous and unexpected.

Anyway, this interview of the guys from Dreamworks is informative and funny. For the quick podcast link, click here. Check it out and enjoy!

Upular by Pogo

Wow. If you haven't seen yet, this is fantastic music (and video) called "Upular" by Pogo, composed using chords, bass notes and vocal samples from Disney Pixar's film "UP." I can't stop watching or listening to this...

Father's Day

A few father's day cards that I illustrated for Father's Day!

Acting

A few images from a power point presentation on character acting/posing that I gave at Lyndon State College (Vermont.)

Peg Leg Pete

Nothing brand spanking new to post, so here are some more oldies... Peg Leg Pete (without the peg) these are a series of Pete drawings for a men's big and tall program that I developed while at Disney (see color finishes in older posts). I see Pete as sort of a Blue collar slob and weekend warrior.