Found Some Time.

I'm a pathetic blogger...I haven't had much time to update anything in quite some time. Somehow on top of other responsibilities, I was privileged to work on and complete two more books with John Ludwick and Scott Ball. Ludwick and I still have one more to finish up this summer...but I have a few more weeks before work begins on that. So for now, I'm playing catch up. Here's what I've been up to lately with Ludwick (All images copyright The Animation Closet and MeySen):

Front cover illustration for Mice in the Barn (Painter)

Back cover illustration for Ned, Ted & Red: Scary Shadows (Painter)



Interior cover illustration for Ned, Ted & Red: Scary Shadows (Painter)



Misc. interior illustrations for Ned, Ted & Red: Scary Shadows (Painter)


The following are some illustrations from Fancy and Leo which I worked on with Scott Ball that involved some more stylized coloring (All images copyright The Animation Closet and MeySen):

Misc. interior illustrations for Fancy and Leo (Painter)

Finished.

Well, Mice in the Barn is finished and ready for press. It was a whole lot of work and a lot of fun to paint....and better yet, I think 'those who pay' were extremely happy with the work. There are even talks of a follow-up book to begin very soon (as in now). It's always nice to finish up one BIG project and begin another that is already behind schedule. How does that happen, exactly?

The next book is about...wait for it...wait for it...mice. Not just mice, mice that go camping. I think the working title is Red, Ted, and Jed....or Red, Ted, and Fred. All I know is that if the book is about camping, I would like to officially try to include a reference to Canteen Boy if at all possible. Somehow, I don't think that will fly with a children's book.

Here are a few more finished lo-res spots from Mice in the Barn:

Mice in the Barn (Painter)

Mice in the Barn (Painter)

Mice in the Barn (Painter)

As always...a pleasure to work with The Zealot on this project. One day, maybe we will earn our mice badges and work our way up to other mammalian species.

Through the Trees.

Another color. This one beat me up, as I really attempted to establish the right light. I spent more time on this in the past few days than I should have. I guess I was inspired by Ludwick's drawing...had to up the ante...or try, anyway. I'm working at 600 ppi, so a lot of the detail in these low res versions is getting lost.

Inked. (Painter)

Without. (Painter)
The bad news is that this is only one spot on a page of three. Ouch. Two more to go.

Cheezy Aroma.

More progress on the Mice in the Barn project. This is the first spread of the book...pages 1 and 2. The spot on the left will have text underneath...something like "In the box. Out of the box. Through the hole."

I'm resisting my urge to add some sophomoric humor here. You do the same...for the sake of the children.

With ink. (Painter)

Without. (Painter)

Metro Mouse.

Well, since it appears that I'm in the midst of an all-nighter...

This was the first concept test for the Mice in the Barn book. It's quite a departure from the typical illustration work they tend to publish. I submitted a few preliminary sketches, and did an extra piece in color in hopes that they would go with this style. Almost had it, too. Everyone in the art department really liked it...and it looked like it was a go...until the AD came back from a trip, and put the kibosh on it.

Sad times, indeed.

In the box. (Painter/Photoshop)

Maybe in the future, I'll write a book called Metrosexual Mice in a Loft, and use this.

I Hate Meeces to Pieces.

Progress on the illustration job with JB Ludwick. You can see this original ink on the Zealot's blog.

With linework. (Painter)

Without. (Painter)
Still working out the kinks in Painter, especially with this type of painting technique...but, I'll tell you - at times, it's easy to forget that you are in a software package and not at an easel. Now if the good folks at Corel could incorporate an element of danger like a lead paint option, or a combustible turpentine dropdown menu - all the cool kids would buy it.