Doodles and Such: Maria Clapsis Illustrations

Happy 2012!!!!!

2012-01-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I know, I know it's been forever since I posted. My resolution this year is to do more of my own artwork, so hopefully in 2012 my blog won't be as neglected as 2011 was.

I started off the new year right! I made this little sketch and watercolor of a pug for a friend of mine who has one of the cutest pugs in the whole wide world, named Goblin. (The other one is named Ollie!) It was a late Christmas present, and I am super happy with how it turned out. I haven't done a watercolor since college, so I was pretty nervous sitting down to start it, but as luck would have it I didn't totally screw it up. Yay!!! I hope to do more this year, since it was super fun to do and also fairly quick and relaxing. It's nice to do something old school every now and then. :)

Mr. Badger's New Book

2011-06-17T06:59:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long, long delay in posting. I've been super busy for the past few months, so I haven't had any time to do any personal artwork in a while.

I was able to collaborate with my boyfriend Brian on his newest illustration, however. This was the first time we've worked together on an actual project. It's called 'Mr. Badger's New Book'. I concepted the illustration, did a rough sketch, and some (really really) rough turn arounds of said gentlemanly badger, and Brain sculpted the final piece. I was also his (lovely) assistant for the photo shoot of the final sculpt.

It was a lot of fun collaborating with him! I hope we can do it again in the future. Check out his blog, http://sculptwerks.blogspot.com for more process photos. Also, check out his other work too! It's really good (and that's not just because I'm biased! ;) )

That's all I got right now. Hopefully it won't be another five months before my next post!

Goat

2011-01-03T21:13:00.001-08:00

I was looking through my computer for something and I found this totally by accident. It was in a wrong folder, Lord knows how it got there, but the point is, I obviously meant to post this at some point and it never happened. I'm glad I stumbled on it though, cuz he's just too cute not to share!

Happy New Year!!

2010-12-31T11:35:00.002-08:00

Happy New Year to each and every one of you! May 2011 be full of happiness, fun and cuddly cute things!

Thus ends my Holly Jolly Holiday month-long art-strvaganza! I din't QUITE make it to 31 posts, but with balancing the holidays, deadlines, and fitting in some time for sleep, I think I did OK. I hope you all enjoyed them as much I as enjoyed making them, and that they helped put you in a holiday mood.

Polar Bear

2010-12-31T11:35:00.001-08:00

Winter Penguin

2010-12-31T10:45:00.003-08:00

Nothing says cold weather fun like a little penguin in a scarf!

Hot Chocolate Fairy

2010-12-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

This one is both Matt and Brian's idea; after all, if you do an EggNog Fairy, you can't leave out Hot Chocolate, the yummiest of all cold-weather drinks! I like how spunky she turned out; unlike certain T.V. News producers from the 70's, I like spunk! :)

Egg Nog Fairy

2010-12-28T18:45:00.000-08:00

I didn't quite know if I was going to continue the Christmas Goodie Fairy Friends, but thanks to Matt, there is one more Fairy in the group: the EggNog Fairy! This one's for you, Matt! I didn't know how I would pull her off, but I like how elegant she is. Not quite the goofy, strange one like I thought she would turn out. Complete with cinnamon stick magic wand!

Gingerbread Fairy

2010-12-27T16:49:00.000-08:00

And here is the Gingerbread Fairy, the third of the Christmas Goodie Fairy Friends! Do you have any suggestions for Christmas Treat Fairies? Leave a comment below, and maybe one of them will be turned into a Fairy Friend!

Sugar Cookie Fairy

2010-12-27T16:47:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to drawing some friends for the Peppermint Fairy I posted a few days ago. Here's the Sugar Cookie Fairy!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T09:32:00.001-08:00

I sincerely wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas! I can't thank you enough for following me and looking at my little doodles all year (when I do post stuff). What better way to celebrate Christmas than the actual Big Guy himself, Santa Claus! I hope he was good to all of you; he was awesome to me this year!

Sittin Under The Tree

2010-12-24T20:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight is Christmas Eve! Guess what's sitting under your tree (or will be in just a few hours when Santa comes?) A cute lil' present! Who knows what kind of wonder and magic lies inside? It must be something super awesome if he looks this happy!

Dominick the Donkey!

2010-12-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

If you grew up in an Italian household, chances are you have heard of a little donkey named Dominick. Dominick is an Italian Christmas Donkey, who Santa uses to climb the hills in Italy that the reindeer can't seem to manage. Even though reindeer can fly. Yeah, logic often doesn't apply to Christmas songs. If you have not heard the song, do yourself a favor and click on over to YouTube to give it a listen. It's very cute, and dear Lord, one of the most Italian songs ever created.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z0tGVaeOwY

Have A Very Ratty Christmas!

2010-12-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

I have a little rat. His name is Gobo (yes, totally named after the Fraggle; very fitting for a small little mammal that could easily go into the walls). OK, so he's nott hat little. He's pretty fat. But I thought I would tell you all Merry Christmas from Gobo! He wishes you all have a very happy holiday too!

Here's a picture of the real Gobo, exploring under our tree this year.

Peppermint Fairy

2010-12-21T17:46:00.000-08:00

Brain had mentioned the words 'Peppermint Fairy' the other day as a joke, but I loved the imagery that popped into my candy-coated brain so much I just had to draw it up. And here she is. Super cute! I just might do some friends for her in the future. How cute would a Gingerbread Fairy be? We'll see. Hopefully I can get to that at some point.

Happy Life Day!

2010-12-20T18:35:00.000-08:00

What do you get a Wookie who already has a comb? A cute doodle of Chewbacca celebrating Life Day, of course! Ahhh Life Day, that perennial favorite holiday among the furry Kashyyyk residents. A day when Chewbacca can't just forget his son Lumpy exists. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, please do yourself a favor and look up The Star Wars Holiday Special on YouTube. You will thank me later.

Danny the Elf

2010-12-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

Yeah..sorry about the title pun. I tried something clever and..well..obviously didn't work out. Sorry about the little leave of absence last week. Christmas and deadlines! I'm back now though, and hopefully I can make it up be perhaps posting an extra post or two. No promises, just possibilities!

Anyway, here's a little elf character doodle I did. I think I shall call him Danny. He looks like a Danny. Anyway, this is how my normal doodles look pre-clean up. I am very very very sketchy. But I like it. I find I can get a lot of emotion and movement in my original sketches that tend to go away the tighter I get. But I know that tends to be the norm, especially in the cartoony circles, so I am all good.

His Cuteness Grew Three Sizes That Day

2010-12-12T15:11:00.000-08:00

Yay Max! Super quick sketch of my take on the Grinch's best friend and accomplice.

Another Retro Deer

2010-12-11T20:41:00.000-08:00

So as I was doing my doodles for possible reindeer designs I ended up doing a few retro-inspired sketches because old deer designs from the 50s and 60s are amazing. So this kind of harkens back to that feel a little bit. Nothing too special, just a sketch today.

And just a heads up this coming week is looking to be fairly hectic; I have a lot going on this week, so I can't guarantee that I will be able to post everyday, and if I do it will probably be a doodle like this. Just a heads up! Enjoy for today though, and do check back daily. I will try to post something so I just might make it. :)

Jack Frost

2010-12-10T19:49:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Rankin Bass Christmas specials. Nothing says Chrostmas more than a good ol' fashioned claymation special. One of my absolute favorites is 'Jack Frost'. I'm not quite sure why; it's not very Christmas-y, more wintery really. I think it's because it's more of a love story, so it has that 'aww' factor. I do love it though. So I decided to do a little tribute on the blog with a cute lil Jack Frost.

Berry Merry Christmas!

2010-12-09T17:31:00.000-08:00

Holly berries, yay! :D Day 9, still on a roll with the Christmas cheer!

It's A Major Award!

2010-12-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

Say it with me everybody.. "Frageeeeelaayyy..". Yup. This post must be Italian. I just couldn't resist sticking some electric sex in my doodles for the holiday. 'A Christmas Story' is a total family tradition for us every year. I think every member of my family can quote this verbatim and do on a regular basis. It's one of my favorite movies of all time, and I can watch it all year round it's so damn hilarious. It's not Christmas till we watch the Bumpuses' dogs eat the turkey, listen to Schwartz get beaten over the phone, and watch some triple dog dares go down.

Happy Birthday!

2010-12-07T17:13:00.000-08:00

Seriously though, if a snowman ever came to life right in front of me I would be seriously freaked out. And probably beat it with a stick until it was a puddle.

8 Tiny Reindeer

2010-12-06T18:53:00.000-08:00

Day 6, woo hoo! I think in a previous post I had mentioned that reindeer were my favorite part of Christmas, so I apologize if the art this month gets a little deer-heavy. I had no intention of posting all of my reindeer stuff so close together but it just kinda worked out that way. More variety is in store in the future, I promise! I do really like this piece though, the deer are very cute. And the whole entire thing got very long and thin, so I posted both halves enlarged so you can get a better view of the reindeer. Hope you like it! Be sure to check back tomorrow!

Reindeer

2010-12-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

Hello all and welcome to Day 5 of Holly Jolly Holiday! Nothing too exciting, just a reindeer doodle lovingly given a quick color in Photoshop. :) Gotta give the other non-red-nosed reindeer some love too.

Elfy McElferson

2010-12-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

Little elf for today's Holly Jolly Holiday doodle! Done in Illustrator, loosly inspired by the costumes in 'Elf'. I tried for a more Hallmark/American Greetings type of more stylized feel with this which I don't do all that that often. But variety is the spice of life, as they say and new stuff is fun to do once in a while! I also gotta admit, elves are not my favorite part of the holiday season. Not quite sure why..I'm more a reindeer girl. But I hope you enjoy, and be sure to check back tomorrow for yet another installment!

Retro Deer

2010-12-03T17:23:00.000-08:00

Decided to do a little retro-inspired deer for Day 3 of my Holly Jolly Holiday art-stravaganza! I love all the cheap plastic 60's deer chatchkys; they are amazing in their design and color choices, so I was trying to draw on that feel a little bit with this. With a little Mary Blair spin too. Can't do retro without a little Mary Blair inspiration thrown in for good measure.

Jinglin' All The Way

2010-12-02T16:57:00.000-08:00

Happy 'Holly Jolly Holiday' Part Deaux! Two cute lil' bells today, and they're happy to see ya!

It's a Holly Jolly Holiday!

2010-12-01T14:56:00.000-08:00

Happy December everyone! As a special holiday treat to countdown to Christmas I will posting something every day this month to help getcha in the holiday spirit! I don't know if any of you guys remember my 'Cute n' Creepy' thing for Halloween '09, but this is going to be just like that; just with less witches and werewolves and more reindeer and snowflakes.

'Holly Jolly Holiday' starts off just right this year with a batch of gingerbread cookies. Nothing says Christmas like a batch of these guys and the best part is decorating them! Enjoy, and be sure to check back every day for a new holiday goodie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T17:13:00.001-08:00

Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving today! Here are some doodles I did to celebrate today.

And for all of your vegetarians out there, a Tofurky. Which are delicious, btw. I had my first Tofurky roast this year, and it is highly recommended for all of you want a less meaty Turkey Day. :)

We All Scream For Ice Cream!

2010-09-27T19:06:00.001-07:00

Just a little Illustrator doodle of cute happy ice cream cones!

"When 900 years you reach, look as cute, you will not."

2010-09-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

So lately when I'm home I've been doodling a little bit in Photoshop right after I wake up before I start working just to get the creative juices flowing . I never ever get anything good out of these sketches; they're mostly to get the crap out before I start on the actual work, and Photoshop helps because I don't waste paper on stuff that's just a jump start on the better stuff. But the other day some Star Wars music came on the ol' iTunes, and I decided to doodle some more Star Wars stuff. And these actually turned out pretty OK, so I kept going and filled a page up. They're still pretty rough, but I thought I would share anyway. :) I really like my take on Yoda. I might have to do a cleaned up version of him in this style at some point in the future. He kinda reminds me of Genndy Tartakovsky's version from the original Clone Wars cartoons, but less angular and more cuddly. "Snuggle me you should, yes. In need of hugs am I."

I also like my kinda wasp-ish, wino Jabba at the top there. That's what he would look like if Truman Capote voiced him I guess.

DAK Day: Slow Tortoise, Fast Gestures

2010-09-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

I took a little break from work today and went to Animal Kingdom to do a little sketching. Not too much came out of it, but I did do a pretty decent sketch of a tortoise.

I also did some gestures at the Festival of the Lion King show. For those of you who don't know, gestures are very quick sketches done right on the spot. They normally range from a few seconds to 15 or 20 minutes, and should capture movement and not be too detailed. They were my favorite things in figure class in college; I'm a very sketchy drawer naturally so they're a lot of fun to do; and the quicker the better. I loved doing gestures while watching movies or shows, and dynamic action poses were the most fun. Cirque du Soleil marathons on Bravo were the best. I haven't done any since I graduated, so I was a little out of practice, but given that and the fact I did these in a dark theatre, I thought these turned out pretty good. If you haven't seen the Festival of the Lion King show, I highly recommend it. It's like a short Cirque du Soleil themed to the Lion King with awesome costumes. And the Tumble Monkeys are amazing. I wish I could have done more with them but they were so fast and did so many flips it was hard to keep up!

Wuv, Twu Wuv Is What Bwings Us Together!

2010-09-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends from college got married recently and I decided that making them a pair of custom Vinylmations would be a really unique and cute wedding present. At least I really hoped it would be. I liked how they turned out, so I was sure to document them before I gave them to the happy couple. And these I share with you!

The groom, complete with sculpted top hat, real bow tie, glossy shoes and little gem button and cufflinks.

The bride, with a real dress with glittery top, tulle veil, a tiara made from a prefectly sized necklace charm and bow complete with gemstone.

The happy couple in Disney's Wedding pavillion, complete with Cinderella Castle in the background.

Just some romantic atmosphere pictures around the Wedding Pavillion. It was a beautiful place, my ideal wedding atmosphere. ;) I did a lot of girly giggling and wistful sighing while I was there.

And of course, no wedding is complete without some pictures at the Grand Floridian Resort, the absolute image of luxury and romance.

The actual wedding was a dream, I had so much fun and I could tell the bride and groom did too.

Dinosaurs!

2010-09-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

My little nephew mailed my boyfriend and I a little picture the other day so we decided to return the favor and send him some back. Here's my contribution. Who doesn't love dinosaurs?

Foxxy Fox

2010-08-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

Nothing special, just a little cute fox doodle I did while I was watching a movie. Nice rough pencil sketch, nothing Photoshopped about it, just pure pencil on paper. :)

Cute By Way Of Hoth

2010-08-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while, hasn't it? How is everybody doing? Good I hope.

So this weekend was Star Wars Celebration V here in good ol' sunny Orlando, and I had the good fortune of being able to go. Now of course, my brain is in 'Star Wars' mode so I decided to do some good old fashioned fan art with a cute spin; something which the Star Wars fan base is pretty lacking, I noticed browsing through the merch floor. I can fix that. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a cute, friendly Wampa (he must have just caught himself a Rebel snack to be in such a good mood), and my favorite creature in all of the Star Wars universe, the Tauntaun. He's just too cute to be sliced up and used for sheets, if you ask my opinion.

Both of these were done in Illustrator, in, oh, about two hours if you take Netflix distractions into account. I've been wanting to do some cute Star Wars fan art for a while so I'm glad I finally got around to doing it.

Molly the Owl

2010-03-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

I have been swept up in the Molly the Owl craze! For those of you unfamiliar, check the website here: http://www.ustream.tv/theowlbox Molly is an owl expecting her eggs to check any day now! A live webcam was set up and people watch her as she does cute owl stuff and takes care of her little owlets-to-be. My friend Lisa sent me the link this morning and I was watching it the background as I worked. What a nice way to let the workday breeze past. Thanks Lisa! Owls are very cute when they sleep btw.

So I turned it on just now to see if any hatching had taken place and I decided to a super quick Photoshop sketch. And by super quick I mean under 5 minutes. I never work this way but I like it, so hopefully I can do more the future. It hones my storyboarding skills, which have seen better days unfortunately.

I Like Hugs

2010-03-14T10:09:00.001-07:00

So......yeah. It's been WAY too long since I posted anything. I have been crazy busy for a very long time and unfortunately that means my blog gets a little neglected. I was talking with a friend and this idea popped up and it was too cute to not do. He really likes hugs.

New Vinylmation Line Coming Soon!

2009-11-12T05:49:00.000-08:00

Hello guys! Sorry, no art this time. But I did want to inform you all that the Park 3 series of Vinylmation will be released next Friday, November 20th! I have quite a few in this series, including 2 9 inches! Disney hasn't posted any official pics up on the site yet, but my name's mentioned on the Artist Signing list. (Yay!! Always fun to see!) So if you're going to be in the Orlando area on the 20th, please stop by Downtown Disney's Art of Disney store from 5 to 7 and say hello!

www.artofdisneyparks.com

I suppose this is how things like 'Darkwing Duck' happen

2009-11-07T06:07:00.000-08:00

Stupid doodle, I know. We were watching 'Dark Knight' the other day and out of the blue Brian turned to me and said 'You should do a chick dressed up like Batman for your blog'. And here he is. I'm not big into drawing buildings and stuff (can you guess), they just bore the hell out of me so if I don't have to, they're not going in. He just didn't work too well on just a white background, so I threw this together just to add something. No, I'm not proud of it, it's not my finest achievement, but it gets the point across.

Dia De Los Lindos

2009-11-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

I know, it's not October anymore, so Cute and Creepy is officially over, but I wanted to do something for the Dia de Los Muertos holiday. It's not something I celebrate, but I remember learning about it in those years of Spanish class in middle and high school. It's not a style I ever work in, but it was fun taking it and kinda tweaking it to fit my stuff a little. So for anybody celebrating, Feliz Dia De Los Muertos hoy!

The Great Pumpkin Only Visits the Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-31T09:36:00.000-07:00

This is for Amy. Thanks for the Jack-O-Lantern suggestion!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2009-10-31T07:47:00.000-07:00

It is officially Halloween everybody! Whoohoo!

Sorry I wasn't able to post these past two days, and that for the past week the posts haven't been what they should have been. I had tons of stuff for multiple clients due all at the same time, so I was devoting pretty much all my time to that. But it's all done now, I turned the last project in last night. There will be revisions on them, I'm sure, but at least the rush of everything due at all once is over. I apologize that this had to happen right now and kind of mess up with my posting.

But anyway, thank you so much to everybody who's been following me all this month. I've gotten tons of great feedback and I'm glad that so many of you have been liking what I've been putting out. That means a lot.

Hope you all have an awesome Halloween!

Happy Guy From The Black Lagoon

2009-10-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

DAMN! Missed posting yesterday by a half hour. The good news is, my deadlines are fast approaching, so I almost have free time again. The bad news is, my deadlines are fast approaching so it's crunch time, and I still don't have any free time. I hate that this is happening the week of Halloween. I should be putting good stuff on the blog now more than ever this month. But priorities kids. Priorities. The clients come first.

Yes, Master!

2009-10-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

Yay! Igor. Or Eye-Gore. Tomato, tomahto.

He's Out Lookin' For A Top To Chop..

2009-10-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

This one's for you Kevin! Headless Horseman, as requested! Once I get a little more time on my hands I'll make this vector art to match the other posts, even if it's after Halloween by the time I get to it. Thanks for the suggestion! I didn't even think about the Headless Horseman. I am ashamed.

OK, now back to work. Enjoy!

That's the 3rd Werewolf This Month....

2009-10-25T18:12:00.001-07:00

Another super rough sketch. Still under a lot of tight deadlines. Hope you like it!

Prince Treat-Hotep

2009-10-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

GAAAAHHH I'm so swamped with work right now it's not even funny. I'm afraid it'll be rough sketches for the next few days kids. If anything at all. Hopefully I can get caught up with stuff and get some other better pieces up before Halloween.

Anyway, this is a sketch I had actually done LAST Halloween but it never made it up on the blog. The frustrating this is I did a better, tighter version of this mummy and a couple of other monsters, and they disappeared on me. I have no idea where they went off to. If I can find them, I'll be scanning them and putting them up, but until then it's all roughs.

Have a Devilishly Good Halloween!

2009-10-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

I do feel kinda bad for skipping a day of posting, but it takes a while to bake and clean and get stuff ready for a party, and it was really fun so I don't feel *quite* as bad as I should. But I'm making up for it with two posts today. The other one will probably get done at my normal posting time, so check back later tonight for the second post o' the day.

Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a...really cute airborne kitty!

2009-10-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it was ghost dogs, today it's witch kitties! It is a proven fact that cats enjoy flying around on brooms at night.

So I'm throwing a Halloween party tomorrow night. Why am I telling you this? There is a chance the preparations for said party will cause me to not be able to post tomorrow. I'll try but just in case it doesn't work out, I will make up for it by posting double on Saturday, so it'll all even out. Just to give you guys a heads up.

Bark Bark BOO!

2009-10-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

Who says the afterlife is just for people? I think ghost puppies would like hanging out in pumpkin patches. Lots of stuff to run around and hide in, scaring all the ghost kitties.

That Ain't No Avon Lady At Your Door

2009-10-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

More trick or treating monsters! Why you ask? Because it's fun to design wacky monsters, especially friendly ones who just want their annual free sugar fix.

Oooh! Piece of Candy!

2009-10-19T18:34:00.000-07:00

Went the super-cute-cavity-inducing route with this little piece of candy. This makes me giggle when I look at it. It's so damn cute!

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

2009-10-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

Whew! Almost didn't make it today! Cutting it close..again.

I decided to do another sketch/quickie Photoshop rendering today. I played around with a slightly different technique in shading, not that you can tell with the results. I normally do a multiply layer with the flat color and a normal layer of the shading on top of that. For this, I had a flat layer of dark color for the background between the pencil sketch and the multiply layer. I went into that and airbrushed an extra layer of shadows. The end result looks exactly the same as my other Photoshop stuff, I just did it a little differently.

Fascinating isn't it?

Anyway, hope you like tonight's addition to Cute-n-Creepy '09!

I Want My Mummy!

2009-10-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a mummy!

Yeah. Not quite sure what else to say tonight. Hope you like it! See ya here tomorrow with a new piece!

Sittin' On The Backyard Fence...

2009-10-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to my good friend Lisa, who gave me the idea of doing a black cat. To which I said, 'Duh! Why hadn't I thought of that before?' It's only one of the most iconic Halloween things ever. And I shall name him Walter.

My goal today was to be a little more stylish and less cute, just to shake things up a little bit. I like the color scheme and the composition, and there are certain things about the cat I love, like the whiskers, the eyes and the tail. The body was driving me crazy, and I'm still not sure that I hit on *quite* the right shape. But at least it was a little experimenting on my part. I'll have to practice more elegant styles in the future so I can get a little better at it.

Give Me Something Good To Eat!

2009-10-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

He just wants some candy like everybody else! Just don't go pulling that 'Just Take One' stuff with this guy. He won't be happy.

I'm really happy with him since it only took me about an hour and a half, and it's pretty much an actual illustration, however simple and basic it is. The original rough sketch I did had a woman standing at the door looking up at him, but I'm not sure she's needed. And I ran out of time. If I put her in, this would be going up after midnight, and it's close enough as it is. I might throw her in later and if I'm happy with it, I'll do a re-post. Anyway, off to bed with me for it grows late and I need to sleep.

Night of the Cuter Dead

2009-10-14T19:55:00.001-07:00

DEFINITELY went with more 'creepy' today, but he's still kinda cute in a flesh-eating zombie sort of way! Don't hug him though, you might get a little blood on your clothes. Plus the whole 'he'll probably eat your brains' thing.

This was a little challenging. Trying to get a zombie to fit in with the other monsters was a little difficult, since zombies really aren't my thing. I don't draw them...like ever (this was my first zombie!) and I'm not too big into zombie movies either. Too much gore usually, but 'Shaun of the Dead' was an exception. That was an awesome movie. But I digress. I really like him. Not too sure if he's going to make his way into the ol' portfolio but still it's a good Halloween blog contribution. Now 'Cute and Creepy' actually means cute and creepy. not just a catchy title!

Meet Chaney!

2009-10-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

ANOTHER late post..geez...work sure can get in the way of on the side projects can't it? I REALLY need to sit down and get ahead of these so I'm not scrambling to bang out one at 10:00 pm every night.

I am love with this guy! I decided to do a more animated werewolf just because it would be fun. I like the Pete the Puma-esque look and the more classic-animation feel to him. I want to develop him a little more and take him past this extremely rough sketch phase, so don't be surprised if he makes another appearance before the month is out. I think I'll name him 'Chaney' for Lon Chaney Jr. It fits.

It Came From Silver Springs!!!!!

2009-10-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Whew! Cut the deadline super close tonight. It's after 11 and I'm just getting this up.

Next creature in my monster series: The Creature From the Black Lagoon! Note: instead of a moon, like in my other monster settings, there are instead MOON JELLYFISH! Hahaha! It totally counts.

Quick 'Creature' trivia: they actually filmed some of the movie not too far away from Orlando, in Silver Springs. It's currently a little 'theme park'/tourist attraction with some glass bottom boats so you can see the actual spring where they shot the underwater scenes. It's pretty cool. The more you know!

Trick or Treat!

2009-10-11T19:16:00.001-07:00

SO unhappy with my ghosts from yesterday. I'll chalk it up to exhaustion. I'm still very tired today. We hit up Disney's Hollywood Studios for a little bit with Brian's dad today, and then I had 'work' work to do and take Brian's dad to the airport...needless to say I'm still pretty tired. The heat wasn't quite as bad today but it still felt like an afternoon from the middle of summer as opposed to the middle of October. That does nothing to make one feel refreshed and energized.

Anyway, rambling. I didn't like my stuff yesterday so I doodled this MUCH cuter ghost up, scanned it in and gave it a quick 10-minute render in Photoshop. I like it much better.

Boo to You!

2009-10-10T20:13:00.000-07:00

BLURRGGHHH SO TIRED. Full day at EPCOT today. And it was unseasonably warm. Understatement of the year: it felt like friggin' August today. I am going to bed.

Puttin' On the Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttzzzzzzz!

2009-10-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

Haha. Young Frankenstein again.

Spent the whole day at the Magic Kingdom and resort hopping today with Brian and his dad so I didn't have much time to work on this (I know, what a terrible life I have here..) . I had started him a few days ago, but he was really stiff (no pun intended). I fixed him up a little gave him a better pose, so I'm happy with Frankie, but the BG was a tad rushed. Oh well.

At least I made it for posting today! Just barely, but I made it.

Now I am exhausted and I bid you all a good night!

Werewolf? There! Wolf.

2009-10-08T15:36:00.001-07:00

Haha, 'Young Frankenstein' I love you.

Here's a cute little werewolf for you guys! He's my favorite out of everything I've done for this project so far. It helps that werewolves are my favorite monster (the original Lon Chaney Jr. film is AMAZING. If you haven't seen it, go Netflix it. Classic awesomeness.)

Brian's dad is in town for the weekend. I'll still be posting but we'll be out and about in the parks all weekend so it might just be little sketches and doodles for the next few days. I'll see what happens. Also, updates may be a little later than usual. But I just wanted to give you guys a heads up.

Enjoy!

Bat-A-Tat-Tat

2009-10-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't responded to everybody's comments today. I can't sign into my Facebook for some reason. I hope that little problem fixes itself...

Anyway, here's a cute little bat. He's out hunting for yummy bugs to eat!

Candy Apples Redux: Sweet and Sour

2009-10-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

Bonus post today!

My friend Matt gave me an excellent suggestion the other day after my candy apples post. He said why not expand on it, and go with sweet and sour'? Red apples are sweet, green apples are sour, and that way it goes beyond just anther cute thing. Brilliant. I really miss brainstorming with ya, Matt. You're always chock full of awesome ideas!

So here they are, sweet and sour!

Charlie-O-Lantern

2009-10-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it was about time I did a Jack-O-Lantern wasn't it?

He Vants To Suck Your Bluhd!

2009-10-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

One! One cute vampire! 'A 'a 'a 'a!!!!

Another post in this style. And there's a background this time! Bonus! I'm figuring out that days that I'm in the office at work make posting just a little bit harder, so the post was a little late tonight. (Sorry Matt.. :( ) I think I may have to work a head and stockpile a few of these ahead of time. I have a bunch that I'm working on, but I should probably work them past a really quick rough sketch before I consider it 'stockpiled'.

Anyway! Enjoy the Count tonight. And watch your necks! ;D

Candy Apples 2 Ways

2009-10-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

More foodie treats for you today. Candy apples! And they're happy t'see ya! Not really something Halloweeny in the more traditional sense, but they start popping up in the fall around this time, and they're always being served at Halloween parties and stuff. So they're making it into my blog. Ny'ah.

I couldn't decide wether red or green looked better, so I decided to go ahead and just do both. They work really well together, and I'm happy with them.

Itsy Bitsy Spider: Cute and Creepy Day 3

2009-10-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a little spider for my third post of the month. He's a cute little guy. I can't really bring myself to draw a more realistic spider. And thank to Brian for helping me with colors! I had a hard time figuring out what color his body should be.

I've noticed as I've been brainstorming ideas for things to do for this that a lot of Halloween stuff is either food or a monster of some kind. So I've been trying to come up with other things to throw in to mix it up a little bit. Hence 'spider'. Also I'm going to mix up the styles a little more as well. I can only do so much vector art and have it look different every time. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Be sure to drop in tomorrow for another addition to the group!

Witchy-Poo

2009-10-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

It's day 2 of my Halloween-O-Thon and I have this little witch for you. I actually have a bunch of iconic Halloween characters I'm planning on doing in this style. Which I like, by the way. It has a very Target-y Halloween display feel to it, and I think they'll be an awesome portfolio addition. I'm planning on sprinkling them in throughout the month, so keep your eyes peeled!

And thank you!! I've gotten a really great response to this little experiment which makes me super happy! Hopefully I'll keep your interests through the month. :D

Cute-n-Creepy Day 1: The Sweet Beginning

2009-10-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Yay!!! First post in my 31-Days-Of-Halloween Extravaganza! And what better way to start than with candy corn, that ultra-saccharine symbol of trick or treating. I'm not a fan of them myself. They're a little too sweet for me. But I love how they look. And every year I try them, thinking maybe this year will be different, maybe I'll magically be a fan of the lil' guys.....but no. Never changes. But at least I can appreciate them visually!

ANNOUNCING: CUTE AND CREEPY 09!!!!

2009-09-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

Happy October everybody! Halloween is my second favorite holiday (closely trailing behind Christmas..very very closely), and it also gets me super inspired artistically. This coupled with my recent absence of art has caused me to do something drastic. 31 days of straight posts. And all of them Halloween-themed. That's right. Starting later today, every day in October I will be posting a new post with a brand spanking new piece of Halloween-themed goodness. I'm calling it 'Cute and Creepy'. So whether it's a sketch, style guide-esque badge, character or icon, every day there will be something new here. Check back later today for the first batch of awesome!

And Happy Halloween!

Freelance Monsters For Hire

2009-09-14T05:03:00.000-07:00

Hello! Haven't posted in a while. It's been super busy here with Vinylmation work and a couple of outside jobs as well that I can't really talk about. But here's one recent job that I can talk about!

One of my friends from high school had contacted me about doing some character designs for his website re-design. It sounded like a lot of fun: he wanted some amorphous creatures with a little personality. Plus he's a really cool guy and a good friend from back in the day, so of course I said yes! Here's what I came up with.

First I sent him the initial design sketches so he could pick the overall design he wanted. (He chose 'C', which was one of my favorites, so that worked out well.) Then I did a couple of tight sketches of different poses for him to approve, and once he OK'd those, I inked them. That's where his process ended, but I went ahead and colored them in just for me. So here it is the entire process from sketch to final. It happens so rarely on my blog, I know.

Here's my friend's website, and he's on my side bar under 'Friend's Websites' as well. Check him out! He does web design, and he's got some good sites he's worked on.

http://www.version-8.net/

Panda-La

2009-08-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

Quick panda 'doodle' in Illustrator. Nothin' too fancy.

More vinyls to round out the collection.

2009-08-22T17:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of vinyls that I've designed so far. All of these have been released, and most of them are still available for purchase in the theme parks, if you're so inclined. ;)

The first one I ever did was my Figment design. He came out in the first Vinylmation release, Park Series 1. I also included a pic of the card that comes with the toy. Each vinyl gets a card with it in the box with a picture of the original artwork and the artist name and signature (along with the signature on the foot of the toy).

In Park Series 2, I had three designs. My 3-inch design was Monkey. I also had two 9-inch designs. The first was The Incredibles set with a 9-inch Mickey as Mr. Incredible and a 3-inch 'metal' Jack Jack that comes with it. The second 9-inch design was the Finding Nemo seagulls. I don't actually own this one, so the image comes courtesy of Vinylnation.net, a really amazing Vinylmation fan source online. Check them out, they're up on the latest Vinylmation news and they have an awesome site too. Yay for fans!

New Vinylmations! Coming soon to a theme park near you!

2009-08-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody! Back from vacation. I didn't even pick up a pencil while I was gone: the trip was more packed with activities than I had expected. And since I've been back I've been hitting a blank wall with what to do next. I have some ideas it's just finding the motivation to sit down and do them that's the problem. But, as Matt suggested earlier, I should start putting pics up of stuff I've done at DDG that's out, so while I'm on the creative dry patch, I think I'll fill up some space with that.

First up: this is the new line of vinyls going to be released soon. This info can be found at www.artofdisneyparks.com, so it's totally legal to show. This is our holiday line, with designs inspired by, well, different holidays. I have a bunch in this series. Three of the three inches and two nine inches are my designs. I'll let you guys guess and see if you can figure out which ones I did! ;)

Last Post Before Vacation!!!

2009-08-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

So I'm going to be gone for two weeks on vacation. I'm bringing my sketch book along, so while (hopefully) I'll be getting a lot of doodling done, I won't be able to upload anything. I'm going up with my boyfriend Brian to visit his family in Maryland and Ohio, and then some of my family in Virginia, hitting up Baltimore and D.C. while we're up there. It'll be good times! I'm excited to take a good long break with no work to do (I finished up all of my stuff for work, which was why I haven't posted anything in a while). It will be nice.

But anyway, I spent today doing this little number for a friend of mine from high school. She recently joined Facebook and didn't have a profile picture. She also HATES pictures of herself, so I know one wouldn't be coming anytime soon. In high school we always wrote stories (it's what we did for fun..I know we had no lives) and we came up with characters of ourselves that we wrote the stories about. So I offered to do a sketch of her character she could use for her profile pic. Her name is Akage, and her main character trait is 'pyro' hence the flames. I did this in Illustrator, but I played around with colored line work, which I really like. I don't do that too often but I think I'll start.

So yeah. That's it for a while, but hopefully after I come back I'll have lots of stuff to post. See ya real soon!

They call him Sherman, Sherman, Sherman, quicker than lightning....

2009-07-26T21:13:00.001-07:00

Yay! New character for you guys today. His name is Sherman, and he's a young harbor seal. Special bonus for today! Quick Photoshop rendering! Not the smoothest thing I've ever done but it's been forever since I've painted a character in non-flat color, so it was a good getting re-acquainted exercise. I think, total, I spent...oh...about 3 hours on this, probably less since I started doodling while I watching T.V. and it took a while for me to find him. Plus I was watching 'Next Food Network Star' so I kept getting wrapped up in the competition. Down to the final three! Nail biting time. Anyway, back on subject, Sherman actually started out as a lion cub but I went in a different direction. Obviously. :) Hope you guys like!

Students of the Royal Academy of Her Lady Tangerine

2009-07-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

I'm on a person roll! I was doodling some more, again, thinking about the fact that I NEVER do people and the ones I did the other day actually weren't too terrible, so I decided to do some more. I came up with these three girls. They're a little more anime, but that's OK every once in a while. I don't mind.

The blonde is Amy. She's the leader of the the three friends. She's the smart, go-getter, does well in school, class president, good at sports, gets along with everybody type. However, her drive to succeed often leads her to over-extend herself, which can lead to some pretty sticky situations. Debate team practice and the homecoming game all in one night?! How will she pull that off?

The black-haired girl is Dominica, but you better call her Dom or she'll hurt you. Her overly-girly name lead her to tom-boy tendencies as a child, but she's gradually learning that sometimes being a little girly is a good thing. She enjoys pranks and punk rock, and is the drummer in her own garage band, which she put together with some guys at school. She could care less about studying and learning but she's naturally good at math and enjoys it a little; not that she'd admit that to anybody. Despite her who-cares-about-grades attitude, she gets along with the adults and can often talk herself out of getting into too much trouble.

The brunette is Mayweather, but everybody calls her May for short. She is the quiet, shy, bookish one. She spends her days reading and enjoys learning as a hobby. She hopes to one day be a chemist in the medical field. While she's normally very withdrawn, she has a secret addiction to sugar which makes her go on some pretty intense sugar high benders, where she often hits a toy store and splurges on teddy bears and Nerf guns. She's an awesome shot with those rubber darts.

I'm also including the sketch because when I do vector art a lot of times I just show the finished product, and I wanted to start showing the originals occasionally as well.

Bookworms Galore!

2009-07-23T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the absence. I got a large outside project and a bunch of work projects at the same time so I've been pretty swamped for the past two weeks. I was on a good roll with the posts too.

Anyway, I was looking through my posts and I noticed that I never ever draw people. Like, ever. So I decided to doodle a couple last night and this is what I came up with. The guy started off as a mime and turned into a snarky college kid. And then I just wanted to draw a girl so I did. They're in two different styles, and I'm not sure which one I like best.

High On A Hill Sat A Lonely...uhhh...Goat..

2009-07-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

I decided to keep my Mary Blair inspired streak going for a little while longer and did another little character sketch. This was inspired by the goats in 'It's A Small World', with a little bit of my own touch. I know that these aren't exactly portfolio pieces, but they're giving me really good practice in color and going really simple and sweet with my characters.

Doodles and Such Milestone!!! Hooray!

2009-07-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

It is official: I have out-posted my blog for 2008! 25 posts people, more more than last year. And it's only July!

How much more will I post....?

Frankly I have no idea. But hopefully a lot more! You should, like, ya know, keep coming back and check it out!

(And I am well aware this is post number 26...so it's that many more over last year's post count!)

Deery Dear Deer

2009-07-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

I've been really wanting to do a Mary Blair-esque piece for a really really really long time. I recently (like...last week) got introduced to this webcomic called 'Tiny Kitten Teeth', and they hand-paint every panel in watercolor and guache. They are also very inspired by Mary Blair (among other things). Anyway, they're awesome and you should check them out.

http://www.tinykittenteeth.com/

So, they got me inspired to take a crack at the Mary Blair thing FINALLY and this is what I came up with. Nothing too special or different, I was trying my hand at it in Illustrator. This took me about a half hour to do. I like it. It's not EXACTLY Mary Blair but it's inspired by. :)

Puppy

2009-07-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a cute little Irish Setter-like puppy I did in Illustrator. He loves you, even though he just met you. And he is a good tracker. Did he mention that?

Movie quotes aside, I'm really liking this cute kick I'm on right now. I think I'm getting some portfolio fodder out of this streak. I think. Here's hoping it keeps going for a while.

Cutest Duckling EVER!

2009-07-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

AAAAAAHH SO CUTE... I love this little guy! He is one of my favorite designs I've done. I will definitely flesh him out some more once I get a little more time.

Dragon dragon dragon

2009-07-05T05:53:00.000-07:00

Dragon design done in Illustrator. It's kinda retro-feeling and simple.

Happy Fourth of July!

2009-07-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July Americans! I have three little patriotic characters for you guys today, sketched and colored just this morning (so I'm happy with them given I did them in like, a little over an hour total). They're kinda going back to more of what I doodled in college, and I like them. Expect more along this line in the future.

So first up, we have a cute little baby eagle, decked out in his holiday finest, one he'll have to grow into. I really like him, so I might take him into Illustrator and do a few designs with him. He'd be great on a onesie, so I might play around with that.

Second up is a more traditional eagle character. I think every character artist has to draw this sort of thing at some point in time. I named him George (after Washington) cuz Sam is SO overdone.

And third is just a cute little teddy bear getting into the spirit.

Enjoy and have a Happy Holiday!

Playful Pony

2009-06-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

Yay! Process today. I did this little sketch of a pony last night and I wanted to expand on it and make a cute little scene. The pink one is the final image, but I wanted to show the palomino option just to give you guys an idea of another color option I had in mind. Also, the font is different.

Anyway, enjoy!

Sea Lions and Seals

2009-06-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

I went to Sea World a little while ago and I did these gestures while I was watching the sea lions and seals. The sea lions are pretty much the best animals at Sea World. Sure Shamu's awesome and the dolphins are amazing but these guys are just downright entertaining. It's like watching a bunch of college guys; they're just sitting around, making lots of noise and looking for food. And they're really fun to draw.

This is a straight scan from my sketchbook.

Gorilla My Dreams...

2009-06-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

Howdy howdy howdy! I started this lil' guy off as a sketch at Animal kingdom a few months ago. It was just a little doodle, and honestly I forgot about it until I was looking through my sketchbook this week and saw it again. I liked it and thought it deserved more attention. So here he is.

His name is Clive, and he's a young male silverback gorilla. He enjoys lounging around in his hammock, eating bananas, and occasionally swinging around on vines through his jungle home. He's quite the thoughtful gorilla, more prone to daydreaming than pounding on his chest and acting all macho.

Tomorrowland Sketch

2009-06-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

I went to the Magic Kingdom yesterday with every intention to spend a nice, relaxing afternoon drawing and just hanging out. Maybe grabbing an ice cream or a milkshake, just kicking back, not really doing any rides just a nice time drawing. Two things went wrong: 1) it was like 105 degrees yesterday, or at least it felt like it, and 2) Being June, school's out and the summer crowds are starting to trickle in. So I spent maybe a half hour there instead of a whole afternoon. But I did get a nice sketch out of it though. I did this from the Plaza Restaurant outside eating area (right under Tinker Bell's flight path during Wishes) looking out toward the Tomorrowland entranceway. I've always liked Tomorrowland's entrance. I like all the rocks, it makes it feel more Jules Verne-ish.

But anyway, that's all I got for you in this post. I know it's not much but I hopes you like it. :)

Ocean Dwellers Post 3

2009-06-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

And the last three. These are probably my least favorite of all thirteen. Although the otter's not bad.

Ocean Dwellers Post 2

2009-06-02T15:01:00.001-07:00

Here are some more lil' sea critters! The squid's my favorite out of these five... but the seal and orca are cute too. :)

Ocean Dwellers Post 1

2009-06-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello! This past month was kinda busy with work, so I've been trying to squeeze working on these for a while now. I finally just wanted to get them done and move on to something else so I took some time today to just finish them.

Last time I went to Sea World, I started sketching some cute sea animals, and I thought it would be a good idea for a new line of cute icons and characters. So I scanned 'em, gave them the Illustrator treatment and voila'! An assault of new art.

I hope you like. The sharks are my personal favorites. I'm splitting them up into a few different posts to make them a little more manageable to view.

Star Wars Weekends

2009-05-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

Star Wars Weekends starts this weekend guys! I'm excited for reasons I cannot say. Check this link for cool merchandise featuring logos that I really like for some reason....*wink wink*

http://psc.disney.go.com/eventservices/artofdisneyparks/event/wdw_starwarmerchandise2009.html

Donkeys!

2009-04-21T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here are the donkey sketches I had mentioned a few posts ago. I started out by wanting to just design an out-and-out character, but I was happy with most of the sketches (I put in a few of the least favorites too just to show progress) so I just did two pages of designs. My favorite is the big shy one on the second page. He's just precious! :D I also decided to just lay down a layer of simple Photoshop color over them to kick em up a notch so I don't just have yet another page of black and white sketches here...again.

Hippity Hoppity

2009-04-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

I know I'm a little late on these, but only by three days, so it's not too far off. I was doodling in Illustrator again, and I did a cute little bunny and chick inspired by the cuteness of Easter. I took it one step farther and designed a pattern (Yes, an actual pattern. This is totally capable of becoming wrapping paper, napkins, packaging.. you name it!) with the two lil' guys and a few egg designs I came up with really quickly. I provided the original pattern design with a larger swatch showing the design repeating. Patterns are..I don't wanna say fun cuz sometimes they're just a pain...interesting.. to do so I might do a few more to expand my portfolio.

Group Shot

2009-04-14T13:04:00.001-07:00

Looking at my last post, I figured it'd be nice to have a post of all the lil' guys together on one page.