Sesame type illustration

For some reason when this weeks Illustration Friday topic was revealed to be "Under the Sea" I just couldn't get past this image in my head.
I know it's corny but I guess when you grow up with Seame Street these things are bound to happen.

I'm back

Well it's certainly been a while since my last post. Been doing a little freelance job on the side which has occupied pretty much all of my free time. Anyways things will be settling down soon and hopefully back to normal.

In the mean time, here's one for this weeks Illustration Friday.

Robot

My Kid Monday

One my daughter Teleri calls portrait. Of whom I'm uncertain.

Speed illustration

Unfortunately I was too busy to get this in for last weeks Illustration Friday.

Ironic since the topic was Speed.

Spring sketch

Wednesday Sketches

Wow! Two posts in a row. I must be on a roll. Enjoy.

Tuesday sketches

Monster

Illustration friday

Animation history

No new drawings to post so I thought I'd shift gears. First off I'm currently reading Shamus Culhane's autobiography entitled "Talking animals and other people". A fascinating first hand account of the very begining of the animation industry and his life working in it and the people he's worked with. Most copies are out of print now but you can hopefully find a copy in your local library like I did.
Another good book along these lines is "The Moose that roared". A great book as well mainly focusing on Jay Ward and Rocky and Bullwinkle. After reading that book one is left with that old saying "Some things never change".

Finaly I should point out that I have jumped on yet another bandwagon and have opened an online store through Cafe Press. Feel free to browse and shop. If there's enogh interest I will probably move it to a paying account where I'll be able to sell even more types of things. We'll see.
The link for the store in on the right with the original title "Subconscious Ink. Store".

Please come again.

My Kid Monday

Some etchings by Teleri(6)

St.Paddy's Day

There's a saying that goes " Shake any family tree and an Irishman is sure to fall out".
Today's the day to celebrate the little Irish in all of us.

Sláinte

Book collection

Nothing new to post so I thought I'd share a little memory.

I, like many other artists and animator's, have a Lot of books. Books primarily for reference and inspiration.

One of the first books I bought in relation to animation was Walt Disney's World of Fantasy by Adrian Bailey. By no means was it The Illusion of Life (an animator's bible), but it was still full of wonderfuly inspiring images and photos of the artists who worked there.

This book still resides on my bookshelf along with The Illusion of life,Chuck Amuck, The Animator's Survival kit, etc.

It will always remind me of the begining, of that new found excitment, and of that funny feeling which can only be described as a cross between longing and passion.

Illustration Friday's

Here is my second posting for Illustration Friday's.(I know, I'm posting on a Wednesday)

I couldn't come up with anything terribly clever this time so I just coloured a couple of doodles.

The title.... Bugs.

My Kid Monday

Here's a sweet drawing my daughter Tilly did for my wife after coming home from the hospital.

Tea

My first entry into the world of Illustration Friday.

I give you The Earl of Grey.

My Kid Monday's

My son Breandán(7) went through this stage where he enjoyed drawing kings. Here is one that he's named King Dobon.

Back to the Subconscious

A bit of a cheat

I'm cheating a bit with this post. I didn't get the chance to scan any of my kids drawings for today. So, I thought I'd post a drawing I did with my kids. This was done after watching the movie MirrorMask. A fun little film filled with tasty visuals, a real treat.

my last scene

I drew this while I was working on my last scene. Fairly accurate representation of how I felt while working on it.

Heffalump and Cherubs

New Blog

John Kricfalusi has started a new blog. Sometimes I like his stuff, sometimes I don't. But I will say he's a true genius at what he does. I think we'll be able to learn a thing or two by following his postings. Check him out HERE

Another cg feature in the works

I don't know why but the concept of this upcoming feature looks like it could be fun.
Kind of the reverse alien invasion. Planet One is to be animated by Ilion studio's for Nickelodeon.

Check out their site HERE

Rumpelstiltskin

Happy Valentine's Day 

3 Billy Goats Gruff

My son has been watching me create these little story book illustrations and decided to have a go at it himself. I helped a little with the colour.

Rapunzel

Hansel and Gretel

Little Red

My Kid Monday

A drawing my daughter Teleri(6) did of her stuffed Giraffe.

Some girly doodles

My kid Monday

Here's a funny little drawing my youngest, Ailis, did. Unfortunately I scanned it in grey scale so the title "Pink Babies" is a little lost.
On occassion I warm up by drawing circles(thanks Charlie) and I'm assuming my daughter picked up on this.

Funny.

Various sketches of Beasties

Just playin'

Kid Monday

A comilation of various super hero's and villains by my son Breandán(7).

Storyboredom

You must bookmark this site I just found courtesy of Cartoon Brew.
Made up of a few board artists from Disney etc. there are some great drawings and funny anecdotes.

Check it out HERE

Some kids

Bill Peet

A long time ago I posted a link to the site of the amazing Bill Peet.
Well I was at the site yesterday and was looking at all of his wonderful sketches when I realized people might not know where to look(on the site) to see them. Not terribly easy to get to.
So hears a direct link to his book list.
Be sure to check out each and every book as there are visual treasures in all of them.


HERE

My kid Monday

From Ailis, my youngest, age 4, a fairy.

It's my blogs birthday

Wow!!! One year ago today I hopped on the blog bandwagon and never looked back. Over 45000 views (40000 are probably mine). Looking back it would appear that starting this blog was one of the best things I've done for my own creativity.

As I've told anyone who will listen having an artistic blog is an ass kicker. You're putting it out there baby and you better keep putting it out there.

I'd like to thank all those who have supported me with their generous comments and to those who have felt I deserved to be linked on their own sites.
Cartoon Brew, Red Dot blog, Filboid Studge, Frederator, Blammo, Kauffman etc... and all those who've stopped by (from all over the world) and had a peek.

I hope this year will be as good if not better than the last.

Thanks


Jeff

Another little animation test.

It's a secret

This idea has been very close to me for some time.

My kid Monday's

Well here's a little experiment. My kid Monday's where I 'll post a drawing from one of my kids. Hopefully you'll find them slightly more interesting than watching home movies. I have three great children. Breandan 7, Teleri 6, and Ailis(Alish) 4.I'll start off with this drawing from Teleri.

test below

Below is a temporary test I've done in trying to upload video to blogger. Not crazy about the advertisement on the movie player. I will keep looking for other sites. Google video isn't working for me at the moment.

video test

Walking the dog

My wife suggests I do a follow up drawing of the lollipop stuck to the dog. We'll see...

Searching

Here are some attempts at finding a stlye that I'm happy for my Rainy Day story.

New Year, New posts

Well, I've finally gotten around to posting some new sketches. I've been on holidays for the last little while and have done lots of things besides drawing. One of which was to buy a new computer. I didn't have alot to spend so hopefully I got the biggest bang for my buck. That's what they told me in the store anyways. Should be able to do all the things I need and more.

I hope everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas and had some time to relax and recharge. I know I have.

This year I'm planning on adding a few different things to my blog. Inspired by Ward Jenkins I'm going to pick a day of the week to show some of the truly wonderful artwork of one of my 3 kids. Hopefully it will be interesting to someone besides Mom and Dad.

Also now that I have Video editing capabilities I'm hoping to add some video clips of some of the work I've done over the years. I've seen this on a few blogs and it looks promising.

And finaly I'm going to try to join in on one of those Illustration Friday's thing. We'll see how long that lasts.

Oh yeah and actually finish one of the 800 children's books I've started. We'll see...

Happy New years

Happy New Years to all!!!

Hope everyone has a truly brilliant and safe New Year.