Tintin goes to Japan- Private Commission Poster

I just finished a new commission for a client that continues a series that we started in 2011. This is the third Tintin book cover inspired poster I've created starring my client, his wife, their dog and their new baby.

Not many Tintin books (by Hergé- real name Georges Prosper Remi) took place in Japan so it took a bit of imagining to work out how Hergé would have drawn and colored Mt. Fuji, a samurai and the clothes necessary for this scene based on my client's recent trip to Japan.

The poster/book cover has been framed and is hanging in their home.

Here are some work in progress images:

Using reference to keep the style as close as possible to Hergé's. 

Samurai outlined. Calm gardener in the background.

Almost finished. We did a bit of back and forth deciding on the colors of her yukata. Finally ended up in the blues. Also, my Mt. Fuji needed flattening.

Check out the other posters in this series.

Popcorn Club Animation

A short time after I designed the 1-2-3 Go Box (Happy Meal) for National Amusements/Showcase Cinemas, the art director contacted me to explore the possibility of creating an animation. They were considering having a short created utilizing the characters from the 1-2-3 Go Box to highlight their Popcorn Club for kids.

A few pages from the animation storyboard

I've been creating animations with production by Zach of Cut to Create for a few years now and the above is one of our latest. Together, Zach and I wrote the story (based on conversations with the client and their goals) and once it was approved I began work on storyboarding and creating the (many, many) characters and backgrounds as well as other assets for the animator.

We produced a three second test animation with Timbuktoons which completely floored me. It just blew my socks off and was immediately approved by the client, and we were on our way!

Getting the theatre background right was a bit of a task. We didn't want to overwhelm the viewer but we also didn't want to shortchange the cinema chain by showing a less than stellar viewing room.

Here's one of the versions (with some characters only partially drawn):

The above felt too stark so we upgraded by widening and adding another row for the final animation:

I considered using photos of the 1-2-3 Go Box for when they parachute down but instead decided to recreate them to look more simplified:

As part of the project, I designed 36 characters for the animation, some of whom were based on characters in the 1-2-3 Go Box and the rest completely new. Here are a number of my faves:

The animation hit theaters in the Summer of 2014 and plays before every movie at theaters offering the Popcorn Club or so I'm told. See it in person here. 

This project then led to me designing and illustrating cardboard standees (6 feet tall, die cut) and posters for display in theater lobbies. More on that soon.

Thanks for reading this far!

See my Youtube channel for more animations.

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I’ve been doing a lot of character development lately and from time to time I show off new characters on my blog. Sometimes they’re black and white and sketchy and other times full color and finished. If you want to see more from this series, just click this “characters” tag. You can also see a collection of characters in my Behance portfolio or on my website.

Tintin Boat Chase Book Cover/Poster

A client asked me to do a new commission for him to give to his wife for her birthday. Last year I created a Tintin cover for him to give her for Christmas (she was his fiancée then) which took place on Safari in Africa.

This year it was a boat chase off the coast of Italy. They provided me with a few photos from their recent trip and I took it from there. Here's the final art:

It was interesting to me to try to emulate someone as talented as Hergé (Tintin's creator). His draftsmanship is incredible and the amount of detail in every panel is astonishing. What I found surprising was the lack of color shadows. Buildings, for example, seem to be the same color from all sides and yet, through skillful drawing, Hergé was able to make them seem dimensional. Certainly a challenge for an illustrator who adores shades and shadows!

The final art was printed poster-sized and framed for the wall of their home. I also gave him a small image saved for the web so he could share the art with his friends on Facebook.

I tracked my progression from sketch to final and uploaded the work in progress to Behance. Have a look and leave a comment please.

A few images from along the way to pique your interest:

And here's the poster I created for this client last year.

Riding Dogopotamus

I'm illustrating a book called Dogopotamus about a boy who dreams of what he imagines to be (and later realizes is NOT) the perfect non-traditional pet.

The image above occurs just before Dogo spots a squirrel and mayhem ensues.

I've been posting this as a work in progress on Behance where you can follow along to see the steps I go through to get from sketch to finish.

Click the above image to see my work in progress and please leave a comment!

To learn more about this book which is part of a series called Petimals, you can go to the Petimals website.

Update: The book is now available at Amazon.com. It's a fun read!

Tintin Poster Commission Hot Air Balloon over Africa

In November, I was hired to create a custom Tintin poster as a surprise Christmas gift by a man for his fiancée. He came to me with what he wanted represented in the image (which is meant to look like the cover of a Tintin book) along with some photos and I put together a few sketches.

It's important to give your client what they ask for but to find the right spin on it. Originally, he requested that the balloon (and fiancée) be on the ground but I found that the composition wasn't going to be dynamic enough and it would be hard for a viewer to know what to focus on. So I brought the balloon to the foreground.

He wanted zebras, an elephant, a giraffe, a leopard, a Great Dane, a bird and a Vervet monkey.

I poured through Tintin books at the library (and at my parents' house) to really understand how Hergé would have done these characters and the background. His style is so simple and each line is perfect and intentional; it can be a little daunting but I was able to work it out.

Below are some screenshots I took while I worked:

The progression for the balloon and basket. Although very little of the balloon shows in the final piece, I drew it in its entirety.

The various characters start coming together.

Mostly done. The photo at the bottom right is a portion of a shot I took in Africa in 2007 and I was using it to try to get the tall grass right. In the final piece you'll note that the zebras have been switched around (which meant thickening or thinning the line weights accordingly) and a few elements were moved to improve the flow.

My client's fiancée loved the gift and the poster/book cover is framed and hanging in their home.