30s of week 8-31-09

It's been a couple of weeks. I've been in a rut lately with new ideas. Well, at least for the daily 30s. I'm struggling with them. But, I'm still trucking. So, here's a few that I did a couple of weeks ago.


I usually default with super hero things when I can't think of anything else. Here's Bert in a Wolverine get up.


Elmo with a big water balloon head...


And, the day the news of Disney buying Marvel. It was a dark day. Honestly, I'm a fan of both, but it just didn't seem like they should be under the same hat. You would think after a certain amount of money, owning such classics as Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, X-men, etc. would be worth more than MORE money. I guess not.

30s of recent

So, its been a little while. It's been a busy couple of weeks. Still busy, but it's time to get back to it. Here are a couple sketches I did recently. Went back to the super hero theme. Endless possibilities.


Hulkin Ernie. Made him a little more massive than I did Bert when I made him hulk out.


And, here's Bert with some fantastic ability. I did Grover with this before, but I like this version much better.

That's all for this week. Hope to be back with more sketchy sketches soon. Gots to keep on top of it!

RIP Ahma

Early this week my Grandmom passed away. She was 90 years old. Like anyone that's 90, she's seen a lot. From living in poverty, to living through war, to immigrating to the US. From no TV to video chatting on Skype. She's lived a lot. But, most important for her generation, she's raised and watched many kids, grandkids, and great grandkids grow up happy and healthy. Not bad for someone that couldn't read, write, or drive. It's really quite amazing. So, as the week went on and preparations for our Grandmom's funeral took place, I found myself searching for some release. It took me a minute, but I came to rest on what has given me comfort my whole life. My pencil. It was wonderful to have my wife June with me, but there's just something about pencil to paper that helps me process. Likeness was never my strength when it came to straight on portraits. But, I had to try. Here is my attempt.


My first attempt was a little off. The sketch you see here is after some adjustments were made. It came out better than I expected.


After really struggling with the straight on view, I had to make sure that I wasn't losing it. So, I sketched my Grandmom at three quarter view. Much more accurate and it took less than half the time. I really have to practice my front views.


I wanted to share this picture of my Grandmom. Some may think that its in bad taste to take a picture of her at the hospital. But, this is one of my favorite pictures of her. To me, it really shows how far she's come in her life. Grandmom was video chatting on a laptop! How cool is that? Our Grandmom accomplished a lot in her life. Maybe, not to some people's definition of accomplishments. But, she accomplished what was most important to her generation. A large happy healthy family. We'll miss you Grandmom. Rest in peace.

Japanese product

Finally! I got a design into Japan. It's about friggin time. Can't say its exactly how I'd like to see my designs applied, but its nice to see it applied at all. Sesame is really tough on designs that render their characters "unrecognizable" as they like to call it. This one made it out the doors. Oddly enough, in my opinion, the design is one of my most distorted designs. Simplified to the very least details possible and still resembling the characters. Here are the original designs for the "Sesame Seeds". As you can see they only took the faces of my designs. Why? Who knows. We don't question the Japanese. They produce some of our best toys out there. As for what these things actually are, I can't tell ya. Heads with suction cups... Definitely chocking hazards, but so is most of what Japan develops for us. Woohoo, design in Japan! Maybe, next time I can get them to use the hair too...

30s of week 7-20-09

This week I got inspired by the upcoming GI Joe movie. I had the figures and watched the series. My house and yard served as military base and battle zones. And, as I'm sure everyone else did, I switched up body parts as the figures fell apart. And, that was the wonder of GI Joe. And, the coolest characters of GI Joe were of course Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes. My personal favorite was Storm Shadow. He's a Ninja in all white that could dismantle a tank by kicking and punching it. How much more awesome can you get? So, this week I did two sketches with this inspiration.


Ernie as the awesome Storm Shadow about to kick some Joe ass.


Bert as Snake Eyes. I always thought of Snake Eyes more as a ninja. So, I didn't give him any guns and gave him two swords instead.

30s of week 7-13-09

Finally, moved on from the MJ. I'm oddly uninspired for the 30s these days. It's one of those sluggish times that we all have. But, still got to keep truckin. So, here's what I got this week. Hope you likes!


I went back to the trusted simplified structure I love so much.


My least favorite of the week. I like his weird expression tho. The creepy kid staring in your window look.


I actually liked this one. It's Ernie as a Shmoo.

30s of week 6-29-09

I actually had a different idea for this weeks sketches, but the overwhelming wave of Michael Jackson everything took over. And, it reminded me of how amazing of a performer he was. And, how wonderfully clean his movements were. So, this inspired this week's sketches.


Elmo imitating a classic Michael Jackson pose.


Less recognizable, but still a classic.

Michael Jackson may have had some serious issues, but you can't take away how much influence he had on the entertainment world. And, for me, it was nice to hear and see Jackson's contributions everywhere I went for a little while.

30s - Weremo

There was a lot of talk of vampires and werewolves this week at work. Thought it would be fun to make our characters into classic monsters. Here's Elmo as a werewolf.

30s of week 6-1

I've decided to combine 30s for this image for a more developed image. This is a combination of 3 sessions. I call it Cookie Monster. Haha.....ahem. Enjoy!

Sesame T

Here's a t-shirt my friend Vanessa and I designed for Sesame Workshop. It was made for Sesame's runners in the 09 Corporate Challenge event. It was only a limited run of 125 shirts. Yah, a black shirt is probably not great for running. But, our main idea in designing this shirt was that the shirts could be worn after the event. So, if its sunny out on the day of the run, they'll have to suffer a little for the run. Sorry. Maybe, make more stops at the water stations. BUT, instead of another cleaning rag, they'll have a nice addition to their t-shirt collection afterwards. It'll make the heat stroke worth it... Enjoy the run!

Card me

I got tired of always handing out company cards with my info hand written on it, so I finally made my own. I ran a short run of 250 to see how they came out. I was very pleased. Thanks to Kano, I got my cards made at a very reasonable price with the free rounded corners. Nice!

30s of week 5-18

This week I actually started another idea, but this idea took over. It was an idea continuing from last week.


The thought of Cookie being able to do the complete Vulcan solute was the main idea of the sketch. The Bock(Bert+Spock) in the background was an idea that came about mid sketch. I just thought it would be funny to have him staring on enviously.


Then, this image came about directly after the previous idea. I thought it would be hilarious for Bock to pull out the Vulcan death grip on Cookie in his intensely calm manner.

30s of week 5-11

This week I was asked one question many times. "Have you seen Star Trek yet?" I have not, but do plan to. But, since the question was brought to me so much during the week, it made its way into my 30s. So, here you go, this weeks sketches to Trek.


I started off with playing with his head details. Just couldn't bring myself to adding the hand yet. Just couldn't wrap my mind around the missing finger issue.


And, finally, I did one with the salute. And, Bert Spock just staring at his hand knowing that he couldn't ever fully perform the Vulcan Salute. Eh, but close enough.

30 of week 5-4

I've been feeling a little frustrated not being able to get to a more finished stage with my sketches. So, this week, I've combined my time. I was only able to squeeze out one sketch this week. But, I did use two 30 minute sessions on it.


The swine flu got to me. Oh no no, the flu itself didn't get to me. The constant barrage of news stories got to me. Here's how I pictured Bert reacting. Enjoy!

30s of week 4-27-09

Continuing with my exploration, I played with Ernie, Elmo, and Oscar. I think a forehead "detail" helps a lot in this style.


I had to give Ernie a angle on his forehead. Not so pleased.


Elmo's eyes kind of worked, but not really.


Oscar was my favorite of this week. He worked the best. I spent two sessions of my 30s on him. I liked it. I think I'll do it more.

30s of week 4-20-09

This week I did all Berts. I usually test out styles with either Bert or Ernie. I think they're the most fun to play with. Anyway, here's some Berts. Enjoy!


Just slight adjustments from our core style. Changing up line and structure.


I saw some Mignolia art mid week. It inspired this Bert. But, I wasn't quite pleased with this one. He was just too cavemen like. And, it didn't feel like Bert.


Next day, I gave it another shot. I think this one came out a lot better. I was happy with this one.

30s of week 4-6

Here are the 30s of this week. Just playing with some shapes, movement, and reactions. Hope yous likes.


Elmo with a slight reaction and some slight body adjustments.


I pushed Bert a little farther. I like his expression.


Bert with a little movement.


I took another shot at Elmo. Gave him a little more movement.

30s of week 3-30

These were from last week. I'm back to playing with styles. So, I started with cute. I did three this week.


Bert came out pretty cute. For some reason I left a mouth out. It felt right.


Ernie's came out pretty cute too.


Elmo's probably the least cute. He always ruins styles.

30s of week 3-23-09

This week I just wanted to have a little fun with the Sesame characters. After weeks of traumatic suspension, I needed to let loose a little. So, I just made them a little freaky.


Here's Bert.


Ernie.
Elmo. I didn't like this one so much. I liked his body, but the head fell apart.


Cookie. I tried him without his eyeballs to see what it looked like. It doesn't look like Cookie, but I liked the feel.


This is Bert from the week before. I was still feeling a little traumatized from the layoffs. That's what I tried to capture in Bert's pose. I just imagined him rocking back and forth a little.
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week of 3-9-09

So, last week was the week of the dreaded layoffs. It was not a fun week. Very stressful up to the day. Most people couldn't concentrate on work. So, everyone was just exhausted from the mental strain of the anticipation. And, that was all I could think of as well. So, I put it into my sketches.


People had been exhausted from the week before. And, on Monday, people were just not moving.


And, on Tuesday, everyone had gone over the edge from the anticipation. It was as if everyone had enough of feeling horrible and just snapped.


And, this was the feeling I got when I walked to work on Wednesday. Just a bunch of us walking to work not knowing who was to be cut. Sorry, its so rough. This was the first time I covered more than one character in a 30.
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30s of weeks 2-16&23-09

I ended up skipping one week because I only had one sketch. Yep, slacking a little. There is a lot going on these days at work and out of work. Stuff that takes up a lot of thought time. So, it was hard to actually sit down and focus on 30s. I know I know, excuses excuses. But, here are the ones that I managed to get out this week and last week. Enjoy!


This one from the earlier week. I was still on the tall lanky thing.


I finally saw Hellboy 2. I didn't follow the novel, but liked the movie. It inspired this visual.


Staying on the monster theme, here's Ernie as a hunchback type of character. Yes, he is supposed to have such mismatched arms.


This is "Aqua-Bert". Yah, he's just not himself without his nose.
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