People Drawing: Disneyland Edition

Went drawing at Disneyland. First real drawing trip of any kind in a few months. Very inspiring trip. Anyways, here's to more updates featuring some of the finest from the Happiest Place on Earth.

First page featuring an interesting choice of selfie, a very sunburnt pin-collector, and a napping woman who was woken up by a marching band 5 minutes after I drew this. She wasn't thrilled to say the least. haha

Next page: a guy who could have walked straight off of Haunted Mansion, a leopard-clad lollipop licking graduate, and a princess in training.

5pm onward is an especially fantastic time to sit on Main Street and draw. I started focusing on the shut-down tired kids and how the parents were left to deal with their little ones. Lots of variety. Some even slept through a parade(the girl with the Stitch backpack) that was following behind them.

Croods DVD!

Today is the release day for the DVD for “The Croods!” In honor of the occasion, I thought it’d be fun to share the following video. A while back I had to opportunity to talk about my experience working on the film. To help breakdown what it’s like being an animator, I talked about the process of how an animated shot comes together. I included thumbnails that I drew for various shots(like the ones shown here) and I also edited a reel together of some of the reference I used for shot-based inspiration for “The Croods.”  Some was more loosely followed (more for an impression), others I stayed truer too. It really came down to what the shot called for. This is just a small percentage of the reference I collected over the course of production.

Reference Reel from Jennifer Harlow on Vimeo.

So enjoy and go out and buy the DVD--- everyone’s favorite Croodaceous family is now available on Amazon, iTunes, and even the local grocery stores! It even looks like you can own Belt in special combo packages.

SHARK WEEK 2013!

It's that time of year again, break out the drawing tools cause it's Shark Week!  Started by Kristen, everyday a specific species is selected for anyone to draw. 

Here's my group so far:

 

Sunday's Shark: The Spotted Hound Shark

Might make a great pet for those looking for an alternative to a dog. 

 Monday's Shark: The Bull Shark

Not a great alternative pet.

Sweet 16!

This month, my parrot Kiwi is celebrating his 16th birthday! I did a few drawings to honor the occasion.

Kiwi is a maroon-bellied conure, who I got from a local pet store when I was a kid. The poor guy was in an open tank where anyone(especially kids), could just grab him. I instantly knew he was the bird for me and I brought him home. He was terrified of hands and it took me a long time to get him to even accept an approaching finger.

Over the years, Kiwi has developed quite a personality. He's extremely protective of me and is generally known for being a grumpy buzzard. He even has an evil chuckle.

 

I had other birds growing up including a cockatiel named Buddy. Buddy loved to whistle and knew several tunes, but Kiwi never really learned despite my effort to teach him. So Kiwi grew jealous of Buddy and on one occasion, attacked Buddy to get him to stop whistling. And just so everyone knows, Buddy was fine and his feathers did grow back. 

People who whistle are even subject to attack, including myself. He gets really worked up if he hears it--it's very entertaining from a distance. 

 Kiwi isn't afraid of cats. He made this really clear when he attacked my cat Annie when she was a kitten. He grabbed a beakful of her whiskers and pulled. Even now that she's 10 times the size of Kiwi, she's still traumatized of him. I spend more time keeping him away from cats than the other way around. He will go looking for a fight.

 Here's a little summary of things Kiwi considers enemies to my well-being and will attack:
Any person or pet, M&M's, apples, cups, papertowels, tissues, toothbrushes(brushing my teeth can be a tad dangerous), running water in a sink, tv remotes, mustard containers, hats, painted fingernails, mirror reflections(especially his own), clicking pens...really the list goes on. He's quite the guard-bird.

But most of the time he's a sweetheart and adores head scritches, head-bumps, burying himself in the sleeves of my shirts, and gorging himself on bananas and strawberries...

So, Happy Birthday, Kiwi! Here's to the next 16 years.

Huntington Gardens

Today, I went out and visited The Huntington Gardens. I brought an itty-bitty sketchbook along and did a few drawings(they're not even the size of ones hand).

One is of a fascinating bonsai tree and then another of a random tree that was 100 times larger.

Very relaxing and beautiful spot.

Raider

Back in December, I took the plunge and adopted a cat. Owning a cat has been on my mind since I graduated and after moving to a new apartment, I visited a local shelter and spotted this itty-bitty puff:

 

Now a couple months later. Raider is no longer a puff, but a 10 pound gangly goofball: 

He's been the best bud to have around. Plays fetch, hangs upside down off of anything, rolls over for belly rubs and is always stalking me and making the morning/evening feeding routines for both my parrot and him highly entertaining:

 Legs make for especially great prey. Raider has the habit of hiding behind corners and pouncing on me when I pass.

 And just some more doodles of the spaz. He's a pro at tail-hunting.

THE CROODS!

With DreamWorks’ “The Croods” opening this weekend, I thought I’d revive the ol’ blog with writing about my experiences on the show.

“The Croods” is my first feature film after graduating from CalArts. I came onboard in January 2011 and after a few weeks of training, I was animating away on a feature film! Some of my first few shots involved Eep climbing up a cliff-face. I was given a little overview by my supervisor about the show and the expectations for the show's animation style(cartoony, but grounded with realistic believability)  and I was extremely excited after hearing about the family, the world, and the creatures! From January 2011 until November 2012, I was animating all kinds of supremely fun shots on the film. I couldn’t feel more proud of everyone involved in the making of  “The Croods.”  Some of my favorite memories involve attending dailies (when animators show their wip work to the directors), and watching the character’s traits/the whole family dynamic really develop.  The crew was constantly discovering new ways to push the animal-like movements on the family members, pushing the physical comedy, and really tapping into the heart-felt moments between the characters. All of which was very inspiring and motivating to a newcomer like me (and intimidating, but I learned so much on every shot)---I’d usually leave dailies very eager to get back to my desk and animate. Congratulations to all of my co-workers across all departments, it’s so exciting that the Crood family is now out for the world to enjoy. I feel very fortunate to have been a member of Team Croods!

I thought it’d be fun to end with some thumbnails. As I plan a shot, 99.9% of the time I do little planning drawings to figure out a course of action. I then use these as a starting point for shooting reference, scouring YouTube for more inspiration, or just diving right into posing the characters out.  This is a collage from a variety of shots I worked on, some ideas stayed, other changed as the shot progressed. 

Saturday Night: Beer n' Donuts

I was doing some grocery shopping at a local Von's on Saturday afternoon and this guy was right in front of me. His purchase solely included a pack of beer and a pack of mini-donuts---the makings of one wild weekend.  He also could not keep his balance very well, constantly swaying with every weight shift.

Ready, aim.....

Just for fun, for the past couple of Saturdays I've been taking archery classes. It's a great way to spend a morning and you get to see a lot of characters(all nice, very enthusiastic people too.) I'm pretty hooked on it. Here are a few doodles:

There are always about a dozen kids running around who are all very disproportionately sized for the bows. I'm always a little worried when one is next to me because there's a good chance of getting whacked with that bow while they try to setup.

 

Then there are the veterans to archery...though this was the first time I've seen this guy at this range. He had all of his own very fancy, top-of-the-line equipment(awesome back quiver!), more arrows than wildlife in the area, and wasn't talking to very many people. But with a great, "Let's DO this!" He charged past me into the bushes. I didn't see him the rest of the class, so he's probably going all Bear Grylls in the hills of Pasadena. This pose doesn't really do him justice, I was trying to get a clear read on that quiver and his intricate tattoos that covered much of his skin.

 Yesterday this boy was really excited about his first round of archery. He gave a play-by-play recount of the events leading up to his first hit. It was cute to see, especially the "woo hoo!" moment when his dad told him he got it on video. Yes, he fist bumped with his bow.

And then one of my own attempts:

 To be fair, it was my very first time shooting from the 20 yard line(had been practicing at the 10 yard line.) and didn't know what I needed to do to compensate for the new distance. That walk of shame to pick up that lone arrow was a fun one.... at least I now know what to do, and have gotten much better.

An update from the couple sketch trips I've taken between March and May.

First, I went on a drawing trip with my friend Kristen to the Natural History Museum, so here are a few that I didn't draw from my previous visit.

And then the usual round-up of the zoo crew. Now with tiger cubs(though they're quickly growing and barely resemble cubs.)

 

A few weekends ago I ventured out to Long Beach and sketched at the Aquarium of the Pacific. They had my two favorite animals: sea otters and puffins! Always fun to study those guys.

Been way too long since the last update--I just noticed that my last post was February! I'll be playing catchup for a little while here.

I was invited to interview with Animation Insider recently, the interview can be found here:
http://www.animationinsider.com/2012/04/jennifer-harlow/

It's a cool and very inspiring site, thanks again to Mike Milo for giving me the opportunity to participate.

And then a couple weeks ago the first official poster for DreamWorks' "The Croods" was released onto the internets! I'm currently very busy animating away on it and havin' a blast. 

Drawing with Dinosaurs

Decided to have a spur of the moment trip to the Natural History Museum to finally check-out the new dino exhibit. It has only been on my radar for the past several months:

Bonus Ground Sloth! He was in a different hall then the rest, but because I find them so fascinating, I had to stop and sketch him.

On another note, the arm poses on the actual Carnotaurus skeleton are pretty wonky, seems like an evolutionary step backwards. At least t-rex's tiny arms make a little more sense on the whole functionality scale.


The way this ended up being drawn...it looks like these two are having a casual conversation rather then a life or death hunt. "OH GUUURL! WHO DID YOUR NAILS???" This was also a lesson in how not to layout my drawing so it wouldn't run off the page....fail.

I was heading out to run some errands this morning and en route met a new neighbor!

He was really proud he had made it from the apartment's laundry facility without dropping anything and in his excitement, shared this news with me(with the biggest 3-toothed grin he could muster). I wasn't so much impressed by that accomplishment as I was by his poncho/bare feet look. I'm sure I'll be seeing him again on his next trip....I didn't immediately spy anymore ponchos in his tower of laundry, but I bet they were buried in there somewhere.

LAX: Holiday edition

Another round of LAX drawings from when I flew home to Oregon to spend Christmas with my family. My personal favorite is the gentlemen in the lower right corner---he was a cornucopia of character. Lots of visual splendor. Though I also treasure those moments of spotting an owner that looks like their pet(a very cheery couple).

Christmas 2011

In the final few minutes of Christmas, I thought I'd share a collage of some of the cards I made for my friends and family(also now that most of these cards are with their rightful owners and no more spoilers). There are about 2 or so cards missing, but regardless, these were a blast to do---I mean, I highly doubt Hallmark has ever had a card that combines both Pokemon and organic chemistry. Or one that features, "Walken in a Winter Wonderland"..... and the very original caroling Santa Shark!


Wishing everyone the very best this holiday season and a very Happy New Year! I'm off to enjoy more of my vacation time in good ol' Oregon. :)

Thanksgiving Travels!

Last week I went home for Thanksgiving---part of my trip involved flying out of LAX. While I waited for my flight to Oregon, I broke out the sketchbook and microns:
Within the first minute of sitting down I spotted this duo---yep, that's a Rubik's cube! He was doing pretty well with the blue rows...never finished before boarding though. She later woke up and attempted the cube too, for about 30 seconds before handing it back to him.

I have this game that I play of, "Guess who else is going to Medford, Oregon." There's a certain type of person that usually fits this mold, and I do my best to figure out who'll be on my flight. It's pretty fun, only on this occasion I was tricked! There was a flight to Portland, Oregon as well and a good chunk of my guesses boarded that flight that left 20 minutes before mine. This fellow was one, I thought he was a Medford local for sure. Horribly stained red shirt and all---he kept circling the terminal while pulling up his pants.
This girl was inhaling a GIANT brownie while intensely staring at me. It was a little unnerving seeing those piercing blue eyes every time I looked up from my page(I wasn't drawing her at the time, I was drawing someone else.)

The rest of the line-up. And that's how I spent my roughly 4 hours at LAX.

Zoo drawings from awhile ago. The jaguar was particularly proud of this giant bone he had received as his breakfast. He kept carrying it around and leaving it at the very front of the cage. Yum!

Based on a recommendation from a supervisor of mine from work, I went to this really great garden spot near my apartment. Next time I'll try to plan for a better time of year, most of the plants were going dormant. But I bet the place is gorgeous when everything is in bloom. Still got to see(and draw really poor representations of) some pretty sights. I haven't drawn plants in years, so it was interesting venturing back into that. Overall, a very relaxing trip.


And here are some exploratory thumbnails for a project I'm slowly working on(by slow, I mean at a glacial pace). It was something I started during my third year at CalArts, and now that I have a nice bit of time on my hands, I'm revisiting it. Still trying to relearn how to draw Quint, and I'm not satisfied with these, but they were fun to draw nonetheless. Anyways, I'll try to post bits and pieces along the way.

People of Glendale!

Just some experiences from the past few weeks from all over the area:

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I had just left my apartment and this lil buggy pulled up next to me at the red-light.
I swear that whole car was the length of my car's hood. And it's even more terrifying to think this merged onto the highway and took off into the night.

Here's how it felt looking at him:
His license plate related to always going 90 mph.....
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He was very intent on not spilling a single drop of his coffee as he made his way to the safety of a sturdy table in the corner of the shop I was drawing at. Nothing was about to distract him.
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Last weekend, I was making my way over to my apartment's on-site laundry facility. This involves crossing the bbq/pool area. As I was heading over, I suddenly looked to my right and this random lady was seated in the bbq area completely alone(no one was in the pool either) and without saying a word, gave me this GIANT, creepy soul-piercing smile:
I was a little hesitant to make another trip to pick-up my stuff. An hour later I took a slightly different route over and instead of seeing that woman I passed by mini-batman:
He was a much welcome relief. And I should say that the woman was gone the next time I passed by the bbq. Creepy!