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.