BLAST FROM THE PAST: Precious Girls Club Art

I was contacted and did a small interview a couple months ago with a fan who does content on YouTube and they wanted to know more about the work I did for Precious Girls Club around 2009. I thought it was an interesting prospect as I was prepping some art for my blog and had the above art ready to go. I was trying to find the exact year PGC was around and then found out about all the legal drama that surrounded it. I was never aware of it until last year!

I'm still quite happy with the final art and it was all done by hand! I don't know if I still have any of the originals around though.

I haven't heard anything about the interview I did or if it was posted anywhere, so I'm posting the question and answer here for it as it shows the "day in the life" of a working artist.

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What was it like working on Precious Girls Club? Have you worked with Precious Moments on other projects? What was the extent of your work on PGC, and what made it into any final releases?

This project is hard to talk about in that it was just another job that filled a hole in my schedule. I only did character art (no backgrounds or elements) and I don’t even know the names of the characters if they had any. They were some adult characters, but mostly preteen girls that I drew. I guess they were preteen as I didn’t get any info to begin with. I knew what Precious Moments was as a brand. I was brought on in an emergency to help finish a project and I had to match the look and feel of it. They showed you the stuff and asked if you can do it. I thought I could and I did it. The approvals were really easy and things can really move when they are in a hurry. This was the only Precious Moments related work I did.

I drew the character art on cheap copy paper, and when it was approved, I then inked the final art on vellum. I used vellum at the time as the ink glided over the paper and it gave it a smooth professional look where I didn’t have to do much cleanup after I scanned it into the computer. I inked a lot of Strawberry Shortcake on vellum (and on normal art paper as well).

I think the Precious Girls Club work came around shortly after I finished work on the 2009 Rebooted look for Strawberry Shortcake as this art was close to the ages of the PGC characters. I’m guessing though. The 2009 Reboot took the 2005 look I worked on and aged the characters up in an effort to keep the audience. A lot of brands were doing this at the time as they didn’t want the money spent on them to go somewhere else. They did the same with Dora the Explorer too. I was steeped in doing work on properties aimed at girls and it was soon after in 2009 that I spent the whole year drawing Power Rangers: Jungle Fury which spun me back to the male audience. You go where the work is and stay open to it.

 

Working with Contractors and Handymen...

Met this guy named Bob the Builder. You might have heard of him. He was popular. He told me his catchphrase was "Can we fix it?" and all of a sudden his construction vehicles all yelled "Yes, we can!" together. Wasn't expecting that! Seemed like a nice guy. He even offered me tea. We talked, and it went well, but we didn't wind up working together.

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Six years later, an emergency job appears and I meet a Hispanic handyman named Manny Garcia. He is known as Handy Manny. You might have heard of him as well. The word on the street was that he was popular, too. They called him "The Best Repairman in the County!" 

 

He carries a toolbox, and believe or not, his tools are alive! He talks to them as well! No kidding! I thought that guy Bob was weird, my tools don't talk to me, but I went with it. Manny and I talked and he said he needed some help. I pitched some samples of what I could do for him and he liked them! We worked together for a short time and I did a LOT of stuff for him. He thanked me and paid me promptly too! 

 

Haven't heard from him in a long time. It might be time for a comeback!

 

Below is a small selection of art that I did for Handy Manny!

 

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For you process junkies out there:

 
Bob the Builder audition art was done and inked on paper by hand in early 2001.

Handy Manny art was ALL done digitally in Adobe Illustrator with the pen tool in October 2007. Took a bit to get into a good workflow, but I soon became a Jedi Master with the pen tool. Some of my BEST work I've ever done with a super strict tight deadline!  

FROM THE SKETCHBOOKS: Titanic sketches

From one from my sketchbooks circa 1997/98. Almost 30 years since I did this portrait drawing of Leo from Titanic. I was blown away by the film at the time and just started sketching one day for fun/practice. Once it started to come together, I just stayed with it till I was done. This type of work got better, and shortly after, it would get me regular freelance work at The Franklin Mint, and in mid/late 1998, I was invited into the art department where I had a little cubicle. My own little open office amongst the creative folk. Good memories! 

I used to use a bunch of soft pencil leads (HB, 2B, 3B, 4B) at that time but I've changed my process a LOT since then. I use mostly HB and harder (lighter) pencil leads due to working in licensing art. Keeping it clean and easy to erase is key.

I still have this drawing, although I did cut it out of the sketchbook it was in. Sketchbooks can build up fast and take up space, so I scanned the drawings I liked and then cut and saved the physical pages I really wanted to keep. This made the cut. I still like it. It really pops off the page holding the original in my hands.

It also set my preference as to why I don't like to draw in bound sketchbooks anymore. You do something better than average and it sets the bar higher where I felt I was competing with this when I did every other sketch. Since 2000, all my sketches have all been done on separate pieces of paper and I just kept the ones I liked in a box. I can go through a LOT of paper trying to work something out, and since I work mostly on cheap copy paper, the waste basket next to my drawing table is usually always filled.

Below is another Titanic sketch I did that I cut out of a sketchbook. Drawn around the same time and all done in pencil. It's another one I hooked into and stayed with till I thought it was done.

 

FROM THE ARCHIVE: My SESAME STREET Storybook Audition

Here are some samples from my archive that I originally did for Sesame Workshop featuring some of the characters from Sesame Street! Done back in or around 2014. 

I did other samples for them, but these were unique in that they were done to show them I could do storybook art as well. I had already done many storybooks by this time but they wanted to see how well I would interpret the art direction they gave me with their characters and not someone else's characters. I agreed with this and it was not an issue. It was also not a paid audition test, but the upside had way more positives than negatives. 

Two reasons why they wanted me to do this: 

1) To reassure them I knew how to draw and layout art for a storybook while working within the given size specs and be able to leave enough room for the manuscript text (very important!).

2) To draw the characters in original poses without relying on style guide art as a crutch. 

There is a different skill and language to doing storybooks and it depends on what age demo they are being produced for as well.

They wanted three samples total, and they just wanted to see rough versions for them. They gave me art direction for two of them and the third I could do whatever I wanted for fun. When I submitted them back to them I put the art direction on the sample as well. That way as my samples made the rounds internally it was all there and self-contained on the main two. I marked the areas for where the manuscript text would go, but it's fairly easy to see without it. It's an art to build and frame areas where the story text will go on any given page and that's part of the fun of designing a storybook. There's so many ways to do it! 

On my samples, I added some gray tone to make them pop a bit more off the page and give some separation. Normally, if you were doing an actual book, you wouldn't have time for it, but you always have to go a bit further on the audition pieces to impress the powers that be. 

My third piece was done for fun and it featured the Twiddlebugs that lived in the windowsill garden outside Ernie's window. I used to love when they would appear on the show when I was a kid as they collected odds and ends to make their home and car. I also thought they were unique, and they weren't in the original reference they gave me, so I thought it would show some extra effort on my part. 

In the end, I was approved and added to the list of artists that were available to work on Sesame Street material. I never did get any actual work though as they had two other artists who had been doing the work for quite some time and they always got first dibs on any new projects. If they turned something down or couldn't fit it in, I would then possibly get it. That was fine as you never know when the call or email will come.

I inquired again a couple years ago to see if the people I knew were still there and if there was anything new going on. They were still there and I was told I was still on the list but that they weren't producing much (if any) new art due to budget cuts (among other funding issues). Turns out they were mostly repurposing the vast archive of style guides and older work for any new projects they did. They were also reprinting older classic material for a new audience. One that has never been out of print since 1971 is the classic Little Golden Book The Monster at the End of This Book starring Grover!

Hope you enjoyed this fun post as I find some more from my vast archives! 

 

 

REPOST: Drawing Shaggy video!

Fun video I made of myself drawing Shaggy from many years ago. Still entertaining as it's done by hand... on paper no less! Only 15 minutes for you short attention people! I worked fast in real time just for you!

Click the link! https://vimeo.com/11248154 

 

Do artists really see it on the paper before they draw it?

I recently watched Bob Kane and Stan Lee on this 90's "Comic Greats" video series where Stan Lee had guests on to talk and draw. It's on YouTube. Before you rag on me about Bob Kane and the whole Bill Finger thing (and all the other Bob Kane stories), I want to move past that and pose a question based on something he said. I had to transcribe part of the video for this:

"All drawing is knowing where to put the lines," said Stan Lee. (I agree with, Stan!)

"The brain draws, not the hand. This is the mechanical part of it," said Kane. "I see the picture in my mind's eye as a cartoonist and the reason that I can draw and other people can't is that I can visualize it. My mind's eye is the projector, so before I do a head or a car or whatever, I see it on white paper. I really have that vision as all artists do."

I've heard this notion before and wonder if it's true. I've only had this happen THREE times in 30 years! You average it out to be once every 10 years where I'm so in the zone that I could see it on paper. 

In reality, every drawing is a fight on paper. Not always. Sometimes it's easier but I always seem to only have a loose idea of it in my head. This is why I sometimes hate to get nailed down to being a slave to my thumbnails as things can change. Am I afraid to commit to the line as a better idea will come along? Possibly, as I've had many "happy accidents" as Bob Ross would say.

Case in point, here is a page of Phineas and Ferb I drew quite a while ago. I read the art direction and for some reason saw this complicated scene so clearly that I drew it on paper directly with a blue ink ballpoint pen. No erasing. I still use those pens for writing and they don't have erasers. I did draw a pencil line border that was the correct size spec for the page but that was it. When done I scribbled a blue line border over it to finalize it. When I was done, it was all there. I was kind of amazed by it. So much so that I still have it here. There's also an energy to the piece that gets lost as it goes through the process of refinement and then the cold, sterile look of the final inks.

I know Jack Kirby could start in the top left corner of a blank double-page spread and just work his way diagonally across the page and to the bottom right corner and it would all just be there. Some people have the vision better than others. 

The journey continues...

Found more of my Disney Mickey Mouse Clubhouse work at the local Dollar Tree!

I went to the Dollar Tree today and saw they restocked all the coloring books! Was amazed and surprised that I found yet another book that had some of my old work in! This is the ninth book I've run across this year! They had another book there as well, but I had picked that up back in the Spring. It's in a previous post. I bought two copies for my archive.

Simply amazing! These were all in beautiful condition as well! I don't know how much they printed of this work once Bendon acquired it but it's still sitting in some giant warehouse somewhere out there waiting to be stocked and sold at some store.

ZOINKS! Scooby Vs. Dinosaur!

This piece was part of an adaptation of a What's New, Scooby-Doo  episode that I was worked on. I liked it and decided to color it and make it look like a design that would go on black t-shirt. The original line art was done on paper, then scanned and colored in Photoshop. I still like the energy and action of it!

TOM & JERRY: ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRY MOUSE - DVD Cover Design (Final Round)

This is my favorite of the last round of sketches I did for the DVD cover design for "Tom & Jerry: Robin Hood & His Merry Mouse" in 2011! 

I now had the final logo branding for it (in color!) and had to do some redesigning to make it fit as it took up less space on either side of it. Changing from the soft, round bull's eye target to the hard-edged shape of a shield works quite well.  

The top portion of the art with Tom & Jerry was nailed down in the previous version, but we simplified the top area by taking out the other characters and just going with the background of the castle. It works better as your eye isn't fighting over what to look at first. Again, I had each piece on a separate layer so adjustments could be easily made.

The lower part was the biggest change and I only kept my Sherwood Forest background plate I drew. Robin Hood and the Sheriff were now added dueling it out and became another focal point as they were placed center stage on the lower portion. To balance it out, some of the better known supporting characters were added. I think they work better than having generic "Merry Men."

The above final cover is the one I liked the most, but I submitted some variants too that played with the sizes of Robin Hood and the Sheriff. Once I submitted them, it was the last I heard of the art as it went through the approval process.

THE FINAL VERSION 

The poses of Robin Hood and the Sheriff were changed after it left my drawing board. Everything else basically stayed the same with a minor tweak here or there.

Robin Hood basically stayed the same but they added more "squash and stretch" to both characters. The Sheriff was a bigger change and I'm not sure why they went with a side profile view unless it was merely done to make it look like he was facing Robin Hood directly? The problem is his body pose. He still has one hand on his sword and his left hand is off to the side in the air, but it's now partially blocked from view. It would have worked better if he had both hands on his sword as if he were struggling a bit in battle.

This is why the front 3/4 view is mostly used because it's the most appealing. When I did it you got a clear view of the Sheriff and he was facing Robin. I drew them more like they were just starting to duel. The final version looks like they were fighting each other for a bit. They may have given it to someone who was working on the movie as they had a better context of what was going on in terms of story. I was going by the basic themes of what I knew of Robin Hood (basically the 1938 Errol Flynn film masterpiece).

I could have redone both figures to make them more animated, but possibly time or budget got in the way and they handed it off internally to finish. I was just part of the pipeline on this one. I don't know how close they were to a final deadline or release date because I never saw the thing again until I saw it in a store. 

Hope you liked how it came out and the inside look at the process!

 

POWERPUFF GIRLS To The Rescue!

 

SCOOBY-DOO Stickers On A Hot, Sticky Summer Day!

I thought I'd post some Scooby stickers to go with the hot & sticky heat that is broiling the East Coast today!

POKEMON: My Original Thumbnails & Mini Size-Chart From 1999!

Yesterday, while going through my archives, I found a sheet of Pokemon thumbnails and a mini size chart I made back in 1999. The Pokemon guide book they gave me had size charts that went several pages (back then they only had 150 Pokemons or so), and it was just easier to make my own quick hand-made size chart of the characters I had to specifically draw at the time. 

All this was done just for me and I only had to send out the final art roughs. Some prelims they may want to see but that was rare back then. Nowadays, the suits like to see every aspect to justify their jobs.

SCOOBY-DOO AND THE CYBER CHASE: Giant 5' Long Coloring Page Mini Mock-Up From 2000!

A small treasure from 2000 in my archive! 

I worked on a LARGE 8-page pull-out coloring banner/poster that unfolded and stretched 5 FEET! It was a tie-in for the Scooby-Doo And The Cyber Chase animated film which came out in 2001. This was done all by hand and I did a mini mock-up to get the scale and layout down. It was much easier working smaller! Each character was separate and I cut and pasted/Scotch taped it all together to get a sense if it would work. We've come a LONG way! 

I didn't have my first Photoshop class (using PS 6.0) until Spring of 2001, so this was kicking it real OLD SCHOOL on my end. Once it was approved, I must have upscaled it on a copy machine at Staples, then light-boxed it and inked the final art on 3 or 4 separate pieces on good art paper. Someone at Golden Books took the final art and scanned it and then stitched it together digitally for the designer. I'm trying to recall as it was 25 years ago! We were still using Quark as a layout program.

One side was a giant coloring page with all the monsters (pictured above) and the other side was a single, GIANT maze that ran from end to end with different styles of mazes and graphics to recreate parts of the film. One of the MOST CREATIVE and FUN things I've ever worked on. They don't even do this kind of cool stuff today! 

UPDATE! I found an extra copy of the book in my archives where I had taken the staples out to free up the banner, so my other "Gem Mint 10" copies will stay as is. It came with a stickers insert page like the Alien Invaders book I did.

Been a LONG time since I looked at the final version! I took some pics of the printed version with my original rough mock-up so you can get an idea of the scale I was working at in planning it out. 

 

 

Looking at the maze side of the banner (which I didn't take any pics of), I can see two scenarios I drew but didn't happen in the actual film as we were working with the early version of things and I'm guessing it was too late to fix things. 

 

One had the Gang on a pirate ship with the threat of a giant shark, and the next scenario was Daphne and Velma as princesses who were trapped in a castle. That's all I can gather from looking at it. I don't think the film had those but it's been a long time since I've seen it. It was approved by WB so I'm guessing they had no issues with it and we needed to get it done. 

 

Looking back on it all, I can certainly see some tweaks and changes I would make if I had to do it again. This was before I learned how to do certain aspects digitally and I would tighten up the design, but overall I'm still happy with it! 

 

 

 

  

TOM & JERRY: ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRY MOUSE - DVD Cover Design (2nd Round)

This is my favorite of the next round of sketches I did for the DVD cover design for "Tom & Jerry: Robin Hood & His Merry Mouse" in 2011! 

This was the first logo we got and while the title itself was locked, the look of the logo would change. As you can see the design and size of the logo defines a lot of the layout and how you have to work around it. 

The top portion of the art was nailed down by this point, and I like it a lot! The bottom portion has the Sheriff and the King escaping with the gold as Robin Hood's Merry Men are hidden in the forest to stop them. The issue? There's no Robin Hood! The result was a new reworking of the art, and Robin Hood would show up in the next (and final) round with the final, final logo.

As busy as the cover is, there are aspects I really like about it. We would simplify it in the end.