Happenings and McCay's Little Nemo

I've never been so pleased with my little investment of capsule paintbrushes which enabled me to put colors in my sketches whenever I have the time,anywhere.
Not too long ago, I had to attend another wedding photography session to shoot both my pals, Daniel and Joanne, for their wedding ceremony in KL. This was towards the end of the day when we were already at the parking lot. Me with the camera and photography team and the happy couple.
About a week or so ago, Ed convinced me to go along and check out the One Academy exhibition held at MidValley KL while I was on leave that Friday. There was also an Education Fair coinciding hand in hand beside the exhibition. But I can gather from the crowd which of the events held the more appeal. One Academy definitely did have a whole lot of appeal. The amount of new creative talent out there is amazing and I was floored with our fellow MnU groupie,Gray, when we both saw his team effort cg animation short works on screen. Go Gray! He is turning out to be an A+ animation designer/artist!


We couldn't resist the temptation to go back through time to the ol' classroom scenario. They had provided easels for the public to try their hand at drawing the model. We grasp at the opportunity though were discovered later by the staff at hand. They were kind enough to just let me and Ed have our fun while we were there. If you're reading this 1Ac guys,thank you! We had so much fun back on the board. Boy! I'm so rusty at drawing while standing now. And here I am complaining that my bum has been widening by leaps and bounds due to sitting down on my toosh day in,day out.

And something I found that I didn't think YouTube would have,but THEY DID! Go YouTube! I was actually perusing through my Japanese Animation book the day before and came across the pre-production artworks for this lil number and thought that may be I can find 'em online. And was rewarded. Enjoy folks! Jason,if you're reading this,I know you'll be blasted back to your childhood days.

LITTLE NEMO - ADVENTURES IN SLUMBERLAND

Test

Part 1 - Just a lil sample for your potation.

And don't forget to watch the making of here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ6f81ZYIfI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXj_mGIublI

I could hardly believe that Frank and Ollie had their hand as story consultants in the film as well as other notable artists such as Jean 'Moebius' Giraud on story and Concept Designs, songs by the Sherman brothers and sung by the fabulous Melissa Manchester, Brian Froud on Design Development, John Canemaker on Visual Image Development and story sketch contribution from Ken Anderson ? (not too sure if its THE Ken A from Disney. Anyone with any thoughts on this one?). These are a few notables I was able to identify,but the entire crew that had worked on this are nothing short of spectacular talents. I wondered how this film got away from me,but I did recall a cartoon about a little boy with his pet Icarus when I was a kid. Guess I should've known better. Here's to making up for loss time.

Old Stuff

Sorry for the lack of art posts lately,folks. Here are some old stuff from my library I figured I might as well plunk in here.

PEKOMIK at PWTC recently

MnU was cordially invited to make an appearance at the Pekomik event at Putra World Trade Centre recently. We were given a booth to display our wares and were also asked to give an introductory talk about ourselves during the event. I flopped that one like guacamole gone bad overnight.

Still it was pretty much an experience to relish...that I will never ever do another talk till I get myself some proper lecture training.
Here's a peek at my contribution to the Longest Comic Banner in Asia...for the Pekomik event.
The rest of the Saladin team members got their hands on it too and all did a very fine job despite the tight deadline to hand it in to the organizers.





Laters, everyone!

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi 1975

Another one of Chuck Jones' wonderful projects based on Rudyard Kipling's story and narrated by Orson Welles. His adorable rendition of Rikki and the boy is truly inspiring indeed and the execution style of the character's expressions and reactions are truly one of Chuck's signature trademarks. I'm so glad he had worked on these gems when he did,something apart from what we're all used to seeing among the many MGM and Looney Tunes cartoons.

Tripod Entertainment Visit

There's been so much goings on lately that my updates here have been squelched tremendously. It's been an unending hive of activity around the office day in,day out. One of which is a lovely visit from Tripods Entertainment to our Saladin office in Cyberjaya. That's some of the Saladin team members alongside JCC and Tripoders.

Gregg showing his Zoorocco project to the guys that missed his lecture series the day before.
Me with my babies. Character designs for the first 6 episodes for Saladin.
After all these years, Syed (my ex-college lecturer now director numero dos) is still marking and approving my designs. Below, some of us at Saladin still find the time to chill and relax after office hours over a game of DnD. Nerds....I know.

Some photos from Gregg Davidson's animation lecture series on Zoorocco.

Having dinner with Gregg.

Heh!

Enjoy folks!

Hiromi Hughes' Felt Cuisine

I'm just so astounded by the high level of creative astistry that goes into each of these lovingly put together masterpieces. Would love to own one someday. Check out the amazing talent of Hiromi Hughes. A lovely refershing discovery indeed.

Here's a copy of the feed that came with the clips :
Learn how to create beautiful, hand crafted pretend play food from felt.

Fully illustrated craft guides show you step by step how easy it can be to create these designs that will thrill your children, and keep them entertained and delighted for hours on end...

My name is Hiromi Hughes, a busy mother of two from Melbourne Australia.

I produced the "Felt Cuisine" series of ebooks as I have always enjoyed arts and craft and have spent many years making my own hand made gifts for friends and family.

I grew up in Tokyo Japan, and have lived in Australia since 1991. In Japan I studied fashion design and have always loved designing things and being creative.

This passion for design has only grown since my husband and I started our family and I have found myself at home spending lots of playtime with our two beautiful children.

I have always encouraged my children in their play and have enjoyed watching them grow and develop. I love to watch and listen as they play and see them using their imagination as they explore and learn about their world...

Like most kids, they love their toys, but I have always wanted to provide them with a variety of toys.

Unfortunately, most of the toys that are available nowdays are the normal mass produced, cold, hard, plastic toys...nothing wrong with that of course, but I was searching for something different. Something softer, warmer and more natural, yet something that still allowed them to have fun, use their imagination and inspire their creativity.

I also wanted my children to understand and to feel the care and love that is put into gifts that are hand made and not just purchased ready made from a store.

I want my children to grow up valuing their family and friends and appreciating the true meaning of gifts, especially those that are made with love and affection by others. Gifts that are hand made by loved ones can not easily be replaced and help strengthen, relationships and help build fond childhood memories that will last a lifetime...

So I started to make some pretend play toy food from felt and other materials for my children and they loved them. They have always enjoyed playing "dress up" and "grown ups" and these pretend play food pieces were a hit. I continued to make them and started to make little sets for my friends, and their children. The feedback that I received was wonderful and it was such a pleasure to see the joy that these pieces brought to the faces of the children...

I then began to sell my work online (some of you may have even purchased some of my work yourselves) and again, the feedback I received was wonderful and greatly appreciated. I have now sold my work to many parts of the world, not only to people throughout Australia, but also to the UK, the USA, New Zealand and to some parts of Europe.

The problem was though, that there is onIy one of me and when I sold a set of my hand made pretend play food, I had to sit down and make it. Also, many of my customers have asked me if I would tell them or show them how it was done so they could try and make some for themselves...

The result of course, is the step by step, illustrated guides that form the "Felt Cuisine" series.

The designs and methods enclosed are the result of countless hours of design and testing... trial and error as I worked out what works and what does'nt work and the cheapest, easiest and most efficient way of doing things.

My two children began playing with my "Felt Cuisine" pieces when they were 2 years old and they have lasted wonderfully well. They are very safe toys, with no fragile, sharp pieces that are likely to break off and no small moving parts. Like anything though, they need to be treated with care. They are made of fabric, are hand sewn and are of course not completely indestructable.

Although these pieces may look difficult to make, they can be very easily re-created by you at home by following the simple step by step instructions and templates that I have provided.

I hope that children wherever they may be will enjoy playing with the wonderful creations that I know you will all soon be making...

As always, if you have any questions or comments about this book, please do not hesitate to contact me. Your feedback is always welcome and always appreciated.

Hiromi Hughes.
Melbourne, Australia 2007.

P.S - Don't for get to visit us at www.FeltCuisine.com" and sign up for your FREE eBook "Felt Cuisine - Strawberries by Design" and our FREE monthly newsletter with handy tips, hints and ideas to help you with your Felt Cuisine and other Japanese / Japanese inspired art and craft projects...

Chuck Jone's The White Seal

I can't believe it! More goodies to be found.

Chuck Jone's 1973

Some Animal Sketches

Cheers!

ACF 2008

Attended the Comic Convention in KL recently. Much smaller in scale and attraction compared to the Annual Comic Fiesta held every December,and the crowd wasn't exactly encouraging,but there was enough people around to generate some activity throughout the day.

What I drew on their graffiti wall. Natch!
Think our booth benefited most from commissions. Some satisfied visitors.







So am I officially an Anime artist now? I think so,...if people are willing to pay me to draw their favorite characters for them.

Cheers folks!

Chuck Jone's The Bear That Wasn't

I had no idea that such an episode even exists! Again,a round of thanks to YouTube.

Pearl Bailey

This brings back soooo much fond memories. One of the few animated features that really touched my heart or hit it right on the emotional level like this memorable scene...
Dangit, looks like I'm going to be on a Fox and the Hound mode this week. All so very inspiring and invaluable.

Dinner

Hi! how've y'all been? Hope everyone is having or had a grand Valentine's Day. This is a piece done for last year's comic convention in Malaysia. The title says it all. Hope y'all like it.
Cheers!

A Cupcake n some more sketches

Our scriptwriter,Hanie, makes awesome cupcakes! I didn't care much for the sugar beads though.
I've been having so much fun with my paint brush as you can see. Drew these girls a while back but thought I'd like to share 'em with you all. Light and sketchy is what I like.

I loveeeee Tintin. But I altered his hair a wee bit for this sketch. Would love to try an Asterix and Obelix next.
The top drawings were done in mind for our MnU book but neither panned out so in my sketchjournal it remains...along with a few add ons which I think is nice. Well,the holiday season is back...thank God. My body has been complaining again, and tho not comfirmed, I think I'm having a flu right now...but don't want to acknowledge it. It's all good now. I'll be heading back home for a family dinner very shortly and hopefully will get a lot of work,rest and exercise done during this much needed break from the office schedule.
Still haven't gotten my telephone and internet line set-up yet cos the phone company is taking it's sweet time again. *sigh* It's really cramping on my wanting to update stuff n all. A whole lot of my stuff has been backlogged a lot for more than a year so you can imagine my urge to get it all done and over with.
Hope y'all've been diggin' the sketches.
Have a happy week ahead,folks! Stay safe.

Dinah at play

Meet my destructive niece,Dinah.

More from my sketchjournal

Can't really remember if I've posted any of these in my blog or not and am too lazy to move my hand to click on my previous posts to check. So please forgive this lazy butt of a person here,folks.
I love this Chinese Flower doodle I did using my new brush pen at the time. The effects is amazing!
Doing some manga trials too. Will upload some more onnit.

I've been really busy with work and freelance jobs for the past few months, plus with the house move so I haven't really the time to kick back n sketch as much as I'd like to. *sniffles* But I'll try to post more works here to share with y'all when I can.
Cheers,folks!

Meeting with the Duke - Nov 29th '07

Old but I didn't realise I've forgotten to upload this till today. Meeting with Duke Mighten and Leon Tan over a lovely dinner at Chillies one fine evening. Advice...always good to have your sketchbook handy not only to scribble down ideas and inspirations but it's also a good ice-breaker cum portfolio and you get to have fantastic talents like the Duke doodling inside a collection for you.
Thank you so much,Duke!

Admiring circle...some of the MnU team checking out Duke's portfolio with Leon looking on.
Left to right : Ed,Ayon,Jase,Hoos,Duke,Leon and Gray.
WooHOO! And Duke's site at http://server11.web-mania.com/users/hosts/dukemighten.com/

Cheers all!