Belle Louisiana

Photooneri

2010-06-07T06:19:00.001-07:00

Hey Kids!

It's been a while...I MUST apologise! Things have been hectic this end......

Some crazy news for you all. I am actually moving blogs....my new one is now located here....http://photooneri.tumblr.com/

So make sure you continue to track my creativity on there!

Odette Owlle's First Christmas...

2009-11-19T01:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I have finished the design process for my upcoming Christmas greeting card collection. So next, it's all off to the printers!

The five card set will tell a "mini-story" about Odette, the baby owlette, as she discovers the joys of her first Christmas spent with family. They are all illustrated on vintage wallpaper, so I am hoping that the effect is as nostalgic as it is festive.

I have another collection of prints coming out soon.....titled Fortuitous Fair Trade. Featuring personalities from around the globe, the proceeds earned from the prints will actually be injected back into each corresponding co-operative! Keep an eye out kids!

Alice in Wonderland.

2009-11-15T04:07:00.000-08:00

So been working on some Alice prints lately. I want their release to coincide with that of Tim Burton's twist on Alice in Wonderland. I think it will theme in well and will bounce off a lot of the hype created by the movie debut. I wanted my version of Alice to be a little dark and twisted.....like something out of a Burton movie as well.

Tonal Paint.

2009-11-15T04:03:00.000-08:00

Was batting around a few ideas for some Christmas cards the other day. I guess I have earned myself a bit of a reputation for drawing pretty girls, so I thought it would be a bit of a lark to do a set of "Christmas Babe" cards.....

Tailor-made...

2009-11-08T00:18:00.000-08:00

So a group of my arty friends and I have started an artist's collective/guild/co-operative/whatever-you-wanna-call it. We are called 'Tailor-made', (I took the liberty of designing our "badge"), and are still recruiting members. So if you think you have the stuff to join, send me a message!

Painted Doll....

2009-10-31T04:16:00.000-07:00

So I have been busy brain-storming what I am going to come up with for my Frankie submission. I won't spill the beans just yet, but it entails one of my friends getting painted up as a doll! I had alot of little ideas flittering around, so I thought I would try and solidify some of them by painting her......everyone meet Stephanie June Ellis!

Grace Arts Life Drawing, take 2!

2009-10-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

Here are the sketches from Tuesday night! They range from 10-20 mins......my faves are the two profile sketches.

Grace Arts Life Drawing...

2009-10-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hey kids!

Went to Grace Arts life drawing again on Tuesday night. Good fun! I will post the rest of my sketches a little later on. This is just a rough digital paint I did over my fave sketch from the night......

Quite frankly, it's Frankie!

2009-10-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

I am a bit in love with the current model featured in the latest issue of Frankie magazine. She was staring at me (from the front cover) the other night, so I decided to paint her. It only took two hours from scratch to finish. It's ALMOST an exact representation, but I kinda like my spin on it anyways!

I sent it to Frankie as well.....they loved it.

Damo xoxo.

Grace-ful beauty

2009-10-23T00:53:00.001-07:00

Grace Miller. One of the main characters in Wishope Island. It's just a quick conceptual painting I did of her watching the sunset and staring out to sea. Amidst a sea of bobbing 'Wishing Dandelions', it's just seconds before the evening sea breeze will send the thousands of glowing wind-seeds into flight.

In the Mood...

2009-10-23T00:48:00.000-07:00

Here is the coverpage for my upcoming folio......featuring the wishing dandelions which are a central motif to the story I am creating, it's just to get you guys in the mood.

The 'Light Sprite'

2009-10-18T19:59:00.000-07:00

Solara. A light sprite. She's a character I designed for my upcoming folio, but due to some changes I made, has been re-created and is now called Grace Miller (who happens to be a bit of a hippy child).

Solara is a pretty funky character in her own respect though. A personified 'distillation' of sunshine. She is a demi-god who is a bit of a prankster, very cheeky and a talented shape-shifter. She only takes on a physical appearance when she is in direct sunlight, otherwise she appears as more of a ghostly apparition. Only speaking in musical limericks, she lacks the true wisdom her alter ego Lunar posses.

Stargazin'

2009-10-18T01:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's all full steam ahead at the moment with my new folio submission for my impending Disney (hopefully final) review.

I want this folio to be almost decadent in presentation. I want the visuals to be incredibly rich, with a lot of history and back-story involved. You can bet a lot of 'homework' will be going into my latest attempt to ingratiate the 'House of Mouse'.

Anyways, introducing my new illustrative/colouring style. I did this rough sketch of Toad (from Nintendo), stargazing. The way I coloured it is meant to be suggestive or perhaps 'evocative' of that childish, coloured-pencil, colouring-in technique/texture. I wanted to restore a strong youthful quality/energy to my work to aid in the revival of my 'animated' style of illustration.

HEAPS more to come. I am so ridiculously excited about all this. My entire approach has evolved, subsequently my drawing style has too!

Wind Waker

2009-10-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

Just a quick 5 min sketch I did of 'Toon Link', from The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker.

This still happens to be one of my favourite consol games of all time, up there with DK64 and Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time.

I am trying to get back into the flow of my softer more rounded animation-y style of drawing. Disney have reported that my stuff at the moment is too stiff and my story-telling isn't strong enough (which I had suspicions they would say anyway). So I am currently at work on a 'Fix-Up' Folio, to re-submit for my next review. (Which incidentally is in the next few weeks.)

"Vaudeville", Grace Arts...

2009-10-08T02:28:00.000-07:00

Okay so went to some more life drawing the other night. Was horrendously late (poor form I know)....but hey I still got some great stuff done....

The final two are just scribbly 5 minute poses.....

Animation Folio Part 1

2009-10-01T16:12:00.000-07:00

Animation Folio Part 2

2009-10-01T15:59:00.001-07:00

Animation Folio Part 3

2009-10-01T15:54:00.001-07:00

Animation Folio Part 4

2009-10-01T15:45:00.001-07:00

Animation Folio Part 5

2009-10-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

New Resume Coverpage

2009-10-01T03:52:00.000-07:00

Thought my resume could do with a bit of a spruce up so I drew a funky new avatar for the front of it.

Hotel Hightower...

2009-09-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

There is an extensive back-story that accompanies Hotel Hightower and the mysterious deaths that occurred on the eve of New Years 1899. If you want to learn the history of the hotel, visit this historical site- http://www.tot1899.com/english/ , and it will fill you in.

I am however just a young artist that was privately commissioned by the daughter of Harrison Hightower, Harriet, to paint a portrait of her for the hotel's lobby.

It is however my grievous duty to inform you faithful readers that since sitting for this portrait, the young lady herself, may have followed a similar fate of her hapless father. For when I called upon her one evening to complete the masterpiece, she was nowhere to be found. Instead all I encountered was a hastily scribbled note, detailing some creature named the Shiriki Utundu. What was most disconcerting about the entire affair was that her personal suite was in an alarming state of disarray, with a large pool of blood in the centre of the room.....I hope that the authorities get to the bottom of this mystery.

Death Becomes Her......

2009-09-28T17:11:00.000-07:00

This drawing I did a while back, but I have just recently given the colours a spruce up.

It was inspired by Disneyland's Haunted Mansion ride. As you travel down the halls in the mansion, the portraits actually change from these beautiful vistas to grizzly, macabre scenes of death behind your back. The effect is actually quite disconcerting.

This is my rendition of the effect. It's meant to be a beautiful Spanish girl changing into her reaper-esque counterpart.

Coraline

2009-09-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

I did this back when Coraline came out at the movies....

Justifiably Jasmine....

2009-09-23T14:47:00.000-07:00

So I was watching Aladdin the other night, and was inspired by their romantic serenading as they flew through the Middle-Eastern skies on that magical thread-bare rug of theirs. I actually drew from one of the frames in the " A Whole New World" sequence, where Jasmine accepts a tiny lotus bloom from Aladdin.

Nostalgia..

2009-09-22T19:52:00.001-07:00

These were the old front images for my older folio...

Drawn Designs

2009-09-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some more of the graphics I have done for t-shirts in the past...

Maple's Musings....

2009-09-22T19:13:00.001-07:00

Just a quick rough paint of one of the characters from my folio....I named her Maple and I like that she's a sexy nerd.

Peachy Keen!

2009-09-22T05:29:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to draw the Mario Bros. Gang from Nintendo. All the favourites from when we were growing up as kids. Soooooo....to make it a bit more fun, I have decided to draw them all in a 'Paper' style, reminiscent of Paper Mario and his craft-book-esque adventures. First off the block is Princess Peach.

I need to keep practicing simplifying my drawing style for this project. If I get it right I think I will nail it.

Over-zealous on Zelda

2009-09-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

A quick little sketch and paint of Princess Zelda as she casts a spell or what-not.

Along with an older painting I did of her. I love that she has darker, sort of brown hair now. It lends her an even more serious kind of air. (I always found her a little stiff-backed in the games).

She ain't bad, she's just drawn that way...

2009-09-21T17:55:00.001-07:00

This was actually requested by a close friend of mine, Harriet Hightower. It was her father's birthday and he is an UBER fan of Jessica Rabbit's.

We decided to "sign" the painting from her as well, to add a bit more of a personal touch to it. The message reads: "To my darling Ross," (Harriet's father), "Let's have a round of Patti-cake sometime. Love Jessica."

The original production still below was my reference piece.

In the Spirit of Adventure....

2009-09-21T03:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am sure most of you animation enthusiasts by now have gone out and seen Disney/Pixar's latest release: Up!

Starring a mis-matched crew of incredible characters, ranging from disgruntled old men to giant, personable, brightly plumed birds. The movie follows the story of Carl Fredrickson as he sets about carrying out the promise he made to he ailing wife upon her deathbed - to oneday visit Paradise Falls, their ideal,

"adventure holiday" destination.

Brooke (my best girlfriend), and I just went to see it recently. On the journey home we made the unanimous decision, (feeling inspired by the film), to write and illustrate our OWN 'Up' style adventure complete with flying cottage and dangerous adventure.

To the right you will find my rough preliminary sketch and paint of our flying house. Don't worry, for all of you hardcore fans, there will be a BIG variation in plot line and the look of the illustrations. Our house will be carried aloft in an entirely different manner to Carl's as well, (I don't think I'd have it in me to blow up a million balloons like he did).

But keep an eye on this space. I will continue to post preliminary designs and excerpt from the book as it continues to take shape.

P.S. If you want to know what the tone of the book is going to be like (sort of how it's gonna be written), refer to the Dinotopia saga's. We want it to be heavily descriptive and documentarian in feel. Almost like a MANUAL on how to traverse the big blue and the unknown beyond.

Upcoming Spring Portfolio Submission

2009-09-20T23:50:00.000-07:00

The 'Teaser' or new 'Front Page' for my revamped "Spring/Autumn Animation Portfolio".

Now in the hands of Disney/Pixar creative executives, it's just a refresh flatwork folio to keep them updated with my animation-skill spectrum.

The first image is Link sailing the Great Ocean in the King of Red Lions and it also served as the reference and inspirational piece for my version.

I have always been overly fond of the "feel" of Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. So I decided for my new folio I would do my own rendition of the beloved hero as my intro-piece. It's not entirely finished yet, (still needs a little polishing), but it's very much on it's way and makes a perfect harbinger for what's also to follow. When I am happy with the final product and have finished fiddling with the last few bells and whistles I will endeavor to post the entire folio here.

2009-09-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

One of the t-shirt-graphic designs I did for an upcoming clothing label named "Rarewear". They decided not to run with my stuff in the end. One of the retailers that were stocking the product thought that my style was too "manga".......the idiotic creative head listened to this fashionista wannabe instead of his creative team and told me a big fat no.

And so it begins...

2009-09-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

Well I have been nagged and nagged incessantly by friends, fans and family to create a website. Considering I am certainly no techo-geek (although secretly I would love to be), I have decided to opt for the slightly more user-friendly version and create a fun blog instead.

From now on I will be posting pics, doodles, scraps, thoughts and most of my better ideas on here so that you may follow whatever mad-cap mis-adventures I am continuously having on either my sketch page or the rather colourful "land upstairs", which realistically is my overly productive and never peaceful imagination.

So whether it be friend, fan or family member, WELCOME!...to MY imagination!