Directing my 1st (3) games

We just entered QA mode for the 3 games I've been directing. I can't believe it's almost over and I can't believe it's been almost exactly one year since my last post.

I'll be taking some time off very soon, during that break I plan on healing my injured hand. I'll be reflecting a bit, I plan to write a little and get back on the horse for drawing again, but with my left hand. All I have been doing is re-injuring my dominant hand, I would save my hand for work so I could finish the project.

I can't wait to share what has consumed my life over the past 5 months. I've been working on something very fun and I couldn't have done it with out the team that helped me. :) Here's to the wrap party!!

The Doodlenauts #2

The Doodlenauts & The Muppets Recap! 

Saturday March 22nd I hosted my second Doodlenauts event at Washington Square Park! I couldn't have conjured up a better day for us to be out sketching.

Lots of new faces this time around and always great to see my friends that I haven't seen in a while. We started drawing around 1pm and didn't stop until 5pm. I don't know where the time went, but it flew by! I almost wanted to extend it another hour, but we had plans to go down and eat before watching Muppets Most Wanted.

The Doodlenuats soaking up the sun!

The Muppets sequel was fun, very silly and a lot to enjoy. I am not a big fan of musicals, but this film had some great songs, one in particular called, "I'll Get You What You Want"  I Loved the song, loved the performance and staging along with all the little gags during this sequence. I don't think the film was as good as the first, but fun non the less.

Here are some photos of The Doodlenauts!

we had some pizza in the park. 

And these awesome photos were taken by Brandon Jazmin! 

thanks for the pics Brandon! 

I had a freaking blast, and it was fantastic to meet new people! Next month there will be the World Wide Sketchcrawl and that same weekend I'll be celebrating my birthday! I think I'll be spending that day at the beach. I'll test the waters to see if people want to attend two sketching events in one month. :)

Until next time! Thanks again everyone for making it such an awesome day.

The Doodlenauts & The Muppets!

This Saturday, March 22nd. I'm hosting the 2nd Doodlenauts meetup!

We will meet at Washington Square Park at 1pm - 4:30pm. Bring a blanket, sketchbook, snacks, beverages, frisbees and some sun screen! 

Then we will walk, bus, fly on over to the Westfield Mall Century 9 for some proper dining. We'll feast at the food court then watch The Muppets at 7:15pm. Buy your tickets: here. 

For those who don't have any idea what The Doodlenauts is all about well... it's YOU! Sketchcrawlers, urban sketchers, painters, photographers, game devs ... simply put; artists! 

It's open to everyone, you don't have to be an artist to attend. I enjoy supporting my community and meeting new people. It's all about relaxing, meeting others, sharing tips and tricks and making new friends. :D

If you're interested go to the Facebook Event for more info! 

Come say hi!

The Doodlenauts & The Lego Movie

The 1st Doodlenuats event was a great success! 

Overcast skies, gusty winds and lots of rain forced me to change the meetup location from Chinatown to doodling inside the Westfield Mall. Which worked out great, we had plenty of people to draw, lots to eat and we were nice and dry!

you can check out some of my doodles HERE. 

I want to thank those who came out just to say hello and make an appearance for the event! I really appreciated that.

Like I've mentioned this event is for everyone! Evan came out and took photographs, a couple engineers came out to draw, one of them contemplated to start coding on his game! And a handful of new faces joined us. 

My friend made a great comment about explaining what The Doodlenauts is all about. "It's like Planet Fitness, but for your drawings."

I love that haha. If you don't get the reference, then let me explain a wee bit. Planet Fitness is a simple gym, anyone can get a membership and not worry about being judge. Same principle applies with Doodlenauts, no judgement, all levels of artistic ability are welcome.

We then attended The Lego Movie. And it was hilarious! Such a fun movie, loved the style, solid story. The directors have produced nothing but great entertaining movies, I hope if they have a sequel that the original crew comes back. 

After the film, some of us went for drinks and called it a night! I had a great time and I will let everyone know about the next event in March! 

The Doodlenauts!

The wha?

I would like to introduce my new group called The Doodlenauts!

Join us Tomorrow 2/8/14 

Doodlenauts & The Lego Movie!! 

So what's The Doodlenauts you ask? It's an event for artists: photographers, doodlers, painters, developers etc; to go out and 'doodle' in the urban jungle! And more importantly to have fun, hangout, meet new people and share tips and tricks all while eating delicious food.

In addition to the Doodle day event I arrange dinner, a movie (usually animated) and a place for drinks after!

I've been hosting different events for the last two years now and have been wanting to "brand" it as something other than calling it a SketchCrawl. 1. Because my events are not exactly the same as a Sketchcrawl 2. I'm tired of people asking me if certain Pixar folks will be out drawing (granted those people aren't really there to draw in the first place) and 3. I wanted something that represented what I was doing and creating.

A few of my movie night events have been so big, I now have a go-to guy at the theater in the city just incase I need to arrange a private screening. Which we could have for the film Wreck It Ralph!

I love being out and about, in a fantastic city on a beautiful day and surrounded by incredibly talented people. Then to continue that enthusiasm into the movie, and experience it with everyone and after we talk / critique/ dissect the film over drinks. And it's freaking awesome.

My goal is to share that energy and create a fun community of artists. I've also got larger goals for this "brand' as well.

I'm kind of shooting from the hip as I don't normally create a group or property without making sure I have everything created (logo, website, social media, etc) But I want this to grow and be a process I can share. One of my larger goals with all of this is to one day create my own foundation to help ensure schools across the United States have ART programs, that includes: Music, Painting, Dancing, Theater and whatever else they want! It's something that wont happen over night, but this is my first active step towards my goal.

SO! If you are ever around in San Francisco or the Bay Area be sure to keep an eye out for The Doodlenauts! :D

First Sketch Meetup of 2014!

It's a new year! Time to actually start posting again. :) I promise to blog more than I did last year. Ha

The weather had been so nice in the Bay Area I thought I would take advantage of it and host a Sketch meetup. The first of Many this year! I'm also going to work on a group name to make my events know and distinct. 

1/11/14

Once it started raining we moved inside and hovered around the tables until seats opened up. It was fun huddled up with everyone at both tables, we started to draw one another and then the caricatures started to get a bit fun. 

I kept my caricatures a bit tame this go around. 

I want to thank everyone for coming out! I was surprised and delighted by the great turn out. :D The next sketch-outing I will have a group name and create a hashtag for the events! Stay tooned! ;)

2 Years ago

Two years ago today I attended my first workshop at Animation Collaborative. Unsure what to expect, I knew I had to bust my ass if I wanted to survive in this new location. I quickly realized how freaking talented the artists in the Bay Area were.  I've always been competitive, no matter if it's entering an ice cream eating contest, running obstacle courses or trying to be the 'best' in school. Over the years I've grown to allow my competitive nature help inspire me and not defeat me when difficult times arise.

It was my goal to hopefully build a new circle of friends as I moved out here not knowing anyone. I left everyone I cared about back home in Colorado. I was motivated to learn as much as I could and promised myself to have fun while doing it! I had something to prove, I told myself I would not be returning home. I would either make it happen or die, and I was willing to do whatever it took to stay out here and stay inspired. I welcomed failure with arms wide open, lowered my head and kept moving forward. If I had to get a job at a coffee shop I would, manuel labor jobs again, fine, customer service jobs, so be it. I was going to stay... no matter what.

I've been very fortunate to meet some incredible people along my journey since September 2011 and to this very day. I'm thankful for the friends I've made.

And to celebrate and say thank you to my first class I've created this little video. Enjoy!





Along with my first class of badasses I would like to thank everyone else whom I've met along my way. Thank you for being you and thanks for being so damn awesome.

Now back to creating more awesome stuff, this is just the beginning!

Fired UP!

As I mentioned that this blog would remain solely for writing, helping others, or just a place that other artists could come and possibly see some of the struggles I've gone through thus far in my career. The goal? To potentially connect with people and let them know / feel that they are not alone in their struggles.

I haven't blogged in a while, I know. But I just came back from Siggraph and I'm so freaking amped up on incredible energy I am fired up to start writing again.

I find that the energy one can gain from a great experience is very important to save and "use". Siggraph was over a week ago and I'm still riding on my energy buzz. The take away? Apply it before you lose it!

Anyways, I'm writing this as a way to hold myself accountable to post more. Starting with Siggraph 2013!

Claire & the Keys

I want to present everyone with ANOTHER Kickstarter campaign!! This time from my very close friend John B. Ludwick! This has been a passion project as I have been by Ludwick's side since the inception that long walk back in LA, late one night.

Ludwick and I have pitched to Disney, tackled some monster mayhem burgers in CO, storyboarded an entire feature film in a week and were in Animation Mentor together back in 2007. He's been a big part of my success, he's been instrumental in my life as a collaborator and a great friend.

 

And I'm pleased as a peach to help him make his dream into a reality, and it's been incredible watching this story progress. That's why I'm asking all my comrades to help!

On Claire & the Keys my roles have been to serve as story supervisor; I've helped a bit on storyboards here and there, and tightened continuity with each new edit. After MANY, many, many late nights talking, writing, drawing the characters, their backstory, and going rounds and rounds over the development of the short film, it's finally on it's way to be completed.

If anyone deserves it, it's Ludwick. So I'm asking all my fellow animators, artists, friends and anyone who loves music to help donate or spread the word by sharing and liking the page! Thanks for reading, thanks for watching and thanks for the help!  Pledge here

SanFranLand Success

I'm super excited to post that SanFranLand has successfully become funded!! We not only reached our goal but raised a couple extra thousand! Woot! Congrats to the entire SFL crew and cast!!

I want to share a couple of links as we've been featured on some really cool sites!! If you have time please vote for us :D

Vote for us on INDIEWIRE!
Fun interview w/ the Director & Producers! Examiner

cool art work created by John Hoffman

We had our first crew meeting the other night, and you could feel the energy in the room! Most of us hadn't seen one other since our last film shoot in December. So it was great to get moving on the project again.

And again, thank you to everyone who helped make this possible. We have two weeks left of filming and it's going to be intense but fun! Oh, and check out our facebook page! Give us a LIKE! :P

Respect Yourself

And respect others in the industry.

Stephen Sliver just released a video encouraging artists to stop wasting their time and energy by creating art for free. I love it.

Back in Colorado I struggled running my own company, I took on a lot of odd and end gigs but they were all paid. I always ran into individuals or organizations that wouldn't pay me industry standard wages or what I felt I was worth. And I would always walk away. I learned the hard way, and I learned very quickly. (except for my tv series project - but that's another story for another time.)

Anyways, watch the video, it's worth your time. Thanks Stephen.

Marat is going to Disney!

My friend and old roommate Marat Davletshin has just accepted a full-time job as an animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios! He'll be joining an incredible crew and one of my good friends Hobbie!

Check out Marat's demo reel below.

I put together a little going away party for Marat over the weekend in Berkeley and it was great fun. A lot of the original Animation Collaborative crew came out to celebrate. We were only missing 3 people from our Gesture Drawing class! And to get the night going we had vodka and pickles, just how they do it back home in Russia. :P

Support SanFranLand on Kickstarter!

I've been helping out on a lot projects over the last year or two and this year those projects will see the light of day! 3 of those projects will be releasing their own Kickstarter campaigns, one of them has just realsed!

Please take the time to check it out and of course if you can support us that would be fantastic!

I've been storyboarding and helping out on set for SanFranLand, and it's been great being around so many talented and motivated individuals.

I only have a handful of hours before shooting so I draw with a sharpie cranking out as much as I can.

New Year, NEW EVERYTHING!

Happy New Year!

As you can already see, I've made some changes. Nothing is finished, but I figure done is better than perfect... for now.

I'm still deciding on my new SketchBlog site and the rest of the tabs. If anyone has thoughts or feedback on making my site better or simpler I'm all ears. SketchBlog is just for art related posts.

"MyWorld" will now be my writing blog to help promote and write about projects I'm working on or projects that I think are super cool and need to be shared. :D

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has helped me over the last year, it's been an incredible ride and I look forward to this year's wild ride.


Here's to new beginnings, new adventures, and a new you.
tc

**Other tabs will be working in a couple day... :)

KickStarter Love

I love KickStarter. It's freaking great seeing all the cool projects being backed. I wanted to plug some current projects by some friends of mine, and do some shout out to others that have recently succeeded!

If you are capable of sharing or donating I encourage you to do so :D Click on the titles to jump to teams Kickstarter page.

Sioux City Kid Album:


I had the pleasure of watching these guys live 2 weeks back and their sound is truly unique and fresh. They played one hell of a show and every single member put their heart and soul into each song. I would love to see these guys succeed. So even if it's a dollar help them out!

Frog Bar:

I've met some insanely talented artists out here in the SF Bay area, and a bunch of them have been pouring their hearts into this project! This is a very ambitious project and I wish the crew all the success!

One per Person:

I know a few of the animators that have been busting their butts on this project. And it looks like it just blew up as they have passed their goal! So Congrats to everyone :D

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR:

The Duck:

I have only spoken with Simon a couple of times through email, and the dude is freaking humble and super nice. Very passionate and serious talent, I'm so glad to see that his projected succeeded in raising it's goal. 

Mercenary Kings:

This project is badass and so is the team! It's practically the same time behind the Scott Pilgrim game. Can't wait for this. Also Stéphane Boutin is a super awesome person. 

CODAME

I was recently asked to help run the Live Drawing event at this year's CODAME!!

What is CODAME? 

CODAME is a non-profit event, run by volunteers with a passion for art and technology. CODAME's goal is to bring together creative minds, be inspired and enjoy learning from others. 

This will be CODAME's third year and there will be three floors of projects, three floors of live DJs, Fire-dancers on the roof, halloween costume contest, a Live Drawing contest with great give-aways! It's going to be sick. 

If you’re in San Francisco this Halloween, make sure you’re here.

Festival RSVP + tickets here. All Donation based. :)

We are also looking for Artists!! Email us if you would like to have your work shown at the event! us@codame.com

Expect more updates about this event soon!