first page..

hello-this is from a new book i am illustrating for harper collins publishing-it is solely a picture book-so no text to deal with!
many more panels to come in the next few days-i am busy down at BE animation at the moment-(link to their studio site on the right)-animating a new chocapic commercial-cheerio for now
mr-d*

ants again

here's another two panels from the ant book-cheerio-i'm off for a drink!

...how do you titillate an ocelot?

...oscillate its tit-a-lot...

...apologies to Dr shillingham.

shhhhh.....

hello folks-just a quick post tonight-we are working with oxford university press-developing a range of maths books with a secret agent theme to them-here are 6 of them-only another 40 to do!
mr-d*

blog title anagrams...

dean roberts blog-----bare dong bolster..
sandwichbag blog-----handbag big scowl..or windbag gob clash
umdaddy blog--------old muddy bag..or body glum dad

but my favourites have to be..

umbackagain blog-----bumbacklog again..
matt jones blog--------jangle bottoms

i promise to post new colour stuff later tonight

mr-d*

sketches pt 15-16-17

well-this will be the last post for a week-so let me know what you think-i will be on email-and will be checking the blog too-so mail me!-dont be shy!-this was my last week as art director on charlie and lola series 2-which has been a great experience all round-it is a super show-series 2 has a slightly different look-and i feel chuffed to bits to have been a part of such a commited crew-thanks to all of you!-

off on me holidays*

sketches pt14

we have a couple of designs of michael j fox-for bermuda shorts studio-for the aquafina commercial-and my redesign of the honeystars-estrellitas space bear and kids-

sketches pt13

a sour chicken...some more cookie crisp alternatives-and a couple of early roughs for the chocapic commercial i directed for BE animation last year-and a couple of nugget bandit leica poses

sketches pt12

we have girly-cat-animation rough from a coco-rocks commercial-for espresso animation-(studio link on the right)-who said in a babara windsor voice..''oo-YOU can handle the crunch.."-very camp-the mouse was a pitch for passion again-for a job i animated on at purdums-(who won it!)-maidwell cheese-i cant remember who the bug kids were for...

lost it*

sketches pt11

roughs from 'the robot'-a book i did last year for harpercollins-and maxi-milli and multi-three eco warrior/woodland elfs-that are used as theme park mascots here in the uk-these may be developed into 3d maya sculpts very soon.

more to come*

sketches pt10

mr mole was for a pitch-so was the chocula cereal girl-i still like this drawing-even though it is ancient..tina from ulis film 'the duck'-and a couple of rough boards-a couple of leica drawings from space jam-also jake-my youngest boy-at about one and a half.

mr-d*

sketches pt9

hello bloggers-like uli the great-i too have got a break coming up-so i will post the rest of the sketches so far-in sketches 9 we have a likeness of bushnell-top left-the t-rex was for purdums-and the jagger gnat was for passion pictures-they were pitching on a pepsi commercial where a mosquito takes a sip and launches into a full rendition of brown sugar-the one eyed xylophone playing hamster was for self promotion (!)..

i have this little sister lola*....

sketches pt8

salut!-well sketches 8 comprises of bits from several years..on the left side, these were for chokella cereal-nestle wanted a hip-kid character-we have animation roughs pasted up from the last chocapic commercial i designed and directed for BE Animation, nice folks they are too!-then there's rory the tiger (bless him)..the mascot character for the Haven brand,over the years we have redesigned his whole gang-and even went up to hensons creature shop (when it was in camden)-and supervised the design/construction of the new style prototype character suit-i was told the prototype could cost over 30,000 pounds to develop-and from that they would have the pattern for the 150 suits they needed for the parks...scary stuff eh?
if you really want..i can post my photos of the pete and parder suit characters!-

knackered*

sketches pt7

righto!-first i want to say thanks for the comments-very kind words from very talented folks-well-in sketches 7 we have another page from the cat book-a model sheet of various styles of billy bubbles-with his magic bubble bobble hat-a very early honey stars pack layout from 2000-also two designs for uli's studio-these were muckabout characters done when cookiecrisp uk was in its early stages of character development-oh also-there's mr nutbody*..who likes to say hoho!-apparently..sketches pt8 to follow tomorrow..

manamana*

sketches pt5

well-in sketch 5 we have an animation rough taken from uli's 'the duck'-there's three star wars takoyakis -and animation roughs from a seq that was spliced out from sinbad..i always find i get a huge burst of improvement when i get the chance to work on something like this-the buzz working with artists i admire and respect gets me all fired up..where can i sign?-i could do with some of that again!-draw-draw-draw...AND DRAW SOMEMORE!!
in sketch pt6-there's the first mary splotter rough-it has evolved a bit over two years-but i still find i have to keep checking i haven't drifted off someplace else with it..there's casper..designs for beanies for golden nuggets..aliens x2- and mr-funky nut*

stop!-hammertime...*

sketches pt4

i designed the nuggets truck as part model t-part covered wagon-and anyone who knows me knows i love old motors..the truck was built in softimage by chris ratcliffe-a superb job-with 2d render back in 1999!-it worked a treat.-this sketch formed part of 3 a2 model sheets i created to set the style of this world-they hung over my desk at purdums.
one day i arrived to find the guy from the agency trying to 'take' them off the wall as giveaways in a promo-competition..i think i managed to bite through his watchstrap in the ensuing tussle...now-the originals hang in my studio here...
also on this we have jurassic kids-and two sketches for a change in story with the honey monster-for HRA-

ying tong iddle i po*

sketches pt3

here we have one of the bg layouts from golden nuggets'saloon'-also is an early captain yakult rough-and a rough for a logo on a monster theme ..and there's also bits of toast as superheroes..my best man-(oh the irony!)-dean roberts has the original bg layout-i gave in and gave it to him after he wore me into submission asking to have it day after day after day...

tee hee*

sketches pt2

i did these when i was animating at dreamworks-i went over after space jam had finished-and they called uli's to see if anyone wanted to come over and help out on prince of egypt-i went-virgin upperclass-and nearly got booted back to the uk at US immigration-but i sneaked in -and met some great people-
tom higgins-kevin o hara-aaron..(insert surname..)cool guy-wore dungarees..(not for a bet either..)-drove a beemer..
i would love to hear from these guys..i stayed 6 mths-and was asked back for eldorado..i considered it..i also considered the offer i had from a small company called PIXAR..as a trainee animator on a bugs life...but my wife michelle was in the uk..i wanted to draw too-so i headed home..and took a job with purdums studio..It took me about a month for LA to get out of my system..i had become a little too accustomed to it being sunny..and there being a pool nearby..and still long for a hot tub or two.
i think the squirrel in austrian hat is my favourite

sketches pt1

hello folks-my next posts will be old sketches and designs from the last few years-with an explanation/excuse/apology(!) or two thrown in-the little chaps were for a company looking to create a rival father christmas icon for the festival of eid-then we have bulldog dozer..done at uli's in 96-7?-i enjoyed doing this-i would change it all now..but at the time it captured what i wanted it to-then a cow and gate cow-an early robot and little old me..mr-d*