Goodbye Card

I was asked to do a little "goodbye card" for someone at work. Lovely Miae is off to have a baby and is leaving Weta for a little while. I only had a few hours at night to do the card, but it was so good to get to do something for her!


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I will hopefully be back soon. My wedding is in a couple of weeks and there's still heaps to do... I will try to post the Crew Gear Tee-shirt design I did for the Animation Department as soon as I can (which means after Avatar is out =) )...

i can haz more doodlez?

I've been eagerly waiting for this moment since I finished this bunch of commissioned artwork for EA's NFS Nitro... Actually, I've probably been dying to show them ever since I put my pencil on the paper and started drawing the first character. That's pretty much how excited I've been to work on this project (with those awesome peeps).
But you know how it is, NDAs and stuff, and I had to wait for a few months. Luckily for my nerves, I didn't have to wait for too long.

So, you remember that post? Well, they are bits and pieces taken from that one, that I did overnight:

Then I did that one. Cool, I had a full weekend to do it:


A few months later, I got asked to do some more. This time, I had to follow the theme of the different tracks in the game for the cities of:

-Madrid:

-Cairo (my fav'):


-Singapore:


-Dubai:

-and Rio:

For the Cities ones, it was total luxury time-wise - I had a week for each. On the side of my normal day job hours of course.

And then (why stop?), I also did two more pages of elements for the User Interface:


Pencil on Paper, A4 (apart from number 2, which was slightly bigger). Copyright Electronic Arts.

I also did some logos, but can't get my hands on them right now... Funny thing is, I don't believe any of those made it to the final game. Haha.
I hadn't looked at them since I finished working on the project. Now I understand why I was a little tired and drained out. But man, I had the best time!

French frog and other cliches

So. I know I'm not posting as often as I should, but here is one for the road I just did tonight. I am always quite amused by the cliches about us little frenchies...
I've been up to a couple of things recently but am awaiting approval and print before I can show anything.
Tomorrow or in a couple of days, I should be able to post the work I did on NFS Nitro... Yay!



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Birthday Card

I did a quick little birthday card yesterday. We got a print of it, and for some reason, the dress and the eyes came out super black, instead of blue-green. I hope you guys can see it properly (here at work it's pretty damn dark too actually!!)...

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Yuki Wip

I'm not dead, I just have a job at the moment and some freelance work, contribution, birthday card and wedding invites (mine, this time) to do in the evenings.
But I had time to do this one today at work, between two phone calls. It's just a wip, I'm exploring different possibilities for the treatment, but I wanted to have a go at the awesomeness that is Yuki 7...

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Bumblebeeing around

Ha-ha! I'm sure you weren't expecting our little bee to be in such a cold place, huh? Well, me neither.
I was originally just testing a brush I had made for fur (and, what's better to test fur than a BumbleBee?). And then I thought I'd make an environment for her. And then I got carried away.
And now I even have thumbnails for some other layout of their adventures...
So below is the first concept. I'll go and refine the background and stuff later. And for once, I've posted a "detail" of it... Well, I had to show you the fur, right?



Photoshop (not sure yet, but I actually think I might have lost the brush I made in the re-install)

Sneak Peek

Can't resist to show you a little sneak peek of an illustration I'm working on. I'm doing the concept right now, and it might actually remain a concept for a while... I don't really know how to tackle this idea. Anyway, I'll post it when I'm happy with it, whatever it will be.

Giant Clouds

That's the view I had from my window this morning. I tried to do a speedpainting of it (by the time I finished it, it was actually raining... u_u I'm obviously not fast enough).
Those giant clouds were taking up all the sky and looked just... well... gigantic. I've tried to draw those mountains several times now, and I just can't get them right. Pity, because they're quite cool in real life.

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The pug at the Cafe

I was catching up with a friend on Saturday and we went to the cute little cafe two bays away from home. At the table next to us, there was this little fatty dog. He looked super laid back and comfortable and he spent all the time we were there, staring at his owners in a pug kind of way (you don't really know if he's actually looking at you), with a tiny bit of his pink tongue sticking out.



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Gonzague The Elefun

Yeah, I started giving them names - proper names.
This one took me waaaay longer than I would have wanted, but I really wanted him to be shiny-shiny... I guess he's quite shiny now.
I knew I wanted to paint something shiny and pink, but thought (and I know I'm right) that a piggy bank was too easy a choice. So I went through the tee, and discovered that one. Yeah, discover, because I have to say, I have no recollection at all of drawing him, or even coming up with the idea. I don't know where he comes from. But he made me laugh enough to be picked.

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I have added the proper names of the other ones too.

Reggie The Masked Spaghetti Dude

And another one from the tee... Not sure about this one. Or his name... Anyway...

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Arpad The Round Bear

And an quick and easy one for the road. Still from the tee...



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The Boscombes Brothers Water Worms

Another one from the tee doodles. I know they're not technically under water, but that's what I chose to call them. Always had.
Maybe I should also post bigger versions... but that'd mean getting a pro account on flickR... So until then, sorry to say, that'll be little pics only.



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Liam The Brainy Count

Well, he's not really brainy... I guess I should have called him the engraved-patterned-oversized-foreheaded-count instead... too long.
This one is from a doodle I did on the tee. Can you spot him? I kind of upgraded him with a cape. And rendered him slightly more.


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Julius

I'm finally back! I took a week off to settle down in my new super house, and reset a little. Ok, apart from unpacking and decorating, I've just been plain lazy...
So, yesterday, to get back in the saddle, I did something I intended to do for a loooong time. I painted my favourite robot (ever), Julius, from Karl Wills's Connie Radar. I had asked Karl ages ago (such a long time ago I can't even remember when) to give me some roughs of Julius so I could paint it/him. I had colored the comic, so I kinda knew the base colors, but I took some liberties and painted him more how I envisionned him - not brand new, a bit worn off.
I think I originally imagined he had more paint chips and rust and scratches, but now that I got to "meet" him, I know he's a tidy, well-groomed robot. He surely wouldn't let rust happen. He knows better.


Photoshop - Character Design by Karl Wills

Off to Wellington

I'm totally busy right now, and sadly have no time at all for some decent artwork. I'm trying to do as much as I can on the short film before I leave Yukfoo at the end of the week, and packing and cleaning as soon as I get home, because I'm moving down on Saturday... And on top of that, catching up with caterers and cake makers for my wedding at the end of the year...
I did this little drawing ultra quickly for my Farewell Drinks Event Invitation on facebook... For those who wonder, Wellington is just about the windiest city in the world!


Flash and Photoshop

I'll be back as soon as I can, I'm really craving some time to work on personal projects. Hopefully, that should be soon. But I might be busy walking on the beach across the street from my new little house... =)

Sunnies 05

And that will be "le dauphin" for today.


Brushes on iPodus Touch

Sunnies 04

I find I'm struggling with this series right now, but I won't give up. And forcing myself to post helps a lot! Not sure it is a good thing though. =) Here's the fourth one.


Brushes on iPodus Touch

Sunnies 03

And the third one.


Brushes on iPodus Touch

Sunnies 02

And here is the second one.


Brushes on iPodus Touch

Sunnies 01

I feel really bad I haven't updated in a while. I've been uber busy at work, with a big deadline coming up in two weeks + (being, I'm leaving Yukfoo at the end of the month) and tons to do before that, plus trying to organise the move, and looking for another job...
So the only spare time I find for myself is in the morning. I give a call to my fiance to wish him a good day, and spend about an hour more in bed, checking my emails, reading what everybody's been up to (while I was asleep) on Twitter, and... having fun with "Brushes" on the iTouch.
I decided straight away I would wait before I buy one of those fancy stylus for iPod/iPhone , so I'm painting with my little fat fingers. They are not actually that fat, but fatter than, say, a Pogo thingy. Not that I don't want a stylus, I do, ultimately, but I just thought I'd see if I liked Brushes more than Colors on DS (never quite did it for me, sigh), and it'd hopefully allow me to loosen up a little, not be so pixel-precious and so on...
So. Started a pointless series of animals with sunnies. Here's the first one, who happens to also be the first thing I ever painted in Brushes. (I'm actually cheating, this one was not done in bed, it was done in the plane between Auckland and Wellington.)


Brushes on iPodus Touch

Big Update

It ended up taking me way longer than I wanted, but I finally got to do my website. I thought it might be the occasion of upgrading to the "whole package"... I now also have a flickr pool, a vimeo account, a linkedIn profile, a "pro" facebook page, and a twitter!!


The website takes a while to load, and is not doing EXACTLY what I want (that is, being all centered and behaving nicely), but nothing that would justify not showing it... =)

Kidnapped by Wetas

Wetas are taking my Fiance away from me...
It is weird, because we've always worked together at Yukfoo, and now he's moving to Wellington, to work for Weta Digital! I'm so so proud!
I made a quick little drawing for him, so he gets to put it on his blog too, and announces the big news!


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...and sometimes, not so lucky...

Right after I finished my last batch of commissionned artwork for EA, and hurried this birth announcement card, I entered an illustration competition. It was for the "Monster Maintenance Manual" contest organised by Murdoch Books with Peter Macinnis.
Even though the pitch was really fun and exciting, I kinda knew I didn't nail it and felt like I didn't stand a chance. And in the end, I was right, I failed, and didn't even make the shortlist.
No wonder, here are the three culprits:

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Summery Ladies

Did this one between two color keys at work... I saw the great gals Xav' did and it made me want to do some curved summery ladies... beginning to be really cold down here, so some fresh colours won't hurt either!


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Sometimes, you're just sooo lucky!

I am so excited!!
After weeks of looking frantically on the Internet and counting days until E3, I finally spotted some of my artwork in EA's new game: Need For Speed Nitro, on which I did some commissioned artwork!
I still can't believe my luck to have been able to work on such a project, with such amazing people!

This image is from the nfs Blog. I only did the doodles around the car. It was released a while ago, but I wanted to wait until I found some in-game pics. In these ones - all but the four posted at the top of the thread- , my artwork can be seen on the road. Can't wait to see more!
And when the game is out (I believe by the end of the year), I should be able to post all the work I did on it! In the meantime, I will keep you updated if I spot anything else on the web!

My baby sister is not a baby anymore

My youngest sis' turned 14 yesterday! So this year, I got 'round to doing a (long overdue) drawing for her.
When I did it, I was in the middle of my series of commissioned artwork, and took a Sunday afternoon (and night) off to start (and finish) this one. It was good to do something else for a few hours, and good to "push" my doodles a bit further this time. I had read Bill's technique a while ago and pretty much followed his advice step by step... minus the patience.
Got a text in the middle of the night from my sister: she loves it! YAY!


Ink and watercolor

Célian and Louis

One of my lovely cousin was due with her twins at the end of June. We agreed that I would do a quick little illustration to use as an announcement card, as I was very busy at that time.
The day I finished a batch of commissioned artwork, I did some roughs and sent her my ideas.
Two days later, she sent me her comments and... a picture of the babies, who decided it was time to come check out the real world. So it turned out to be an even more rushed job, but the new parents are super happy with it and I heard the twins think it's sweet too. Yeah, they are 10 days old and can speak already.

So I present to you: Célian and Louis. The drawn ones that is.


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I hope it helped...

Well, well, well... I didn't think I'd be able to post it so soon, but that's just great I got the green light today!
Joolz came back from LA after a little "pitch trip". He brought along with him two illustrations I made to "help out" on his pitch. Alex did one too.
It was not really helping out, more like contributing... The idea was to draw something (anything) that could tell a little story, give an idea of little animation inserts to go in his show.
I was very honored he asked me, and it gave me the opportunity to do something I wanted to do for a looong time, without really managing to. That's the first illustration.
And then I still had a leftover pig from roughs I had put together, and couldn't obvioulsy leave it out, so I had to do the second illustration.

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Make sure to check out Julian's website, and even "adopt" one of his dolls. I've got one at home (Hooper) and she's really cute and behaving really well. ..

Sneak Peek

I just can't resist showing you little bits of a couple of projects I've worked on recently. I can't post them now, but will eventually.

The first one is a personal illustration I've managed to do in my "downtime", which I don't have much of lately... And I'll be able to show it sometime in May.
The second and third are both little illies I did to "help" Julian on one of his projects.
The fourth one... well... I'm trying to get my portfolio together, in a nice little tidy website... Haven't even had time to do a "coming soon" page yet!



I'll talk more about each of them in due time. Now, gotta get back to work!

Forgotten

I didn't think I would actually find anything old that I forgot to post, but I did! I was looking for something else and found this one instead.
These doodles are from last year. I made them for a very good friend who abandonned me in New Zealand to go live her life in London. Tss... What a silly idea!
That's the only picture I have of it (I was in such a rush I forgot to take a picture once it was in the frame.).



Ink on weird paper (can't remember where I got it from...)

Bon voyage, Monsieur Karl!

Have you ever tried to draw on Msn? It's good fun, especially when you want to send a message/drawing to a workmate that is leaving. Super workmate Karl is off to the US for a few weeks so I sent him that through IM.



Msn draw tool (the one in the conversation window)

Sorry for the lack of posts (if anyone is checking this blog), I'm super busy with super exciting secret stuff and will be back in a few weeks, or maybe I'll find some oldies I haven't posted yet, or some work stuff I can now show...
Bisous

"Il aime l'école, surtout quand elle est loin"

I did a very quick sketch the other day at work, and wanted to put some colours on it, just as quickly... So here it is. I think I kept in my mind the image of one of my super workmates, who came in one day wearing this hat that made him look like Tom Sawyer. This Tom Sawyer.
Anyway...


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10 minute cliché sky

I was just trying to do some skies tonight for some up coming paintings. Here's my first test. Uber cliché, but good fun, and it's very nice to have results so quickly when you have the right tools.


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Color Bubbles

After a totally non-productive evening trying to finish the illustration with the dragons (I finally decided I would start from scratch again), I didn't want to go to bed without doing anything. So I did that to relax a little:



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