Caveman Dragging a Cat 2D Animation

40 hours. I animated my Caveman by starting out with paper and pencil and then finishing everything else with the cut-out animation workflow in Toon Boom Harmony Premium. I painted the background in Photoshop in 3.5 hours. Please feel free to ask questions or give me feedback. Thanks! Watch my process video below!

Stage play poster for Disney's The Little Mermaid

I'm very happy with how this turned out. 20 hours with pencil, Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop.

Caricature

I'm really happy with how quickly I was able to get this one done. 2 hours including the pencil sketch, inks in Clip Paint Studio and color in Photoshop.

Toon Boom Blog Interview

Check it out! Toon Boom Animation featured me in a two-part article on their blog! Photoshop and Toon Boom Harmony are my two favorite software programs to use. It was such an honor to be featured on their blog! The second article is all about tips and tricks I've learned as an illustrator and animator. I hope someone finds it helpful.

Lifting a Box- Surprise Edition

Time to animate a person lifting a box and beyond! It took 70 hours from start to finish. I'd like to thank my friend Ed for giving me some good reference material and letting me cartoon him. I drew the character designs on paper, animated a few keyframes traditionally and then drew all the rest in Toon Boom Harmony. I hope it gives you a chuckle:)

CarbageBag Boardroom Animation

This project was SOOOOOOO much fun to animate!

4th of July Gunshot Fireworks Animation

Happy 4th of July! I attended a patriotic festival last weekend called Cries of Freedom where tons of people were dressed up in authentic colonial outfits, essentially living in what looked like a colonial village. People were making paper, cooking over fires, black-smithing, and telling tales of patriotism. It inspired me. This animation took about 13 hours using Toon Boom Harmony and Photoshop.

Walk Cycle Pencil Test and Clean-up Animation

This year, I'm focusing on how to do traditional 2D animation. I took an awesome online course from Tony White. This was the first walk cycle I've ever animated traditionally. Follow me on Instagram to stay up-to-date with my animation efforts.

Spinning my Kids

Sometimes after work, I don't have the energy to play tag with my kids or the mental capacity to play with Barbies, so my favorite default activity is to make a movie with them instead.

Grumpy Girl

My artist friend and co-worker Kristi Harmon has had an influence on me lately. My cartoon characters have always been pretty flat-looking. Kristi's making me want to add more texture to my art. Here's a sketch from the park, colored in Photoshop. 1.25 hours

My wife is a saint for letting me sit with her at the park while she watches the kids and I'm off in la-la land sketching people.

Play at the Park With Your Kids!

Matt puts his cell phone down and discovers a world of fun as he actually 

interacts with his kids at the park.

Bloglovin'

I love this site for keeping up with other blogs I'm interested in. I hope you'll check it out!
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

My Winter Biking Commute

We are a one-car family and that works out just fine for us. I bike to work in the winter (that's the blessing of living a short distance from work).  I love the proximity!  Most of the streets I ride on are low-traffic neighborhood streets.  I'd love to hear of anyone else out there doing this! 

Hey hey, this is my first animated GIF:) 

Doctors say you should exercise every day!

An Omen of Triumph

My friend Tom Bishop wrote an incredible sci-fi fantasy novel titled "An Omen of Triumph".  I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. His sister wanted to know if I could create an inspirational piece of art related to the book to encourage him in writing the sequel to the book. I had to tell her the truth... I'd written "Illustrate a book cover for Tom's book" on my list of art projects to do some day, so the timing was perfect.  I hope he likes it. I got it done just in time for Christmas. 64 hours in Photoshop.  Check out the book on Amazon

Dashner family caricature

What happens at Comic Con?  Magical things happen at Comic Con.  I've attended all 3 of them in Salt Lake since they began 3 years ago.  I enjoy meeting lots of artists who have the same passions I do. I got lucky enough to sit in on a panel where James Dashner (author of the Maze Runner series) was speaking with Brandon Mull.  During their speaking, I drew caricatures of each of them.  My had was shaky and I was nervous.  I gave them the caricatures afterward and they seemed to appreciate them.  They were both kind enough to sign my books.  A few days later, I got a call from James' wife asking if I could do a caricature of their family!  I was excited to have the opportunity. 18.5 hours mostly in Manga Studio.

Hutchings Caricature

This was a fun Christmas project. 

5 hours in Manga and Photoshop.

Book Cover for The Well House Novel

I had a really great time creating this cover with author Mark Van Voorhis. 

About 4 hours in Photoshop. Purchase on Amazon

Momma J

In memory of my mother-in-law.  

Happy Mother's Day Momma J.

6 hours 11"x 17" charcoal.

Wacom Cintiq caricatures

Here are my first two caricatures I've done using my new drawing stylus.  I'm having a tough time getting used to the machine. I'm still much more comfortable with my Wacom Intuos 4 Lg, but I'll keep trying at this and hopefully I'll get used to it. I like how these turned out though.

The first one was done on a 22" Cintiq that I returned.  The second one was done on my Cintiq Companion Hybrid while I was sitting on a pew in church.

Bunnies

The assignment for this month was to draw 3 to 7 furry characters with different types of hair.

Beauty Bunny took about 26 hours in Photoshop. (I think I'm going to limit myself to just 3 bunnies.)

Bob prepares taxes. I might polish him up a bit more. 12.5 hours so far

Biker Bunny is still in progress. 4 hours so far