Batgirl

Rounding out this week's group of DC Comic pinups is a personal fave of mine -- Batgirl. This was for my pal Allan Heinberg who celebrated his birthday yesterday. As if he wasn't busy enough being one of the best damn writers in Hollywood AND comics, he moonlights as my agent and is responsible for getting me my gigs on The O.C., Six Feet Under, and JLA #0. If you haven't picked up Young Avengers #12 and he relaunch of Wonder Woman #1, you are seriously missing out.

© 2006 DC Comics.

Green Arrow

A sketch for my writer pal Brad Meltzer, whom I recently collaborated with on the upcoming JLA #0 relaunch for DC Comics (due in stores July 19th).

© 2006 DC Comics.

Green Lantern

A drawing for my pal Mark Lewis, who always bails me out when I need some extra help at the 11th hour.

© 2006 DC Comics.

The Atom

A commission of the Golden Age Atom.

© 2006 DC Comics.

JSA

A commission of the modern incarnation of the Justice Society of America I drew a couple of years ago.

© 2006 DC Comics.

Ten

A marker sketch of Melanie/Ten from Batman Beyond.

All images © 2006 Warner Bros. Animation.

Son of Hulk - Part 3

After suffering through designing Hulk Jr., I got a chance to take a crack at the main man himself. Here are my designs for both the Incredible Hulk and Bruce Banner.

I couldn't resist drawing him with a green pencil.

All images © 2006 Universal Studios.

Son of Hulk - Part 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, Universal felt my first pass at Hulk Jr. was too much like, well, the Hulk. So they asked I make him look more like "a green Superman." I so wish I was making this up.

As part of my passive-aggressive protest to the project,

I couldn't resist putting this version of Hulk Jr. in a unitard.

Hulk Jr. when he's not being all mean and green.

All images © 2006 Universal Studios.

Son of Hulk - Part 1

Sometimes you find yourself developing a show that in the end you are really grateful never made it to series. Case in point -- back when the Ang Lee Hulk movie was going into production, Universal entertained the idea of producing a new Hulk cartoon and wanted to take things into a more"family friendly" direction. The show was to focus on the Hulk's college-aged son, who after discovering he inherited some of his father's gamma mutated DNA, decides to use his powers to become popular like a big, green TeenWolf.

My first pass at Hulk Jr., which was shot down for looking too "Hulk-ish."

All images © 2006 Universal Studios.

Monster Babies

I came into the project so early on this one that it didn't even have a title, so I affectionately dubbed it "Monster Babies." It now has a much better title, but for the life of me I can't remember it.

© 2006 Phuuz Entertainment.

Electric Girl

A sketch for an animated series based on the indie graphic novel Electric Girl. For whatever reason, I was asked to make a complete departure from the original comic, even though I think the book is really charming and could work for animation as is.

© 2006 Michael Brennan.

Dick Tracy

At one point, Film Roman was entertaining the idea of producing a Dick Tracy animated series. They wanted to pull him into the Batman style, and strike that stylistic balance of Deco and Modern.

© 2006 Film Roman.

Don Rickles

My design for an animated sitcom that was to feature the voice talent of Don Rickles as "the cranky grandpa."

All images © 2006 Hyperion Studios.

The Art of Visual Development

Visual development is some of the most coveted work to be had in the animation industry. To be one of the first people to breathe life into a new idea is incredibly powerful stuff. More often than not, you are given the chance to invent something without having to work within the confines of a preexisting style. Experimentation is not only encouraged, but mandatory as you attempt raise the bar higher and out-design your last project.

It can also be equally demoralizing to constantly reinvent yourself, only to have all of that hard work end up in a box (or in a pile on the floor) of some executive’s office. To be a visual development artist is to force yourself to put your best and most personal ideas on the line, and accept the harsh reality that there’s a 90% chance that the project will never see the light of day. Somehow you build up a pretty tough skin to all of that, usually because you are already knee deep in the next project when the last one is being shot down. But in digging through my files to decide what to post this week, I am reminded of how much has ended up in the recycle bin.

In the 10 years I’ve been working in animation, about two-thirds of that time has been spent developing new television series for clients such as Disney, Warner Bros, Cartoon Network, Mattel, Universal...the list goes on for miles. And for every Buffy or Austin Powers (in which thousands are invested to develop the project), there are a dozen smaller projects that may never make it past a couple of drawings. So this week I will be focusing on some of those projects that never made it out of the gate, let alone onto the runway.

My first entry this week is a little concept sketch I did for one of the producers of Friends. The concept -- a dog and cat spy team. The twist -- they disguise themselves as each other's species.

American Dragon - Part 4

My re-designs for Jake's friends.

Jake's pal Spud. I went a little too straight-edge on this one.

Some hairstyle variations for Trixie. Tried to get away from the Mickey Mouse hair, but it was to no avail.

The final product.

Attitudes of Spud & Trixie pulled from the rough storyboards.

All images © 2006 Disney

American Dragon - Part 3

Jake's grandpa/mentor. His original design was loosely inspired by the wise old Shaolin masters portrayed in Kung Fu movies.

This one is closer to the final product, but he no longer has the top knot.

First pass at Grandpa in his dragon form.

The final product.

All images © 2006 Disney

American Dragon - Part 2

Jake's pal/sidekick/pet/comic relief/happy meal toy -- Fu-Dog. The original design had this peculiar "flesh skirt" that we wanted to try and get away from. After my Shar-pei idea was scrapped on Juniper, I tried to apply some of those motifs to this design.

My first pass at Fu-Dog's redesign.

A variation of his eyes to make them more expressive.

My design was again deemed too much of a departure, so I pulled it back closer to the original concept (minus the "flesh skirt"). Again, no love for the Shar-pei!

All images © 2006 Disney

American Dragon - Part 1

This coming Saturday (June 10th) marks the second season debut of American Dragon: Jake Long. After the first season, the Disney Channel greenlit a new batch of episodes, but wanted to breath some fresh life into it. So they brought onboard director Steve Loter and the writers from Kim Possible to shake things up and take the show in a new creative direction. (Go HERE to see the original designs).

I was already in the midst of doing some development work with Steve for another Disney pilot (which you’ll see at a later date) when this all went down, so when the opportunity presented itself I was one of the first people Steve wanted to be a part of the relaunch. As it turned out, I took the whole “redesign the show” thing a little too literally. Even though Steve and the network loved my new designs, they felt is was too different from the original concept that had already been branded.

My initital design for Jake, which was later rejected by the network.

Playing around with some new threads for our hero.

My first pass at Jake in his dragon form.


Another version. This is pretty close to the final model.

While the changes to the main lineup wound up being more subtle (you'll have to tune in Saturday to see the final product), I was given free reign for designing the secondary characters in future episodes. Throughout the week I’ll be posting more of my designs for the show, both ones that got vetoed, as well as ones that made it to the small screen.

All images © 2006 Disney

The Odyssey - Part 3

The last of my designs for The Odyssey -- a trio of temptresses.

All images © 2006 Film Roman.

The Odyssey - Part 2

The cyclops cometh.

All images © 2006 Film Roman.