Updated Website and Portfolio

I spent the last week updating my portfolio and website. It was a tough job because previously I had a slide show and I wanted something more simple, like a scrolling page. I use squarespace templates for my website, but I found that trying out a new template was no easy task! The site used to make it easy to test out new templates by filling in your existing samples into the new template, but with the updates now that is impossible. You basically need to redesign your site in order to see what a new template would look like. Oi! I finally decided to reconfigure my existing site to reflect the ideas I had about my portfolio presentation. 

Regarding portfolio content, after working for a long time, portfolio editing can be really difficult. I've accumulated so many pieces of art, have so many projects going, and I like to sketch and paint all the time, work that is not connected to professional endeavors. In addition to that, I have been freelancing for about a year now, which means I have been working on several short term projects for various companies. So how to update my portfolio? 

I think a good solution is to create a general overview leading a website front page. I think of the rest of the headings as "deep cuts", more in depth. There are a lot of ways to represent various interests, like galleries of character work, environments, and storyboards, but in the end I decided to try out categories based on projects. I'll try it out for a while. Hopefully it is easy to navigate.

www.julialundman.com

Thanks for looking! 

Bee Rider

"Bee Rider", photoshop

A few years ago I had this idea that tiny humans with wings were discovered in various regions of the planet. It's not a new idea at all, but I wanted to mess around with making these fairies a sort of tribal, pagan warrior race that looked more human than the wide-eyed alien version. I am deeply inspired by the art of Mary Cicely Barker (of Flower Fairy fame) and Margaret Tarrant, Edwardian era artists that depicted tiny human-like fairies usually of a friendly beautiful sort. 

Margaret Tarrant watercolor

Cicely Mary Barker watercolor

I wanted to take their ideas about fairies and focus on aspects of character personality and group culture. It's a pretty big project that I am picking away at here and there in between many other projects. 

I did this quick little sketch about five years ago. I like the idea but it's a little too vertical for the kinetics of the scene, and the costume doesn't work for me. I wanted to explore warriors that are more gutsy and brutal instead of sweet. I scanned my sketch and then did a TON of loose drawings on top to work out the idea more to my liking. 

I also did a few studies of bees. Here are a few sketches. I thought about stylizing the shapes and the character far more than this, but in the end decided I'd rather focus on the story of the character, and of course (since I love to paint) the light.

I have a several more warrior fairies in the works in various states of finish. Hopefully I'll post a few more this year in between other posts. :) 

Thanks for reading!

Disney's "Whisker Haven Tales with the Palace Pets", Season 2!

For the past year or so I've been working on a new web and tv series called, Disney's "Whisker Haven Tales with the Palace Pets", published on the Disney Junior website and network. The latest episode, "Chowing Down" (Season 2), can be seen here:

http://watchdisneyjunior.go.com/whisker-haven-tales/video/vdka0_w80egsrv/chowing-down

All of these shows are developed, directed and produced at the awesome Ghostbot animation studio, where I have been working as Art Director with the Director-bots, Alan, Roque and Brad.

I am SO, SO proud of the really hard work that we all have done on this series. The best part has been meeting kids that tell me all about the shows and the characters. There is nothing better than that!

Here are a few production stills from this episode (I think this one is my favorite!), directed by Alan Lau. The color script on this episode was really key in getting the lighting, mood and tone just right, and also making sure transitions worked from the first sequence which was the set up to the indoor Kibble shop and dream sequences. 

Below is some of the design work I did for the spring episode, "Hearts, Hooves, Eggs!", directed by Roque Ballesteros. The biggest thing I learned in this episode was scaling of details in the distance vs. the scale of details in the foreground. I spent a lot of time looking at mountainscapes studying how to make them work atmospherically.

The color script for the "Masquerade Ball", directed by Roque Ballesteros, was one of my favorites. The episode practically designed itself! A dark room with a party atmosphere was pretty interesting to explore in the color script and in the background design. I was surprised at how dark it could go, actually, and still read as long as the main characters had a good amount of light on them. 

"Buddies Day", directed by Brad Rau, was really fun to design since the fall season was a character in the episode. I thought about things like how the color of the grass and the position of the sun in the sky would be different and distinct from episodes that take place in the summer or spring months. The most difficult part was the lighting in the maze from shot to shot, which required a color script - absolutely. In addition to that, getting a hay texture and shape in flash without it becoming too distracting or vector-y looking against the action of the characters was a real challenge. In the end, I think we found a good balance after a lot of trial and error. 

I just wrapped on Season 2, 13 episodes, which will be released throughout the year including a Christmas episode I'm really excited about. I'm really hoping that we get a 3rd season. After 23 3 minute episodes I feel like I've really gotten to know the world pretty well. I enjoy every single part of the storytelling process in animation and film making and especially working with the Bots. I hope to visit the world of Whisker Haven again sometime soon! 

CTN Ad and Quick Animation

This year I took up the opportunity to advertise in the CTN Sketchbook, a collectible printed sketchbook you can buy. I created this ad using some of my art. The book is in black and white, and because of that I submitted this piece in black in white. The 2015 sketchbook should be available in a few weeks at the CTN STORE.

I liked the composition a lot, so I also created it in color, too. I also made a bookmark of "The Act". I will have both color bookmarks while at the show. If you see me ask for one - they're free! Ping me at @Paintkatt on Twitter if you're at the show and want a bookmark!

The other day I also messed around with the animation timeline in Photoshop. It's changed a lot over the years, the old ImageReady version being pretty clunky. The new version allows you to change the frame rate and add transitions and effects. (All of this would have been fantastic back when I used to create little gif animations in Photoshop for the Pogo Mini's when I worked at Pogo.com/Electronic Arts.) The Photoshop animation timeline also allows you to add sounds files. I played around with that in order to get a feel for it and came up with this silly little test. Pretty fun to play around with sound files!

In the next month I should have some more updates with personal illustration art. Updates are a little slower than anticipated this summer. I have been taking a Gnomon Workshop online Maya modeling class. The homework has been pretty time consuming but I gotta say, it's really fun to model things! So far I've modeled a 1950's era ray gun and am currently working on modeling a vintage vespa. Our teacher, Disney Feature Animation modeler James Schauf, has been the most fantastic teacher. 

Thanks for reading!

CTN Expo in Burbank and new website updates!

Hey Friends! I will be attending the CTN Animation expo in Burbank, California this upcoming weekend in order to show my portfolio, get some much needed feedback, meet up with friends, go to lectures and geek out over all the awesome art! 

Here are some highlights from my portfolio:

I also updated my WEBSITE for the first time in ages. 

Julialundman.com

Hopefully this is a good "jumping off" point for the coming months as I develop my work.  I also am working on a small self published book of about 30 pages. Hopefully that will be finished next year.

Jamie and I went the first two CTN shows, the last of which Jamie had a table. We had such a blast, but in the past few years we have been pretty derailed by life events and haven't attended any shows anywhere. In fact, this year I will be attending alone. Hopefully Jamie will join me next year. 

If you are at the show and see me, please chat me up and hang out! 

Hope to see you there!

Julia