2D Animation Concept Designs: Background Layout, Storyboard Frames, Characters, Props and Vehicles

2D Animation Concept Designs: Characters.Proof Sheets of work I have done in the 2D Animation space over my career

 

2D Animation Concept Designs: Vehicles.Proof Sheets of work I have done in the 2D Animation space over my career

 

2D Animation Concept Designs: Background Layout, Storyboard Frames.Proof Sheets of work I have done in the 2D Animation space over my career

 

2D Animation Concept Designs: Props. Proof Sheets of work I have done in the 2D Animation space over my career

 

 2D Animation Concept Designs

Background Layouts, Storyboard Frames, Characters, Props and Vehicles 

       Today I am posting some Proof Sheets of work I have done in the 2D Animation space over my career. I started right out of Art Center working in 2D Animation before I really focused into 3D work with 3D Logo Design, 3D Illustrations, and 3D Animations that take up the bulk of my work.  

TV 2D Animation work:
Phantom 2040: ABC: 62 Episodes,Pre-Production, Pilot and Film.
New Adventures of Flash Gordon: ABC: 26 episodes, Pre-Production
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child. HBO 26 Episodes

       I really miss the 2D side of my art, and rarely get a paying gig anymore to use that skill. I still do love to draw and miss using this skill set as much as I was able to to in the past. There are some sketches that were not in 2D Animation mixed in for Theme Park work, as well as a few Walt Disney Imagineering pieces too here as well.

Most of the Images in these sheets are posted here on my blog full sized. Here are some searches to try:

Sketching:        https://3dconceptualdesigner.blogspot.com/search/label/Sketching

Napkin Sketches:    https://3dconceptualdesigner.blogspot.com/search/label/Napkin%20Sketching

Phantom 2040:        https://3dconceptualdesigner.blogspot.com/search/label/Phantom%202040

Flash Gordon:     https://3dconceptualdesigner.blogspot.com/search?q=flash+Gordon+

 

     I am currently still doing freelance as I hunt for a full-time place to work at, so if you need a bid for a 3D Illustration or 3D Logo, or a 3D Model feel free to contact me for a quote. I am open to Hourly gig's, Work Retainers, Part-time, and Full Time opportunities [ Open to relocation ] would be best. I have worked remote since 2009, so I am ready to help you.

                                 Cheers, THOM

What is the difference between a 3D Artist and a 3D Conceptual Designer?

Traditional Sketching and Marker Rendering

 

What is the difference between a 3D Artist and a 3D Conceptual Designer?

     First off there is no hard-line difference per say, however there are big differences between these two titles. I myself, have worked as both and each position is a little different.

The title of 3D Artist usually is an artist who works in a 3D computer program to create dimensional work in CAD or one of the various 3D Software packages [ 3ds Max, Maya , C4D, Sketch Up,etc]. 3D Artists are primarily trained in the 3D Program or programs of choice , and work in a variety of industries to build out, light, texture, and animate their creation they have built. 3D is a dimensional world rather than a flat world like Photoshop and Illustrator tend to be. It is also not required as a 3D Artist to be trained as a 2D or 3D sketch artist, though many do this.

A Conceptual Designer is a trained designer that works on concept art, usually for the film and game industry. The first Conceptual Designer, or Concept Artist I met was back in 1986, Syd Mead. Syd did all the futuristic designs for films such as 2001, Blade Runner and Tron. His path took him through Industrial Design [ ID], and I followed this path myself. ID trained concept artists understand how things are made, and usually are builders in the real world on some level, and this real world training translates directly in the way they do 3D.

Once I saw Syd's work at a presentation in college, and more importantly, heard him describe his work back in Michigan in the Winter of 86'. I knew this was my path, so I transferred to Art Center in Pasadena to complete my training as an Industrial Designer with a plan to do Entertainment Design that last semester in Detroit.

A 3D Conceptual Designer is someone who is double trained in both of these disciplines. And this training takes place both in school and on the job. I have worked as all three, starting my career with 2D Concept Art, and now I do a bit of all three roles depending on the clients needs, but primarily I do 3D now.

The big advantage to being double trained is that, first I am open to more work opportunities, and second the client themselves get a two for one, in that I can design and build my own creations for them, cutting out the most expensive part in the middle of translating a design from one person to another so it can be accurately built as a final product. With me you get both. Finally, as a designer myself I can read and translate other designers work very fast, so I can build other peoples work much quicker and closer to their original concepts.

So today I am posting this link to my Traditional Hand sketching and Marker Rendering work that I do that is the basis for my title of 3D Conceptual Designer.

As a Industrial Designer trained in Transportation Design[ Car Designer], there is a moment in our education that we make a connection between our clay models and sketching. After this connection is made you sketch much more realistic, and accurately as the end product is real and dimensional. This is what happens when I sketch now, I draw more accurately now that I do a majority 3D.

If you have a need for 2D Concept work I still break out the velum, so contact me for a bid.

I have added a permanent button to the right menu like this.

                               Cheers, THOM

NOTE: Blogger limits file size, so for a full size Image from up top click here.

As to my 2D work here are some specific links for this work.
Phantom 2040 2D Animated:

Theme Park[ some 3D]:

Art Center[ some 3D]:

Napkin Sketching:

Frum-Unders 2D Character Development; 

Project Review The Phantom 2040 PART CXI [111th] Perspective Grid Background Action Layouts

 Cyberville was a B.I.O.T. based city in the later episodes of The Phantom 2040, and this is a layout blocking I did for the team to follow.

 This was a fun shot to design, Mr Cairo was on an operating table looking up at the ceiling so I put some strong fish-eye on the shot along with a tilt-rotate pan of sorts as he looks up to his reflection.

 For this blocking I did this for the layout and the storyboard crews to help set up our truck in pan shot here.

A shot of the curved walls inside the space station where Sean One lived with a scaled blocking for the characters.

Project Review
The Phantom 2040
PART CXI [111th]

Perspective Grid Background Action Layouts

Client: Hearst Animation Productions.
Art Director: Myself.
Project Date Spring 1993.

So today for my Thursday 2D post, I have here my 111th post covering the Conceptual Design and Art Direction work that I did for the TV animated series, The Phantom 2040 from in the early ninety's, and I am reviewing some episode Direction Scene Blocking that I did for the show.

As Art Director on the show, I blocked out in simple grid format a whole bunch of shots to assist the multiple teams with staging in fish-eye. Getting folks who have only drawn straight edge perspective to move over to curves was a difficult one, as most students I meet do not understand the concepts behind why we see in perspective in the first place[ parallel lines projected onto a sphere will converge]so they had difficulty with the fish eye, let alone just an accurate straight edged perspective, so I did these grids to help them.

They were all small sketches, so as to fit on the storyboards themselves, and we taped these originals to a board pages to give the animators a clear understanding of some shots along with the various other reference.

Trained in space planning at both CCS, and ACCD, this was a skill I never thought would be used in TV animation, but it was a great help in staging these shots.

If you are a FAN of The Phantom 2040, and on FACEBOOK, there is a group for that....  here.

There is a TAG on the list to the RIGHT for other Phantom 2o4o entry's, but you can click this as well.

Cheers, THOM

Personal Project Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XXIV[24th]

I did this one at 1am last nite, it is a composite dinosaur; T-rex legs, Steg-tail, and Saberteeth.

 My Fave from a kid, Triceratops.

 Lady T-Rex with a cute little underbite.

A baby Brac', with a puppy tail

Personal Project

Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XXIV[24th]

 

 Last week I covered a series on mini houses and playhouses here, and today I posted a few dinosaurs I've done in my sketching time.

I draw these little guys for my daughters to color in when we are somewhere without a coloring book, and I have always loved designing little animation characters like this since I was a kid, and it continues today.

Once I had kids my children illustrations increased out of necessity since I draw for them all the time too, so it naturally will come into my personal sketch time as seen in these little 4" illustrations.

You can view the other parts as follows:
PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV
PART V
PART VI
PART VII
PART VIII
PART IX 

PART X
PART XI 

PART XII
PART XIII
PART XIV
PART XV 

PART XVI
PART XVII 
PART XVIII 
PART XIX
PART XX
PART XXI
PART XXII 
PART XXIII


Cheers, THOM

Personal Project Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XXIII[23rd]

 A little house way up on stilts!

 A tall and thin four story unit from the Arts and Crafts era.

 Outhouse on a hill side. Stay up wind!

 A little house on a stump sitting in a swamp.

Personal Project

Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XXIII[23rd]

 

 I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend!

Today after a small break, I have posted up my 23rd doodle and napkin sketches installment,  with four new little cabin sketches to view today.

I have been sketching little playhouses for about a year or so, as I plan to build another one if we end up relocating, so I've been experimenting with various proportions and configurations.

I also did a little out house on a hill, so better be up wind!

Have you drawn today?

You can view the other parts as follows:
PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV
PART V
PART VI
PART VII
PART VIII
PART IX 

PART X
PART XI 

PART XII
PART XIII
PART XIV
PART XV 

PART XVI
PART XVII 
PART XVIII 
PART XIX
PART XX
PART XXI
PART XXII


Cheers, THOM

Personal Project Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XXII[22nd]

 A Robotic Rhino with roller balls for feet.

 A Mini-Vacuum Robot with a extension cord for a ratty tail.

 A knife edged arm character with no hands...

 A little Frankenstein with the full top of the head inside the lower lip of the skull, and stapled in.

[ you can see the lite ghosted neck and bolts (unfinished) in there too].

 An odd little design, not sure what it is.....It is graphically a character in a box shape.

Personal Project

Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XXII[22nd]

 

 In this twenty-second installment of the Napkin Sketches, Drawings, and Doodles I have posted, today I put up a set of mostly characters that I have sketched out over the last week during my free time.

I love to draw, and that is the first step in being a proficient 3D designer. If you are just going to build in 3D[ a 3D Carpenter], you need not draw much, though it would help a whole bunch, but if you consider yourself a 3D Designer, then the language we speak is the sketch, and the Sculpture.

You can view the other parts as follows:
PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV
PART V
PART VI
PART VII
PART VIII
PART IX 

PART X
PART XI 

PART XII
PART XIII
PART XIV
PART XV 

PART XVI
PART XVII 
PART XVIII 
PART XIX
PART XX
PART XXI


Cheers, THOM

Personal Project Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XXI[21st]

A Soft body Alien from the back

A stylized character similar to these I did years ago.

A bit of Bart Simpson in the Hair there...

A Bald little character face with everything pushed to the top third of the head volume.[ BIG CHIN!]

Personal Project
Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XXI[21st]

 

 In this twenty-first installment of the Napkin Sketches, Drawings, and Doodles I ave posted, today I put up a set of characters that I have done in the last week during my free time.

I do alot of hard surface 3D models and 3D logos during the week, so I naturally change it up a bit, and do some softer characters to balance it out a bit. Above are a few of them I ddi this week. I do about 5-10 little sketches a day when I do sketch.

Today I have a few examples, all done on the little 3x5 pads of bond paper I regularly use and doodle on, in the wee hours of the night[ chronic insomnia].

You can view the other parts as follows:
PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV
PART V
PART VI
PART VII
PART VIII
PART IX 

PART X
PART XI 

PART XII
PART XIII
PART XIV
PART XV 

PART XVI
PART XVII 
PART XVIII 
PART XIX
PART XX


Cheers, THOM

Personal Project: Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XK[20th]

 I always draw on the cardboard backing from my sketch pads as I use them up. I love working light and dark on them.

 I roughed in a few items, and went for the toaster w/o a slot to shade in...

 Angry Boss man smokin' a Cigar!

 Tip of the iceberg?

Personal Project
Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XX[20th]

 

 In this twentieth installment of the Napkin Sketches, Drawings, and Doodles I do when I have a pen or pencil in hand, I have put up some mini sheets, where I  doodle away a few small 1" to 2" doodles and fill up the page, or cardboard back-sheet as it were.

I also have a few single sketches as well, which is how I usually do them, one idea per page in these little 3 x 5 pads.

I love designing most anything, and I am always wanting to sketch something, and it is a very valuable little exercise to maintain your skills as a 3D designer to keep up with your wrist skills, and experiment with anything and everything as a subject matter. Break out of your comfort zone and draw stuff you find difficult to do, it is a good stretching for you.

If you cannot draw good, and want to get better, well then, DRAW MORE, it works wonders...

You can view the other parts as follows:
PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV
PART V
PART VI
PART VII
PART VIII
PART IX 

PART X
PART XI 

PART XII
PART XIII
PART XIV
PART XV 

PART XVI
PART XVII 
PART XVIII 
PART XIX

Cheers, THOM

Personal Project Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XIX[19th]

 I added more stories to the quick doodle design I did here.[ I will keep adding height!]

These three little characters I designed are trouble!

A sad dark robot a bit depressed and worried.

I did this little snowman head right after the holiday season.

Personal Project
Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XIX[19th]

 

 In this nineteenth installment of the Napkin Sketches, Drawings, and Doodles I do when I have a pen or pencil in hand, I have put up some more.

These doodles are quick ideas as well, usually 3-5 minute sketches as a speed challenge. I also often repeat and re-do concepts to refine them a bit like seen above. It is just like I do on a paid project, only it is spread out over days rather than doing twenty or so sketches of little robots in one afternoon, I do one a night for a week, with each one taking queues' from the last.

Today I have put up a 5 story version on the mini swamp house I have done before, only this round it is even taller. I will keep going to ridiculous then stop!

I also have a bunch of characters including the "Manny, Moe, and Jack-esque' three friend grouping. Each is very different from the other, but they are a matched set.

You can view the other parts as follows:
PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV
PART V
PART VI
PART VII
PART VIII
PART IX 

PART X
PART XI 

PART XII
PART XIII
PART XIV
PART XV 

PART XVI
PART XVII 
PART XVIII

Cheers, THOM

Personal Project: Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XVII

 I have been doing these little micro doodles since I could draw at around 4. You will find them on almost any scrap of paper available to me in the house or wherever I am, it's like breathing!

 Planet of the Vampire Apes, Two of my favorite genre's...Hmmm...

 A form study wit the hard-hat hair design, a fun exercise in form 3' x 5' scratchpad ...

 A rocky outcropping working the form with the cracking following the contours. I was prepping the Kangaroo Jack project the day I sketched this a bit similar in thought.

Personal Project
Napkin Sketching and Doodles Part XVII

 

 In this seventeenth installment of the Napkin Sketches, Drawings, and Doodles I do when I have a pen in hand, I have put up some additional current 2012 sketches that I have done this month.

I try to keep sketching every day,... at least a bit,... it is part of my 'ritual'.

I also do a whole bunch of the mini stuff, I was a MAD magazine fan as a kid especially of Sergio Aragones little margin stuff, so I included a page on mini doodles today as well.

You can view the other parts as follows:

PART I

PART II

PART III

PART IV

PART V

PART VI

PART VII

PART VIII

PART IX 

PART X

PART XI 

PART XII

PART XIII 

PART XIV 

PART XV 

PART XVI

Cheers, THOM

Personal Projects: Napkin Sketching Part XV

 A Craftsman Arts and Crafts 1920's era Cabin. River rock base and an attached greenhouse up in the Pacific Northwest.

 I knew a bartender who worked at Q's in Pasadena in the 90's he eventually went to Occidental and became a Graphic Artist. We always chatted when I had a Newcastle and doodles, this is him.

 An Alien in a full hooded space suit having a scotch[ Lagavulin!]

A speeding American Taxi with a Buick Tooth grilled toon car.

Napkin Sketching Part XV

 

 In this fifteenth installment of the Napkin Sketches, Drawings, and Doodles I do when I have a pen in hand, I have put up a few additions today that I had scanned in from the mid 90's.

I found these still in my old school portfolio book I used to carry around before the advent of my blog and website. It has these napkins taped into a layout for almost a decade, so I pulled them out yesterday, scanned them for todays post.

I have a little Arts and Crafts Bungalow cabin with an attached greenhouse on the side. This little one was done near the time I was going up to Spokane for Cyan[ 1999], as I was looking at the homes around there in the Arts and Crafts style as I was considering a move up there.

I also always do these little characters and Heavy Iron cars as well on a regular basis. And even though I re draw a few cars over and over, I always get a little bit out of the exercise in perspective and basic hand control for the sketching itself, as well as each design is different is some way or another.

I always sketch and sometime soon, I hope to get digital with it with a tablet with a digitizer pen[ NOT captive] so I can sketch with varied line weight and pressure sensitive thickness and opacity variations in the lines.DELL and ASUS now offer this.

You can view the other parts as follows:

PART I

PART II

PART III

PART IV

PART V

PART VI

PART VII

PART VIII

PART IX 

PART X

PART XI 

PART XII

PART XIII 

PART XIV

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Napkin Sketching Part XIV

A doodle of a tree stump home balancing in the forked branches

A mini castle on a cliff

MAD DUCK!

Angry boss character I'm begining to develop.

[ I've had plenty of reference for this, remember I work in Hollywood and they are do fond of YELLING!]

Napkin Sketching Part XIV

 

 In this fourteenth installment of the Napkin Sketches, Drawings, and Doodles I do when I have a pen in hand, I have put up a few characters and architectural elements I've been doodling.

I've been doing these little houses for a while, they represent tree houses and forts, little gnome villages etc. I sourced a tree house manufacturer up in the bay area who takes a tree stump and builds a playhouse on top so I was inspired to design this on a living trunk.

I also did this little Tim Burton-esque' castle. A bit of animation in proportions with the oval windows and simplicity.

I also revisit the duck, this round I made him a bit pissed off and angry.

I also have this little "Yelling Boss" character I am developing as well. that is a mini-sketch at about 1.5" tall.

You can view the other parts as follows:

PART I

PART II

PART III

PART IV

PART V

PART VI

PART VII

PART VIII

PART IX 

PART X

PART XI 

PART XII

PART XIII

Cheers, THOM

Behind the Art: Napkin Sketching PART XIII

 A Sketch for a fish with fangs, a bit shark mixed with whale and a vampire!

 A Cartoon styled old prop plane[ WWII-ish ]

 Yet another GumboMan Swamp house on stilts, the concept comes back alot in my doodles...

A tall thin character with a very loooooog chin.

Napkin Sketching Part XIII

 

 In this thirteenth installment of the Napkin Sketches, Drawings, and Doodles I do when I have a pen in hand, I have put up a variety of Characters, vehicles, and a background design for todays late 2D posting.

I sketch to stretch. It keep me limber as a designer, and using digital tools all day long it is very helpful to break out of that mold and use you skills elsewhere. 

I also do woodworking, coppersmithing, and various building projects to keep me sane along with these sketches. Keep a good variety of what you draw, and what creative activities you do, and never pass up a real challenge.

You can view the other parts as follows:

PART I

PART II

PART III

PART IV

PART V

PART VI

PART VII

PART VIII

PART IX 

PART X

PART XI 

PART XII

Cheers, THOM