Name That Tune...

As any veteran of Disney Parks knows, every single "area" of the Parks has its own theme music. From ride queues, ride entrances, Main Street, shops, hotel lobbies, firework shows, atmospheric music in the Epcot pavilions... Disney cares quite a lot about the immersive and imaginative power of music.

One of my walking routes around the Walt Disney World Resorts takes me around several of these "music areas": the Disney Vacation Club Preview Center - which has its own music loop, Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa - which has its own music loop, the arcade - which has its own various blips and noises, and the pool - which has dance music.

The trip starts off pleasantly, with something like "When You Wish Upon A Star," or "Beauty and the Beast" playing lightly over the speakers.

 

Then, slowly but surely, a jazzy instrumental number akin to Gershwin and the early 1900's comes into the mix.

 

As the arcade comes into view, so does Dance Dance Revolution classics come audible to the ears.

 

And everyone else is having a blast at the pool.

 

And then, a highly recognizable Sherman Brothers tune builds to a climax as the pleasant "When You Wish Upon A Star" or "Beauty and the Beast" descrescendos to an end.

 

Guess which song will be stuck in my head for the remainder of the day?

And yet, what's the first playlist I go to on my iPod? The Disney one. Loyalty never wavers. And yes, I will quote along with Mickey while listening to "Fantasmic!".

ALL THE PHOTOSHOP

Something Pretty

Wanted to paint my deer-unicorn and a pretty forest. So I did. Inspired by Princess Mononoke.

Photoshop

Downtime

So, a typical day: Take phone calls, sketch during break, set up tours, sketch during break, make people's dreams come true, sketch during break, go home, sketch in Photoshop and Flash, go to Church activity/Disney Park/maybe eat, do some speedpainting, go to bed, dream about sketching, wake up, get ready for work, repeat.

All in all, pretty good :)

I've been doing a lot of studies from Ken Hultgren's Art of Animal Drawing. Seriously one of the best books about animal anatomy for the artist EVER. However, the deer-unicorn-creature is not included in said book. You'll have to find one for yourself out in the wild. Oh, and the Haunted Mansion reference is not included in said book either. You'll have to make a trip to the Happiest Place(s) On Earth to see it.

Fun fact: The deer-unicorn is more or less a mythical creature taken from Asian legends of the kirin. The kirin is basically the Eastern version of the unicorn, more based on a deer or goat rather than a horse.

Blue pencil, Col-Erase, and uni-ball. Oh, yes.

Disney owns the Haunted Mansion

Speed Painting - Take 3

It's another one! This week's highlight: This lovely background from Disney's Pocahontas. As usual, the top is the original art, the bottom is my speedpaint.

................ I feel like with every speed painting I do, positioning and composition slowly deteriorates.............

Photoshop. 30 minutes. One brush. One layer. The usual.

Disney owns Pocahontas

Quickie Doodle

Most days, this is how I feel :)

I just bought "Rapunzel's Amazing Hair," a children's book illustrated by the talented Claire Keane. I was very inspired and set about to emulating her lovely style.

Photoshop

Speedpaint - Take 2

Woohoo! I did another one! This time, Lion King concept art takes center stage as inspiration. Important artistic technique put to work today: Lighting. Important artistic technique learned: Don't be shy about contrast, especially between lights and darks. I realized, looking back on this, definitely could've made my darks darker and lights lighter for a more dramatic distinction between light and shadow. I love the contrast of stormy dark and sunshine bright in this piece; reminds me a lot of the storms we get here in Florida. Acacia trees have such artistically pleasing shapes! More contrast with horizontal and vertical lines and shapes than most Western trees.

I eyeballed most of the colors for this piece! I only color-picked my two first colors just so I could get within the piece's palette range.

Lion King belongs to Disney. Screenshot not mine.
Photoshop. One brush. One layer. TO RULE THEM ALL.

Speedpaint - Take1!

Hey everyone! I'm happy to say that I'm settling into my new role and the beginning of my Professional Internship here in Walt Disney World! I'm determined to do much more gesture drawing, animation, storyboarding, and painting than ever before while I'm away from school for the next semester. I;m happy to say that I've been spending more time in the Parks sketching than riding rides! :D

I was recently inspired by the lovely Heather Dixon to do some speedpainting. Basically, take a picture, repaint it in 30 minutes without using a color picker. However, being as this was my first speedpaint, I decided to flub the rules and do some color-picking. But hey, first go at this. Gimme a chance.

I decided to speedpaint this awesome piece of concept art from the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" sequence from the Fantasia films. This has always been one of my favorite pieces of concept art, with its moody warm and cool color palette and great lighting.

So... I was so excited at the prospect of working in color that I ignored the prospect of... layout and composition. Again. First time :P Improvement happens... eventually. Anywho, it was a whole mess of fun to do, but now my wrist is screaming out in agony and pleading for a soak in a hot tub.

Photoshop. One brush. Whut now.

Fantasia and Mickey Mouse belong to Disney