Melissa McCarthy and More

In April, I took an amazing gesture drawing class taught by the incomparable Glenn Harmon at DreamWorks. Glenn covered a ton of ground each week, giving us specific tips and tricks...and then immediately had us put those lessons into action with quick gestures drawings of a live model. Below are a couple of my lightning round sketches.

We were also given a sketchbook, which we were supposed to fill up each week with as many gesture drawings as possible. The first week, I was on a big Melissa McCarthy kick (when am I not?) because she was on a massive press tour for her movie The Boss. I basically DVR-ed every single talk show appearance that she made that week, then paused them a bunch to do quick gestures of her. It also doubled as research for my character Lilinoe...which Melissa McCarthy is a blatant inspiration for.

A lot of the sketchbook pages are of Melissa making her entrances, walking over to greet James Corden, Ellen DeGeneres, etc. BUT THEN she did the most epic Lip Sync Battle with Jimmy Fallon of all time! That was the most fun to gesture for sure! She killed it doing DMX...and then slayed "Colors of the Wind" with an industrial fan that nearly blew her backwards. Awe-inspiring!

Do yourself a favor and watch the Lip Sync Battle below...if you haven't already! Pocahontas would be proud!

        

Mele Kalikimaka!

Mele Kalikimaka and Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! (I'm pretty sure that means "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" in Hawaiian...hopefully)

Here's Lilinoe spreading holiday cheer...in her own special way.

 

Meet Lilinoe

I'm taking the Story Development for Animation at the Concept Design Academy this semester, taught by the amazing Tron Mai. We're currently working on boarding an "Intro to Character" sequence. I've decided to adapt some Hawaiian mythology, because it's so full of intriguing gods/goddesses with names that are really hard to say. One goddess in particular, Lilinoe (basically sounds like you're saying Illinois with an extra "L" in front of it), is a bit lesser known. She's the godessess of mist...or more literally translated - "light rain." I really loved the idea of a sort of ineffective god. I mean, light rain, seriously? Gee, thanks Lilinoe, we really needed that in this drought we're having. But she means well, and is trying her best. Maybe with enough practice, she'll be able to make it rain (water...not dollars. This is Hawaii, not Vegas we're talking about people).

Here are some initial character designs that I did for Lilinoe...which are heavily influenced by the lovable Melissa McCarthy.