Happy Winter!

It's Chreemas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody.

(If all goes well, I might post something in this new year!)

It Has Been A Really Long Time

 My life hasn't been very "blog friendly" lately. I do apologize... both to you guys AND to me. I need this blog keeping me accountable. My hope and my dream is that I will get back to posting regularly within the next few months. We'll see how that goes. In the meantime, here are a few rough scribbles that I have managed to share via Twitter recently. (Follow me if you want somewhat regular blurbs. @vanhoozerbot )

Aidan's Art Direction

This was a quick drawing for my son.

Most of his requests involve robots and dinosaurs.

Batman On Break

Large Bunny Running From A Robot In A Tub

"Oh man, maybe I shouldn't have taken this book."

Don't Forget Your Lunch

"Don't forget your lunch!"

Roboty Suits

 I am cheating again, and posting old art. Sorry about that. It's just that I have been so busy lately that my personal drawing time has taken a bit of a hit. Well, that and Skyrim came out. (youch... so good) I thought it might be cool however to post a few more pieces from my time at CN Games Studio. The entire Exonaut project was such a blast to work on, and it did allow me to draw all sorts of cool stuff.

At some point in December, I will post Christmas art. I promise.

Also, thank you so much to the extremely cool people that continue to visit this blog. I know I have been slacking with posts, but I greatly appreciate you stopping by.

Project Exonaut - First Concepts

Since I have been so busy lately, the blog hasn't gotten any love. I keep promising to return to form and start slinging sketches willy-nilly once again... but it certainly hasn't panned out yet. Instead, I thought I would post some older work from my time at CN.

This first piece was literally the very first concept drawing for the game "Project Exonaut" (which didn't even have that title yet) and served as a proof of concept for the team. Looking back, it is pretty dreadful. It did however serve it's purpose in messaging that putting kids in big battle suits might be cool. (They paid me to tell them that. :) It was quick. It was messy. But it was effective.

This was done immediately the next day, and served as a more polished look at how we might treat the battle suit design. At this point in the game's evolution, there was discussion about basing the suit tech on the core omnitrix technology. Looking at the final game, it is easy to see how far the individual suit designs evolved.

I hope you guys enjoy this look back as much as I did working on this game. If everything works out, I will continue to post concepts and art from this project as time goes on.

(All art ©Cartoon Network)

More Please

A quick scribble this morning, using the pencil and pastel tools in Painter 12. We aren't friends yet, Painter12 and I... but we are speaking on better terms. :)

Slowly Getting Back

This morning was just an exercise to re-find my tools in my new version of Painter. So frustrating! I had tools in the last version that I used every day, and now I feel like I am fighting with the program every step of the way. I will eventually get there. Until then, you may get a few more scribbles...

A Change Of Scenery

Wow... It's been a while.

I eluded to the fact that there were big changes heading my way, and I wasn't kidding. Over the last few weeks, I have transitioned from my job at Cartoon Network in Atlanta, to a new position at Row Sham Bow in Orlando. This is a new studio, packed with unbelievable talent, and it feels like a great fit already. Our first game is in beta right now, and I am very excited about my future here. I will share more about the new digs here on the blog very soon.

Many people have asked why I chose to leave Cartoon Network. I wish I could tell you that it was because I found out my boss was really a pirate, or that I got into a fist fight with both Finn and Jake. Maybe management decided to rent my office out, and then asked me to work on the parking garage. But no, there wasn't anything like that.

Don't get me wrong. Working at Cartoon Network was fantastic. I will cherish my years there as the Art Director of the Games Studio. My team was second to none and worked amazingly well together. I was given so many opportunities and was able to work on many great projects. I made many lifelong friends. I learned more than I ever thought that I could. My family and I enjoyed our time in the Atlanta area.

So why did I leave? I just decided to take a chance. To keep moving. To go where I thought I could be the most creative. To follow my gut. Below are two quotes from Steve Job's 2005 Stanford commencement speech. They have stuck with me since hearing them for the first time several years ago. They really explain it all.

"You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road, will give you the confidence to follow your heart - even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference."

And this...

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

The last few years have been great, and I am looking forward to making the next few even greater. I hope to grow both as a person and as an artist. I always dream big, and so far, my life has supported that style of optimism. Once I get fully settled into this new chapter, I will return to this blog and start making a creative mess once again.

I'm ready!

Pest on the Bridge

Big changes coming to the Vanhoozer houshold.

I will post more about those soon.

For now, enjoy the troll. :)

A Quick Potter

I had grand plans for this one, but I never made it past my rough sketch.

Fly on young Potter, fly on.

Conan the Barbarian