Bryan Beus

If people would like to contact you, how would you like to be contacted? (Email, Webpage)

www.beauxpaint.com
untitleduser !at! gmail !dot! com --Please note the required assembly
so bots can't get my address.

What type of tools or media do you use?

Oil, conte, NuPastel, prisma colored pencil, Corel Painter!,
Photoshop, those are my biggies

Where is the place you would like to work or be an Intern if you had a choice?

Where to start! Any of the large film studios, UbiSoft France (Rayman
rocks!), Avalanche Software, Weta

Who do you think are the top character designers out there?

Peter de Seve (how does he make those shapes!?!), Quentin Blake,
Michel Gagne, Ryan Woodward, Don Seegmiller, James C. Christensen,
Charles Guarnido (Blacksad), (can you fill this part in please Randy:
the guy who did the crazy go nuts designs for Pixar and Shrek that
Jason Strong showed as his hero when he was here. He designed the owl
and snake in "Boundin" as well as other things. If you don't know
that guys name, just leave it out and I'll ask around 'till I find
it.)

What are some of your favorite character designs which you have seen?

I'd have to say that no character has ever been more real for me than
"Calvin." Do I even have to finish the title of the comic strip;)
Michel Gagne is unstoppable. www.gagneint.com I believe is the link.
You should probably talk to Ryan W. about getting a hold of him...?


What is your most favorite subject to draw? And why?

Definitely the figure. Graceful, wholesome girls especially. There's
just a purity there that is hard to find anywhere else. Also anything
zany, I don't care if it's a just squiggle or a big monstorous beast,
just as long as its zany.


What inspired you to become an Artist?

I was actually a music major about 2 or 3 years ago, believe it or
not. Music just wasn't clikin' for me though and then my friend gave
me a "How to Draw" book for my birthday and the rest was history!

What are some of your favorite website links that would be relevant to this Blog?

I spend most of my iSurf time looking up artists that are around my
age, some of my favorites are: Mario Furmanczyk
(www.animatedbuzz.com), Jennifer Wood (www.artofjwood.com), Jason Chan
(www.jasonchanart.com), Linda Berkvist (www.furiae.com)











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Leo Antolini

If people would like to contact you, how would you like to be contacted? (Email, Webpage)

leantolini@yahoo.com
http://popcircus.blogspot.com

What type of tools or media do you use?

I like to sketch really, really loose, so I usually
start with Col-erase blue animation pencil (although
sometimes I’ll use a regular 3B pencil or even a
mechanical pencil for doing loose sketches). Then I
either clean up the drawing, scan it and paint it in
Photoshop or (more often than not) I scan the rough
sketch and work directly over it in Illustrator. I’m
trying to force myself to start using Flash for vector
drawing, since it’s probably better and more
practical, but it’s hard to shake the Illustrator
habit.

Where is the place you would like to work or be an Intern if you had a choice?

Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon are my big dream
studios, either one of those would be great to work
at. However, there’s definitely cool shows to work on
at DisneyTV and WB. Also smaller places like Wild
Brain or Renegade. Then there’s Pixar, of course, but
I’m not even close to being that good yet…

Who do you think are the top character designers out there?

Craig Kellman is absolutely brilliant (and a super
nice guy, too!) I also love Alex Kirwan, Shannon
Tindle, Gabe Swarr, Stephen Silver, Mark Ackland, Rob
Lilly, Ben Balistreri, Teddy Newton, Lou Romano…I
could go on, there’s lots of amazing, inspiring
artists working in the industry right now.

What are some of your favorite character designs which you have seen?

Man, that’s tough, there’s a lot of em…Pretty much all
the characters from Foster’s Home for Imaginary
Friends are really beautiful. Samurai Jack, the
Powerpuff Girls, Kim Possible, Camp Lazlo, the X’s and
the movies Madagascar and Robots all have some great
character designs in them. And of course, older
classics like the Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the
60’s.

What is your most favorite subject to draw? And why?

I really enjoy drawing animal characters, mainly from
my head (although given the choice between doing
figure drawing or live animal drawing, I’ll still go
for the animals) I gravitate towards a very cartoony
style, and animals have such great shapes in their
bodies and features…they make great characters!

What inspired you to become an Artist?

I’ve always loved to draw. Watching way too cartoons
as a kid was probably pretty influential too, but it
was when Cartoon Network came into its own and started
making all those cool new shows (like Dexter’s
Laboratory and Cow and Chicken) it he mid-90’s that I
really made the decision to pursue art as a career.

What are some of your favorite website links that would be relevant to this Blog?

http://www.gruesomestein.blogspot.com/
http://www.dankrall.com/
http://bushiboy.blogspot.com/
http://chrisbattleillustration.blogspot.com/
http://pinkydee.blogspot.com/
http://saltysugar.com/
http://shannontindle.blogspot.com/











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Christin Marineau

If people would like to contact you, how would you like to be contacted? (Email, Webpage)

christinmarino@aol.com
http://rngnt99.blogspot.com/

What type of tools or media do you use?

My old stand by would be of course Col-Erase Pencils (Blue or Black), Other then that I'll use Prismacolor, any kind of Ball Point Pen, Mechanical Pencils, and Pastels. When coloring digitally I'll use more often then not Flash in combination with Photoshop and Illustrator.

Where is the place you would like to work or be an Intern if you had a choice?

I would say any place that would challenge me to be a better artist. Beyond that off the tops of my head it would be Tom Hignite's Miracle Studios, Project Firefly, and Cartoon Saloon.


Who do you think are the top character designers out there?

Steven Silver I would have to say personally for me. His characters are very inspirational. Having said that there are just too many great designers out there but I have to say I love Mike Kunkel's Hero Bear and the Kid. The Design of that book is so awesome.

What are some of your favorite character designs which you have seen?

Some of my favorite designs were done by Milt Kahl. Medusa, and Snoops from the rescuers. All the Designs from the Sword in the Stone. Iron Giant of course and Cats Don't Dance love those designs. Dexter's Lab, Clone wars, there are just too many.

What is your most favorite subject to draw? And why?

I would say that I draw people most often. With people I think you can get into there skin more. You can feel them from the inside out with how they move or make a gesture. I do really enjoy drawing animals as well I just find them a bit hard to characterize. Especially getting everything to working proper.

What inspired you to become an Artist?

I'd have to say Tom and Jerry. I loved that cartoon as a kid. And to this day every time I hear that music from there opening it really takes me back to why I love animation. The fact that those characters held a story without talking and made it so much fun to watch really says something about the story, design and animation.

What are some of your favorite website links that would be relevant to this Blog?

http://patchoforange.blogspot.com/
http://reddotblog.blogspot.com/
http://rparpan.blogspot.com/
http://pinkydee.blogspot.com/
http://www.john-nevarez.blogspot.com/
http://stephensilver.blogspot.com/








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Bob Rissetto

If people would like to contact you, how would you like to be contacted? (Email, Webpage)

modulox@hotmail.com is my contact for anyone that wants to write. I check
it regularly. And
http://www.bobrissetto.blogspot.com/ hosts some of my work.


What type of tools or media do you use?


Almost everything starts with col-erase for me. I love how loose I can be
with it and build it up and erase and it comes in all sorts of pretty
colors. I just dig the feel. It's almost necessary for animation.
Speakin' of which, I almost exclusively draw on animation bond. It can take
a beating and I can backlight it no problem. I'm actually getting picky
about it because now I hafta use it at work. I'm a video game concept
artist by day and apparently 8.5 x 11 copy paper just ain't cuttin' it for
me... Outside of that, I enjoy experimenting with other traditional media
(crayons, oil bars, sharpies) but I'm definitely a digital artist at the
core. I'm a bit of a perfectionist (thanks genetics) and the undo button
doesn't exist in the real world. A little Photoshop and a TON of Flash.
Love Flash to death both for it's animation capabilities and vector
illustration.

Where is the place you would like to work or be an Intern if you had a choice?

Cartoon Network without a doubt. There's some really well designed shows
there. There's always fresh content in the works. Great animation,
character driven shows, and supporters of Flash. There's really a lot that
appeals to me about Cartoon Network and what they're doing.

Who do you think are the top character designers out there?

This is really impossible. There's so many people that have really honed
their craft. Craig Kellman tops my list. I was blown away by his work on
Madagascar and really wished his sense of design was even more apparent in
the final movie. And I don't think there's a single weak design in Samurai
Jack. Jamie Hewlett has amazed me with all the work he's done with the
Gorillaz. Such fantastic characters - so well done. The toys are some of
the best hunks of plastic I own because of his design. John Kricfalusi has
been a big inspiration for me for a lot of his characterization. I think
the whole Spumco crew were masters. Stephen Silver is unmatched. Bruce
Timm and Shane Glines are up there too. Katsuhiro Otomo is another one. I
didn't understand a lick of Akira the first time I saw it in high school but
I was drawn in by the characters (bad dubbing and all) and how this world
was very gritty but they were so round and expressive and appealing. They
seemed real, and I attributed that to the design. Studio Gainax in Japan
was responsible for FLCL which was another list topper for me in terms of
design and animation. In the way of anime, nothing is better in my eyes.
Tex Avery can make me laugh with a single character. Just how it was drawn
was funny. Not the pose or what he was doing - just the look can make me
laugh. And Ed Benedict was huge. I remember actually hating the
Flintstones as I was growing up. The limited animation, the "awkward"
shapes and what I thought was a crude flatness. It's so charming now
though! Such simplicity! Ed was the master of asymmetry! Note to self:
must buy Flintstones DVDs...


What are some of your favorite character designs which you have seen?


Basically just connect the above names to the projects they've worked on. I
think the cast of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends takes the cake for me
right now. Some of the best. Samurai Jack, Ren and Stimpy, and Tom and
Jerry will out live them all. Hellboy was introduced to me after watching
Disney's Atlantis and seeing Mignola's designs. I loved everything about
Disney's Hercules too. Oh and Emperor's New Groove! Those two movies
really pushed the look of characters in animated features for me. Stuff was
more graphic was a bit flatter - square fingers, curly kneecaps, straights
and curves really contrasting. I thought Katamari Damacy for the
PlayStation 2 was wonderfully unique in terms of it's design. Such
terrifically weird characters. And I still ogled over the mascots and silly
characters from the 50s and 60s that tried to sell you the latest
sugar-fortified cereal. There's just too much to cover with these
questions!

What is your most favorite subject to draw? And why?


Characters. People. Bipeds. I love to think about posing and expression
because I'm an animator too, so designing a character that can do something
funny and make a face is a big part of the fun. I love boiling down a
complicated thing (like faces) into some simple shapes and lines. And
trying to do it different every time is something my brain just loves.

What inspired you to become an Artist?


If I really date this all the way back, I hafta say He-Man. I've always
loved toys and I loved cartoons. And with that, I loved to draw. I didn't
have every He-Man toy and the ones I wished I had I just drew with Crayola
markers. And eventually I'd draw my own scenarios and my own characters. A
little later, Disney was big with me in Junior High. I loved the art but
early on I was just drawn into the great stories and fun movies. In high
school I got pretty deep into comic books. Jim Lee was golden. X-Men,
WildC.A.T.s and all those Image guys. Fresh new characters and brilliant
art on shiny paper. This was it. I loved to draw - I'll draw comic books
for a living. In high school I was determined NOT to go to college. I'll
just keep drawing and land a gig with a comic company. I got pressure from
all sides to continue my education and I folded like a house of cards.
"I'll try this 3D animation thing" because I still liked Disney and Toy
Story was just released. This would be cool. Going to school taught me one
thing really well - 3D was not for me but animation was. I didn't learn
much about the industry, or much about the craft, but I started getting very
passionate about everything I drew and animated. Even if it was total crap


What are some of your favorite website links that would be relevant to this Blog?

Man, I hafta tell ya - I don't surf the web much at all. I find it really
overwhelming. There's TONS of inspiring stuff out there but I could get
stuck looking at links forever. I'll gladly check out a link that's passed
along but I rarely go out for a stroll on the information superhighway. I
hafta say though, if there's one group of people that really inspire me the
most it's my friends so I do make an effort to keep up with all of them
through the blogs. Check 'em out - they're all linked at
www.bobrissetto.blogspot.com.











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