Character Designs: Nuts

Who knew nuts could be so fun to draw?

Following up on Tom's post last week, here's a shot of the cast of nuts we designed for The Skinny On Nuts Website. These characters were really fun for us, because they hearken back to our roots of drawing wacky characters with big circle eyes. The bottom layer in the image is our initial line-up of characters, while the top layer contains a few revisions.

Anyway, go check out the site which we helped design, and be sure to "like it." Spread some love people!

Copyright © National Peanut Board

Character Designs: IRL Files

Following up on our last two posts, here are the character designs we created for College Humor’s IRL Files.

I had a blast designing this group of characters… I really just let loose and drew whatever came into my head, as opposed to doing multiple rounds of design. It’s definitely fun to just go with the flow as opposed to working a design over and over to death. The characters were drawn in Flash, but there’s actually not very much reuse here... just some hands and one body type being reused.

Here are the links to the videos if you'd like to check them out:

The Road Trip
Dad's New Phone

Copyright © Connected Ventures, LLC

More "When Santa Got Sick" Art

As promised yesterday, here are some more of our When Santa Got Sick storybook illustrations! First up, Mrs. Claus and the Elves are trying to solve the problem of how to deliver gifts without Santa.



Below, a few Elves step up with solutions, but they aren't very good ones.





Finally, one little Elf comes up with a solution that even Santa likes!




Head over to the iTunes store to download the app and get the full story!

© Food 4 Thought Productions Inc.

"When Santa Got Sick" iPad App

2A! helps spread some holiday cheer!

We were recently asked to create some fun illustrations for a new iPad app called, When Santa Got Sick! The app, which is currently available at the iTunes store, is an interactive storybook written by Greg Perkins, that tells the tale of what happened when Santa was too sick to deliver presents one Christmas Eve.

2A! designed the characters and penciled the illustrations, while the final pages were painted by the gang at Burton Design Group (who also produced the app). Check out some of our work below, then head over to iTunes to download the app for yourselves!

Here is the approved line-up of our designs for Santa and his elves.



Below is one of our favorite pages, including both the rough layout and tightened character pencils.




We'll try to follow-up with some more of our favorite images tomorrow. =)

© Food 4 Thought Productions Inc.

Character Designs: Bear Snacks!

Thought I’d share our human designs for College Humor’s Bears are Bears animated short.

These kids were fun to work on... They were all drawn with the line tool in Flash. If you look closely, you’ll see how all the guys share the exact same bodies. That’s right, with the exception of their heads, all the male body parts are the same symbols, just colored differently and resized.

Unfortunately, these kids end up as lunch for a group of ravenous cartoon bears. At least they give us a few good laughs before they go!

Copyright © Connected Ventures, LLC

Critter Concept: Monster Blob

So here’s the last design in our series of cute, yet vicious little critters. Again, this little guy started with Sarah’s Sketchbook version (top) and then I did my version in Flash (bottom). First this dude blinds you with his obnoxious coloring, then he slimes you to keep you from getting away, then he eats your brains! Munch, munch, munch!

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Critter Concept: Monster Worm

Here’s the third design in our series of cute, yet vicious little critters. This little dude was really fun to draw! Sarah nailed his look pretty much on her first sketch (top), then I had my fun with the blue lines and color mock in Flash (bottom). I wouldn’t mind having this little guy hanging out in my garden -- of course, I guess I’d need to start a garden first, but anyway… ;)

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: Galin Modric

This character is the result of yet another fun exercise I did for the Design-A-Character group over on Deviant Art. The idea behind this challenge was to design a character based off of a provided name –- in this case, the name is Galin Modric.

So many things came to mind when I heard the name... a dark-ages wizard, a soul-stealing grim reaper, or a sci-fi bounty hunter (just to name a few). I chose to go with the latter. So, here you have it... Galin Modric, sci-fi bounty hunter extreme! Enjoy!



Copyright © Joe Costantini

Critter Concept: Monster Snake

Here is the second design in our series of cute, yet vicious little critters. Again, this guy was started by Sarah in Sketchbook Pro (top) then tweaked by me in Flash (bottom). All of the designs in this series were concepts for a game where little critters like this would be attacking you!

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: Robo Alien Insect Dude!

This dude started as a doodle in my sketchbook one night... then I just kept adding lines here and there while at lunch or on the phone, etc. Sometimes it's just relaxing for me to draw without any sort of end plan for an image. Plus, I always love the chance to sketch on paper again!

I added some quick grays for a background in Photoshop. I may end up coloring him in the future, time permitting of course. We'll see...

Copyright © Joe Costantini

Critter Concept: Monster Dino

I know he looks cute, but trust me, get too close and he’ll bite your hand off!

This adorably fierce little dinosaur is the first in a series of critters that Sarah and I designed last year. Sarah started the designs with her Sketchbook Pro roughs, then I swooped in with my Flash versions, where I added some monstrous “bling” like spikes and claws, etc., and finished it off with color.

I don’t know about you, but I think this little guy would make a great pet.

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Character Designs: Even More Fairies

Following up on my last few posts -- Fairy Dude and More Fairies -- here are even more fairies!

I really started to like where things were headed at this point. The characters started to become less humanoid and more fantasy, which is pretty cool. I was starting to use the vegetation as part of their bodies, rather than having them just wear leaves and flowers as clothes. My favorite is the dude on the far right... his face is based off of a goat's. "Bleet, bleet!"

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: Cheeseburger & Fries!

Move over Cholesterol. Stand aside Trans Fats. Here comes Frankie French Fry and Charlie Cheeseburger in the next Fast Food sensation... Artery-Clogging Action Time!

These guys are the result of another fun exercise I did for the Design-A-Character group over on Deviant Art. The idea of this challenge was to design a character based off of a food item -- in this case I chose my favorite "bad-for-you" meal, a cheeseburger and fries! Mmmmmmmmmm…

The above image is a shot of my dynamic duo racing into action! Below are my WIPs of both Charlie Cheeseburger and Frankie French Fry's initial designs. I created Charlie first, then decided to design Frankie -- because what’s a burger without the fries, right? Anyway, hope you like these dudes. ;)




Is anyone else getting hungry all of a sudden? =P

Copyright © Joe Costantini