Beauty & The Beast

©Armand Serrano.
A different take on Belle and the Beast. We we're at the dental clinic for my daughter yesterday morning and they were showing this favorite film of mine which I haven't seen for a while. Got inspired and thought that it would be refreshing to see a different take on it. Here it is all done in PS.

Dirigible

©Armand Serrano.
Been busy helping out on our Hotel T. project here at Sony that's why I haven't posted for a few weeks. Anyway, here's an image of an airship that for some reason I kept seeing in my mind while driving home yesterday. So late last night, I grabbed my pen and did it in PS.

Pyramid...maybe?

©Armand Serrano.
Just another quick doodle in PS.

Equites

©Armand Serrano.
This is a traditional painting I did back in 2002 for our annual union exhibit at the Orlando Museum of Art during my Disney years. Equites were gladiators on horseback. Traditionally, they were the first ones to compete in games, rode a white horse and only fight their own kind. Oil on canvas 18"x24".

Falls

©Armand Serrano.
A very quick doodle of a water falls in PS.

Lizard Troop Revisited

©Armand Serrano.
New images for an old personal project. Been revisiting my old story projects and looking into pitching one or two at the studio. I'm also thinking on the possibility of compiling them into a book together with all the artworks. We'll see.

Aqueduct

©Armand Serrano.
Another sleepless night last night so I decided to doodle in photoshop that turned out to be an aqueduct.

Doodles

©Armand Serrano.
A couple of personal thumbnail studies of light for a piece I'm working on.

This is a bit different than my usual post. I'll be sitting in as drummer for my friend's alternative band HiRise for their show this Saturday (since their drummer is on a business trip...but hey who knows...). Anyway, anyone who's in the Long Beach area and up for some good coffee, live music ( and good hookah if you're into it ), you're invited. Admission is free and all ages are welcome. I'll try to post some videos of the show next week (if they turn out good).

Surf's Up - Designing Big Z Beach

All Images ©Sony Pictures Animation.
Designing Surf's Up's "North" beach where Big Z lives was one of earliest tasks I had to undertake in the film and evolved through different designs. Here are some of them. Above is the approved sequence illustration for the "feel" on how Cody sees the place for the very first time. Cody character on the foreground was done by Sylvain DeBoissy.

Here's one of my favorite shots in the film. I designed the extreme down shot from Cody's POV on the cliff before he went down to the beach.

Now this one is the earliest aerial shot I did in order to map out the beach based from different story beats. The tall waterfalls on the left was supposed to be a sacred pond where Cody has to do his "karate kid" moment with Big Z and climbs to the top. Also if you notice right on the middle is a bluff where big Z does his beach chanting and be "one" with the waves. On top of a hill are two openings on the ground with smoke coming out which are the lava tube entrances. Towards the right is the main beach where Big Z's house (the huge banyan tree) and boardshack (bent palm) are located. Lastly, at the very tip of the island on the right is a surfboard shaped rock where Big Z is supposed to reveal himself to Cody.



Above are very early design explorations for his beach. Notice Big Z's pad and boardshack on the first two images. The third one are thumbnails to find the right shapes.





These last five images are the final approved design for the beach. Notice the sacred pond is still there. It was taken out later in production. Last two are elevations showing how rocks at the north shore used to form one huge monolith and eroded through the years. Enjoy.

Volcanic Eruption

©ArmandSerrano.
Always had the urge to draw a volcanic eruption. So late last night, I had the chance and here's it is. All in PS.

Animation Book Look 2008 and Aardman

I will be at the Animation Book Look 2008 for book signing together with Sony colleagues Marcelo Vignali, Paul Lasaine, Richie Chavez, Ron Lukas, Mike Kurinsky, Chris Buck, and Chris Jenkins on May 17th. For more information, click here.

Last week, I wrapped up a gig with Aardman Studios in their temp studio here in Venice Beach. Sony had me on loan for a whole month and it was quite an experience. I had the pleasure of working with director Sarah Smith and her Aardman team, topnotch visdev talents George Hull and Francois Audouy, and a good old friend from my Disney days, Scott Caple. The last time I saw Scott was eleven years ago when we were working in Mulan. Hopefully next time we meet again will be sooner than that, right Scott? Photo above was taken during our "wrap" lunch. Left to right: myself, George, Peter, Alice, Francois, Sarah and Scott. Btw, I have links to George and Scott's sites here in my blog.