Arthur Christmas 3: The Hangar and Mission Control

All images©Sony Pictures Animation.

Arthur Christmas 2: The S-1

My concept on the S-1 stemmed from the TV show Battleship Yamato which I love when I was a kid. But instead of a flying battleship, S-1's an aircraft carrier. Below was my first stab on the concept.

Then we went for something slicker, streamlined and organic like a race car.

An idea that I had was the huge S-1 is being stirred by a tiny control rudder mounted on an arcade-type ride just to be playful and fun for the elves.

The concept below is when Grand Santa goes back to find his old sleigh and reindeer, he passes by museum type rooms where the old sleighs through generations are kept:

This could be his old sleigh used around late 1800's to 1920's

This was used around 1930's till mistaken for a German bomber eventually shot down during Battle of Britain in 1941 :)

Now this one was used during the Cold War in the 80's. Fun.

More to come...

All images ©Sony Pictures Animation.

Arthur Christmas 1: Neighborhood/Bedroom

 THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Above is a rendered concept design for the neighborhood/cul de sac. To achieve this shot, I "cheated" a bit by building the basic architectural elements in 3D using Google Sketch Up and placed the camera on the composition I wanted. Below is the step by step painting process in Photoshop.

Here are some of the preliminary pencil sketches before building the 3D sketch up model.

THE BEDROOM

The bedroom concept art above is based from the idea that Gwen checks her stocking in the middle of the night only to find out its still empty. Below are the thumbnails for the shot. Somehow, I felt like going symmetrical composition on this one.

More to come...

All images ©Sony Pictures Animation.

Arthur Christmas Opens Nov. 23, 2011!

When Sony Pictures Animation partnered with Aardman Animations to work on Arthur Christmas more than three years ago,  the studio assigned me to work with director Sarah Smith for a couple of months and had the privilege of working with Scott Caple, George Hull and Francois Audouy to develop the early concept designs for the film. Above is the earliest drawing I did having Santa and his elves in the mission control. I had a concept where elves come in different breeds, short and tall. More to come next week...

By the way, the art of book is out, too:

Click for Amazon Books.

©Sony Pictures Animation

Veterans Day 11-11-11

A salute to all who served! 

©Armand Serrano. 

iPad/iPhone Paintings Exhibit Recap

On top are the iPad paintings I did for exhibit at the iPOP Culture Fest in Hong Kong two weeks ago. The theme was halloween. Then above is the Steve Jobs portrait I used for the press demo as tribute to him. The exhibit floor (below) was so cool. They played the stroke by stroke videos (from Brushes app) on five big LED screens and framed them to look like giant iPhones.

Had to visit HK Disneyland.

Beautiful view of Hong Kong skyline, shot from the Peak.

Then a visit in Metro Manila, Philippines...

All images ©Armand Serrano.

WWI Doodles on iPad

A special on WWI on History Channel inspired me to doodle on the iPad while watching. Here's the result. I used Brushes app. All images ©Armand Serrano.

iPOP Culture Festival in Hong Kong

I'll be at the iPOP Culture Festival in Hong Kong on October 19-23. This fest is part of celebrating last week's opening of the two-level, 15000 sq. ft. all glass, most expensive Apple store in the world located at the IFC shopping mall in HK (complete with Steve Jobs' classic staircase inside). The organizers commissioned me to do 10 iPad paintings which they will exhibit during the festival. I will also do a two-day iPhone/iPad painting demo during the event.

Since it's Halloween season, the theme for the ipaintings they gave me is Hollywood horror classics. I gave my own, fun take on them and here's one of the ten.

They will also show the stroke by stroke quicktime videos of these ipaintings. All artworks are not retouched outside iPhone/iPad and completely done using Brushes and Photoshop Express apps. Will post more after the event.

Artwork ©Armand Serrano. 

Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

You'll be greatly missed...

Done on iPad using Brushes app.

Power Of Values Recap

(Top) Taken during the tonal design seminar at LAAFA. (Above) One of the many tonal designs I used at the seminar. 

All images ©Armand Serrano. 

iPhone Paintings 10: Crew Meetings and Demo

Twice a week we have crew meetings on the project I'm working on in the stusdio. So every now and then, I'll grab the opportunity to do life drawing on my iPhone inside the dim lit room. Clockwise from top left: Doug Sweetland, Fergal Reilly, Justin Thompson, Lia Abbate, Dave Bleich and Mike Kurinsky. 

Here's a couple more with my son and my wife done a couple of days ago. Below is the stroke by stroke video of these two. All paintings were done in Brushes app and video capture in Brushes Viewer. Enjoy.

All images and videos ©Armand Serrano. 

iPhone Paintings 9

Done during my son's school meeting last night. The African American lady on the left was so attentive and taking notes. The asian lady in the middle was starting to get tired and bored. The caucasian guy on the right was so restless to keep himself awake. I cant focus and getting bored myself so time to doodle. Done in Brushes app... btw, for the record, I was listening :)

©Armand Serrano.

The Power Of Values Seminar

I am doing a three hour seminar on tonal design with Photoshop demo titled The Power of Values at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art on August 18th, 7-10 pm. Click here to register.

All images ©Armand Serrano.