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.