Sidekick BG's...

Here are some BG's from Sidekick - Adrian Thatcher was our location designer and each location was painted by our art director Don Gauthier and assisted by his son Eric.

Sidekick was created by me and my partner (business) Joey So and produced by Nelvana. The show runs on YTV, Thursday nights at 7:30pm. More info can be found on the show HERE.

The show was also featued on Cold Hard Flash - PART ONE - PART TWO.

9th Life

Originally we thought if would be kinda neat to use those old "Radio Flyer" type of pedal cars for the characters to drive around in.

We went for hand drawn cars instead - we thought it would save on the frustration side of things.

Still looks cool I think.

9th Life Sets...

Here are some 9th Life sets in the process of being built.

My partner (business) and I are about to embark on our second project involving "sets"- only this time we're going full out stopmotion ( i can't wait).

The two of us were really just cutting our teeth on 9th Life and I think both of us saw it as more of a learning experience than anything else.

All exterior elements (signs and such) were added in flash to help marry the flash characters to the BG's.

NHL...

Awhile back I had a really cool opportunity to work with the NHL developing some new concepts for a revamped Peter Puck.

Unfortunately nothing came of it but I did get to watch a game from the NHL booth and drink free beer.

1313...

Here's an illustration I did for the folks at 1313 Magazine. They wanted me to take their characters and do something fun in "my" style.

The rough was pencil on paper, cleaned it in Flash. Colored the BG in Photoshop and the characters in Flash.

I don't do work like this often but it was tons of fun - I hope they use it.

The wallpaper in the back was actually a design I was going to use for a tattoo...used it here instead.

Morning doodles...

9th Life...

An everyday Cat-About-Town, Sherman has frittered away the first 8 of his lives and is oblivious to the fact that he’s living his last. Each episode finds a carefree Sherman working at a different job with his pal Ronald, completely unaware that he is in danger of “giving up the ghost”.

The spiritual remains of Sherman’s past 8 lives want desperately to move on to Kitty-Kat Heaven, but until all 9 of Sherman’s lives are united, the 8 are stuck in Limbo. Unable to do physical harm to their own body, they must possess someone else and have them do the dirty work.

Sherman’s best pal and co-worker, Ronald is the poor unfortunate stooge who gets possessed by the ghosts and finds himself as the unwitting assassin. Led by the spirits within him, he unknowingly tries each episode to kill his life-long pal, and suffers the consequences of each failed attempt.

A large looming force, Mr. Titis appears in each episode as somewhat of an obstacle for Ronald. Whether he’s playing as Sherman and Ronald’s boss, or as the subject of a stakeout, when he and Ronald meet, it’s never good for Ronald.

The 9th Life of Sherman Phelps was created by me and Mark Thornton and is a Nelvana production. The show runs on YTV, Thursday nights at 7:30.

See more info on the show at the YTV link ~ HERE

Finn...

Finn (the comic relief) is Gideon's tag along compadre.

He is a loyal and trusted sidekick even if Gideon may not want him to be.

Why a seal that acts like a dog....why not? - I'm only so clever people.

Gideon...

Gideon has sacrificed his life for the greater good. He was a dragon who was transformed into a human to help Ember on her journey.

His back remains covered with his dragon markings which he tries to pass off as tattoos.

Ember is wise to him but doesn't let on that she has seen these markings somewhere before.

Loweman

The villian

Liette roughs...

I briefly toyed with the idea of making her oriental.

Live-n-learn...

I have a love/hate relationship with this one. When i first drew it the front end of the car was twice as long and just didn't feel right. Because I'm so lazy, I threw it in the photocopier and pulled it the opposite way the copier was copying to shrink the front end. I got the size I wanted, but it really messed with the perspective. I should've just redrawn it - live and learn.
I'm not even going to mention that horrible scarf sticking out the back of his neck like some sort of hubba bubba dagger.

Good ol' pantones...

There was always something so satisfying about using pantones. I could sit for hours layering and layering the colors one on top of the other, fleshing out the tones of my characters.

Now I just click and fill - saves time - not as fun.