Muergen

Here's a small piece done for a charity auction. I like putting the green with the orange and this one also has a bit more murk than usual. She seems to be an inhabitant of Toybox world.

Acrylic on board 4X9

--Starchie

Sad Eyes

Here's a bizarre piece that is part of the current i am 8 bit show, an exhibition of artwork inspired by the classic era of video games.

Any time I've been involved with the show I've taken the opportunity to depict my favorite malevolent game character, Sinistar. This painting depicts him in what could be considered a moment of conflict for his countless evil deeds.

The i am 8 bit gallery lists this little painting for sale here.

Acrylic 12X6

--Starchie

Brave King Fergus

 Here is an early character sketch of Merida's dad, King Fergus from the Pixar film "Brave". We always knew we wanted a blocky, furry, jovial chunk of a guy. I dashed out this painted sketch early on trying to capture some sense of his personality.

 Brilliant artists Carter Goodrich, Matt Nolte, Steve Pilcher and Pixar's smart character and sim departments created the amazingly realized Fergus that actually appeared in the film.

 8X10 Acrylic --Starchie

Buy Me!

Japan relief continues a year after the tsunami devastation.
THIS PAINTING is part of a group of auctions of artwork and signed Pixar items by many colleagues and friends. The proceeds benefit a project called Artists Help Japan.

Go and browse some amazing artwork, signed books and super rare items and bid often.

I don't want to try and explain too much about what I was going for. I still look at it a couple of different ways.

Acrylic, 8" X 20" and mounted in a simple black frame.

--Starchie

Brave

I did this piece over a couple of evenings for a charity auction for the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. I'm pretty happy with the colors otherwise there are some other issues that I would treat differently if I allowed myself some more time. I expect I'll take another whirl with this character. Her name is Merida, the lead from Pixar's "Brave" coming out next summer. It's a project I've been involved with for quite a while, also known as my "day job".

Acrylic and Prismacolor 8 X 20

--Starchie

I Love to say Monkey

Sometimes an early character design is like a first draft of a story. There are some obvious choices made and much unrealized potential. I still like this little painting but it's the first draft of this character. His design and backstory has changed since I did this painting. Hopefully I'll get to share some more of him with you in the near future.

Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

The Kid

Here's my part of an overdue barter exchange. It'll be nice to finally have it off the books. I wanted to do some kind of pulpy western cover but cute. Or as cute as I can manage. I like working in garish colors, maybe from growing up looking at Basil Gogos Famous Monsters covers. It's more of a challenge for me to go more neutral which I might try in my next piece.

Acrylic 8 X 11 1/2

--Starchie

BUY ME!

Posting this image again because the auctions have gone live this week.
Click here for this one. Check out all the pieces - there are some really great paintings up for auction and the proceeds go to a good cause.

ART BLOCKS FOR GHANA AUCTIONS

--Starchie

Diligence

Here's an auction piece from a few months back for the Mother Hen Project. The auction was to benefit Chicks in Crisis, which supports unwed mothers and facilitates adoptions.

Acrylic 6X9

--Starchie

Christmas Past

Done in 2005 as one of the internal cards for Pixar employees.

Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

"Draw something nice..."

When you grow up drawing monsters, sometimes along the way your Mom might ask if you can draw flowers or something "nice."

I eventually got around to painting some "nice" things for Mom. Here is an image I did one year for the folk's Christmas card depicting their schnauzer, Max. I think I based the composition on a found Christmas hang tag or something. I believe their dog was still living at the time, though the image might suggest otherwise.

4X6 Gouache and ink

--Starchie

"The Crow's Nest"

This painting is my contribution to Art Blocks for Ghana, a charity of The Picture Book Project Foundation with the goal of building a children's home in Ghana. Artists in the Animation and Illustration communities have donated artwork created on wooden blocks to be auctioned for the cause which you can read more about here. Also check out their blog. There are many amazing pieces, more than a few of which I'll be bidding on myself.

Acrylic on Wood 10X10

--Starchie

The Creep

Wow, I've worked on a lot of canceled projects. But they reap a bounty of unseen material to post at this site. Here's another character from a movie pitch which I thought was pretty cool. I previously posted a couple of robots from the same project. At first glance you might think this guy a villain, and you'd be correct. I liked playing with the metal work like it was fashioned by crafts-monsters in a feeble attempt to dress themselves up.

Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

The Sea Hag

Here's an image I cobbled together in honor of "Talk Like a Pirate Day." Since I didn't talk like a pirate and nothing requires me to write like a pirate I did this instead. It's painted on a piece of thick cardboard on top of a loose sketch. I didn't want to get bogged down in planning it out too much. Just wanted to make a picture.

Acrylic and Prismacolor 11X14

--Starchie

Blue Girl

Here's a character design from a previously referenced un-produced feature project. I like figuring out color schemes for characters and trying to get the costume to play well with the character. This was loosely washed onto a rough pencil sketch on Bristol Board.

Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

Aiieee Robot! PART 2!!

Here's a second take on the robot character and true to form, I'm often more partial to the first impulse. Though I don't mind this painting and I'm happy with the colors and shapes, I prefer the guy in the last post. This one has more of a C3PO vibe and feels a bit more predictable as the put-upon service-bot in my opinion.

6X10 --Starchie

Aiieee Robot!

Here is a character design for an animated feature pitch. I found a stack of designs from this project and will post them over the next few days. I tried to be aware of the very broad volumes for this guy and as robots go he's one of my favorite that I've done.

Acrylic 6X10

--Starchie

Maniac Mansion

Here's a big oil painting of the Edison Family done long ago for a reissued edition of Lucasfilm Games' Maniac Mansion. The back of the box has a photo of an eerie haunted house-type hallway. Originally I was commissioned to do a tiny painting to be hung in a constructed scale model hallway,... until someone realized it would cost more to create a scale hallway than it would to make a full-sized one. At that point the commission was revised to ask for a full size portrait. I thought of it as a Disney Haunted Mansion style piece and painted it in a weekend in oils with a few fairly large brushes.

Oil on Canvas 2X3 feet

--Starchie

Misu Mina

I don't do too many pin-up type gals. This one has been seen before. She is the better half of the pair of gangland villains from the un-produced game design "Sam & Max Plunge Through Space." This image started as a super rough pencil sketch. I pulled it together with acrylic washes and was pretty happy that it retains a lot of the roughness that can sometimes get worked away too much in this kind of painting.

Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

And Another...

Here, of course, is the comp for the final LeChuck's Revenge painting. Looks like I hadn't yet thought of the idea of the dead bird plume and what is Elaine doing there besides looking like a man? It appears I reversed the values of the clouds and sky for additional eeriness and tried punching up the phoney baloney lighting on the figures. All in all a handy exercise I guess.

Gouache 7X10

--Starchie