Jingle Bells

A number of years ago I proposed a title sequence for a series of direct to DVD Christmas specials I was supervising in the Philippines.  My inspiration was classic Christmas card art. There was no real budget per say, so I proposed titles that would be inexpensive to produce, using lots of animation cycles, and panning artwork etc. Ultimately the studio decided to go in a different direction... and even though these are just rough sketches, there is something about them that I like.

All art copyright Tod Polson

The Noble Approach in print

"The Noble Approach"- Maurice Noble's design book is one step closer to getting out into the world. This week I received a pre-view copy from my publisher, Chronicle Books. Everything is on track for the Oct. 1st publication date.

The book is available for pre-order HERE!

Indian Paintbrush and the SMK exhibit

-Recently I was asked to participate in an exhibition at the Statens Museum for Kunst, part of the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen. The show is called "Flowers and World Views"... For my subject I chose to paint the Wyoming state flower... the Indian Paintbrush. 

Please read more about the exhibit here

Above: I made several versions of the painting, inspired by the badlands near my house in Wyoming. The badlands are in fact an ancient seabed... and fossils of fish, turtles, and even crocodiles can be found way up in the mountains. Once I picked a bouquet of Indian Paintbrush flowers for my grandmother, not knowing they were endangered, and illegal to pick. Luckily she was kind enough not to turn me in to the authorities. I've not picked them since. -tod

Gulls of Jutland

With the book nearly complete I have had a bit more time each morning to stretch my wings ... so to speak... working up some sketches just for fun. These particular sketches are inspired by a field of Black Headed Gulls I pass on the way to the Animation Workshop where I've been teaching the last few weeks. The gulls of Denmark are quite a bit different than most of the birds we observe in Thailand and Wyoming. Fascinating critters.

Dave Thomas' Wilburville

Not so long ago, my pal Dave Thomas asked me to do some color sketches on a project he was developing. He liked the feel of "Mantelope", which of course we developed together years ago. He also liked the feel of some of my sketches from "John Deer". A concept that we also had originally started together, before life took us different ways.

Above: Some rough development ideas for the town of "Wilburville".

Dave wanted the town to have the feel of classic "Americana" with quirky differences. Here I am just exploring color and shape in broad strokes to give a general feel. The uniqueness, and details of the place would come from the characters that inhabitated it.

For example below, Daisy, a bird character, would live in a classic American house, that happens to be built for a bird.

Above: Color exploration for Daisy's bird house.

Dave is always coming up with cool, fun story ideas, and it's always a pleasure working with him. I wish him luck on his pitches, and hope to get the opportunity to help develop these visual ideas much further.