As promised, here's another critter concept I recently designed. I really dig the way this dude turned out. The basic idea was to come up with an interesting looking creature that lived in the desert. I started with camels as a base, but really tried to push his features to be more alien. I think he turned out pretty darn cute! I have some more designs that I came up with while working on this (which I'll share in future posts), but this is definitely one of my favs!
Valentine's Day is coming up, so for all of you lonely followers out there who need some loving, this one's for you. This Sexy Elf animation was done for our recent batch of Christmas SweetIM animations, but I'm sure none of you would turn her down now. ;) Pucker up!
A few weeks ago I posted our background design for Mattel’s MyScene Shopping Spree game. This week I wanted to share some of the clothing we created for Barbie and the gals to wear.
The clothing was all based on the "street art" line of MyScene dolls, so that meant researching all the different toy outfits and accessories to accurately recreate them. From there it was just matching the beautifully rendered style of the illustrated girls. I used Nia as the model and feel that all of the clothing turned out pretty darn stylish.
Curious as to how the other MyScene girls look in their hip new outfits? Check them out at MyScene.com!
It's been a while since I posted any Sifaka World character designs, so here's a fun little dude named "Eggburt the Platypus!" You can find him playing the Truffle Shuffle game on the Australian continent. I've also been busy designing a whole bunch of new Sifaka World characters that I can't wait to share with you later this year. Should be fun!
Well, it’s a rainy Monday here on the East coast, but that won’t stop us from "getting our sketch on" with another installment of Monday Morning Motivators! It seems appropriate that it’s wet and miserable outside today – not that I don’t enjoy rain every now and then – but when you have to float to work it can be a bit much. It worked out nicely though, since this week’s letter is… “B” for Boats!
Any sort of creative endeavor is always in a state of improvement – as the more you practice the better you get. I made this drawing in that spirit, as it’s a piece that will be used in the redesign of my candy blog, The Candy Enthusiast.
Just like with my art, I hope the more I write and take photos, the better I become. Once the candy blog is redesigned, it will reflect the fact that I’ve been at it for almost two years now… and how else to spiff it up but with a cute self-portrait? I'd like to think my art will become a bigger part of my candy blog's identity, and I can't think of anything sweeter than a hobby that allows me to flex all of my creative muscles.
Halloween may be long gone, but I thought this week's SweetIM animation was relevant because some days I just feel like a zombie. Mostly on Monday mornings. :) It was fun coming up with an interesting walk for this guy, taking into account his limp. The swaying of his upper body worked out nicely too. Check it out!
Following up on my post from a few weeks back, here are more clothing designs 2A! created for the KidzChores interactive website.
The process for designing the mom avatar’s clothing was similar to what I did for the little girl. The client wanted a few ethnic pieces, along with the more familiar "day to day" attire most kids would recognize. Along with the clothing, we created different skin tones, hairstyles, and eye shapes to help real moms joining the website find a look then could identify with.
Remember, you can head over to KidzChores.com to see these designs in action and let us know which look is your favorite!
Since yesterday marked our twentieth Monday Morning Motivators post (that’s twenty weeks of sketches!), I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the sketches that initially inspired this weekly exercise.
Below are a few pages of my initial sketches, including various tree trunks, fallen logs, and tree roots spiraling out of the ground. I had so much fun with these themes that we might need to revisit them in future posts. I’d definitely like to see what the rest of the 2A! gang comes up with. ;)
Believe it or not, sometimes it’s hard to come up with ideas for our Monday Morning Motivators sketches. So I recently decided to grab one of my 2-year-old’s first dictionary books, which is chock-full of great ideas. The plan is to go through the alphabet with each week being another letter down the line.
So without further ado, this week’s letter is… “A” for Airplanes!
It's been awhile since I've done a Fun Art Fridays post, so this week I decided to share a painting that I recently finished.
Before joining the gang at 2A!, I started out my career doing concept work for Topps' Garbage Pail Kids trading cards. I still enjoy drawing in the GPK style and often get requests for various characters. This is my version of “Mr. T” in that style. I’ve also included my original pencil sketch and a work-in-progress photo below.
Hope you like it, because there will be plenty more where that came from. If not, then “I pity the fool!” ;)
For this week's post I'm going way back to the first SweetIM animation that we did. It's interesting looking at it now. I think we've improved since then, but this is still a nice little piece.
You'll notice that the animatic is longer than the final animation. Originally there was supposed to be a part where a piece of cheese is thrown to the mouse. We decided it wouldn't be setting a good example to reward the mouse's little temper tantrum. Actually, it really just had to be cut for time. :) Enjoy!
As Tom mentioned yesterday, 2A! worked on an interactive piece for The Bill of Rights Institute. The client had a list of Founding Fathers they wanted featured in the animation, so I immediately set to work researching paintings of each one. I wanted to do my best to capture their "look" so they were easily recognizable, since we only have painted records of their appearance.
I broke from my normal routine of sketching in Sketchbook Pro and instead jumped right into Flash for these. I started by doing rough line art in blue so it was easy to re-work and tweak if it was necessary. We only needed busts of each founding father, so it was fun to capture not only their faces but their approximate body mass as well. I feel it really adds to the character. Not to mention I got to draw colonial clothing too!
Below is the lineup of the final ink and paints of each character. Can you recognize who they all are? I really like the color scheme I used, as it feels very antique to me. I must have been influenced by all the beautiful paintings I saw!
So which founding father is your favorite? I admit I am most pleased with how Alexander Hamilton came out. Why not head over to the The Bill of Rights Institute webpage and decide for yourself?
2A! travels back in time to attend the Constitutional Convention!
Here’s a look at a fun, interactive activity we worked on called Madison’s Notes. Our good friend and colleague Chris Kaplan was developing the project for The Bill of Rights Institute and asked if we’d like to help out. In the activity, users go back in time to 1787 and learn where each delegate stood on the important issues, ranging from how members of Congress should be elected to what to do about slavery.
2A! designed and animated the Founding Fathers. Learn more about America’s past by playing the activity here!
That's right, it's Monday Morning Motivators time again! This is our weekly exercise where we pick a theme and spend the first hour of each week sketching. The sketches can be very loose or super tight, but the point is to work out the weekend stiffness and draw something new.
Here's my final image of all the Thundercats facing off against Mumm-ra! I've had a blast drawing these characters and definitely look forward to tackling full shots of Mumm-ra and the evil Mutants next. I also have an itch to draw some other 80's cartoon characters... so stay tuned! ;)
Even though Christmas is over, we at 2A! are still in the season of giving. So, we wanted to share this animation with you from our recent batch of SweetIM Christmas shorts. I'm sure everyone out there has been in an impromptu snowball fight or two. If not, get ready to dodge and weave before you watch this animation.
When 2A! worked on Kidzchores.com, we had to design a wardrobe for each of the avatars. Each one needed ten different looks, including various outfits and facial features. The process is similar to the winter clothing designs we created for Sifaka World, where we had to make sure the clothes fit the characters in all their different angles.
I started with designing the clothes for the little girl avatar. The client wanted to use clothing from around the world, so I began researching native costume in many different countries. The ones I liked best came from Spain, Japan, Germany, and India. For the rest of the avatar outfits I created more "every day" attire that most kids would identify with. Things like overalls, pajamas, dresses, t-shirts, and shorts.
I really liked how these designs turned out. They have a very fun, child-like feel to them that works no matter how you match them up on your avatar. You can give it a try and dress your own avatar at KidzChores.com!
Ever wish you could take your frustrations out on “the man?” Well soon you'll be able to with Dante's Dunk Tank!
2A! recently wrapped production on the front-end visuals for this new Flash game. In the game, players will get to send some of the same baddies that caused the recent recession straight to hell. The beta is scheduled to launch soon, so be sure to check back for more about this exciting new project.
Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a great holiday season and are ready to rock 2010!
During our usual morning chat today, Tom asked the question, “What happened to the 2010 we saw on TV and in the movies?” I can remember thinking how we’d all be riding in hovercrafts by now, but alas, we haven’t progressed that far yet. In any case, we thought it would be cool to use today’s Monday Morning Motivators to explore some of the things we might have in the distant future.
First up are my sketches of a flying car, futuristic shoe, floating chair, and city buildings.
Next, we have Sarah’s human transporters. Beam me up Scotty!
Here are Mark’s hover car and electric pants... hopefully you won't run out of batteries while wearing them. :P
Finally, we have Tom’s 50's inspired spaceships and ray gun!
Two Animators! LLP (2A!) is a full-service animation production and development studio.
Founded in 2001 by brothers Tom and Joe Costantini, 2A! creates content for animated series, shorts, music and explainer videos, commercial spots, games, apps and more. We’ve had the opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects during our 14+ years in business, from full-blown television series to online virtual worlds (MMOs) and mobile apps. Our team works in many different styles and can adapt to your specific production needs, and of course we’re always excited to design a unique look for a brand new property. We love creating new characters, worlds and storylines, and can help transform your ideas into fully developed IPs (Intellectual Properties) ready for pitching, producing or selling.
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