Coke AMC

Radium, the commercial group at Reel FX, updated the site with some stuff I worked on. This Coke/AMC job was pretty fun. If you go to an AMC theater this summer, keep an eye out for our work before your feature presentation. I worked on the concept stuff for the pitch, and some matte painting in the final shot. 

Click here to see the final piece.

Hope all are well and keeping cool. :)

Palindromes

Monster friends

I like the few hours after I first get a new sketchbook. There's always a sense of "I should probably draw something cool" and a little bit of pressure with that first page to not be something dumb. Or should be Miyazaki monsters. 

Also, emcguire.net is updated with the two new pieces finished recently. I also redesigned and updated Drew's Website with a ton of his new work. Check them out!

If you're like me and have an insatiable need for new stuff on your google reader, here are some of the more interesting blogs I've come across lately.

Journey Round my Skull

Junk Camp

Grain Edit

The Intern

Heidschoetter

This is going to be a busy summer. I hope to fit in some reading though (recommendations?), and trips to the Dallas farmer's market. Hope all are well and busy!

Terrible Yellow Eyes

I was invited by Cory Godbey to participate in the Terrible Yellow Eyes project. Today is Maurice Sendak's birthday, and this project is a tribute to him and Where the Wild Things Are. Do you remember reading the book when you were little? I remember Max's bedroom transforming and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. 

Glad more Ringling crew got in on the fun, check out Sarah's, Eric's, and Adam's pieces as well. 

The day you burst

click to enlarge

Betsy

I miss the banyan tree at school.

So, I guess now that some things are official, I can officially talk about them. I've had some really exciting things happen in the past six months.

Candlewick Press approached me to do children's book, I'll be illustrating French Ducks in Venice by Garret Freymann-Weyr, and I'm psyched. The subject matter is so attuned to my aesthetic that it really feels like it was written for me. Seriously. It mentions cats and tea in the same sentence. It's going to be a fun year working on the book.

Also, in a separate and equally exciting turn of events, I am now being represented by Writers House for all literary related artwork, children's books and book covers. Being that they represent a handful of my heroes, I am really humbled by the whole thing.

I feel like books have always been an important part of my life, and if you'd asked me 3 years ago what I wanted to do after school, I wouldn't have said anything about concept art or working at a big animation studio, but definitely something about children's books or book covers. Maybe the whole teacher's daughter librarian thing is paying off. Thanks to everyone who has helped me on my way, and the folks at Writers House and Candlewick.

Invitation

Siobahn

This is up on my site now, but I figured I'd give it some blog love too. Trying out new brushes.

My sister (artist rendition) is getting married soon, and my wedding gift to her was designing her invitations. It's on the beach but she didn't want it to be too cliche "beachy" so I focused more on the cool beach houses in Seaside Fl, where her and her fiancee often went on vacation.

It also meant I got to draw cool little houses. She took the lineart from one of these and made it into a stamp that went on the envelope.

Also, wedding invitations these days are too involved. Instead of just letting you know you're invited, the invitation also suggests hotels and includes maps and compasses and probably a foot massage. I drew a map to help all the guests get to the reception and not end up in the Gulf of Mexico.

Also, I've put Heirloom and Ghost Cat prints up for sale in the print shop.

Hope everyone is doing well. Take care!

of having had and lost some infinite thing

I've updated my website. It is a joyous day indeed! There are new illustrations and even new sketches. 

Here's one, for to tempt you...


All can be seen at www.emcguire.net 

I'm driving 1000 miles tonight. See you when I see you.

Of fuzzy hats, and also muffs.

Quick character study. I like to pretend her hat is biting her head.

I head down to Florida next week for a very whirlwind visit. Luckily I'm splitting the drive with Adam and Dustin, so it should be an adventure. I look forward to seeing what this year's illustration seniors at Ringling have been doing. Hope to see you there!

g-g-g-ghost cat

Little is known about the proper protocol for approaching the ghost cat, though many experts suggest a laser pointer and/or a profound sense of humility. The ghost cat, whence perturbed, has been known to cause thunderstorms, forgetfulness, and the occasional sneezing fit.

Approach with caution.

centenary

See, here's the thing- I unapologetically mostly draw girls. Here are some new sketchbook ladies.

This one is about half photoshop, half sketchbookins.

A couple of sketches I did while at the workshop, I think I was in a "drawing hoodies" mood.

Sometimes, every so often, I can get Drew to collaborate with me. It usually ends up looking like this though.

Lately I've been splitting my time between Dallas and Shreveport Louisiana, where I eat gumbo and po' boys with a few fine gentlemen while drawing children's books. By strange coincidence, Joe Bluhm has relocated to Shreveport as well, and it is nice to meet new art friends. What if Shreveport is the new artist community? 

Being semi-nomadic is oddly inspiring, and I really feel like making some new work. We live in exciting times.

Strange, really

Life is a little strange.

I think being in the right place at the right time means you get some surreal experiences.

Like helping the head puppet wrangler from Laika frantically assemble original puppets from Coraline to be in one of our gallery shows (as the show was happening) and getting to see these incredible works of art up close and hold them and glue their eyelids on.

The past 4 days or so have been crazy. I'm super jazzed up from the Concept Art workshop, and excited to do some new work.