Happy New Year!

Drink & Be Merry.........

In honor of the Year of the Ox 2009 my drawing of Disney's Babe the big blue ox

Season's Greetings...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

My all time favorite Mad Magazine cover.

Richard Williams masterpiece of stupidity.

Bolt!

For the release of Disney's new animated film "Bolt" I drew few sketches of ... Bolt, Mittens & Rhino.. turning 3d characters in 2d drawing no easy task.

It's a Grand ol' Flag test

Pirate Flag test in 2d...... Hey at least its better than...Pirates of the Caribbean 3!

Cast Create-A-Pin Contest

My entry in the Cast create-a-pin contest...Hope your not a diabetic!

No White & the Two Dwarfs

From Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, two of the newest characters we teach in the Animation Academy: Dopey & Grumpy. Unlike the princesses ( human characters) these characters are fun to draw because of the extreme caricatures of the human features.

Up in Smoke!

Smoke test done in Maya 6.0

Genie of the Orange

production stills

My commercial project for UCF for Florida orange juice.

3D model of the Orange Bird

3d model of the orange bird... in progress

giving the Orange Bird!

Does Anybody remember the Orange Bird..? The Florida Citrus/Disney promotion for Florida orange juice in late 1970's & early 80's They used to give out free orange juice at the state line welcome centers & you could meet the costume character over at adventureland at Walt Disney World. So bored today, I drew a sketch of him from an old yo- yo toy. I dug out of box of forgotten tourist knick knacks. My first attempt of coloring him in Photoshop. I think I will attempt to model him in 3d & animate him for the 21st century!

Dragon's Lair 25th Anniversary

Can it be 25 years since that summer of 1983 on a hot day in June celebrating my birthday at a ShowBiz Pizza place (think early Chucky Cheese competitor) that I came upon "Dragon's Lair" I will never forget that day as long as I live..The day I fell in love with Animation! Sure I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons, Disney animated films.. some of my earliest memories were drawing from Looney Tunes Place mats at the kitchen table. But nothing grabbed me as much as that attract mode previewing the adventures of Dirk the Daring. There I stood mesmerized by the art of Animation! ..the restaurant manager must have noticed my fascination with the game because he came up & asked if I wanted to play..."Sure" I must had replied.. because he plopped in 50 cent.. I lost very quickly no doubt...But i was hooked!!!!!Ya know I didn't care about video games at All.. but I could not tell you how many times that summer i rode my bike to the Fun Machine (local arcade) to play or watch "Dragon's Lair" I would spend hours watching the game.. thrilling at every new animation sequence i hadn't seen before...Many allowances were spent on mastering the game until I made it to the Dragon's lair & beat the dragon! But that wasn't the end of it... no just the beginning...I wanted to know who was behind this thing that I loved so much...That when I first learn who Don Bluth & Gary Goldman were. Who John Pomeroy was..The story of "Banjo The Woodpile Cat.. then there was of Course "The Secret of NIMH" if it was Lair that gave me the love of Animation it was NIMH that made it a Passion... there been no turning back.. I love animation! ..that I know can trace back to that summer day when I entered the Dragon's Lair! Thank you Don Bluth, Thank you Gary Goldman, Thank you John Pomeroy & the others who opened my eyes to animation!

caricature of me as Dirk the daring with Princess Daphne

by Mike Chovanec

Eye know lighting!

My first lighting test. Directional light creating highlight in eye. From website 3dRender.com

Modeled by Serguei Kalentchouk.

Gone with the Wind part 2

My first 3d animation.. simple leaf drop.
Done in 2005, Maya 6.0

TinkerHell

Tinkerbell is one of the new characters we are trying to breakdown to teach the guest at the Animation Academy. She is without doubt a major pain in the ass to draw.. no chin, no cheeks, big almond eyes & that faint little nose. Marc Davis , how did ya do it with such ease? Anyway here is my first attempt using the Chovanec method ( aka guideline Mike)

....its a work in progrss... imagine all the kids we will get crying trying to draw her in class....I with ya kids... waaaa I cant do it! :)~

2d EFX Portfolio

My first love is 2d effects animation. Here is my recent portfolio I dusted off to submit for Disney's recent return to traditional animation. Its my dream to work on a animation film.