Disney - "Regret"

"Regret" was about the only word I needed to see when I opened the letter from Disney yesterday to know that I wasn't successful (that and the fact I'd received a letter rather than a phone call). Naturally bummed and disappointed about it all but more so just relieved. I'd spent the last couple of days going nuts wondering all about it.

Thus I came down to the last 30 in the application process and 'fell' at the last hurdle. Still a little to close to the 'event' to know what to do now, and whether I'd go through the process again. To spend so much time on the application for no result is a bit hard to take.

In the mean time, just can't wait to get a space set up to do some proper drawing and painting.

Up in 'da Mountains

This was the first weekend in awhile that I’ve had to myself and didn’t have to worry about Disney drawings, trying to find work and/or a place to live. One thing I’ve always wanted to do was have a look around the mountains just outside of Sydney. I’ve travelled between Sydney and Western New South Wales too many times to remember. Thus I’ve been through the mountains many times but never stopped for a looksy.

I managed to get a new toy for my iPod as a work around to the problems that I’m having with my camera – thus I’m back to taking as many photos as I like while out and about (I feel free again – yippee!). So naturally, here are some of the better photos from the day.

First up is a view looking back towards Sydney itself (ie looking east). Downtown Sydney is about 50km away from here and just past it is the Pacific Ocean. Between this spot and downtown Sydney are all the suburbs of Sydney.



In this photo you are looking south onto all the mountain peaks going far into the distance. A combination of sandstone and other rocks. Hard to think once all this rock was at the bottom of the ocean.



This is somewhat typical of the Australian bush in places – sandstone rock outcrops lined with eculuptyus trees (trees that koala’s only live in)



Unfortunately the drive out took over 2 hours instead of about an hour (an overturned turn spilt soil all over the highway closing it down). Thus got a lot of photos around dusk and this was an interesting cloud pattern.



A few years ago when Sydney had some really bad bush fires, they ripped through this area. Thus this was an old wooden power pole that got burnt out and made for an interesting visual



Just something I found visually interesting about this composition and silhouette with people



Lasty something more humourous to end on. This tree when you look at it you can see somewhat of an animals head side profile (just look for the eyes, nose and mouth).

Star Wars - Episode III

Went along and saw Episode III - Revenge of the Sith yesterday and it was great! No spoilers here but basically the first 5 movies have all been building up to this one. So this whole movie is the climax/pay off and it does so big time. It is also darker than the others.

We saw Episode III out at Fox Studios (were they actually filmed large chunks of II and III). This X-wing prop was right outside the cinema and was interesting to check out. The main reason for it was that textures and surfaces popping out of it were all painted onto it which was a little surprising.

Disney Drawing Test / Interview

Went into Disney yesterday for the drawing test and interview. I was disappointed with the way I performed in it but more about that another time. Just thought I would put a few more of the submission images up on the blog.

Here is the full tug of war sequence between Goofy and Mickey. The original problem was to create a situation in 3 drawings of a tug of war between Mickey and Goofy. There was also a requirement to have some 'contrast' between the characters along with the usual entertaining and interesting aspect to it. Here they are:







The next two were again interupting the characters in situations from bad, grainny photocopies. The first one was a dude in a suit with and umbrella and a brief case.



This last one really bugged me for awhile. Originally the dodgy photocopy was of a person bent over doing aerobics like a strange star jump or something. I couldn't really think of anything so I started jumping up and down in front of a mirror and stretching in a similar way. Judy had mentioned the day before something about yoga and the penny dropped. Do a tie-chi like stretching activity and show a relaxed character.

In the whole submission, I wanted to show a 'range' of drawings in terms of expression and movement. Thus to have a situation with a character mediating or moving slowly or something was appealing. Here it is:

Disney - Round 3

Received a call from Disney on Friday and into the next round. So this week I have to go in for a drawing test and interview - should be interesting.

Anyhow, here are a couple more of the submitted drawings (thanks to all the Tuesday Comic people who have sent comments - greatly appreciated!!). The first one was to take an image of a golfer and do something with it. Enter Goofy and exit this image:



The following image is one from a series of 6 drawings that effectively had to be sequential. No point really explaining it beyond that as it wouldn't make sense without the other 5 drawings.

Disney Drawings

Here are some of the drawings I submitted to Disney. The first one you were given a hazy photocopy of a dude with a basketball and asked to translate it how you saw fit as either Mickey or Goofy. The photo had the basketball player, ball overhead about to pass. I thought taking the same pose and modifying it with pants falling down would be a real 'Goofy' moment:



This one, you were told that Mickey and Goofy were having a tug-of-war and to develop the situation over 3 drawings. This was the 2nd drawing for this series. One of the big problems I had was not knowing what type of line to use. The Disney brief said not to use a hard line and also not to use a sketchy line (doesn't really leave much in between). As was later explained to me after I submitted, they are after a 'confident' line (thanks Jozef). Hopefully I was in the ball park



The following one, you were told that Tigger was in a row boat, to try to develop a situation (also trying to take account of the boat and it reacting to water), and make it humourous / entertaining (that seemed to be an underlying tone in the submission guidelines. It wasn't enough just to get the characters and proportions, but to also create interesting situations and images that were visually interesting / funny).



Another Tigger one, this time one had to have a humourous situation of Tigger climbing barbed wire fence.



Those are just a couple of the drawings and would love to get any feedback on them - were they funny, interesting or do they fall into the Gary "Far Side" Larson category of "I don't get it". If people are interested in seeing more, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

P.S. All images are copyright Disney

Creature Sketches

Handed in the Disney submission yesterday so now had a chance to scan a couple of sketches from a couple of weeks ago. These are a couple of creature sketches. Hopefully in the next day or so I'll be up to put up a couple of the images that were submitted. Enjoy.

Drawin' Away

Just a quick post as not much else has been happening but drawing. Pretty much spent every possible moment over the last week or so working on my Disney application. Only a couple of days to go now and reminds me a lot of studying for exams during uni (only that I'm enjoying drawing). Hopefully back to something a little more 'normal' in the next couple of days. Back to Goofy.

What the Bleep Do We Know?

Been working pretty solidly on my Disney application but had a bit of a break today and popped out to the cinema and saw "What the Bleep Do We Know". It was brilliant and highly recommend anyone to check it out.

The skinny on it is that it is a kinda documentary mixed with a bit of drama. It is about Quantum Physics but before everyone gets scared and runs away, it is a version for the layman (with some really great analogies and visuals to explain it all). The ideas are put into simple terms and it is pretty interesting.

For further info, check out its website:

http://www.whatthebleep.com/

It seems to have limited release so for those in Sydney, it was on at the Newtown Dendy.

Back to Goofy.