Happy Trees

Redwoods are happy trees.

Disney's Castles

Cool graphic of all the castles in Disney animated films. So much variety of style and character in these buildings!

Mulan, The Emperor's New Groove

Tangled

Brave

Frozen

Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs

Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and ??? (not sure what the orange one is)

Sword in the Stone (I think)

Black Cauldron (?), Little Mermaid

Hercules

Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin

What a Ham!

Orcas. When they aren't busy savaging seals or drowning baby whales, they're hamming it up for photographers.

Jaguar

Been a while since I did a big cat design.  In that vein, following up on the Amazon folks, here is the only American big cat: the mighty jaguar.

Ever wonder how you tell the difference between a jaguar and a leopard? Here's a handy chart explaining it, though, if you're seeing it in the wild, the first question you should ask is "Am I in the Americas?" If your answer is yes, then it's a jaguar. If not, it's a leopard.

The actual easiest way to tell is that a leopard has black-edged spots with a light center. Jaguars have larger black-edged spots with a darker center and little dots inside the big spot. Also, jaguars are thicker and stockier. Leopards are more lithe.

Best not to go check it out anywhere outside of a zoo, though, lest you find yourself unwitting prey.

Amazon Natives

 I just read an article on the Kayapo natives in the Amazon. It was pretty interesting, about how they as a culture balance between the traditional, native tools and systems and encroaching modernized world, but even more interesting for me were their different body paints, beadwork, and headdresses. Additionally, I found some photos of Amazonian kids who have monkeys and sloths as pets, which was kind of wonderful, especially given how adorably uncomfortable all the sloths looked.

So I drew a few.

Kid with squirrel monkey

Another kid with sloth

Old man

Snow Leopard Animation

I've written about animating quadrupeds before, so, with a new drawing tablet for Christmas, I decided to try it out by creating a little snow leopard. I used a bit of reference from the playful snow leopard cub at the Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago.

It's a rough pencil test, with a lot that could be fixed, but it was fun to do, and I'm pretty happy with the results!

More Woodland Creatures

Just because.

Some Woodland Creatures

I just drew some woodland animals. Trying to push my character designs a bit.

Opossums are really ugly creatures.

Another Video of Christmas Cheer!

I'm very thankful for our military, and for the long tradition of the bands that are maintained by the different branches of service. To promote their Christmas concert series, here's a flash mob by the US Air Force Band at the Air and Space Museum.  Absolutely wonderful.  Wish I could've been there when it happened!

Angels We Have Heard on High

In the spirit of the Christmas season beginning, and Advent now upon us, here's an incredible rendition of "Angels We Have Heard on High".  Gloria in excelsis Deo, indeed.