The art and musings of Arizona artist Jeff Curtis otherwise known and loved throughout the world as JEPHYR!
Copyright Notice
All images, photos, and video excluding advertising and google generated content, or unless otherwise labeled, areCopyright Jephyr (Jeff Curtis). All Rights Reserved.
These images are not in the public domain. Contact me for licensing terms and pricing.
Unauthorized or unlicensed use for all commercial and personal applications is prohibited.
Not long ago I was sketching in a local coffee house and a young woman seated near me and I started chatting. Our conversation turned to what I was working on—and when I showed her that day's drawing and a few others she commented that they looked like they would be great for a coloring book—something that had occurred to me as well.
A bit later, I spoke with my niece who has three young kids—and asked if it would be OK to print-out some of my sketches and send them to her for her kids to color.
She agreed—so I printed out 3 copies each of a bunch of my recent drawings and sent them off to her (along with a box of crayons and colored-pencils). A few days later, she let me know through an email she had received my package and included some sweet photos of her kids.
It made me very happy to hear that my great niece and nephews are enjoying what I sent—and with their momma's permission—I'll share a pic of her kids coloring three different drawings from the group I sent.
The Three B's Making Artistic Magic On Their Great Uncle's Sketches
I've been busy lately with some other projects
that unfortunately have kept me from doing as much art—so in the
meantime I thought I'd share a 3D animation that has awesome character
design, backgrounds, story, and sound.
Screen Capture From 850 Meters
I love the way this animated tale, called 850 Meters, combines a typical Knight Saves Princess story with a twist—along with some very funny "popular culture" and Computer Gaming references thrown in.
For artists—its notable for it's wide range of extreme character expressions, movement and poses—and the use of a wide variety of "camera" locations—from worm's and bird's eye view, to dutch angles, and so on.
As I shared in my last post—I've recently been speaking with a niece who now has three young children, and so they've been in my thoughts as I've been sketching.
Today, I'll share a new sketch and story I wrote to go along with it, that I created with them in mind
BTW—I freely admit being influenced by Bill Peet (Disney Artist and author of popular children's books such as Huge Harold) — and Shel Silverstein. (author of The Giving Tree and many other best sellers).
'Mumbo And Riley' - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved
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Here's my rhyming tale to go with this pic—although I may continue to tweak it a bit:
Best Friends
A Story About Two Unlikely Circus Pals
Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved
Mumbo was an elephant, as big as she could be—and Riley was a rabbit, and tiny, you can see.
Mumbo looked out for Riley—and kept him safe from harm—and Riley helped Mumbo practice tricks—and they both felt loved and warm.
Riley would sit on Mumbo’s trunk and look her in the eye—and say “You can do it”—to every trick that she would try.
Then as they slept at night—with tender loving care—Mumbo’d guard her sleeping friend—the little, snoring hare.
Each new day, Riley helped Mumbo, until the sun went down—and, in turn, no mean ole dog would dare chase Riley ‘round.
And when their circus came to town—people came from miles around—and loved to watch their happy act—until the tents came down.
No one heard what Riley said, 'cause they’d laugh, and cheer so loud: “You can do it, Dear! Way to go! You make me VERY proud!”
But one trick made Mumbo fear—that she might take a fall—raising one leg high—as she’d balance on three balls. But Riley’d say, “Look at me,” right in Mumbo’s ear—“It’s just like we practiced. You can do it, Dear!”
And you know what?
Mumbo always could—‘cause Riley believed she would.
Yes, they were unlikely friends—different as night and day—but they loved each other—in each and every way.
Just finished a couple of new sketches I'll include below and will end this post with a "behind the scenes" video of Pixar's "Smash and Grab."
Let's get to da sketches foist:
'Sea Food' - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved
^ ^ ^ I've spoken with a niece recently and had her three young kids in mind while I worked on this one.
It was a lot of fun to create such a silly, happy sketch—where even the "meal" is having a good time.
: )
'Gertie Updates Her Tinder Profile' - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved
^ ^ ^ This one started (as usual) with some light scribbles on the page, and then looking for inspiration in them.
At first I "saw" a very cartoony frog and worked in that direction for a while.
As I've written here in the past—I rely on a "feeling" I get while I work and if that is missing—I know I need to re-group and try something else.
So—lacking that—I erased the page—and with some left over scribbles and a few new ones—I began to "see" Gertie's beautiful face and bod.
; )
At first I tried to put her in a wheel chair—and even printed out a reference of one and stared adding that—but as I worked it slowly began to feel more satisfying to put her in a comfy chair instead—and that lead to adding a couple of furry companions and a bit of her comfy home.
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BTW—I wasn't totally sure about the title for this one—but as I was finishing this one night in a fast-food joint—a young man started talking to me about his interest in art.
After a bit, I showed him several recent sketches—and when I told him the title I had in mind for this one—he heartily laughed out loud—so........
: )
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On to the Pixar video—
Screen Captures From Pixar's Shot 3D Video: Smash And Grab
On my Awesome Stuff Blog I posted an excellent short video from Pixar:
As with so much from Pixar Studios—it's really excellent in every way: The characters are charming, the story is engaging—and in the end it's heart-warming and will leave you feelin' pretty durned good.
I found a "behind the scenes" video for it and and you'll find that embedded below.
(They call this cross-promotion in the "Biz"—and since I'm becoming a Big Time Player in the industry—well...then........)
: )
But seriously—if you are into art, character design, and animation—then you'll prob'ly enjoy this too.
