Christmas Contest

Kristi G.

Instead of thinking of someplace you would not see yourself at Christmas, I made a quick picture of the perfect place to be during Christmas....At a party, in a beautiful dress, dancing the night away. OK, you might not get it, but ask Aubrey - she gets it.  (Forget Christmas Story - Meet me in St. Louis always gets me in the Christmas spirit).

Nate S.

For my picture I didn't have a lot of time to develop my idea but it was centered around Christmas in the desert, celebrated by a little owl that lives in a cactus and always wishes Santa will stop by and visit him. I haven't thought about the logistics of the story much but essentially what I was thinking was animals that wait for Santa's visit and what interesting things he brings for animals. A big, ugly final has been on my mind so that's all I have so far.

Christmas Illustration - Story Contest

Grab those pens and pencils because we've got our second to last contest of the year and this one's a quick draw contest. There will be little time for developing this entry completely but I'm more just challenging you to submit something in the small time frame, for an illustration it can be a quick sketch, some ink, or even throw some color on if you get the chance. A story could just consist of the beats of the story or the general idea and story arc. For this contest we will aim it towards the Christmas holiday.

Your mission is to come up with an illustration and/or story that centers around Christmas. The plausible idea I'm throwing out there to offer as a challenge if you want to push yourself further is Christmas in a place that you wouldn't normally picture as a Christmas setting. Submit a general storyline centered on the theme or a quick sketch on the same theme. If you're going to do an illustration I have a second additional challenge to throw into the challenge: your illustration needs to demonstrate a sense of depth. I think this will push us all a little further. I'm excited to see what comes out of it.

You can do it. Put a little thought into this one and then quickly sketch out your idea and submit it before you let your eyes burst from fretting over all the errors and details. Just get something in for this one. Have fun with it; I dare you.

Email me your submission by: Monday, December 13th, 2010 at 7 AM.

Tangled Review

Okay I had to take a moment from the normal flow of the blog to interrupt with a special message. I was totally broad-sided last week, somewhere from behind. I wanted to share my experience.


Last week my wife’s family went to see Disney’s new production Tangled in movie theaters the day following Thanksgiving. I was skeptical and in my opinion Disney pictures deserved it. They have put out quite a few feature films that had little heart and then to top it off 5 sequels for every Disney picture to date. Anyways I was skeptical, I think I mentioned that. Before we went to see the movie my mother texted me and said they just got out and she thought the movie was amazing (she shared my opinion from their pictures over the last few years). Hearing her say that sparked my interest, she’s very critical of movies, a difficult eye to please with art.

I must say that I loved the movie. I squirmed in my seat with laughter; I drooled over brilliant animation and visuals, and ended up shedding a tear or two. (I won’t ruin any scenes though and explain where.) The music was so fun. I grew up when Disney was the factory of animation gems like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Lion King. I drew those characters over and over again, wishing someday that I could be an artist for Disney and make movies like that golden age of feature films. That was my greatest dream.

Slowly as the story quality degraded so did my dream although it’s true, other companies were coming out with films that sparked my creativity and interest; as the third golden age of Disney animation declined so did my dream. Tangled surprised me in a way that left me smiling and dreaming again. While I’ve read that Disney isn’t going to go down the fairytale pathway anytime soon (not my favorite piece of news) I still have to say thank you to the artists that helped make the film. You’ve inspired my passion for films with heart, films that the whole family can gather around, laugh, cry, and dream. Fellow contributors to this blog: do something today and every day this year about your dream; believe in it with every fiber of your being and then get working and make it happen.

- Nate S.

(I had to draw a picture to celebrate how much I loved it. It didn’t turn out very well but it was based off one of their promotional posters/pictures. You really have to see the movie though, the art in the movie is beautiful sometimes and breathtaking at other times.)