Mario Zavala's Blog O goodness

Celebration of life

2011-09-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a long while since i last posted, work has just been all encompassing this past year with all sorts of changes and more on the way no doubt.
This month marked a special occasion for friend and fellow co-worker Craig Mackay as he and his wife had their third son, Benjamin. I was asked to make a personalized "welcome back/ congratulations" card to celebrate Craig's return to the office for everyone to sign, and here it is. I was inspired by Miyazaki's Ponyo when drawing little Ben.

Abin Sur

2009-03-09T06:38:00.000-07:00

I did this Munny figure for another show in Pasadena this past weekend with my friend Craig Mackay. The theme for the show was "Lucky", hence the dead spaceman in the green suit! Abin Sur, for those of you unfamiliar with comic lore, was the first Green Lantern (silver age) to patrol the sector of space which Earth is part of. Before he dies , as a result of crash landing on earth, he hands over the fabled Green Lantern power ring to Hal Jordan, a U.S. test pilot, who then turns into earth’s emerald protector.

Munny!!

2009-02-11T20:17:00.000-08:00

I did this here Munny figure for a show at "The Noise Academy" show last weekend in Pasadena. My friend and fellow co-worker Craig Mackay, http://mackaydesign.blogspot.com/ did one as well, you can view it on his blog.

I did this "Heart Vader" Munny rather quickly, in only about eight hours. For my next stab at doing one of these things, i'll take a bit more time, i hope.

Disneyland Christmas

2008-12-24T09:53:00.000-08:00

I did this painting for Family.com's Community site's Christmas theme this year. I based the castle on a vintage Illustration of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. It was fun to work on, but boy was it rushed!!

Santa Sketch

2008-12-24T09:08:00.000-08:00

Here is the original sketch of the Santa Papercraft character showing some of his other arm possibilities.

Santa meets Whaleboy

2008-12-23T23:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a pick I took of the Old Saint Nick papercraft figure I made and my Whaleboy figure. You can get the Santa PDF here.http://familyfun.go.com/printables/season/printable/santa-claus-paper-craft/santa-claus-paper-craft.html?campaign=NLC-NL_Print&link=Section2Link3
Merry Christmas.

German Armor

2008-12-07T23:18:00.001-08:00

I'm a WWI-II nut and I often get some cool books filled with photos for reference, and a few toys. A few years ago I started collecting 1/6th scale military figures, mostly WWII, from companies like Dragon and Blue Box Toys from China. This new collecting addiction I blame on my friend Taesoo Kim.

http://www.taesookim.blogspot.com/

A new comer to the 1/6th scale market was America’s Sideshow collectables who currently do an awesome 1/6th scale Star Wars line, but I digress. Among one of Sideshow’s toy line in the past few years was their WWI collection, among one of their WWI figures was a cool German Trench Raider in body armor! I was so impressed by the cool lobster style breastplate and spiked mace that i had to get one! A couple years later I was fortunate to receive a DK Eyewitness book featuring that very same German Body armor from 1916!!

Head studies

2008-11-16T23:02:00.000-08:00

I did a few head studies a while back for a work project, these were the rejects. I kind of liked some of these, but oh well, it was not up to me what the final version was to look like.

talking heads

2008-10-16T06:55:00.000-07:00

Doodles!

Starkiller

2008-10-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a sketch (work in progress) of the Starkiller character from the early drafts of Star Wars. I thought i would take a crack at doing a poster style illustration.

Update, i corrected the huge arm.

Halloween doodle

2008-10-05T23:10:00.000-07:00

Did this a little while ago while dreaming up a Halloween story. I hope to one day get these guys made into a cool vinyl toy or something.

Work doodles

2008-09-07T11:33:00.000-07:00

I often times get a bit board in a meeting at work especially if said meeting has absolutely no point or reason for me being there, here are the results of a few such meetings.

Gizmos

2008-09-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

Here are some more sketch doodles, this time i was working at designing some goofy robot characters with googly eyes.

Some more doodles

2008-09-07T11:26:00.000-07:00

Here are a few sketches, doodles really that i do from time to time, mostly for exploring ideas.

Sorry for the long delay

2008-01-22T21:03:00.000-08:00

It’s been a long while since I last posted, been caught up at work with work. Here are a couple of doodles, more to come.

Consignment piece

2007-03-16T17:44:00.000-07:00

I did this Consignment piece for a co-worker of mine, she wanted me to draw her boyfriend dressed in a spiderman/venom costume. I have to say that i was happy with the end result, it's been a while since i had drawn a comic book character (well sort of).

Rouges gallery

2007-01-12T08:31:00.000-08:00

These sea fairing bastards were created for a project at work this month; I had a great time drawing these pirates, but I think I had more fun with the short, chunky mouse.

M.

Matinee at the Bijou is back!

2006-12-20T08:34:00.000-08:00

One of my all time favorite PBS shows is coming back next year, Matinee at The Bijou! I remember watching serial classics like Buck Rodgers, Flash Gordon and classic cartoons like Fletcher's 1940's Superman back when it aired in the 1980’s! Bijou was like a time capsule from the 1930's-40's pack full of all sorts of goodies like Newsreels that highlighted what was going on in the world back then.
They aired some classic cartoons like Fletcher’s Gulliver’s Travels, Superman, and many more. I also remember seeing some Little Rascals shows as well as some odd ball stuff. I Strongly encourage you check it out.

http://matineebijou.blogspot.com/

More doodles

2006-09-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

More Doodles for you all to check out, just some random heads that were influenced by a few different artist.

Doodles

2006-09-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

I was recently updating my portfolio and what I lacked in it was some character artwork. Now I have always been into comics and character driven art, but for the last six years I have been doing environmental art, layout and backgrounds for Disney Mobile shorts, and Disney Online. I am working on some of my own comic type stories that I'll post as time goes by, but for now I thought I would post some doodles.

1/6 Scale

2006-08-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

Up until a few years ago i was primarily a collector of Star Wars action figures, i have been collecting off and on for over 10 years, mainly the small figures from all of the movies; that is until i worked with Taesoo Kim.
A few years back Taesoo and i were working on Mobile content for the mouse as in house contractors. One day Taesoo decided to bring in some of his prized collectibles; knowing that i was as big a WWII buff as he was he thought he would show me what he was collecting? I was amazed by the amount of detailing the figures he brought in had, every minute detail you can imagine was replicated in 1/6th scale. Now these are not your big brother's G-Joe's, these figures are what they call "Adult collectibles", not to be confused with erotic material. These figures run about $35-$50 on average, and can be as expensive as $250.00 a piece depending on the edition size.
Now i know there are those of you out there that can see no practicality in these figures, some would argue that it's a waste of money, to those of you who say this i say the name Walt Disney. Walt?!! Yes Walt, he was the ultimate collector of figurines, and model trains, his office at the Disney Studios in Burbank was adorned with collectibles from his various animated films as well as figurines from around the globe. Among other celebrated artist and creators who collect these trinkets of fancy are Ward Kimball, Frank and Ollie, Bruce Tim, and finally John Lasseter, who has his entire office dedicated to toys at Pixar.
I often wondered what makes people buy things like trains, model air planes, and toy soldiers, I think I narrowed it down to this, as artist we tend to see the world with eyes of imagination, we think and see the world differently from the average person. When we see the model train or airplane, or action figure our minds get kicked into overdrive. Some admire the design, some admire the color selection, others the craftsmanship of the piece, and still others are inspired to do stories, a drawing or painting. It’s amazing what a little inanimate object can do for an artist.
As for my collection of WWII figures I am writing and drawing a story based in the 1940’s and these guys really come in handy creating that world.

Sketches

2006-08-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

I am working on a short Halloween story this time with Mickey and his gang as it's cast.
To better clear my thoughts, and focus on the character animation I roughed out a simple storyboard earlier today. I love Sketchbook Pro!

101 Treasure

2006-07-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

While on my lunch break; a month and a half ago, i came across this very old looking mounted story board. The board had been placed in storage in our building from the main studio lot along with movie props and some office furniture. I was curious and decided to investigate the board more closely. Upon seeing in at a closer distance i immediately knew what was in front of me, an original, hand drawn storyboard from 101 Dalmatians! The board was probably done in the late 1950's and was an amazing thing to see and touche it up close.
I stood there thinking about Walt and a room full of guys (nine Old men) looking at this scene and working the magic. I imagined all the talent in the room at that one moment gazing at that which stood before me now, it was an unreal feeling.
Most of the board was intact and protected by a Plexiglas covering, except for a small bit at the bottom of the board, the drawings there had long been torn away.
I quickly realized that this artwork should be archived and restored for generations to learn from. I contacted a friend at the Animation Research library and told him of the find, he was very excited by my find, he informed me that this scene had never been documented anywhere!
About a week later after all of the red tape had been taken care of the board was on its way to the A.R.L. and a much needed restoration and documentation process.
The scene turned out to be the one where all the puppies are gathered around watching the hero dog on the T.V.

Mario

"Stitch" house by night

2006-07-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

Well i dug up the final rendering of the "Stitch" house, again it was a night time shot so playing with mood was a kick.

Comic Con

2006-07-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Mike, my brother Ed, and I headed down to San Diego on Saturday, it was Ed's first time down and he was blown away. We had a good time but fitting your whole comic con experience in one day is just not enough. I think next year I'll have my book out and be in town for a couple of days.
I have to give a shout out to Patrick for hooking me up with his new book, and a shout out to Alberto Ruiz for the print!

Oh Bother!

2006-07-27T22:49:00.000-07:00

I did this for a Pooh project a few years back. Pooh happens....

3D Warrior chic

2006-07-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

I made this for a Maya class, unfortunately the class never got to the point of rendering figures.

Online Stuff

2006-07-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a few concept drawings I did a few years back for online. At the time it was an exciting endeavor, but it soon got bogged down with office politics. Some of the concepts were realized but most were not.

Night House

2006-07-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Here is another Layout for the "Stitch" story.

Bloggery you say!

2006-07-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a layout and background from a "Stitch" story I am working on, the story takes place at the wee hours of the night so I had to get used to painting everything in moonlight. It was a good challenge and gave me an insight to how color works in this type of light.

GI-BOT in amazing 3D!!!

2006-06-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

GI-BOT in amazing 3D!!!
Here it is folks my GI-BOT character in Maya. I created him in Maya for a class project; he was my first attempt at modeling a figure in 3D. I have yet to rig him, so that will be my next step. I eventually would like to paint him up like a 1940’s Sherman tank; that is to say I want him to fit in that time period in terms of color scheme. Anyways I thought I would show you all what I have been up to lately.
M.

The Virgin of Guadalupe

2006-05-31T20:08:00.000-07:00

I made this drawing of the Virgin of Guadalupe for a class project, the image was to hang on the wall of a Mexican resturant. The backgrounds were created in Maya with my painting maped on a frame. Here is a little history og the Virgin.

The Nican mopohua is considered to be the "primordial account" of the apparition because it is written in the indigenous Nahuatl language. It describes the 1531 meeting between La Virgen and Saint Juan Diego on Tepeyac.
In the Nican mopohua, "it had been ten years since [...] Mexico had been conquered" when a man baptized with the Christian name Juan Diego. On the chilly morning of December 9, 1531, Juan Diego crossed the barren hill called Tepeyac to attend Mass. He was brought to a sudden halt by a blinding light and the sound of heavenly music. Before him appeared an astounding vision--a beautiful dark-skinned woman who, calling the Indian "my son", declared herself to be the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. She told Juan Diego it was her desire to have a church built on Tepeyac hill, and asked him to relay that message to Bishop Juan de Zumarraga.It was no easy task for the humble Indian to be granted an audience with the top prelate, but the persistent Juan Diego was finally admitted. The incredulous Bishop demanded that he be provided with some proof of the unlikely encounter. Confused and fearful, Juan Diego avoided Tepeyac for several days, but on December 12, while rushing to find a priest to attend a seriously ill uncle, he took a short cut across the hill. The Virgin once again appeared and Juan Diego told her of the Bishop's request. The Virgin instructed him to pick roses from the usually barren and desolate hill and deliver them to Zumarraga as the sign. Juan Diego gathered up the miraculous blossoms in his mantle and hurried off to complete his mission. Once again before the Bishop, he let the roses spill out before him. To the wonder of all assembled, a perfect image of La Virgen of Guadalupe was revealed emblazoned on Juan Diego's cloak.Juan Diego's mantle, carefully preserved in the new Basilica, has been subjected to extensive analysis over the years. Experts have authenticated the fabric as dating to the 16th century, but have been unable to determine the type of pigment from which the image was rendered. It seems doubtful that in the Colonial era in Mexico human hands were capable of creating a portrait of its exquisite nature. It is even doubtful it can be done in Mexico today. Most wonderous of all, after 465 years, the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe remains clearly imprinted on the miraculous cloak without visible signs of deterioration.

Recent Layouts for a animated short i am working on.

2006-05-31T12:58:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of layouts i did for a short i am working on for release overseas.

A day in the yard

2006-03-30T10:37:00.000-08:00

I did this layout and BG for a short animation dealing with the idea of "rainy day". I have no clue what the the deal is but I guess it's common in Japan to great others on rainy days. The idea was to have a certain duck enjoying some rays in his yard when along comes a storm cloud.

Welcom to ZOMBO.COM!

2006-03-28T08:54:00.000-08:00

http://zombo.com/

The best site on the web in years! It's so funny i almost wet my pants! You have to have you audio on.
Mario

Mexican Poster Art

2006-02-27T22:53:00.000-08:00

I have always dug the awesome work that Mexican artist have done over the years especially on butcher shop calendars and in movie posters here are examples. Note the Palmolive poster the one I had copied for my lady death image.

J.C. Leyendecker

2006-02-27T22:44:00.000-08:00

As I a kid I marveled at Leyedecker's work the guy was a master at his craft, he really set the bar high and was the predecessor to Rockwell on the Saturday Evening Post.

FRANKA!

2006-02-27T22:23:00.000-08:00

I had discovered this cool comic book "Franka" from the Netherlands a couple years back, Its about the miss-adventures of lead heroine Franka and her dog. Its is drawn and scripted by creator/artist Henk Kuijpers, and it is some of the most detailed comic work I have see come out of Europe! Here is a the catch, you can only get it in Europe from Amazon France. I have been looking for it in the states online for over a year now, if anyone knows of a online dealer that has any copies please let me know.

BG goodness!

2006-02-27T21:52:00.000-08:00

These were done for a project that Patrick and I worked on a few years ago.

GI-BOT!

2006-02-27T21:50:00.000-08:00

More GI-BOT goodness! Just another version of BOT that I have been fiddling with.

GI-BOT

2006-02-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

I created the GI-BOT for my skecthbook at Comic Con a few years back, he is basically a combat robot from WWII who has seen many battles in his lifetime. I am working on a back story for him with hopes of self publishing it in a sketch/comic book at con.

Some Layout action

2006-02-19T13:45:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple more layouts I did a while ago. Just fooling around with shapes.

Contest entry

2006-02-17T19:21:00.001-08:00

I did this for a contest to win an I-pod, there is no rhyme or reason for the composition of the painting, I just wanted to play in acrylics. I called the painting "lost"

Death becomes her.

2006-02-17T19:04:00.000-08:00

I thought I would do a day of the dead illustration for last Halloween, and since"The Day of The Dead"had started in Mexico I thought it would be cool to base the illustration on an old Palmolive poster from Mexico. The other illustration, a woman standing on a set of stairs, was done as a test to see how I could composite a illustrator image into a photograph.

Last Year at the Comic Con

2006-02-10T22:50:00.000-08:00

Last year I thought I would stroll the massive showroom at the Sandiego Comic Con to see what I could capture on film, so here goes. Notice the two sinister looking perverts hanging around the lovely young lady at Patrick Morgan's booth, just kidding folks it's just Taesoo , Patrick and Gwen (Patricks main squeeze).

Even More BG Action

2006-02-10T22:30:00.000-08:00

Even More BG Action, this is also for the same Japanese show I worked on. Here are both the sketch and final painting

BG Action

2006-02-10T18:34:00.000-08:00

These little BG's were done for a project in Japan that I had written a story for. The Story was very much inspired by Porco Rosso, and old Mickey cartoons.

In the beginning there was a Rabbit

2006-02-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

Well I finally got off my ass and started a blog, I really have no clue as to what rants ill be posting, but I hope they will amuse you. Anyway this is a start, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is at long last in the hands of the Walt Disney company! Walt Disney lost the right to his first commercially successful animated character "Oswald The Lucky Rabbit" about 80 years ago, Walt then created Mickey Mouse as a result of losing Oswald on a train ride from New York to L.A.. My hat is tipped off to Bob Iger for this brilliant move.