Disney's Lorelay Bove - Academy Student

I was looking through the Academy student archives the other day and discovered work that was created by Lorelay Bove when she was a student here. Lorelay is currently one of Walt Disney Studio's top visual development artists and a new superstar in animation. 

 

She was a designer for "Wreck-It Ralph" as well as "Prep and Landing" among other high profile Disney projects.

In 2002 Lorelay was a student at a local college and was in need of specialized training. She wanted to apply to CalArts and came to The Animation Academy to prepare her portfolio. As my student she successfully completed Character Design 1 and 2 and upon request was provided with a Letter of Recommendation which I happily provided. She was accepted into CalArts and the rest as they say is history.

Here's what we have of Lorelay's early work from her time as a student in Character Design 1. Click on the images for a better view. 

You can see how Lorelay was attempting to get her fundamentals down. Her artwork showed promise but still had a ways to go to distinguish herself from her peers. She was a very dedicated student and her perseverance paid off. Now she's at the top of the game. That's the difference that good fundamentals makes in your art.

If Lorelay can achieve great things in her career from these humble beginnings you can too! We've had many students who went on to become standouts in the animation field as a result of their time with us. The Animation Academy can make a significant improvement in your art. If you're serous about a career as a professional animation artist or in developing your skills in working from your imagination then the Academy can help you establish a solid foundation that can take you to the next level as we see with the example of Lorelay Bove.

Click here to visit her blog.

Keep Creating and focus on those all important basics and great things will happen for you with your art.

Dedicated blog for The Art of Philip J Felix

I'm excited to bring news of a new blog that's gone up featuring the work of someone very special. I first met my great friend and brother-in-arms Philip J Felix when we were both working at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City. He was only a year out of high school and working in a department that was revamping previously published greeting cards. Very menial tasks that didn't offer much of a challenge for someone with his amazing potential.

Since that time Philip got into animation and worked at many studios and on many significant shows over the years. Philip created some of the very first concept art for Shrek including this early development sketch from February 1997...

He also produced concept art for Jurassic Park...

That's just to name a few of the many projects he's done. Philip was among our very first instructors here at the Academy. You know the Felix family name in animation. Paul Felix is Disney's top production design and visual development artist. David Felix worked on The Simpsons before he passed away in the 1990s. Philip J Felix is their older brother and the one who brought them both into the animation business. He is also a pioneer of independent marketing for animation artists, going all the way back to the 1980s when he and Gary Montalbano started selling posters of their art at the San Diego Comic Con years before other artists  started doing the same. Philip helped blazed that trail.

Philip currently resides in Tucson Arizona where he is the owner of Red Sky Studio. It's a combination tattoo parlor and art gallery. Philip made the transition to tattoo art several years ago and is booked months in advance. On top of his tat work Philip continues to paint and inspire everyone around him with his masterful creativity and highly imaginative themes. He is also developing new projects that will be coming to animation in the future.

Thanks to Joel Valdez from the Academy, a new blog is up that features Philip's artwork. It's updated frequently with a mix of new images and older ones from Philip's extensive archives. Here's the link... http://philipjfelix.blogspot.com/

Lam's Brain - Joshua Lam's book online

Happy to pass along the news that Joshua Lam's new book "Lam's Brain" is online and available for all to see. Joshua is a former student from the Academy. Like many of our students both current and those who've been with us in the past, Joshua has utilized work he created through class assignments as content for his publication. He's also embellished his book with more recent art. Click on this link to peruse through "Lam's Brain - The Art of Joshua Lam". You can access Joshua's blog here.