Chet Spiewak- Art Blog

Christmas tree ornaments for the Holidays

admin — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 04:02:23 +0000

Over the past several years I received many suggestions from moms and kids alike, for creating a series of Christmas tree ornaments based on the characters from “An Ornaments’ Tale”. I thought to myself– this can make a great holiday memory for the entire family…

The prototypes are being built by hand — much like ornaments of old….

Topher the train ornament is being built from wood…

Percy too will be built from wood…… and decorated by hand…

Blog’s new look falls flat on face….

admin — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 03:27:35 +0000

I’ haven’t posted in a while cause’ I been waiting for my new custom blog theme… I wanted my new blog to improve my visitors viewing experience, with more options, book galleries and a professional face lift… So, I embarked on a journey to find a guru to help me with this vision…

Two months later…….I have a great pic of an unusable Blog.

Zoe the Christmas Ornament

admin — Fri, 20 May 2011 02:15:34 +0000

I’ve been working hard on creating all the ornament characters for my new Holiday book. This week I focused my attention on Zoe. My inspiration was to create an angel with an old world look and handmade feel.. I think I accomplished my mission..

Here 2 versions of Zoe…. Fresh from my creation studio…

Here is Zoe with all her textures, materials and colors applied..

Why is Zoe so happy?… Cause she can’t wait to share her Christmas story…

Zoe the Christmas ornament in development

admin — Fri, 06 May 2011 03:34:00 +0000

My goal when modeling a character is to capture their personality! I try to use the initial design drawings and storyboard sketches as guides for modeling the character. Zoe is a carefree, and full of spirit- and had to have a old world hand crafted look and feel.

Zoe ornament cartoon sketch…

The character ornaments are coming to life! MILTON is alive….

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 05:00:06 +0000

I blew the dust of my keyboard, fired up the computer and launched the 3D software to start modeling the new characters, props and the actual interior of house needed for creating the illustrations for the new book. I chose Milton as the first character candidate in the modeling/animating process. I needed to create a look of an old world hand made wooden biplane ornament.

MILTON 3D Mesh model

MILTON 3D Model no-textures

MILTON 3D Model with Textures

MILTON Smiling! Because he’s so ready to be animated!

An Ornaments’ Tale, Fiona’s Flight– Storyboarding Finished!

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 04:34:07 +0000

The storyline for the second book is complete! The final storyboard tally is over 30 illustrations for the book. Wow– A lot work ahead…

Storyboard/Illustration#03

Fiona is hiding deep within the branches of the Christmas tree,– She’s scared… But why?…

Storyboard/Illustration #07

Crystal informs the rest of ornaments of the family’s bad news..

FYI -I just posted some key storyboards on my blog for people interested in the storyline and feel of the second book in the series.

More storyboard illustrations -

admin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:38:41 +0000

With the storyline for “An Ornaments’ Tale, Fiona’s Flight” finally completed, now it’s time to storyboard the adventure. The storyboards layout the storyline and provide a road map for creating the artwork.

In this storyboard the ornaments propel themselves down a hallway to visit the sick child.

The flying ornaments introduce themselves…. (continued in next pane)

to Fiona and friends

As more and more storyboards are rendered– We slowly start to see the depth, perspective and emotion in this holiday adventure.

Samples of Storyboards from An Ornaments’ Tale– Fiona’s Flight

admin — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 02:49:04 +0000

I’m knee deep in design, working hard on the storyline. This year the ornaments over come their fears and differences in an attempt to bring the cheer of the holidays to a sick bed ridden child.

As an author/artist I approach creating a book from an artist’s perspective. I use the power of the pencil to render drawings and sketches of a possible storyline. It differs from the traditional approach of writing pages of script, notes and text, but it works wonders for me.

The pics below are snap shot sketches of the storyline…….

Percy wishes he could fly — just like the rest flying ornaments…. Think of all the cool places..….

The ornaments gather at child bed…

An Ornament’s Tale, Fiona’s Flight- Book#2 Characters

admin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:29:11 +0000

Percy, Crystal, Topher, Stanley and Fiona from the book#1 are joined by Milton, Angela, Felix and Sherman on a Christmas adventure set for 2011 holidays. This is my first mock up drawing of all the characters interacting with each other.

An Ornaments’ Tale - Book#1 Video

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 04:44:46 +0000

http://www.3dstorybooks.com/VideoPreview/AnOrnamentsTale.wmv