ToonerFish - The Art of Richard Stevens

Self portrait

2011-12-22T13:42:00.000+11:00

Hey there! I drew a caricature of myself. Done in PhotoShop with a WACOM Cintiq.

Cat concept

2011-12-09T09:57:00.001+11:00

I'm blaming the puppy

2011-12-08T12:11:00.001+11:00

Sorry that I haven't really had much artwork to show lately. I've been a bit busy with family, playing all the new computer games (mainly Skyrim) and looking after my pet puppy.

Here's a snap shot of what life for me has been like in the past few weeks:

Please excuse the sloppy line work. I had this idea a moment ago and I wanted to sketch it up on the fly.

duck

2011-11-24T16:52:00.001+11:00

I always loved drawing duck characters when I was a kid. I thought I'd see what came into my head if I drew a duck character today.

My folio website

2011-10-03T00:34:00.000+11:00

I've still got some tweaking to do but I made myself a folio website: http://www.toonerfish.com.au/

Take on the world!

2011-09-29T14:21:00.001+10:00

Hey everyone! I know - I've been a bit quiet lately. I've been really busy with other things but here's a 'Purple Tentacle' sketch I whipped up today! 'Purple Tentacle' and 'Day of the Tentacle' are property of LucasArts.

Stop running away!

2011-08-24T16:32:00.006+10:00

There he goes again. Running away from danger.

Just felt like sketching a character of mine: "Lance" from my comic "The Elements of Destiny" (2007/2008).

You can read The Elements of Destiny here, on Sugary Serials.

Hellboy

2011-08-23T00:01:00.004+10:00

They had a Hellboy draw off over at OzComics: https://www.facebook.com/ozcomics

I missed out on submitting a drawing but felt like drawing Hellboy before hitting the sack.

New character concept

2011-08-22T21:34:00.002+10:00

Just another character concept for a yet to be released story of mine.

This is what goes on in my head...

2011-08-05T10:01:00.004+10:00

Happy Friday!

Bendakk re-visited

2011-06-19T23:00:00.006+10:00

I tidied up the line work on my Bendakk caricature.

Peb Casey warm-up

2011-06-11T18:21:00.002+10:00

I'm gearing up to draw the next installment of my web comic: "Peb Casey and the Web of Corruption".

http://www.toonerfish.com.au/peb.html

Mermaid coloured

2011-06-10T23:04:00.005+10:00

I sat down with my mermaid sketch, gave it a clean up, gave it some colours and here's the result:

Character was a suggestion/request from a friend. My friend is a personal trainer and asked for the Mermaid to be a bit muscly with a six pack :).

The Front

2011-06-10T12:52:00.009+10:00

About 2 months ago I ordered a copy of Jerzy Drozd's comic The Front from the US. It finally arrived the other day!

Jared shares in the excitement of receiving a copy...

Jared is property of Jerzy Drozd.

The Front is a fun read. Check it out here: http://mlatcomics.com/front_index.html

Mermaid sketch

2011-06-05T23:19:00.000+10:00

I started a drawing for a friend. I'll be cleaning up the outlines and adding a bit of shading later.

Bendakk

2011-06-01T22:15:00.003+10:00

Caricature for a friend.

Lord Voldemort

2011-06-01T14:21:00.004+10:00

Just a quick drawing I did of Lord Voldemort!

Ratfist

2011-05-31T16:58:00.002+10:00

I was bored so I drew Ratfist.

Tauren on a Phoenix

2011-05-12T17:02:00.001+10:00

World of Warcraft - Tauren on a Phoenix. Birthday gift for a friend of a friend.

Click on the illustration for a closer look.

World of Warcraft property of Blizzard Entertainment.

Comics, animation and whatever is in between!

2011-04-18T12:03:00.032+10:00

In my later years at high school I created an "interactive comic book" program with the use of Visual Basic (in 1998) titled "Comix". It wasn't really a comic book so much as it was a story book with pages of text, accompanying illustrations and a back and next button to progress through the story.

The story would occasionally break into a game, like a shooting gallery type game or a point and click game where you can choose what to say in conversations with characters.

I continued to experiment with these "interactive comics" when doing my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at The University of Tasmania - Centre for the Arts. It was there I discovered how bad I am at essay writing, and how much work can go into a multi pathway story.

Okay, so during my time at university I decided to get serious with the art of comics. I discovered that there is a whole art behind constructing and creating comics and graphic novels. Before I learned how to animate properly I was learning how to make comics.

But before I digress I want to focus on these 'interactive comics' I was creating. My projects lead me to discover web comics and I was thrilled to find that something existed that was similar to what I was experimenting with: a comic that was digital and could be controlled by the reader. We could also delve into the art and detail that I loved to put in my stories.

A few years ago I decided to reboot my online comic 'Peb Casey - Private Eye Butterfly' and decided to bring in the types of interactivity I had experimented with, as well as bring in a bit of animation. I got a bit animation happy (kind of like being trigger happy) and put in more animation than I was origianlly intending. But it doesn't bother me because Peb Casey is a hobby and one that I enjoy doing.

So, I've got this interactive comic with animation. Is it an interactive comic? An animated webcomic? Asking these questions made me re-ask myself, "What is a comic?" Um... does having animation completely remove my project from being a comic?? What do I then call it? Is it just an animation? There's more to it than just being an animation.

Ah! Maybe it's a motion comic! Yeah, that must be it... a motion comic. But that title just doesn't sit right with me. I'm beginning to think that a comic is defined by it's static imagery. So I did some research and had a good think about it:

"A comic is a graphic medium in which images convey a sequential narrative"1.

There are a few words there I like: graphic, images, sequential and narrative. Now this is where the boarders between animation and comics can be blurred. Animation is a series of images that are placed before your eyes so fast in a particular order that what you see is an illusion of movement. It is ‘graphical’, it contains many images, and effectively conveys a sequential narrative.

I'm not saying that comics are the same as animation or vice versa, they are obviously very different, but I can't help but see how similar they are, and how effective they can be to tell a story. I see them both as very powerful forms for displaying a visual narrative.

BUT they are both very different on so many levels. How do you watch an animation and instantly refer back, or forward, to a particular image of a character or scene. Sure we have our pause, play and rewind buttons but to be able to hold on an image and look into the eyes of a character, to really see their fear or surprise, for as long as we want is no more effective than when displayed in a comic.

Yes it's true, emotion can be just as effective, and arguably more so, in animation, but through pacing and timing I, as the Animator, dictate how long the viewer is to see an image. With comics the reader is in full control. They may not see all the action, or get to see how well a character can run out of a room, but to sum up so much in one panel is a true art in itself.

Although it is arguable that the reader cannot imagine a world or character when a story is visually presented in a comic, as opposed to reading a story in a book, it is none the less an appealing side to comics where the reader can imagine how a character sounds when they speak, how they move around a room or how the illustrated sound effects can be heard.

I was a little shocked when I watched an animated short featuring the characters of PVP online. I heard the voices of Brent and Francis and I thought "yeah, that's how I thought they'd sound", but then Skull the Troll entered the scene. His head popped up from behind a cubicle, and my eyes immediately lit up. I had fixated on a voice in my head for Skull for many years. Before he said anything I heard the voice I had created for him... and then he spoke. It was shattering.

Haha, I'm not shocked or offended, offended is probably too strong a word, because if that's the way the creator, Scott Kurtz, had created Skull then that's the way he sounds, but for a moment there I was shocked and offended by my own actions. I had imagined how I would like to hear Skull, and it's this sort of thing that can make comics more appealing to a reader when compared to animation.

But don't get me wrong - I love animation just as much as I love comics. If asked which is my favourite then I'd have trouble answering the question. They both have their pros and cons. I work as an Animator by day and I make my own animations and comics in my free time. The only time I ever ask which is better is when I have to do a project for work. I have to weigh up how much work is involved for me to meet a deadline.

Getting back to the case in point - what do I call my 'interactive comic' 'Peb Casey and the Web of Corruption'? Is it by definition not a comic? Is it an animation, animatic, graphic adventure, motion comic or an interactive animation?

With all that I've considered I can only sum it up as an interactive story. This is a very broad name for my type of project as an interactive story can be conceived in so many ways. To me a computer game can be an interactive story... but is what I've created really a computer game?

I'm going to have to think about this more, and at the same time develop my project further so that you, the viewer, can catagorise it for me. If you have anything to add or suggest then please do!

Footnotes:

1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics paragraph 1

Peb Casey and the Web of Corruption teaser trailer

2011-04-16T04:04:00.005+10:00

I came home this evening and decided to make a teaser trailer for my web comic Peb Casey and the Web of Corruption

You can view the trailer on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/22451158

Or on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcyv6eHNTfk

Groovy!

2011-03-21T21:34:00.002+11:00

Ben Grimshaw challenged Timothy Merks to draw a childhood superhero everyday for a week. I thought I'd give it a go for one night!

I only whipped this one up real quick and the pose isn't very original (here's the original).

Profile pic

2011-03-19T03:02:00.004+11:00

A whipped up a new profile pic for myself. It's just me pulling a face... again.

Good Morning Animation!: Banners!

2011-03-12T21:10:00.005+11:00

Hey! Here are some link banners to help spread the word about Good Morning Animation!

Good Morning Animation - 'Good Morning'

2011-03-12T00:57:00.011+11:00

Over at my other blog Good Morning Animation! I'll be creating at least one animation per week around a topic. Next week's topic is 'Good Morning', but I had some time to kill today so I decided to give it a go.

Here's what I made:

Someone sure is happy to be up this morning! I don't know where the idea for this animation came from... I'm not much of a morning person!

Good Morning Animation!

2011-03-11T14:26:00.002+11:00

Every morning, before work and after a coffee, I like to make my own animations to loosen up for the day.

On Good Morning Animation I'll be posting a topic for my own interpretation to create an animation. Much like Illustration Friday - but with animations!

I invite everyone to join me in creating some good morning animations! Feel free to do the same, use the topic for your interpretation, send me a link to your animation and I'll post it on Good Morning Animation!

http://goodmorninganimation.blogspot.com/

Peb Casey and the Web of Corruption - Chapter Two "Natural Causes"

2011-03-09T23:35:00.005+11:00

Chapter Two of Peb Casey and the Web of Corruption is now online!

RE: 2nd PEB installment coming soon!

2011-03-09T12:37:00.002+11:00

Just finished the 2nd installment last night. I'll get it proof read and tested before it goes online. Might be up tonight!

2nd PEB installment coming soon!

2011-03-08T00:24:00.004+11:00

The 2nd installment of 'Peb Casey and the Web of Corruption' should be up sometime this week! Here are some sneak peeks:

Comics Are Great!

2011-02-27T13:15:00.001+11:00

Check out comicsaregreat.com! Jerzy's passion for comics, and his knowledge of the craft, is a great source of inspiration and guidance for aspiring, and current, comic artists and story tellers.

Astro Boy week at Tim Merks Art Blog

2011-02-22T09:38:00.005+11:00

Tim Merks has dedicated this week to drawing Astro Boy. I thought I'd give it a go and shoot an animation his way...

Check out Tim's blog!

Peb Casey and the Web of Corruption

2011-02-05T21:11:00.002+11:00

Hey Everyone! For a while now I've been working on (and off) my web comic titled "Peb Casey and the Web of Corruption". I've put the first installment up for you all to see: http://toonerfish.com.au/peb.html

Please have a look and let me know what you think. I'm doing things a bit differently this time so I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

rocket dog

2011-01-04T17:34:00.004+11:00

iphone 4 skin designs

2010-12-14T01:52:00.004+11:00

I don't know why but I felt like making skin designs for the iphone 4. I just created whatever came into my head.

Stick Men

2010-12-09T10:07:00.010+11:00

Who wants some?

2010-11-26T13:26:00.003+11:00

Just having some quick fun with adobe flash. I animated Ash from Army of Darkness:

Who wants some? from Richard Stevens on Vimeo.

Dr Jones full colour

2010-11-18T11:49:00.005+11:00

My Dr Jones painting in full colour

Dr Jones painting

2010-11-16T13:11:00.007+11:00

All done in PhotoShop:

Indiana Jones is property of LucasFilm

Harry Potter

2010-11-16T00:36:00.005+11:00

Next Harry Potter film is coming out this week.

Terminator speed paint

2010-11-11T14:28:00.005+11:00

45 mins in PhotoShop:

Vader

2010-11-10T16:50:00.004+11:00

I felt like painting Darth Vader in Photoshop.

sketchin'

2010-11-09T10:35:00.006+11:00

I didn't have much to do so I decided to sketch anything mechanical that came into my head:

Female character design

2010-11-06T03:57:00.006+11:00

Re-design of an old character of mine. Unfortunately I can't really expand much on this character or the stories she'll be in.

Where?

2010-11-05T00:02:00.004+11:00

Mara Jade

2010-11-04T00:38:00.004+11:00

Drawn and coloured by me.

Mara Jade property of George Lucas.

You're the man!

2010-10-31T21:13:00.007+11:00

I decided to redraw an old character of mine. I'm thinking of using him again sometime soon.

Huh??

2010-10-29T17:22:00.003+11:00

Gina

2010-10-29T13:10:00.008+11:00

Personal Trainer

2010-10-25T09:07:00.006+11:00

Caricature for a friend.

Cat Woman

2010-10-19T15:49:00.002+11:00

Girl in a painting

2010-10-15T17:58:00.010+11:00

I haven't painted in PhotoShop for a while. Thought I'd give it another go.

Gina in the rain

2010-10-15T11:57:00.004+11:00

I'm a bit bored. Just an illustration I decided to do. It's raining a lot outside.

Caveman

2010-10-15T09:36:00.007+11:00

Animation by me. Character artist unknown to me. (Animation job for a client)

Fire

2010-09-01T11:31:00.003+10:00

Back to basics

2010-09-01T09:57:00.004+10:00

good old animation 101

Animated Gifs

2010-08-31T14:51:00.009+10:00

I haven't animated pixel gifs in PhotoShop for a long while. I felt like giving it another go:

It's Fro-day

2010-08-20T16:29:00.000+10:00

Blank Canvas has moved

2010-08-17T11:56:00.004+10:00

I'm getting Blank Canvas off my blog and on Smack Jeeves (a free webcomic host)

Here is the future of me breaking all the rules: http://blank-canvas.smackjeeves.com/

Oh the horror!

Fan

2010-08-16T16:27:00.007+10:00

A buddy of mine liked my Iron Man pic so much that he stuck it on his laptop.

Nice!

Cake

2010-08-16T11:28:00.005+10:00

I haven't tried animating in PhotoShop for a long while. Spent about an hour learning how to in PhotoShop CS5.

logo design - fusion

2010-08-03T08:07:00.001+10:00

Kat

2010-07-05T13:04:00.005+10:00

Commissioned drawing. Birthday present for a friend of a friend. If anyone out there would like me to do a drawing for a friend, relative or yourself etc then give me a buzz.

iron man

2010-07-01T08:52:00.005+10:00

meow

2010-06-28T14:45:00.003+10:00

some guy

2010-06-11T18:15:00.006+10:00

random character... not for anything in particular.

coffee table sketchup session

2010-06-10T11:12:00.007+10:00

Sat at my coffee table last night, grabbed a pencil and pen and sketched up whatever I felt like drawing.

I couldn't find an eraser so it was a good challenge to work without it:

fun :)

postcard

2010-06-07T16:39:00.003+10:00

quick little postcard illustration for a friend...

Mechanic

2010-06-07T15:25:00.006+10:00

Superpartners

2009-12-07T14:06:00.007+11:00

Some samples of my animation work at Salmat Learning & Development Solutions have been uploaded to youtube.

Here's a sample of some work I did for Superpartners:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpnd32Z4Uq4

Pixel Pinkie on channel nine!

2009-08-28T16:24:00.006+10:00

About a year and a half ago I worked as an animator at Blue-Rocket Productions on a cartoon series titled Pixel Pinkie.

The day has finally come for Pixel Pinkie to be on television.

If you're in Australia then you'll be able to watch it tomorrow, Saturday 28th August, 11:30am-12pm on Channel Nine. That's the time for Tasmania and Victoria, so if you're in another state of Australia then you might want to check your tv guides and see if I've given the right time slot.

Pretty exciting stuff!

Victory!

2009-07-06T10:24:00.007+10:00

Good news! I've finally figured out what was going wrong with my computer!

So I was able to finish the first instalment of my Private Eye Butterfly comic!

I can't say when it will be up. I don't have internet access at home so I'm going to have to make a site during my lunch breaks at work or something. I hope to figure something out soon.

Merry Christmas 2008!

2008-12-22T20:16:00.003+11:00

I could have made a more interesting image to wish everyone a Merry Christmas - but I have little time before I head off to Tasmania to spend Christmas with my family.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Mr Fantastic

2008-12-22T13:47:00.003+11:00

It's still a quiet day at work... I'll see if I can draw all four of the Fantastic Four - just to fill the day.

What to do at work when there's nothing else to do?

2008-12-22T12:35:00.004+11:00

Just draw random character designs I guess.

A walk down memory lane

2008-11-09T18:42:00.007+11:00

A panel from my new Private Eye Butterfly comic.

I wanted to base this panel on a shot from PEB mark 1. (my previous PEB comic)

There's ya problem!

2008-10-31T01:00:00.007+11:00

Another character of mine. Name is yet to be announced.

Running Cap'

2008-10-29T21:04:00.004+11:00

I've been doing a lot of Peb Casey stuff in my spare time so I thought I'd do a quick sketch of another character of mine. I don't want to mention his name yet... I might be changing it.

I have had a lot of fun with this character in the past and I want to use him again.

eye test

2008-10-10T00:13:00.007+11:00

I'm just testing Peb's eyes to see if they give good emotion.

got no strings

2008-10-08T23:53:00.003+11:00

I only started it this evening, so it's a bit of a work in progress, but I'm making a Peb Casey character rig to use in Adobe Flash.

Improvements

2008-10-06T23:13:00.002+11:00

All done in Flash CS3.

Hey now, hey now

2008-10-01T23:35:00.006+10:00

my pc's back! This evening I started getting the ball rolling for my new PEB comic.

Here's a page I whipped up:

I'm not sure if I'll actually use this as a finished page.... what do you all think of it? Would you prefer to see a cleaner look - much like the latest concept drawings of Peb Casey? I know what I prefer, but I'm curious to hear what you all think?

coming soon

2008-08-18T16:19:00.003+10:00

spider walk animation WIP

2008-08-14T17:52:00.007+10:00

not sure if I'll finish this any time soon... it was just something to do at work when there was nothing else to do.

Click the image to see the animation:

Will do the rest of the legs if I get a chance.

sketches

2008-08-14T16:06:00.002+10:00

PEB scene one character concepts

2008-08-13T13:18:00.003+10:00

PEB script

2008-08-13T10:46:00.009+10:00

You may or may not be aware that my web comic, Private Eye Butterfly, has been put on hold for quite some time. I had made the mistake of starting a story and making it up as I went along. Sure, there's nothing wrong with making a story that way. It can be spontaneous, unpredictable and fun. But after some time I started to feel that the story really wasn't going anywhere special, and too many clichés were creeping in.

As time went on I knew what I wanted to have happen in the story but getting to each key point meant having to spend a lot of time twisting the current events to bring Peb to the next scene. In the end the story was too wish-washy for my liking. It needed a strong structure, strong characters and convincing dialogue. I realised what needed to be done. I needed to start over. I needed a script.

If anything I am happy for you all to see the development of this character and his story. I always felt that Private Eye Butterfly had a lot of potential to be suspenseful and thrilling.

I'm pleased to say that last night I had a break-through. I now have a complete story break-down and half a script already written. Once I have finished a script with all the dialogue I will continue with creating character designs, location sketches and page layouts. Once I have created enough pages I will relaunch PEB and tell the world about it.

So when is it likely to be back? I'm not entirely sure of that myself. My deadline for the script is this weekend.

My new toy at work.

2008-06-23T17:36:00.005+10:00

My employer was kind enough to buy me a wacom cintiq 12WX! It's for work of course - not for me to take home.

I had a little play with it in my free time:

without a head

2008-05-30T17:34:00.004+10:00

For all those who wanted to see another silly little comic:

Peb Casey character designs

2008-05-09T15:03:00.008+10:00

Character designs for my new upcoming PEB story.

Party Food?!

2008-04-24T15:30:00.002+10:00

That Crazy Ninja!

2008-04-24T15:02:00.005+10:00

Break the ice

2008-04-23T17:51:00.004+10:00

Sushi strategies

2008-04-23T17:22:00.002+10:00

Vengeful Ninja

2008-04-23T16:15:00.003+10:00

The Blank Canvas

2008-04-23T16:13:00.003+10:00

Settling in

2008-04-15T12:50:00.003+10:00

Hey all, I've been a bit quiet 'cause I've moved states, got a new job and settled into my own place in Melbourne, Australia. I haven't got the internet installed in my new home yet so the best I can do at the moment is hop on the net during my breaks at work.

I'm now working as an animator/illustrator for an e-learning company called aframe (www.aframe.com.au).

Fallin'

2008-03-05T00:46:00.003+11:00

EEP!

Sugary Serials issue 5

2008-03-05T00:27:00.004+11:00

Sugary Serials issue 5, featuring the first installment of my comic The Elements of Destiny is now in printed form for everyone to buy! They're available to buy from our IndyPlanet store. Help the work of the contributing artists (including me) of Sugary Serials by buying these great comics-books, or if you prefer you can download them from the Sugary Serials downloads page.

Enjoy :)!

Earth Beast

2008-02-20T16:44:00.004+11:00

The Elements of Destiny launch

2008-02-19T23:31:00.007+11:00

I scooted by sugaryserials.com to read some GREAT comics and guess what - my comic The Elements of Destiny will be released on Sugary Serials tomorrow! Woop! Please check it out and let me know what you think of it :).