Lizzie Nichols Concept Design

New painting!

2012-01-21T19:12:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone,

Head over to http://www.lizzie-nichols.com/environments.html to check out my new painting!

Ok, fine, just look at it here.

Many thanks to Paul Lasaine for his extremely helpful suggestions.

City Boy

2011-08-22T10:00:00.001-07:00

The book City Boy by Herman Wouk is a little-known and extremely funny book about a boy in 20s (or 30s) Brooklyn. It's hilariously written, and would make a fantastic animated film. I designed some characters and environments for it, a few of which are ready to show. (Of course, you can also see them on my main site).

Herbie is our main character--earnest, somewhat shy, too smart for his own good, and owes his physique to his addiction to frappes from the local malt shoppe.

Lucille is his love interest, or, more accurately, object of worship.

Herbie lives in a quiet neighborhood in Brooklyn. Despite his, um, heft, he does enjoy racing around with his friends and bounding home from school (freedom!).

Oregon Lottery Spot

2011-08-21T22:32:00.000-07:00

I worked on an ad for the Oregon State Lottery that aired last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyAN7Nusst0

Though apparently "SPGAmerica" disapproves, I still like it.

Revisiting Old Work

2011-08-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

One consistent critique I get on my pieces is that they don't always show enough texture, so I am out to remedy that. To that end, I revised two pieces from the past (one is from at least two years ago, one is from last year). I like going back and revisiting old pieces, because I no longer have the emotional attachment to them that I once did, and am willing to take more risks to improve the piece.

The first one is relatively recent: it's the postapocalyptic world from a few posts ago, but with some texture and refinement added:

Before:

After:

Not drastic, but I definitely think it looks better.

The second one is from spring 2009, if I remember correctly. I did it before I really knew what I was doing painting-wise, but I thought it had potential. I was frustrated with it, though, and once I turned it in for class I didn't think about it again. Until recently, when I opened it up and thought, "this could be way better with a little love."

It's from a class assignment: to create a piece in the style of an existing property. In this case, Lothlorien in The Lord of the Rings.

Before:

After:

Both of these new pieces can be seen at my new site.

New sketches up!

2011-08-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

Head over to www.lizzie-nichols.com and check out Life Drawing for some new sketches, done at The Drawing Club.

Enjoy!

Spiffy New Site!

2011-06-20T23:32:00.001-07:00

Hello loyal followers (both of you):
I've been incredibly busy, hence the 11 months of silence, but I have exciting news: I have a new site for my artwork!
From now on, please check out my site at http://www.lizzie-nichols.com. This blog will stay up, and I'll update it when I make changes to the main site.

Thanks for following, and I'll see you over at www.lizzie-nichols.com!

Best,
Lizzie

Radio Silence ended!

2010-07-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Sorry for the long quiet period. I graduated from Art Center and have been doing some freelance work, which means I can't show you anything I've been working on.

Except some stuff from one client's film which may or may not ever get made. Posted with permission. Subject to sudden disappearance from my blog if the project ever goes anywhere.

The Main Character:

Design Evolution:

Pose/Action Explorations:

Costume variations:

Final Character Painting:

The City:

Thumbnail Sketches:

Color Keys:

Final Painting (still a loose sketch--would like to refine it more eventually):

Digitopolis Mine

2010-06-11T11:07:00.000-07:00

This is the Numbers Mine in Digitopolis.

Look for the "3" I've hidden in the composition.

Digitopolis

2010-06-10T22:43:00.000-07:00

City of Numbers from The Phantom Tollbooth

Running From the Demons

2010-06-10T22:42:00.000-07:00

Our three main characters escaping the demons in the Mountains of Ignorance, trying desperately to reach the Castle in the Air.

Dictionopolis

2010-06-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

The City of Words from The Phantom Tollbooth

Dictionopolis Dungeon

2010-06-08T16:12:00.000-07:00

Milo and Tock are sentenced to six million years in the prison in Dictionopolis.

The Doldrums

2010-06-07T00:46:00.000-07:00

A gloomy place from The Phantom Tollbooth

The Tin Woodsman's Forest

2010-06-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

From an independent study I did at Art Center: a Steampunk Wizard of Oz

Digitopolis and Castle in the Air Sketches

2010-06-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

The Banshee

2010-06-04T23:24:00.000-07:00

She made the back of my business card. Congratulations, Banshee!

Arctic Crevasse

2010-06-03T00:41:00.000-07:00

Figure drawings

2010-05-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

I will always love drawing people.
Here is this rockstar character from The Drawing Club.
Update 6/03/2010: same drawings, easier format.

The Humbug

2010-03-29T02:07:00.000-07:00

Edit 3/29/10: Updated Humbug design.

The Humbug is the third main character from The Phantom Tollbooth. He is disagreeable and grouchy, but also loyal and dependable.

Milo

2010-03-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

The main character from The Phantom Tollbooth

Tock the Watchdog

2010-02-26T23:57:00.000-08:00

Tock is the second main character from The Phantom Tollbooth. He becomes a true friend to Milo.

He's called Tock even though he goes "tick-tick-tick," but he's very sensitive about it so don't ask.

The Phantom Tollbooth itself!

2010-02-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

here is the eponymous Tollbooth:

Arctic Expedition Ship--Captain's Quarters

2010-02-15T01:11:00.000-08:00

Jabberwocky: The Game

2010-02-13T22:58:00.000-08:00

Ideas for a game based on Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. I want to do more with this eventually.

Balrog's Lair

2010-02-11T21:57:00.000-08:00

Mars Colony Vehicles

2010-02-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

Sarcastigirl!

2010-02-09T23:58:00.000-08:00

Imagine you're a superhero, bravely saving the world, and then someone comes along and makes fun of your outfit or your hair or something, in a really sarcastic and snide way. You'd be totally crushed, right? All your powers would evaporate.

I think Sarcastigirl is a double agent.

Dorothy Gale's Airship

2010-02-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

From my Steampunk Wizard of Oz project, Summer 2008

Circus Ringmaster and Lara Croft

2010-02-07T22:13:00.000-08:00

From Bob Kato's Drawing Club

Stranger Danger

2010-02-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

Pigmarines!

2010-02-01T13:15:00.001-08:00

Sagittarius

2009-12-16T10:10:00.000-08:00

Just posted this over at Girls Drawing Girls.

Martian Desert Hound

2009-11-21T00:28:00.000-08:00

In the distant future, we colonize mars and bring dogs with us. Certain breeds are created to be pack and riding animals.

This breed is about seven feet tall at the withers. Also it's stubborn and hard to train.

And you need a large plastic bag when you walk it.

Headless Horseman

2009-11-20T23:59:00.000-08:00

This piece is about a year old but I still like it.

figures

2009-06-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

Quasar & Dr. Dewclaw

2009-06-01T14:38:00.001-07:00

A toy design for my Creative ID Process class a few semesters ago.

These two cats get a bath...and decide to take REVENGE by arming themselves with squirtguns.

They think the worst thing that could happen to
anyone is getting wet.

I did some (very quick) Photoshop renderings of them:

Quasar (in his suit):

Dr.* Dewclaw (in her suit):

I also made some Sculpey models (and did a Photoshop paintover for this image to clean it up a little):

*we don't know where Dr. Dewclaw received her Ph. D. She claims that information is classified. Calls to several universities were fruitless.

The Gunslinger

2009-05-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

From Bob Kato's Drawing Club.

The drawing club: The Hippie

2009-05-25T19:30:00.000-07:00

From Bob Kato's Drawing Club.

(click to embiggen)

The Matrix: thumbnails

2009-05-04T00:13:00.000-07:00

These are thumbnail ideas for a new space within the "real world" of the Matrix movies.

(please click--they look much better bigger)

I'm not happy with my final version of the rendering. I'll post it when I get around to fixing it.

Calamity Janet

2009-03-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

(click and it gets big)

yeeeee haww!!

Turning a mask into a spaceship...

2009-02-03T22:56:00.000-08:00

This image was created by painting over a picture I took of an African helmet mask at the Met in New York when I was on the east coast.

I started with this:

I thought, "damn, that's a straight up spaceship."

Approximately 10 hours of Photoshop later:

(click to enlargify)

Straight up spaceship!