So Frozen Came in the Mail Today…

Hello peeps!

Ok, so Frozen has really took the world by "icy" storm!  lol  But seriously, I'm shocked at how huge it got.  In toy stores, the Disney parks… (5 hour wait to see Elsa and Anna!), the movie theaters, and of course now on home Blu-Ray and DVD.

Now I'll admit… when I first saw Frozen in theaters, I didn't really like it.  And only continued to dislike it as it blew up.

(Warning- Spoilers)

What I didn't like, I had issues with the pacing of the movie.  Felt like there were a lot of songs in the first half, and barely any in the second.  Felt the villain was a bit weak.  Apparently Elsa was originally going to be the villain and I still think that sounds really hot.  And she would've made a juicy villain. I still don't like the trolls.  Not a huge fan of their character design.  That song they sang (though I like it on its own) seemed really random.  Especially with how that song ends and goes straight back to plot.    Also, for a movie about sister love, there wasn't enough sister bonding going on in the movie.  I still have a problem that Anna spends most of the movie with Christoph and not building her relationship with Elsa.  Lastly, I felt like Anna would have some resentment towards her sister when they first start talking again at Elsa's inauguration.  I mean, Elsa doesn't really explain why she all of a sudden stopped talking to her sister for years.  And didn't even open up to her when their parents died, leaving Anna to deal with their death alone.  I've dealt with the death of a parent and I know family is important during those times.  But these were all the things that struck me during the first watch of the movie.

I expected people to pick up on the same issues I had with the movie.  But I noticed I was one of few who had issues.  So that got me thinking, what makes this movie so awesome?

Since seeing it the first time, I started watching scenes available online.  Watched the reaction to the movie at the Oscars.  Listened to the songs.  And started drawing the characters form the movie. And before I even got the DVD, I started really liking the movie.  So I started thinking of all the things I loved about it!

Lets get right into it.  The visuals were stunning!  Loved the icy particle effects!  And the animations were phenomenal! The songs were catchy, loved Let It Go (like everyone else on the planet…) and there were parts that definitely made me cry.  And I'm shocked how much I fell in love with Olaf.  Considering when I saw the trailer, I was so annoyed that there was a little character like that in the movie.  He ended up being one of my favorite characters. The movie had funny moments and made me laugh.   And mostly, being a fan of Sailor Moon… I have to say I have a particular soft spot for princesses with magical powers.  So yeah, Elsa was really cool.

So when I finally got my DVD and watched it, I decided to put aside all the issues aside and simply enjoy the movie.  And I realized, I really did enjoy it for what it was.  I found Anna more charming the second time watching it too.  And as for the scenes with Elsa and Anna together, I really did enjoy their sisterly interactions.

Still have my own personal issues but I'll put Frozen down as a movie I'll watch happily in the future! :)

So because I'm me, I sketched during the movie and below is what I sketched! They were two separate drawings that I took photos of (too lazy to scan!) so that's why it looks that way.  I do plan on coloring it, so that's why I'm not too concerned with cleaning up that sketch.

Also below I'm posting 15 seconds of me singing Let It Go, which I was surprised wasn't as high as I thought.  But still going to try it out a half step lower this week for lessons. haha

Well that blog went a little long.  Have a good week everyone! Hope the weather gets warmer up north!

Catch y'all later!

-Casey Jo 

Busy, busy, busy!

Hello peeps!

Sorry I haven't been posting on here. It's been pretty hectic couple of weeks!  Decided to post a couple sketches.  I'm a huge fan of Chris Sanders and I have all his sketch books with me (on loan from my wonderful friend Kristin!) and they've really got me in the mood to draw pin ups.  Some inspired by his style. So here is a space girl in a couple outfits.

Have a wonderful week! 

Catch y'all later!

-Casey Jo

Back to the Future Piece - WIP

Hello Peeps!

So since getting the cintiq I've been trying out a more painterly style…

Here is a couple of WIP of my current project.  If you can't tell, I sorta had a Back to the Future Marathon today. lol

It's getting there.  This piece so far has proven to be quite challenging!

Catch y'all later!

-Casey Jo

Who is Afraid of the Big Bad Ocean?

Hello Peeps,

This piece has been in my portfolio for a little over a year.  Definitely one of those pieces that I stepped out of my comfort zone to make.  Up to that point, I rarely made full illustrations (just characters), so this was something new. This took me about a month to finish. This is the step by step process  of the piece. 

So a bit of the inspiration behind the piece… and it may be a different sort of inspiration.

I have this fascination with sea creatures and how they function underwater; how different life is underneath the waves compared to on land.

So this is something strange about me and may not make a lot of sense; but I have a bit of a phobia of the deep ocean and open water.  Takes a lot for me to go into the water at the beach.  You couldn't pay me to try deep sea scuba diving.   I do have this enjoyment watching documentaries on sea creatures and the ocean, I get the same thrill when watching a scary movie. I'm not completely sure when I realized I had this fear, but I'm sure it was stemmed from a childhood incident.  

When I was around 7, my family took a weekend vacation to beach.  I loved swimming in the ocean! At that time, I really liked swimming out to where the waves haven't broken yet, my feet wouldn't touch the ocean floor, and the building waves would lift me really high.  (Now the thought of that makes me shiver)  I was young and short, so it never was that far from the beach.  One time though, my younger brother and I got pulled out with the tide really far from the shore and we couldn't swim back.  I remember being so scared.  I saw the lifeguard waving flags and blowing his whistle.  We wanted to come back in, but honestly couldn't get anywhere but further out.  Seeing the beach get smaller and smaller left me crying.  I don't remember how my brother was feeling, but I was so terrified. 

Two gentlemen we passed swimming out there helped pull us back halfway and the lifeguard took us the rest of the way to the beach.  It took so much energy trying to swim back.  At that time though, I was more upset at my mother yelling at me than the possible drowning out in the ocean. I still enjoyed the beach and the water after that… so I don't know when I developed the fear. But thinking back to that day now, is enough for me to never go out too far. 

 That and I have a fear of whales…  Strange enough as it is, the idea of something that big living in an area that is so vast… wow.  Yeah, I don't mind whales just never want to see one in the wild. Ever. 

But yeah, the piece below was a lot of fun to work on. And I really do get a thrill painting and drawing ocean scenes.  

Now you know a little more about me! 

Catch y'all later!

-Casey Jo 

Just Around the Riverbend?

Hello peeps!

So I just got back from voice lessons, and I sure do love singing Disney songs. I'll post some earlier lessons later on. But for now, I'll post my favorite song I sang tonight.  Just Around the Riverbend from Pocahontas.  :)

Catch y'all later!

-Casey Jo

Lets Start Something New...

Hello peeps,

A bit about me...

I've recently moved to Orlando in the past few years, and so far I've really liked it.  I moved down here for school and stayed down here for my job. I've been fortunate to have a wonderful circle of friends.

I'm currently working in an industry that allows me to do what I love.   I spend my day working at an animator at a small game company. Being a small company, it'd be easier to call myself a general artist.  I do animation, illustrations, menu screens, icons, cinematics and trailers. A little bit of everything I enjoy doing. 

I find most of my evenings spent drawing in front of the tv.  I'll go out clubbing downtown occasionally, go to Disney a good amount of times, but above all I just enjoy drawing!  And over the years I've gotten better at drawing directly with my wacom tablet, so the realm of possibilities just keep growing and growing!  Traditional animation is still one of my favorite things to do.  I just wish I had a better/faster scanner to work with getting my stuff in the computer for pencil tests. 

Another hobby I enjoy is singing. I've been taking lessons since I was 11, now 23.  I started off taking lessons in a broadway style singing, moved onto classical when I got to college, then opera my last year of undergrad.  Currently, I'm branching off into pop and improving my range.  My current voice teacher is great!  I'm an alto, but can sing mezzo soprano very comfortably.  Within the past year, my voice teacher has extended my head voice range to first soprano so I'm very happy with how things are going with my voice.  Just working on mixing my chest voice and head voice and hitting those higher notes, but it's very hard for me! lol  I've never really been interested in singing professionally, mostly because my passion is truly in art.  I lost a lot of confidence in my performance ability after high school theatre as well. 

Another hobby I used to enjoy was acting on stage.  I was heavily involved in theatre back in high school, even was Vice President of the Thespian Honors Society my junior year.  To this day I still have fond memories and not so fond memories of high school theatre.  That will be saved for another blog.  But it'll take me a long time to get the nerve to act again.  Left theatre with a bitter taste in my mouth. 

So I could go on and on, but I'll leave this is as my first blog post.  I'm no writer, so my writing style is all over the place. Hopefully I'll improve over time. :)

Catch y'all later! 

-Casey Jo