I've Moved!



Well this is my final blogger post. I've recently redone my website and so located my blog right there with it. So for those of you who have me bookmarked you'll have to update.

www.boldtmanstudios.com is the new address. And my new blog is here.




In the near future I will probably dismantle most of this site as I've imported all my posts to the new blog anyways.

Basically my reasoning came down to necessity. I was creating a website that had a store and new gallery, and the blog option that WP allowed for really fit the bill to streamlining everything being able to be at the same place.

Go on now and update your links and check it out!

I wanted to finally thank everyone who's checked out my blogs in the past and taken the time to add their comments. I've truly appreciated them. Thank you.

See you soon!

-Mike

So some new ... news on the old Chuck Chance front. Check it out! (click banner for link)

So a short time ago I was contacted by Cory Godbey, an artist I find inspirational and have followed for a while. He does amazing mixed media works and his work just seems to flow like liquid. I've had his link on my "check em" list for some time. Definitely Check em out!

Cory contacted me and told me about a little project he was (is still) putting together called Terrible Yellow Eyes. As it turns out he is putting together a tribute site to Maurice Sendak, creater/author/artist of the legendary Where the Wild Things Are and other works. Mr. Sendak is turning 81 shortly (June 10th) and Cory has asked a number of absolutely amazing artists to create pieces of artwork from his book as a Birthday Present to him. To be asked to join a project in the company of such amazing artists is a little overwhelming, but also a tribute to a children's book creator that I personally have found so much joy and inspiration out of his works is beyond discription. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity. Please check out the Terrible Yellow Eyes web site and see all the amazing works so far here.

Here is my contribution. I can only hope that it brings a smile to Mr. Sendak on his birthday.




Take care,

-Mike

Another edition of the "here I am to post regularly again" blog. What brings me out of solitude this day? Three things actually. Sean Galloway, Kuta, and a contest.

I don't often talk on other artists mostly because it is just my opinion of them. But Sean "cheeks" Galloway is someone who I have looked up to for years, pretty much as long as I have been on the internet. His style and dynamic drawing is just amazing. Plus he seems to be a class act on top of the whole gig - works hard, respected and liked by all! Ever since we were in Korea I've been keenly watching him develop his Bastion's 7 property. It's got to be the coolest new -whatever it is going to end up as - ever! When I saw the vinyl collectible that he had sculpted it was a real inspiring moment. I've always loved this stuff and wanted to do my own characters in this form. Anyways, I'll be filling you in more on that thought a bit later. For now back to Mr. Galloway and Kuta. Kuta is the character he is currently about to start selling as a vinyl collectible. And along with the incredible sculpt he's including a number of cards drawn by various artists. So for his last open spot he's threw out a contest for people to send in their own card and the winner will be in the box! Not that I intend to win, but I decided to have a little fun anyways. So here's my entry. You can see more on his blog and on his Dev Art site.





Take care,

-Mike

Well here I am again. First post of 2009. I said there was a lot of stuff keeping me busy these last few months and here I am to finally spill the beans.

But first things first. Illustration Friday. I was feeling very stale drawing lately. Not a good thing. So to bust out of that funk I decided to get back into a old habit of posting more often (how often have I said that eh?). I really think doing this not only helps me out technically but creatively too. It gets me thinking outside of what I am working on. So here it is. I just did this this morning special for all you IF people (and the couple who visit my blog by other means). Instinct is the word. Enjoy.




Here's the short detail list. Started a new job, blessed with the birth a new beautiful daughter, and I turned 30. The last of these having almost no influence on my my absence while the first two did considerably.

First of all the most important. My new daughter. Now she was born a while ago, way back in October actually (the 16th) and I feel terrible that I have not posted this news earlier because she is so so so precious to me. Naomi Layna. What a blessing and a perfect little baby she has been. She already has such a personality it's amazing. I had forgotten how fast kids grow up but she reminds us of so many of the memories we had with our son Eli. Here is a picture of the cutest little girl ever (biased I know, but I stand by it haha).



Secondly, for the last 6 months I've been working for a company developing iphone and ipod-touch games. It's been quite a blast. We have two out and they have done fairly well. I had quite a bit of fun doing them, in fact so much fun that I am now considering starting my own company and partnering with another to continue to do more games. We have some great ideas that we are looking into developing. It's a very scary market and very competitive, but I still feel that our ideas will even stand out. You can check out here at LaunchKidz.com. If you don't have an iphone the two games are mix n match style, and on that link are some screens of some of the work I did. Also IF YOU DO have an iphone or ipod touch, the site has links to the itunes store where you can get them. They are free too!

Also here is a photo of the largest job I've ever had. It was for Design+Communication. And they were doing a job for the Please Touch Museum in Philly. It was a lot of fun and I appreciated working with them. Their cafe is teddy bear picnic themed, there are a few other illustrators whose work is in there too. As I said in an earlier post, these pictures are huge, I think they are over 16 feet tall.





So that's it for now. Maybe not a great reason for my absence, but it is what it is. I'll keep you all "posted" on our upcoming ventures and new IF and doodles as they come!

Take care,

-Mike

My dear blog. I have missed you these last few months. But as much as I miss you there have been good reasons for my absence, reasons that are justified and exciting, but also that I cannot dive into at the moment. And so I cannot stay long, just long enough to add a quick IF sketch for the subject "Pretend".

Enjoy.



I will return "shortly"...

-Mike

What can I say, summer's been busy. So hello again to those two of you who still check my blog once in a while. I've been working on a few different things that have left me not drawing as much as I would like. I have also just finished a project for a cool museum out of Philadelphia, and I hope to have permission to post it here some day. It was the largest project I have ever worked and I really mean that. Two illustrations each over 18 feet tall and quite wide too! Needless to say my computer was really strained and put to the test, and once again I am happy to say I love my Mac.

So anyways, back to business. I figured what better way to spend the afternoon getting back into the swing of things (especially on a Friday) than to participate in the new Illustration Friday topic. Routine is the word. I think for most people, work is a routine. Many people do the same thing every day, 9-5 (or longer). Taxi drivers came to mind for me (well the seven dwarfs did first but I didn't like how it was going). Driving all day must start to become pretty routine for these guys, but at the same time, every client must bring a slightly different experience or at least a different destination. So I've said enough. Been so long since I blogged I am now just babbling.



Have a great weekend everyone!
Take care,

-Mike

Happy May to you all. Well, I've been fairly busy so I just have time to do a quick update and post. Firstly, I know I talked about posting my pop-up book working footage on here, but it's going through a major revision currently. Rather than posting it as is, I would rather post the real one. I've also been hashing out several other children's book stories and have even had thoughts of Chuck Chance again. I've been learning the importance of having the story in a fairly solid MS draft (needing only minor tweeks) before taking any steps illustrating. It has been stressed to me a few times lately and I am finally starting to understand why (ie. drawing pages and spending time on art for a story that changes so much the art becomes useless...).

I've also done a few more illustrations for my good friends over at BoxClever . These guys do some of the coolest sites around and have a sweet studio. They've just finished doing the Elk Island Public School District's website and all the schools that belong there too! They did such an amazing job their work has been featured on Design Shack and CCS Vault. You may have to scroll on the Design Shack site to find it. When I posted this it was on page 5. I did a couple illos for templates for them. One I posted a while ago (can be seen below) and two others (one yet to be revealed for a school from Spruce Grove). Some sort of cool news with that too was one of the illustrations I did was featured in an article for cool web characters. You can see it here (about half way down-Colchester School) and the main page here which also happens to the school I went to in elementary.

So that's all for now. I hope to have more up soon again.

Take care,

-Mike

So it's mid April here in Edmonton. Spring was in the air, until this weekend. Wow! Looks like Christmas again outside. We've been having snow fall since last friday night and it's pretty bad. At least it's not 30˚below out there.

This week's Illustration Friday topic was Primitive. As soon as I read it I couldn't think of anything else but a caveman. I tried to think of something else over the weekend, but in the end I gave in and this is the fellow who's been haunting my imagination when ever I read that word.




In other news, I have tried and tested my pop-up templates and dummies about as much as they can stand it... and they're still working. This project is almost ready now to send "out there" again, so I will be revealing it very shortly. I also hope to upload a video of them in action.

Take care,
-Mike Boldt

Welcome to March! I decided that it was high time I was involved with Illustration Friday again, and so I spent a few hours this morning working on an illo for it. Then painter crashed on me. I am a crash-a-phob and so normally save every 15-20 minutes. Normally. In the last year I have been blessed with a machine that has never fully crashed and only had a few programs crash less times than the number of fingers I have. I love my Mac. So, I tried to look at the positive in this situation, being thankful that it didn't crash on a contract job. Then I decided (after opening an earlier saved version of it) that it basically sucked anyway. So I started over and did this this afternoon.



Take care,

-Mike

I have a blog? I post here...for real? Well, it doesn't seem like it does it. Where have I been the last THREE MONTHS?!!!

Well, in a word. Busy. In more words, I've been working on a new project that actually has me not drawing until just recently, as well as dipping my hands into a few other things. Christmas and the holidays as well as my son (Eli's) first birthday I also have to throw in there. Life can almost get away on you if you're not careful. Well, I'm taking it back by the tail. We'll just have to see how strong the grip I have is heh.

So without further ado here are a few of those things that I can show you:

This is a pic I did for my nephew for Christmas. I could have posted it earlier, but I didn't want to give it away for my Brother and his wife. I hope they like it. The characters are from an upcoming story for another kids book I am working on.


These next three are a series that I did for my son's room for his birthday. My (very very patient) wife had actually "ordered" these before he was born. I promised I would do them before he turned 1. The week before, she asked me how they were coming....heh. Almost huge oops. But I finished so here they are.


I don't even know what this is. Some lame attempt at some sort of wanna be concept art. Was fun anyways, I was trying something new in PS and mostly going for the form and pose. I hope the caliber of the art can increase as I try this more. Took around 15 minutes and that's probably years for this quality of work in this field.


This was for a friend turned client. He and his brother own a company doing websites and designs, really fantastic stuff. They host my main site for me too! Anyways, this was for a template that schools can choose when they make their website. Steve Mebs, is also my brother's best friend and he is amazing with media. He won an award from quicktime for the best musical short video one year! You must check out his company Box Clever here.


Here is a snippet from the project I am currently working on. I hope to finish off the initial work and get it sent down to my agent in the next week or two. I will fill you in with some more details as I get them closer to being finished. For now, the first hint I have for you is this guy is a crazy old peddler, who appears to hoodwink our poor poor main character. I've probably given the whole thing away already with that...ahh, but this is not going to be your normal style of kids book either. Those hints are coming next.


Well that's all I have for now. I know it's not a lot for the amount of time I have been "busy", but it's all I have for you. Feels good to blog again!

Take care,

-Mike


ps. I almost forgot. My awesome brother recently got his website going and even got a feature showing in a local gallery! He's sold a number of paintings from it already too! Way to go Bro!
Please check out his art on his site here at darrylboldt.com. The info for his showing is there too.

pps. It's absolutely freezing in Edmonton this week. It's averaged around - 40˚C (that's also -40˚F for you imperials)!!! with the windchill! That's cold! I have no idea why we live in this climate.

I just love Fairy Tales. There's just something about them that is so wonderfully imaginative and timeless. When I am trying to think of new stories and also when I am looking at the new books that come out I wonder if they will be around in the future and if they will be as timeless as so many of those original tales.

For this weeks IF subject "grow", I immediately thought of Jack and the Beanstalk. So this is my little sketch of it.

*edit: I added a second version of it. I've seen a lot of people adding textures and effects to their work and thought that maybe I would try to experiment with this one a bit. Let me know which one you guys like better.




Take care,

-Mike

Well I was able to produce a little Illustration Friday sketch today. Been a while since I participated and it's nice to get back into it again. Sometimes being creative is difficult and just sketching from uninspired thoughts starts to reflect itself in my work. So being challenged to think differently and really push out something that I would have not normally drawn from is a challenge that I am enjoying immensely. This weeks work is Extremes and being from the great white North, extreme temperatures is very common. We go from very hot long days in the summer (28-30ºC with sun up at 6am and setting at 10-11pm) to very very cold winter days (-40ºC with sunrise around 8-9 am and sunset at 6-7pm!).

These are quite extreme changes in weather, at least in my opinion, and I wanted to show what it looks like quite often after the first snowfall. We seem to forget just how cold it really gets and as soon as the white stuff appears we bundle up for the worst. This is especially true of kids and mothers dressing their kids as I wanted to draw for this weeks IF.



Take care,

-Mike

Just a quicky I did last Friday while I was thinking of something to do for IF (which is still coming - maybe tomorrow?)

Take care,
-Mike

Hello again everyone. I've been busy with life the last few weeks with family weddings and family funerals. Life continues to progress and especially this past week we have been able to reflect upon what we are thankful for. For all you Canucks that read this blog, Happy Thanksgiving, and well, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone else as well! I was asked why we celebrate Thanksgiving early and if was different from American Thanksgiving, and I had to say I honestly didn't know. So if you know, share the info with me please.

I've still been working and doodling new things. I know I've neglected Illustration Friday lately and so tomorrow I will get on it again. One new project I am doing on the side is a comic strip, and I was approached by a writer to get involved with this. I will fill you guys in with more details as I get the ok from Grant, but it's been a lot of fun developing so far. I really enjoy character development and the creation process at the beginning of any project.

I've also figured a way to get my tear sheets (samples of my work) on here for anyone to download. So Download my sample tear sheet pdf here or on my side bar by clicking on it. The pdf has three pages each that are different examples of what I illustrate and many of them are on here and my site already. So save it, print it, file it, or scrap it (preferably recycled if possible) they are yours to do with as you please.

Below are some samples of recent stuff:
-First is a Thanksgiving sketch I did for my agent;
-The second is another of the same character that I am actually developing a kids book for and you should be seeing more of in the future;
-The final is a possible character lineup for the new comic strip I am drawing that you should also be hearing more about in the near future.






So thanks for stopping by again, I will have more updates and another IF drawing coming soon.
Take care,
-Mike

Hey hey everybody! I just wanted to send out a quick update. Sorry no real artwork post this time. I've been busy this week trying to get a web page done and it's finally up. It's nothing fancy but it works for now. You can check it out by clicking here or I also now have a link on the side panel.

I also wanted to finally fill in the deets about my agent. Her name is Jennifer Jaeger and she is an agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She represents me for anything that has to do with children's literary works. She's really helped me out a lot already in preparing for the next steps and has even taken my book, that I'm trying to get published, to NYC and sent out copies to a couple of editors that were interested there. Her contact info is on the side as well.

The Andrea Brown Literary Agency is a small company with a big reputation and I am VERY fortunate to be represented by them. They are not a huge faceless company that accepts anyone who applies and then doesn't do much work to forward the careers of those they represent. They seem to be a tight knit team who works together and works closely with those who they represent. They were exactly the kind of company I was hoping to get in with. In fact, they were my top and first pick. Jennifer, as well as many of the other agents there, do many workshops at all kinds of conferences around the States. I only have good things to say about my experience so far and I'm super excited for the future.

I've also been working on some tear sheets that sample my art work. I hope to have a version available on here but they are mostly to mail out to publishers for work. Figuring out how to attach those to here is my next project.


So that's it for now, if you have any questions please feel free to ask. I'm no expert on this, but I can tell you what I do know.

Take care,

-Mike

Well, seeing as I missed last weeks I.F. I thought I would whip something up quickly for this weeks "Momentum". I've had pirates a lot on the brain lately for another story idea I came up with a number of years ago, but pirates are tired. They've just finished 3 major movies and ran the marathon the host of TV, marketing and advertising companies put them through. So, I'm giving pirates a break, well sorta. I have moved on to their earlier cousins the Northmen - aka: Norsemen, Barbarians, and Vikings. I'm fairly excited about this new idea for a book, but it needs some major work yet. So today I was just getting a feel for theses Icelandic adventurers. I wanted to also tie my sketch in with this weeks IF and so I felt this guy may have some momentum as he jumps out of the boat. I just hope, for his sake, that he's close enough to shore and there are no sharks, because I think he just past the point of no return.



Thanks for helping me out with the poll on the font size. I'll be sticking with "normal" from now on. Oh, and I have not forgotten about my promise to tell you guys about the updates on my book and on my agent. Please stay tuned, I hope to fill in the remainder of the deets next week.

Take care,

-Mike

Here is my pic for this weeks I.F. Visitors theme. I know it's pretty much over already, but I didn't have that much time this week to do it. Been fairly busy with work, or more accurately, finding work stuff.

This sketch is for another story I hope to have on the drawing board soon. Who's really the unexpected visitor here eh?






Take care,

-Mike

I have been inspired by many things in life and various ideas I have for stories and books have come from many different places. However, lately many of my ideas seem to be "sourced" by my oldest niece and to little quirks she has. She is such an individual already it's hilarious. So this pic was basically a summery of the last few dinners I've been able to share with her.

Have a good weekend!

-Mike

Hello again. I was on holidays for the last few days and so I'm just sneaking in this picture for last weeks Illustration Friday subject "Captain". It's a rough sketch with some basic colors behind it of something I believe most of us drew this week. Pirates are just about my favorite things, chasing Science Fiction, The Incredibles and Mexican Food. They have so much character and have so many great stereotypes.




Take care,

-Mike

PS. I would like to thank everyone for their very kind comments last week. It's very encouraging! Thank you!

I recently discovered Illustration Friday and figured why not. Obviously a great way to "stay in shape", so here's my contribution to this weeks "Emergency". I didn't want to draw exactly what the emergency was but rather how they effect people. In this case the emergency could be anything. Most likely it's a dastardly dragon or rampaging army, but who's to say he isn't just racing home to the old royal throne.



Take care,

-Mike

Well, there's been a bit of a breakthrough on the book front. I believe I have found an agent who wants to represent me and the book that I've done. I won't give any names until the contract is signed, but I'm pretty excited. She's from a really reputable agency and has been great to talk to so far. I'm pumped! I'll give you the lowdown on the whole who, what, where, and why once all the paperwork has been finalized.

Until then I have to be preparing some tear sheets for her to take to the publishers, so I've been doing some sketching. The first sketch is for another story idea I hope to develop in the near future, and the second is a B&W drawing for a chapter book...uh chapter-title page. Been quite a while since I've done anything close to finished in pencil so let me know what you think.







Take care.

-Mike

Hello again, I've been rather busy finishing off my book and starting the path to publishing it. These days there are so many options :self publish, print on demand, get and agent, or try straight through the publisher. I'm sure there are more but I have not been drawn to any of them.

So here is the cover illustration I am going with at the moment, though it does need some serious design work. Let me know what you think of it.







Here are some sketches I was working on today for a new idea I have for another book. It has been inspired my my oldest Niece.




I will see you again....soon.

-Mike

Well, wow, it's been a while again. For those of you who think I'm a terrible blogger, you're right. I don't update very often. So, it is something I struggle with, ha ha, oh well. I have been busy though. Just this morning I finished the last spread for my book that I've been working on. That's about 10 pages more into the book since my last post! Now I just have some proofreading, some edits and alterations (my wife has been a great new editor!), some small design stuff that I will definitely need some help on (all my designer friends prepare for emails haha), and the cover. Oh and then that small task of finding a publisher. I decided that I didn't want to show the whole story already, people need some suspense and to wait for things sometimes. It makes things more exciting....errr I least I think it does. I kinda cracked a bit though and figured, maybe I could give you a "small" sneak preview of the whole book, that wouldn't be too bad. So here it is:




Well, I did say small...

I've also been saying for a while that I would post some sketches of a series of pictures I was doing for my son, Eli's room. In the end (eventually) it will be three pictures all of the same size, that will be in "sequence" sort of like a short, very short key-framed animation. Though, that makes it sound a lot better than it really is.





I know it's not much of a post, but it's something. Thanks for all the comments so far. I really appreciate them, and please leave them. It's nice to know that people have been by, that, and my blog get's lonely during the long breaks between posts.

Take care,

-Mike

Yeah! It's that time again. BLOG TIME! We have had a busy week 'n a bit but now it's time to post the bit of progress on the story. Just two images this time, but there will be more soon. I've also been working on a little series of pics for Eli's room, so I will post the progress on those as well. So much to do...

Hello all. Well, it's the May Long weekend and that consistently means one thing for Edmontonians, if you go camping, it will rain or snow on you. It also always happens to be on my beautiful wife's B-day. What a blessing she is in my life, and what an amazing mother she has already become! I am always learning from her, a true teacher, though she doesn't know it. She is also the inspiration for almost everything that I do (as well as a great "art director" and "color coordinator"). I am truly thankful to be married to such an awesome woman.

Happy Birthday Babe! I love you!



I've been still pluggin' away at the same ol' project and so I have some updates. I know they don't happen to often, but at least it's more often than the last few.

Hey, it's under 10 million months and I'm bloggin' again, wow. Well it's really just another small update of what is currently filling my time. I'll be filling you in with more deets about it more as it's developed.




Thanks for stopping by.

-Mike

ps. "Hey" to all you former co-workers, thanks for the comments, much appreciated!

So... right, a blog. Something that I am supposed to update once in a while, and it's been, a while.

Anywho, I have been busy, I just haven't posted anything for a while so here are some of the things I have been working on:

#1: Being a dad. My son Eli rocks! He has grown so much already and I just can't wait to see what he is going to do next.

#2: Some initial kid's Tshirt designs see here below. They were rather preliminary and rather simple artistically as I was aiming to do them in only one or two colors. I don't even know if they are cool or not. I may do some more if I feel like it, and if I suddenly get really ambitious maybe try to print/market them.





#3 is a kids book from the sample spread above. I am having a lot of fun doing this one. I hope to finish the book in the next few months and so I will continue to leave some teaser pics for it and keep you up to date on the process.

#4 was for a very good friend of mine who is starting up a software company. You can check out the teaser page here:Launch CMS.
They have some very cool ideas for web software (and more) that are in development and I was able to do some fun icons/graphics for it. They have a super cool blog as well.

#5 Check out my younger brother Darryl's webblog. No, it's not something that I have been up to, but there are a few things he has been up to lately. He's been doodling much like me for most of his life, but in the past few years he has taken some time off and is now getting back into it as well as painting (you should see those if he would only post those!). Now he just got a wacom at Christmas and has never used digital media until now! He is super talented and will be surpasing me shortly - gives me some motivation to improve as well.


On a less related to what-I've-been-doing-lately-list, the Legendary Anthology that I joined a while back is complete (though the blog isn't updated at the moment - Matt is a super super busy guy) and the hunt for publishers is near. Matt says that he is hoping that it will be done and printed even by this fall, maybe even for the San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC I think). He says the finished product looks great, and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy! I hope that I can be involved in another of these anothology type comics again in the future - though I definitely have to do my Chuck Chance as well, though at this rate it will be done when Eli graduates.

So yeah, that's what I have been up to the last few months. As again, I will try to update this thing a little more often. Thanks to those of you who have stopped by in the last few months and made comments. I really appreciate them.

Take care,

-Mike

Hello all, this is just a short update today. Been pretty busy getting into "life" with my new son. He's so awesome!

So here is a quicky of a new project that I am starting soon. I will keep you informed as I develop it more. What do you think of it?

-Mike

Few more "oldies" from the past. I promise that new stuff is on the way...soon.









The comic is from my Chuck Chance story that I am redoing. The link is on the side if you are interested or check it out here. The others are random projects.

Take care,

-Mike

These are some sample pages from a project that I was recently asked to join. The Legendary Project is an anthology type comic that I hope to see published later this year. I am really looking forward to seeing this all in print because I know some of the other people that are involved with it. It has been collaborated bt Matt Schuler, known to many as Cosmic Pencil. You can check it out here. Matt is a great guy and has put loads of time into this above and beyond his own story contribution. The final product should look great.

So here are some of the pages:








So take care for now!

-Mike