being boris artist

In Florida!.. For good...

2011-11-18T11:34:00.001-08:00

A major thing, I've moved to Port Saint Lucie, Florida

Working at Digital Domain's new full feature
animation facility -- Tradition Studios;
doing Visual Development on The Legend Of Tembo
It's a very exciting and promising project!..

Here is an official teaser-poster

Life Drawing...

2011-07-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

At the end of my latest life drawing class I asked my students to do a few fun sketches, exaggerating poses and pushing proportions to get character nailed.

This is what I did...

People around me...

2011-07-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

You'll be missed, Bev!..

2011-07-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

A great woman, Beverly, who'd been working for our studio for years, has retired.

I was asked to draw a funny portrait of her, for her...

For a cute friend of mine...

2011-05-28T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well, this little, and very cute, lady runs her own Spartan Boot Camp.

So I thought this kind of outfit would be the right thing for her

Birthday Party! Go Iza! Go!...

Carricatures...

2011-05-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

Landscape...

2011-05-17T04:12:00.000-07:00

Life stuff...

2011-05-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of samples of what we were doing during our third Life Drawing workshop I did for our employees.

Wild stuff...

2011-05-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

Seems everyone loves animals. I love them, too! :)

Life drawing...

2011-04-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

30 min drawing.

3-5 min sketches

2-3 min sketches

Life drawing...

2011-04-29T02:35:00.000-07:00

Quick 2-3 min studies.

People...

2011-03-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

Taekwondo kids...

2011-02-23T15:53:00.000-08:00

Some of my latest sketches I did while my son and other kids were practicing Taekwondo...

The final piece...

2010-11-08T01:36:00.000-08:00

Here's the final (third) illustration I've done for a book of poetry a friend of mine had finished recently. You can see the other two (if you scroll down the page), about Him and Her.

The book is being published currently.

I would say Yes, it is!... :D

2010-10-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

She is Here...

2010-09-13T23:21:00.000-07:00

While He is being "In The Now", She's been "Always Here" for Him...

In The Now...

2010-08-19T23:23:00.000-07:00

Friend's portrait...

2010-07-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

Chooka-Pumbra birdy...

2010-06-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

Well, long time no posts.

Sorry, I've been busy.

Here you go... another bird...

Some calligraphy practicing...

2010-03-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

Black gouache on paper, the actual size is 12'x12'.
It means something like Brotherhood... or?.. Someone help me :)

Spring time!..

2010-03-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, there you go :) But it's not a fresh one.

I did this illustration a few years ago for my Grand Dad's book of poetry he wrote. He did a great job. I drew a few illustrations for the book which is a mix of reflections about Life, War and Love. He has a great life experience. He is 97 years old now and full of human power. Big Heart! God bless him...

I like this feedback...

2009-12-26T23:57:00.000-08:00

Marcelo Vignaly: "Oh my goodness, poor Santa!"

Hahaha!... Marcelo, good to see you here!

Hey, comon :o) My Santa is happy!

Listen, there's another version of what is happening here.
It's his Christmas Eve Siesta!!!
:o)

Love you guys...

To all of you my Dear Friends...

2009-12-23T00:40:00.000-08:00

Really, have a good one!

And see you next year!!!

Cheers :o)

Old man...

2009-12-12T21:50:00.000-08:00

Here is an old gentleman from my today's mall sketching...

Nikita... My Man.

2009-11-25T22:15:00.000-08:00

Are you coming?..

2009-11-22T04:01:00.001-08:00

Autumn...

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

Well, there you go. I think, summer, it was here just yesterday... But it's gone. So quick, as usual. It's autumn now. And I saw some snow up in the mountains already. Jeez... Time is running.

I wanna say Big Thanks! to my buddy Jesse for taking us (me and my son Nikita) out for plain air painting today. That was fun :)

We went down to Barnet Marine Park. OK, we're all set up... 5 minutes of painting and it started raining a little. It was good for a minute, because I got some nice rainy texture on my paper. Then, the rain went down harder and had just washed away my water color in 30 seconds. Same happened to my son's marker drawing. Poor little kid got so upset so he walked away into that green little field and was seating on the grass over there right under the rain. Well, we packed our stuff back up and drove back home to get the paintings finished by memory. Nikita did another nice drawing right on top of a very cool rainy wash-out.

Jesse's wife joined us later. The fire place was on. And a glass of white chocolate port for the big guys and chicken soup for the little one helped out to finish the day on a good note...

Cheers...

Once Upon A Time In America...

2009-11-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time I did this book jacket for a famous gangster saga "Once Upon A Time In America", for a Russian publishing house. Water color.

Gooooood Mooorning!..

2009-10-09T03:03:00.000-07:00

Italiano...

2009-10-02T17:58:00.001-07:00

Gooood Morning!..

2009-10-01T00:07:00.000-07:00

Something fresh...

2009-09-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

Here I am, got some fresh sketches here.
- my son Nikita
- and a little bit of watercolor again -- the portrait is just a warm-up, popped out of my head -- imagination... The landscape is based on another sketch I did recently while canoeing on a lake.

Ovi — 8

2009-08-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

If you like hockey, you know this great player, crazy number 8 — Alex Ovechkin.

A lil' bit of a fresh stuff...

2009-08-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

Raging Bull is coming along...

2009-06-11T00:25:00.000-07:00

There you go, a little update on the Ice Rage stuff.

John did a nice job again :)

We've got new guys who are helping with the modeling process now. Welcome on board friends!

It is coming along...

Ice Rage. In Progress...

2009-05-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Here we go, we've been busy making this Crazy Rooster's sculpture. Thanks to John Silander, good job! Now, can't wait to get it modeled in 3D. Our next collaborator is Tracey Hayes. Thanks Tracey! Meanwhile, John's working on one of the Bulls. Exiting!..
More pictures [here]

ICE RAGE: we're looking for collaboration!

2009-03-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Hey, Super Guys out there!
Here is the deal. We'd pitched this "Ice Rage" concept (click it) into the network about 10 months ago... And we've got lots of very cool and supportive feedbacks from different guys, including credited animation professionals, hockey journalists/TV-hosts, NHL media-executives and players, artists, designers etc. We (my partner Andrey Brotzky and myself) wanna get a CGI animation test done (45-60-90 sec?), and are going to find a few Cool-Talents-Crazy-About-Hockey volunteers to set a Team up. So if there're some of you interested in participating, who are preferably live in/around Vancouver, BC and very good at:
– rigging, modeling
– texturing, lighting, comping
– animation
– sound, music
– editing
send us your e-mails to boris[at]andreev[dot]ca, with your CVs, portfolios attached . We can't wait to discuss the matter with you now.

As soon as the test animation's done, we're gonna use it as a second step in pitching the project. All committed collaborators are to be credited in the final pitch. You could use the pitch as a promo of yourself (as a part of the team). What ever happens afterwards, any serious deal appears... we'd like to negotiate it with you later.

Well, feel free to contact me what ever you feel you wanna say. Just let's make a very cool Canadian hockey-animation happen! Finally...

Techno doodle...

2009-03-13T16:35:00.001-07:00

Well, I don't know... it's a bio-futuro-tech-something...

How about a pint of beer?..

2009-03-13T11:59:00.000-07:00

WoooShooo Bird....

2009-01-23T15:39:00.000-08:00

Well, again, it's all started with a few "warm ups"— speed calligraphy lines.
And then,.. something had just clicked in my head...

Same technique...

2009-01-23T10:25:00.000-08:00

Hey there!
Here is the same stuff -- Corel Painter and it's cloning/painting trick. Just couldn't stand it :) This technique is kinda fun. If you use it smart, it'll give you some sort of feeling that you are a real Painter :o) Haha...

Creating a Chalk Underpainting...

2009-01-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

Hello Patrick and everyone! As promised, I'll show how to get that effect you can see below at the "Here we are..." post. So, first, you'll need Corel Painter on your computer. Then, visit this link, please, http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/ca/en/Content/1170190221936 and watch the video named "Creating the Chalk Underpainting". Using this technique and some very basic painting skills, you will get something like this:
Then, what I've done, I created another layer at the very bottom and did one more underpainting using one of the oil brushes. What Painter does, it delivers all these oily bumps through the whole bunch of layers up to the very top one. So here we go:
Hmmm... Not very impressive, eh? :) I did it very fast. It could be done better, sure thing. But, anyways, even this messy underpainting does its' work in this case. So, having these two layers done, you'll get this:
The last touch, if you want to add some fine details quickly. What I did, I just put the original photo image in between, applied a mask on the top Chalk Underpainting layer. I just slightly revealed a few "important" spots.
That's it!

It's fast and pretty fun to do.

Best regards,
Boris

Kids...

2009-01-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

Hi there!
Here's a little update, a couple of sketches I did today.

My son, he has lost his first tooth. And, sure thing, he is very excited about this fact.

Here we are...

2008-12-11T14:37:00.000-08:00

Blooop... blooop...

2008-11-10T04:22:00.000-08:00

Well, if there's anybody who interested in to know about how this happened that I came up with the picture above... Spontaneously :)
Anyways, take a look from the bottom.

Then, some idea appeared in my head... And the work started...
I was playing with the linework... I like this sort of calligraphy-wise work when you do draw a "fast curve" with one quick one-touch movement... and lots of Ctrl+Z, untill you actually got that nice line. Well, you know :o)
So... At the beginning there was nothing, just a few "speed lines" I'd done as a little "hand-warm-up" as I use to do from time to time.

Spooky time...

2008-10-20T16:22:00.001-07:00

Yeah... Hallowww... everybody!.. We did this kinda Spooky Singing Ghost together with my 4 y.o. son Nikita. He did the drawing (for a few seconds), I did the rest (spent some 40 min playing around). If you think that his part looks definitely better than mine – I do agree :o) Yes, son, you did a very cool ghost! I can't do that...
Have a scary one folks!
BwaaHaaaHaaaa.....haaa...

Testing a Bot-Pet...

2008-10-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

Hey there... Well, this is a preliminary sketch I did digitally. I'd like to make a water color illustration about this "Deep Forest Expedition" later on... But, shhh...

Autumn voyage...

2008-09-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

Something new...

2008-09-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

See ya later!

Lookin' for new wheels?..

2008-08-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

Here we go...

2008-08-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

Please, welcome my blue eyed Train Engineer... He just jumped out of my head where he'd been living for a while.

People around me...

2008-07-30T13:12:00.001-07:00

Here comes Thomas The Little Tank Engine...

2008-07-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

Well, I'm totally in steam. I'm art-directing on Thomas & Friends now.
This painting I did, as my little work-out, was a bad quality small screen shot from Youtube at the beginning. There was almost no sky etc.. I repainted the picture, added a little bit of details, added the sky and painted a helicopter in it. Why? Because it's just a cute happy helicopter zipping around. We need one. Sure thing!
P.S. And just in case, there's nothing about the actual upcoming episode here. Just a little bit of fun.

Cheers,
Chuff... Chuff... I steamed away...
:o)

For my daughter Masha...

2008-06-24T04:13:00.001-07:00

Ice Rage is on it's way...

2008-06-12T02:38:00.001-07:00

Hello guys, check this out. This is what I've been working on so far. It's here: Ice Rage (click it)...

Just popped out...

2008-05-07T02:56:00.000-07:00

People around me...

2008-05-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

Hey, Kent! It's your turn, here you go :o)

Wow... Look at you...sweety!... Gimme five!..

2008-04-26T23:24:00.000-07:00

It's my Mom's birthday today. She is a microbiologist, she also does some DNA-engineering. She has a big and pretty much unique collection of different bacterias at her work. So I did this birthday card for her.
Happy Birthday Mommy!!! :o)

Just because...

2008-03-20T00:56:00.000-07:00

They love to play...

2008-02-07T23:03:00.000-08:00

Another design development leftovers...

2008-02-06T20:10:00.000-08:00

Well, you know, I won a character design contest 9 months ago here at the studio I'm working for. And only now, I can show you a few sketches I've done in the process of that development.

See, these guys have a bunch of ideas how to make your life kinda full of fun. Here - fooling around with a big balloon, hydrogen and fire :)

-----
This one below is what I started with.

-----
Another one, it's the same main character also, a different look. And that was too goaty though... It's somewhere in the middle of the development.

You better don't mess with this guy...

2007-12-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

Well, this is not our lovely Santa Claus. So even don't ask him for a gift... keep away and you'll survive... might be...

I think this one would be a trouble maker for my Little Masha.

People around me...

2007-12-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

Well,.. Anton again.

Something's coming from out there...

2007-11-05T15:12:00.001-08:00

Well, this's a preliminary sketch. I'm gonna get it finished a bit later.

Little Masha's rotation

2007-11-05T09:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, finally, I made my Little Masha's rotation. It's still a rough sketch and her Hobby Horse prop has not been finished yet.

Little Masha again...

2007-11-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

Well, my Little Masha is rushing somewhere again.

People around me...

2007-11-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

Hi Ted! See? This is you... as Wild Spagetty Ted. Kinda... :)

On the edge of The Wild Field...

2007-09-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

My super talented friend Andrei Riabovitchev has posted his Cossack painting on his blog. And I thought: Aha! I have something to answer! Here you go, see :) Funny, but 16 years ago I did a very similar composition. Different style, different part of Russian history though... And this one was done for a graphic novel, not for a vodka label :o)

Little Masha

2007-09-28T01:01:00.000-07:00

Well, same Little Masha, same pose and location. I'm in the slow process of development, too busy to draw my little hero :/

Japanese Princess 2...

2007-09-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

Japanese Princess...

2007-09-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

Lunch time?..

2007-09-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Captain SEPTEMBER...

2007-09-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

See, I told you. I'm not really into super heroes. But, there's a guy who's working behind me -- Anton. And he looks very cool as Captain September... how he use to call himself all the last time. I like this name! Sounds very romantic, doesn't it :)

Well, here, this character doesn't look exactly like Anton, but ... I was just having fun drawing the sketch.

One more... a bit different look, different style... same fun :)

You know guys... Once you can meet some weird stuff in your Robo Ball's world...

2007-09-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,

This one was done for my son Nikita. He loves robots very much.

So, there you go my Boy!

Little Masha under Wise Tree...

2007-08-17T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here is another sketch about Little Masha. She is sitting under Wise Tree -- her friend -- she use to come up to. She loves to be down there thinking about nothing, watching horizon...

Little Masha is on her Adventure Way...

2007-08-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

I'm not really into monsters, superheros or villains. So here you go - a Little hero, in her constant search of another unbelievable adventures, is dashing somewhere your mom told you: "You don't even think about it!!!"...

A warming up sketch?..

2007-08-08T16:26:00.000-07:00

This is what I ended up my work-day with...

People around me...

2007-07-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

Something from Out There...

2007-07-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

Green blues for my fella...

People around me...

2007-07-16T22:45:00.001-07:00

From my sketch book

2007-06-08T02:09:00.001-07:00

Burrard Inlet, Crab Park, Vancouver, BC. This is right nearby the studio and this is where I use to take a short walk after lunch.

Doodling a little, as usual :)

- - - - -

Another Lil' Monkey is coming...

2007-05-13T01:57:00.000-07:00

This one is about my son... about that time when he was coming into the World.
Wierd, you know, he was just like a tiny little "nothing". And now, I can tell him "Give me five dude!"
He gives :)

---
And, yes, sorry for the bad quality of this JPG.
The art is under the glass and I took the picture right through...

Accidental faces...

2007-05-09T03:45:00.000-07:00

Today, well, I have to draw a few clean designs of a character I'm working on. Instead, I ended up with these random people. And I still need to draw that main character. Ok, tomorrow...

More coffee?...

2007-04-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

Yeah, Kirsten has a huge coffee mug :)

Designing characters...

2007-03-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

Here you go. It's a fresh one. These three friends suppose to be starring in a prime time cartoon show. May be. We'll see...

Old Man

2007-03-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

Old Man look at my eyes,
I'm a lot like you...

Merry Christmas Everybody!

2006-12-22T22:42:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well :)
Happy times!
We've been working on a brand new cartoon show "George of The Jungle". So I'm posting these Christmas cards which based on some studio's characters (George of The Jungle crew).
Kevin of The Jungle -- he is the Producer of the show. WooooHooooo!

Lindsay Tree of The Jungle -- yes, she is tall and nice. So why don't we let her wear on this Christmass Tree outfit? Welcome Lindsay :)

Dana of The Jungle -- he is one of supervisers. Look brutal, but.. really cool guy.

There you go :)

People around me...

2006-12-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

Hey, Denny :)) Here you go!

Chris is on his waaaaayyy...

2006-12-11T16:01:00.000-08:00

Just looking around and sketching a lilttle. Welcome Chris!

Happy Birthday, Sasha!

2006-12-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

I've got friends over there in Russia. And, yes, sometimes I feel the miss of them. I hope they do the same :) Anyways...

There's one of them who is a GREAT graphic designer and really cool guy, and this is his Birthday today! I want to wish him all the best and... Hm.. He is in Siberia actually. What can I do for him being on opposite side of the Earth. Hey, Being Boris Artist, I can draw. Yeah! Fortunatelly, we have the Internet, Blogger etc.. So all we are still can feel kind of heart connection every little moment. There you go.

Sasha! Happy Birthday to you! :)
Саша! С днем Рождения тебя! :)

Well, this is not a new one...

2006-12-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

So long! Ok guys, I'd just like to post it here if you haven't seen this Russian fairy tales book cover before. I made it many years ago and this is one of my favorite.

Actually, I had done another one cover for this book, at first, but the publisher told me something like: "..it's Ok, looks good, BUT could you Boris, please, draw something else for us? Maybe better. Just a little better". I was feeling really bad then and I'd been thinking what can I draw "better". Eh?!
A day later, suddenly, I woke up at about 4:00AM with an idea booming in my mind. I made a rough sketch and fell asleep in peace and happiness.
I woke up a few hours later and started drawing immediately. Working non stop within about 12 hours with my pencil, brush and pen; water colors and black ink -- I had this book cover been done, it's face and back sides. Frankly to say, compare to the first version, this second one is much better. Thank you, dear Publisher! :) By the way, he was happy with this cover.

You will find more illustartions I made at different times
if you'd go and see My Old Portfolio

"...I've got friends in low places..."

2006-11-04T02:22:00.000-08:00

I've got a neighbour. He is a very nice guy, a truck driver in the Port of Vancouver. It's always my pleasure to draw a Happy-Birthday funny picture for another friend of mine.

Pose!.. Pose!.. Snap!

2006-11-04T02:14:00.000-08:00

Well, there is another art-reflection. Actually, things are not going so crazy. It's just a jokingly fixed observation.

Naked Art is a must

2006-11-04T01:50:00.000-08:00

The last summer I used to draw and send these sketches as Good Morning refreshments to our sleepy animators. Hey !
VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED ;)

one more...

And...
This one was a Friday Morning Gal

Walking down the street,

2006-11-03T16:57:00.000-08:00

I do love be watching people and their different faces, natures etc.. That guy on the left side, I saw him near Burrard Skytrain Station. He just passed by me. It was an early morning, he was sullen a bit and had his fixed stare and overhanging brows. I made this drawing from memory. Then, I made this cartoonish character (below) based on him.

Another characters are: a granny from a bus station and an old gentleman from Melville Str.

Here,.. some characters from Skytrain, streets and the studio as well.

I was working on posing for this character. So you've got a fart-jet here. This happens when you get tired with your routine :)

Hi everybody :)

2006-11-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

How about some doodles. There you go...

This page with girlish creatures, I was inspiried with my daughters. They are so nice and funny, so curious and energetic. I'd like to work more on these characters. An alien appeared on the page for some reasons. Oh, you know,.. aliens, they're everywhere.

I have my lil' son who inspires me every single day. So I do life drawings as well as some sketches from memory and imagination.

Ok, finally!

2006-11-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna make my second attempt of blogging. The first one is failed because I've been super busy since April and had no chance to keep it updated. Now that, things are getting better and I have a little spare time, I'd rather be posting some of my sketches and some art-reflections. Well, there you go :)

Let's start with this one.

Fortunately, there're a lot of interesting and nice people around me.

Hey Alison! You look a bit serious here, but you're very nice anyway :)

Here is another cool dude :) He's shooting a pile of hand drawn FX-frames per sec, playing the guitar, wearing stylish shirts and driving a shabby cabriolet. So he definitely ROCKs!
===========
This is Kat. I'm gonna show you a couple sketches about her. I'd say: "...gothic girls are all in black, serious as heart attack..." Ok, she is always in black and she's adorable. Hey Kat, you do like this word, don't ya? ;)

Well, who's next? Aha... Atilla!

I tell you guys, it seems you can meet a dog (even a few) in every studio.

People at the studio...

This pal is actually smaller than his pencil. Sometimes you can find him wearing a red spider man's hat. So he's kinda Spider Man... or Spider Sized Man, as his girlfriend says. But his name is Ragnar. And I can tell you, RAGNAR-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-Rocks! Yeah! :))

Walter,.. Is there any position of an Animator-BodyGuard available? Let him know :)
And Kat once again.