Birds And Pencils

This is one of the many, many birdish critters who set off into the "Birds & Pencils" book. This is BTW the piece I tried to finish live at my Pixel 4.0 workshop - but my laptop wasn't that cooperative that day, so I finished it back home. Voila, another piece done entirely digitally (Photoshop CS4/Wacom):

Update: Jake liked the colour scheme of this piece. Here's the colour palette I used, strongly inspired by the KTM Racing colours:

Images ©2009 by Satzinger & Hardenberg. World rights reserved.

Alright, and here are some impressions of the Pixel 4.0 weekend. The Austrian Academy of Sciences is quite a place, isn't it... (Photos © Kris Staber/PIXEL. A.r.r.)

Pixel 4.0, Vienna

Finally, we arrived at the Pixel... the weather is really great and I'm looking forward to hosting the character design workshop. Cheers from Vienna.

Critters In Progress

This is how I usually go about it... roughs, colours and stuff.

Image: Wikimedia

Bearish Bird

Or it's a birdish bear, it's a critter with a pecker? Anyway, it's a candidate for inclusion in "Birds & Pencils"!

Colour palette

Photo: Wikimedia

Images ©2009 by Satzinger & Hardenberg. World rights reserved.

Sorry for being away for a while! Big thanks to everyone who's viewed and commented on my sketches and things!

Mon-Day

I wish you a wonderful week. BTW, I dedicate this piece to Andrey, who I missed this time due to not making it to London. It's such a shame... the same goes for Uli, a real pity.

The Duckman's Birds And Pencils

©2009 by Satzinger & Hardenberg. World rights reserved.

Before Toby Skybuckle will finally cranked out, Crisse and I will start with an artbook filled with nearly every duck or birdish critter I did in the past years. This is a speed thumbnail sketch for the book cover. I'll keep you posted about the date of publication and stuff...
I can't thank you all enough for stopping by this little blog so often. Again, sorry for being a little inactive with answering comments and things. I promise to try to be better at replying!

Pixel 4.0, Vienna

Later this year, Maryam Laura Moazedi and I will head back to Austria to give a lecture/workshop on stereotypes in character design and developmental techniques at this year's Pixel 4.0 Symposium in Vienna. I'll post more information on this, soon. BTW, it's maybe nice to know that - related to the digital orientation of the symposium - this very special "Fiaker-StarDuck" and his draught critter are done entirely digitally from start to finish, even the rough pencils and the thumbnail sketch.

Finally, some real Austrian Fiaker coachmen:

Photo/File: Wikipedia

Union Jack

I shifted recently from Austria to the UK...

Fritz: Pirates! (Chili Green)

When I get out of my deadlines I'll post the rough sketches of this... BTW, I didn't make it to San Diego, so, how was it this year?

By the by, have you seen the Alice In Wonderland trailer already? The new flic looks drop-dead beautiful... and scarry, too.

What I've forgotten to mention is that Nemoland chief of staff Francesco Malin did this wonderful piece for me. Thank YOU!

Tweeter (ol' warhorse chicken)

*Todfeind: German word for deadly foe

Sorry again for the lack of updates, replies and answers. I'm terribly busy at work in parallel with preparing things for a longer work related stay (and holidays) abroad... happy holidays to everyone!

Unquestionably this very critter is inspired by Warner Bros' Tweety... and a little bit by my Latin teacher back in school.

Monsters In The Ski Run

An old team is joining forces, once again... FRITZ!

Photo/File: Wikipedia

Red Pencils; Rough Piece of Duck

Update: Here are some older pieces... I really enjoy colouring with red. (Btw, one of my all-time favorite cartoon characters and all-time favorite inspirations is Chuck Jones' Gossamer)

Apropos old, I just made a nice find on a forgotten SD card. The photo shows our hotel room in Montevideo, last year. I worked there on one of those tiny hotel coffee tables and had a terrific view on the Rambla/riverside. The original sketch, here in the foreground, was part of the "Of Critters, Ducks And Dragons" exhibition in Florence, no Luca?

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This is just a very fast and rough piece of duck. Sorry for the lack of updates and replies. Right now, it's just because I've not enough time... I wish you a nice weekend!

Happy Independence Day, btw... :)

Photo/File: Wikipedia