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Viewing Blog: Playing With Crayons, Most Recent at Top
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Tiffany Turrill's Artsy Playground!
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Oh, my dears. I apologize for the absence.
So much has changed for me in the past four months. In fact, in many ways, I’m kindof starting life over.
Essentially I broke up with my boyfriend of nearly four years, moved out, and began a new relationship with another man, a good friend whom I met at my last game studio job. It’s been a huge shift, in every possible arena.
Emotionally, I’ve been all over the place during this period, and I still have a lot of heart mending to do – so being a functional creative has been very challenging. I’m poring over treatises and techniques on how to stay creative, how to live. The Artist’s Way, The Perfect Bait, How to be an Illustrator, and many more, are fueling me.
Bear with me, as I bear with myself.
Things are better, I think, though. Already since the change, I feel more awake and in charge of myself, and it seems the universe is responding.
Good things:
I’m starting work with Playdom Interactive next week as a full-time game artist, thank the lawdy for health insurance.
I have some exciting new projects lined up – some are secret at the moment – but they include further work with the author of the Journey of the Noble Gnarble, Daniel Errico.
I have outlined the new and improved Clevenger Kids book layout and am beginning to block in some of the standout pieces.
I’m remembering more of my dreams, and drawing them.
Some of my friends still want to be my friend.
In any case, stay tuned for more – I’m going to be a locomotive in the next few months, and hopefully I’ll have time between drawing to post them all!
And as always, I invite you to check in on my nonsense on Facebook and Twitter because I’m a gushing stream of internet there.
Stay well, my lovelies.
~Tiff
A Rest With Dimetrodon
Eryops Surprise!
2 Comments on
Hitting the Refresh Button on Life, last added: 2/18/2012
Soooooooooo hey I’m a published illustrator! 
The Gnarble project took a long time, and overall the project was outside of my realm of mostly gamey experience, so it took me a while to ramp up – but Daniel (and everyone else!) never stopped supporting me. It’s so wonderful to see how the final product turned out! Here she is in all her glory – well, kinda.
The videogame I worked on with Backbone Entertainment last year is also soon to be released! After 6 years working in games, I’ll finally have a shipped title: Zombie Apocalypse 2: Never Die Alone! The bad news – NONE of my concepts made it into the game! Well, none except for a stupid auto-turret. BUT I’LL BE DAMNED IF IT WASN’T THE BEST AUTO-TURRET. T_T
Oh well – that’s how it goes in the wicky wicky wild wild west.
The publisher is currently working on a fancy theatrical-ish trailer, but in lieu of that, I can show you the gameplay preview from this year’s E3. (Fun fact: That’s my boyfriend Mike doing the playing and narration, he’s the producer on the project, and basically saved it from utter obliteration, lol)
Another project I helped with has also wrapped up. I spent four months working with Other Ocean Interactive’s latest, War of the Worlds! The team was fantastic, and we got a LOT done in an amazingly short amount of time. I might do more work with them in the near future!
I’ll be putting a lot of stuff together soon, including returning to Dinosaurs Before Bedtime, putting together a portfolio for Pixar (because they’re right here and it’s HIGH TIME, I SAY!), and several collaborations with fellow Other Oceanite, game designer, and good fwend, Paul. :3
Work-in-progress of Polycotylus, a late Cretaceous plesiosaur. This year a specimen was described with viviparous fetae inside her – which could be potential evidence of mothering!
…So here she is with her beebees. :3
Oh, I used a variation on Wilhelm’s fluke reconstruction, too – just for lulz. Not horribly accurate, I just wanted to draw some baby plesiosaurs.
I’ve been wanting to do a rendition of Livyatan melvillei ever since I saw the sad reconstruction painting that was stuck to every article about her. I used Nemo-Ramjet’s rendition as reference, and gave her a Cetotherium to eat!
Here, a Livyatan female has just pulverized a straggler with her initial bone-breaking ambush from below, and is moving in to finish her meal off – while the rest of the Cetotherium pod gets the fuck out! >:]
Not too accurate, especially with the sizing, but eh.
Stay tuned, suckas.
~Tiff
1 Comments on Achievement Unlocked, last added: 10/10/2011
Why you so mean?!
It’s Marceline from Adventure Time! I’ve been wanting to do my own rendition of the characters from this series for a while now.
If you haven’t seen Adventure Time, you’re missing out. Easily one of the most inventive and best-looking animated shows since the heyday of animation in the 90s, imo.
~t
The children’s book I illustrated, The Journey of the Noble Gnarble by Daniel Errico, has a publication date – October 1st, 2011! It’ll be available from Barnes and Noble Booksellers, and on Amazon.com.
The big reveal!
The Corgi Gryphon is getting so much love, I’ve added a print for it on my Etsy shop! You can find it here.
I’ve also been getting crazy suggestions from friends on what other pairings of dog breeds + mythological creatures would be fun.
Beagle + chimaera?
Pug + chinese dragon?
What do you guys think?
Summary of my experience of returning to video game development
In other news, I got a day job working with a bunch of friends at Other Ocean Interactive, and we’re working on a game adaptation of War of the Worlds, with none other than Patrick Stewart’s dulcet tones to inspire us! I keep finding myself bellowing “THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS” and “THE LINE MUST BE DRAWN HEEEEYA!”
The project has a hell of a schedule, but the cool thing is that it’s a 2d game, so I get to paint my stuff and then IMMEDIATELY plug ‘em in to see how it looks in-game – a first for me!
And later, I get to design the aliens! :3
I’ve got some more Kylie Meadows work, and a little branding design underway as well. Blerg, so much to do!
Oh, and if you’re on Google+, I’m there too! It’s already turning out to be a wonderful sharing platform for art and connecting creatives.
Anyhow. You know where to leave them comments!
<3
~Tiff
0 Comments on
The Gnarble Report, and Other News as of 1/1/1900
Another little commission, this time of a gryphon. It took a while to find a decent pose for him – I’ve never drawn a gryphon before so it’s always a challenge with a new bodytype – AND trying to keep the critter recognizeable.
He’s also a bit dark and extra digital-looking, what with the multiply and overlay layers, but eh. I don’t mind too much. :3
Orynx the Gryphon
And this piece came to me while sketching the serious gryphon. I had to finish it! Corgi gryphon!
Stumpy Legs!
By:
Tiffany Turrill,
on 6/25/2011
Blog:
Playing With Crayons
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marine biology,
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nautilus,
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In case you aren’t familiar with my work, I’m a huge nerd when it comes to sea life. If you get me in the right mood, I’ll rattle off about cetacean social structures, the invertebrates of the White Sea, or rare recently discovered sharks for much longer than most people can handle!
I thought for most of my young-person years that I had a future in marine biology, so I’d sit around drawing aquatic beasties, real and imagined, all day. Today this still manifests as a “watery” feeling in many of my pieces – plenty of art directors and peers have said as much.
So it’s always refreshing, creatively, to revisit my favorite subject – which is what my internet friend Jenshin prompted when she commissioned me for two little paintings!
A trio of chambered nautilus! They don’t school in real life, but don’t tell any scientists you know. Shhh.
A pair of coelacanths, the famous “living fossil” fish, hangin’ out in deep water off Madagascar!
Coelacanths (pronounce SEE-la-kanth) were one of my first marine bio loves: I just adore their surly so-ugly-they’re-cute faces, and the story of their rediscovery is one of the greats in the history of zoology.
At around 8 years old, I found an old tattered copy of a book on sea creatures hidden in a box of books under my mom’s bed. Afterwards, it was my mission to steal into the room early in the morning to copy all the information it had on them. My nerdery further revealed itself in multiple reports and coelacanth shoebox dioramas throughout grade school, several years in a row, while all the other girls were doing projects on horsies and kittens. Yeaaah. 
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my first stab at a graphic kinda style
An old character redesigned, again
Goodness! So much has been going on! I feel ashamed of myself for not updating here.
It’s always so helpful to put myself into a writing sort of mood, but honestly I haven’t had the time! And normally when I say I’m busy it’s a half-excuse, but for the past 2 months, at least, it’s been completely true. 
Life has been like this for a while now.
So late last year I was approached by an independent children’s book writer who runs a site supplying free children’s stories on the web, one of which has been picked up by an independent publisher. He effectively opened a call for entries, and I won the bid! My first published work as a professional artist! Excitement!
The book is called the Journey of the Noble Gnarble, and it’s about a little made-up sort of fish who lives on the bottom of the sea, who dreams of seeing the sunshine. Can you say right up my alley? If all goes as planned, it’ll be printed and on bookshelves by Fall 2011. So, here’s a few sneak peeks of some of the double spreads:
His friends tell him he can't do it, but he's all, F*** YOU GUYS!
And lo, the Gnarble travelled through many lands...
fuuuuuu, this one took forever X
Well, as with all things, my latest job has come to an end. I had the opportunity to work on some frustrating projects, but I feel like I was able to channel it into some decent work. I’ve learned so much about my craft in the past 6 months – most of it, I know, I won’t fully appreciate until a few more months have passed. The peeps at Backbone Entertainment were a great bunch, and I hope the best for them all as they continue to try and get great projects off the ground and out the door. And who knows, maybe when the time is right, I can work with some of ‘em again. 
My children’s book is calling me! Oh Clevengers! I’ve missed my prehistoric friends and kiddie adventurers.
In some ways, I’m actually quite excited about what’s next. A good deal of that is “I DUNNO” but hey, now I can actually hang out with all the friends I’ve said I needed to catch up with. Wonderful lady creature designers two, Brynn Metheney and Allison Theus and I are also embarking on a collaboration effort on the side – I’m thrilled to actually have time for it now.
LADIES OF BEASTS mwahaha.
So in honor of moving off to different places, and at the encouragement of internet pal David Brown Eyes, I’ve started a shiny new WordPress!
Suck it, Google!
Also, critters!
0 Comments on
“Transitioning” as of 1/1/1990
I’ve been talking for a while about my kids’ book, but haven’t yet shown any of the final pieces – until today!
This piece took a long while on account of my day job, but I quite like how it turned out. I’ll probably throw a little bit of type on it when the actual story is written, but so far I’m just making the story through its pictures. 
All of the images are being done in watercolor.
In this image, the Clevenger kids have just narrowly escaped a sticky situation involving a Dunkleosteus, and time-jump a little ways into the Late Devonian, where they drop in on some Acanthostega.
Friendly proto-amphibians! ^_^
More pieces and half-pieces from the Clevenger Kids bedtime adventure:
click meh!
Also, some pieces I’ve done on the side:
The Dolphins of Japan, inspired by the recent slaughter at the Cove of Taiji.
Ornithocheirus, one of my favorite pterosaur species.
And the Battlecat of He-Man, redesigned.
until next tiems!
~tiff
Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Enticed by the promises of a great many favorite writers, I took up Lud-In-The-Mist expecting a change in what female fantasy could be.
The name, the time, the author’s story, all attracted me. Despite this, i couldn’t manage to lose myself in it.
Essentially, for me, it didn’t hold up.
I found the characters shrill and predictable, the bewildered goodies were good, and the baddies just as you found them.
As I read, I had a sense that I was waiting for the literary ah-ha to happen – the plot is thick as molasses, even the interesting characters are quickly stunted or oversimplified (I’m looking at you, Endymion Leer – such a great name, sigh!).
The whole plot and execution felt like a great dance around saying what the authoress wanted to say – I imagine this was quite effective in 1925, but I live in the 21st century, and I’ve seen LOST.
The premise is still interesting – a town on the border to the realm of Faerie, and the invariable cultural crossover that seeps in – and the prose was fittingly British and pretty, but Lud’ left me with little to go on… and the slightly irked feeling of having missed the boat.
View all my reviews
The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth by Robert Graves
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
a dense thicket of myth in all of its core components. graves is the writer’s critic’s writer, leaping wildly from one subject to another, spinning threads and running out across them. he focuses a great deal on the Welsh Ogham and its correlations with Greek and Jewish traditions. although historically flawed, the book itself it still thrilling to parse – and tremendously inspirational when you consider the nature of culture, the foundations of all stories, and their further path. i will very likely read this again.
View all my reviews >>
images from Derek Henderson’s The River
Hello my dears, how is your Monday?
Here in Yay Area, California, it’s a schizophrenic on/off switch of rain and shine.
The Spring is here, (in this area, it has been for a long while) inciting long walks, lots of photos of flowers, and moments admiring light.
The past few months, for me, have been a heap of mixed-baggery. The new year came in, up and down: perpetually waiting for the other shoe to drop.
When I last wrote, to be honest, I was in a pretty dire spot, and was considering abandoning art-making all together.
I’ve been feeling lately that the methods I have relied upon in the past no longer serve me – and thus feel forced and outmoded. They’re cast in this mold of final product, quick changeover, and imitation. I’m just beginning to realize now how it puts me in this position of resenting the creation process, hurrying to some end-day when I’ll finally have the time to do as I wish.
But the day I will be perfect and “finished,” will be the day I die.
So what then? Change is scary. The conflict I’m wrestling with now, with my art, and my expression, is like some somatic symptom of my feet dragging – resistance at finding a new method.
Perpetually in transition, I am still filling up my mind with ideas and images like some decanter of experience. After maybe a few more years of decanting, maybe I’ll have some great work, my gift – perfectly aerated. It will be true, and come perfectly from me. Fountained.
Since then, and despite my challenges, I have seen New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Kentucky, a glorious wedding, and (large amounts of) snow. Thankfully, I came back around to my senses. Travel will do that.
Mike has taken up a new hobby – our oven is filled with bricks. Every weekend he experiments in baking, and his holy grail is the perfect New York style pizza. I’m convinced he’s already nailed it, but he isn’t satisfied. In myriad ways, he’s the foundation for my ability to not give up.
My family has been predictably incompetent and infuriating – and predictably just in time for Mother’s Day… I think I’ve finally given up having any manner of dialogue with mine.
The detractors, distractors, the nay-sayers…. I can’t waste energy on them any longer.
It takes away too much from my work.
Employment-wise, I’ve been doing brief gasps of work for game companies, web non-profits, and authors whom I inexplicably befriended at coffee shops.
A good friend has loaned me a copy of this; it and various design blogs have been a very grounding place to make me feel less crazy, despite the rabble’s prattling opinion.
And about and between this, I’m developing my own children’s book, a fantasy bedtime adventure that is somewhat autobiographical. This project has allowed me to somewhat keep my head during my days (and away from Facebook
(That’s me! Spewing love out my ear. Or cheek.)
SO!
No more holidays or new year dawdling! Time to get to work! You heard me! Drop and give me 50! Paintings!
Yes, it’s true. After a month of piddling around and hemming and hawing over what to do, and my general dissatisfaction with the state of the games industry in America (although I’m sure Japan and Europe are just as screwy), I’ve decided to switch gears and develop a children’s book.
And damn if it isn’t daunting. All the worst-case scenarios and fire and brimstone lectures from illustration curmudgeons have been coming back, and hitting hard. It’s so easy to get discouraged, and I haven’t even done anything yet! Just reading about the state of the overly saturated publishing industry sets my teeth on edge. Yeeee.
I’m enthusiastic mostly because of two things: I’ve rediscovered how much I missed drawing and reconstructing prehistoric creatures (I’ve been so out of the loop with paleontological discoveries in the past few years: I’m a bad nerd!); and two, I’ve rediscovered how much I missed watercolor. Coming from years of battling digital programs, it alarmed me how easy it was! Just slosh and slop and a painting is done. It’s hard to keep the images from getting to heavy.
Sigh.
I’m going to be sneaky about the details of my book for now, but I will leave you with some preliminary practice work I’ve been toying with to get me back in the groove. Here comes fun!
And some others I’d been piddling with:
Stay sassy y’all, next time I may have some more secret details for you. Chock full of paleontological goodness!
~Tiffany
0 Comments on It’s Finally Happened. as of 1/1/1990
unfortunately, these things do happen. a few months ago, i was laid off from my job as a concept artist at a start-up video game studio here in the Bay Area, ending three years of work with no product to show for it, and nothing substantial to add to my resume. many friends of mine have been unemployed for a very long time now, and now i’ve joined them. it’s actually quite depressing, the layoff went down just in time for seasonal affective disorder to take hold.
the upside is that work that was being put off can be realized. so far this has limited itself to quick paint sketches, but i have plenty of bigger, more refined pieces coming down the pipeline, which i intend to print and send in for various art competitions. i am also making an endeavor to get back into traditional art, as was inspired by a trip to a sketch-night at a local gallery, where my work was very well received by enthusiastic art scenesters.
but until then, here is what i have so far.
Haibane Renmei is a short (13 episodes) anime series from the creator of Lain, and centers on a few girls living in an isolated village, who have awakened as angel-like creatures with no memory of their past lives. the plot is very slow and meandering, but the emotions that are kindled as the series progresses are searing. i found myself crying while watching the later episodes. i was especially struck by the character of Reki, the selfless caretaker of the group, and her emotional struggles – which of course resemble my own.
Greer Gilman’s Cloud and Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales is the best novel i have read in many years. the craft, the images, the themes, the sheer poetry of the three stories (two shorter ones to set the scene, and a long novella) has filled my mind with beautiful images for months now, but no real complete pieces have come out of it so far. the abstraction and ethereal tone is sometimes difficult to pin down in a precise image or character design, the prose is told as if through a haze of all the words that came before it. the experience of reading Cloud and Ashes is to be fully immersed in the present moment, being overwhelmed with the english language. sounds pretentious, but it’s true. of course it helps that the authoress is a lexicologist.
the plot circles in on the unassuming and reticent girl, Margaret, who was born and raised in the celestial plane of Law by her sinister grandmother, the goddess of the moon, Annis – but escapes. Margaret is the product of an incarnation of Annis’ daughter, Ashes, who came was stolen away to the earthly land of Cloud with a simple fiddler. her journey through Cloud to find her mother and escape the prying eyes and spies of her grandmother is a myth as rich and multilayered as any hero journey from the european tradition.
so far i am on my third reading of the book.
0 Comments on personal work as of 1/1/1990
0 Comments on personal work as of 1/1/1990
It’s been close to a year since I hit the refresh button on life, so I hear ya about being all over the place emotionally. Good luck with the new start, I hope it goes super awesomely
Thank you, lady! Same to you.
*hugs*