Ranger Rick's Tree House: Fall!

It's that time of year again! Spooky ghost stories, leaves, brisk air, and the harvest! There are so many things to love about fall. The latest issue of Ranger Rick's Tree House that I made some new art for at FableVision is available in the iTunes Newsstand now and it's sprinkled with touches of fall. Here are some screen shots of the Backyard, the Tree House living room, and a few new games we added!

Tiger Paw-Parazzi is a matching game, match the stripes and color of the tigers to the card in the foreground as fast as you can for extra points!

Next up...Winter! Brrrr...

Thanks for stopping by!

~Renee

Ranger Rick's Tree House: Summer!

The June Issue of Ranger Rick's Tree House has lots of new, colorful art! Here's a sneak peek at some of the work I've done at FableVision for the National Wildlife Federation: 

Details from the Backyard and Tree House Decorations.

Decorate your Jellies article with these flowy, vibrant, wonders of nature.

Gorilla Grove is our new banana-collecting game!

And for a little added bonus, here's a speed painting demo of one of my backgrounds (set to music to make it a little more interesting, hehe):

Gorilla Grove Background Painting Demo from Renee Kurilla on Vimeo.

You can download the app here!

Cheers!

~Renee

Happy 15th Birthday, FableVision!

A few Fridays ago, FableVision Studios was lit up and decorated to welcome hundreds of party go-ers, all there to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the only company I've ever heard of to declare a 200 year mission. That mission? To help ALL learners reach their full potential and to tell stories that matter, stories that move.

It makes you feel proud to work at a place like that. I've been at FableVision for 6 years and have been lucky enough to watch (and help) it grow through its tween years. :) And FableVision has helped me as well, to develop and flourish whatever artistic talents I had lingering inside, waiting to emerge.

Our Director of Art and Animation, Bob Flynn describes it best in his blog post. 

To change things up a little bit, I thought it might be fun to give you a little peek into the cozy workspace I've created for myself at the studio. We all work in one big space but everyone has managed to make a little nook for themselves! Mine has lots of books (though only a few compared to our massive home collection), and as many toys as I can fit without overcrowding. 

I pretty much always have a YA novel at the ready for whoever needs a book to read, currently I'm passing around Divergent, written by Veronia Roth.

I have a great view of the FableVision star from my desk, which leads me to describe the anniversary gift our staff made for  The FableVision logo, in its essence has not changed since the very beginning. It just...works. 

My interpretation of the FV logo and Peter H. Reynolds North Star Boy: 

As a thank you to everyone who could make it to our party, we've made a special page on our website with all the highlights of the evening, including our new Demo Reel and Voices Video! 

CTN 2010!

I hope to see you there and I'd love to meet you if you are! Bob Flynn and I will be there representing FableVision Studio and hopefully I'll be able to keep my jaw off the floor and maintain composure. I can't wait to meet so many of the talented people I've been talking to online for months! 

This image is from the FableVision "What the Doodle?" word of the week: Ricochet! And I truly enjoyed ricochet-ing this pink bunny, I really did. :)

What the Doodle!? "Welcomed"

I decided to turn last week's illustration into an ongoing comic adventure. Though, I got rid of the little guy's legs and I'm trying to ease up on the textures a bit. (I got out of control.)

What's going to be interesting is that the outcome will be totally dependent on the chosen word.
OooOOoo.
I still have no idea what this little guy is. I think he's a fuzzball. Blogger is making the colors look totally washed out, too (booooo).

Check out what the rest of the FV team came up with at the Creative Juices Blog.

Happy FRIDAY! More big news and TONS of new art coming next week guys!

What the Doodle: "Preparation"

This week is just filled with new art! And, as a side note, I have no idea what that thing is. I think I was inspired by the little soots in Spirited Away. I guess the beauty of art is that it doesn't realllly have to make sense. Right?

...right??


Go see what the rest of the FableVision staff came up with for the word "Preparation"on the Creative Juices Blog.

Zebrafish: The Visual Novel.

Officially, the news is spreadable! Simon & Schuster announced the arrival of the Zebrafish novel last week - On bookshelves May 4, 2010!

Check out Zebrafish.com wonderfully crafted by my co-workers at FableVision Bob Flynn and Ryan McNulty. (and I love you Katiebird!)

For those of you that don't know me, I work at FableVision Studios in Boston, MA. For the last two years, I have been LIVING in Zebrafishland because not only is this a book...it's an animated series, it's an online comic, it's a series of games, it's an initiative to raise money to help sick kids through Generation Cures at Children's Hospital Boston.

For me, this project was a chance to grow. I worked closely under the creative direction of Peter H. Reynolds and writer, Sharon Emerson. (That's me and Sharon below with some ACTUAL zebrafish!)

Sharon is holding up the black and white version of this illustration:


The advance paperback copies: Exciting! The book is about a bunch of quirky kids who like to rock, but play no instruments. Not only do they figure out how to make that work to their advantage, they learn all the important life lessons you need to learn in high school.


On Sunday during the ALA midwinter conference in Boston, Simon & Schuster threw a book launch party at FableVision where I got to sign my first (advance) copy of the book. I really, really, need to warm up my drawing hand again...ew.

I used to warm up by drawing full pages of character sketches before I started in on the spreads. Here's an example:

More to come, but probably not until the book comes out. I'll be able to show some more in process art then... which is, for me, where all the magic happened. :) Rock!

WTD?: "Espouse"

This week's "What the Doodle?" word over on Creative Juices is espouse.

"Espouse" (v)

Their Definition:
to adopt, embrace, take up, accept, welcome, support, back, champion, prefer
to adopt or support a cause, belief, or way of life
My Definition:


Blue Pen sketch:

WTD: Vehicle

Welp...fashionably late, here's my illustration for "WTD?" over on Creative Juices. In case I never really explained what that means...

The artists over at FableVision (new updated website to come soon!) decided to challenge ourselves to do an illustration every two weeks. We pick a word from a random word generator and go! After much deliberation we decided to call it "WTD: What the Doodle?" I'm pretty sure it stems from phrases such as: "What the heck?" " What in the wild world of sports?" " What in sam's hell is THAT?"

We open the challenge up to the company and I do believe that our word (Vehicle) inspired a LOT more people than usual this week. Check it out!