A Difference of Opinions

Here is the painting I did for the Skulls show at the Cactus Gallery. Its scratch board, acrylic, and gouche on wood. And did I mention it SOLD?!?!? (See the red dot? I got a red dot!) Yay! Thanks to the wonderful awesome people that bought it! And the equally wonderful people that came out that night to support! And a great big special thanks to Cactus!

Tasty Time With ZeFronk Premiere!

Playhouse Disney will be premiering this new series of cartoon shorts Saturday, November 8th at 6:25am. I dont expect most people will be up this early on a Saturday morning, but maybe if you are up after a long night of partying or you can DVR it, or if you are like me and are slow on the uptake of the future can video tape it.
Anyways, the show is about a French Wiener Dog who's cooking show teaches kids about healthy eating, He's got a little bird assistant sous chef, Sue and a neighbor cat, Dom, who is always trying to sneak his snacks.
The show is super cute and also features the very awesome voices of Rob Paulsen (best known as Yakko & Pinky from Animanics, Raphael from TMNT, the list goes on and on and on) and Mark Hamill (yes, THE Mark Hamill, who is an amazing voice actor).
So find out how to make Ze Tomato Surprise (cause you will be surprised) and check out some of my animation!!!!
Yay!

Cactus Gallery

I have a painting for a Day of the Dead show at the Cactus Gallery in Eagle Rock, CA. The artist reception is on the 25th of October! A couple of my very talented friends have work there as well, Daisy Church, Damon O'Keefe, Kirk Millett and Ashley Fisher! Come and celebrate!

Cactu​s Galle​ry,​ Eagle​ Rock,​ CA
4534 Eagle​ Rock Blvd,​ Eagle​ Rock,​ CA 90041​

Show dates​ :: Octob​er 11 - Novem​ber 6, 2008

Artis​t Recep​tion :: Satur​day,​ Octob​er 25, 2008 :: 7pm-​10pm :: DJ Soul Junki​e

http:​/​/​www.​ eclec​ticca​ctus.​ com
http:​/​/​www.​ myspa​ce.​ com/​cactu​sgall​ery
http:​/​/​www.​ etsy.​ com/​shop.​ php?​user_​id=​79481​

2008 animation Demo Reel

Crystal Stromer 2008 Demo Reel from Crystal Stromer on Vimeo.

Here's my new and improved 2008 demo reel! Please allow a min to load if its chuggy! Thanks! Enjoy!

A. mississippiensis

The topic for this weeks If "Fierce". Being raised in the swamps I have a special place in my heart for reptiles. The fiercest and the coolest of all these creatures is the alligator! They have been around for millions of years, like basking in the sun, and kill their prey by dragging them down and doing a death roll. You can tell a gator from a croc cause their snouts are rounder and flatter, they show fewer teeth when their mouths are closed, live in fresh water and are more blackish in color. Just watch yourself by any body of water if you are down south....they are everywhere! Respect the Gator and he won't bite ya! Yay! Reptiles!

Cat Hoarder

This week's topic for Illustration Friday, Hoard. The other day I saw a story about an animal hoarder who was arrested for having like 150 cats in her home....I'm not kidding. They mean well....but normally dont have the means to take care of all the animals....like 150 cats! Its usually related to OCD, addiction or dementia. Although Wikipedia tells me that cat hoarding might be related to the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, which render the infected host attracted to cats....Interesting. Anyways, I didn't feel like drawing a bunch of dead cats for this topic, so I tried to keep it a little lighter! Thanks!

Alligator Manners Premiere

Yay!


Playhouse Disney is premiering "Can You Teach My Alligator Manners?" on Saturday July 21st at 9:55 am! I am really excited about this show! I really had alot of fun working on this one! And I think everyone else that worked on it did too! We really had the best crew working on this show and I am really proud of it! We already got some write ups on it! Even a very small blurb in the new Entertainment Weekly! (Considering the show is only 2 mins long thats amazing!)

Check them out here:

Animation Magazine Article

Animation Insider Article

Playhouse Disney's Alligator Web Site...watch some clips

I forget alot of stuff.....

Illustration Friday's topic of Forgotten. Some things I have just forgotten, somethings I've chosen to forget. So this is a picture of me searching my brain for the forgotten things swimming around in there....

Worried Mr. Bear...

I had so much fun using markers I thought I would do another marker drawing. This is for Illustration Friday's topic of the week "Worry". Mr. Bear is worried about the monster underneath his bed....

Nothing better than a wide smile....

My drawing for Illustration Friday's topic Wide! Smiles all around. I dont think the small guy stands a chance, do you?

All images copyright Crystal Stromer 2008.

Return of the colored pencils....

I was thinking my blog needed a color pop, and then remembered once upon a time I used to use nothing but colored pencils. It was the first thing I was taught to use when I was younger and still my favorite! I kinda felt like my left arm was complete again (my blog also needs a nerdy Sweeney Todd reference). Anyways, here is the first prismacolor drawing I have done in a long long time...I am thinking of entering it in the primsacolor contest, see if I still know how to work these pencils! Yay!

All images copyright Crystal Stromer 2008.

A year has passed....

It was a year ago today I lost someone I cared about dearly. A whole year and it still hasn't gotten any easier. I think about him everyday and still have a empty space that I know no one can ever fill. Not only was he my best friend and my family but he was an amazing artist that was taken before his time. Just wanted to share his wonderful talent. Your Crystal-lady misses you, Randy-man.

wrin·kly rhino feet

I took this picture of rhino feet at the zoo one day, thought it would make a rad pic! And turns out the topic for Illustration Friday is wrinkles! Which will make this my first post for it! Yay! Random fact: Rhinos have keen hearing and sense of smell, but poor eyesight, so they sometimes charge trees and rocks, thinking they are threats. That is all.

Camelus dromedarius

Continuing my camel kick, here is another camel pic!

Swimming Camel

I had a dream the other night about a swimming camel....

An African even-toed ungulate mammal

Finally joining the 21st century and this thing called technology I present my very first blog post! Yay! Let's celebrate with a drawing of a giraffe!

All images copyright Crystal Stromer 2008.