PSA regarding some recent artwork requests...

I'm getting a lot of people asking for hi-res versions of my Blue Nose Friends scenes for use as a printable mural, canvas print or other products for a baby's nursery.  These might be genuine requests for personal use, but as most of them are similarly worded ("I'd like this for my future child's nursery" etc.), ask for very specific document dimensions and are of South African origin, I have my suspicions as to their sincerity.

So, to clarify, I no longer work for Carte Blanche Greetings and am therefore unable to provide (for free or otherwise) a high resolution version of these images.  You can try your luck directly with the copyright holder at www.CarteBlancheGreetings.com, but they're even less likely to fall for your stories than I am.

If you're a company or individual genuinely seeking to commission a piece of artwork (which doesn't include Tatty Teddy or his Blue Nose Friends) I'm more than happy to discuss this with you (email me at Shane@ShaneMadeArt.com), but please don't pretend to be a parent as a way of obtaining high resolution artwork to use for manufacturing and selling copyright-infringing products.  

It's hard enough for artists to make a living as it is, so to cut financial corners in such a dishonest way is a major jerk move.




Thanks,

Shane
www.shanemadeart.com

Blue Nose Friends toy environment concepts

This will be my last post of artwork from my time at Carte Blanche Greetings.

I think the forest image above was actually the best thing I did whilst at the company, so it's a good one to close this chapter of my artistic career on.

Below are some concepts for other such worlds, along with the 'magical doors' which lead to each one.
Seems like a lifetime ago I did these, but it was a really fun project.

Images courtesy of and copyright Carte Blanche Greetings

There was a whole new character sub brand I worked on whilst there that I'm dying to show, but as it never made it to market I'll probably never be able to.  :(

Next onto some newer stuff!


SHane
www.ShaneMadeArt.com

Blue Nose Summer beach

Image courtesy of Carte Blanche Greetings

As the weather's so amazing at the moment I thought this painting would be approriate.  Enjoy the summer while it lasts!

I feel it's time I closed the blue nose chapter of my illustration career, so I'm only going to post a few more of my Carte Blanche images, after which it'll just be personal work and anything I get approval to post from my current job.



Shane
www.ShaneMadeArt.com

Blue Nose Friends Blossom Pond

Image Courtesy of Carte Blanche Greetings

A promotional illustration created for the launch of the included characters in plush form.  I always enjoy painting water and it was fun experimenting with different colours and levels of transparency in this piece.

Shane
www.ShaneMadeArt.com

Blue Nose Friends Sunset Snow House and end of year recap

Image courtesy of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

So 2012 is nearly over, and it's been an interesting year to say the least.  The first half started out pretty much as normal; Working away on Blue Nose Friends illustrations and squeezing in the odd personal piece when by amazing, but very distracting, 1 year old son allowed.

Then the greetings industry started to change, some well established high street names nearly went under, and I realised that I needed a safety net.  So with the intention of building a freelance client base I spent the latter half of the year putting together a portfolio, website (stop by www.ShaneMadeArt.com!), business cards and a cool little pack to send out.  Beyond freelance opportunities I also hoped to use this work to break into the videogame industry, so I headed off to the Eurogamer Expo to show my stuff.  Although I received some excellent and positive feedback from some well respected industry professionals, it also made me realise that maybe the industry I choose isn't as important as I think it is, as long I enjoy what I'm doing.

This was further confirmed after attending the Schoolism.com live workshop in London and listening to the advice of Bobby Chiu.  Inspirational is an understatement;  After the four hour lecture I finally felt I had direction, and that direction was to do what I loved doing and do it well.

So although I had put a LOT of work into my videogames focussed portfolio, it turns out it hadn't gone unnoticed.  Soon after I was offered pretty much the best job I could possibly get within the greetings industry, a role with so much potential it's almost daunting!  So I packed up my pencils and left the home of Tatty Teddy.  For better or worse this obviously means that I will no longer be illustrating My Blue Nose Friends, therefore the above image will be the last MBNF christmas image I ever post - it was used on this years Blue Nose Friends advent calendar by the way.  It's been a good run but I'm glad to move on to something different and stretch my artistic legs a bit.

2013 is going to be a super exciting year for me and I hope to show of some of the work I've done for my new employer as soon as I can.  In the meantime I still have a few unseen pieces to keep things ticking over.

This blog will live on!



Have a great Christmas and a fulfilling new year,

All the best,

Shane

Quaint toy fireplace

Image courtesy of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

A painting used as a decal inside "Tatty Teddy's heart shaped house", a new toy that's part of a range from Worlds Apart.

In the snap below you can see it on TV, the second time my artwork's been shown on the small screen (the first was the result of a competition I entered when I was 8 so it doesn't really count);

Check out www.TattyTeddyToys.com to see the rest of the toy range.

Shane

Blue Nose Friends Character designs Part 3

Images courtesy of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

Part three of the ongoing series where I post some of the Blue Nose Friends characters I have designed which made it onto store shelves in plush form.

From the top;
Float the Manatee
Ramble the Centipede
Shelter the Woodlouse
Treetops the Gorilla (actually based on an initial concept by my colleague, I illustrated the final design)
Ocean the Sea turtle
Foo the Pug

As usual, stop by Mybluenosefriends.com or your local card retailer (in the UK) to buy them!

Shane

Tatty Teddy and Blue Nose Friends Sky Scape

Image courtesy of Carte Blanche Greetings

An image used in a kind of trailer animation for the newly released Tatty Teddy and My Blue Nose Friends toys.

This is what I call the 'Sky Scape', an aerial kingdom found within the sky door (to be shown in a future post).

About the new toys, got to www.tattyteddytoys.com to check them out; Your small female relatives will love 'em!

Shane

Dragon VS unicorn...

Image and characters property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

...in a battle of cuteness.  Sorry if you thought the post title would lead to the depiction of an epic and bloody mythical fight to the death - maybe next time.  :)


This was a promotional image for My Blue Nose Friends.


Love painting swirly clouds, a habit I haven't been able to shake since playing The Curse of Monkey Island in 1998.  Only now am I realising what a huge influence Bill Tiller's art has had on my work, shame I forgot to put him on my creative influence map, oops.


Shane

Tic Toc Jungle themed door concept

Image property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

A themed door which leads to a kind of Jungle world where there's a time travelling Grandfather clock.  That particular idea probably won't make it into the final products so I thought I'd put it out there anyway.

Painting this made me realise how fun it must be to design one of those crazy environments in a theme park, so if anyone out there's developing a new attraction and needs some ideas all you have to do is ask!

Shane

Tic Toc Jungle environment concept

Image property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

A quick concept for the magical 'Jungle world' of the Blue Nose Friends.  In this post you can see the  door that leads to this land.


Shane

Magical room of magical doors

This is kind of a hub found within Tatty Teddy's wardrobe, each door, for example this farmyard door, leads to a different themed world, for example the Farmyard world.  I think you can see where I'm going with this!

Initially it was produced for a style guide to inspire new toys, but has since been used on a bunch of things including a giant display at the London Toy Fair (shown below, I did the characters too), which was nice.

More doors coming in future.

Shane

(All images property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd)

Home, blue home

Image Property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

A potential new house for the Blue Nose Friends, but what's it actually for?  You might find out in a  few years :)

Zoom-in to check out my favourite part -  the contoured roof!

Shane S

Diamond Doggy Jubilee

Image and character property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

Jewel the corgi celebrating a four day weekend in style - enjoy yours too!

Shane S

Blue Nose Friends springtime pond

Image and characters property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

Really enjoyed painting this illustration as it was a good chance to mess around with water effects, plus it's kind of two images in one which is never a bad thing if you enjoy a bit of variety.

Promotional image for the plush launch of these four characters.

Shane S

Farmyard magical door concept

Image property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

As part of the development of the new Blue Nose Friends toy range (launching in August 2012!) I was asked to develop the concept of magical doors leading to different themed worlds within.

I really enjoyed stretching my artistic legs beyond the usual character artworks that make up the majority of my day job.

This particular door leads to a farmyard area shown in this concept painting.

Plenty more of these to come...

Shane S

Farmyard environment concept

Image property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

The magical 'Farmyard world' of the Blue Nose Friends.  To see the ornate wooden door that leads to this land have a look at this post.

Quick environment paintings like this are always a pleasure to paint.

Shane S

Toots and Ivory

Image and characters property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

Another promotional image for the competition of britainsbestfriend.com.

Shane S

Britain's best friend

Images and characters property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

Some promotional images for a competition our company ran based around the theme of friendship.

Check out britainsbestfriend.com to see how these artworks were used.

Shane

Lighthouse aerial scene

Image property of Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd

A background painting for an animated short.

Shane S