Stir Your Soul

Just because...

St. Patrick's Day Orchid

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of visiting the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx for their annual Orchid show!

Summer of Love: Minne Ha ha

Local animation for Chicago @ OpenChime.com

Summer 2010 has been a creative and productive time for the H.MacDo Studio and I am proud to announce a brand new animated spot just completed for the launch of OpenChime.com.





Working directly with the client, the 45 second script was written and edited by the fine folks at OpenChime and then designed, illustrated and animated by me in the H.MacDo Studio using hand-drawn elements and frame-by-frame animation in Flash and AfterEffects.


OpenChime.com is a new local business directory for the Chicago area. If you live in Chicago, OpenChime connects you to local services such as wedding photographers, catering, moving services and the like. You simply tell them what you need and when you need it, OpenChime quickly collects provider's information and quotes based on your request and your appointment is just a click away! OpenChime is only available in Chicago at this time, but if it catches on, could be offered in more locations in the near future. Go to the site and let them know you want OpenChime in your city!!

Also, check out the link Chime for Charity, and learn about how OpenChime is also offering a way for local charitable organizations to run fundraisers through the OpenChime network.

Preliminary sketches for OpenChime

OpenChime rough storyboard thumbnails

Set me freelance.com logo development continued...

This is the final logo design on the Coming Soon page. We ultimately agreed that the characters should look a little more universal and office friendly. Right now the site is going to be developed for the New York City freelance network, but eventually will be used for other cities as well and we didn't want to pigeon-hole our look to New York alone. Coming soon setmefreelance.com is set to launch in the coming months!

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While designing the initial logo for setmefreelance.com, there was a lot of fun to be had with the supporting creative elements during which the logo went through a couple phases. We all put our heads together to try and develop a group of characters that would best represent the freelance professional and it brought around a good conversation... How should these ruffian creative types look? The first visual that popped into my head was the image of every day young people I used to see on the NY subway system in the early mornings commuting from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The hipsters! Oh what fun I had drawing up this cast of characters and we laughed and laughed. Then they were like, no but seriously... how should they look?

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oooooo eeeeee... what's up with that?

Working like crazy these past few weeks and haven't been posting much here as a result. Not to worry though, I've got some fun stuff coming up! Thought I'd post a sneak peek into one of the next projects about to launch this Spring. What the devil is this gonna be? It looks very mysterious indeed...

In other news, I've begun working on a new project with Interior Designer, Genevieve Gorder of the HGTV's series Dear Genevieve.

Plumtv.com Tuesday April 6

I started creating and inking the flower bloom for the very beginning of the storyboard. There are 18 of these drawings in all and I do love getting back to using India ink. I also like switching it up and being away from the computer for a while.

Just some testing in AE with the tree illustration to begin visualizing the shot that pans through the middle of the storyboard. Thinking about how many of the branches really need the detailed texture pattern.

I started to build up the tree illustration for the background. Now, I know I could have used the live trace option but it did not give me enough of the refined look I was going for. I would have spent more time cleaning it up to my liking. Also, I wanted to build the tree in specific sections for 3d layering in AfterEffects.

Bulldog Puppy Portrait

I was thinking this afternoon about how I always enjoy painting and drawing my friend's pets. This painting, (watercolor and ink wash) was created quite a while ago when an english bulldog breeder friend of mine slipped me a picture of this puppy. I can't remember if I meant to give it to her or not and have since lost touch. It has traveled around with me every where and is now currently hanging in our living room. The original idea was to challenge myself to paint a subject that was white, "paint white" I told myself. Then the form of the dog revealed itself through a careful study of the shadows created by the folds in his flabby puppy skin. From there, the idea of the pet portrait just took on a life and personality of it's own ;)

Ofleb Productions Montreal

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I am excited to be working with the talented Ms. Karen Belfo of Ofleb Productions in Montreal again! Saladani's Enigma is a new feature length film Karen is working on for 2011. Ms. Ofleb explains about her new film,

"Saldani's imagination and perception on reality get tangled into a web of negativity and confusion. Her enigma reflects herself. Her characters are her obsession and the man next door becomes her ticket to freedom."

visit: www.saldanisenigma.com

Hmmm sounds interesting!
Karen hired me a few weeks back to start creating a unique animated intro for her new movie. So, on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, I rolled up my sleeves and put on my favorite Django Reinhardt tunes as I worked out these 4 concept illustrations for the new intro. I wanted to create a characiture for Saldani that channels the quirky character Amelie played by actress Audrey Tautou and Betty Boop! The next step will be to work this into a nice 30 second animated piece introducing the film (coming soon in April), much like "Frank's Letter" another short film I worked on with Karen Belfo a few years ago. I'm really excited about this because I look forward to an opportunity to animate in a very gritty ink and wash style again. Yeaaaah Montreal!!!

I heart Reggie: The Mini Valentines are done!

There she is!!! Look at that face! The "Reggie" Mini Valentines are finally done and available to buy on Etsy! Here's the link to my shop: www.etsy.com/shop/hmacdo

There are 4 different colors with custom handmade envelopes to go with each card and heart details on the inside. I made the envelopes from scratch, changed the design slightly on the card to include more hearts around Reggie and decided to print my logo with a little "love note" on the back. These cards would make an excellent addition to any valentine gift that you are giving to your sweet heart this year with that bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolates. The card and envelope are made with fine watercolor and handmade papers. Each one has a red satin ribbon accent and brushed with glitter. Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Reggie Card concept

So a few months back I did a tiny inky sketch of Scott's dog Reggie in my sketchbook. Since then, I've gone back to that sketch again and again. I wanted to keep the integrity of the original ink drawing that I scanned from my sketchbook, but with a little watercolor here and there, I am currently working it into a new design for my Valentine's Day card.

From here, I decided that I wanted to make the concept for these cards "tiny" like the little conversation hearts that are so popular during the Valentine's Day season and present them in a variety of colors: pastel pink, blue, yellow and green, just like those little hearts. From all the die-cuts I created in my Christmas cards, I discovered that I have half a dozen of these square shaped scrap pieces lying around. The perfect size for my little Valentine cards.