Back

I have been caught up in the my animation classes. I found out i really knew nothing about composition and staging which makes things particularly difficult since this term was all about it. I struggled a lot but learn equally as much if not more. Where would the fun be if nothing was challenging. Chin up, eyes forward and mind open.

Continued

New

Trying to give my drawings a more polished look.

Been a while

Been mentally gone for the past while. Placed my face behind a bunch of books and am trying to learn some new things about animation process. It all has taken some tolls on thought process and added a bunch of stress on me because of how many things I don't know and am trying to learn.







Also I have been trying to learn how to paint.. well digitally. Starting out with the basics again, nothing to complex and really nothing spectacular. Started with learning tones, gray just to get a handle on things. Hopefully a movement towards color will be more successful when I get to it.

Much ado

Nothing new

Been hard at work getting my short story ready for my animation class.

Another

Back to the grind

Drawing using only pen has brought some goo things to my work, at least thats how it feels. It has given me more confidence in my lines and a better grasp on thinking before doing. One thing that I really wish I have are peers that I can bounce ideas off of and to help develop each other work. Frank and Ollie esque.

Back to basics... again.

Back to the beginning to start again.

Easily distracted

The word of the day is distracted. I came across a book on drawing animals, one of many things on my to learn list. There are a lot of pictures in the book and the author seems to like horses the most... Then again I didn't get very far in the book because my imagination was already putting things together within the first couple of pages. With inspiration buzzing through my mind I took up residency in front of the TV... bad idea. As someone who can be easily distracted the flickering box quickly grabbed my attention, only to let go during commercials. Progress was slow and inspiration drowned in the ever mind numbing drivel pouring from the screen. The more I watched TV the less I was able to see shapes and imagine things. Below is a great example of that.


I started out drawing middle top, then to right, bottom left and finishing with what can only be seen as a whale wearing a top hat. That was all I could imagine after watching for a couple hours and even that was hard to bring into existence.

Reminded

It's funny to think that a cartoon stylized drawing can remind you of people you use to know. For some reason while I was drawing the girl, she reminded me of someone. I am not sure if it is the likeness or just the specific care taken when developing the drawing after it had taken shape but for some reason it hit me.

Keep going

Keep trying to push yourself to the full extent you can do and then take it further. Not quite to the point where frustration takes control of everything but right before, right when you have to be creative to solve the problems at hand. An idea is the start of something not the completed work. The times when I feel the most frustrated is when I thinking about the final polish more than dealing with the problems at hand.

The more I draw the more I realize that texture is a very important thing but what makes up a texture? Is texture even the right word to use? hmmm... I want to know patterns and how materials react in the light. To me this feels like it's something important to start learning. Also I think now would be a good time to revisit some anatomy dvds to see if anything was over looked or if anything else can be absorbed.

Texture

So I have been having issues with understanding what it means to bring a piece of work into polish and final. What if, instead of obsessing about the meaning you just move onto the next phase of learning how to draw? Okay, how about just giving the characters something to do? Like an action pose? Ya, that would be cool... hmmm this still looks kind of bland, I mean they are still naked. I know lets' try giving stuff some texture. You know, try to make things look like they feel and react differently.



This seems to add polish or at least take the drawing to the next level.

Varied style

Using the circles allows me to give more thought to what the character looks like. It is kind of freeing to have the height and a break down of the section already done but is best used as a loose guideline rather than a law.

The circles

For some reason, before starting a character, if I map out their height in circles (or heads) next to where it is going to be drawn I can finish the piece faster and just looks better. So far it is working really well on cartoony characters but soon I will try it on more realistic characters.

Dimension

Does it have to exactly match (the criteria of drawing, painting, animation, etc.) for you to be able to learn something from it?

The fear

I call it the fear of finishing, if I finish the drawing and it isn't good then I can't say it's not finished. Fearing a blank page and not feeling like you know where do go, I could only hope or wonder, that it is something that everyone feels. I don't know if anyone else gets this feeling but as I am up walking around the house imagery and ideas fill my mind to the point where i rush back to my sketch book only to sit down and not know where to start or how to even get past this block to get to the beginning. Maybe there is just a step missing, maybe the concept isn't developed well enough in my mind to be able to bring it out on the paper. Hmmm, i should try that and see if it makes a difference.

Learning

Notes are just scribbles if you don't actually believe or understand what your writing. A couple months ago I turned in a couple sketches for some feed back and I didn't just get notes back on how to fix or improve my drawings but I also got a couple notes on, well, my notes. The reply being "Upon reading your notes I don't feel that you actually believe them, they are just there." This struck me pretty hard, I realized I was going through the motions and doing what I thought would be acceptable but there was no fun being had nor pushing the drawing for all that it's worth. No time was really being put in to understanding what they meant or really for how they could be incorporated into the process. Just a feeling of understand, only to realize there was and is a much bigger world out there to explore.

You know as boring as reading a book can be the benefits that later come from its kindling is well worth the time you put into it.

Animation

Last week of working on my animation for class. Another great term behind me and on to the next.

I have heard

I have heard all about the general to specific when drawing and I always thought that I understood what that meant... Nope, I have realized that pose, or gesture as some books like to call it, is one of the most important thing to get down. It portrays the attitude, the thoughts, actions and other things needed to fully develop a drawing to its end... It seems as though keeping an open mind to whats going on around you and to information found in books, even if they don't specifically apply, will ultimately benefit the progress of your work. It's these important connections and thought processes that, for me, improve the work produced.



There are many things wrong with this drawing but the important part was drawing the whole figure and it being clothed. This being Hellboy, and it was on Tv a lot today.

Having some fun

I am really trying to push the way things look and having a lot more fun with my drawings. It really seems like the more I relax and try not to push or take it too seriously things pan out better.

Back to basics

The kind of art that got me into art in the first place.

Style

I have always wondered what my drawing style was/is. So today I refused to let my self try to emulate other artist, no tv, no web surfing, nor any reference and here is what came out.




Really what I should be doing is building a portfolio of what I am capable of for animation but this was rather fun to do. Hopefully more to come.

doodles

Daily drawing sharpens the skills.




Doodle and sketch. I should say that the The Secret of NIMH character was from a character sheet I was referencing.

Continued

What my animation looks like for the last turn in. Also some drawings, daily drawing is a must, they don't have to be good but there should be something you are trying to learn or figure out while drawing them.

Daily

Here some more sketches.