Cintiq Cintiq Cintiq

I've really not utilized my cintiq nearly enough, and I've been trying to work looser and faster and I've wanted to get more color into my drawings. (wow that's a lot of ands) So why not combine the goals.

That being said...

Exhausted pose sketches


Today's exhaustion is post athletic!


Pirate a Day

Practice What You Stink At!

After using the Cintiq for a few days now I finally have started to draw quite a bit more freely. Doing my roughs and cleaning them up on a new layer has helped to make my traditional drawing flow smoother and faster. Even my repencils are going quicker finally!

(click to enlarge)

Gilligan suffering from a bit of gas.


Claude and his turtle are at it again!


Pirate a Day


Turns out the second outfit Theodore suggested for our little hero wasn't quite his style either.


Life's been a bit busy the last few days, so I haven't had much time to spend with my usual books, Drawn to Life Vol 1. and the Illusion of Life, but I have caught a few great little tidbits here and there. Kevin Cross and Mark Rudolph have been rather entertaining on Art and Story Extreme this week. I rediscovered the Toon In to Animaion Podcast and every episode seems to be full of rich history, interesting people, and fascinating interviews. I can't wait to get through the backlog. On a side note I really should look into UPA pictures more. They sound fascinating. Anyone have any good recommendations? Finally John K has had a couple of great posts this week on drawing exercises the best little tidbit out of them was "PRACTICE THE THINGS YOU STINK AT." Thanks for the inspiration!

The 3 C's Cintiq, Conan, and Cary Nord

If the Cintiq were a woman I'd marry it, and for the record not in a creepy way I just like drawing with it. It's so much fun. Wacom's Cintiq feels so much more natural than the old Bamboo I used to use. I still am trying to balance out my use of the Cintiq with traditional pencil and paper, but we'll see when I run out of sketchpads if I go out and buy more ... I probably will.

Gilligan Playing in the grass... I think...


Claude and his turtle still enjoying their time at the park.


Pirate a Day


Theodore thought the first outfit our little hero tried on didn't quite suit him.


I love Cary Nord's take on Conan. Frazetta is the Conan litmus test for sure, but Cary Nord just has a way with his line work that is truly appealing. That being said he hasn't done a Conan comic for quite some time, but it looks like he's going to be doing some covers at least again soon. I picked up Conan Vol 8 a couple of days ago, and if you are a fan of Conan, graphic novels or just illustration in general, do yourself a favor and pick up Vol 1 I'm sure you'll fall in love with the Cimmerian by the end of the first page. Thanks for the Inspiration!

The Cintiq has landed!

I finally got my Cintiq in the mail the day before yesterday.

It truly is a thing of beauty. From the packaging, to the sleek design, to functionality you can really see how much care went into this product. It wasn't too hard to set up, the only complaint I have with it is so far is that I find it easier to just duplicate my monitor, but that means I have to lower the resolution on both screens to 1280x800, also I think I have to find a way to balance the color between my monitor and the Cintiq so they match exactly. Overall I'm am completely in love with it.


(*the wallpaper is based on a Dumbo, pink elephants, concept piece that Michael Sporn posted a week or so ago*)

I'm still figuring everything out with it, but here are a couple little images I've done so far.

Gilligan splashing around.


Sleepy Gilligan


Claude and his super fantastic flying turtle!


Claude may have inadvertently enlarged his turtle, or shrank himself... he's still not sure.


Pirate a Day

Pirate a Day II


On that day all the townsfolk celebrated! They had a huge bacon feast and held the first ever annual Our Little Hero Memorial Bacon Day Parade!


After all the festivities were over our little hero finally got some much needed sleep.


A couple of notable things have gone or will be going on this week in the internet art community. First off the Art and Story crew finished up their big Kids Read Comics event and it seems like it was very successful. If you haven't been keeping up with it they recorded a bunch of podcasts during the weekend and even a couple funny audioboos. Overall a great listen and some of the kid stories they share are priceless.

The other big event is the Pres-Aid auction being held this Sunday June 20th. The auction is a benefit for animator Pres Romanillos who suffered from a relapse of leukemia. It's amazing to see how the community has really reached out and jumped in to help him, not to mention the great resources and art pieces that are being donated. I really wish I could go. If you're in the LA area you really should check it out. I hope the event goes great, and that Pres get all the help he needs and the bone marrow transplant is successful. Thanks for the inspiration everyone!

Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.

So excited! I ordered my Cintiq last night! I had to have Rhys push the purchase button for me though, sheesh that's a lot of money. I'm starting to shy away from my 2H Kimberly pencil in my daily drawings, lately I prefer using a sharpie and just a Dixon Ticonderoga HB. Both of these options seem more permanent so I'm less likely to noodle a line over and over again. Also I find with the mechanical pencil (Dr. Grip) I push way too hard even though I really like the clean line I get. Plus having the lead break just plain sucks. I'm sure I'll change again in 2 weeks what I like, especially once I get the Cintiq! Oh, check out this great article over on smomotion about different pencil types.

Gilligan chasing his tail.


Claude playing a rousing round of flip the turtle.


Our little hero couldn't have asked for a more perfect shot.


Pirate a Day


I stumbled across a new (to me) artist today Dean Yeagle. He grew up loving Disney and wanted to become an animator there. Eventually, he worked with them, but he is most famous, most people would say, for his pinups. The thing that really attracted me to his work is that he can blend cartoon style with real anatomy seamlessly. The expressions and fluidity that his characters portray seem way too over the top for a normal human, yet somehow he makes it all look natural. Treat yourself and take some time to truly admire some his work. The way he draws makes me want to get better, and his body of work makes me want to believe that drawing in a more cartoon way can still be realistic, so much so, that even critics would have a hard time not seeing it for it's true artistic value. Thanks for the inspiration!

Today's quote, "Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere", comes from G.K. Chesterton, and from this Dean Yeagle drawing.

...for the 10 year olds...

Spent a good portion of the day trying to find a good deal on Maya and I'm continuously contemplating getting a Cintiq. I've been really motivated the last couple of days, and getting a decent amount of time to work on a lot of the projects I have going. At the end of the day I still feel like I should be getting more done. One day at a time!

Gilligan-Man


Claude and his turtle taking a little nap in the comfy chair.


Pirate a Day


Our little hero wondered to himself why he missed the landing and then he realized he had landed square on a rock pile. Seeing a good sized stone close by, our little hero swiftly grabbed it and hurled it towards his foe.


First off, I know most everyone has been talking about it today, but if you missed it, you have to check out the new trailer for Disney's Tangled.


It looks fantastic. Albeit, I wish that they could have kept with the original 2Dish idea, but I love the way they treated the 3d in this movie. It almost looks like a 3d oil painting. Simply Gorgeous!

Last night I put on Spirited Away, which I hadn't watched in quite some time. What a treasure. The first time I watched it, I really thought the story was a little too out there, but watching it again last night, which I think was my second time ever, I really felt like the movie was almost a Alice in Wonderland story for a new generation. I was so energized after watching it last night that I got up early this morning to watch all the behind the scenes featurettes. I wish I spoke Japanese just so I could really understand Miyazaki in his own words. Even through translation and subtitles you can really feel his energy and love for the medium. I hope to keep his ideal true that he had for this movie, in all my work. "For the people who used to be 10 years old, and the people who are going to be 10 years old." Thanks for the inspiration!

Strive to resent the limitations of your imagination!

Got a little bit of a late start today, but really focused and knocked out everything pretty quick. I still have to mess around with the Wacom tablet a bit today *daydreams about a Cintiq*. Also I've been really enjoying Andrew Loomis' Figure Drawing for All It's Worth, so hopefully I'll have some time to spend with that as well.

Gilligan posing for his C&R photo shoot.

A young Claude and his turtle.


Pirate a Day


Our little hero made a remarkable escape attempt but didn't quite stick the landing.


Had some time to read a bit more of Frank and Ollie's Illusion of Life. Wow, they are so full of knowledge, I can see myself rereading this book over and over again. They mainly were talking about the start of animation (mainly Winsor McCay), the foundation of the Disney Animation Studios, and Walt Disney himself. The way they described him was perfectly summed up in a quote they gave of his, "I resent the limitations of my imagination." Wow, I hope I get to that point some day where the only thing I resent is that I can't imagine more. Thanks for the inspiration!