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!

Drawing what you think you see isn't always the best.

I'm about half way through drawing everything in Preston Blair's Cartoon Animation book, and boy have I learned a lot. Looking back on some of the drawings I've done even a month ago I can tell I really have grown quite a bit. I thought I would have been done with the book by now, but some of these animation cycles are taking a little longer than I had originally planned and I still want them to look nice too.

Gilligan just hanging around.


Claude goes fishing for turtles.


Pirate a Day


After a good 49 hour nap our little hero awoke rested, ready to face the day and what ever adventures it might bring.


Walt Stanchfield has been teaching me a lot about angles lately through his book Drawn to Life Vol 1. He talks about angles in a similar way that Preston Blair presents line of action. Just drawing what you think you see isn't always the best. As humans our rig, or rather our body, knows how to handle itself, but as artists sometimes we need to see what the meaning behind a position, movement or action actually is. So sometimes it is necessary to over exaggerate angles or the line of action to better tell a story with an image. John K also did a nice write up on a similar idea, but focused on setting up a shot rather than a pose. Definitely worth the read.

Borders finally got Imaginefx's How to Draw and Paint Anatomy in stock, and I quickly snagged up a copy, well, after an hour or so of sketching people in the coffee shop. I've only had a chance to flip through it, but it looks like they've done a great job again. Thanks for the inspiration!

Just a couple quick bloggestions

Another fun night of drawing.

Gilligan celebrating Earth Day a little bit early.

Mr Money bags and his turtle, I mean Claude.

Pirate a Day.

Our little hero just wanted to go home, so he got out of the pigs lair as fast as he could. Feeling so relieved to be free, he hummed to himself all the way home. Something akin to what might now sound like Zippity Do Da.

A few nights ago I talked about the trailer for Disney's new animated feature Tangled. John K also posted an entry about the movie this weekend, which has been garnering quite the attention of the animation community. He makes some very valid points, I'm not sure I agree with everything, but no matter what it's well worth the read.

I don't think I have nor can I enough recommend Inspector Cluezo's Blog. Sandro has quite the resume from working as an animator at Don Bluth, Fox and even Disney. Most of all he always has something inspiring to post and he loves Milt Kahl.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Shapes and Lines

I had a blast working on Preston Blair studies today. Mainly focused on lines and shapes and how mastering each one really makes or breaks your drawing ability. I still think I'm working too slow, but I'm enjoying it all and learning a lot so I can't complain.

Claude and his turtle on a global trek.


I think all of the time I spend reading John K's Blog is starting to sink in a la Gilligan and Stimpy.


I'm just loving coming up with weird action scenes to throw this little hero in the midst.


A little punk I doodled while on the phone.


Before I really started focusing on drawing, I used to draw pinup girls all the time. I think I'm gonna start doing that more often again.


I thought I'd mentioned the Pencil Test Depot before, but it looks like I haven't. One of my favorite things to do between drawings or when I get free time is watch old Pencil Tests especially ones done by Milt Kahl. One of the best resources out there is the Pencil Test Depot. It's run by a great artist too, Jamaal Bradley. If you ever wanna feel extra inspired and inadequate at the same time watch some of the pencil tests hes posted. Thanks for the inspiration!

iDaily

Time sure does fly when you're having fun, drawing that is. Tried out a few different things tonight. Just to spice it up. Still did a little Preston Blair study. The cat on the right feels more like a John K style than Preston Blair though.

MiniAthena is the last of the big Greek gods. Now I have to decide where I want to go from here.



Claude and his turtle up to their usual antics.


I needed a new wallpaper for my Ipod and my Droid, I also needed a new daily Gilligan drawing.



Ipod Wallpaper


Droid Wallpaper


Since I was on an update kick I figured I'd update my Twitter page too, and I wanted to work with some colored pencils.



Everyday since March 16th, save for the Double post day, I've updated my drawing blog. The main reason I do this, besides that it's great to have the accountability and I'd be drawing anyways, is because I love it when the sites I visit are updated daily. Sure there's Twitter and Facebook, but I also check Cartoon Brew, Michael Sporn Animation, and the John K Stuff site daily. Lucky for me they are almost always updated every 24 hours. So I'll continue to do so in that same fashion too. Thanks for the inspiration!