Exhausted Perspective!

Trying to get the feel of a more applied perspective.
Some of you may remember the Ye Olde Ham Hock Inn from Little Hero Episode 1.


Here's last weeks basic walk cycle in 3d and 2d using Maya and Flipbook


Today's exhaustion is EXTREME!


This week is gonna be a personality walk. That means.... time to be sneaky!
Here's some goofy video reference that Rhys helped me with.

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.

Mechner of Persia!

Blogger was down last night, that means today is another double post! I think I'm finally starting to get a little faster at Preston Blair's great walk cycles. I just love how over the top and fluid he makes his characters move.

Gilligan practicing his best Question Mark Pose.


Gilligan, frankly, being quite rude.


After a lot of fighting Claude and his turtle call a truce.


Well now, that didn't last very long.

Pirate a Day

Pirate a Day part deux


Our little hero managed to squeeze two of his fingers out of the ropes and hurriedly tried to use the fork to cut himself free.


The enraged, vile pig beast seemed to have grown twice in size since being burned with the hot liquid and was not happy to see his dinner attempting an escape.

This last weekend Rhys and I went out to see Prince of Persia The Sands of Time! Prince of Persia was probably the most influential piece of media in my young life, and I still love it to this day. Every day after school I would head home and pop on my Mac LC III and immerse myself in the most wonderful Arabian fantasy I'd ever seen. To me it wasn't about beating the game it was the characters and the atmosphere. Back then there was no game that compared to the amazing movements of the prince. He could run, jump, drink, walk up stairs, sword fight, and every single one of his movements was so smooth and lifelike. The beautifully rendered images, perfectly arranged music, and true to life sound effects reeled me in even more. As a kid what could beat watching the prince get cut in half, land in spikes, get stabbed, chop down your foes, jump from high platforms and of course save the princess. The new movie is about as close as you could get to having that same experience, even with Jake Gyllenhaal. Jordan Mechner was like a god to my 9 year old self, and he's managed to do it again 18 years later. Thanks for the inspiration!

Check out Jordan Mechner's old journal that follows the journey he took to make Prince of Persia! I spent most of my afternoon today reading it. It's so insightful and a great story. Most of all he includes some of his old concept images and idea sketches.

Productive Day!

I thought I was behind all day today. Then I realized how late it was so I started scanning the work I'd done, and well it turns out I drew a lot. Moving on to the the more animation side of my Preston Blair Study. Today was line of action in a sequence. Time permitting I'll turn these images into an animated gif tomorrow.

I'm still not sure where I want to go with that Minithology idea I had. So I thought I'd draw a Pegasus, that soon turned into this.



Some weird Dr. Seuss like tentacle.


Claude and his turtle in an epic game of tug of war.



Gilligan preping for a party.



Tried out that exercise where you draw a random shape and turn it into something. Ended up doing a Robin Hood and Friar Tuck image.


When I was little I had a fascination with drawing Abraham Lincoln Beards and Hats on everything. So I'm working on a new character the Mustache Bandit. Who basically draws mustaches on everything and everyone.



Watched a bit of Pen and Teller's Bullshit with Rhys this evening and thought I'd try to be productive while I watched.



A couple other people who were on the show.


A distant cousin to both Totoro and Snorlax.


Picked up the Art of Miyazaki's Spirited Away. I could just stare at each page for hours. He has such a simple fluid style. I just love it. I've got to learn to watercolor some day.

Distraction 5555

Too easily distracted tonight. I still got a decent amount done, but not in any sort of timely fashion. Today was the last part of my Preston Blair young heroine study. Not a lot of facial work, but tried out some angles that I don't think I've done in the past. Feet and lips seemed to be my area of struggle tonight. I'm happy to be starting part 2 of Preston Blair's Cartoon Animation book tomorrow, the focus is on character movement! It should be a fun learning experience.

Gilligan needed to dance tonight.


Claude and his turtle on the run.


Hephaestus is an interesting character. After doing a little bit of research on him I came up with a mix of Al Borland, Billy Mays, and real Greek mythology.



I was thinking about these "two girls I know" who love Xmen. So I thought they would make great Superheroines themselves.


Rhys rented Interstella 5555 a while back and I didn't think much of it. After she had it on for about three minutes the music really caught my attention. The movie is basically an animated version of a Daft Punk album. The music is so catchy and Leiji-Matsumoto's outerspace rock band characters are instantly lovable. If you've ever got an afternoon to kill do yourself a favor and Netflix it.

All The Young Heroines

How do I start off today? I think that's where. That's the way today has been going. It seems like I'm always avoiding doing straight head on faces. I tend to over analyze them. The eyes have to be exact, the lips have to be perfect, the nose has to be here, the ears there, etc. While yes, you do have to have the right parts in the right places, If you actually study a persons face it's never exact. At least I'm aiming for perfection. Preston Blair's young heroine (as in the girl, not the drug *how could a drug be "young" anyways*) seems pretty straight forward, but not for me. Well not tonight it seems. Powered through it, and it actually turned out alright. After scanning it in and analyzing it, I found even more areas that I wasn't 100% satisfied with. On a more positive note it helped me recognize a couple more areas I need to focus on.

First day of my new character a day challenge. I was listening to Kim Holm talk about Norse mythology on Art and Story Extreme, and I've always been a fan of mythology, mainly of the Greek flair. At the same time I was thinking of the art style of Mucha Lucha. Which is odd because I've never actually seen the show. So I came up with the idea of Mythological Luchadores. After thinking about it throughout the work day and talking to Rhys about the idea. I kinda morphed the concept into what I've coined now as "Minithology". So here's a couple character ideas (Zeus, Hera, and Hercules).

Gilligan's trip to the Zoo.


Claude and his turtle try to change a light bulb.


As you might have guessed from some of my other posts I partake of the occasional computer/console game. I've come to the realization lately that I don't necessarily even enjoy playing them. I simply like to immerse myself into the imaginative worlds other people have created. When I was little I didn't have a video game system so I used to go over to my friend's houses and watch them play. I loved it even more than I liked to play them myself. Rhys and I bought a new Xbox360 today! Our old one Red Ringed. So I got to play a few minutes of Fable 2 today. I think that franchise might be in my top 5. The art style is such a great mixture of actual medieval / post medieval concepts and outrageous over the top creativity. If you've never checked out the art you really should do yourself a favor and spend a few minutes looking at Lionhead Studios concept art page or Mike McCarthy's cghub portfolio.

Gilligan the Giraffe

Took me a while to get down the older almost 2d style of Preston Blair's Elves. I still think I kept the essence, but some of his hands and feet were just to be quite honest, awkwardly drawn. I also didn't like the fact that none of his elves had chins. People, even elves, need chins. As you can probably tell I went over the drawings with a 5h pencil. I just can't justify spending so much time on a drawing and not being able to see it clearly, when it's scanned in. Plus, I've had a few friends mention that too me as well. I think this will be the new standard from here on out. Even though it takes a bit longer, It's worth it.

Drew a little Giraffe for Rhys last night. She really liked it. So we named it Gilligan, and well more and more drawings ensued.



Today's Inspiration comes from your own eyes. Take some time today to look around you, and don't just look. Pause, even if only for a moment and try to see something you've never seen before. Look at the things around you that you always look at from a different perspective. It really makes life feel new and fresh.

Gnome Sweet Gnome

Had to stay up late to get any drawing done. Today was way too busy. Worked a little more on some Preston Blair gnomes. I really like drawing the essence of his characters, while putting my own spin on them.

In order to supplement for my lack of study drawings; here's a little drawing from my sketchbook,

and a little note I drew for Rhys.

Today's inspiration is brought to you by Bruce McIntyre by way of Walt Stanchfield's Drawn to Life Vol 1. He came up with the six rules of perspective: Surface, Size, Surface Plus Size, Overlap, Surface Lines, and Foreshortening. Well, I'm falling asleep at the keyboard. So, time permitting, I'll delve deeper into each of those Six Rules of Perspective tomorrow.

Finch on the Quick

Today was quite the busy day. I had a long day at work and then went and saw How to Train Your Dragon in 3d. What a great movie! Rhys, I think, said it best. "This is the best kids movie since Totoro!" Sketches today are a bit rougher than usual, but they didn't turn out too bad :). A couple things I gleaned from my Podcast listenings today, from the Asifa Ahaa Podcast I believe it was Eddie Fitzgerald that said something to the effect of "If Anything is easy, you're probably doing it wrong." I really like that. Another idea that I want to put into action I heard about on the Ninja Mountain Podcast. They suggest keeping a library of images around your workspace that inspire you and write down on the images what inspires you or that you find interesting about them.

Lion and Tiger and Wolves! Oh My!

Had fun drawing today! Got a lot done in both my personal sketchbook and my Preston Blair study. Rhys convinced me to put up one of my other sketchbook drawings today. So, hopefully who ever reads this, likes it. Inspiration for today brought to you by Tara McPherson her stuff is just incredible. I really love her style. I saw her drawings a long time ago, but I never knew anything about her. I heard about IllustrationMundo today on the Escape from Illustration Island podcast, and found out about her through that site. If you haven't seen IllustrationMundo check it out. It indexes a lot of illustrators and it's always fun finding new ones and seeing their takes on drawing.