Running of the Elves

Had a blast drawing today. I woke up with a really bad hand cramp, and drew through it. It was still bugging me all through work today, hopefully it doesn't persist. It's seemed to have subsided for the moment though. Woo Hoo! If anyone knows of any good exercises or best practices to avoid getting hand cramps please let me know!

Worked on some more Preston Blair Elves. They were a bit difficult. If only because of how small I had to render them, while still trying to give them personalities, and keep the perspectives, positions and anatomy correct. Well, as correct as elf anatomy can be. The image really didn't even come together until I re-penciled it darker. Now I like it.

My friend Pelch is starting a new blog. It sounds like it's gonna be great. Anyways, he asked me yesterday, if I could draw a T Rex reading. Here's what I came up with. He seemed to like it too!



When his blog is up and ready I'll be sure to let everyone know.

Yesterday, I mentioned "Avoiding the Tangent." I read about this in Walt Stanchfield's book Drawn to Life Vol 1. I found it really helpful, it has popped up in my mind in almost every drawing I've done since. He explains it eloquently, but I hope I can give you at least an idea of what it means. First of all what is a tangent. Basically for us it means, a line that you make somewhere on the page that flows into another line.

Let's take a look at this duck's beak (again see Drawn to Life Vol 1).


In the first picture it looks like the head is flowing into the beak. The line doesn't seem to really break even though there is a corner of a beak drawn. Now the second image takes that same idea but instead of the line of the head and the line of the beak being on the same curve or tangent it's been moved down and over. Thus you get a more accurate representation of the image you want to display. It adds more weight, depth, perspective and definition.


Here's another example. Just by adding a few clothing wrinkles that break the line flow the image seems to pop quite a bit more.

On a final note, S. Manor, who commented on the site a few days ago, started a new sketchblog. You can check it out at http://smanorsketchblog.blogspot.com/. Her sketches look great! Hope to see a bunch more great drawings from her! Best of Luck!

Oh, and here's a few more Gilligan the Giraffe sketches from earlier today!



Happy Drawing!

Elves and Giraffes

That title makes me think of Elves riding Giraffes. Which makes me think of this unique cartoon(Dino Riders). I don't think I ever even watched the show, but I had one of the toys. It was either one of those or these farm animals that had bazookas and grenades strapped to them. Getting back on track, I spent a bit of time work on a bit more Preston Blair study. I'm struggling trying to mimic his style without changing it to fit my personal tastes, although it's nice to see I'm developing more of my own style.

I actually got a decent amount of feedback, through facebook, about people liking Gilligan the Giraffe. So here's a little more of that crazy little camelopardalis.

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone! Hope you like the new pictures!

Today's Inspiration comes from The Disney Family Album. I could watch these special's for hours on end. I just eat them up! If you don't know what they are, click the link already! No really, click. Watch. Come back. I'll wait. Okay, now that you've watched it aren't they just amazing. For those of you who didn't spend all day watching everyone, The Disney Family Album is basically a documentary on the Nine Old Men. They include interviews, cameos, videos of them just telling stories, or drawing. It's incredible. They're incredible. If you ever need inspiration watch one of them.

Well, it's another late night tonight. I've been meaning to talk about avoiding tangent's for a few days now. I guess it can wait for tomorrow. Until then, in the spirit of Dory, Just Keep Drawing!

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.

Gnomeaphobe

Finally, I'm done drawing gnomes. Something makes me feel like I'll be drawing them again soon though. Maybe I'm just a gnomeaphobe. Hands, perspectives, and weight distribution are still a bit tricky, but I'm not having to look at references every single time.

I was finding myself not as excited to draw today, procrastinating, I guess would be the correct term. So I just went with the feeling, and let myself draw what I felt like, in my own sketchbook. I'm still not as confident using heavier led, but it's good practice and when I get it right I tend to like it better than the 2H I usually use.

As promised, here's a more in-depth look at what I was talking about yesterday.

If one learns to master Bruce McIntyre's Six Rules of Perspective you can really render great drawings. Not saying that you don't need color, lighting, and the like, but that your drawings can be seen for what they are supposed to be. Overall these are key principles that all artists especially myself should keep in mind while drawing anything. If you really want to know more about these concepts pick up, Walt Stanchfield's Drawn to Life Vol 1.

Today's inspiration comes from Tony White. I picked up his Animator's Workbook from the library today. What a great find! I haven't had too much time to delve into it yet, but by just finding out more about him through his blog I'm hooked. Check out his eccentric walk pencil tests! They're amazing!

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.

Gnome today, Gnome tomorrow

I'm not quite sure what that means *gnome today, gnome tomorrow* but it seemed to work in my head. Tried to squeeze in as much drawing as I could into today. I found doing caricatures through chatroulette really has helped to free me up. My drawing study seemed to go a bit faster today. I actually found myself not liking and therefore changing some of the different aspects of a few of the gestures in Preston Blair's Book. I still tried to stay true to the pose though through it all.

Did a few more caricatures on chatroulette tonight. I had a couple of strange experiences. One guy said my work was too bland. He then said it looked like my work belonged in the newspaper, so to him I say, thanks for the compliment. I'd love to be published in the newspaper! Although most people were there for other purposes, I had a few people who watched and chatted while I drew. One guy was a graffiti artist and showed me some of his work. It was quite impressive. I wish I could have gotten his name. One of the last ones I did was of an artist too. He seemed to think the idea of drawing on chatroulette was pretty cool. He gave me his website so I figured I'd mention it here http://www.justinhite.com/.

Today's inspiration is Paul Felix. He works or at least worked at Disney. His work spans through Lilo and Stitch, Brother Bear, Emperors New Groove, and more. His drawings, paintings and backgrounds are just stunning. I hear he teaches or at least taught classes too. I wish I could be in one. Check out some of his work on John Nevarez's Blog.

Good, then Fast, then Good and Fast

Another late night tonight! Albeit, I fell asleep on the couch after work, but hey. Got up early to do a bit of perspective work. Still find some of the angles quite challenging, but I'm enjoying the learning process. I like adding more detail through perspective (ie small characters in the background, characters off to the side and bent in strange positions) it's something I really haven't implemented into my drawing repertoire. I look forward to using this tool more and more.

Messed around on chatroulette again tonight, it's just such a great way to practice for me and I have fun doing it too. Not as many people were receptive tonight, but I still managed to get a few pretty decent sketches out of it.

A couple of great points of inspiration from the various readings and listening I did today. I forget if it was Kevin Cross, Joshua Kemble, or Chris Oatley who said it, but this phrase really stuck with me. Forgive me if it's a little off, but it was something to the effect of "First you get good, then you get fast, then you get good and fast." Definitely something for me to strive for, and keep in mind while I'm trying to master my drawing. (as heard on Chris Oatley's Artcast). The other quote that really stuck out to me today was again from Walt Stanchfield's Drawn to Life Vol 1 "What a horrible fate - to be just a drawing." He was talking about having meaning and feeling behind each and every gesture and drawing you make. I really wanna get to that point some day!

One last thing! I got my first comment on the blog yesterday! Well to be completely honest I got a comment yesterday (thanks anonymous) to try out chathopper in lieu of chatroulette. Which I did. I like the interface a lot better than chatroulette, but it doesn't seem to have as many people on, at least tonight. So I ended up going back. Anyways after I saw I had a comment yesterday I went back through some old posts and saw that I had a comment on an older post! Just wanted to give a shout out to my first commenter S Manor and her blog monoclecomics. Awesome stuff over there, you should really check it out. Thanks for the feedback! I'll have to do another expressions study sometime soon.