Draw Draw Draw

Wake up, Draw, Work, Draw, Eat, Draw, Sleep, Draw...the perfect schedule. Lately, I'm becoming a little obsessed with drawing the perfect circle. I have to eventually just move on. I've heard people talking about art being the only "profession" of sorts that you never actually finish a job. You simply get to the point where you need to do something else. Which usually ends up being drawing something else. In order to try to get away from over working my drawings I bought a new sketchbook and a sharpie. There's no real forgiveness with a bad line when you're using a sharpie. I'm hoping that will speed me up a bit. I'm really liking the structure of the walk cycles. Preston Blair really understood movement. I gotta keep learning.

Gilligan continuing with the under the sea vibe.


Claude and his turtle working out and playing space ranger.

Throwing open his rented room door Our Little Hero exclaimed, "What was that?!"


After hearing no response, and seeing no one left in the inn He scoured every inch of the establishment hoping to find even a hint of what might have just happened.


Yub and her pet bee.


Thanks to Twitter everyday I'm reminded to check Skine.art and EatSleepDraw. Both of these sites are great. They showcase random works of art from people around the globe. Some are truly beautiful, and others you can tell are amateur, but a lot of times those drawings bring the most energy and originality. Thanks for the inspiration!

Finished the Roughs

Yay! I finally got the time to finish the roughs for the children's book I'm working on with arbitraryjane. Now I just have to wait to see if there are any revisions. Starting to mix up Preston Blair's walking cycles a bit more and I'm loving it. Still challenging, but it's worth it. I'm learning a lot each day.

Gilligan under the sea.


Claude can't help but notice his hat changed shape in the dryer.


In that place where your sleep is the sleepiest and your dreams are the dreamiest out of nowhere came a loud crack that threw our little hero out of bed faster than an elephant in heat.


Slowly but surely I'm getting through Walt Stanchfield's Drawn to Life Volume 1. It's a great read. I almost don't want to read too much of it at a time and just soak up every little bit. Today Walt talked about osmosis. Surround yourself with inspiration and it will challenge you to be better, keep you focused and maybe just maybe your subconscious will drive your conscious. On that note I think I'm gonna plaster my room with Milt Kahl drawings. Thanks for the inspiration!

Happy Dance!

I got my acceptance letter to Animation Mentor today! Woo Hoo! I can't wait to start! I'm working way to slow and meticulous as of late. I think I also might be trying to focus too hard. My hand's cramping up and my led is breaking more often than I'd like. I have to loosen up. Still loving the walk cycles although they're getting to be a bit daunting to do one a day with all the rest of the images I want to get out. I have about 3x what I can put up that I just don't have the time in a day to clean up and prep for scanning. I've been debating just working on single sheets of paper too rather than my sketchbooks. I'd like to have a larger flat surface and I think it would scan in easier as well, but I do enjoy having everything together in one spine. It makes for a good archive and more portable.

Claude and his turtle playing baseball and sharing a coffee.


Gilligan trying out a Picasso move and a Bananaphone.


Our little hero had just gotten back from another long adventure.


No sooner had he reached his bed, but his eyes locked themselves shut in hopes to stay closed for at least a few business days.


A friend on Facebook linked a video of Johnny Cash so I had to draw an old rocker.


Bored Hobo Elephant waiting for the next train.


How my hand feels every night before I fall asleep.


I was listening to the latest Ninja Mountain podcast on Frazetta and Socar Myles mentioned Howard Pyle. I had never heard of him by name so I looked him up and lo and behold he's the creator of all the great pirate illustrations I loved as a kid. What an extensive library of amazing images he produced in his lifetime. I hope to be able to have at least half that many stunningly memorable images someday in my archive. Thanks for the inspiration!

I'm Mr. 10 below

I'm really enjoying these Preston Blair movement cycles. They are challenging and fun, and in the end you can flip them and make them move! I still need to find a balance between my perfectionist mentality and the amount of time I have, but I'm starting to feel the benefits from putting in the time!

Since Rhys loves Unicorns it was only a matter of time until Gilligan visited that land.


Our little hero cowering in the presence of an Gristle the Ice Lord.


Claude and his turtle attend the annual beard festival.


I recently found out about Jerzy Drozd and Kevin Cross' other podcast the Saturday Supercast and wow what a treat. They delve into cartoons like nothing I've ever heard before. The episode I listened to was about Christmas Specials, and mainly A Year Without a Santa Claus. I can't believe I had almost forgot about Rankin and Bass. I used to love their holiday specials. Not only did they have crazy stories and catchy songs, but you instantly fall in love with everyone of their characters. I did some searching and found a couple of artists who had connections with Rankin and Bass mainly Paul Coker, Don Duga, Bob Camp, and Jack Davis. Thanks for the Inspiration!

Busy Busy Busy!

In the last day and a half I finished up my application for Animation Mentor and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Cross your fingers extra hard for me! Found out that the art institute wants some examples of my work, but evidently all the want is basically still life with gesture drawings, so part of my time is gonna be spent working on that. Preston Blair is a genius I'm learning so much from his book, and along with this blog, keeping me focused on drawing. Here's a couple animation cycles.

Claude and his turtle exploring and goofing around.


Hungry Hungry Gilligan showing off his pearly whites.


Our little hero is deathly afraid of birds and soon crocodile men.


A couple portraits I'm working on for my art institute portfolio.


I was thinking about the email John Shroades sent me in which he mentioned Chris Van Allsberg. Who has produced some of the most amazingly beautiful illustrations, but that made me think about some of the children's books I loved as a kid. One of those was Graeme Base's 11th Hour. Graeme base is best known for Animalia. What I love most about Graeme's illustrations is not just his vibrant color but how much detail he can cram into a single image. Unlike Frazetta who would articulate breathtakingly his main character and the action and then leave the rest of the image completely subtle, Base adds so much detail that you have to spend some time soaking up every little unique aspect of the image. I did a little research on Base and came across a video interview he gave. He said being a successful illustrator comes down to the 3 P's. Passion, you have to love what you do and do it for your own enjoyment. Perspiration you
have to master your style. Lastly Providence, you have to have just a little smidgen of luck. Thanks for the inspiration!

You're not paid to erase!

Things seemed to click really well tonight! My hand and my brain seemed to be on a pretty similar wavelength, and I like it. Leaving at least one or two drawings as real roughs is really freeing and fun. I feel a lot looser afterward and it sets a good mood for the rest of the drawings. Surprisingly I've noticed that mood and concentration really affect my work at least I think they do. I'll have to remember to stay happy and positive. That can't be too hard.

Claude and his turtle doing the "myspace pose".


Wolf Gilligan is on the loose.


Our little hero fighting a shark.


Was watching a bit of Glee while I drew tonight so I thought I'd try my hand at drawing Rachel.


A few days ago I was listening to the Art and Story podcast. At least I think it was the Art and Story podcast. Anyways the point is I think it was Jerzy that said something that has stuck with me for a few days. So I thought maybe it would give you something to think about too. "You're not paid to erase." Okay at this point I'm not really getting paid to draw either, but it's a great way of phrasing a point. You can take it a few ways. One loosen up you're, in this case, getting paid to draw. The thing you're setting out to do is draw, not to be meticulous or overwork an image, just let the drawing flow out. The other way to take it is, don't mess up! No one wants to watch an artist erase every 10 seconds. That phrase has just been on my mind when I'm cleaning up my rough drawings. Thanks for the inspiration.

Bonus Day!

Had a busy couple of days, and I've been wanting to try a bunch of new stuff at the same time. For some reason lately my Preston Blair study has been rather intimidating to me. I think I'm just building it up too much in my head. Still staying consistent though and working on knocking out my 10,000 hours.

Thinking about doing a monster series of Gilligan and I came across a Charles Schultz collection the other day so I had to mess around with some Peanuts style.


Claude and his turtle studying and practicing magic.


Little Hero paying homage to Frazetta, and getting squished by a gorilla. You know it's just like any normal day.


I started a new sketchbook that I'm only using Pen in. Trying to challenge myself not to be a perfectionist, just do it perfect the first time.


Quick little perspective sketch.


Ultimate 5!


A mutant chicken.


Like I mentioned earlier I was looking at some Charles Schultz work, but what got me there was Bill Keane. Not only is he the father of the great Glen Keane, but he's the creator of the Family Circus. From reading a bit about him he really had a great idea behind his drawing career. He kept his focus on drawing, but also on his family. I think that attention to family really showed in his artwork and was one of the factors in making his work great, popular, and timeless. Thanks for the inspiration!