Don't be intimidated!

A lot of artists I've read or heard talk about the intimidation of the blank page. For some reason that hasn't effected me yet. Now there are definitely days where I'll sketch a lot of random creations until my brain decides where I want to go with one of the drawings I want to make, but I never would say I'm intimidated by it. Although, I might get frustrated while I'm drawing or after the image is "done". Staring at an empty blog entry though, now that's a different subject.

Gilligan caressing his food baby.


Claude and his turtle doing the hula hula hula.


Pirate a day


Having been without nourishment for what seemed liked weeks, our little hero gulped up as much of the marinade as he could.


Last night I finally got around to starting the Illusion of Life that trekkiebek got me for Christmas (thanks again!).

What a great book! Now don't get me wrong I've poured over the pictures in the book a few hundred times at least in my lifetime, but to be honest, I'm really not that big into reading. That being said it feels like this book was written for me. Every page has such insight, ideas and knowledge that I find myself reading and rereading the same page and I still feel like I haven't gotten everything out of it that's there. On top of that, every other page or half a page has a beautiful image that perfectly depicts the point that they are trying to get across. You can really tell how much Frank and Ollie loved animation and wanted to share their love of the medium with everyone. They took such care with the book, hell they even include flip book style animations in the corner of practically every page. I love this book. If you like animation, Disney, or just want to drool over some of the most beautifully rendered images you've ever seen, buy this books now! Thanks for the inspiration!

Yo ho, yo ho!

Lately I almost have to be listening to music in order to really get into the drawing zone. Something about the rhythm helps me to focus and free me up at the same time. I wonder if other people get this same way about drawing. That being said I wonder how that translates into people who work for large studios. I hope they all get a set of headphones when then get the job.

Claude and his turtle cycling.


Gilligan getting ready for his next boxing match.

Thinking our little hero was dead already, and smelling delicious, the odorous swine coated his meal in a sweet marinade.


Pirate a Day


I'm pretty sure as a little kid the first thing I wanted to be when I grew up was a Pirate. Not much has changed. Except that I now know being a pirate isn't as respectable as it once was. That still hasn't stopped me from being fascinated with all things piratesque. You can imagine how much I loved the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. I used to go to Disneyland on a fairly regular basis, and after I got over my childhood fascination with It's a Small World (I loved Mary Blair's style even back then), I would always make sure I could go on the Pirates ride and the Haunted Mansion. Marc Davis' style is irresistibly appealing to me, and to that end the style used in the pirates movies. Thanks for the Inspiration!

Off the Beaten Path

I wish I had more time to draw lately. Hopefully the next few days will a lot me a bit more free time. I'm finding just drawing roughs to be so much more fun and exhilarating, while I still like the look of the cleanup, but that tends to drive my perfectionist side a bit batty.

Gilligan hitting the road.

Claude and his turtle flexing.


Our little hero soon awoke to find him self in an extremely heated situation.


Pirate a day


I've been trying to think recently about why I really get inspired by Milt Kahl. Of course he's a great animator and his drawings are remarkable, but something about his personality and presence really makes me like him above all of the other godfathers of animation. It came to me today while I was listening to Clay Kaytis' Animation Podcast Valt which was a lecture Milt Kahl gave that was recorded and preserved by another great animator Ron Clements. From what I've read about Mr. Kahl and the interviews I've seen by himself and others he never would admit he was any good, yet he always pointed out the flaws and things he didn't like in others work. I believe it was Richard Williams that said in an interview that Milt Kahl was honest maybe a little too honest, and that he always stuck to what he believed in and what he liked. Towards the end of the lecture he talked about The Black Cauldron, which having researched a bit about Disney history was kind of a dividing film. Milt seemed to have left Disney over some disagreements over how the Black Cauldron was being treated vs what he thought it should have been. Tim Burton another one of my art hero's was an animator at Disney at the same time and he presented a lot of story board and concept designs for Cauldron as well, which were eventually thrown out cause they were too out there. Though both of these amazing men have completely different styles, yet they both stuck to what they liked and what they believed in. I really aspire to keep those traits alive in my life and my work. Maybe even one day I'll win a Winsor McCay award like my heroes. Thanks for the Inspiration!

Finding the Balance

With school starting, work, drawing, and life, I've got to reevaluate everything in order to find the balance in a new routine that works. Although it's new and exciting every once in a while it's a little rocky. I'm finding drawing is a lot like that too. Some days you can just whip out a drawing without thinking in only few minutes and it just works. Other days you struggle trying to produce something that's half way decent. Overall you have to keep drawing to try to find that balance of talent, ability and skill vs hard work, persistence and knowledge. Here's to the adventure!

Gilligan hanging out.


Claude and his turtle vaudevilling.


It wasn't long after reaching his proverbial pigsty that the porker hungered for the flesh of our little hero.


Pirate a Day


One of my favorite moments every morning is checking to see what great post Michael Sporn made for the day. One day it might be some great behind the scenes moment or drawing in Disney history, the next its some rare collection of images from some forgotten illustrator, or simply a garden of flowers he found extra beautiful. If you haven't checked out his site yet, bookmark it right now, it really is a treat! Thanks for the inspiration!

Another day, another opportunity to draw!

Felt a little overwhelmed with drawing today. I got a lot done, but I have so many projects I want to work on I wish there was more time in the day. I guess it all comes around to the fact that I have to get faster! I've been thinking a lot lately about different mediums. I really wanna start using color more, but I don't want to spend my free time away from improving my drafting. I also picked up a wacom tablet a while ago and, oh, do I need practice with it. It's totally different not looking at your hand while you draw. Definitely a good exercise for my push too hard overly critical self.

Gilligan circling himself.


:Warning staring at this for too long may cause you to go crazy:


Claude and his turtle having a raspberry off.

After what seemed like an eternity of choking our little hero went limp and the overgrown boar carried away the helpless victim to his lair.


Pirate a Day


I can't believe I haven't mentioned the Character Design Blog yet. It's one of my favorite pastimes these days. It's such a great resource for anyone who is interested in making creative, unique, lively characters. The interviews, images, and insight offered there are unmatched at least to everything I've come across so far. Thanks for the inspiration!

Stay on target, stay on target

Pretty tired tonight, but I still wanted to get an update out before I went to bed. I didn't have hardly any time to draw today so I had to do a lot of my roughs on the go and stay up late just to clean them up. Between Eric Goldberg's webinar about timing yesterday and Preston Blair's bouncing movement I'm starting to learn a lot more about animation. It's really fascinating.

Go buy yourself a rubber bouncy ball from a quarter machine and bounce it a few times. Watch how it moves. When it starts to descend it feels slow, then it really picks up speed and when it hits the floor it seems to squash itself and then the equal and opposite reaction occurs.

Gilligan on parade!


Claude's spinachaphobia flaring up again.


Just when our little hero thought he had escaped the worst and was preparing for his next move, the Swinenstein summoned all his rage and energy into a lung collapsing mystical ring of death encompassing increasingly tighter around our hero's neck.


Pirate a Day


As a little boy I really didn't have that much time to watch TV, but on Saturday mornings I would wake up early, flop on the couch with a giant bowl of Golden Grahams and devour my weekly dose of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The plot is a little out there, the story is just a bit over the top, but I couldn't take my eyes off the characters. Every episode I couldn't wait to see what bizarre, outlandish, fun creature they would come up with for the turtles to befriend or fight. As I'm drawing more and more I find myself looking back at what I love, finding out all about it to try and decipher what I really drew me into it. I think for the Ninja Turtles it really was the character design. I did a little research on some of the character designers for "TMNT" and I came across Elyse Pastel. Her illustrations are still as lively, fun, and playful as the stuff I loved as a kid. Thanks for the Inspiration!

Believe the Character Exists

Had a lot on my plate for today, but I managed to get the bulk of my daily drawing done pretty early. I didn't have too many struggles drawing wise today, just trying to prioritize what projects to work on during the time I had. One thing I did today that helped smooth everything along was to remind myself, I get to draw. I love to draw. Just simply reaffirming what I already knew seemed to help keep my hand steady and my head focused.

Gilligan free-falling.


Claude's turtle forcing Claude to dance wild west style.


Despite his best attempts at being perfectly quiet, our little hero forgot one key factor, disgusting pig monsters have a keen sense of smell. In one swift unpiglike movement the monstrosity summoned some sort of unholy magic force that our little hero only barely dodged.


A new project I've been thinking about working on is Pirate a Day! I usually draw some sort of pirate or pirate-like person during the day so I figured I'd add it to the mix.

In anticipation for the summer session at AnimationMentor I've been checking out every resource they have on their site. Today I watched the Eric Goldberg Webinar. Eric is the genius behind the Genie from Aladdin. I've had his book Character Animation Crash Course for a month or so now, and can't wait to get to it. So this webinar was a real treat. One point I wanted to share was at the end of the interview some one asked him what advice he had for those just starting out. He responded with something that seems so basic and so simple, yet most of us have probably never even bothered to consider it. "Believe the character exists." He says if you do that. Then you will give the character the life it needs to make others believe it as well. Thanks for the inspiration!