Life drawing and posing

Spent some time drawing some interesting characters at the mall this weekend.

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Then tried to match some of the best poses in Maya using the AnimationMentor "Stu" rig!

Last rough for the Preston Blair hunter sneak cycle. Hopefully I'll have it colored and animated by the end of the week!


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Woke up with Freddy Moore and Bill Pressing on the brain! I love their styles so much! They both have different but similar takes on the same subject. I've got to spend more time trying to get some of that style and energy into my female drawings! Thanks for the inspiration!

Just keep doing it!

No matter what, just keep doing it!

Preston Blair's Hunter sneak animation rough,

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and with color.

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Walt Stanchfield had a great chapter today! He quoted Eric Larson who quoted Constantin Stanislavsky who said, "In ever physical action, there is always something psychological and visa versa." The point here was to emphasize finding the psychological reasoning behind a character's physical pose! Thanks for the inspiration!

Oh and I picked up a copy of How to Cheat in Maya 2010 by Eric Luhta! It was highly recommended to me by many teachers and fellow students at AnimationMentor! I'll do a little write up on it once I get some time with it. I can't wait!

You're only as good as your last try!

I've got to look into quicker methods of coloring. It seems to be taking a bit too long to get it right. If anyone knows any good photoshop color techniques please let me know!

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I had some time to listen to a couple great episodes of Toon-In to Animation today. The first episode was with Maureen Furniss an animation historian who teaches at Cal Arts and writes the Animation Journal! She talked a bit about the start of animation and that even early cavemen tried to make moving pictures. The statement that really stuck with me today though, was something that Barrie Nelson said, "You're only as good as your last movie." Which reminded me of something I read a while back about whatever you're drawing right now should be the best drawing you've ever done. I've got to try to keep that in mind in every aspect of life. Thanks for the inspiration!

Maya and Oftedal!

Spent some more time playing around in Maya today, and made this quick little floaty ball animation!

Still working on roughing out all of Preston Blair's Hunter sneak animation. Here's the next part!


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I've got to set aside some time to scan in a bunch of the drawings I've done in the last week or so. Soon hopefully! I'm really enjoying the 3d stuff, even though I'm just learning. It's fascinating!

I was cruising through the AnimationMentor campus today and came across Mark Oftedal's Blog. What a find! I love the way he draws. It seems so free and rough, yet clean and polished at the same time. He also has mastered the loose color splash look that I've been trying to grasp. Check out his elephants! Thanks for the inspiration!

The wonderful world of color ...

Got stuck a little late at work and had to run some errands so tonight's update will be quite late... If I can keep my eyes open!

Cleaned up the rough from last night,


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and spent a little too much time coloring it.


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I'm really loving putting color in the images. It seems to give them just that little extra pop. Michael Sporn put up a great post on Gustaf Tenggren's illustration. I simply adore his use of color. Thanks for the inspiration!

Working on making a portfolio...

Update will be pretty late tonight... but it'll get here!

Got caught up going through my drawings and trying to pick out some more real life and figure drawings stuff for a portfolio for class, so I only had time to get the rough out tonight. Should have the color tomorrow, plus fix up a couple of things on this rough.

Oh I did come across a great website the other day called Golden Age Comic Book Stories. They have a wonderful collection of beautiful illustrations from all types of media. It's a fantastic way to spend an afternoon. Thanks for the inspiration!

Be obsessed with what you want!

Been having a blast creating lately! I'm trying not to be too busy to update here everyday!

Preston Blair style hunter sneak rough 2

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Preston Blair style hunter sneak color 2

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I was trying for a loose water color like look, with yesterdays color cycle, but I don't think it came across. So I spent way too long coloring this tonight, but I think it came out a lot better. *Yawn*

Trying my hand at some 3d modeling in Maya, a little test starring Claude.

I've been listening to a lot of Toon In to the World of Animation podcasts lately, and I really enjoyed the episode with Sharon Colman (#28). Who has a lovely accent and also worked on How to Train Your Dragon as a story artist! Anyways at the end of the interview Tee Bosustow asked Sharon what advice she had for new comers to animation, and she said "You've just got to, to really in a perverse way just be obsessed with what you want, and stick with it and don't worry too much about what people are are thinking or what you should be doing, just do it." That's been stuck in my head for the past few days, so thanks for the inspiration!