Animation Time! - Chip Rig

Today's Inspiration:
Drawing / acting is a lifetime adventure. There is no "formula" for becoming a proficient artist.It is just a lifetime of search and discovery. Teachers can only hint at some direction- the artist
has to latch on to some personal method of finding and applying the facts for himself. My highest wish is that all of you will continue to develop your own means of expressing yourselves as performers.

Trying to reach a "goal" is not so much narrowing down to a fine point as it is opening up to a wider range of realization. You concentrate your efforts only by broadening your knowledge and
understanding and skill.

- Walt Stanchfield
http://www.amazon.com/Drawn-Life-Classes-Stanchfield-Lectures/dp/0240811070/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_y
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0821990/

Program - Maya 2010

Rig - Chip
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/character-rigs/c/chip

Animator's Bibles:
Character Animation Crash Course
Animator's Survival Kit
Illusion of Life
12 Principles of Animation
Drawn to Life


http://www.caseyturbos.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/caseyturbos
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caseyturbos
Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/caseyturbos

Animation Time - Care Bot

Today's Inspiration:

Drawn to Life -

"Your mental and emotional processes are what motivates you and without motivation you would accomplish noting. And without enthusiasm, motivation would atrophy before you could make a quick sketch. Your mind is like a projector - whatever you choose to put into it is what will be seen on the screen (the choice is yours and yours alone). The switch is motivation and the electricity (power) that keep the whole show moving along is enthusiasm."

Walt Stanchfield

http://www.parkablogs.com/content/book-review-drawn-life-20-golden-years-of-disney-master-classes

Program - Maya 2014

Rig - Care Bot


Animator's Bibles:
Character Animation Crash Course
Illusion of Life
Animator's Survival Kit
12 Principles of Animation
Drawn to Life


http://www.caseyturbos.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/caseyturbos
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caseyturbos
Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/caseyturbos

Just keep doing it!

No matter what, just keep doing it!

Preston Blair's Hunter sneak animation rough,

(click to enlarge)

and with color.

(click to enlarge)

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!

Miltdusa

Sometimes you just need to take a little break. I was noticing the I'm too tired warble in my final line work today after work, so even though I wanted to get tonight's drawings done right away, I knew I needed to step away for a bit. Lo and behold the rest of the drawings went pretty smoothly.

Gilligan keep on truckinging.


Claude tries on his new toupee.


Pirate a Day


With our little hero feeling good in his fancy new duds he paid Theodore the Tailor in the towns favorite currency, and went on his way.


I got to watch part of the Rescuers last night, after not having seen this movie for who knows how long, and hearing and reading lots about it (since it was one of the last things Milt Kahl worked on) I was happy that it still stood up to what I was hoping it would. I really picked up on a lot of the things Walt Stanchfield has been talking about regarding drastic angles to emphasize the pose and to really get the gestures across. (Drawn to Life Vol 1) I wish they would have developed the Madame Medusa character story-wise a bit more, cause Milt Kahl delivers an outstanding performance. Thanks for the inspiration!

(Check out Inspector Cleuzo's posts on Madame Medusa for some great Milt Kahl drawings!)

Drawing what you think you see isn't always the best.

I'm about half way through drawing everything in Preston Blair's Cartoon Animation book, and boy have I learned a lot. Looking back on some of the drawings I've done even a month ago I can tell I really have grown quite a bit. I thought I would have been done with the book by now, but some of these animation cycles are taking a little longer than I had originally planned and I still want them to look nice too.

Gilligan just hanging around.


Claude goes fishing for turtles.


Pirate a Day


After a good 49 hour nap our little hero awoke rested, ready to face the day and what ever adventures it might bring.


Walt Stanchfield has been teaching me a lot about angles lately through his book Drawn to Life Vol 1. He talks about angles in a similar way that Preston Blair presents line of action. Just drawing what you think you see isn't always the best. As humans our rig, or rather our body, knows how to handle itself, but as artists sometimes we need to see what the meaning behind a position, movement or action actually is. So sometimes it is necessary to over exaggerate angles or the line of action to better tell a story with an image. John K also did a nice write up on a similar idea, but focused on setting up a shot rather than a pose. Definitely worth the read.

Borders finally got Imaginefx's How to Draw and Paint Anatomy in stock, and I quickly snagged up a copy, well, after an hour or so of sketching people in the coffee shop. I've only had a chance to flip through it, but it looks like they've done a great job again. Thanks for the inspiration!

A funny drawing gets funnier when it's animated!

I finished another sketchbook last night! Which means I'm averaging around 100+ pages every 2 weeks. I've heard professionals say 1 good drawing in 10 is a pretty good ratio. I think I'm at least there.

I got a chance to read some more of Walt Stanchfield's Drawn to Life Vol 1, and it got me thinking. I'm sure some one else has felt this before, but you know that feeling you get when you have an idea in your mind and when you go to put it down on paper it doesn't come out quite like you really want it. Well, Mr. Stanchfield was talking about the Six Rules of Perspective, and how he uses them either consciously or subconsciously on every drawing he does and the line from chapter that caught my mind was "Knowing and using these principles when needed is like having a good road map when traveling in unfamiliar places." The rules aren't gonna get you there, but they will definitely guide if know where you're at and where you want to go.

Gilligan taking a snooze.


Claude and his turtle having some good old fashion fun.


Pirate a Day


The enraged monster must not have been aware of his own strength and rage, either that or he wasn't quite using all 2 ounces of his brain power and snapped the skewer in half. Our little hero used the drastic change of circumstances to his benefit.


As I've mentioned in the past I love everything Disney Animation related. So last night after finishing my daily drawing and blog post I hopped over and browsed Cartoon Brew, and came across the Ward Kimball tag. Of course that meant that the next few hours I'd be reading, watching, and drawing all things Kimball. I have to admit at first I wasn't a big fan of Kimball's being a Milt Kahlite his drawings always seemed inferior, but after a decent amount of actual exposure to his work he really can capture an idea. I love his sense of humor and his attitude towards life. It really comes across in his drawings. They are really expressive and every one feels like it's moving on its own. After watching a few great video interviews, really examining some of his images and reading a bunch of articles about him I found this great quote of his. "A cartoon character who is funny to look at before he is animated is going to be made funnier by the movement." 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!

"It ain't easy."

Today's lesson: don't let your guard down. I just crunched one of my drawings while trying to scan it in, Oye! I think it's still salvageable though. Found myself being too much of a perfectionist. I think it slowed me down a bit tonight, but I like what I worked on. I have to remember to keep focused on the whole drawing and gesture I want to portray rather than just one nit picky area. I know I've said something similar to this before, but I find it keeps ringing true.

Claude and his turtle doing the happy dance!

Gilligan and the Wizard of Oz.


I've been putting off coming up with Minithology's Apollo. For some reason this drawing was intimidating me. So I decided Apollo needed to be a Rock Star. That's right, he has a Sun Guitar.


On the heels of what I started talking about earlier, remembering to focus on the whole drawing not just all the little details. Chapter 34 of Walt Stanchfield's Drawn to Life Vol1 really explains this idea in detail. To paraphrase one of his points, picture yourself drawing a circle. You don't focus on every little section of the circle. You imagine the circle you want and you just draw it. This chapter also has possibly one of my favorite quotes from an artist that I've heard to date. It's from one of the most amazing animators in history Ollie Johnston. It's concise, simple and to the point. When talking about drawing he said, "It ain't easy." What a motivation. If a master of his art says it ain't easy, then I'd better keep on drawing.

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!

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.

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.

Perspective Roulette

Had a blast drawing today. Did a little drawing for my nephew. *see below* Evidently he really likes it when I draw. Which is always nice to hear. Worked on a bit of perspective. Took quite a bit to get some of the angles down, but I think I handled it okay. Gotta keep practicing though.

I discovered a great way to practice and speed up my sketching, chatroulette. NSFW! Now I know what you're gonna say, and ya you have to sift through all that, but I found out a few great things that it helps with. First of all I should explain what exactly chatroulette is and how I was using it. Chatroulette is basically a site that randomly connects you to someone else in the world with a webcam. So I thought hey why not draw the person on the other side! I quickly learned you have to hook the person fast, meaning you have to draw fast. Not only draw fast, but you have to look fast. You can't just stare at the image for hours on end you have to look quick and draw quick. Not only quick, but you have to draw an accurate (to some extent) representation of the person on the other side of the webcam that they will like. Anyways if you're ever looking for a great exercise and need some images to draw from, try it out. (I can't believe I just spent the last two hours doing that ><). Above and beyond being just a drawing exercise you get instant feed back, and if you're doing it right instant positive feedback.

Today's inspiration comes from Walt Stanchfield's Book Drawn to Life Vol 1 "The goal is to find the essence of the gesture and make all the parts of the body contribute to and enhance that gesture."

Hoo Hoo

Got a lot of drawing done today. Worked a little rougher than usual, but got a lot more done. I'm really enjoying Walt Stanchfield's Drawn to Life Vol 1. I'm reading through it almost a page a day, and trying to take it in as much as I can. Today was about drawing simply to be more clear and effective. I like his take on draw one finger (the focus "action" finger) and the rest are just basic shapes. I think this will be the next book I draw through, but we'll see. I'm still loving Preston Blair though. Along with the usual study drawings, I put up a little red tree frog I drew for my friend Sarah.