Nose Goblins

Inspiring illustration

2010-07-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

Google Gators

2010-06-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

So I'm drawing some gators and I'm looking for some good poses from some good angles. Most of these guys are crocs (blunter snouts) but they're good inspiration.

Nassos Vakalis

2010-06-01T06:17:00.001-07:00

Apparently Nassos Vakalis is a super-talented dude, having boarded for Dreamworks on several films.
Click on his BOARD PAGE for a daily dose of quality boards.

Notes on Gator Boards 2.0.

2010-05-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

I sent a link to my boards to my friend, a story guy at Blue Sky Studios. He sent an amazing letter critiquing my boards with amazing detail. Well, nothing worthwhile was ever easy. But it means a lot that he considered my boards worth critiquing.

I'll sum up his letter:
-------------------------
-Change the taffic light to a Walk signal

- Add panels to show acting between characters, important when the characters meet for the first time. (Also, make the poses clear - think silhouettes)

- Add more POV shots - the kid's point of view down the street to the lady, an over-the shoulder shot POV of the gator as it starts to pull. If we're not siding with the gator, avoid any shots that looks like gator POVs, like when she's being pulled.

- draftsmanship-wise, make the backgrounds look like the city and not just blank walls. (and those cars in the upshots).

- Add some Thoughtful and Appropriate camera use. Put in some moving camera shots as needed (in CG, they're just boarded in without arrows, as in TV boards)
----------------------------
He also says, "If you are really into a career as a board artist, I recommend the Hollywood Camerawork dvd set." Definitely something to think about.

Now, what I will do: ---
Nix the upshots from the sidewalk
POV of the kid seeing the lady.
Have some Down shots so we see the gator pulling them in.
Have a profilish angle of the kid moving forwards around her for the grab
a POV over the shoulder of the gator.
and ... some camera moves. i have to think about that.

Gator Boards - Revised!

2010-05-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

I finished these boards FINALLY. They're only one section of a larger story, but they took a while to do (research included)
You can find them in better resolution HERE.

So for fun, here are the original drawings from Sept '08 - same idea, half the panels, and no real interesting camera angles. I credit my friend Andrés with making the gum into Gator candy.

Doodles

2010-05-20T14:25:00.001-07:00

The chick on the left is evil. The guy on the right is Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico

Revised Gator Boards!

2010-05-12T17:07:00.000-07:00

Way back in September of 2008 I posted a link to my completed "Gator Storyboard" of 66 panels. Well, I'm almost done a revision of the first part of those boards - which amount to about 22 panels - and the drawing improvement speaks for itself. I'm not sure what I've been doing to grow as an artist these past 20 months... surely this blog was part of it. I also took a lot of life drawing at both SVA and the Art Students League. Recently I've just been looking at a lot of professional boards, and soaking in the influence.

Anyway, above is a rough sketch of those boards. (Below is the equivalent from '08.)
Stay tuned for the whole thing!

Babysitting

2010-05-12T16:52:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I co-babysat for about 20 hours. Gabby is five years old and at 11pm on Saturday night started crying for her mommy. Jenn and I took turns reading to her until she fell asleep next to her brother. In the morning she jumps up and the first words out of her mouth were, "I knew that book would work!"

Rockstar

2010-04-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a doodle I did last week of a Rockstar.
Well, I was on about a year-long haitus from uploading materials onto this blog. Many things have happened in the past 12 months, but I'm going to try to keep myself near a scanner most days.

Life Gestures - 3/25

2009-04-01T15:39:00.001-07:00

from last wednesday

Drawings from 3/22/09

2009-03-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday drawing jam at Dina's house

Pastel Exercises

2009-03-18T15:12:00.000-07:00

My painting instructor says that pastels is more difficult than oils or acrylics. The reason is because of nature of the medium to best be utilized by revealing the surface underneath.
That's a struggle I'm working on right now.

Weekend Doodles

2009-03-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

Wedding Portrait for L&A

2009-03-05T21:31:00.000-08:00

See what I've been working on.

doodles

2009-03-02T20:52:00.000-08:00

Anatomy and ... well, Fraggle Rock, I guess

Frank Porcu - suplimental

2009-03-01T20:38:00.001-08:00

Here are some notes from my Ecorché class with Frank Porcu that I've been taking every Sunday

Frank Porcu pt6

2009-02-26T15:16:00.000-08:00

This was a lecture on the arm. It was by far the most complex lecture I've been given. Apparently there are almost no day-to-day examples of the different components past level-1 of the humerus.

Red Hot Riding Hood pt 6

2009-02-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

these 8 drawings took about 55 minutes. which just about ties my previous time. The difference is that I'm out of practice and have lost a little of the rhythm of the movement since December.

Doodles

2009-02-21T20:24:00.000-08:00

Frank Porcu pt5

2009-02-12T16:04:00.001-08:00

After Jules Feifer

2009-02-09T17:06:00.001-08:00

Frank Porcu pt4

2009-02-09T17:04:00.001-08:00

from Last Wednesday

Frank Porcu pt3

2009-02-04T14:25:00.001-08:00

doodles

2009-01-25T20:20:00.001-08:00

Doodles

2009-01-22T17:40:00.001-08:00

Doodles on Public transportation

2009-01-15T21:38:00.000-08:00

Frank Porcu pt2

2009-01-14T21:02:00.000-08:00

image to come

Today: The Pelvis and Rib Cage.
How they relate to each other, to the muscles in front, and to the intestine inside.

It's ironic that Frank says, "don't copy, build it up," yet in order to take really fast notes on his intensely dense lectures, copying is all we have time for.

Frank Porcu pt1

2009-01-14T20:57:00.001-08:00

Frank Porcu is the best anatomical artist I've ever met. He teaches my ecroche class at the Art Students League here in New York, and every Wednesday he gives a lecture on anatomy.
Since I'm putting up a post for 22-minutes of quick crappy drawing, I might as well put up a post representing each week of notes in his 3 to 3.5-hour lecture.
Here are some of my notes from last week.

30-second drawings

2009-01-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

22 minutes.

doodles

2009-01-11T20:07:00.001-08:00

Doodles

2009-01-06T14:57:00.000-08:00

Color Sketch

2009-01-04T19:12:00.000-08:00

This is a color sketch for a pastel portrait I'm doing as a wedding present. Its proportions were just eyeballed, but for the real thing, careful measurements have been made.
This test also helped gauge the final size of the head in the portrait itself. My initial roughs, complete with careful proportion measurements, would have made the heads too small. Because of the size of my pastel sticks, the width of my fingers, and plain old habitual comfort zone, I decided to start over from scratch and make the heads bigger.

Doodles

2009-01-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

When I talk on the phone to my friend while I draw, I like to imagine where she might be at the moment.

New Year, New Semester

2009-01-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

I started this blog in early August, a little over four and a half months ago.
That's one semester's worth of consistent and diligent work, constantly aimed at improvement.
I did a little bit of everything:

sketching cartoon characters,
copying sequential animation drawings,
studying professional storyboards,
practicing high-speed figure drawing

This semester... Animation. I aim to produce some final animation exercises between now and the end of this semester.

Red Hot Riding Hood pt 5

2008-12-31T14:43:00.001-08:00

These 7 drawings took about 49 minutes. That's 7 minutes per drawing. Jeez Louise! I will say this: When i try to time it to finish one pose per song on my playlist, I usually get it done. That could divide the time in half if I do it full-steam. How long can I do full-steam drawing, and will it deter me from doing my drawing exercises later? Maybe I'll see if I can beat my record.

Red Hot Riding Hood pt 4

2008-12-30T18:02:00.000-08:00

Red Hot Riding Hood pt 3

2008-12-29T17:16:00.001-08:00

Red Hot Riding Hood pt 2

2008-12-28T21:21:00.001-08:00

My sketch above, Preston Blair's below.

doodles

2008-12-27T23:50:00.000-08:00

Doodles

2008-12-25T19:32:00.001-08:00

Eric Goldberg Test

2008-12-22T16:40:00.001-08:00

This is a page scanned from Eric Goldberg's book. It's a chapter break, but also an inbetweening assignment (without being designated as such).

I've been working on it for a couple hours now on Flash with a Wacon tablet. I've roughed out pretty much the whole sequence. Couldn't figure out a way to upload a small movie. Hopefully I'll iron that kink by the time my final animation test is complete. Stay tuned!

30-second drawings

2008-12-22T16:28:00.001-08:00

25 minutes, a la posemaniacs.com

Red Hot Riding Hood pt 1

2008-12-20T22:11:00.000-08:00

preliminary roughs after Preston Blair

Below is the version in the copy I have, from which my individual drawings will be based:

Quick Figures

2008-12-19T19:37:00.001-08:00

30-second drawings
for 22 minutes

Doodles

2008-12-18T15:29:00.001-08:00

Shading Tips

2008-12-18T10:59:00.001-08:00

In these drawings, I sketched the figure itself and my teacher, Terence Coyle provided the shading.

He noted a few things:
1) Decide for yourself your single light source. Feel free to make one up.

2) Never shade 50/50. When you're going around the cylinder of a wrist, finger, arm, etc, favor the dark or the light.

3) Connect the shading. Like a stream, it should flow from the top and join shadows to the bottom. Lead the eye.

4) For fingers and things with repeating shadow patterns, make the darkest lines darker on one side and lighter on another. The darks are unequal throughout the different fingers

5) Of course, shade around the curve of the cylinder first and then spread it down.

6) Gradation is key. Find the middle ground on each surface.

7) The parts farthest away from the viewer should be darker.

doodles

2008-12-16T21:20:00.001-08:00

30-second drawings

2008-12-15T15:29:00.001-08:00

Care of Posemaniacs.com, again.
It might seem silly to actually scan rough sketches like these and post them on a blog. I'm not showing off my deft skill. Really, it's more of an effort to keep it going, in the belief that people (mayeb John K.!) might stop by the blog to see the frequency of my exercises.

doodles

2008-12-14T20:58:00.000-08:00

The character in the top middle is my final dino character, semi-based off a close friend's idea.

Weekend Doodles

2008-12-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

Doodles

2008-12-05T13:26:00.001-08:00

Buckaroo sketches

2008-12-01T20:03:00.000-08:00

After Preston Blair

Doodles

2008-11-30T21:05:00.000-08:00

I didn't do much drawing over Thanksgiving... unfortunately.

Bruce Blitz Tribute!

2008-11-25T12:02:00.000-08:00

30-second drawings

2008-11-24T21:28:00.001-08:00

40 minutes

doodles

2008-11-23T20:40:00.000-08:00

as inspired by Egon Schiele

Pictures That Tell Stories

2008-11-21T21:07:00.000-08:00

I was at a party last night and I talked with a young animator who knows folks at Blue Sky Studios. She had this advice about portfolio submissions:

Sure, include some life drawings. That's basic and the reviewers will just glance at them to make sure that you can draw. But the real test is is the Character Designs. The drawings should all TELL A STORY. How? Usually by hinting at a SETTING. by including a setting, suddenly the characters are in context. It doesn't have to be complicated, but make sure that your sketches are telling a story.

Hands

2008-11-19T15:04:00.001-08:00

doodles

2008-11-18T19:42:00.000-08:00

Today a homeless guy was smoking next to me on the subway platform.

30-second drawings

2008-11-17T20:02:00.000-08:00

30-second drawing exercise from Posemaniacs.com
Today-30 minutes

doodles

2008-11-16T21:08:00.001-08:00

Doodles

2008-11-14T14:14:00.001-08:00

Doodles Mon & Tues

2008-11-11T20:12:00.001-08:00

Some Doodles after two of John K's protoges,
Jessy Borutski and Brianne Something

As well as some pirates

doodles

2008-11-11T20:06:00.000-08:00

some doodles after two of John K's protoges: Brainne Something and Jessy Borutski

and some pirate doodles

30 second gestures

2008-11-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

30-second gestures a la posemanics.com.
Yesterday: 15 minutes
Today: 25 minutes

30 second gestures

2008-11-10T09:35:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Posemaniac.com for this great exercise. I did 3 pages of these last week. and i mean covering the pages.
Let's see if i can do 3 more this week.

Heads

2008-11-08T22:24:00.000-08:00

Yay Obama.
Some doodles of heads. I haven't really gotten ahead in my portraiture in a while ( no pun intended)

The Phillies Win the World Series!

2008-10-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

Practicing my 1-2-minute drawings again.
PHILLIES WIN!!!

Baseball & Jack Hamm

2008-10-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

I've been sketching the Phillies kick serious tail of this world series. Also exercises from Jack Hamm's book.

Spidey Gestures 2

2008-10-20T21:14:00.001-07:00

I did 5 pages x about 3 drawings each x 60 seconds average. not extremely long, but it was a big night tonight (i went to see the Animation Show of Shows) and i just wanted to keep the looseness alive.

Spidey Gestures

2008-10-19T21:33:00.001-07:00

The assignment: Draw 60 gesture sketches for 1 hour. Be able, in 60 seconds, to locate proportions and allude to anatomical structure of overall figure.

The final attempts:

The first attempts:

I learned that I shouldn't be afraid to draw bigger and move my whole arm. Only at the end of the 60 (actually, maybe 90) minutes, I was able to relax, think of the figure as a whole, as solid mass instead of a series of lines, and sort of sense the overall form. Even if he did come out looking like Michaelangelo's Adam.

Kwik-Sketch Exercise

2008-10-18T20:53:00.001-07:00

For about an hour, I drew 60-second sketches of the same pose. It's originally a Shamus Culhane exercise, and I gave it the John K. Twist of copying a cartoon from the TV screen. It's actually a frame of Disney's "The Gummi Bears," one of those shows that is much more sophisticated when you watch it as an adult.

The pose above (one page of four) is from an episode titled "You Snooze You Lose" and I did my best to copy the frame by hand below.
I chose this pose because the arm is particularly well-rendered for a TV show, and I've been working on my upper body anatomy.

...Seeing the clean pic now on my computer monitor at a smaller scale, I think I Popeyed her arm. :o(

Spectator - pt10

2008-10-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

Better. This is starting to look more like animation drawings. Even if my heads are way too small. Even these are, and I really tried on 'em:At least not every drawing is overworked. In any case, I'm done with this sequence. I did these 6 drawings 2 additional times since last week, not to mention all the preliminary sketches, and it still came out wonky.

Mental Note: WORK OUT THE PROPORTIONS! STAY ON MODEL!

You'd be surprised how the proportions look so much different when you scan in the drawing and see it as a thumbnail at 12% its original size.

I'll be keeping my notes (PROPORTIONS! MODEL!) in mind for my next series of Blair copies. Not to mention my upcoming classes in (drum roll) Drawing Anatomy!

John K's College

2008-10-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

A while back John K. described what his rundown of a 3-year animation curriculum would be.

YEAR ONE

YEAR TWO

YEAR THREE

(The "cartoon college" label on John's site)

Animation Resources

2008-10-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

MOVIEOLA

POSEMANIACS

Spectator - pt9

2008-10-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

The final sequence.
...not as nice as I would have hoped.
Too scratchy with the lines, not too confident or comfortable.
Also, not on the same horizontal level with each other. ups and downs.

spectator pt8

2008-10-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

Let's try this one again.

Spectator - pt7

2008-10-05T21:20:00.001-07:00

Again, these drawings were copied from the newer book, which displayed a slightly different character design. Hopefully the movement still flows.

Spectator - pt6

2008-10-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

These were copied from the the newer book, which has a slightly different design than the images below.

Spectator - pt5

2008-09-27T19:42:00.001-07:00

I copied these after MY edition, which has a character with a slightly different face. I altered them slightly to resemble the original character, as see below.

Spectator pt4

2008-09-25T15:50:00.000-07:00

Spectator pt3

2008-09-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

Spectator - pt2

2008-09-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

Spectator- pt1

2008-09-21T21:14:00.001-07:00

SEE PRESTON'S SEQUENCE HERE

Animals pt 2

2008-09-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

Toughies - pt 2

2008-09-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

Gator Boards

2008-09-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Just 2 of 66 panels I have completed.

VIEW IT HERE!

Preston Blair animals

2008-09-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

Boy from "Rescuers Down Under"

2008-09-10T21:46:00.001-07:00

Some sketches of Rescuers Down Under storyboard, mostly by Brenda Chapman.
Thanks to "Paper Dreams" by John Canemaker.
All this and more is going into my final boards.

Toughies -pt1

2008-09-09T21:23:00.001-07:00

um.... silly scanner?

Gators! -pt4

2008-09-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

Original StoryBoards

2008-09-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

So I have finished about 70 (gasp!) rug thumbnaily board panels for my new exercise, entitled, "Jimmy Helps an Old Lady Cross the Street and is intercepted by a bunch of sewer gators..."

Here are some clean versions of our heroes:

And here's the script outline, shot for shot.

**********

Storyboard tips from Eric Goldberg, via the Lady and the Tramp DVD:
Above all else, a storyboard artist has to be a good COMMUNICATOR
He puts down as few lines and details as possible to tell the story clearly.

**********

Storyboard tips from Burny Mattinson, via the Animation Podcast:
thumbnail everything out first very roughly on separate paper. Get the poses down, feel it out. Then commit to drawing it on a storyboard panel.

Song of the South Storyboard

2008-09-06T22:17:00.001-07:00

i did about 25 drawings in about a half hour.
After the board by Bill Peet uploaded earlier today.

In a tight scene like this with characters of different sizes acting off each other, I thought up another key word:
INTER-RELATE-ABILITY.
i.e. the characters RELATE to each other in a believable way, either in physical contact or eye contact or hand gestures.

Storyboard Tips from John K.

2008-09-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

ORIGINAL REN AND STIMPY BOARDS AT ANIMATION ARCHIVE

On Tuesday, April 29, 2008:

The drawings don't need to be finished, totally on-model drawings of the characters. The cartoon story writer has to be more concerned with the story- continuity, acting, staging, gags clarity.

If the story man has to worry about doing cleaned up perfectly on-model characters and finished background drawings, then his mind is not free to think about story.

The storyman wants to show the continuity through the characters. The characters need to appear spontaneous and alive and motivated from within. A really good story man can draw fast and confidently, which automatically gives the continuity a spontaneous - this is really happening now - quality to the work.

***

Friday, May 02, 2008
You don't need to be totally "on-model" to storyboard my cartoons, but you need to capture the essence of the characters. The basic proportions and the attitudes. You can leave out details, as long as you have clear posing and acting and continuity. See how clear the silhouettes are too.

***

Friday, July 04, 2008
What I expect from the storyboard artist is to sketch the continuity. The drawings don't have to be cleaned up, but you do need to be able to draw the characters well -understand their basic shapes and their proportions.
You also need to understand the story and the personalities of the characters, so you can draw the acting.
The drawings have to have life, be specific and put the point of each gag and story point across without ambiguity.
Your storyboard should provide a strong framework for the pose/layout artist who will do tighter versions of the storyboard roughs and add some breakdown poses.
I'm not looking for wild abstract crazy drawings. I need strong acting that is in context of the scenes and story. And of course is funny. Funny and CUTE to steal a great trademarked phrase.

***

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Note that the drawings don't always have to be tight or even too on model. The important thing a storyboard artist should concentrate on is creating and telling the story. Continuity, staging, pacing and entertainment. There are other departments to refine visually what the story artists write.

***

Sunday, May 06, 2007
[Mentoring Rex]
1) Get used to drawing the characters
Every function has a process and the first step of any cartoon job is to learn to draw the characters. Especially if you want to write for them.

2) Do Setups [shot-by-shot do's and don'ts]
I asked Rex to draw a master shot of where the scene takes place.
And after that to draw the same scene from different angles and with the camera at different distances from the characters.
Not at random either. All these decisions are made by reading the story and deciding from what angles and distances the gags will best be presented.

3) Start the Continuity
Know your characters' motivations and personal quirks

***

Monday, April 23, 2007
I have a few different drawing styles and I use them for different thought processes. When I am writing ideas, I draw them, but I draw really fast, with no regard to construction, perspective, line quality or any finished techniques. I am purely drawing feeling. I am trying to draw in real time as the events play out. I look like a complete spaz when I'm doing it and people make fun of me and imitate it.

The drawings are very scribbly but have the germs of all the visual ideas in continuity. Once these scribbles are complete, then I switch my brain to style mode and draw bigger versions of the same drawings that use more solid principles. This step (layout) requires slower, more carefully choreographed drawings and uses a completely different part of the brain to do. If I was trying to storyboard a scene in this finished style, it wouldn't work. I would be thinking of pretty drawings rather than story and emotion and continuity.

Eddie has a great storyboard drawing style. It's simple but full of amazing life, fantastic strong clear poses and staging and composition.

***

Elsewhere:
----
STORYBOARD STYLE VS. LAYOUT STYLE drawings
Storyboard artists don't need to draw the characters perfectly "on-model"
or clean, but they do have to understand the core of the characters' look
and personality.
----
Storyboard
Storyboard poses can be kinda rough, like these funny Rex drawings. They
don't have to be "on-model" but the artists have to understand his
construction and personality. (the other characters too)

Each pose has to be :
Clear and distinct
In Character
In context of the scene and story
Fun

You have to be able to do rough BGs and good composition too.

***
John's Storyboard Label will get you to a lot of posts, including his Bill Peet info and his original George Liquor sketches.

Gators! -pt3

2008-09-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

101 Dalmatians Boards

2008-09-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

Hi all
Today I sat for an hour working on 101 Dalmatians Storyboards, copying from Bill Peet's art from Michael Sporn's scans.
60 panels. Thin black sharpie (i couldn't find my medium sharpie). Maybe a little more than an hour...

Today's keywords:
1)Readability over on-model-ness. Be clear from across the room.
2)Storytelling. What best pluses the story?

According to the Animation Archive:
Structure
Continuity
Intent (character motivation)

Screwballs - pt3

2008-09-04T14:34:00.000-07:00

Screwballs - pt 2

2008-09-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

More Gators

2008-09-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

Pt 1

After Preston's art

Pt 2

Gators, by Preston Blair

2008-09-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

His drawings on a page:

His drawings animated (by yours truly)

Preston's Drawings animated.