Woodside

First Animation Collaborative Assignment

2011-11-13T18:10:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! I am finally ready to post up what I have been up to these past couple months. This is the first in a series of shots that compile a mini-short film. I still have some polishing notes to address but this should get the basic idea across. More to come later!

Memory Gorillas

2011-09-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

I went to the zoo this morning to draw gorillas for reference for an animation project which I am now no longer doing. I was happy with none of those drawings. Later in the day, I drew some gorillas from memory, which I was much more pleased with. Here are the little buggers now...

More on the actual animation assignment later....

Class 3 at Animation Mentor

2011-09-16T14:42:00.001-07:00

Here is my work for class 3 at Animation Mentor. My mentor this term was Drew Adams and he was great! So good at analyzing motion in film clips. I had a great time learning from him. Here's what I did:

I'm taking a break from Animation Mentor for the next term or 2 and taking classes at the Animation Collaborative in SF. I am really looking forward to this and will be posting my updates from that here. Thanks for stopping by!

First Wire Sculpture

2011-08-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post this up real quick. Been noodling around with it all weekend and thought I would put it up.

First, here's the sketch of what I wanted to do:
Unfortunately, I lost the sketch (until just now). So when I made the sculpture, I just went based on my memory of the sketch. And it went a little something like this:

Its my first time working with wire and I had a lot of fun doing it. There will probably be more to come.

Sexy Dad

2011-07-04T11:21:00.001-07:00

My dad just celebrated his Retirement party and I couldn't make it. So instead, I made a short video about him. Included was this clip about how excellent my dad's dance skills are. See for yourself.

BONUS

Zoo Day

2011-06-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Went to the zoo the other day with some pretty amazing artists. Decided to do a little drawing of my own. And it went a little something like this:

While drawing the elephants, the day was perfectly described by a wise 2 year old. Her mother was holding her on her hip next to me while I was drawing the elephants. After the mom asked the girl if she saw the elephants and their tails, the mom noticed I was drawing. She said to her daughter:

"Do you see the artist?"

Pause.

Little girl:

"No."

Jack Howl

2011-06-26T14:39:00.001-07:00

Crybaby

Brad the Bird Animation

2011-06-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

A quick animation I did the other day.

Gotta love blogger compression...

Dog Strut

2011-06-24T23:03:00.001-07:00

Quick 2D test. Didn't quite finish the cycle but it almost looks like it works out

Animation Mentor : Class 2

2011-06-22T23:13:00.000-07:00

Here is my work from last term. I really like the first and last assignments. Could have done without the 2nd one.

Oh well... It was a great term with an awesome mentor. If someone is reading this blog and looking into taking animation mentor, I can't recommend Steve Cady enough. GET IN THAT CLASS!

Onto next term!

In a traditional mood...

2011-06-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

Threw together this little diddy today. Trying to get back into the swing of some traditional workflows.

And there it is. Hopefully more (and better) to come. Thanks for stopping by!

(Come back soon and I'll post up my work for this past term for Animation Mentor)

Andreas Deja

2011-06-07T11:42:00.001-07:00

One of my all time favorite animators has started a blog. He was the first animator who's name I ever sought out knowing. After watching The Lion King (for probably the 5th time in theaters), I decided to stick around through the credits to see who animated Scar since he was my favorite character. Ever since then, I've been following his characters and studying them meticulously. I first met him at Siggraph a few years ago and he spoke about his passion for spreading animation knowledge. He was super nice and easy to talk to, which was great because I'm sure I sounded like a bumbling idiot. EVERYONE should check out this blog daily. He already posted something about Eric Larson.

Deja View

Thanks Andreas!

Long lost post

2011-06-06T00:02:00.001-07:00

As always, it has been a while but I thought I would post a bunch of drawings from my most recent outings.

This first one was from a few months back people watching at City Walk.

The other day, I went to the zoo with a lot of great artists. I did a few doodles and thought I would upload. And yes. That is a Gerenuk pooping. And yes. That is a tiger peeing. Don't judge.

My wife, Brittany, started taking up watercolor. She's a natural and I decided to catch her painting her first.

This next masterpiece is a single art piece I call "Variations on a Corgi with a bra on his head." Any buyers?

I also took a trip to the Getty Museum with a bunch of my school buddies and stalked people there.

I have also been keeping up with my figure drawing, and thought I would post a few. There are more recent ones but I don't have them available to me now.

ALSO! I just celebrated my birthday and my wife took me to Van Eaton Galleries. I grabbed that Ollie Johnston model drawing for Little John. I thought I would post up some super lo-res pictures of the few pieces of art I have hanging on my walls, as well as label who did each one. I'm starting a very dangerously expensive habit...

They also had this great maquette from Fantasia 2000 which I grabbed.

Also I went to the Sequoias but thats another post for another day.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Easter, Angry Neighbor!

2011-04-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

I've started Class 2 in Animation Mentor and my mentor this term is Steve Cady. He's been great so far and I have learned a lot through him. I'm looking forward to continuing the class with him.

Here is my most recent assignment, in its various forms. The idea was to do a character stepping to the side.

Blocking:

Blocking Plus:

Polish:

Thanks for stopping by!

Class One Wrap Up

2011-03-25T01:03:00.001-07:00

And here it is, my class 1 reel. Can't wait for class 2!

Animation Mentor DUMP

2011-03-13T10:20:00.001-07:00

Thought I would update you kind folks on my progress for Animation Mentor so far. We are nearing the end of the first term and here is all that I have to show for myself. Enjoy!

This is my pose showing Physical Strength and its many revisions. I think I went too far with the first revision and so I toned it back a bit for the final. Here are all the versions in their failing glory:

Also that week, I turned in my revision for the Taylor assignment. I have also included the traditional planning that I did in Flash.

The next week I did a concerned pose and used a model (I designed and had created by ManLouk Chin) of my dog. I got a few notes regarding the feet and overall weight balance of the pose and addressed them in this picture:

Also that week, I turned in a walk cycle. Vanilla-style, meaning that there should be no personality in the walk. Take a look at my purposefully and masterfully boring vanilla walk:

Now we are up to this week. The pose this week (appropriately enough) was exhaustion. I havent gotten my notes for revisions for this one but I imagine there will be many.

The animation assignment this week was to start planning a walk with personality. I wanted to combine the Ballie rig with the Taylor rig so I could give the character a ponytail. I did a lot of research on different walks from Disney films (as well as some live action films) to see how it all works.

So I did some planning in Flash first and got some notes by my awesome fellow students and made my revisions in 2D.

Once I got that working where I liked it, it was time to take it into Maya. I'm awaiting my notes for this one but here it is as I turned it in.

Thanks for stopping by!

Squirrels and Swan Dives

2011-02-22T19:24:00.001-08:00

Last week's assignment was to animate a ball with a tail on the end of it. I had a lot of fun and wanted to challenge myself further than just the overlap of the tail.

I did a quick planning pass in Flash.

And here is the final:

I got some great notes for critiques from various people and will be addressing those this week. Thanks for stopping by!

Playing Catch-up

2011-02-18T11:49:00.001-08:00

Aside from work and Animation Mentor, I have done some drawing too that I figured I should post for old time's sake. I went to a coffee shop a while ago and did some sketching of people there and random ideas that came into my head.

This past weekend, I met up with some other students in Animation mentor who also live in Los Angeles. We decided to go to the zoo and had a blast. Hopefully we'll do more things like that in the future. Before heading out, I did a few quick sketches of animals from internet videos. The following one, I like better than anything I did at the zoo... Its been a while....

I thought I would also post up a few life drawings as well. I can't seem to find the other ones but maybe that's for the best. Hopefully they'll have more life drawing classes at work once the movie winds down.
Thanks for stopping by!

Well hello there...

2011-02-14T17:22:00.000-08:00

It has been a while but things are FINALLY slowing down a bit at work Thought I would post a few of my animation mentor assignments to show you what I have been up to. The first couple assignments are geared to hammer on the fundamentals so don't expect to be wowed...
Bouncing Ball

Heavy/Light Assignment

Squash and Stretch through an obstacle course

Overlap on a Pendulum

IN SPAAACE!

That is all for now. More to come later!

Quick Post-it

2010-12-20T21:31:00.001-08:00

The Return of the George

2010-12-07T21:55:00.000-08:00

So I kinda had to get this out of my system. Lucas has such an interesting head shape, I had to play around with it today. I should be done now but I thought I would post it online for everyone else's (hopeful) enjoyment.

George, George, George of the Ranch

2010-12-06T22:12:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I was lucky enough to visit Skywalker Ranch with Chris Paluszek who boarded for Robot Chicken. They were screening their film for none other than George Lucas. We were asked not to take pictures and host them online but I couldn't let a trip like that blow past me without saying anything! It was an incredible estate and I left dumbfounded. Thanks Chris!

More Figure Drawing

2010-11-19T08:06:00.000-08:00

This weekend, I am at the CTN Expo in Burbank. In the meantime, I thought I would post up some more life drawings from the class at Rhythm and Hues. Its good for me to see them all together so I know what areas need improvement all around and what areas I am finally starting to understand.

In other news, I just registered for Animation Mentor and will be starting on January 3! Let the good times roll!

Cafe Sketches

2010-11-13T16:50:00.000-08:00

I went out to a hipstamatic coffee shop in silver lake today with some friends to draw. Its been a while since I have done anything like that. Of course, when I woke up this morning, I had a vicious cold that came out of no where. I decided still go anyway and see what happened. Want to see what happened?

Also, I went to the zoo last week. Not many good things came from that trip.

At long last...

2010-10-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last post, but that doesn't mean it has been a while since my last drawing... Here are a bunch of life drawings that I have done in the past few weeks at the class at work. I've condensed them into group images so it doesnt take forever to scroll through.

Doodles

2010-09-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

Been a while but I thought I would post a few doodles. This is what a typical sheet looks like for me, in terms of how I draw.

Enjoy the flattering self portrait, as well.

You're a crook, Captain Hook...

2010-09-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

I recently got a pretty nice statuette of Captain Hook and Mr. Smee.

Its great for drawing so I took to it this weekend.

(Don't worry, the drawings that got cut off were the worst)

If you haven't tried it yet, draw from some statues or toys around the house. Its interesting because you really have to pay attention. A Mickey toy looks nothing like the model sheet of Mickey Mouse.

Anyway, more to come later!

Odie Revisited

2010-09-10T20:22:00.001-07:00

I watched the version I put up last night and rethought a few arcs and the kick at the top. With the help of Chris Silva, I was able to get some sweet notes and addressed them inbetween shots at work. Heres the newbie:

---Last night, I scanned every drawing which took forever. Today I rigged up a setup where I shot down on my table with my phone. Seemed to work pretty well!

Odie Kick

2010-09-09T23:48:00.000-07:00

I didn't know this when I got the blu ray, but I recently found out that on the Princess and the Frog blu ray, there is a Picture-In-Picture "work in progress" reel that you can play along with the movie. I wish I could see the pencil scenes full screen instead of just in the box but its good to be included at all. After watching it, I decided I would do a quick "lets get back into traditional" test with Mamma Odie. This is in NO WAY a post for me to talk about how good I am. As you can see from the test below, I have a lot of work to do. But, you gotta do a million bad drawings before you get that good one. Here's to leveling the rainforest for the sake of my learning!

Its raining....

2010-09-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

...cats and dogs. And Disney studies. I had some extra time at work the past couple of days and mustered up some of these.

These copies were from the Disney Animation book again. Some of my favorite animation that Disney has done has been in Song of the South and Jungle Book. Its a shame we haven't seen a good copy of Song of the South come around yet. The animation is incredible.

Also, today I perused Flikr to do some studies of cats and dogs. Here's what happened, in all its unedited glory:

Thanks for stopping by, assumed follower.

Some more life drawing

2010-09-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about Rhythm and Hues is that they offer life drawing classes once a week. Its very cool that they do that at a studio where no one is required to know how to draw. Here are a few of my life drawings for the past 3 weeks:

Tigger in Color

2010-09-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick diddy I did of tigger:

I used a watercolor brush that was created for the new Winnie The Pooh movie by Lisa Keene (Background Painter). We recently did an interview with her for the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Podcast. Check out the new podcast here!

-Keep in mind, I am still learning to use the brush. Be confident that the movie will look MUCH better than this-

Apology Drawings

2010-09-02T20:36:00.000-07:00

I know its been a while since I posted so I thought I would barf as much as possible onto one post. I did some in-movie-studies. I couldn't dream of doing these characters justice but I had fun drawing them. Here are a few:

That last one leads me to my next drawings. I just got the new Disney Animation book and it has a lot of great images from all the feature films throughout the years. I copied a few Pinochios. After copying them, I decided to see if I could put Tigger in the same position as the Pinochio drawing. I think the guy on the bottom left is the more successful one. What do you think?

This last page has a few poses that I drew without reference. I'm having a lot of fun with this character.
Then finally, I drew this from a documentary about a WWII veteran who bridged the gap between enemy and friend with music by playing his trumpet at night. Really cool story but maybe even a more interesting face.

That is all. Till next time, whenever that is.

The wonderful thing about Tiggers...

2010-08-21T10:04:00.003-07:00

...is that hes a lot of fun to draw. These are all quick studies from a model sheet of his. I want to do an animation test with him soon. Stay posted.

An interesting idea

2010-08-14T21:22:00.001-07:00

At work, I usually am listening to a Grooveshark playlist. Yesterday, I had a playlist that was shuffling through Pixar soundtracks. In my opinion, the music from those films is some of the best coming out nowandays. Maybe because the music (like everything else at Pixar) is story driven. Anyway, I had an idea to do a quick sketch during each song while I was rendering. I've listened to that music a lot so I have a pretty good idea what is going on during each queue. Here is my page:

Each one took only a few seconds so the drawings aren't amazing but I thought the idea was a pretty cool one at least.

My deepest aplology...

2010-08-08T19:39:00.001-07:00

Seems like its been a long time since my last post. Baby, let me explain...

I had a pretty whirlwind experience for the past 2 weeks. I went to Comicon and then immediately went to SIGGRAPH, followed by starting my new job at Rhythm and Hues. So it's been kinda hard to find the time to post.

At comicon, I picked up a statue from Chris Sanders.

Its a great tool for drawing since his style is so appealing and you can turn it to different angles and really figure the thing out. I tried my hand at a few of them.

The scan kind of killed the pencil line. I drew with a 3H so I could sketch it out heavily without worrying about my lines getting too thick. I hate the way any "H" pencil feels in my hand but it helps me not get lost in the lines.

I'll try and be more frequent from now on. I might try to start a "once a day" blog. A great example of one is The Daily Post It by the great animator, Aaron Hartline (the mastermind behind "Mr. Tortilla Head"). We'll see if I can get a good idea started.

Quick Life Drawing Post

2010-07-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

I recently went to a gallery show at the Animation Guild building for the group, Girls drawing Girls. To break from tradition, I thought I would also draw some girls that they had modeling in the back. Here is my page of drawings before I quit. Enjoy the unedited glory of my mistakes.

An observation in overlapping action...

2010-06-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

My wife is aspiring to become a make-up artist for film and television. Yesterday, I attended her first runway show. They were showcasing several designers and Brittany was to help with the make-up for some of the girls. I went in ready to support my wife in breaking into her new career. While I liked all of the work my wife did, I was not necessarily prepared for what was to come.

The first hour of the show featured "Plus Sized Lingerie." I'm gonna let that sink in.

This guy was not impressed.

This lady, however, was. For some reason...

(Thanks to Chris Silva for the title of this post. Also, just to be clear, there were more than just plus sized lingerie models that day. Thankfully. Love you Brittany!!!!)

True Story

2010-06-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

Zoo Story

Things

2010-06-15T23:19:00.001-07:00

Josephine Baker

2010-06-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went to The Drawing Club and the theme was Josephine Baker. Took me a while to get the hang of it and then I threw myself for a loop by adding watercolor. Its fun to learn.

New Wash

2010-06-03T18:16:00.000-07:00

A few more from a short trip to the zoo at the end of the day today.

This first lion is nothing special but I liked the way the wash looks a little rushed, almost like the character is in motion. Seems kinda wasted on an image of a yawning lion but, I'm learning. Once I figure out what I am doing, I might be able to use something like that on purpose...

Long time no see?

2010-06-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

Hello, assumed reader! I'll cut to the chase. Today I went to the zoo and starbucks and brought along a few new toys I got for my birthday. I got a water brush and some great pens. Here's what came of it:

This first one, I was just trying out the watercolors. Its super splotchy but I like the color that came from the belly.

Can't stop drawing this dog... This was interesting though because I didn't use any watercolor, but just went over the ink of the drawing.

Some guy at Starbucks.

More people at Starbucks... I really like adding a wash of color behind the characters. I think it adds a lot to the character of the drawing. (The guy in the middle was the same technique as the pup above)

Last zoo animals.

I'm sure there will be more to come...

Real Entertainment

2010-05-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

I just came across this link from a friend on facebook and decided I should share it. Its a clip from a great film called Stormy Weather. I was first introduced to this movie almost 2 years ago at the ASIFA Archive by Steve Worth. The film is like a time capsule of some great entertainment in the black community from the 1930s and 40s. Although every scene of the film stands on its own as a great piece of entertainment, there is one specific piece which holds my full attention every time I see it. Whenever I show this film to other people and they don't have enough time to see the whole thing, I always skip to this part.

It opens with Cab Calloway (if you haven't heard of him before, this is a special day for you...). He is singing with his orchestra a song called "Jumpin Jive." After he gets through the beginning portion, a pair of brothers jump onstage and begin (as far as I know to date) the most interesting and well performed tap duet I have ever seen.

Be sure to watch the entire clip though. It follows an arc that progressively gets more entertaining and daring as it goes on.

Its great to see something like this when we live in a world today where celebrities are famous for having a specific personality but no trace of talent. They are famous because they are recognizable but they are not recognized because they are talented. Anyway, I digress. There is much to learn about entertainment from this clip (and the others from the same film). If you enjoyed this, be sure to check out the rest of it!

Heinrich Kley

2010-05-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

When I first moved out to California several years ago, I thought I knew a lot about the artists that influenced animation. I figured that it all started with Windsor McCay and his Gertie the Dinosaur.

One of the first things I learned was that I hadn't even scratched the surface.

I went to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive and was introduced to the work of an artist who has left me in awe ever since. His name is Heinrich Kley and he was an illustrator/painter for the German magazines Judges and Simplizissimus during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Before I heard of him, when I thought of 1800s art, this was generally the image that came to mind:
Which, don't get me wrong, its solid. But for the most part, it's static and boring. The story says: "Abe Lincoln likes to sit and when he does, he sits at this chair in this arbitrary corner." In fact, I'm not even sure he likes to sit. His expression doesn't really look like one of joy or even contentment. Not much of a story there. But still solidly drawn.

After seeing what Kley brought to the table, I was floored at what I was missing. His drawings ooze with story and character, moreso than really anything I have seen people produce since.

I went to several libraries around town to check out both of his sketchbooks to study his drawings as closely as I could. Just yesterday, I found one of his books in a great used book store in Glendale. I wanted to post up some of his artwork so that if you haven't seen it yet, you can see what a great artist he was.

Try and conceive of something like this, even with all of the reference resources we have available now through the internet:

And he did this all from observation and memory. Unbelievable. There are 2 different sketchbooks (1 and 2) out there for anyone who is interested in seeing more. There are some pictures online but if I learned anything from ASIFA and Steve Worth, it's to "Touch Art." There is nothing like breathing on an original in order to study it closer. If you don't have access to and original (like the rest of us) either buy or check out the books and see for yourself what an amazing talent this guy was. (An added bonus is to then watch the original Fantasia and see for yourself what an influence he was on those guys...)

If you are interested in stuff like this, be sure to check out an upcoming ASIFA-Hollywood Podcast where we talk to Steve Worth about some of the unknown origins of animation and how those people can influence what we produce today. We hope to do a podcast in the future specifically about Heinrich Kley also (I know I am looking forward to that one).

Sleeping Firetruck

2010-04-30T18:25:00.000-07:00

Here's just a quick sketch of my dog as he was sleeping this afternoon. I know I post a lot of random drawings of him up but he is basically an endless source of inspiration for me. His proportions don't make any sense (being a corgi) so I have a lot of fun playing with different shapes. This drawing, however, is pretty straight forward. I'm trying to focus a little more on construction since my latest drawings have been a little loosey goosey.

More to come...

DUMP!

2010-04-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

I went to Norms the other day and got to draw some interesting looking people. Heres a few of them...

The other night, we were watching Wizard of Oz and I noticed that Firetruck was watching right along. And it went as follows...

Zoo drawings

Smokers and Firetrucks

2010-04-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

Not too much to this post. Just wanted to show a couple of doodles I have done in the past few days.

First... a guy from a documentary I was watching.
Second and lastly, my mischievous pup.
That is all! (for now.........)

100th POST!

2010-04-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

Too bad I'm gonna ruin it with these babies...

hippie...

National Elevated Baby Day at the Zoo

2010-04-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to take a random trip to the zoo at the end of the day. The animals are a lot more active in the late afternoon than they are in the morning. Probably because they know they are about to clock out. But today, not unlike any other day, I noticed a bunch of kids perched on top of their parents.

Oh... also there were animals.

Maybe more later?

Sketchbook Idea

2010-04-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post up this tidbit. I always draw on loose sheets of paper around the house when I am just doodling. One of the problems with that is if I want to keep any of the drawings, I am stuck with random loose sheets of paper. But I don't want to draw all my crappy doodles in sketchbooks. SO! I went to Fedex Kinkos and had them bind about 300 sheets of blank paper together. Total Price: $12.

I could have had 500 sheets put together for the same price because you are just paying for the ream of paper and the binding but that was too much paper. Anyway, thought I would share that tip.

Thanks for stopping by!

By the pool...

2010-03-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

I went to our pool for the first time the other day and brought along my sketchbook. I wasn't too pleased with what I got but I drew more bodies and hopefully captured SOMETHING. I'll get better, I promise...

This kid was funny. He had goggles that also doubled as a mask which led up to a shark fin on top of his head.

Some people don't know how to dress at the pool... (But they do know how to stroll)

Beardy enthralled with tiny phone behind laptop...

Jonas Brother wanna-be...

Funny kid holding his breath...

Water stretches...

Our complex houses a lot of families that come out during Pilot Season in order to try out for all the new sitcoms. The kids and their show-moms are everywhere and, on this day, took a trip to the pool. All this kid wanted to do was play with his mom but she kept ignoring him and talking on her cell phone. Ah... the life of a child star.

Interesting reading position.

Towel girl...
Also, I thought more about approaching my drawings from a shape point of view and came up with these 2 boring designs. (This is posted strictly for my to look back on and say "what was I thinking!")

I think this one was originally based on a guitar.

My wife has a picture up of a few penguins that her grandpa took while in Antarctica kidnapping penguins for the San Diego Zoo.

These last few are some heads I drew while watching TV. Not sure what they are from but here they are...

Drawings from my recent trip

2010-03-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

I just got back from seeing family in Central Florida for the past 2 weeks. It was a great time and I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in over a year. Also, I was able to bring along my sketchbook and try and capture some more people. First, here are a few drawings I did at the airport. This is something that I need to really work on; finding a good story pose and working it out clearly.

First off, I am pretty confident that this guy was Jacob from LOST. We have been watching that show a lot lately and it looked just like him. Thankfully, he was on standby and didn't make it onto our flight...
Dreads...
This man looked MISERABLE.
So did his wife...

here, I finally remembered to include the body so the pose would read better as a story than just the head. I am pretty happy with it.We also spent a day at Disney World and I got to draw a little there. Here are a few from that day:

smoking section...

This next guy was WAY into his food.
Finally, here is a spread of a bunch of doodles I did while eating. I'm happy with a few of them but I thought I would show the whole page so you could see what a typical sketch page looks like in my book.
Thanks for stopping by!

Leftover Sketches

2010-03-26T12:23:00.001-07:00

I have been trying to draw a lot more frequently lately, while watching TV or going out to eat. Here are a few sketches that I drew during some of those times.

What I am seeing here is that I am just focusing on heads. I need to complete the story of the character by incorporating bodies. I don't mean to leave them out, but I guess I am finding the limits of my knowledge when I feel "done" with a drawing when I get to the shoulders. This is something I hope to work on in the future.

Finally, here is a lion from a zoo trip a while ago...

Jack the Firetruck

2010-03-13T23:48:00.000-08:00

Just a quick sketch from tonight. In case you haven't met him, here is my corgi, Firetruck!

Salesman of the Year

2010-03-13T02:22:00.003-08:00

Its been a while since I did a digital painting so here's a quickie of a terrifying girl scout. Goodnight!

Zoo Drawings and Rembrandt

2010-03-03T10:17:00.000-08:00

So the last Vilppu class was a disaster. I don't know what it is but some days just turn out to be the worst for drawing. Instead of posting those life drawings, I thought I would post some drawings that I did at the zoo this past week. I can't say enough about the Hultgren book (clearly... this is the third time I have mentioned it in as many posts). So here are a few of my drawings from 2 days at the zoo:

This first set is the Gerenuk. He's usually pretty hard to draw because none of his proportions make sense. His neck is way too long and his head is too small.

They also have really flexible mouths so I drew this guy chewing. As you go down the image, I got a little more crazy with the exaggeration. I'm not necessarily "proud" of these drawings. I just think they are fun.

I also drew some lions. Those guys are SUPER difficult for me for some reason. You would think it would be easier, since The Lion King was what first turned me onto becoming and animator in the first place. I kept accidentally stretching out the proportions as I was drawing them. So for this next one, I just did it on purpose.
Through Photoshop trickery, this is how the head SHOULD have been drawn... Now I know.

Lastly, I reluctantly drew a zebra. Their proportions are so much different than a horse's. First of all, their heads are MUCH larger than a horses head. And their legs are short and stubby.

From studying a horses anatomy for a while, it took some getting used to. But sometimes, in order to get the best perspective, its best to be able to compare what your subject isn't, and use those comparisons to draw more effectively.
Not amazing, but on my way.

Here are 2 bonus drawings I did. The first one was at Porto's and the second one is my dog at home.

Lastly, I wanted to put this up. This past Saturday, I went with some friends to the Getty Museum to see the Rembrandt exhibit. They had some of his drawings alongside his student's drawings. The purpose was to compare his technique and approach to his students. There were so many great drawings there but my favorite had to be "The Return of the Prodigal Son."
There is so much going on here. (Keep in mind that I basically am pulling at strings here but I think I am starting to understand what is going on here). He does such a great job at focusing your attention in all the right places. Even by adding certain "non essential" elements to the drawing, he is leading your eye to the prodigal son's face and ultimately to the father's face.

Once you get there, it is hugely impressive. This guy knew how to get the most out of his forms. I would love to be able to get to the point where I am not worrying about the drawing so much as I am focused on the clarity of storytelling. That's my ultimate goal here and I hope I am closer to achieving it.

Cal Arts drawings

2010-02-28T19:36:00.000-08:00

I went to a drawing class today at Cal Arts and drew for about 6 hours. I got a few that I wanted to post up.

5 minute poses:

This first one is probably one of my favorites for the day (It wasn't my first drawing of the day).
Not a fan of the head in this one, but I like the way the body turned out enough to compensate for my inability to draw heads.

10 minute poses:

20 minute poses:

This next one was kinda goofy. I started with the head and I like the way it turned out. But the body is a little more realistic than I wanted it to be.
So here is the head...

That is all. One more Vilppu class this week. I'll let you know how it goes....

Studies and Color experimentation

2010-02-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

So after going to the Equestrian Center, I decided to go back to the Ken Hultgren book and look at his studies of horses. After making a few copies of them, I realized what I was missing in my drawings: knowledge.... So, I'll be studying more before going out and applying that knowledge to the living breathing beasts in front of me (Coffee shops included). Here is my copy of how a master draws horses.

Also, I've been experimenting with color paper and a white charcoal pencil. Its been pretty rewarding, giving me another perspective on how to approach a drawing. It all comes back to the construction of the subject. ESPECIALLY when it comes to texture and lighting. Here are a few more copies of studies from Hultgren.

Here is a little doodle in the same "style" I am playing with. I know its nothing revolutionary but its fun for me to try out.

I went to the 2nd to last Vilppu class. I had to leave early because my dog has an eye infection and needed me to take his cone of shame off him. But here are a few drawings from that class.
Finally, some more color studies from imagination at home. Glen says that the only way to learn these things he is teaching is to try them at home without a model. That way, you are drawing like the masters who had to make this stuff up. Knowledge is power and these drawings don't lie. I need to learn some more..

Shiny butt.

Horsies

2010-02-20T16:24:00.001-08:00

I went to the Equestrian Center today for the first time. I had a lot of fun drawing horses. My Hultgren book was a huge help. In fact, I think I might have subconsciously stolen one of the poses from it... Oh well... I'm learning.

Stolen....
Oops

Kinda goofy...

Vilppu Again

2010-02-09T17:54:00.001-08:00

This first one was drawn from memory as the model was setting up.Drawing some of the classmates while Glen taught up front
First real drawing of the model... 3 minutes
Quick sketch after drawing the full pose (which I didn't like)
10 minutes
10 minutes...?
3 minutes
3 hours... Yeah. 3 hours. The flash killed the drawings at the leg. Maybe when I get my scanner to work, I'll try it again.

Life Drawing continues from Glen Vilppu's class

2010-02-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of classes worth of drawings that I have done on my Tuesday class with Glen Vilppu. Its good for me to see them all together so I see where I need to grow. Here are the things I see:

1. Proportions
2. Draw some faces and hands...
3. Generally slow down. I rush into the drawing and dont leave enough of a foundation to build on.
4. Make the forms more appealing than my view of the model allows. Figure it out.

(Sorry in advance for the terrible quality of photos here...)
This first set of drawings is from a class with Poseidon. Literally.

These are from today's class.

I'm trying to draw around the forms now. I tend to stick with the outlines with makes things look generally lame and flat. I think I am making some progress here.

Box exercise...
This is a funny story. For this next drawing, I was feeling pretty good about it. It was a 90 minute pose and during one of the last breaks for the model she walked around and peeked at the drawings. When she saw mine, she said "Oh! Its my Avatar body!" Then she laughed...
Some bonus drawings of Brittany while she was watching tv.
Then she fell asleep.
Some old drawings from the zoo.

Saw this girl at the zoo.

That is all, for now.

Life Drawings and Len Norris

2010-01-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of my drawings from my life drawing class with Glen Vilppu.

I went over to Steve Worths house last night to greet his new pup, Pickles. He and Jojo decided to get me some presents for Christmas. These are fun and great for drawing from different angles to learn new shapes.

While I was there, I was introduced to a cartoonist named Len Norris who drew for the Vancouver Sun. He has a great loose style that is built around really solid construction. I did a few copies:

Copy - Paste

2009-12-23T13:58:00.000-08:00

I have been working on seeing shapes better while copying. Most of my drawings seem to lack a cohesive form. I have been checking out Rad's new How-To Blog and he has a lot of great info. I'm hoping that my studies will lead to me better understanding how animatable forms are used most effectively. Here are a few studies that I have done the past few days from a few Disney movies. I'm just pausing them as I watch and figuring out the shapes.

The one I am most happy with on this page is the quick sketch of doc. It was just drawn remembering the shapes I copied earlier. That's the ultimate goal... to create my own drawings.

I'm not very happy with any of these drawings but here they are...

Basically, the part of these drawings that I loathe the most is the faces. They are all a little wonky. That and mulans SR hand. Monster-fist...

This was probably my most successful.

I have signed up for a life drawing class with Glen Vilppu that starts in January. Its a 5 1/2 hour class every tuesday and should hopefully get me on track with my goals.

Also, I signed up for another animation class with Alex Topete and Mike Polvani that will just be for 3 saturdays. I'm going to make the most of it this time and will hopefully have something to show for myself! Thanks for stopping by, assumed reader.

Clean Up Portfolio

2009-10-19T01:53:00.000-07:00

Since the PDF is only working on some computers, here are the images on their own. Enjoy

Thanks!

Drawing Collection

2009-10-14T19:52:00.001-07:00

**UPDATED** New hands and feet, modified animal drawings page, and added an elephant, kangaroo and some pigs!

These are my latest drawings. The ones that I choose to use, I will reshoot/rescan so they aren't so greyed out. I'll also lay them out in a MUCH more appealing way. This is just sort of a dump of my best images, to be cleaned up later. Thanks!

30 Second Poses

2009-09-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

Today I did a lot of 30 second sketches of poses, using Pose Maniacs. This first page is from the beginning of the day and the second page is the end, representing over an hour of 30 second pose drawing.
I feel like I am getting a lot more confident at this point, understanding forms better and being able to capture them faster. My usual trouble spots are still visible but I hope to address them soon.

Here are some drawings I did along the way.

Of course, the red one wasn't done in 30 seconds but I thought I would post it anyway.
Tomorrow is life drawing at work and I hope to do some of these beforehand. We'll see what comes of it!

More and More

2009-09-22T23:15:00.001-07:00

Enough naked ladies. Heres a dog.
And a mermaid.

Weekly Life Drawing

2009-09-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Chip and Dale

2009-09-03T21:18:00.001-07:00

Life Drawing from Work

2009-09-02T21:57:00.001-07:00

A Cowboy and a Sailor

2009-09-02T21:53:00.001-07:00

Here's a copy from a picture on John K's blog.

Putting them side by side shows me all of the many things that are wrong with it. Learning, learning, learning...

And here's a cowboy from the old brain-hole.

100 heads

2009-08-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

I tried something new today. I decided to draw 100 heads on the same sheet of paper so I could see where my shortcuts and cheating habits are and try to break them. They were really quick sketches, no more than a minute a piece.

Then I went back into the pile and tried to reconstruct a few of them.

Figure Drawing Session - 2

2009-08-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

Work Doodles

2009-08-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

I see a bunch of blogs that post daily and I am envious of them. I draw every day but just dont post. I'll try to post a lot more often in the future. Here are a few pages of doodles from today at work.

Life Drawing... For better or worse

2009-08-18T22:09:00.001-07:00

Rhythm and Hues is offering a Life Drawing class after hours and I jumped on that opportunity. We drew a lot of 5 minute poses with some 10 and 20 minute poses mixed in. Here are my drawings in order (Sorry about the picture quality. As you can see, we live in a cave and only have one light):

During this next drawing, our teacher Jack Bosson came up and told me to push the perspective more to create more interest. So I quit this drawing and moved on to....

...this disaster. Lesson learned? (no)

That is all for now

Life Drawing: Summer Fun!

2009-08-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

Doodle City

2009-08-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

A bunch of doodles from work.

Post Comicon Activities

2009-07-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

I went to the dog park again. But this time, I referenced some drawings of dogs that Disney has done, so I could see how they tackled the anatomy of the legs. I feel like I am getting a better handle on it and I hope it is clear to you too... (gulp)

Also, this past weekend, I went to Comicon and had a great time. I stopped for a while to draw some people and here's what came of it.

Back at work, I went out to draw at lunch and then came back and did some studies of some real cartoons.

Finally, tonight I was fortunate enough to see John Lasseter honor Hayao Miyazaki at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Since Danny is on the board of directors, he and I got to go to the reception beforehand which was a fantastic experience. While I was waiting to meet Miyazaki, a crazy thing happened. John Lasseter approached him to introduce Matt Groening (Simpsons) to Miyazaki. A sudden photo-op appeared and I was right on it.

Afterwards, Miyazaki was kind enough to let me thank him and sign my ticket.

Just another night in California...

Composition Notebook

2009-07-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

I found a very cheap sketchbook the other day. Its perfect for making bad drawings in, which I do all too frequently.

In it, I have drawn many a thing. Here are a few of those things.

We've been going to the dog park a lot lately. These are just a few of the drawings.

Also, I'm a huge fan of Chris Sanders so I have been studying his drawings a lot lately. Here are a few of my copies.

This last one has a drawing based on a Paul Briggs drawing in the top right corner.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ladies, animals, and passersby

2009-07-03T12:40:00.001-07:00

Here are some more drawings I have done over the past few days. The first 2 are from my wife's makeup magazine. I am realizing that I am not that great at drawing women so I am trying to improve on that. The next batch were drawings from the zoo done last weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Look at all dem drawings...

2009-07-02T20:26:00.001-07:00

Drawings of dogs and dudes.

Life Drawings

2009-06-25T23:24:00.000-07:00

I've recently been attending Bob Kato's The Drawing Club life drawing sessions every thursday night. I've put it off for a while but am desperately in need to understanding the figure before I can move forward. Here are some selections from the first 2 weeks. The first set is based on an Egon Schiele theme and the next set is based on 70s black cinema.

Spy Game

2009-05-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

I caught people in the act of living. Some I like, some I don't. What do you like (or hate)?

Yogi

2009-05-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

John K posted about some Yogi cartoons and I picked one and did a variation.
Here's the original

And my take.

***REVISION***

Goes without saying

2009-04-23T22:37:00.001-07:00

More attempts. This time focusing on volumes and trying to clearly show the steps in the process by using different colors. I think I was most successful on the last drawing in this post.

Two Jerry's

2009-04-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

Original

Attempt

Original

Attempt

Jerry ad nauseum

2009-04-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

Again, I toss my drawings into the void.

Continuation of Rats and Corgis (also some cats)

2009-04-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

More Corgi. We'll call him 'Regal Corgi'

Some more Tom and Jerry studies.

The end

Corgis and rats

2009-04-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

Been doing a little bit of drawing lately.

John K suggested that we draw more from some great Tom and Jerry covers. I tried one but wasn't able to devote much time to it. Hopefully when I get off overtime, I'll be able to spend more time focusing on a single drawing. Here's my rough attempt anyway.

I'm working on the next Preston Blair drawing lesson, which coincidentally is also Jerry. Focusing on the Line of Action.

Here's my happy dog.

Corgi Variation 1: Squinty

Corgi Variation 2: 80's West Hollywood

Corgi Variation 3: Unimpressed

Which Corgi are you?

Finally! More has Come!

2009-04-12T22:31:00.000-07:00

It is fitting for me to resurrect my blog on Easter Sunday. Since my last post, I have gone to the zoo a couple of times and thought I would share some of those drawings here for anyone who would care to see. They are as follows:

Here are more dogs from the dog park:

This is my dog sleeping today after a long hard day of doing nothing.

Couple of little gazelle things. I forget what they are called.

Hippie llama

Not a llama.

This represents the first time that the bear has decided to come out of his cave at the Los Angeles Zoo. Apparently there were 2 bears. Who knew?

Just lots of monkeys and people who looked even more confused.

This one had a temper

Brittany asked me to draw Stitch playing a guitar. So, I drew Stitch playing a guitar...

Finally, this is what it looks like when I sit in front of my animation desk and have nothing to draw. I just randomly doodle on top of other drawings until I get this mess...

Its not much, but its my life.

Teaser...

2009-03-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

More to come...

Thumbnail Animation

2009-03-24T23:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you expecting some sort of literal translation for the title, prepare to be disappointed. While rendering at work, I drew out a short scene in thumbnail form just to take an idea from start to finish. I scanned in the thumbnails and cropped and fit them to eachother and here is the mess that came from it. I was pretty happy with it, considering each drawing is about a quarter inch tall.

Shere Khan

2009-03-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

Mine

Original:

Tigger and Mickey

2009-03-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

I have linked to a quicktime of my mickey walk cycle so you can see it better.

Mickey run

Thanks for droppin in!

***UPDATE***
I have just finished this weeks Inbetweening assignment. It can be viewed here:

Tigger Jump

Life Drawing and animation

2009-03-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

I went to Cal Arts this weekend to do a bit of life drawing. It was a 7 hour long class and these were the "best" of the pile.

Here now is my work for the animation inbetweening class. Its hard to see what all was done but here is the movie nonetheless.

Another Bugs Bunny Cover

2009-02-07T16:17:00.000-08:00

Original Cover

First pass at Construction

After Construction Fix

Final?

Bugs Bunny

2009-01-28T22:54:00.001-08:00

50th Post!

2009-01-25T22:40:00.000-08:00

Not that great of an accomplishment, when you consider that this is the 3rd year or so that I have posted on this blog. Nonetheless, consider these drawings as a gift. Its some of the characters from the next stage of whatever lesson of Preston Blair that I am on. Thanks for stopping by!

Animals and more Animals

2009-01-25T14:56:00.000-08:00

I have continued to draw more characters from different styles from model sheets. The first couple drawings are from model sheets found on ASIFA's Animation Archive website.

The next couple of drawings represent failed attempts at the zoo. I'm mostly not proud of them but I want to be able to have them available to me once I have improved to a level that makes me gag at the sight of these drawings. My apologies for anyone who is at that point already.

I'm afraid to ask but, any thoughts?