Little Rooster in the Field

Sketchin' out a character

2011-11-17T17:15:00.001-08:00

Doodle

2011-11-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

Trying to come up with a character design for a set of boards.

Iron Giant Hand Studies

2011-11-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

Dean

2011-10-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

I was playing around with some model sheets from Iron Giant.

Just constructing some poses.

Had a little trouble getting the proportions right with his legs.

More muscle group studies

2011-10-18T17:48:00.000-07:00

Leg Study

2011-10-14T17:44:00.000-07:00

I got all this from Rad's "How to" blog. I went over his example (the images not in the center) and then did one of my own in the middle there. The pic I used for my study is taken from The Satorialist.

Hopefully, I got the muscle groups in the right place.

More HTTYD

2011-10-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

Other sketches.

Playing with GIFs

2011-10-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

It took me longer to figure out how to make this and post it than it did to draw it. Pretty pathetic. And it looks like it's snowing in the image. Nice.

Found some production art from HTTYD (How to Train Your Dragon for the rest of us). So I was playing around with one of the characters and wanted to do a little dance. What's this move called... if you can tell? The mashed potato? It's my "go to" move at weddings. It's not very successful. It looks like she's churning butter or something.

More Life Drawing sessions

2011-06-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

Here are a few sketches from a few different lunch time life drawing sessions.

I didn't say they were all gems.

The Caricature wall

2011-06-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

At work there's a caricature wall. Every week someone's name is pulled out of a hat and, well, it's pretty self explanatory. I don't usually get in on it as I'm not that good with caricatures and I feel like I have to know the person. It can be kind of weird to just draw a funny picture of someone you might only see in the hallway once a week. Then what if they don't like it. I'm awkward enough in social situations without upping the ante every week.

So this is Doug. He's one of our editors. Great guy. Huge personality. It's not a caricature in the classic sense but I was happy with it.

Costumed Life Drawing

2011-04-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

At Nick they have costumed life drawing every Wednesday at lunch. I've gotten a chance to get over there a couple times and while my first outing was a little rough, the second wasn't as bad. Here are a few of the pages from my sketchbook.

These were all done with a Sharpie... my new favorite drawing implement.

New Job!

2011-02-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

The word of the day: J - O - B! Storyboard Revisionist on Penguins of Madagascar. I'm pretty excited about this.

More Space

2011-01-08T15:44:00.001-08:00

New Year, New...er stuff

2011-01-01T00:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a few frames from a new set of boards I've been working on. Yuri the Kosmonaut is back in a more familiar environment. I haven't quite finished off the story and hope to do that real soon. Here's a few frames.

Film Study: Casino Royale

2010-10-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

This was an assignment for my Story Development for Animation class.

Casino Royale
dir: Martin Campbell
dp: Phil Meheux

1. 180 Rule
This is the first poker scene. I tried to pick an example with a large group. Because these are quick thumbnails I wanted to make sure the characters were clear and put a "B" for Bond and a "V" for the villain. For the duration of the scene the camera remains on Bond's left keeping him on the right of the frame as he faces the villain across the table. This changes when the villain's cards are revealed which is subtle and something I would never have noticed without doing this study. The camera returns to the original 180 line at the very last panel as the villain collects his chips. (Excuse the numbers, they mean nothing)

The only time the camera doesn't follow the 180 rule is the addition of the girl but it's not noticeable and one spot in the establishing shots of the table. It was so quick that it almost seemed like an editing mistake.

2. Cutting on Action
This is Bond jumping from crane to crane.

3. Following the Focal point
This continues with Bond jumping from the second crane to the construction site below following the bad guy. This is very fast and every shot picks up almost exactly where the last one left off on the cut making something like a chase very easy to follow.

The circle is the focal point and the squiggle is supposed to represent when the focal point moves between cuts. This only really happens when Bond lands on the roof of a building but it's so fast that it's barely noticeable and the action flows through the point anyway.

4. Shot's that add to storytelling

The first shot (1) is Bond walking into the hotel room and the camera rack focuses on a broken wine glass. This is symbolic because he then finds the girl in the shower crying fully clothed. Earlier they had fought off two bad guys in the stairwell killing them. This was her first taste of what Bond does and she breaks much like the fragile wine glass.

The second shot (2) is after Bond's drink has been poisoned. In the FG he sips his drink out of focus and we then see the villain in focus as he looks on. Even though Bond is out of focus we see the poisoned drink, the sip of the drink, and the villain in one shot.

The third (3) is just one panel in a multitude of shots as Bond races into the bathroom suffering from the effects of poison. The shot is blown out making the white, sterile bathroom hazy as the camera circles bond and tilts.

The last (4) is the girl at the end of the movie betraying Bond. She carries the money to the bad guys and as Bond chases her down through the city we only see her through fences, gates, etc. This could symbolize that neither the audience nor Bond knows that she's being blackmailed to betray him.

"Don't Walk"

2010-10-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

This was my week 2 Assignment in my "Story Development for Animation" class. The description of the character was in a post below and is crucial to this little glimpse into his personality. The crosswalk signal is flashing "don't walk"... just so that's clear.

Master Studies: Toby Shelton's hands

2010-10-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

Toby Shelton did an incredible post on drawing hands. I took his drawings and broke them up and did my own next to them. His drawings are the ones that seem as if they were done with a Sharpie while mine look like they were done in pencil. Once again, the difference should be obvious.

Yuri the Russian Cosmonaut

2010-10-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

A couple designs I did for a character named Yuri. It's for my Story Development for Animation class. We had to give our characters personalities so when they were put in situations we would have some idea to how they would respond. Here's Yuri's:

Yuri – Russian Cosmonaut

Yuri is the only crewmember on a Russian space station. His daily routines and the station’s need for maintenance have become his life. This solitude has made him wary of any communications from Earth and bitter enemies with the space station’s computer. Because the computer is not a form of artificial intelligence and only vocalizes tasks being automatically performed by the station, this conflict is troublesome. Also troublesome, Yuri is beginning to suspect there is something on the ship trying to dismantle it. A proud, tightly wound, military man developing the OCD tendencies of Bill Murray from “What About Bob?” with the suspiciousness and underlying psychosis of Jack Nicholson from “The Shining”, Yuri still remains a redeemable character.

Yuri wants to follow orders. This means he must succeed in his mission… everything else is secondary. Yuri must continue to follow orders despite what he feels are the efforts of outside forces to stop him.

Yuri needs to relax. Yuri has become so obsessed with following orders to the letter that he has lost even basic common sense. His solitude and blind commitment to his mission have begun to make him delusional. If he cannot learn to relax then any obstacle to him completing his mission could have unfortunate consequences.

FACC: Lesson 8 - Action and the Figure

2010-10-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

Had some trouble with these. I wanted to make the guy tripping over the brick look awkward. I might have succeeded but it doesn't look right. I also didn't do much with the BG's. The first assignment is adamant about keeping it blank but the second assignment doesn't really say anything. Oh well.

Film Study: The Incredibles

2010-10-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

I realize that doing a film study of an animated film is a little like wearing the T-shirt of the band you're going to see but I did it anyway. The first meeting of Mr. Incredible and the Omnidroid 9000 is a pretty great scene and one I could learn a lot from. Not every action is as clearly illustrated as the next but I was trying to keep it short...er.

Keep in mind these are "thumbnails" and, thus, camera moves are a little hard to visualize with my clumsy arrows amongst other things.

FACC: Lesson 7 - Pretty Girls

2010-10-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

It's always good to practice up on drawing pretty girls. I think if there were to be one lesson in the course that showed it's age it would be this one. All of the women are either brushing their hair or wearing tight/very skimpy clothing. Of course, the title of the lesson lends itself to such areas. Pretty girls in advertising are using the obvious to sell and without this emphasis the illustration wouldn't serve its purpose. On second thought, this might be the most timeless lesson of the bunch.

Drawings from the next lesson

2010-10-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

The next lesson is "Pretty Girls" and instead of just completing the assignment I'm studying the drawings IN the lesson. This is, after all, a learning exercise.

Some Drawings from the last lesson

2010-10-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

I did some drawings of the women in the anatomy lesson. I really liked quite a few of them and figured it would be good practice. Probably should have done this before I did the lesson.

The next lesson is "Pretty Girls".

FACC: Lesson 6 - Anatomy

2010-09-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

Famous Artist Cartoon Course: Lesson 5 - The Figure in Detail

2010-09-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

I guess the guy in the second panel is the older version of the guy in the first panel. He got tired of the door to door game and sits in a bar reading poetry and smoking cigarettes.

Drawing Club: 09-23-10

2010-09-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Pris from Blade Runner.

The model actually did stunts for Daryl Hanna in Kill Bill. So to say that she was great would be an understatement.

Famous Artist Cartoon Course: Lesson 4 - The Head in Detail

2010-09-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

It continues...

The assignment requires inking the heads. I have already voiced my displeasure of inking but did it anyway. It never looks as good as the original sketches. The drawings always seem stiff. Of course, there are individuals that prove over and over that it is possible to ink while keeping the life of the drawing. I am not one of them.

Famous Artists Cartoon Course: Lesson 3 - Inking the Head and Figure

2010-09-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

I am not good at inking. Actually, I'm terrible. I freeze up or want to do many sketchy lines when one good one would do. So I almost skipped this lesson altogether. With Photoshop this grueling art form has been mercifully updated to be a little less of something that could cause suicidal depression.

The inking here was done in Photoshop. Please note: THESE ARE NOT MY DRAWINGS! I only inked the ones with the circled letters underneath. My ink practice can be found to the right or below the examples and even those were done over a provided pencil sketch. I traced. That is what the lesson called for and it was still a pain. Not as bad as I had initially thought though.

Apple+Z, Apple+Z, Apple+Z, Apple+Z...

The eyes have it

2010-09-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Toby Shelton has a great post on his blog about drawing eyes. It was a great find, as are all of his posts, but particularly for myself as I was looking for expressions to study. Maybe if I wish real hard he'll do one on mouths next.

Toby Shelton's eyes are on the left, mine are on the right. It goes by columns. His are the first, third, fifth, and seventh... there's no need to explain this as it's not hard to tell.

Famous Artist Cartoon Course: Lesson 2 - The Comic Figure

2010-09-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

Famous Artist Cartoon Course: Lesson 1 - The Comic Head

2010-09-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

I've decided to go through the Famous Artist Cartoon Course. It's always something I've wanted to do and I could really use the help. I figure if I start it and post my progress it will shame me into continuing with it. So here goes:

It's an amazing resource that was available quite some time ago by the leaders in the illustration field. They would even critique your work! (some believe that it wasn't actually the authors that did the critiquing) Unfortunately, it hasn't been reprinted, yet there are multiple places where you can find the course being posted on blogs. You won't find it here.

I see it as an old baseball field that, at one time, was in constant use and upkeep. Then ownership passed to a group living very far away that closed it down while they try to figure out how to make as much money off of it as possible. Meanwhile, it sits abandoned when it could be helping a new generation learn and refine their skills. The neighborhood kids even offer to pay but it doesn't seem to be enough. Some hop the fence at night and play quietly. Others, brazenly trespass during the day yelling at others to follow. Once in a while, a bully will show up and threaten those enjoying the field that he is gonna tell the police and new owners. He does and a higher fence is built. The field sits abandoned. On the fence a sign reads:

Coming soon!

New and Improved Baseball Field

NO TRESPASSING!

This sign is not new and is worn as the field.

Just a sad situation.

Yep, more

2010-09-08T11:54:00.001-07:00

Hands, hands, hands

2010-09-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

Drawing Club

2010-09-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

Master Studies: More Hands

2010-09-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

More Annie

2010-09-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

Another pose using traditional media. Here's the quick gesture sketch:

And the Col-Erase Pencils over the top:

Drawing Club

2010-09-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

A little late with these. Not my best week. I pulled 'em all together to make it easier to view.

Hogarth's Mom - Annie

2010-09-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

These are some of my own poses I did of Annie for my class I'm taking with Rad Sechrist at LAAFA. Annie is Hogarth's mom on "The Iron Giant".

Master Studies: Hands

2010-08-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

Master Studies: Legs

2010-08-20T17:04:00.000-07:00

More master studies. Leyendecker (first two), The Sartorialist Blog (3rd and 4th), Disney (5th, 6th, and 7th), Warner Bros Animation (last three).

Drawing Club

2010-08-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

This week was a Pirate theme that I thoroughly enjoyed. It amazed me how last week for the Catwoman theme I just couldn't get a single decent drawing, let alone one worth posting, while this week I felt like I really turned it around. I think it's the Tombow art pen. I always remind myself of the quote "it's a poor carpenter that blames his tools" but when you have the right ones it makes the job so much more enjoyable.

They're not all gems but it's a definite improvement from last week. I also had Bob Kato photograph the last three for the Drawing Club Blog. I think they were the most successful.

Master Studies: Arms

2010-08-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

Arms studies. Top row Leyendecker. Middle row Disney/Pixar. Bottom Warner Bros.

Sketches

2010-08-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've got a new favorite pen.

Did these while watching Rubicon. Finally picked up a couple of the Tombow Art pens. Of course, the local art store didn't have any black ones. There never seems to be any black pens. It's a popular color. I think they should stock up. These are in the darkest gray pen I could find. I also picked up a couple of the Staedtler pens that are very similar. The only difference is that the brush is rubber instead of felt like on the Tombow. I got the last two in black.

Master Studies: Rapunzel (from Tangled)

2010-08-12T12:06:00.000-07:00

These are a few studies from some Tangled previz stuff. I'm guessing Glen Keane was responsible for the originals.

Master Studies: Jasper - 101 Dalmations

2010-07-27T21:28:00.001-07:00

Master Studies: Roger - 101 Dalmations

2010-07-26T21:38:00.001-07:00

Drawing Club: 07-15-10

2010-07-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

Thursday = Drawing Club. It was a Tim Burton inspired theme and the studio space seemed to be busting at the seems. Except for around me the people seemed to be all taking off early. Maybe I need to start wearing a thicker layer of deodorant. It was only like 105 degrees.

This (above) was one of my first quick gestures. I was more pleased with this than most of the other drawings.

This last one is probably my most successful and also the furthest I pushed from the model.

Master Studies: Ariel

2010-07-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

Need a lot more practice drawing girls... obviously.

Master Studies: Syndrome

2010-07-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure I can call it a "Master Study" cause it's being rendered by a computer but it's my blog. These are some head studies of Syndrome. I'm taking a class at LAAFA with Rad Sechrist (his BLOGS are over to the right) and the first lesson involved looking at the construction of heads. Then using that information to rotate it on our own. We've only had one class and I can tell it's going to help immensely.

Master Studies: Milt Kahl's hands

2010-07-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

Again, not Milt's actual hands. These are my studies/drawings of his drawings of hands. Follow that, me neither.

Drawing Club 07-08-10

2010-07-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Third week at the Drawing Club. Cowboy theme. I hope that was somewhat evident.

I had a little more of a problem trying to "plus" the cowboy poses. The model was fantastic but I just wasn't happy with what I was producing. Usually, I get more successful as I draw from warm up to finish. That wasn't the case last night. Just kinda random.

On another note, I love drawing/sketching with Prismacolor markers. Ever since Scott Morse used one to give me some tips on my storyboards I had to get some. The experience was enlightening and humbling watching him create these awesome scenes in five seconds. Crazy good. So now I use them all the time. When I switch back to pencil I get impatient. The marker is like a instant gratification thing. That and it makes any mistakes painfully obvious.

Crocodile Tears

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

The daily topic has slowed a bit recently. But today there was a new one: Crocodile tears. I got a little inspiration and found myself neglecting other things.

I had about a million captions for the second drawing but decided to leave it blank. It's pretty self-explanatory.

Milt Kahl's hands

2010-07-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

Not Milt's actual hands but the hands he drew. Well, I drew these but they are studies of his hands... the one's he drew for different Disney films.

This is something I've always put off doing. I've always had, from somewhere, these pages of screen caps from different Disney films of Milt Kahl's drawings of hands. They're incredible. So by osmosis and trial and error I've been attempting to recreate a few of them. I'm hoping something sticks.

Drawing Club 07-01-10

2010-07-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

I'm really starting to look forward to the Thursday night Drawing Club meetings. This week was a Jamie Hewlett theme (Gorillaz). It took quite a few stinkers at the beginning to get going. It's also intimidating being in a room full of people that really know what they're doing. I struggled at the start because I wasn't pushing the poses at all. It's one of my biggest problems and a main reason I've started attending these drawing sessions.

When she put on the goggles and posed on one of the drawing apparatuses (that plural form is correct... I thought it would be "apparati" but it's not) pretending to ride her Vespa/Scooter I had the perfect opportunity to capture a little more action. I'm not sure what a Vespa looks like so I might be WAY off. I don't wanna google image it cause I'll notice all the great curves on the bike I missed.

Disneyland Animation

2010-06-30T12:09:00.001-07:00

This was the guy teaching you to draw at the Disney Animation attraction. I'm not sure what to call it. I had no idea what it was before I got in there. I thought it was going to be some sort of tour but was actually a small auditorium with a drawing board on every seat. You then learned to draw one Disney character (ours was Dale from Chip and Dale). I was disappointed in how long it took me to realize I was supposed to be sketching the guy posing for me up front not trying and copy his robotic placed circles. I was amazed at how hard it is to draw anything that way. This was my actual sketch from that session. Pencil then Photoshop.

Disneyland

2010-06-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

Went to Disneyland for the first time. We got to spend two days there and I was amazed at how much there was to do. The people watching there is beyond fantastic. I saw this kid in Tomorrowland. He was killing a soft pretzel but that wasn't what caught my attention. It was the fact that he was standing in the middle of this hugely, overcrowded walkway about ten feet from the pretzel stand. He was like a big rock in river that the water had to choose which side to pass on. Left or right? People were packed together and this kid was so absorbed in his newly purchased confection that I don't think he could even tell you where on the planet he was at that moment.

Drawing Club

2010-06-25T11:55:00.006-07:00

I'm ashamed to admit that I had this huge resource so close and only utilized it for the first time last night. The Drawing Club is a group started by Bob Kato that meets on Thursdays. I gave it a whirl last night and kept mostly to myself (which I usually do) trying to feel things out. I'm already looking forward to the next session.

I sketch often from TV but a live model is a little different. Also, I haven't drawn that large in years. Pathetic, I know. It took some getting used to. As did the amount of time I had. When I draw too large I start to get proportion problems and when that is coupled with too much time it gets infinitely worse. The quicker I sketch the better the result... usually.

So these are a few of the more successful attempts. Hats give me problems. I found myself treating the hat differently than the rest of the figure. That was half my problem. Among others.

Daily Topic: Mad Cow

2010-06-24T12:21:00.003-07:00

Daily Topic: Donut Shop

2010-06-22T12:59:00.003-07:00

This idea was a piggy back off Jeff Snow's post about two rodents making a donut heist.

"Monkey A Round" Animatic

2010-06-21T15:05:00.007-07:00

This is an animatic I put together. The idea came from a previous daily sketch topic that I kind of ran with. Discovering clever names to go with your ideas can be a lot of fun but it can also cause confusion. So, for the record, a baboon IS a monkey. All monkeys are not baboons but all baboons are monkeys. I love that logic.

*** I thought that after the video loaded it would run smoothly but it does not. Why would it? So, it looks very poorly timed but in actuality it's only somewhat poorly timed. This is unacceptable. I gotta get this figured out. Until then bear with me. ***

**UPDATE** Gonna try putting it on YouTube first then here. Maybe that will help.

Daily Topic: Jazz

2010-06-18T22:15:00.003-07:00

Went to put this up on Thursday and as I was hitting the "post" button, my internet went out. The cable guy was installing the upstairs apartment and decided to disconnect me. When you disconnect a wire and connect another don't you wonder what the first wire connected? The best is that he left before I figured out how big the problem was and had to make an appointment with the cable company. Awesome.

Anyway, this was my sketch for Wednesday's topic. I've been reading Walt Stanchfield's collection of notes that have been compiled and titled "Drawn to Life". I'd like to think it's having an effect. Or is it affect? I think it's effect.

Also, James Suhr linked to this blog a few days ago. Pretty cool. He gets some good traffic and I appreciate all those who've made their way here via a slight detour. So... Welcome! Thanks James!

Topic: Flying Pigs

2010-06-11T11:23:00.005-07:00

I'm late. I'm late. This was the topic for Monday. There were some AMAZING contributions. Again, to view them click on the links I put in a previous post. I meant to get this out yesterday but had to run a few errands. When a gasoline tanker flips on the 134 and completely closes a 5 lane highway (is it 6 with the carpool lane?) Plus part of the highway in the opposite direction it messes with your day. All of that traffic was on surface streets. It's a great test of patience.

I'm not a huge fan of the composition. The pig with the point, frame right, is weak with his bad negative spacing.

Topic: Weird Creature

2010-06-08T13:02:00.003-07:00

Weird creature: the rise and shiners. It takes every fiber of my being to get out of bed. I hate it. Once I'm up, however, it's great to be up really early. There's this sense of everything being in front of you - ahead of the game. It's the getting from the bed to the floor I find disgusting. I wish I could leap out without hitting the snooze 20 times (that's not an exaggeration). It may have something to do with the night and how much I can get done between the hours of 10 and 1.

Cowboys

2010-06-02T12:04:00.003-07:00

Today's theme is Cowboys. I've been lax on participating in the last few topics. So here's a quick sketch of a couple of gunslingers. All gunslingers are cowboys but not all cowboys are gunslingers.

Buffalo Chicken

2010-05-26T14:58:00.002-07:00

He's known as Buffalo Chicken. He's made quite a few enemies. They're all lyin' six feet under.

I passed on the Outraged Fish topic on Friday. I hope to revisit.

Baboon on Vacay

2010-05-25T15:49:00.004-07:00

Here is a sketch from Friday's topic "baboon on vacation". Just got around to it but thought it was a great concept for more than just a sketch. May do a quick set of boards. See the links to the topic generators below.

Bird of Prey

2010-05-19T17:06:00.002-07:00

Warm Up: Baseball

2010-05-18T12:53:00.004-07:00

A few of the story artists blogs I frequent began taking a topic and drawing on it every other day. The last topic was baseball. I thought I'd do a quick warm up sketch and usually half the battle is deciding on the topic.

A Quick Run Thru Flash

2010-05-17T17:16:00.001-07:00

The Portfolio Drop Off: What it FEELS like...

2010-05-15T01:47:00.014-07:00

I can't stress the "FEELS like" part enough. Note: Every security guard I've ever dealt with has been nothing but nice. Another note: Names and faces have been changed to protect... myself.

Tennis

2010-05-13T12:53:00.004-07:00

They were playing a match from a college tournament on television the other day. Had to do a little sketching. It got me in the mood to find my rackets which I did. I thought I might have lost them in the move. Now they sit in the corner mocking me.

Ali VS Bonavena

2010-05-10T17:33:00.004-07:00

As I scan the channels looking for some program that will be conducive to drawing, I stopped on ESPN Classic. Muhammad Ali was fighting a guy named Oscar "Ringo" Bonavena. While my boxing knowledge is extremely limited I thought that there may only be a few rounds. Bonavena looked like he wasn't gonna put up a better fight than Glass Jaw Joe from Punch Out on the old Nintendo. I was surprised to see the little white guy pull a "Rocky" and just take a beating for 15 rounds and almost win. It was highly entertaining and now I may have to see if Netflix has a DVD of Ali's next fight against Frazier. Even I recognize that match up.

"He's like a piece of iron" - Drago (Rocky IV)

Boxing

2010-05-03T19:15:00.002-07:00

Some sketching from boxing on TV. It has become one of my favorite things to sketch from television.

Mr. Hoffman

2010-02-26T11:55:00.001-08:00

Watched Kramer Vs. Kramer last night. Did this sketch.

Character Studies

2010-02-22T12:51:00.001-08:00

A few poses of a new character for a new set of boards.

Yep, lazy.

2010-02-18T14:01:00.001-08:00

Just keep sketching, sketching, sketching...

2010-02-11T18:09:00.001-08:00

Marker Sketches

2010-02-01T15:56:00.002-08:00

A few sketches from the sketchbook. I've gone through a couple of the Prismacolor markers now and it took me a while to get comfortable with the unforgiving black marker. I love the deepness of it in some respects but enjoy being able to build with it as it gets old. As the marker begins to run out it's easier to apply a tone with it that doesn't cover the marks beneath. But in terms of getting an idea down quickly it can't be beat. That part I'm still working on.

2010-01-20T13:45:00.001-08:00

Motor Vehicles

2010-01-13T12:36:00.005-08:00

I always wanna say "Mo TORE VEE Hickles". I consider drawing them a weakness so when I'm watching television I try to get some practice in.

You can see my first Prismacolor Premier Double-Ended Art Marker is beginning to die in the truck sketch. It's so bold and full in the Dodge Charger but not so much in the truck. One thing I found weird was the wrapper/label on the marker wore off.

Didn't expect that with the quality associated with Prismacolor. Or it's just my cold clammy hands that strip the print off the label. I have bad circulation.

On the case...

2010-01-12T14:46:00.002-08:00

I was supposed to hear from a postal inspector this past week. Maybe he can't find the phone underneath all of our missing mail.

Sam Crow

2010-01-11T20:53:00.003-08:00

There are a few TV series in which I've been late to the party. One is Sons of Anarchy. I prejudged this show incorrectly as I tend to do now and again. After I got through the first four episodes I was hooked. It wasn't an instantaneous thing but I'm looking forward to getting the last few episodes of season 1 from Netflix.

I've also been trying the fat Prismacolor markers. They are awesome. I wish I had tested them out sooner. The only drawback is that they bleed through my sketchbook pages so I have to lay a couple scrap pieces of paper down underneath the page I'm using. Kind of a hassle but the broad tip end of the marker makes up for it. Because of the way it's shaped it can make so many different types of marks. I started using the fine tip end at first and have just begun to branch out with the broad end.

The Gambler

2010-01-06T12:18:00.002-08:00

Saw this woman outside a 7-11 as my wife ran in to grab milk. She happened to be smoking over a case of propane tanks. Her attitude made it completely believable that she might even put her cigarette out on one of the tank valves. She didn't seem to care. But the fact that she was using this storage case as a make-shift table to scratch of her instant win lottery tickets was even better... or worse. I couldn't decide. The giant lettering that said "NO SKOKING - FLAMMABLE" really set the scene. I wanted to take a picture on my phone but I was too close. This fact also made me wonder if I was any more intelligent than she as I sat in my car five feet away from this impending disaster.

I think she lost with her lottery tickets but what she failed to realize is that she won the bigger gamble. As did I being within the blast radius.

The Circular File

2010-01-05T18:03:00.005-08:00

Me and the wife went on vacation for two weeks and put our mail on hold. When we returned and normal mail service continued we noticed that our held mail was never delivered. So like good postal customers we went down to pick up what was too large to fit in our mailbox at our apartment building. To our surprise we had managed to avoid getting even a single piece of mail while we were away. None. Not even junk mail.

I consider myself laid back. I don't get too confrontational and will only engage someone when I know I can win the battle with simple common sense. I thought that if I explained to them how it was weird that we didn't receive a single piece of mail that entire two weeks that they might agree and say something to the affect of, "Yeah, that is not possible with the amount of junk we stash into your mailboxes on a daily basis. Maybe we should check our end and see what's going on." Nope. They looked at me like I had an arm growing out of my face and I began to raise my voice.

To add insult to injury the manager then told me I had to call the post office. I was standing in the post office. His solution was to give me the phone number of the building in which I was currently standing. Thank you.

You may be thinking, "Maybe they just misplaced your held mail and it was an innocent mistake. Why all the fuss?" A month ago they "misplaced" at least five pieces of mail, three of which were checks. My parents even sent us cash. We're also not the only one's in the building having similar problems. So, after I had to have clients reissue checks that were hard to ask for in the first place, we now have two weeks of mail gone.

Two Netflix movies were supposed to arrive during that period as well. I feel guilty telling Netflix that their movies didn't arrive. Like I stole them. Even worse were the clients. Have you ever told someone that something was lost in the mail? That's worse than "my dog at my homework".

Online Video Games

2009-12-17T14:01:00.003-08:00

Over the holidays I will be home and that means I will be watching my brothers play online video games. It has become a Christmas tradition. This latest drawing is not meant to illustrate that. It's from a story idea but the young foul-mouthed character in it is all too real. The invention of a headset to use while playing these games means there is an unedited stream of the most awful parts of the English language permeating from your television. What sounds like the voices of young teenage girls are actually younger boys screaming obscenities and racial slurs from the comfort of their unsupervised, vile cesspools from which they were spawned. I imagine there is a study being conducted on the nature of these little miscreants and how it stems from the security of anonymity much like a mob. Thankfully, the recent advancements in muting technology with these games has brought about much needed silence.

Sawin' logs

2009-12-16T13:42:00.002-08:00

James Burks has a great illustration here of an elf chopping wood. He seems to be working so hard. It immediately got me thinking of what an elf that wasn't so industrious may be doing. In fact, the opposite of James Burks' drawing. I had to jot it down.

...with my head sewn to the carpet

2009-12-15T21:44:00.002-08:00

Great movie.

200 posts.

Woohoo.

dickey.

New storyboard idea

2009-12-11T14:42:00.002-08:00

2009-12-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

Thru the Looking Glass

2009-12-07T12:52:00.003-08:00

A frame from a new set of storyboards that I will hopefully have up on the portfolio website in the next few days. When I met with Scott Morse (see below), he gave me some great advice but also said that I needed a few more sets of boards. Off hand he mentioned something about a kid at a zoo. It was completely just a passing thought about a possible storyline but as soon as I heard it I decided to make it my own. I imagine a kid at a zoo is not the most unique of story ideas. But that reason alone made me want to do it. It's weird how having boundaries can free up ideas. Maybe there's an iPhone app that gives you the random when, where and who's to start a story. If not, there needs to be one. I'll share all profits on the idea 50-50. You just have to make the app.

Orange is the New Black

2009-12-04T15:17:00.006-08:00

So here's orange. It doesn't really come through on the scans but it can hurt your eyes when viewing on white paper. I am really enjoying the Prismacolor Premier Brush pens and out of my pack of eight, I've already used up two. This bright orange pen wasn't was bad as I thought but I'm somewhat glad it's brush pen life is in it's death throes. I'm equally afraid of the pure black pen. I like the ability to "build" a darker line that the color pens give. With black it's black... not as forgiving.

These drawings all come from pausing tv/movies. I have noticed how much more it helps to draw this way than getting just a glimpse of a figure from tv and trying to draw it without the pause. I know that's not very popular thinking but I sketched that way for over a year (the glimpse method, no pause)and noticed very little change/improvement in draftmanship. I was making the same mistakes over and over. I've found the "DVR" method really helps. Plus it's fun. I watch a lot of director's commentaries (Star Trek is represented in the above sketches) and will pause the movie whenever I get an angle that I need work on or even just a full shot (head to toe). This in no way takes the place of life drawing but you also can't get more than a split second look at someone running or even walking, for that matter, with the push of a button than in a life session.

Sketching like this has also made me realize how many television dramas are almost all close shots, great for studying the head, not so much for the figure. Reality shows are different. I can only bring myself to watch a few reality shows but have found "Ghosthunters" (also represented above)to have a lot of general standing and sitting poses so don't laugh. But, I admit that if I weren't looking for good sketching poses while watching I may not be able to sit through a full episode. "The Twilight Zone" is great. The goldfish attention span rule isn't being implemented in these older shows and thus the scenes are longer with fewer camera movements. It's a great show with solid story. They don't need to whip the camera around to make things "seem" interesting. Rant, rant, rant.

Talking with Scott Morse

2009-12-03T13:31:00.007-08:00

I went to the CTN Animation Expo a couple weeks ago. I got to talk to Scott Morse. He was nothing short of fantastic. He looked thru my portfolio and gave me some advice. That's a pretty big deal considering most of the people there would pay a good amount of money just to get half the time he spent with me. It was also on Sunday (the last day of the event) which means that I was probably the 11,000th person with a portfolio he perused.

I received much more than I expected by way of advice. He even broke out a rectangular pad of paper (perfect storyboard size) and showed me a few quick changes that could really help. Awesome. These are a few of his sketches. They took about 5 seconds a piece and yet communicate better than something I could have put together in an hour. He solved two of the problems I was having in one frame.

So, I hope he doesn't mind me posting a couple of his sketches. I'm glad I got up the nerve to talk to him. It was well worth the price of admission that day.

More Brush Pen

2009-11-23T12:59:00.003-08:00

I am really enjoying the Prismacolor Premeir Brush tip pens. Unfortunately, they don't last long and at 2 bucks a pop it may start to get expensive. I got somewhere between 30 - 40 drawings with one pen. I just hate to think about wasting materials when I draw. "Ooohhh this pen costs more than my other ones do I REALLY want to sketch that?", is what I'm afraid I may start to think. It's the same feeling I get when I start a new sketchbook. I want the first page to be punch me in the face good so it takes me a while to get over the first drawing jitters. I know, weird. It's also why I never draw on the first page of a sketchbook.

I bought the brush pens in a pack of eight that are all different colors. Purple being the one I started with. The next color I chose was orange. It was shockingly loud. And by loud, I mean bright. So, it will obviously be my least favorite pen which will mean I may be more loose with the drawings because I don't care about the ink running out.

Brown Paper Bag

2009-11-17T13:52:00.001-08:00

Ends and Beginnings

2009-11-16T11:58:00.005-08:00

The sketch is from the last page of my latest sketchbook (ending). I used a Prismacolor Premier Brush Tip Marker (beginning) I saw David Coleman using in a video blog post. It's deceiving to watch him sketch with a brush pen because of how easy he makes it look. I usually use a uni•ball pen when I sketch but there is NO line quality. I love using a pencil to build a drawing but find that I hate the grayness of the pencil and how dirty/faded it can get. So I think this brush pen may work as I start my new sketchbook (beginning).

A big moment last night... not really. I finished watching the AFI's top 100 movies (ending). It's taken me about 2 and a half years since I really started to finally finish last night with "Wuthering Heights". I use Netflix but even they don't have the 1939 version of "Wuthering Heights" that I needed to view in order to complete my list. TCM came to the rescue by playing it commercial free and unedited yesterday. Yep, I had some strict rules to follow when completing this list.

1. No drawing while watching (very difficult to do)! The point is to actually see the whole movie.

2. If I'm not positive I've seen the movie start to finish then I must do so. (everyone knows Rocky and the Wizard of OZ but have you watched start to finish?)

3. If you watch the movie from television it cannot be edited in any way.

I was almost sad it was over until I saw that the list has been updated making my finished quest... unfinished (beginning).

"We drink because it's what men do."

2009-11-10T11:50:00.003-08:00

Yep, more Mad Men. Roger Sterling has the best lines.

Dick Whitman

2009-11-09T14:54:00.002-08:00

For the Mad Men fans the title of my post makes sense. Anyway, Mad Men is the best show currently on regular cable. I don't get HBO or Showtime so I can't attest to their content... not until they come out on DVD anyway. I could sit and watch this show continuously forever. That's a pretty big compliment to give a television show I think. It is so well written, acted, designed, and shot.

I can't stress how great the show is shot. I HATE the new style that has permeated the mainstream. It's this CSI constant camera movement with harsh primary colors streaming in the BG. It's hard to watch. I'd like to think I'm not getting to the age where the rock music is too loud. But I would cheer if they made directors use camera movements with a little more restriction. It used to mean something.

Another rant for another time.

Brush Pen Sketches

2009-11-05T11:42:00.001-08:00

Pen Sketches

2009-11-04T14:13:00.002-08:00

Nemo Nemo Nemo

2009-10-31T01:23:00.003-07:00

My 20 month old niece has a very healthy love affair with a certain Pixar movie. Her vocab is limited but she knows "Nemo" and it usually comes in multiples. It's amazing how a single word repeated continuously can speak volumes. So, I decided to do something completely unoriginal with my pumpkin this year. I did it solely to ensure "Uncle Steve" would remain one of her favorite people.

Unfortunately, you can't get the full breadth of my masterpiece in one single photo. Nemo had to wrap around the pumpkin. Thus, it must be viewed from multiple angles. I'm gonna go ahead and say the pics I took with the iPhone don't do it justice.

I'm dying to get more serious with the pumpkin carvings and move to the sculpting/subtracting that gives the great effects you see in all the really great Jack O' Lantern creations. I guess there's always next year.