The Economy of Line or how "Less is More"

On this wonderful labour day weekend (OK it is cold and rainy but it is a extra day off from the daily grind), I sit at the 'puter and think about the September art Challenge on the Art and Story Supreme Forums.

Art and Story Supreme is a worthwhile collection of extra podcasts and forum access that is hosted by the Art and Story crew. You can get a free 15 day trial (well worth checking out). There are many "tasty nuggets" that you can grab from these podcasts and even if you choose to subscribe "only" to the forum, you are in for a treat, as members critique, support and enlighten each other in their daily search for the path to comic book creativity... Or something like that ;)

So this month's challenge is about drawing your favourite cartoon character. A reference shown is the cover of "Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation",

This style appeals to many and though the line work seems simple, there is an elegance to it. And the detail in the lack of detail is great! It is not something that everyone can do from day one as the animators using this style have a classical animation background. But with practice I can see it being a worthwhile endeavor...

I haven't been up to a whole lot this past week as personal life sometimes has a way of taking all of your time. If only I didn't need sleep!

I'm reading a book on timing in animation right now and I'll post a review of it next week...

ArrrOOooo!

Art Buddies and the Artist in all of Us!

Ahh my art buddies. You know who you are! My inspiration and motivation which hopefully leads to less procrastination!

Art and Story is full of "it" err them! Yes I pay a monthly fee but you can pay yearly too! In any case it has been well worth it because it has introduced me to cool people like (please excuse me if I miss you) Jerzy Drozd, Mark Rudolph and Kevin W. Cross (happy birthday) and then Calmplex, Rene van Belzen, Rodger Langridge, Jonathan Rector, Trevor Kent, Peter Palmiotti, Jose Gonzalez and many more!

You can "toil alone" but when you put your work out there we "soar together"! I think people forget how easy it is to criticize but how hard it can be to create and then let go!

Guys do it! I know Nike co-opted the "just do it" phrase but it is troo!

These guys are doing it! They are in it and they are creating and you know what? I'm tired of people tearing things down! These guys are more worthy of your time and your support, more so than many of the "jacks" out there!

Whew! A rant! I haven't done one of those in a while...

Here is what I have been working on...





No animation to show but I have been working on some walking bits. I am a work in progress and so are you! Keep creating and send me some links comments and create, create, create!

I had an art teacher Miss Hoika. She was a staunch supporter of the "great" idea that there is an "artist in all of us!"

She is right...

ArrrOOooo!

Wassssuuuuuppp??? An Animator's Lament!

Ok. I know I'm in trouble when my title is from an old ad campaign!

My weekly blog is "not so weekly" and I am trying to remedy this. I'm trying to make this blog about things I have done (and learned) so that I can pass on some "good" info to anyone interested.

Self promotion in the blog is secondary or tertiary (not bad word eh?).

So what I have I learned lately? I learned that a good foundation leads to the best result! This goes back to mini comic project (which I am still working on). I picked up a retail copy of Toon Boom Studio v 4.5 for a cheap price and now version 6.0 is already out next month! The good thing is they are having a sale on the upgrade for 79.00 (instead of 99.00 after Sep 1)... So I will have the lastest version (once I upgrade) for 138.00! Not a bad deal for a 329 dollar program... But (as usual) I digress...

I have been working on some animations. I guess they would be called walk cycles.

Above is Richard Williams "proper" walk cycle from his book

The Animator's Survival Kit




Another good book is Animation From Script to Screen




Both available from Amazon, your local library or Ebay. And highly recommended!

Here is a little voice eye test I did through Toon Boom after watching too many vampire movies!

ArrrOOooo!

Failure is Not an Option or Life's Tough in the Ghetto!

So I was challenged to finish my mini comic and I missed the deadline. In essence, I died :D
I can give many excuses, I'm good at those but when it came down to finishing, the technical work wasn't good enough. Now it isn't a failure... Not really... I learned that if your thumbs/pencils are too loose then your inks will suck. And that my cars and city scape's bite and need work. Pretty succinct eh?

I have been doing lots including receiving my copy of Toon Boom! Wah friking hoo! I am ready to embark on animation and I know it is cool. Look at my Ghettomation guru Jim Lujan! I just got his Ghettomation Garden DVD and it rocks. Get yours here In fact get 2! One for you and one for your mom!





I'm practicing some inking and have some stuff to post sooner than later!

Remember "It's better to regret something you did then something you didn't do!"

ArrrOOooo!

I Know I Can, I Know I Can!

Hehe so I was challenged to do a Mini comic by my art buddy Jerzy Drozd of Art and Story (an excellent free/premium podcast and web site)A&S is for the beginner and professional cartoonist alike. They have a 15 day "free to try" option an excellent option for those who don't want to commit to a subscription. And started recently is Supreme Boxed Sets! Art and Story Supreme Boxed Sets series will collect entire monthly runs of the premium content and Email to you for one low price!

You can also find their "free podcasts" on Itunes! Check it out!!!

And now, back to the show!

In my last office hour Jerzy game me a challenge/deadline of August 9th for my mini comic which is quickly approaching. The good news is I had things on the burner when Jerzy and I discussed my ongoing projects in our office hour (yes with your premium subscription you also get a hour of monthly office time to discuss your projects) for that alone the subscription is well worth it!!! (OK. OK! I'm REALLY done plugging)...

So as I was saying I have 16 days left and for me that isn't allot of time. Especially when things come up in my life like managing my men's hockey team and learning animation software! Yes. I have always had a love of animation and with the advent of all the animation software out there, I have been "slowly" going through the tutorials for these different programs... But, what about your mini comic JD? Yes. I am thinking that too! Especially since my office hour discussion was also about sticking to one tool for example (1-pencil and micron 2-pencil and brush 3- pencil and computer software) and one tool only to finish the mini comic (err I did forget to mention that?)

Distractions, we all have em. We all have excuses too (some people call em rationales). We couldn't function without excuses err I mean rationales ;)

So today I put down the keyboard and I pick up the pencil! This is my pledge to you my followers and to my fellow Storriors and to Jerzy!

Forget "I think I can, I think I can" from today on "I know I can, I know I can" and "I WILL"!!!

Here is an animation (The Flashlight!) I did in Flip Boom Classic with their trial software. Animation-ish is very similar and you can try it free!

Start Making Faces!

Fifteen years (or so) ago I met this artist who did story boards for Batman the Animated Series and we struck up an art buddy relationship. It was more of a email/chat thing and it was much more difficult to send picture files to everybody because cable/dsl wasn't readily available to everybody. So it was more a talk about process...

When we finally got together I showed him what I was working on and I could tell he was disappointed. It wasn't (he said) that my proportions were terrible but he had a problem with my character's faces... And what I took away from our meeting was that he couldn't believe my faces were so bad! I remember him saying this once or twice that to him "faces were EASY!" Well maybe they were for him or maybe he didn't like my style. I lost touch with him after the online board we were members of closed down and I didn't really want to see him face to face after what I thought was "harsh" criticism...

But Over the years I have taken his criticism to heart and concentrated more on faces. My faces have slowly improved through practice and another valuable lesson I learned. This lesson was reference. It was to make sure I had a mirror handy to help with facial expression. I think the mirror is an invaluable tool especially for someone who finds faces challenging. It is not as much about the proportion as it is the expression!

Recently I was doing a search for art/illustration books at my local library and came across this book:

Making Faces: Drawing Expressions For Comics And Cartoons (Paperback)

There is some great stuff about proportion and expression. I can't say it would be super useful to a professional but for somebody like myself (a struggling self taught student) it has been helpful in 1) pointing out how to use muscles in the face and 2) the neck position and muscles are also important in making a believable facial expression...

There are a lot of sample pictures and exercises and though not a long book if you can get it from your library or score a new or used copy for ten or so dollars then I think you would find it helpful...

So if faces aren't "easy"for you give this book a look. I think you can also look at some sample pages on Amazon


I have stuff going on at the moment including exercises for making comics and animating stuff in Anime Studio Debut and Flip Boom. One of the cool things is that I can apply things I learn to all the different areas of interest...

Keep on drawing and I hope you had great Canada Day and Fourth of July holidays!

ArrrOOooo!

Mad Inks and Colours

So the World Cup is on... So??? It is quite the spectacle but I'd rather play soccer or "footie" as the rest of the world calls it.

Drawing. Always. But I have been working in Smith Micro's Anime Studio 6 (Debut version) a flash "type" animation program. Yes. I do tend to get side tracked. The good thing is that it still requires drawing... They have updated the program. It is NOT traditional 2d animation but then that means less repetitive drawing. And they are up to version 7. I haven't upgrade yet as I can't find my key code... I have some basic animations done and I'll link them from Youtube when I'm done...

As for my comic work. I am still at it. There is a 8 page mini comic challenge that ends today on the Art and Story Supreme member forum (sign up for a 15 day trial membership and tell em Jahhdog sent ya!) and I have one almost done. I am torn between inking it by hand or scanning it into Manga Studio Debut 4 and inking it there... I know what the faster option is. Can you guess???

Inking is not my forte. It requires a steady hand that can complete that long line. I like the look of a good analog/hand inked sketch (not mine) I said GOOD!!! I have the pens both manga type pen brushes and I have the brushes and I have the quill pens... These methods also require a clean work space not something I am proficient at as my co workers, friends and family will tell you...

So here is my previous self portrait coloured in Manga Studio Debut 4. Basic colouring for my now avatar. What a handsome devil eh?



I use these programs because they are relatively inexpensive and have been recommended to me by other professional artists. That doesn't mean they are the best option out there. They do have free trials associated with them though. So you can try before you buy...

I will post my 8 pager later this week. I also inked a daily drawing challenge and I will post that too!

Drop me a line or comment if you have any questions!

ArrrOOooo!