Daily Workout - Week 6

So I've had a "meh" week and a half not posting. Honestly, haven't been very motivated, but on the other hand was more concentrated on work. Got myself a new journal to jot down stuff while on the train though. I'm such a sucker for wanting a clean, purdy new journal when less than a quarter has been used in the last one.

I also saw Transformers 2 last night, and all I has to says is...when the heck am I gonna be seein' sum DINOBOTS HMMMM????


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Tuesday Morning:

I cheat! I did this last night... =)

Daily Workout - Week 5

Nothing special happening as of yet, but I did get that disaster of an art room clean this weekend! Hopefully I'll be seeing myself at a desk working at home more often again.

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Monday Morning:

Starting off the morning with a beakey turtle man creature.

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Friday Morning?
ehhhhh I've been really slow on drawing in the mornings this week since I've been so distracted with work and other personal projects. Been doing way too much writing and daydreaming as well, so I've only been able to do some practice sketches on hands.

I've also been painting in gouache in the evenings at home, so I'll have a make up post of all that practice soon.

Daily Workout - Week 4

What weird weather we've been having here in Chicago...cold rainy to warm then cold again. In June. Thanks, climate change! =P (maybe I'll just move somewhere warm again...)

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Monday Morning:


For good news though, I got a brand new bike and took it for a fun test spin yesterday running errands. Maybe I can actually get into shape again...

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Tuesday Morning:

Once upon a time there was a mysterious girl, and two boys fell in love with her. One was a handsome prince, the other, a lazy scoundrel. All the girl wanted to do, however, was climb trees and play in the dirt!

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Wednesday Morning:

Umm...a dragon???

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Thursday Morning:

I'd love to be on a warm beach with clear water and bright white sand, especially today (rainy....).

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Friday Morning:

TGIF!!

Daily Workout - Week 3

Happy June everyone! Starting off the day to more Henry this Monday morning.



Also! Check out my big-timey cover art over at Screen Magazine:



There's a great chunk about Calabash Animation inside pages 12 - 13!
The art is all digital (Photoshop) save for the "movie screen", which is cut paper composited on top. There's a total of three layers of various textures of mine to make it look water-color-ish, even.

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Tuesday "Morning":

Well, didn't actually get to do a "morning" warm-up per se, because of tight deadlines on stuff that took up all of my time, but I managed to squeeze this out before I left the studio for fun and study work.

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Wednesday Morning:

I was getting carried away with this one and started coloring it, but thought to just post the linework for now! =)
....
Here's a little work in progress for the color, at the moment:


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Thursday Morning:

I don't draw a lot in the way of machines and vehicles, so this is just a rough attempt at a concept.

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Friday Morning:

TGIF!

Daily Workout - Week 2

Whoops! Missed a couple of work day warm-ups! Actually, I took last Friday off so I could get some things done at home before I flew out of state for vacation, and of course - studio was closed on Monday. Hope everyone's Memorial Day Weekend was nice! I'm a little late for Tuesday, erm, "morning", but here ya go!


This is Henry the Aardvark! I caught a glimpse of a blurb of two colors, and suddenly wanted to doodle this little guy. I didn't think he was any kind of animal until I thought he looked like an aardvark. Actually had to google an image of one because I've forgotten what they look like! What neat creatures! I want one now...

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Wednesday Morning:

More Henry, I guess!

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Thursday Morning:
(ok ok...so I'm cheating a bit and posting a day late...but my computer had been commandeered for Maya rendering, and...well...ya know....)


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Friday Morning:



One last Henry piece to end the week! I don't draw much underwater environments, so this was nice to doodle up.

Daily Workout - First Go!

So I'm trying to convince myself to fall into certain habits. Isn't it funny how you can get into bad habits easier than good ones? Haha...ha...no it's not!!!!!!

But here is my attempt at a "morning workout" routine. Boy I WISH it was an athletic workout! Instead, I'm trying to do a morning warm-up drawing when I first sit down at my desk at work...whether it's a digital color piece, or a doodle on a scrap of paper to get my gears turning. I don't do this as often as I like, but maybe posting here will bump up the production.

Here's my first "morning workout"; this Monday morning, to be exact.

"snrk!"

I'll keep adding the morning drawings to each weekly post, so they're easier to follow. This'll also be a fun time to experiment with techniques and styles for myself, since having more design roles calls for that.

Here's to moar art!!

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Tuesday Morning:
Thought about this kind of color study walking home from work and observing buildings; how the difference of where the warm and cool colors are can bring about different effects.

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Wednesday Morning:

haha, spent way too much time on this one!

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Thursday Morning:

I personally feel that, as a designer, you should never be married to one way of doing things, and always enjoy experimenting.

Random Stuffs

Some recent random pieces I've done in my spare time. All these are digital (Photoshop).


A mama 'Rex from a short idea!




This last one's a work in progress. Utilizing some reference for starters (the moss, main part of the tree trunk, and main clump of needles), but mostly out of my head.

A Piggy!

They're becoming my default thing to sketch when I'm bored.

Helps getting in some digital painting practice, too.

Supahmah??

"Look ima supa hero!  Can'tcha tell from mai supa hero physique, my robust triangulation, my serious face?  MY ANGRY FIST CLENCHING?? Ya??"

Haha, I drew this real quick like to illustrate to someone how frustrating it is to see every freakin' superhero drawn this way, "stylized" up the wazoo. As irony likes to have it's way, t actually ended up looking pretty funny and I liked it, so I finished it.

That is all!

But on an extra note, I was at the OIAF this year - had a blast - and got a staff position at Calabash Animation.  Horray!  I'm not too good at covering news very frequently, as you can tell.

Art Dump: Think in Line

Long overdue post of this time. Have been hogging my stuff to myself. Here's mostly random doodles and sketches. Some concrete, some just because:

A dinosaur for good measure.

A goat horse I guess...

"Doc, ya gotta believe me!"

Some memory sketching waitin' for the train.

Film in Spotlight - 2001: A Space Odyssey

This is how a REAL space film starts, kids!

Every now and then I enjoy branching back off to live action film to avoid getting stuck in that cartoon film rut. Animated film is, after all, just another way of visual storytelling; why should it be much different from ideas used in live action film every time? Now, there's plenty of animation out there directed to adult or more mature audiences, but rarely are they hosted in a spotlight. It's understandable though - far too many people assume animation is of a more innocent nature (and accidentally take their children to movies like South Park-which I hope they've learned their lesson!).

So back to my topic of film, when's the last time any of you really watched 2001: A Space Odyssey? Getting the "holy shit I think my brain just imploded" feeling out of the way, how do you truly appreciate film making like this amongst the cookie-cutter bonanza of movies in the industry today? You hear all the praise people give Kubrick films, but do you really understand why they are so great? I could go on all day about the good film making lessons one can learn from 2001 alone, but there were two very remarkable things that stood out: simplistic, symmetrical composition, and the most easy pacing you've ever felt.

Far too many movies today rely on the "reassurance" that the fast-paced, get-as-much-material-you-can-pack-in, more bang-for-your-buck entertainment is the reliable way to become an excitement and a success. But while there is a market for that kind of entertainment (and I'm certainly not against it, we've got to admit that we all enjoy that kind of stuff every now and then), there's no denying that this kind of approach can and do ruin some films. There's a reason why certain films become timeless and legendary.

The pacing in 2001 would send the entertainment industry in a frenzy. You can't go this slow! You can't take that long on that shot! There's just no way all of this can work…people will hate it! But it DOES work, and it's funny hearing people talk about classic films like 2001 with admiration, when they probably don't even know what to appreciate about it. The idea behind 2001 isn't to entertain people into a fever, excitedly fist-pumping for more action. It's the idea of the alien feeling of time and space. Kubrick understood what the story was about, and filmed it accordingly - filmed it in a direction that the story fit into, which many films miss that mark entirely and get swept into cliches.

Man it sure does take a long time to land on the moon…

Why in the world would you want to hurry through this film? I tend to think people don't really want to watch movies anymore; they act pressed for time and want to be fed as much information as possible in as short amount for time. Standing in line to use the convenient ATM takes too long! My fast food at the drive through is taking too long! Writing this text message is taking too long! This two hour movie is taking too long! There was a time when patience was enjoyable and relaxing; that a two hour experience in another world or person's life actually drew people in and never wanted it to end. Even some animation suffers from the lack of good pacing as well today.

But probably the most outstanding feature of 2001 is the actual visual storytelling, which all these screen shots I've included illustrate. It was the repeated use of symmetrical composition that was the most outstanding of all.

Hi, I'm HAL. Right here. IN YOUR FACE. You cannot ignore me. I pull you into my world.

The use of such linear, striking, yet simple visuals is what really draws you into the story. It's as if they suck you into that vacuum of space the characters are in themselves. You become more engaged in their reality, which is the basis of escapism. It's eerie and frightening and yet you can't look away.

DOOOOM!

Of course, these compositions also help play with the story themes of the monolith, the computer mind, and travel. Imagine that! The visuals react to the actual story!

Definitely on a spaceship.

The fact that so many shots are so simplistic help the story to remain incredibly complex and abstract. It's not a visual migraine that leaves you grumbling and frustrated by too much action on screen (*cough*StarWars123*cough*).

Say, that computer watching us through the window is kinda creepy…I wonder why.

Less is more sometimes. If I gave you one of those small, artisan dishes with the tiny fillet in the middle sprinkled with a little bit of something, you might look at me like I'm insane, and hop over to Denny's for that mountain of steamy, greasy food (it's cheaper, too!). But some of us gag at the sight of that hospital trip on a platter, and know that that little fillet is absolutely amazing, and is just enough, and will be such a rich experience that even if you don't get to eat there again, you'll still remember how great it was.

Another great sci-fi classic like this that gets praised, and yet no one seems to actually follow it's example, is Alien. Again, it's pacing and it's "less is more" idea makes the frightening aspects more real. We don't have to see the monster to know it's there…God, we KNOW it's there! Give us our night lights already!

Dead Animals

some pieces from some sessions at the museum earlier this summer.