Survey: Your Top Three
In today's blog post I want to hear from you. In the comments below, list your top three interests when you hit the web. For example, if I was responding, I would probably say:
1) Animation (the practice of/tutorials)
2) Animation (watching)
3) Drawing (observation)
Of course, observing drawings done by other artists probably falls into #1 for me, studying the practice of animation, so maybe my third would actually be TV, specifically I enjoy reading reviews of my favorite shows (such as Parks and Rec, Nikita, and Fringe, after I watch them).
Now I'll get my butt back to working on the new FtM cartoon and hopefully have it ready and waiting for you by 11:59PM Friday night!
An Article on Gesture Drawing
Today over at Animator Island there's an article on gesture drawing, and since I'm on and on about that subject here on my blog I thought I'd share a link in case anyone wants more details: Defining the Art - Gesture Drawing
Last night I went to sleep at around 5AM. I wasn't tired all night, but man am I paying for it now. Not enough sleep in me. I'm going to try to get some things done, but I may need a nap. It's funny, as it got later and later I was more anxious about how I was screwing myself over by not sleeping, which in turn led me to being more awake. Just another reminder of how powerful the mind is, and how it can work against you as well as for you if you're not careful.
Until either I pass out or fully wake up, I'll be working on FtM!
Special Weekend Post
I don't really know what to type here, only that I need to type something. I spent an hour or so on Friday crying my eyes out because on the other side of the world people were starving to death. People. Real people, that I heard about before but never really thought of them as real-life-living-human-beings-like-me. Because, being honest, it's easier not to think about that.
It was an experience, though. One that, weirdly, I didn't want to end. Because for this brief moment in time I had this knowledge of something way bigger than me and I didn't want to lose it. I cared about these people I didn't know, and I wanted to help them. Or at least do something.
I don't know what I'm going to do now. Finish the Fred cartoon, yes, don't worry about that. I'm not up and moving to Africa and leaving everything where it is. Not yet anyway... But the truth is I can't keep doing what I'm doing. Here have been the catalysts for me:
I have not felt very well for the past month or so. My stomach has been giving me trouble, and so far the doctors I've talked to can't figure out why. That's unnerving to a degree, but it made me appreciate waking up in the morning so much more. It's like "Hey, I'm still here. I get to go do stuff." That's freaking awesome.
Wednesday I threw out a bunch of food that was spoiled in the refrigerator. It smelled bad. I didn't think twice about doing it. So today when I felt at the depth of my soul that there were starving people, that really affected me. I need to adjust my habits. I need to stop wasting food. I can DO that. Even if it doesn't fix what's going on a world away, I can not waste food and not keep taking it for granted.
Thursday I bought paint. Painting two rooms, one blue and one a goldish color. Very pretty. The total for the paint (not even including primer) was $120. Four gallon cans. Do you know what else is $120? A goat. Quite literally, A GOAT. A goat that could not only support a family with food, but probably make more goats which would help other families.
Now I'm not saying for a second that I'll never buy paint again, but I absolutely never in my LIFE want to take for granted that I can walk into Lowes and buy a goat's worth of paint. I did it without blinking an eye. Never considering for a moment "Hey, I'm about to fork over enough money to feed a family for years. I need to appreciate this paint."
When I was 10 years old, $20 was a lot of money to me. Man, a relative gives you $20 and it's like you're a millionaire (at least when I was 10, dunno about now). Two decades later, I don't appreciate that $20 anymore. Maybe because it costs twice that for a tank of gas.
I got a very valuable gift yesterday. I got an hour where I saw so clearly that people are dying and I have too much. And it was all at once the most devastating and wonderful experience of my life. I want to hold on to this feeling until I take my last breath. Because I can make a difference, even if it's just buying the RIGHT amount of food instead of throwing it away a week after it spoils. This isn't some impossible task. It doesn't take billions of dollars to start things changing.
Even if it's just saying to you, out there, "Hey, it's morning, we're still here, and we get another day to DO stuff here! That's freaking awesome!" And maybe you'll say "Uhhh... okay... sure, JK, whatever..." and think I'm crazy. That's alright, I totally understand. I did that for 30 years.
But maybe, just maybe, you'll realize that it IS freaking awesome. And maybe you'll tell someone it's awesome, and THEY will be reminded of how awesome it is. And maybe, if we keep doing that, we'll all stop taking these brilliant, wonderful things around us for granted and our lives will be changed.
It's up to you now. Why not be appreciative out loud today?
One Week Until a New FtM Toon
I swore off public deadlines last year because I was sick of disappointing people, but frankly I've been disappointing myself with how long this latest cartoon has been taking. I'm just not getting enough done on it daily. So I'm announcing it will release next Friday, February 3rd, and then maybe it will get done.
Fingers crossed.
In other news, I'm still not feeling 100%, and it's rather discouraging. I've never in my life had a stomach issue hang around this long (we're pushing a month at this point, I think) and I'm really and truly sick of it. I guess next week it will be back to the doctor to see what to do next. More scans and prodding, I'm sure. It doesn't seem as bad as it was (though I might just be getting used to it?) so who knows, maybe by next week it will be gone.
Please?
Have a great weekend, everyone!
And here's a new background from a scene in the upcoming FtM toon. A room we've never seen before in the house:
Some 5 Minute Sketches 1/24/12
At the beginning of the year I decided to make it a goal of mine to do one sketchbook per month of drawing practice. I'm happy to say I'm only about 27 pages away from that being successful for January! If I can keep this pace I'll be set. Here are four five-minute drawings I did today, which I like to varying degrees:
I don't mind this tiger, and the pose was a fun one to draw. I wish I had more time, though, because I got too caught up in the details and didn't quite get to the top half after so much detail in the face.
This guy reminded me of the big Rock fellow from The Never Ending Story. I kept thinking he was thinking "They look like big, strong hands, don't they?" And I really like the hands, particularly. I think for as much trouble as hands have given me over the years, I'm finally starting to understand drawing them. All in all a successful drawing, I think.
Oh Monkey Face, why do you have a Monkey Face? Sigh. Of all the poses, this one was the most interesting to draw, and I think I got it done decently... until that face. Blech. But that's alright, that's why you practice. And I'm happy with how dimensional the rest looks overall. I enjoyed doing this drawing.
I don't think I did the photo this came from justice. The forms are about right, and it's a decent enough copy of the photo, but I'm not supposed to be COPYING the photo, I'm supposed to make it better. And this isn't made better. I didn't capture the pain in the face and body of the guy in the headlock, and I started to get the bully right when I ran out of time. Ah well, next time!
All in all a VERY good drawing day for me. Tom (whom I draw with in the afternoon) also had a good day he tells me, so there must have been something very artsy in the air! Now if I can just shake this stomach problem, all will be well.
I also got a ton of FtM stuff done today, so hooray for that!
Alright, I’m ready to be done with this
At the end of last week I was finally starting to feel better from this stomach issue I've been having, but today it's back to aggravating me. Sometimes I feel like that's worse, when you get a slight reprieve from things and it reminds you how nice it is to not have to deal with it. Another good example is how it's 55 degrees outside today and sunny, but since it's still January I know it won't last and the wind, cold, and snow will be back by the end of the week. Sigh...
But nothing I can do about it, so I might as well keep moving along. This week I'm hoping to close the internet from my fingertips and really get some work done. It's a giant distraction (the web), and I'm fed up with this latest FtM cartoon not being FINISHED ALREADY. I've really been dragging my feet. This stomach problem doesn't help (and today I'm super uber tired and exhausted and just want to crawl back to bed) but regardless, it really is time to just shut up and finish the cartoon.
Cowgirl Drawing Study
First off, I went in for my CT Scan yesterday and it turned out I didn't have to drink the weird chemical liquid for two hours before the procedure, and they got me in and scanned and out in about 20 minutes. Good deal! Well, they actually had me start drinking the liquid, but 15 minutes after I started a different nurse came in to tell me to stop because it wasn't needed for what the were scanning for. It beats 2 hours of drinking the stuff, but it also would have been nice if the first nurse knew what was going on and didn't give it to me in the first place! Ah well, at least it wasn't like they amputated my arm without need or something...
I'll hopefully hear back about the results today. I'm not worried, though. Whatever it is at least I'll know what's going on and then I can fight it. It's this not knowing what's wrong that bugs me most. (EDIT: I heard back and good news is there's no alien being waiting to burst through my stomach, but unfortunately they still don't know what's wrong. Everything seemed normal. So, since I'm feeling a bit better today, we're going to wait and see for a bit and monitor how I feel.)
With that out of the way, I thought I'd take today's blog entry for a journey through a drawing study I did this morning. I've been doing a lot of 1 minute and 5 minute gesture poses lately, so today I decided to try something else. With unlimited time I tried to break figures down into simple shapes and cylinders. Much like this:
I think it's important to note that for the past, I don't know, three or four years at least I have tried to do studies like this using shapes and cylinders. Previously I have failed utterly. For some reason I just couldn't see the shapes in 3D. I'm happy to report that the above drawing (which I really, really like) is a breakthrough for me as I seem to have finally "got it" in regards to seeing which way these simple forms go and fit together. Hurray! It's a big celebration for me because I struggled with it for so long.
I did a few of these drawings before coming to an image of a cowgirl striking a particularly strong pose. I did the cylinder version of the drawing:
I had some trouble with the midsection, because the upper torso and lower torso seemed very far apart in this pose. Still, I think I managed it alright (especially compared to my old drawings using this type of study). I decided to stay with this photo and flesh things out more. That yielded this:
I don't hate all aspects of this drawing, but some make me sick to even look at. The face especially (still waiting on that particular breakthrough!) and it was over all very chunky and had no flow and appeal. I was not content. I decided to shake off the burden of the details and try to just capture the essence of the pose. My next attempt:
In relation to the photo, this drawing is "wrong." The proportions are off, the overall figure is much thinner, and some of the angles are pushed too far. All that said, I like this drawing so much better. And as I read books like Drawn to Life (an excellent read for any artist, I highly recommend it) I keep coming across the theme of "don't copy the model, draw the feeling and action in front of you." So I'm not sorry I did a "bad" job of drawing the model, because I think this drawing captured the pose perhaps best of all.
I wanted to try to distill that essence even more, so I set out to draw JUST the angles of the hips, shoulders, and head. Then I put in rough positions for the arms and legs, fleshed it out JUST A LITTLE, and stepped back to see what I came up with:
This may be my favorite of the bunch personally. I love sketches like this, where the bare minimum is shown but the FEEL is still captured, and that I managed to do something so telling with my own hand makes me grin. As always I still have a long way to go, but the simple drawing above really makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere.
Which is really good news because last night my drawing practice went TERRIBLY and I wanted to give up completely. Yesterday I produced such monstrosities as this:
Blech! What is this I don't even. The legs clearly don't fit the torso, the arm is a mess, there are two heads because I drew the first one in the wrong place, and I want to spit when I see this disaster. But it's important to remember, which is why I'm posting this drawing as well, that you'll have good days as an artist and bad days. If you quit on the bad days, the good days will never find you.
Have a terrific weekend!
Meeting One of my Animation Heroes
I'm extremely excited. In June I will be attending an event in Montreal Canada to hear a lecture and meet Andreas Deja. Mr. Deja is one of my animation heroes, and I will be able to cross off a name on my list of "people I want to meet one day." For those who don't know, here is a list of his accomplishments. A few awesome examples include:
He is also one of the few people authorized officially by Disney to draw Mickey Mouse. You have to understand how huge that is. Mickey is their most important asset, and an animator has to be top notch to be trusted with the world's most famous mouse.
The event isn't cheap. It's $700 for one day, plus an 11 Hour drive for me and hotel accommodations. It's going to put a big hole in my personal bank account. But I don't doubt for a minute that it will be worth it. Plus all proceeds go to helping to build Studio Technique facilities to help future animators and artists, so I feel like the money is going someplace useful. There's actually a second day option with a life drawing class with him that is limited to only 15 people, and I'd LOVE to do that, but it costs $2500. That's more than my wedding, so I don't think that will fly.
If you want to see some truly amazing stuff by Andreas Deja, he runs a blog that you can find right here. And one of the greatest things I've ever watched 500 times on YouTube, the test he did to get the job of animating Tigger in the latest Winnie the Pooh movie is absolutely outstanding.
In other news, I am getting ready to head out to my CAT scan with the hope they can figure out what's wrong and I'll be able to heal up. Yesterday was actually a really good day for how I felt, so maybe I'm slowly getting better? I can hope. Anyone out there who is a practitioner of prayer, I wouldn't mind if you send a few my way today. I'm nervous, but really I'm just anxious to figure out what's going on with this stomach problem.
- The latest #FredtheMonkey #cartoon #animation It's All Relative! http://t.co/oxepzBDL
- 9:55PM: Countdown to launch in 3....... 2..... 1........
What are you looking for?
Recent Comments
- Triangle on Feature Fred Cartoon: It’s All Relative
- Snookums-Gal on One Week Until a New FtM Toon
- Snookums-Gal on Oh. It’s Groundhog Day.