Blech. What a monstrosity. Makes me sick to even look at it.

I've been trying to practice faces again, since obviously it's an area that I need a lot of work in. It's tough, though, because drawing something you suck at drawing just makes you want to quit. The good news is I only wanted to quit for about 20 minutes or so before getting mad and jumping back in because I didn't want to be defeated. Still, it would be nice to just be better at this already...

It wasn't a total loss, I also did this drawing. While it's no masterpiece, at least it wouldn't scare sewer rats to death like the image above.

The first drawing (which actually came after this one) has no redeeming qualities at all. This second one, though, has glimmers of "not too bad" which I can build on. So I'm trying to focus on the glimmers instead of the total disaster.

In other news, I just finished "reading" The Enemy by Charlie Higson.

I put "reading" in quotes because to be honest I probably read half the book by the end. I skipped paragraph after paragraph at times because I just wanted to know what happened. It was a good enough book to make me care enough to finish, but not good enough to hold me with every word. There were a lot of gory descriptions and drawn out internal monologues that just didn't interest me, so I skipped them. The first few chapters I didn't, but as the book went on (too long, in my opinion) and more characters died, I cared less. I will say this about Mr. Higson, though. He does an incredible job at making you care about the characters as people. I'm not sure how, but even a few pages in I was caring about a character who dies early on, and it was a blow when he was killed. As such when a MAIN character died (stupidly) part way through, I was hurt and so began the downward spiral of numbness to characters being killed. By the end I was just flipping through pages to get to the minimum information needed to tell me the story.

I think if it had been TWO books, I'd have enjoyed it a ton more. It was split into pretty clear halves, really. When the characters (who you care about because of Higson's particular writing skill) achieved their first big victory (where the book should have ended) you didn't have time to revel in it at all. It was just "Okay, now here is the next problem." I would have liked a little more time to revel in the victory. It would be akin to combining the first two Harry Potter books. Harry saves the day at the end of Sorcerer's Stone and then BOOM, gets thrown right into Chamber of Secrets. There would be no time to enjoy the win, and that's what happened in The Enemy. You already had such devastation and heartbreak with the characters who died, and then when the kids left "made it" it was like it was all for nothing. The book was just too long.

Still, I'm going to track down Book 2 in the series later at the library. I care enough about the characters to want to see what happened. I expect, though, that I'll get through the 400 page novel in about an hour, as I'll be skipping most just to get to the good parts. Makes me wish the whole book was edited down to just that (and who knows, maybe the second will be different and achieve that).

Of course I understand a lot of folks enjoyed every word, so I'm not saying it should have all been cut. Merely that the best books I've read have held me through every last word, and the ones that don't reach that level I find myself skimming just to see what happens in the end.

Not too shabby, I think. Better not be, considering how long I spent on it revising! Just goes to show that if you take your time and really work at something (instead of looking for instant-success) you can achieve a lot. If you'd like to see the whole process (including my less-lovely first drawing) you can check them out here on DeviantArt.

How is everyone else doing? Anyone need help with anything? I was driving this morning and felt a subtle call to be available today in case anyone needs some help that I can provide. So if there's something I can do, let me know. Leave a comment and I'll email you back. If not, have a great day! Hope it's full of exciting possibilities!

Also I would REALLY like to get rid of this completely before two weeks from now and my 30th birthday. REALLY like to... It's bad enough spending your birthday not feeling well, but a major one like that makes it double-suck.

The first of the animatics is right here.

The second of the animatics, you guessed it, over here.

I just ordered a flock of baby chicks to send to a family who needs help. Total cost: $20 in dollars, about five minutes in time. And that $20 and 5 minutes literally could change a few people's lives. I'm sharing it in case anyone else feels compelled to do something similar. I won't beg or try to make you feel bad. It's your choice.

And now I'm off to sign up for a drawing seminar and do some thumbnails for my 11 Second entry. Somethings tells me the best thing I'll have done today is already complete.

Personally I really enjoy About Us pages. I love seeing the behind the scenes information on companies, and what they think while they do what they do. Some, of course, are just PR nonsense written by some suit who doesn't want to offend anyone or cause trouble. Bah. What's the point of an About Us page if it isn't going to be honest?

I'm excited that a new week is upon us and I'm anxious to get working. I'm going to try to limit my internet time for the next few days and actually be productive.

And here's an image to have something here besides a wall of text.

I finished inking Koala Jenkins in Toon Boom, and here he is:

For now I'll leave it with the ugly tube-like structure of his arms and legs, just to learn the moving process. Eventually I'll go in and try to get it to look seamless and still be animatable. (Apparently animatable isn't a word. PSSH.)

I also did some ink drawings of layout concepts for my 11 Second Entry. And here THOSE are.

Click Image for Full Size

I am extremely happy with Shot E there, because it is the first image I've ever designed using an upward angle. Or at least, the first one that's been SUCCESSFUL. I love it. Sadly it would be really, really tough to animate, so I probably won't go with that. After all, the deadline is under a month away and I don't need difficult cameras to slow me down.

I'd love to hear if anyone has any thoughts on which of the compositions are you favorite (and least favorite) so I can decide which to go with. Even if it is E, I'll at least take it into account. (EDIT: To be clear, I'm only picking one. It isn't like a storyboard where those are all camera cuts. The clip is only 9 seconds long! No time for constant cuts.)

Got a hugely busy weekend ahead of me, so I'm going to get back to work now! Have a terrific weekend everyone.

Click Image for Larger View

I'm focusing on character simplicity this time around in the hopes that I can spend my energy and effort on the posing and emotion. The audio clip for this month is FULL of great feeling, so I can't wait to try and capture that!

I did not draw this, nor do I aspire to. Nice art, but too many lines!

In other news, if you're an animator or movie-folk, there's a free online storyboarding class this weekend that I just signed up for: http://storyboardsecrets.com/blog/free-online-storyboard-class/ Free education is always a good deal, so check it out! I've learned from the creator of the course, Sherm Cohen, and he knows his stuff. Maybe see ya there!