Gesture Drawings, January 13th!

Still working on force in the male body, size, forshortening, and overlap.

Reading Force:  Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators.  Definitely worth it.

Gesture Drawings, January 12th!

Working on perspective and force in the male body today.

Also read the first chapter of Making Comics by Scott McCloud.  One of the exercises was to pick one of your favorite movies and turn the plot into 16 panels of a comic.. this is the good half. lol  I'll fix the other half tomorrow.. but for now, you don't want to see that part!

Can anyone guess what this movie is?  It's the very beginning of the movie.



















Easy linkage to the books I'm currently reading in this post. <3

Gesture Drawing; January 11th

Sometimes I think I've got it, other times I think I've reverted back a couple years.

For some reason.. things with curves are extremely easy.. but guys standing straight up are difficult.  Also having trouble with perspective and angles.  Maybe it's just the fact that I'm looking at a flat photo.. but I'm not sure where the eyeline would be in some pictures.


Easy linkage of the first two Force books.  Definitely worth it.

Comic #3

Is it messed up that when I hear "Walk with Jesus" I picture something like this? lol

Gesture/figure drawings every day!

Doing gesture drawings every day.  Though.. uhh.. I don't remember what I did yesterday. TODAY though.. TODAY has been a success!  The ratio of bad to good drawings has gotten better;  a.k.a. I spent very little time being frustrated by completely horrible drawings..  I call that a success!

I am starting to feel the motion of each stroke I lay down.. now if only I could stop doing that teeny tiny sketchy line malarky.. and maybe stop giving all the girls big butts.

http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php  is what I'm using for reference.

Also some easy linkage to the books that are helping me recreate the action in each pose:

Comic #2

I feel like I'm cheating myself out of improvement by not pushing myself.. so I might just do two comics a week.  If they're crap.. they're crap.  Thats the point.  You don't get better without practicing and drawing every day!

It's been 7 days since I made that new years resolution on a whim 2 hours before the ball dropped.  Others were dealing with nicotine addictions and exercise routines daily.. struggling not to break their resolutions.  I was screwing around for a large majority of the time with very little thought going into the next comic. lol  What i did manage to scribble down on a sticky note was "Hobo, stirafoam butt creek, anatomy - hahaha weiners".

I'm super ashamed of the colored one.. so I'm just going to shrink it and hope no one sees it.

Comic #1

 New Years Resolution comic?

I think this explains it all.  I spend too much time NOT DOING when I should be DOING.  Too much worrying about how crappy something is and not enough time actually drawing crappy things to get better.

New Years Resolution?

I've been reading Force:  Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators.  I'm still on chapter 1.. cause that's how distracted by absolutely nothing I am.  It's a really nice book.. and I think it certainly has helped me even when I've only read the first chapter.  It doesn't hurt that the Author, Michael D. Mattesi, has a youtube channel where he uploads free videos like once a week.  http://www.youtube.com/drawingforce




The first chapter tells you what you should be thinking about while drawing these figures.. and I may or may not be actually thinking about these things as I go. lol

FORCE POINTERS

1. Skate the page. Close your eyes and imagine the paper as ice and you as the world’s best figure skater. You are performing your best routine.  As you skate, feel the fluidity and speed of your movement. Notice how the blades cut into the ice as you move through tight and open curves. Your marks should indicate the change in force and pressure that your body would feel on the ice.
2. Find the ribcage to hip relationship first. Keep seeing how their relationship is asymmetrical and falls into one of the four previously discussed scenarios.
3. Stand and mimic the model’s pose. Start with the biggest ideas of the pose and work down to the small detail. Close your eyes and feel your body in that pose. Notice the stretches, torques, pressures, and gravity on yourself. Then push the pose and feel where it wants to go. Put those experiences into your drawing.
4. Watch the model move into a pose. Look at the directions their body swept into to take the pose. There lies answers to force.
5. Draw with a clear directional force for each part of the figure.
6. Be passionate about the aliveness of the model and the pose. Draw your excitement.
7. Write what you are achieving in a drawing. Bring a thesaurus to increase your vocabulary about your ideas. Write verb first then noun it affects.
8. Pay attention to your internal dialog. Don’t be self defeating.
9. Explain what you see, don’t just copy it.
10. Get out of your own way. Don’t worry about the drawing.
11. Always have something to say.
12. Draw to feel what the model is feeling.

Other than that, I've been horribly distracted by Steam's recent sale/giftpile objectives.  I really shouldn't be so easily coerced into playing numerous games.. Why do I have to play games to win games anyway?  Where is this objective set? lol

SUPER AWESOME AMAZING HALLOWEEN AWESOMENESS OF STORYBOARDING EPIC COOL TUBULAR

I thought it might be a good idea to make an animation before the 31st.  Problem is, I'm not sure what qualifies as funny.  Are my ideas just inside-jokes?  I drew up some storyboards in hopes of getting some answers.. posted them on my facebook and google+.  Now I wait to see if anyone replies.

Here is what I pictured.  It's a true story. lol

Adventures of a Green Screen Noob! Live action & Animation LOLS!

I wasted some time.  I'm not proud of it.  Somewhere along the way I just forgot about my long term goals and drifted off into lazy mode.  Also, did I mention I was in outer space?

I ordered a green screen.. something I've wanted since last year when I bought my Canon T2i.  When it got here, I spent a good day or three trying to find a spot to hang it up.  And here I thought 9'x15' was going to be too small.. I can barely find a room big enough to accommodate it's size.. let alone the Canon 550d's default lens.
But I made it work last night, and surprisingly it worked out pretty well.

I plan to make a live action + animation video.. like Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  I figure it could be hilarious.

My first test was just an animation made in the program TVPaint and placed onto a video of me.



And this is my first test of the green screen and movie mode.  Premiere Pro almost did all the work itself.. I can barely take credit.  Premiere Pro cs4 did have a problem with 550d footage and preview stuttering.  It made it extremely difficult to time things.. so hopefully I find a solution soon.  BUT, even with the severe stuttering.. I was cracking up while editing it.  Maybe it's cause I'm in it.. but it just looks so silly!  Hopefully I can make something really entertaining next!



I played TF2 a week or two ago with a few friends and frapsed a ton of videos.  Posted those to my youtube page too. I don't get as much satisfaction out of making 'funny' gaming videos as I use to.  It's fun and all.. but nothing beats bringing a character you drew to life in a video.  Heres one of the six or so I edited and plopped on my channel!  Tell me what you think!