Improving your Staging...

I drew this layout the other day.. and it just didn't sit right with me. I was happy with the drawing, but it didn't help move the characters and the story forward. At this point in the film, the masked men have elevated themselves to predator, and have become a menacing, horrifying force that are gorging themselves on the helpless "little dudes".So I redrew the layout to express this feeling. I placed the little dudes lower in the frame, and I launched the masked man up high.. utilizing a low camera angle.. a classic and cliche way to make a character more powerful (just look at all the low shots of Darth Vader!). A bonus to the scene now is that I can show some really frightened expressions on the little dude.The re-staging of this shot even influenced the style of drawing.. I drew the masked man in the improved version with a lot more insidiousness and evil.. whereas the previous version, the masked man comes off as cartoonish. the overall composition improved as well. I suppose this is just a reminder to push yourself at every level.. you just never know how you can improve things.

The Plausible Impossible: Weight and DUMBO...

This sequence from my new favorite Disney film of all time, "Dumbo", exemplifies an aspect of animation (and artwork in general) that has become the overwhelming feature of my own work: The idea of the "Plausible Impossible" (term by Walt himself) in terms of weight and balance.
This clip from Dumbo would obviously be impossible, but it looks so believable because the animators understood how to render, balance, and move masses that feel like several tons. I love how the gossip hordes continue their bitchy little quips the entire time. Characters that express weight are FELT by the viewer, you can FEEL the precariously balanced fleshy pachyderms.
In my paintings I create configurations of people piled on top of one another. The configurations look like they may work, although impossible, I draw them to look and feel believable. After studying this Dumbo clip, look for a more "fleshy" and pliable variation of what is above, which, comparatively, my drawing looks dull flat and boring (ummm.. perspective patrick? use it you knob!). You can learn a lot from studying the masters!

"Time Warp" on Discovery Channel...

This program is practically tailor made for Animation Artists. I've never been so obsessed with a television show before. Motion analysis is one of my favorite past times, and capturing it with a series of drawings is what sets the art of animation apart from all other art mediums. Once you get into motion, everything else feels static and boring.The movie above is one of my favorites. I'm always fascinated at how fluid human flesh can be. And to think that people say MY FILMS are weird and stretchy! Real life can be so much more bizarre, just look at this fighters nose! Enjoy a free course in action analysis complements of Discovery Channel.

I'm sold... xtranormal.com

Some of these are better than films i see at film festivals! and it's solely generated by text!! I'm rarely impressed with computer technology, but xtranormal.com is incredible and hilarious. If I was an animator I would really be concerned... oh wait.. I am... anyway, If you're wondering where the future is.. pre-programmed actions using text. all this needs is professional voice acting, custom character design option, then tweeking by director, and you have a dialogue driven script and one hell of an entertaining film!!! I love how the awdwardness actually makes it funny!!!! My prediction.. we will see a lot more of this company and this concept. I feel like making a film right now and submitting it to film festivals, it would probably get more attention than one of my traditional animated short.. NEW TECHNOLOGY just fascinates everyone, it's so pathetic. Ok...on second thought.. i'll be here at my studio drawing. Here's my attempt at it.. Enjoy.

"Blood and Posture" from Mark Kennedy blog...

"I don't use action lines to describe what is happening in the frame; I use blood and posture to tell the viewer what is happening" -Gibbens (of "Watchmen")

Another epic blog entry from Mark. Please take some time to read this very extended entry, it's something I think about all the time, and I happen to lean toward the NO action lines especially in animation. I hate that I've used them in the past, they added practically nothing to the action. "Blood and Posture" may just be my new tag line. ok... i'm using my own drawings as examples, you'll have to forgive me, i just have no immediate other examples at hand.
Above I used motion lines in "Puppet" to punch up this key that was exposed on ones. Now that I look at it, it didn't add anything, i should have left it out.
Above, I think I did well, some animators would use a "wipe" effect by elongating this exposure (again on ones) but it looks better with the more realistic "stretch" of the sock being thrown down, as well as a nice drag from the hair.
Above I think I used the saliva coming off the kids mouth as a "Blood and Posture" move, eliminating any motion lines, and only using goober to leave a motion trail, and also again the direction is aided by the drag on the hair, as well as the puppets little hands. This was a fun scene to animate.Dangit... above is another one... what's wrong with me?? this one had no reasoning behind it.. I think sometimes I put them in when i'm working on 1's because i think it goes by so quick.
I even see they crept in within the rough of this one.
Here's another one above, you see the VERY NEXT FRAME has debris (read "blood") that made the action quite clear enough.. no lines were needed. moral of this... stick to the real world for your references... there's no motion lines in reality!

Sketchbook: "PUPPET" development..

I'm often asked how to go about starting a film, and I always answer the same way: it begins entirely in the SKETCHBOOK.. this is where ideas are explored and figured out. there's no judge to say that this is bad or good.. just exploration and refinement which the audience will only see the result of. The roughs in your sketchbook are studies that are a necessary part of figuring out the complexities of moving a character within a space.

Please visit the NEW WEB PAGE OF SKETCHES with most of my sketch book drawings for my last film "Puppet". Enjoy! happy vOting!

Sketchbook: Girl Studies...

The female character offers specific challenges for me. I've been drawing a lot of designs of girls for an upcoming project, and I'm starting to really enjoy it. I've always struggled with girls (artistically and otherwise), but I'm really starting to understand the subtleties of their form more.. especially facial features. enjoy these scans. I always draw in ink.. it's something i started to do a long time ago.. the logic was that it forced me to commit to the lines, and it speeds up your drawing quite a bit. Matter of fact.. i just may be the quickest sketcher i know.. not sure if that's a good or bad thing. my previous sketchbook was stolen... well.. actually, i left it at a bar in my bag. still can't understand why someone wouldn't return a sketchbook.

Sketchbook: Fun with Spheres...

Whenever i'm depressed about drawing, or can't seem to loosen up enough to animate, i fall back to my "fun with spheres" game. basically, you draw a sphere, and you place characters onto it, holding it, being crushed by it.. whatever. and what happens is that you gradually loosen up within the context of space, weight, perspective and balance. in addition, i always draw in ink, so you're further forced to give your characters energy and movement. let me know if this little exercise helps anyone else, i swear by it! above is a page from my sketchbook from this past week.

Drawing digital vs. a REAL drawing....

I've been doing a lot of sketching in flash, usually when i'm on a conference call and people want to see designs immediately, or just when i don't want to be bothered with scanning pencils. BUT... I really believe that it is quite different, and TOTALLY not as good in terms of emotional connection and tangibility, in the context of something that is real vs. something that doesn't truly exist. While I was drawing yesterday in flash, in preparation for this blog entry, the program quit out and I lost a very good drawing. Con #1 for flash, IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY EXIST. don't forget that. I posted a model sheet for a project i'm doing for sesame street (well, not the gun drawing, that was just for fun). the drawing above was drawn with a cintiq in flash, the one below is scanned from paper(ingram bond, HB lead)... what differences can you see?