back to the drawn animation

the princess and the frog. it comes out Dec 11. this is an interview with John Lassater... while it certainly doesn't get into the creative processes behind him, it has a short Pixar history and more Up footage. <3.

misty day

yay for continuing the yevgenia workshop! we really needed the extra time to figure out illustrating. im not quite sure what she means when she asks if i can use the style that is my own, rather than cartoon. i guess i have a very wide definition of 'cartoon'. i originally wanted to illustrate the story like scenes in a stained-glass window, but i'll have to add the integrity of my usual style. back to character/costume design.

got to work on some shading with watercolors. the contrast between the dark and the warm colors. and i needed practice drawing caps. also a failed Neil Patrick Harris attempt. ooh i forgot to color his ear... and eyes and brows and hair oops.

orange snail

And the teacher knows i draw during AP bio, too. At this point, as long as im copying the notes, she doesn't seem to mind. and we were learning about snail coloration anyway.

Wrote ss hw in quill and ink. and it's probably not going to be collected. she collects HW randomly. HW should always be collected. its a promise made between teacher and student: the student does the hw, the teacher collects it. this has been a problem, especially with history hws, when teachers only collect hws they feel like collecting.

ink, frantonis, 6 disney tapes

Velvet Underground <3.>

howcantreesrecognizeus. wealllookthesame.

One kind of bravery is about doing things even though you're scared of disappointment, and getting over that fear of disappointment to do something that must be done. This bravery is when you have something to do, but public opinion and social discrepancies are in the path of your goal.

Another kind of bravery is exposing yourself to uncertainty. There is the chance of disappoinment, there are a lot of chances, but there is an underlining foreshadow around actions. There is even the chance of a positive outcome, but you are scared because you dont know.

i must rethink this, and consider how time and mortality play in these ideas.

weekend

The. show. went. amazing. like versus the crash and burn that was expected.

the russian story is confusing, and i sorta want to illustrate it like a stained-glass window. simple colors, breaking everything into simple shapes. looks like i left those drawings at school. well. this is the prototype for Marusia.

the Doctor and the monkeys are here, too. The monkeys- Milton's smoking, Swift has too-small glasses, and Kafka is basically an unkept midwest-diner waitress. Their costumes are based on the idea that they were dressed by people who don't really know how to dress them. Swift's glasses are too small, but it doesn't bother him because he doesn't know better.

the Doctor (name i forgot) has questionable motivations. originally, he was some ex-hippie who went into science to get away from things, and now is having too much fun with behavioral science. But i thought back to the instance in the script when Milton shows some 'typical agression' and get a cigarette. the doctor is scared. hes also doing this experiment to get a grant, because his vetenary skills are lacking. thats where this late-thirties guy with thinning hair came from.

Yegenia workshop, pen and ink

Started on final character design sheets for the workshop. Character design and the costume design. I was pretty surprised that Yugenia (Yegenia) complimented- not the word- didn't criticize?- the way she has of accepting that this thing you made is a qualifying vision of the general concept. After my lack of understanding of any structural integrity, this 'compliment' was sort of surprising. Especially after showing the Unique project to a fine artist (Hea's, and soon to be my, boss at A Gathering of Artists). Her reaction was "That's.. cute.". I accepted that as 'i should have showed her i understand the basics of human-drawing first' and 'she might not be able to see what i can see'. which doesnt mean either of us are wrong, just that we see things differently.

i realize that cartoon designs have to have a basis of realism. You can't mess with arm-torso proportions until you know what the proportions are first.

This guy was done in indian ink and a quill-pen (a nib with some metal and paint). The set of his lips is so english. Played with the shadows, midtones, and this tool 'Gamma' (what does this do?). I like how ink looks through a scanner. It's a lot cleaner than pencil, in most ways.

Cold Doctor

This was supposed to be a character design for Yugenia's workshop, but it's too severe. He is., because the design leaves no room for any warmth. No eyes, only one hand (and even that is covered), an extremely phallic syringe. The coat itself covers up a shirt. The lack of defining jaw bone makes the character less 'manly', which leads to the idea that the clothes and syringe are add-ons to make him appear manly. And, yes, this level of design (even though i don't have a definate standard, therefore no 'level' to compare to) is in most of projects. The Unique project (Conversations in Paint II is too long) needs to be finished, and the cold doctor needs to be a character there.

Wow the ears are uneven. Technically, he's 5 1/2 heads high, too.

This is a wonderfully-worded sentence that connects character design to art as a career.

I have an AP bio test tomorrow. AP bio is one of the most demanding classes in the school, and i'm surrounded by the future doctors, lawyers, and businessmen of the generation. but the more i learn in that class, the more i realize how much i want to go to art school. Character animation at CalArts. bringing 4D into drawing, and drawing non-stop. ill still study for my bio tests, and hopefully get a 4 on the ap test, but its not what im going to be doing forever.

from now on, there should be a picture with every post. i have a working scanner now.