The Old Man & The Sketch Book

Here's that drawing that I mentioned in my last entry. I finally made it down to the Dyson Computer Lab where they have the big scanners. I dunno...whatcha think?

African Inspired Character Concept

Here's the concept doodle I was talking about for an African inspired Stop Motion animation I would like to make. (Stemming from that doodle that everyone likes and one person wants to have made into a tattoo). 

Here is the original.

And here is a version with a Photoshop filter. (Don't ask why, I honestly don't know...I assume it'll make sense later to me.)

My next post will be of a drawing that has gotten a lot of attention even though I rarely show it, it's in a sketchbook with other images bleeding through it and...well...the list goes on. It needs to be photographed because it's too big to fit in my scanner and that means lighting it, etc. So, I'll make sure to get that done ASAP, but for now I'm glad all of my back archiving is done and you can look forward to more posts in the future. 

And please, leave comments!

Back Archiving: In My Own Time

This is just random stuff that I've done in my own time. 

This has a weird story... I know it's not the best thing ever, but there's something about it I like. I found several plastic easter eggs in the Weston House quad, one had a tiny yellow chick in it, the others had W.W.J.D. (What Would Jesus Do) bracelets; I found six. I wanted to dye them black so that I could wear them. I coated each in black ink as they sat on a piece of paper, when I went to move it, the bracelets shifted and this was the out come. 

This was both meant to be a Valentine's Day image as well as a T-shirt. Yeah, I know...it's off...but I did this without reference one day while in the worst class I've ever taken: Survey of New Media Arts. Gouache background with graphite lady. (I have since been asked TWICE if I'm going to finish it...thanks...) (Ink it, etc.) (I have also since been asked who I work for, a little more complimentary.)

This is a block print I did for my mom's old job. The hope was that it would be made into a postcard... I don't know if this will happen.

This I drew for a friend. I based it on him but made him a child. He was a culinary major at his community college and then came to SCAD for animation. We worked on a stop mo project together. The background is lame, but I love how he came out.

This came from a joke that my alter ego was a super hero named, "Arachna-tit." A woman who could "F*** a man in half." It's all wonky but it was the first drawing I had done after a dry spell. (Though art school teacher you a great deal and would seemingly be inspiring, it can also be very taxing emotionally and creatively).

Back Archiving: School Work

This is a collection of school work I'm proud of (not including animation, I'll see if I can dig that up).

This is my maquette for little, "Me." I just turned this in today for a 96/100. Though both the professor and I could agree that it still have some rough spots, it turned out really nice. 

This is a maquette I made for Stop Motion II class. I named this little one, Xoie. (The reason why this maquette is colored is because in Stop Motion you use a maquette to work out all of the details before building a puppet, while in 2D Animation, you paint a maquette matte gray so that you can see how light hits the forms, thus making animating that much easier. I need to sand mine to both clean up the rough bits as well as make it matte).

Here's a photo of Xoie that I took with my cell phone... 

This was the original character concept. I "cuted her up" by making her a little rounder and a little younger looking.

This was drawing for Layout Design. Fully rendered drawings made with blue animation pencil is an interesting experience. I know that the shirt isn't perfect, etc., but I like this doodle a lot.

This was the original Character Turn-Around for little "Me."

This is a gouache painting I did in Color & Design at AAU. Had I really kept my paint application consistent, this could have gone into the AAU Student Show.

This actually did make it into the AAU Student Show. My teacher said that this was the most original Repeat Pattern project she had ever seen. She also marveled at the fact that unlike the other students who masked off their work with Frisket or Tape, I freehanded it. (Don't worry, I used a ruler to loses place things but beyond that... I just went for it.) I was not awarded any prizes but out of several thousands of students I was one of maybe 20 students to be shown. 

This was the original concept doodle for Mr. Bear, "Me's" friend. 

This was the final Character Turn-Around for Mr. Bear. My professor and I agree that I should push this because we really think there's something hiding underneath these drawings.

This is Mercedes Bends, Japanese Pearl Diver. The side view is realllllly weird, but I still like her. This is the Japanese Noh based character I mentioned in my last entry. I didn't realize I categorized it as such.

One of the poses for the first "Me."

Here I was seeing how I could push "Me's" original design.

Another example of "Me" and "Mr. Bear."

The final turn around for "Me." Not perfect but much better. I hand inked this in...I want to say...under an hour...so there are imperfections (I am out of practice) and her freckles smudged on the straight-ahead pose.

The Great Warrior. A found object puppet for Stop Motion I. From top down: feathers, head is a pencil sharpener, wings are earrings, bit on forehead came from an eyelash curler, one eye has a cog from a can opener around it, the other has a weird cog thing I got at Home Depot, shoulder adornments are buttons, red fabric cape, the chest plate from a fakey Ken doll, an old watch courtesy of MacD, the skirt was made from a black and white striped purse that had fallen into disrepair, I used a hole punch for the alternating black and white dots, one arm is made from two chicken bones I found and a Ken hand, the other arm was one of Ken's arms with a Dremmel tool hand, more of the black and white purse for the arm band, hair roller shin guards and portable ashtray feet. Few...what a mouth full. 

This is the first Character sheet I ever made. This is Dag, he's a Duckbilled Platypus. Though a little odd, I like him. You can see the Disney influence here.

This I did for Perspective for Animators at AAU. Though I used a Photoshop filter on this, the original's fun too. Values need to be pushed, etc. but I feel like this is a fun location.

At AAU our 3D Design class was spent sculpting the figure. One of our last projects was to sculpt a head from a live model. Though this looks very little like the model we were lucky enough to have, it was my first try at sculpting a head and unlike everyone else's, mine actually turned out looking semi-realistic. My professor, however, didn't seem to like women even though she was one, and decided to give me a C for the class. So disappointing...women hating women...

Back Archiving: Doodles

Here's a collection (a rather large collection) of sketches I wanted to share that were floating about in my sketchbooks. Originally I wanted to put these in a particular order but for some reason blogger places photos in reverse order that you attempt to load them in... I'll give a little explanation of each. Partly because I like typing, partly because I like explaining myself and partly so that you might connect images that are to be placed together and place each image in a loose timeline; important for me because I feel that each time I create, my new piece outshines the last. 

I'm very light handed so Colin said, "Here! Draw with pens!" He gave me some of his favorite pens, the Mars Staedtler watercolor pens. (I had worked with Copic Brush tipped pens a little, you'll see those drawings later.)

Here's a sketch of a tree I did while waiting for the SCAD Shopping Shuttle. I drew this in a Utrecht Sample Sketch book that I accidentally stole from the Art Supplies Trade Show here at SCAD. I used a Carbon pencil that I legitimately got for free from the Trade Show.

More of my practicing with Mars pens.

This is from an inside joke I have with Lily and Diana. I originally set out to make Lily a tote bag with this image on it several years ago...I finally drew it out over the summer.

While at Colin's mom's house I continued working with those Mars pens and got to play with sparklers! I've come to really like drawing myself; I think I've finally found some facial landmarks that make it easier to draw myself. I also tried to draw everyday and experimented with drawing what I did during the day. 

Here I was trying to see how much visual information is needed to identify an animal. 

SILVER BEAR! 

Part experimentation with Pilot Pen, part truth...

I need to loosen up and am always seeking the best way; most efficient way to represent something. This is no masterpiece but an attempt to loosen up. Oh yeah, and not lift the pen from the paper.

More scribbles.

More from drawing what happened during the day. We sent our first rent check and I got underpants. 

I love drawing women. They're much easier. I was experimenting with exaggerating proportions and line weight.

A character design? I dunno... 

This doodle has a fun story... On the way to Kroger one day (Colin donning a pair of yellow House Wife gloves), we ran into a man who wanted money and or food. He claimed to be a concert pianist; someone who rattled off a list of music you'd play as a bar player... He said he came to Savannah for an audition, he said he blew everyone away at the audition by playing John Lennon's "Imagine." He claimed he was staying in a mission and wanted to discuss a great many things over a Power Bar, which we soon found we would be buying for him. Other extraneous details: he saw Colin's Marilyn Manson T-shirt and said, "He's an amazing performer." He wanted many Power Bars, we ended up having to lay down the law and tell HIM how many we would be buying for him. He seemed to have a stolen bicycle that he didn't want to leave out front. (It had a lock on it but he kept saying, "Should I leave it out front? I don't know...I guess I could...Should I? I...don't know..." The eerie thing is that this doodle is probably the most accurate depiction of this weirdo either of us could create.

Colin and I collaborated on this weird thing while sipping drinks at Blaine's Backdoor Bar... The local Bear Bar.

Here's the second half of doodles based on Japanese Noh masks.

The first half of sketches based on Japanese Noh masks which were originally inspired by a character you will see later in this entry.

MOSQUEEDLE!

Here I'm working with line weight. This was one of the first pages I did with a Copic Brush tipped pen.

I want to say this was a Mars pen again. Line weight tests again.

Bad doodle but funny all the same. The tag line here is: "You probably know Jesus' face better than you know your own." In other words, you're more likely to be able to draw Jesus' face from memory than your own... A scary comment on how Christian imagery is just burned into your brain.

MORE JESUS! The doodle on the left is of a Jesus Comic Book Colin and I picked up for a dollar in Mt. Dora. 

More of me.

More work with line weight. More mars. More fun.

This, for some reason, is a popular doodle on mine. I've been told that people want to get this tattood on their skin. This lead to a concept for an animation that I want to make. I forgot to scan the character concept I made, but will put it in another entry and remind you of this. 

Line weight and silliness!

Chat de Jambon.

Here's the second of two drawings based on a dress I own. More work with pushing proportions and was initially going to be a concept for a character of myself. This was created as a relief from the first drawing (which is below; you can see the charcoal around the edges, I used this to define the edge with a Copic pen).

Here's the original drawing. Sadly you cannot see that it's shiny. 

Colin doodle. He said, "This is the best drawing anyone has done of me." A sad thought in my opinion...

More drawing from the day.

This...is kind of self explanatory...kind of... Someone was throwing out a TV with a VHS slot at Boundary Village (one of my dorms). I went and grabbed it and immediately felt like the rat from Charlotte's Web. 

What does it take to make a bunny? Bits.

Here's the only sketch I liked that I made with a Pentel Brush Pen. I love what this pen does but I'm not very good at controlling it yet.

This comes from a selection of "Rules" or "Truths" I've come to understand while living with my boyfriend in our first apartment. (Another you saw earlier: The birth control one).

Do you like how I misspelled "squirrel"?