I was VERY grateful for our two day work week this week. I’ve been feeling burned out and the time off really helps. This week I started on a new crew. Time to start building up another show.
ART
I got working on my sister‘s second logo this week. I told her I kinda liked what I had originally done with the logo in my first pass. She then told me she did also BUT she didn’t think the pose itself captured the Yoga pose quite right. She told me it lacked the right energy.
I gave it another shot. I even added a yellow “energy” wave to try to sell the energy. I pushed the pose as much as I dared and then after I was done I grabbed the drawing (I drew this on the computer) and I pushed it some more. This is what I sent my sister:
She told me she like it but she didn’t want the yellow so I took it out. I then went in and cleaned the drawing up just a little bit more and it was done:
MOVIES
I’ve made no secret that I’m not a big admirer of the newest Star Wars movies. They’ve kinda messed up Star Wars quite a bit. I do enjoy watching both versions of the Clone Wars Cartoons (the 2D ones AND the 3D). Especially because they are made by Star Wars geeks that KNOW what makes Star Wars cool. I happen to know that the Clone Wars guys actually argue with George Lucas over some of his lame ideas. They’re my heroes.
Anyway, one of the worst Star Wars movies ever made was The Phantom Menace. If you don’t believe that it’s a bad movie, watch the film below. If you DO think it’s a bad movie, watch the film below as well, it’s going to make you laugh. If you are interested in film making or storytelling and want to know what is needed to tell a good story, watch the film below as well. It will learn you something.
WARNING:The following movie contains bad language but is darn funny:
MOVIES
I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I’ve read a few Sherlock Holmes stories as well as watched a few Sherlock Holmes TV shows and movies. The familiarity with the character’s previous adventures, helped me feel like I knew the back story of a lot of what is spoken about by the characters in this new movie. This new version of the characters is very different and yet I still think it felt right. Still, it was definitely a very “American” Sherlock Holmes and Watson. They acted more like cowboys than British gentlemen but then again, it DOES take place during the TIME of the wild west, so it wasn’t too inappropriate. In any case, I enjoyed the movie, and I hope they make more.
Helping out on the new crew for the last few days. The Director has been out sick all this week, so we’re trying our best to do what we can as best we can. Next week I’m going to be working on a new crew.
This movie is based off of a very popular samurai series of a blind swordsman called Zatoichi. It was once a TV show with a 100 episodes done of it and then 26 movies after that. A new movie came out a few years ago and now this new one starring a woman in the role. It’s definitely one of my favorite samurai series. After seeing the trailer and the clips of this new version on the Funimation site, I got all excited. Then I wanted to draw samurai and I wrote Paul telling him so.
Paul wrote back, “Go for it,” but I’m so busy drawing other stuff that I didn’t have time. I then wrote Paul that I had drawn a monkey the day before (which I had for Kevin Cross’ Monkey Mod). There was a slight pause in the chat…then Paul wrote back, “Samurai Monkeys!”
It was all over. I knew I wasn’t going to get anything done after that. All my projects and things went right out the window. All I wanted to draw were Samurai Monkeys.
We ended up expanding it to Simians so we had more to work with. So off we went…well…off Paul went. I managed to keep myself under control and finish working. Paul came by 30 minutes later with this drawing:
When work was over and I went home, I sat down (after the kids were asleep) and began to draw like a madman. I hadn’t been able to get the pictures out of my head and they were dying to get out:
Unfortunately, the more I drew the more I realized I didn’t know how to draw monkeys. None of the drawings above are drawing I was very happy with. The problem being that I couldn’t control the drawing. Since I was not familiar enough with the monkeys I was drawing, I couldn’t get what I wanted. It was driving me crazy.
The next day I went over to Paul‘s desk to show him what I was doing. Only to discover that he wasn’t even drawing any Simians as Samurai at all. He was just drawing Simians. Plain old, normal Simians. This is what I saw:
“Hey! I thought we were drawing SAMURAI Simians. Not just regular Simians.”
“Well, I have to learn to draw them first. That means I need to study them.”
Darn it! If I had to do studies, that meant I couldn’t do the FUN stuff that made me want to do this in the first place. I refused to do it. I sat down at my desk and continued to work. Then I thought of something Marcelo Vignali had said at the CTN Animation Expo last month.
“When I begin on a new project, for example, Brother Bear, which I worked on and was one of the first people on the project. I don’t just start by looking at other people’s designs of bears. What I do is, I go out and find as much reference on real bears as I can. I go to the zoo, look at google, look in books and I just study bears for a week or two, just so I can learn to draw them and get familiar with them. Once I feel I know what I’m doing, THEN I begin designing.”
I IMed this information to Paul, who then wrote back, “Listen to Moe,” (Moe is what Marcelo‘s friends call him).
I resisted at first, but then I gave in:
The more I drew, the more I began to learn. Not only that, but I found myself enjoying it. I was learning sooo much. I drew the monkeys when I had time, all weekend. I sent a text message to Paul telling him that Marcelo was right. He wrote back, “SEE?”
Two of the four drawings on the page below I drew from my imagination, just to test myself to see if I was learning anything.
Once I felt comfortable drawing the monkeys, I decided to give my designs another go:
I definitely felt more comfortable drawing the monkeys at this point…well sorta…
…as much as I like the drawings so far, there is a lot of research that still needs to be done when it come to the costumes. As well as the hair styles and what they mean. After seeing this, Paul asked me what kind of sandals the character should wear? I’d forgotten to draw them. He reminded me that they wore them a certain way and the way they were tied was very specific.
We then got into a discussion about what the different hair styles might meant according to station. As well as how the swords are supposed to be worn and how the sashes are supposed to be wrapped. Things I hadn’t thought about.
Great, more research. Still I’m having fun with this. My goal is to be able to do a painting. I still have four more simians to study as well as all the other samurai stuff to research. This thing went from being a fun little drawing game to a full on project. It’s fun though because Paul and I are feeding off each other.
Since I know this is going to go on for the long haul, I think I’ll slow down a bit on the amount of work I’m putting into it and work on it in smaller bites. This has taken me away from my comic for a good week already, as well as distracted me from my sister’s logo. I need to get back to that stuff as well. Still this is just so much fun.
Paul told me he would post up some of his drawings soon. I have copies of everything he’s done. I just wanted to tease you all with two of his drawing so you can go check out what he’s up to on his site.
With the help of quite a few extra people, we managed to finish the show on time and in good shape. Such good shape that some of us had a small break during the day to relax after we finished our last scenes. Those are the best days.
Now I’ve moved on to help another crew. Back to the grind stone.
FAMILY
This is a bit embarrassing. Especially since I’ve known about this for the last five months but I’ve forgotten to mention it on this blog. I think it’s about time I let everyone know that Alesha is pregnant. We just found out this week that it’s going to be a BOY! I’ve been so excited about this new baby since I found out she was pregnant. To be completely honest, this is the first time I’ve been excited about having a baby. The first two times I had a difficult time being excited because I was too busy being worried about it. I didn’t know how we would handle a baby or what it would be like and all that. This time around, I don’t have any of those worries. I’m very excited. Yay!
MOVIES
(This is a spoiler free review)
I went on a “date” with Munchkin this weekend and watched The Princess and the Frog. It was her first time at the movies. She behaved incredibly well. She got tired of being in the theater about half way through the movie but she didn’t complain. She was a bit fidgety but she stuck it out. It would be nice if there were intermissions on kids movies, so the kids can stretch their legs.
Overall I thought it was entertaining. It felt good to see a 2D movie again. It felt very much like snuggling up with a warm blanket on a cold day for me. I liked the main character in the movie very much. My favorite character was the villain. He was done very well. I like that he wasn’t super powerful. That his power came at a price. The setting was great and I loved the backgrounds in the movie. It had really well composed shots. There were lots of great moments in the movie and I didn’t even mind the singing. In fact, I kinda wanted them to sing more for some reason. I almost felt that the movie need more musical numbers. The first song of the movie went off into a different art style and it looked fantastic. I wished they had done that with all the musical numbers. 2D features, should take advantage of the fact that they’re in 2D and that they can get away with that sort of thing.
However, the movie did have some problems that bothered me a bit.
The main one is basically this: After a five year hiatus from 2D animation, the best Disney can come up with is more of the same? Isn’t this the thing the got everyone tired of 2D Disney movies to begin with?
Also, from the start, BEFORE I even watched the movie, I didn’t like the way the much touted “first Disney black princess” was being shoved down our throats only to spend most of the movie looking like a frog. Watching the movie, my fears where confirmed. I didn’t like that at all. ESPECIALLY since she’s so darn charismatic and likeable as a human.
I also had absolutely no idea what ethnicity the Prince in the movie had. I still don’t.
And speaking of the other characters, there where WAY too many of them. A lot of them could have been done without. Especially Louie the alligator. The firefly in the movie was the REAL secondary character of the movie. He actually moved the story along and had some of the most touching scenes in the movie.
My taste in animation has changed over the years, I thought this movie was WAY over animated. The characters moved WAY too much. It bothered me. Just about every scene was overly hammed up. There was very few, truly natural looking acting in the movie. I thought the main bad guy had the best animation in the movie.
As far as the story goes, I thought it was trying to say too much. There was too much going on with too many characters and each character seemed to have two motivations for everything they did and they each learned two lessons if not three. I was talking to a friend of mine at work and we couldn’t quite pinpoint what the message of the movie was.
But, I think the thing that bothered me the most was the whole frog thing. I mean, I know that that’s what the movie is about, but I couldn’t help but think that there was another way for the character to have learned her lesson. It seemed to me that, they started out with the idea of The Princess and the Frog. Then, they thought it would be cool to turn it on it’s head as well as make it take place in New Orleans, which is fine. Then they decided to flesh out the main character and her background. But once they did that, the character kinda took on a life of her own. Suddenly they had this character that could really drive a story, a character who needed to “take over” the story. She needed a specific story that was catered specially for her…only…they had this frog thing that they had started out with. Instead of just letting the lead go her own way, they forced her to be in this frog story that they had originally created her to be in and it felt forced somehow.
Perhaps they over wrote the character. I can’t help but compare this character to the one in Hayao Miyazaki‘s Howl’s Moving Castle. Both characters were enchanted into becoming something else, and through that enchantment, discovered what they lacked and changed to become better rounded people. But in Howl’s Moving Castle the main character wasn’t charismatic or driven from the get go, so she grew into that role as the movie went on. Meanwhile the lead in The Princess and the Frog, had all kinds of good qualities to begin with, it was overkill to have her learn the lesson she learned by becoming a frog.
I seem very critical about the movie. And I am. I enjoyed myself never the less. It’s not a bad movie. I still recommend the movie because I know most people won’t even begin to think about the movie in the term I just laid out. It’s an entertaining movie to watch and has a lot a really great moments.
Munchkin said she liked it. Isn’t that enough?
ART
I finished the color pass on my sister‘s logo. Here’s the final color:
My sister had specific colors she wanted. I was thinking of something a little different and it was interesting to have to get out of my “color comfort zone”. I tend to use the same colors, over and over again. It was a nice change for me.
MY WEB COMIC
For those of you who are missing my cartoons, I just thought I’d let you know that once I’m done with the logo designs, I’ll try to start them up again. You also might be happy to know that I’m already on my way to producing an eleven page short gag comic starring The Black Terror Kid. Once I start getting the pages finished I’ll start posting them here on the blog in their own page.
The writing is done, the thumbnails are finished and the pages are under construction.
Here’s a sneak peek at the rough version of the first page:
When I look at this device, all I can think about is how I could apply it to comics or animation. It would be so easy for people to read online comics this way. As well as the way that the machine may revolutionize comic strips. I think perhaps comic strips might go from being static images to animated images. Instead of comic strips, imagine you get a Ghettomated cartoon like Jim Lujan‘s. If he can crank one out in a month, he can have it ready for a digital magazine no problem.
The pressure is on this week. We only have till Tuesday of next week to finish the story reel. I’m doing overtime today all the way through Saturday.
ART
Once again, I didn’t get around to finishing the color version of my sister‘s logo. Going to church at lunch time for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, took away my work time. I DID manage to finish the black and white version though. So here is the final black and white of the logo:
Hope I can get the color done next week.
MY WEEK
Went to a CARTOONISTA meeting last Friday. We discussed plans for events that we were going to participate in. As well, as magazines we were going to be drawing in. It was a fun meeting with a lot of banter. We were introduced to one of the newest member of the CARTOONISTASJohn Narcomey who draws Ghostface. He was a great guy.
I was also offered a art show for my stuff. Unfortunately I don’t any “stuff” to display. I need to get on that.
I sat around and drew most of the time. At one point during the meeting I drew CARTOONISTARaul Aguirre:
He saw the drawing and decided to retaliate by drawing me back:
It was a fun little meeting.
MY WEEK
Last Saturday I made my way to the Warner Brothers Ranch lot. The Ronald McDonald house was holding a charity even there. Artists were asked to come and draw for the kids in the event. There were a ton of artists that came out for it. Among them where fellow CARTOONISTASJavier Hernadez and Jim Lujan. The event was from noon to three.
The event was great. Both Javi and Jim wrote about the even in their blogs. If you want to read their takes, please visits their blogs and read about it. Unlike me, they took pictures (which I’m in) so you could see what it all looked like:
Overall I enjoyed myself. I wasn’t drawing my best at the beginning. I wasn’t going to tell the people I was giving my drawings to that I didn’t like them though. They probably thought they were great. I drew a picture of Goofy for this girl who was obviously going through treatment, that I really liked. It was the best (and last) Goofy I did all day. I wish I’d taken a picture but that’s okay. I hope she liked the drawing.
From reading Javi’s blog, they past out burgers and hot dogs to the artists but I didn’t get any. No one offered any to me. By the time it was all over, I was starving. Luckily, I was so into the drawing, I didn’t realize I was hungry until it was over.
I sat next to Raphael Navarro the whole time and he was blowing me away with his amazing drawing skills. Raphael has worked at Warners on quite a few of the superhero shows. He’s also the creator of the comic book El Sunambulo. Man that guy can draw! He was giving people fully colored illustrations of superheroes the whole time. Crazy.
To my left there sat a Warners artist whose name I didn’t catch but had I had more time when the event was over, I would have gone around and introduced myself better to him and a lot of fantastic other artists. Lot’s of my friends from work where there, including Drew Johnson the DC artist who is married to one of the re-takes directors on the show. I had to get home because the kids where asking for me, otherwise I would have stuck around and talked some more with Art Leonardi. Art Leonardi was the artist who organized the artists to show up. He’s an old time Pink Panther animator among other things. He was recounting anecdotes to Javi about Friz Freleng and what a jerk he was. It was fun.
Below is two drawings that I drew and gave away. Just so you can see what we were up to:
I had a good time over all. I just wish I didn’t have to leave so early.
FAMILY
Speaking of drawing, I wasn’t the only one in the family drawing this weekend. My kids drew this weekend as well.
A few weeks ago I was trying to teach Munchkin how to draw a happy face. This weekend Munchkin was trying it on her own. For a three year old, I was very impressed and happy to see her figure it out. I was examining her drawings and I could see her thought process very clearly. I’m very proud of her. Below are her drawings. I asked her what the drawings were of and she let me know:
High pressure situation we’ve got. Do to all the holidays this month the show were on will lose a whole week. This means we have two weeks to do what we usually do in three. We’re going to see how well this week goes for us. If it doesn’t go well, we’ll probably be doing a lot of overtime next week.
After talking to my sister about adding one more item to balance them out, she suggested a heart and explained to me why. I thought a heart would work better as a frame around the whole thing. It turned out that it also made me come up with a way to balance out the items. I then went about drawing a heart around the drawing.
I added a big thing clean up line, duplicated the heart and made a bigger heart around that.
Next, I drew the details of the items.
And I cleaned them up. I was not happy with the big thick line so I redrew it with a thin line so it was more consistent with the interior art. My sister said she likes it, so it’s time to add some color. She also requested a black and white version so I’ll do that as well.
VIDEOS
Alesha was watching this video and she showed it to me. I thought it was interesting. Don’t know if it’s ALL true (you know how some documentaries are) but there are some interesting things in it. What do you think?