ART | Luis' Illustrated Blog

How Artists can Better Learn to Teach Themselves

March 14, 2013 in ART, COMIC BOOKS, VIDEOS

ART – How Artists can Better Learn to Teach Themselves

The Simpsons Quotes:

So when I took the test, the answers were stuck in my head. It was like a whole different kind of cheating!
– Bart Simpson

When you haven’t got a mentor around, or when you’re the only person you know who draws. When the figure drawing teacher in your class is awful or if there isn’t even a teacher at all, how can you learn?

How do you improve your art when there’s no one who can help?

Today I’m going to write about some possible solutions to this problem, and it really begins with self motivation.

You can watch the video below or read the information on the post below. It’s really the same info either way:

Teaching Yourself, the Skill of Meta-Learning

I’ve become very interested in the last couple of Months over the idea of Meta-Learning. I became aware of it, by reading the book, The 4-Hour Chef by Tim Ferris. The subtitle of the book is, The Simple P ath to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life.

There’s a section in the book called “Meta-Learning” where he brakes down the concept and teaches you how to teach yourself anything. I found this really fascinating.

Why is it important for us as artists to learn this sort of thing?

Well, the things you do when you’re meta-learning are very similar to the things you do when you want to teach somebody to draw.

It teaches you how to break things down, how to study it so you can do so. It helps you break a subject matter down to it’s building blocks. Then find what you really need from those building block and learn from them.

Bite Sized Chunks of Info

If you’re an artist and you don’t have access to anyone that will do that for you and if your going to have to do it yourself, it would be a good idea to learn to do it well. It’s one of the reasons why some art teachers tend to learn more about the subject that they’re teaching, than the students.

They have to break down a subject in such a way, that they can explain it to their students in a way that it can be internalize. Break it down into small size bites so that the students can learn it.

The very process of doing that is a learning experience, and it help you internalize stuff. Once that’s done, you can practice what you’ve broken down over and over.

I recommend you get The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life, just so you can take the first steps into this mindset. This way you can also teach yourself, a better way to draw if you don’t have access to friends that can give you tips, in case you don’t have access to a mentor or to classes.

Above all, Make it Fun

But that’s not the only book I recommend. I also recommend a book by the name of Game Frame: Using Games as a Strategy for Success by Aaron Dignan. The reason I bring this one up is because it puts forth the proposition that games are fun because we are learning something. We’re learning to control a character, or a rules or something.

Part of the fun of playing games is the slow learning process you get when you play the game itself. The best games have this thing called “flow” where they’re teaching you a skill that you don’t know, in such a way that it’s challenging but not frustrating.

If it’s too frustrating you’re not having fun, if it’s too easy you’re not having fun. When you get the right balance, between too frustrating and too easy, that’s when you’re actually learning. That’s when you’re having fun.

Gamify the Process

That’s one of propositions in the book. The book itself is about adding a game layer to life. Trying to find a way to “gamify” your life. That way you can find ways to make things that are dull a game. If you can make things like that fun, then they are motivating.

Motivating yourself is really the tricky part we have to deal with most. Even in the The 4-Hour Chef there was a part about finding incentives for yourself. He called it, setting stakes. Have something be at stake if you don’t complete what you’ve set out to do.

In a game, the stakes are, you don’t want to lose, you’re in a state of flow, you don’t want to stop playing. Like if you play a game of Civilizations you want “one more turn”. Games are really good at doing that. Getting you into that flow.

Melding Ideas

If you want to learn to grab that idea from the book Game Frame and you read The 4-Hour Chef, you can combine the ideas in both books. You might find a way to become a better artist. And you might be motivated to learn a lot of other things too.

And it’s fun. Learning is actually fun.

I just thought I’d bring those up.

I’m gonna be reading another book soon on habits and few other game design books and I might talk about those too. I’m really into this kind of meta-learning thing and I’ve been trying it out in my life.

Comment

How about you? What have you found that helps you learn that can make you better at drawing?

Pulp Simpsons Continues

The Simpsons and Pulp Fiction mash up that us layout artist drew for fun is still being sent off in my newsletter. If you want to see this art, sign up to my newsletter and you’ll get to see the art.

COMIC BOOKS/VIDEOS – Mark Waid on Digital comics

This was posted on Mark Waid’s blog a while ago but I recently became aware of it. I thought I’d share:

For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIES If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

Comments Off on How Artists can Better Learn to Teach Themselves

Developing a Unique Drawing Style.

January 31, 2013 in ART, BLOGS

Art – Developing a Unique Drawing Style.

The Simpsons Quote:

Louie: It’s him all right. Should I shoot him gangland style or execution style?
Fat Tony: Listen to your heart.

Drawing styles is what separates artists from one another. Even when some artists copy each others styles, they aren’t exactly the same.

Styles are important enough that artists are more or less successful, sometimes, on style alone.

So a lot of developing artists are in a HUGE rush to get one. To find the style that will “make them somebody.”

I think this is the wrong way to think. I think worrying about style is a waste of time.

Today, I’m going to be talking about drawing styles.

You can either watch the video or read what I’ve got to say below it. It’s the same content. Go have a look.

Also make sure to check out what you get if you opt in to receive e-mails this week by scrolling to the bottom of this first article.

And below that, there’s the chance to win some free books and gift certificates:

My Style

I think I have a style. I’m not sure, but I might. If I do, I didn’t develop it, create it, or go out of my way to make it.

As animators we’re not trained to have a style. We’re not really supposed to have a style. We’re supposed to be chameleons of style. We are trained to emulate ALL styles.

In the animation industry, I would even go so far as to say that, having a style might be a detriment. I would say, that this might also be true with artists in general. If you only have one style, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.

Style Development

I think it’s better to be a good draftsman and draw well, then to have a style. What style actually is, is your favorite short hand solutions to drawing problems. It’s how you want to draw knees or faces…it’s the way you want to express certain things.

It’s something unique to you, and it just happens.

When you study a lot of academics, artists, and drawing solutions, the amalgam of all that work develops into your voice. Your style will develop without you trying hard. It will just happen.

Style is just you’re go to solutions. That thing you always do.

People will say,

“You always make one eye bigger than the other. You always draw eyebrows like that,” and you’ll say,

“Because that’s what I like,” and that’s what’s going to end up happening. Your style will begin to develop naturally.

Draftsmanship First

The problem is that the people who don’t know how to draw as good as they want, are the people that want to skip to style right away.

Develop your draftsmanship FIRST. Then you’re style will develop naturally. It will just happen, because you will develop short hand solutions.

Mastery of All Styles

I would even go so far as to say, that even when you develop a style, break from it. Try other styles. Do other things. Try emulating other people’s styles. Be a style chameleon. Don’t be pigeon holed.

Be able to do any style. From realistic to cartoony.

For example, if you look at someone like Frank Frazetta, he has some very “realistic” paintings. His style is very naturalistic. That’s what everyone sees when you google him. It’s these beautiful fantasy paintings:

The thing is, he was an incredible draftsman. Yet, he was also a fantastic cartoonist. He was able to draw the “Looney Tunes” style, perfectly. You would have never guessed it was him if you saw them:

For more of these cartoony Frazetta comics, visit Sherm Cohen’s blog.

When I first saw his cartoony stuff, I thought to myself,

“That’s Frank Frazetta? Really? That’s fantastic!” I wouldn’t have known.

He was really really versatile. Style didn’t matter. His draftsmanship skills where so good, he could do anything.

THAT’S what you want.

The Handy Cap of Style

You don’t want to pigeon hole yourself into one style. What happens when your style goes out of style? When no one wants “your style?”

Well, then you’re out of a job. You’re a one trick pony. Don’t do that to yourself.

Be a style chameleon. Be able to do draw anything in any style. The only way to do this, is to really work at developing your draftsmanship skills and master drawing.

That’s what I would recommend when it comes to style.

Comments

So what do you think? Leave a comment. Did you like what I said, do you disagree?

Drawing a Limited Edition Serigraph Cel

This week, I sent off an e-mail where I tell the story behind the making of limited edition serigraph cel, along with the original art.

Interested?

Opt in below before next Thursday and I’ll send you the e-mail too.

BLOGS – Addicted to Heroines

Win a free e-book.

Win a $10 iTunes gift cards

Win a $10 Amazon gift cards

Win a $5 Amazon gift card

Win hand-crafted artisan bookmarks by author Samantha Lafantasie (Heart Song)

All these possibilities and more, are brought to you by: a woman who takes on the weight of the world through her magical gift, an empress who can inspire kings, a wizard spying against Nazi warlock vampires, a sword wielding, swash buckling, shape shifter, and The Grim Reaper’s novice.

My wife and her author friends want you to experience the fun and excitement that their books bring into your life. To this end, they are doing a “Blog Tour” starting (as of the time of this writing) TOMORROW.

Join them and enter to win the prizes above. But more importantly, see what fun reads these books are.

Who know, you might end up being ADDICTED TO HEROINES. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself)

For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIES

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

2 Comments »

You’re as Good an Artist as the Artist Friends you Hang Out With.

January 24, 2013 in ART

ART – You’re as Good an Artist as the Artist Friends you Hang Out With.

Simpsons Quote:

Bart: I’m going to keep the Mary Worth phone right here. Her stern but sensible face will remind me never to do anything so stupid again.
(it rings and Bart answers it)

Milhouse: Hey Bart, you want to go play with that X-ray machine in the abandoned hospital?

Bart: Sure!

I don’t know who’s a worse influence, Bart on Milhouse, or Milhouse on Bart.

Jim Rohn once said:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

This isn’t an absolute statement, but the point is that you’re influenced either positively or negatively by the people you hang around most.

For artists this includes the artists or lack of artists you hang around with. They influence your art and development.

In this week’s post I’m going to put forth the proposition that the better the artists you hang around with, the better your art will be.

You can either watch the video or read along below it. Either way, you’ll get the same information.

Make sure to check the final bit of the post to see what I sent off to my newsletter this week when you’re done. You don’t want to miss out:

My Friends

I tend to hang out with friends that are better artist than me. I think you want to do something similar.

Try to find a group of artists out there somehow, by creating a drawing group or something, and try to hang out with artists that are WAY better than you. The kind of artists that, when you look at their art, they make you feel bad.

The kind you think you SHOULDN’T be hanging around. Because that’s exactly the reason you should.

When you hang around friends that are better than you at drawing, they pull you up to their level. The fact that you’re around people who know more than you and are doing stuff that you aren’t will help you.

When you do this correctly, and aren’t allowing the fact that they’re better make you feel sorry for yourself. When you reverse those thoughts and you observe what you friends do, see what they’re doing that you’re not, ask them, trade notes, watch them draw, emulate…what they do will rub off on you. You WILL become better.

Fixing Your Drawing Flaws

For example, if you’re having trouble and you have a lot of flaws in your art, it will be easier for you to see it. It will be easier for you to see what you’re doing wrong.

You’re hanging around people doing such great work that it’s highlighting your flaws. Step one is to see what you’re doing wrong.

DON’T let that bring you down though. You need that to elevate you. Now that you know what you’re doing wrong, you can do something about it.

For example, it would be a great idea to, study what they’re doing and how they solve the problem. See how they’re doing it.

But you also can take that opportunity to go to your drawing books (because we artists have a lot) and you sit down and study that thing. Since you’ve compared your stuff and seen what you need to work on, now you know exactly what you need to study.

By doing this, self study of the academics and seeing how you friends APPLY the academics, you can’t help but improve.

Pushing You to the Next Level

Surround yourself with better artists. Surround yourself with better art. Learn from them. Don’t let that get you down. Use it to drive you.

Don’t be the big fish in the small pond where you’re the best. There’s a danger that if you’re in that situation, you’ll cease trying.

I’ve got friends who are better than me who hang out with guys who are better than they are. That elevates them.

I hang out with them because it elevates my work.

Find those groups. Look for those groups.

I’m not saying you should abandon the friends you’ve already got. That’s just being a jerk. But find those people who will push you and take your stuff to the next level.

Doing This Already?

If you already do this, let me know. Leave a comment. Tell me who the people are that you hang out with and what they do for you. How do they help you become a better artist?

Simpsons Star Wars Mash Up

In today newsletter I sent a Simpsons Star Wars mash up drawing. If you want to get a copy of this drawing, opt in before next Thursday and I’ll send it out especially to you.

ART – Draw Fu Cover Art

Here’s the line art for the cover of my ART OF DRAW FU drawing book based on the info I wrote on TheDrawingWebsite.com.

I had a lot of fun drawing it. I hope you like it.

I’m currently working on putting the book together. I’m hoping to have the book done by next month. We’ll see how it goes.
If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

3 Comments »

The Importance, for Artists, to Have a Good Teacher or Mentor.

January 17, 2013 in ART, PODCASTS

ART -The Importance, for Artists, to Have a Good Teacher or Mentor.

The Simpsons Quote:

Bleeding Gums Murphy: You know, you play pretty well for someone with no real problems.

Lisa: Yeah, but I don’t feel any better.

Bleeding Gums Murphy: The blues isn’t about feelin’ better. It’s about makin’ other people feel worse and makin’ a few bucks while you’re at it.

Bleeding Gums Murphy was Lisa Simpsons’ mentor. He taught her more about her art. How to think about it, what to do with it, how to improve upon it.

He died tragically of “script writer killed him off” syndrome.

There’s a lot of, up and coming artists, who sit around frustrated. Not knowing what they’re doing wrong or how to get past the wall they’ve hit. There’s only so many things you can get from books.

Sometimes you just need someone to take a look at what you’re doing and guide you where you need to go.

Today I’m going to be writing about good teachers and mentors. Why you need one and how you might go about getting one.

You can either watch the video below or read along. It’s up to you. The information is the same, either way.

That said, at the bottom of this post I introduce a new podcast I’m on so check it out when your done:

Mentors

I’ve had a lot of good teachers and mentors. I think it’s really important to find one or get one.

The reason I say this is, you can have all the academics down, all the theories, everything you need to know. You can learn them in books, videos and sources like that. But sometimes you need to have someone sit down with you and go over your work.

It’s critical to get that kind of feedback. You might think you’re applying the systems and academics correctly, when in fact, your not.

It helps to have someone look at your work and critique it.

Examples of Mentor-ship in Action

I have a few examples of this sort of thing here on the blog already. There was a post I wrote about making a painting breakthrough. I was studying painting. Trying to get my painting right, trying to get the theories to work, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.

Then my friend and mentor Paul Wee, came into my office and saw me in midst of despair. We had a conversation and he told me what I needed to do and why.

You can read all about it here:

Working on an episode without a Director. Finally a painting breakthrough! Tips on face rhythms, planes and tones.

I also wrote about, when I first started working on The Simpsons, my director guided me, critiqued me and taught me what I needed to do. It shows how much that helped and how much I grew.

You can read about that here:

How I Spent Hours in a Little Dark Room Chocking Matlock. Dante’s fractured arm

You need those kinds of experiences.

Mentors Force you to See Yourself

My first two seasons on The Simpsons, directors would just sit down and draw over my stuff…over and over and over. Yes, it’s brutal. You feel like you’re a total loser.

You thought you had it all figured out, until someone better than you started pointing out all your flaws. It’s tough.

But from that point on, you become aware, that there are things you need to think about that you never realized you needed to think about before. Suddenly you start seeing your work from the eyes of your mentor.

You start asking, “What would they say? What am I not doing?” this helps you improve and grow.

So I highly recommend getting yourself somebody.

How?

The Steps you Can Take to Get a Mentor

PAY somebody. I don’t know, whatever it takes. Maybe you can contact someone online. Maybe they can help you out and offer critique. Give you a little bit of pointers.

Maybe see if you meet up with them and they might give you a few pointers in exchange for some sort of compensation.

Or just find a friend who is WAY better than you. I happen to have my friend Paul who is a bazillion times better than, just about everybody. I ask him question and he just sits down and helps out.

He does this because he’s a friend of mine BUT he also does it because he knows that it helps him. It helps him wrap his head around drawing. He actually learns more by helping me. It solidifies and clarifies what he knows about drawing.

That would be my suggestion to you, if you want to improve yourself and improve your art. It will show you all the ways you could improve that you would have never been aware of otherwise.

If this was helpful, leave a comment. Let me know what you got out of this.

Bart Playing Video Games

Opt in this week to receive a behind the scenes look at some Bart artwork I did for…well, I don’t know what it was for. It’s some art of Bart playing a violent video game.

Also, and perhaps more importantly, opt in to TheDrawingWebsite.com newsletter. In that newsletter I give out, mentor-ish, tips on drawing for you to think about. You may ask me drawing question through it if you want also.

PODCAST – The Corner Booth

So I’ve teamed up with my co-worker Chance Raspberry and my pal and animator Larry Whitaker to create The Corner Booth. It’s a podcast where we talk about the animation industry from the inside.

We’ll cover many topics and have guests from the industry on the show.

One of the unique things about this podcast is that some episodes are recorded during a live meet up at an ACTUAL corner booth.

As of the time of this writing we’ve got two episode out. One is on:

Having Confidence in Yourself and in Your Art

The other was the live meet up recording. The topic was:

Looney Tunes: Then and Now.

We recorded a promo for the show but, it took us like HOURS to get it. We couldn’t stop laughing and screwing it up. If fact, Chance took it upon himself to make a blooper reel. It’s SUPER long:

Madness. Do you see what I’ve got to work with here?

If this looks like fun to you. Come join us at The Corner Booth.
For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIES

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

Comments Off on The Importance, for Artists, to Have a Good Teacher or Mentor.

Heavy rewrite on episode 2 of this season. Wreck it Ralph trailer. Pages 23-39 of my storyboards

June 7, 2012 in ART, MOVIES, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Wow, two heavily revised shows in a row.

I was assigned Act 1 of episode 2 of this new season and man does it have a lot of rewrites. LOTS of work for me this week.

I was mostly finished with roughing out the fixes when the director came into my office and asked me to start on Act 3 once I was done roughing out Act 1.

So Wednesday I started Act 3. Needless to say, I won’t have the final finished version of Act 1 done by the end of the week.

At least Act 3 wasn’t as heavily rewritten. That’s gonna help out a lot.

MOVIES

Now here’s a movie that’s gonna make a TON a money. I really should buy Disney Stocks:

ART

ALRIGHT! I’m really cranking out these pages considering I’m working on them like, twice a week. It’s cool, since most of the planning is done. There were are a few spots where I left the final decisions of what I was gonna do to this part of the process. Specifically pages 30, 32 and 33. More on that below, underneath page 30:

At this point in the story, I knew I wanted to make what the characters where talking about visual. So thought a cut away would be good, I just didn’t really know exactly what the cut away would be. I decided, since my character is Conan-ish, that the cut away should look like a Frank Frazzetta painting. I google some paintings and basically did parodies of the them.

Here, I was just trying to show a little bit of the day in the life of the character, so you can see that he used to have jobs but the sorcerers always ruined them for him. He doesn’t say it in the dialogue so I decided to add the information visually.

For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

Comments are appreciated as well.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

If you would like to have a text ad on my site, click on the red BUY LINKS button under the Archives list.

And while you’re at it, please Digg me too.

Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.

2 Comments »

Began my rough boards for my personal project. Drawing eyes.

May 31, 2012 in ART, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEOS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

We had the day off Monday because it was Memorial day. This left me with four days to do the work I have to do this week. I enjoyed having a day off, I just don’t like how I seem to get punished for having it.

I did manage to finish Act 3 on Tuesday which gives me the rest of the week to finish Act 1.

The reasons I haven’t gotten done with Act 1 was because it had a really problematic opening that the director really wanted to work out himself. It was really tough but he solved it. Now I just have to make it presentable for the layout staff.

VIDEO

An excellent video on drawing eyes:

ART

This is the fun part of storyboarding for me. This is the part I enjoy the most. The first pass at building the visual pace and narrative of a film or show. After all this time, (two years) I finally get to see what my story will look like. Once I’m done with this pass, I’m going to time it and make a rough animatic. But first, I need to get the shots down as fast as I can. All that work thumbnailing is finally paying off. I don’t really have to think as hard as I did as when I thumbnailed the shots. I just have to make rough clear drawings that tell the story. If it works at this stage, it will work once it’s cleaned up. I’m not laboring over anything too much at this stage. It just has to be clear.

Once I finished this pass and get ready to time it out as an animatic, I’m probably going to need more acting poses to flesh out the action.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve done so far. The program I’m using is TOON BOOM STORYBOARD PRO
2:

The first panel above is in yellow because I just imported my original Post-it and stuck it in the panel to save me time. I’ll replace the first panel during the rough animatic process, I just wanted to have something there in the mean time. I didn’t want to re-rough the drawing.

I’m drawing the rough pass in red because, well, if feels more comfortable for me to do so. The red line makes it feel less final to me. It’s just a working habit I’ve acquired.

The drawing of the raven above and below is really clean only because I used an old development drawing I had done during the treatment process. It was pretty much the shot I had thumbnailed so just went ahead an used it.

The page count gets screwy here because I had to “re-print” the last two pages. I had forgotten to put in the dialogue and descriptions in the last four pages:

29 scenes down, 400 left to go.

What do you think?

For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

Comments are appreciated as well.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

If you would like to have a text ad on my site, click on the red BUY LINKS button under the Archives list.

And while you’re at it, please Digg me too.

Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.

Comments Off on Began my rough boards for my personal project. Drawing eyes.

Back at work this week. Finally finished thumbnailing my project. Neil Gaiman on art.

May 24, 2012 in ART, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEOS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

First week back at work. I miss the kids. Though Ambrose seems to be waking up around the same time I do and hangs around as I get ready for work.

I’m revising Act 1 of show 1.

OH! And I found out about the new programs we’ll be using this season, which I wrote about last week. Last week I was under the impression that we where going to start using a program from a different company. Not so. We just upgraded out Toon Boom programs, so now the Layout Crew is using Scene Machine, and the board artist are using Storyboard Pro 2.

Last week I went to a class that taught us to use Scene Machine, but I had no experience with Storyboard Pro 2. Turns out that Scene Machine had so many similarities to Storyboard Pro 2 that it was pretty easy to pick up. I like the new program. It fixes some issues that I had with the previous one.

ART

I’m FINALLY done thumbnailing the shots for my film. It only took TWO YEARS to get to this point. It should NOT have taken this long:

I feel like there should be a parade or something to mark the occasion. I’m so glad I didn’t pushed through and finished it. 429 shots! That’s crazy. The Simpsons boards have this many shots.

Well, now the that the hardest part of the boarding is done, I finally get to execute the project. I begin the process of making it come to life. This is the fun part. I’ve been waiting a long time for this.

So excited.

VIDEOS

I saw this video posted in different Social Media sites but never bothered to click on it until much later in the week. Turns out it’s fantastic. It’s Neil Gaiman (one of my favorite writers) giving a commencement speech at a college. I highly recommend you watch it if you’re into art or interested in it in anyway.

For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

Comments are appreciated as well.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

If you would like to have a text ad on my site, click on the red BUY LINKS button under the Archives list.

And while you’re at it, please Digg me too.

Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.

Comments Off on Back at work this week. Finally finished thumbnailing my project. Neil Gaiman on art.

Last week on hiatus. More books on managing money. Thumbnailing page 9

May 17, 2012 in ART, BOOKS, BUSINESS, MY WEB COMIC, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

This is my last week of hiatus but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be in the studio this week. I was asked to come in this Friday for a meeting. We’re going to be using a new program to do boards this season and the meeting is going to help us get up to speed on it. I’m curious to see what the program can do. So far we’ve been using Toon Boom’s Storyboard Pro. It’s a decent program, and it works for what it is, but we’ve had issues with the compatibility of the program and Toon Boom’s Pencil Check.

Not only that, but the board artists have been asked to do Quicktime movies of their boards in order to pitch their Acts in a easier way. This has lead to trying to find a program that does this even easier than Storyboard Pro. Even though, I think, Storyboard Pro does a pretty good job of doing this.

I’ll give you my two cents of what I think of the program next week. Especially since I’m going to be using one of the two program on my personal project.

BUSINESS/BOOKS

Just a bit of an update on the books I’ve been reading this week when it comes to money management and business:

INVESTING ONLINE FOR DUMMIES:

I haven’t read further than Chapter two, but I like it so far. Hand holds you into the investing thing and it’s very informative about what goes into the process.

LINCENSING ART 101 3rd edition:

Good little book that gives you an overview on the art licensing world and what to expect. I’m reading this so that I can see about taking advantage of any webcomic or cartoon I put on the web. I also want to see if there’s a way to make a little money on the side with random personal art.

CREATIVE, INC.: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RUNNING A SUCCESFUL FREELANCE BUSINESS:

Got this on my Kindle App. I started reading this at the doctor’s office on Tuesday while I was in the waiting area. At first I thought I had made a mistake getting the book. After all, I’ve done the freelance thing. I LIVED it.

Well, turns out there’s more to it that I hadn’t done, that, if I had, I would have probably been more successful. It really should just take out the word “freelance” from the title. It’s a really good book on how to start a creative business. I didn’t run my freelance career like a business when I did it. I should have. I think know, if I ever work on my own again, I’ll do what this book advices. Very informative, even for people who are working on their own now. It might give you ideas for things you hadn’t thought to do. I recommend it.

On top of that, I’ve also been thinking about selling a few things on ebay. Mostly stuff we don’t use around the house, but I’m also think of putting up a drawing or two. Mostly to continue to make some side money in order to pay off as much debt as we could. I’ll think about this some more. In the meantime, I’ve got to research a bit on how it’s done.

ART

Page 9 is done! One HALF page left to go! So excited. I’m gonna get done soon! Hurry for sticking to it:

MY WEB COMIC

I’ve been taking advantage of my time off to work on my webcomic. It’s all outlined out. I just need to fix up a detail here and there and it should be ready to script out. I’m taking a much more streamlined approach to the writing than I did with my cartoon above. I just want to get it done as fast I as can.

That said, there’s quite a few characters and stuff to design. It’s what’s taking up most of the time. I’ve very excited about it though.
For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

Comments are appreciated as well.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

If you would like to have a text ad on my site, click on the red BUY LINKS button under the Archives list.

And while you’re at it, please Digg me too.

Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.

Comments Off on Last week on hiatus. More books on managing money. Thumbnailing page 9

On hiatus and working on commissions. Attacking debt and working on accumilating wealth. Light at the end of the tunnel on my project.

May 10, 2012 in ART, BUSINESS, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Well, I’m on my first week on hiatus. I’ve been spending a lot of time with the kids and doing a few commissions on the side. Next week will be my last week of hiatus and then, back to work. I’m enjoying my time off.

BUSINESS

My sister sent me a book for my Kindle App called: SECRETS OF THE MILLIONAIRE MIND by T. Harv Eker. The book really opened my mind to the way I think about money and wealth.

A friend of mine at work who has his own business on the side has this same mindset and he’s doing really well financially.

Reading the book has really made me interested in business, of all things.

In order to start putting the principles of the book into practice, I got a copy of Dave Ramsey’s THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER. We’ve begun putting the methods in the book, into practice. We plan to be mostly out of debt by the end of the year which will allow us to start truly making our own money.

I’m planning on making money off my art, comics and cartoons. To do this I need to get out of debt and start pursuing money making strategies that work. This includes, investing any surplus money, which I’ve only done a little bit.

So, not only am I educating myself on story and drawing. Not only am I researching the genre that my webcomic will fit in, but now, I’m learning business and money management. And for the first time ever, I find that prospect exciting.

ART

Man, compared to page 7, page 8 was a breeze to thumbnail:

I’ll be done in no time now. Hopefully, by the time I get back to work, I’ll be ready to start boarding.

For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

Comments are appreciated as well.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

If you would like to have a text ad on my site, click on the red BUY LINKS button under the Archives list.

And while you’re at it, please Digg me too.

Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.

Comments Off on On hiatus and working on commissions. Attacking debt and working on accumilating wealth. Light at the end of the tunnel on my project.

My hiatus began this week. Finally finished page 7 thumbnails. Good storyboarding tips by Sherm Cohen.

May 3, 2012 in ART, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEOS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

So I finished my work and within the hour I was getting booted right out the studio door. Well…not really, but it sure felt that way. I worked as hard and as fast as I could on the boards I needed to do. I started the clean up process late Thursday and it took me Friday, Monday and Tuesday to finish it all. Wednesday night and most of Thursday I spent creating a rough Quicktime Animatic of my board in order to find out how long the short would be.

I stayed late Wednesday working on the first rough pass of the animatic. I showed it to the director and he had the same problems I had with it. Namely, it was too fast in parts. It was difficult to tell what was going on. We went over, about a third of the shots and retimed them before we got too tired and decided to call it a night. I told him I’d come in nice and early Thursday to tighten up some timing before he got in. I usually come into work around 7am.

Imagine my shock, as I was ready to go bed that night, when I passed by my Jury Duty notice and realized I had to call in that night to see if I had jury duty the next day. Turns out I did. Everyone was counting on me being in Thursday and it turns out I had to go in for jury duty the next day. Panic time.

Well, at the court house the next day, I had to make all the phone calls to all the director and production staff, about my situation. They were less than happy about it.

Lucky for me, about an hour after I had done that, I was dismissed and on my way to work. Not a moment too soon, since one of the production coordinators had called me to ask about the location of my boards in my computer. They were releaved when I told them I was on my way.

I got to work at noon and worked on getting the animatic finished ASAP. The director and I managed to finish it on time and we showed it to the Head Director of the show, who really liked it. He gave us a suggestion or two and it was time to finish cleaning up the boards.

As I wrote above, I got done by Tuesday. No sooner had the head of production received a copy of my board, when she was having me turn in my last time card so I could go on my hiatus. It was pretty crazy. But it was necessary. They needed to process my as soon as they could so I could sign the right paper work. Otherwise I would have to come in the next day for no good reason.

I was originally suppose to have 4 weeks off, but because of how long this project went, I now only have 2 1/2 weeks. That’s not so bad.

ART

FINALLY! I’m done with page 7 of my script:

That was by far the toughest part to get through. The worst is over. It should be down hill from this point on. Yes, I have to thumbnail the climax of the story, but compared to having to rewrite an whole new fight scene as I went, it will be much easier to do. Especially since the final conflict is much more internal the external.

I’m so glad I was able to get through this. I was really ready to quit. It was just so much work and I was suppose to be doing this for fun. Now that it’s over, I can get back to having fun with the rest of the thumbnailing. It’s still work, but it’s much easier to handle.

VIDEOS/storyboarding

The video below is an incredible resource for anyone who’s interested in doing boards or comics. It’s a video by Sherm Cohen on THE 7 SEVEN HIDDEN PATTERNS OF SUCCESSFUL STORYBOARDS.

This is a great tool veterans and newbies to get acquainted or reacquainted with some basic shot fundamentals. For those who are new at composing shots, it should open your eyes to things to watch out for as you watch movies. It helps you get an eye toward figuring out why some shots are used at certain times. I highly recommend watching it.

It’s also helpful to watch as a comics creator because much of the thinking behind what shots to use can be easily translated into comic book form. It will help clarify you visual storytelling. I’m tired of reading comics with that are very well drawn whose panels are confusing to read.

For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

Comments are appreciated as well.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

If you would like to have a text ad on my site, click on the red BUY LINKS button under the Archives list.

And while you’re at it, please Digg me too.

Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.

Comments Off on My hiatus began this week. Finally finished page 7 thumbnails. Good storyboarding tips by Sherm Cohen.

ART – How Artists can Better Learn to Teach Themselves

Teaching Yourself, the Skill of Meta-Learning

Bite Sized Chunks of Info

Above all, Make it Fun

Gamify the Process

Melding Ideas

Comment

Pulp Simpsons Continues

Sign up for, special content that I will NOT post on the blog. Don’t miss out.

COMIC BOOKS/VIDEOS – Mark Waid on Digital comics

Share this:

Like this:

Art – Developing a Unique Drawing Style.

My Style

Style Development

Draftsmanship First

Mastery of All Styles

The Handy Cap of Style

Comments

Sign up for, special content that I will NOT post on the blog. Don’t miss out.

BLOGS – Addicted to Heroines

Share this:

Like this:

ART – You’re as Good an Artist as the Artist Friends you Hang Out With.

My Friends

Fixing Your Drawing Flaws

Pushing You to the Next Level

Doing This Already?

Simpsons Star Wars Mash Up

Sign up for, special content that I will NOT post on the blog. Don’t miss out.

ART – Draw Fu Cover Art

Share this:

Like this:

ART -The Importance, for Artists, to Have a Good Teacher or Mentor.

Mentors

Examples of Mentor-ship in Action

Mentors Force you to See Yourself

The Steps you Can Take to Get a Mentor

Leave a Comment

Bart Playing Video Games

Sign up for, special content that I will NOT post on the blog. Don’t miss out.

PODCAST – The Corner Booth

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Hi, Welcome!

Both my books are now on Amazon. Pick up your own print copy today!

Buy My Art

Most Read Posts

Featured Post

Archives

Blogroll