Gestures from class

Here are the few quick sketches I was able to do in between instructing the class. To give you guys an idea of how the class is structured, the model will pose anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. We try to keep the time to a minimum, so that we don't get too focused on details of the anatomy, and focus more on the gesture of the pose. The philosophy is to use the pose as a foundation (a sort of jumping off point) and then to use our imagination and create a drawing that tells a story, or has some sort of entertainment value. It's very fun when your mind finally is open to the idea of not being constrained to what's in front of you. I still have a difficult time with it, so it's great to have those little quotes from Walt to remind me where I should be when I'm drawing.

Walt's Witty Wisdom

I was given the chance to teach a gesture drawing class the other day. I was a bit nervous and worried that I wouldn't have anything useful to say. Fortunately, I stumbled across some Walt Stanchfield notes, and found a number of great bits of wisdom to pass on to the class. Here are some of my favorites:

"If yer eyes is stuck on the model, yer mind is bein' left out."

"In drawin', yer eyes and yer mind is pardners -- yer eyes sees it first but yer mind has to correct what they seen."

"It may take two hundred words to convince someone that yer honest, but it only takes 5 lines in a drawin' ta prove you ain't."

"Any details that don't 'help the gesture 'll never be missed."

"When drawin's takes tha place of talk -- they gotta say jest as much"

"A good drawin' doesn't need dialogue ta say what it's got ta."


I didn't get to do very many drawings, as I spent most of the time giving pointers to others, but I'll post what I have tomorrow.

The New Frontier DVD

The new Justice League movie comes out today on DVD. I storyboarded an aerial dog fight sequence in the film. I have yet to see it, but I hear the film is really good. My friend Dave Bullock directed it, and I have full confidence in his talents. Pick up a copy today if you're interested! Here's a link to the trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=cnkKnvomyjU

Oh, and how about three cheers for Ratatouille winning the oscar for Best Animated Feature! WOOHOO!!! WOOHOO!!! WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Color Test

So I've been trying to find the final look of the comic, and I just can't get anything that I am crazy about. I actually like the looseness and the vitality of the roughs, and I'm finding that every time I clean up the drawings, they lose a lot of life. I got so frustrated, that I decided to forget about the line work for now, and try to work on the color. Here is a test I did today during my lunch break.



And here are some figures from todays gesture drawing class:

Back to the drawing table

Sorry it's been soooo long. I went on vacation for a month during the holidays, and I got blind sided by life the minute I got back. Despite life's constant changes, it's reassuring to know that blogger is always here for me. :) I've been inching my way back to the drawing table. Here are some of the most recent sketches I've done. I've also started experimenting with the final look of my Afterworks 3 comic. So far I've been playing around with the line work. Below are some samples: