today’s update is a good one. i have posted a few pages from some really old sketchbooks and books. the craftsmen ship on these pages are phenomenal.
artist
alextoons promo 3
my 3rd promotional edit for the brand
Artistas y artesanos
some very cool posters in spanish. all found in the Cartoon America book
Travel log #14
some more beautiful buildings and patterns from my Boston trip recently
My art #1
i want to start a new branch of posting. it will focus on my art and thing i have created.
My mentor Tsukasa
When I was in art school I had a mentor named Tsukasa. He was about 10 years older then me, grew up on 90's hiphop lived in Brooklyn and was from Tokyo Japan. I was very drawn to the man for several reasons. His artistic voice and abilities as a draft men and animator where some of the best I'ed ever seen. His key poses where something unlike anything I’ed seen. They contained so much movement and power, I would study his drawing in awe.
Unfortunately while he was working on his final project the Tsunami hit Japan and he ended up leaving to help his fellow country men rebuild forcing him to pause his thesis project. Before this occurrence I was helping him with his project. I would clean up some of his scenes and scan them, preparing them for compositing. He was an upper classmate and as tradition goes they usually enlist the under classmates to help. After his return I was knee deep in my own thesis and didn’t have much time to help him, I tired my best but as is usually the case with thesis projects it was a huge undertaking and he just didn’t have enough time to polish his.
However he did manage to complete the majority of his rough animation and a few cleaned up scene. Long story short I ended up storing a few boxes of his during one of his moves. These boxes contained his thesis drawing, I have recently re discovered them after about a decade in my basement closet. There is a lot of animation and the majority is beautiful worth studying and sharing.
So this lead me to the purpose of this post, within the coming weeks I will be re scanning some of his drawing. I will try and composite some of the scene’s and I will share them on this site. I don’t know exactly how long that will take, I am knee deep with my own animation project so it will be an on going restoration project, but believe me when I say it will be worth it. I also don’t know the timing of his scene so I will be using my judgement and opinion when the time comes.
Final note about mentors, I have had two mentors since my journey as an animator started in 2007. Both have influenced me in different ways, I have fallen out of contact with both but I still feel like I will carry their teachings with me for the rest of my years. Do you have a mentor story? How have they helped you grow?
These are some key poses from the project. As you can tell…AMAZING!!
Goodbye to Gene Deitch
Its always sad when a legendary artist passes away, Last month one of the greatest animators passed at 95! His name was Gene Deitch. He ran one of the coolest and certainly the most influential studio of all time. He was a cartoon modernist who ran the UPA studio in NY and Terrytoons. If you are a fan of the UPA style then check out his work. He will be missed but never forgotten. Check out the article on cartoonbrew.com for a more in depth bio of the name and his achievement.
google image of Gene Deitch
google image of Gene Deitch
google still of Tom and Jerry, during the Deitch area
How I made art for Mom, a short look into my process
What do you get someone for their birthday when they don’t really want anything and you don’t wanna show ur love through materialistic things cause you not about that life? well…I’m glad you asked… Well that someone was my mom, and so being that I am an artist, I was like duhh, I’ll just draw her something and frame it.
I spent about one week on the project in between work and being sick, so it took a bit longer than expected but I finally finished it up and I will say I am happy with the final out come.
I will share a the work that led to the final outcome. I usually do multiple drafts before a design is settled on. I started with some small thumb nails, right from the start I kinda new it would be a small project because I had done a larger of a similar idea. That project was for a friends wedding gift a few months ago and it took way longer and was with oil pastels (I will eventually upload the work) this one was with color pencil.
So here are a few of the thumb nails
This project was 8.5 by 11 inches. I did a few sketches on what it could look like and I add color
I moved on to the big framing, by this point I was not 100% on the design so I played around some more but the final design was found pretty fast. As the design evolved I played with color variations and some familiar shapes patterns.
This project took longer then expected and the main reason was indecisiveness on my part. I could not come to an agreement for a final color combo. I took a few days to think and the thoughts settled, woke up one morning and my first though while laying in bed where “ I am going to finish this today, no more indecisiveness, today we choose and live with those choices”. And so here we have the it the final design, all that remains is picking a proper frame.
Colored pencil on 8.5 by 11in paper
The Structural Skeleton
In the 2nd chapter of Roberto Osti book Basic Human Anatomy an essential visual guide for artists, a Hybrid conceptualization is explored in great detail. What is meant by Hybrid conceptualization is a combination of the Stereometric approach (which involves geometric solids such as cubes, spheres, cylinders, tetrahedrons etc.)
Conceptualization the skeleton according to its basic structures gives us an idea of how it is built, how its parts are joined together, how it moves and how the weight is carried and distributed.
Hybrid conceptualization offers advantages, its easier and faster to draw and they create a more realistic figure. When studying these proporttions remember that they are generalization, actual proportions will vary somewhat from person to person.
Once you understand the method of analyzing the body you can come up with your own approach.
A few things about the rib cage, the 7th and 8th ribs are the widest point of the ribcage. The 11th and 12th ribs are barely visible from the front, they are referred to as "floating ribs" in this book.
The female hips will be typically wider especially at the pelvic brim which tends to have a more oval shape. Whereas the male tends to be narrower and have a more heart shape.
ALL text and Images are taken directly from Roberto Osti Basic Human Anatomy
Basic Human Anatomy
Basic Human Anatomy and essential visual guide for artists by Roberto Osti is as good an anatomy book as you can find in the market. With simple explanations and rich visuals it's a great book for any young artist trying to learn more and sharpen their fundamentals.
The Fundamentals of drawing are very simple, Anatomy and Perspective are certainly in top 5 most valuable skills for improving. Learn some Anatomy and draw better right, sounds simple but the reality is Anatomy alone takes years if not a lifetime to master, that's why it is important to start educating your self as soon as possible and as much as possible, going to your local library and checking out some of their art books is in some ways better then clicking through the endless internet
The Stereometric Method
The Stereometric Method was devised during the Sixteenth century in a period know as the Renaissance, Italian Mannerist painter Luca Cambiaso created many sketches and compositional studies with many levels of schematization. Painter Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello, Albrecht Durer, and Leonardo de Vinci all used this method before starting and big work.
"The artist with a good knowledge of Anatomy will be able to create more beautiful and accurate artwork because he or she will have the means to better understand the forms of the body" -Roberto Osti
Stereometric rendering can be used for compositional purposes as well as for studying light and shadow. Because the moving figure is such a challenging subject to draw or paint, it can be of great help to subdivide the figure into various components and then reassemble them. The Stereometric approach employs boxlike shapes, it can be slow and impractical so as you progress more organic forms closer to the human body can be used.
"Once you understand how the segments of the body relate to proportionally and how they are connected you can start to create a variety of poses" -Roberto Osti
ALL text and images are taken from Roberto Osti Basic Human Anatomy