“How To (Not) Be An Artist” By Jazza
Artist and animator Jazza (Draw With Jazza on youtube, @JosiahBrooks on twitter) is one of the most helpful and encouraging sources for artists online. If you’re trying to learn a certain aspect of art or 2D animation, Jazza has probably talked about it and created several informative videos on it. He has everything you can think of, from “let’s draw” videos, to how-tos, to advice for artists.
I personally really appreciate Jazza because he’s so positive and encouraging. He really promotes the community aspect of art, and tries to help artists who don’t have access to information or just can’t figure something out on their own.
I think Jazza is a great example of what all of us should be doing, not necessarily in terms of livelihood, we shouldn’t all become teachers and tutorial creators. But he’s very positive and always willing to help others out. As an artistic community it is important for us to come alongside each other and work together. We all start out at the bottom, so anyone who needs help or advice is exactly where you once were, or perhaps where you are now.
For my part, I hope to always be a helpful and encouraging voice, like Jazza, and that’s what I’ve always wanted Animation Force to be as well.
How can you help others in the artistic community?
The Digital Concept Art Tutorials Of Feng Zhu
Hey guys, I thought I would introduce someone who has taught me so much about digital painting, and painting in general, indirectly. I learned to paint by watching and studying what he does. His name is Feng Zhu and he has been creating concept art for blockbuster titles such as Transformers, Star Wars III, The Sims 3, Duke Nuke'em Forever, etc. He has a blog; you can visit it here.
Other than telling you all the things he did, I would like you guys to check out his youtube page. It contains hours and hours of him teaching the fundamentals on environmental painting, character sketches, and more.
Just by learning from him I was able to create basic concept paintings. I thought this was a good time to spread the word on how I learned to paint. Here is one of my paintings:
- Michael An
Concept Art For Edge Of Tomorrow From Artist Kev Jenkins.
Kev Jenkins started in the early stages of development on Edge Of Tomorrow. Jenkins has an impressive resume of work which includes concept art for Marvel and Guardians of the Galaxy. See more of his work on Edge Of Tomorrow here.
Some early Big Hero 6 development art by Ryan Lang, an accomplished visual development artist who has worked on several Disney features. Be sure to check out his personal blog as well as his portfolio. Impressive work in both places.
- Chris
If You’re Not Following @Sketch_Dailies You’re Missing Out
Isaac Orloff, “Black Beard”
Created by Isaac Orloff, who is himself a great artist, Sketch_Dailies is a twitter account designed to inspire artists with daily challenges. Each day at 11:00AM PST, a new challenge is posted. Thousands of artists try their hand at the challenges, and when they @reply to Sketch_Dailies and hashtag the name of the challenge, their pieces can be retweeted by Sketch_Dailies.
Lissy Marlin, @LazyFish11 on twitter; “Bonnie and Clyde”
The twitter account is generating quite the following, promoting community among artists and fans of art alike. The amount of work, and the quality is staggering. It’s amazing to see what a hub of art this has created on the internet, and with the ability of quick communication through twitter, it’s really egging artists on to grow as individuals, and also to inspire each other.
Pernille Ørum, @pernilleoe on twitter; “Jessica Rabbit”
This week is “Outlaw Week” on Sketch_Dailies. You can check out the stellar art pieces already contributed by going to the account, and there’s still time to participate in this week’s challenges! Many artists contribute a day or two late and still get a retweet by Sketch_Dailies, so don’t be shy. And for those of you who just love inspiring, colorful, and textured art, be sure to take a look!
Matthew Beakes, @MatthewBeakes on twitter; “Black Beard”
I myself am very inspired by the work on Sketch_Dailies and plan to participate soon, if not sometime this week!
Amanda MacFarlane, @lifeanimated on twitter; “Maleficent”
I’m really looking forward to seeing more and becoming involved! I’ll be watching Sketch_Dailies…daily.
If You Blinked, You Missed It! Lovely: Girls of Animation, an exciting new project from a group of six talented female artists of animation, went up for funding on Kickstarter Thursday, and reached its goal in about 2 hours.
The artists are Claire Keane, Lorelay Bove, Victoria Ying, Helen Mingjue Chen, Brittney Lee, and Lisa Keene. They are some of the greatest visual development artists from feature animation, and their art combined into one book makes for a remarkable collaboration and collector’s item. I personally would love to have this book. I’m ecstatic it received its funding, and so quickly! But I’m sad I didn’t get to contribute. I’ll have to hope I get a copy when the book is published!
-Chris
The Pixel Painter
Hal Lasko, better known as Grandpa, worked as a graphic artist back when everything was done by hand. His family introduced him to the computer and Microsoft Paint long after he retired.
Now, Grandpa spends ten hours a day moving pixels around his computer paintings. His work is a blend of pointillism and 8-Bit art.
Meet 97-year-old Hal Lasko, The Pixel Painter.
See more work at hallasko.com
If you want to see inspiring, it’s this guy! Now that you’ve seen this video you can never complain again about being too old or young to create. His attitude is great, and he just loves what he does. That’s all any of us can do, I think.
-Chris