Don’t Let Time Rob You Of Your Artistic Goals
Lars Martinson is a cartoonist who spent 13 years making a comic called Tonoharu, which he thought would take three or four years to publish. In this video he shares his experience and how, as artists, we need to be careful about being too perfectionistic with our work. Martinson talks about how he refused to cut any corners or do anything in a simpler or faster way, because he felt that would be traitorous to the concept of being the true artist.
More than a decade later, Martinson regrets that he spent so much time on a single project. He explains that if he continued to follow this path, he might end up making maybe two or three projects in his lifetime before he would be too old to do more. He states: “I’m willing to completely overhaul the way I produce art, right down the very medium I’m working in.” Martinson said he hopes to reduce his output time from several years to a few months.
There’s a lot more to the video that underlines the importance of time management and flexibility in your creative projects, and it stands out as a strong guide for younger artists who have not yet made some of these mistakes. As Martinson so aptly states, time is the factor. You can’t have it back if you use too much of it on one project.
The Incredible Exploratory Art Of Jin Kim For Moana
On each animated feature, whether computer animated or hand drawn, Disney has skilled artists explore the character designs and the expressions of the characters.
Jin Kim, the artist who made the drawings featured here, has been the go to guy at Disney for some time. Kim originally worked under Glen Keane when he first came to Disney. As Keane went on to work on other things at Disney, and eventually left, Kim took over most of the responsibility of character exploration through drawing.
Kim did many drawings for Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph, and Tangled. Other artists at Disney will do 2D animation tests so that the CG animators have something to visualize when they start animating. Tests of movement, expressions, character design, and different angles of the characters are all tested through drawings since it takes a lot less time to test a character in drawings before he is modeled and animated in CG.
That’s where artists like Jin Kim come in, who is one of a team of artists who help “put together the movie,” before they put together the movie.
Check out much more staggeringly inspirational art from Jin Kim on his blog.
It’s Star Wars Week On Sketch Dailies
We’ve written about @sketch_Dailies before, because it’s such an inspirational feed. Tons of fantastic artists contribute to daily challenges on the twitter, and it’s always filled to the brim with funny and beautiful art.
This week is Star Wars week, for obvious reasons, which has me excited for all the awesome Star Wars art. Just look at how cool this ewok is from Nate Taylor.
Check it out. You won’t regret it.
Honda’s New Stop Motion Ad Is Truly Inspiring
Made up of beautiful illustrations and life-filled stop motion, Honda’s commercial, “Paper,” really inspires innovation. It’s both a look at the design of Honda and the company’s history. The commercial is filled to the brim with hand-made art and it’s just so much fun. Everything is portrayed in this ad, from road trips to octopus adversaries, and I think I’ll just go right on watching it a good ten more times.
Even better than just getting the ad by itself, there’s also been a behind the scenes/making of video released which is also fantastic. Get even more info about how and why this wonderful commercial was made in the making of:
Animator Glen Keane is at it again!
Above is his new short, “Nephtali.” Keane uses a mixture of drawing, animation and film to tell the story of a girl’s journey as a dancer.
Thanks for the tip, tombancroft1! Tom and his brother Tony [aka The Bankcroft Bros] are two fabulous animators whose podcast you really should check out, by the way.
- Courtney ( harmonicacave )
Glen Keane Drawing In 3D
In this short film, “Glen Keane - Step Into the Page” we get a real treat. Glen Keane gives us his take on drawing and creating characters. We get to enjoy watching the fluid motion of his drawing on paper, as he brings to life some of our favorite characters like Beast and Ariel, and also animates a little. And then he uses virtual reality, probably the Oculus Rift, to draw in 3D. It’s breathtaking and wonderful, and a deep jolt of inspiration. Listen to this legend share his love for the craft, and remember why you loved it to begin with as well.
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
Q
Anonymous asked:
I'm 22, wanting to be an artist but to be frank and scared, not making much work. I feel like it's almost too late. What were you doing at 22?
A
too late? You’re about to throw in the towel at 22?
stop it!!
what you should be doing is drawing every day, working on your craft every day, trying to figure out who you are as a person and as an artist, you should choose your goal and focus on it like a laser. Learn from your mistakes and be thrilled you got them out of your system while you were still relatively young.
there is no age limit on any of this stuff
ultimate spider-man number one came out when I was almost 30 and I had already made 10 years of crime graphic novels and thousands of illustrations before that that no one will ever see. I had dozens of false career starts in between.
it takes years of practice, years of rejection, years of false starts that end up teaching you who you are. this goes for everyone.
the only thing you do by giving up at 22 is making it that much easier for the person next to you to live your dream.
at 22 I was working on a graphic novel called fire. I figured out a lot of stuff putting those pages together. nobody bought it initially but in the process of making it I met everyone who became my best friends today, I met 19-year-old David Mack at a convention and he took my pen away while I was drawing and drew a line on my pencils that showed me a better line for my style. it changed my life.
twenty something years later, universal recently optioned fire to make a movie out of it for Zach Efron and the screenplay is being worked on right now. marvel just released a hardcover of it
Great, Great story- he says what I tell your people today- draw every day. That’s step 1, 2, 3, and 4 of your 6 part career plan.
Friendly reminders and encouragement from comic and animation greats! Mark this words, friends.
- Christopher
A video of Square Enix character designer and director of the Kingdom Heart franchise, Tetsuya Nomura, drawing KH main character Sora is a great way to celebrate the release of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix in Japan — as well as a great way to get through this possibly dreary Friday in the US, where such a video game will not be released for another two months.
- Courtney (HarmonicaCave)
The Dream Machine
“It’s been said that people, in actuality, are only half their age because we spend half our lives sleeping. If dreams are our way of being productive and creative while nearly comatose, then we might as well do it our way. And why not share the experience with others too?”
Paul Nong, Burnsville Senior High School, Minn.
This Google Doodle is in the 10-12 grade group.