Today in doodling we ask the question "Why?"

Meet Munk E. the beat-boxing-banana-board-riding-urban-colloquialism-speaking chimp:
I drew him just now as a post-dinner warm up to get back into my animation and couldn't help wonder the following:

"What the hell did I just do?"

I think I ineffectively crossed two video game apes:

(Funky Kong and Diddy Kong)

Except that Munk is part gnome AND robot on top of also being a chimp. Another possible '90s urban-outreach mascot influence may include:

(Poochie the Rapping Dog)

Well we all have our moments of being generic and uninspired, but I think I just sank to a new low. Something tells me there is a pearl of wisdom to be found here, but maybe I need to ruminate on it further and address it properly at a future time. So instead I'll end with the wisdom of a hairier, albeit fictional, mammal:

"And remember kids, always recycle... TO THE EXTREME!!!"
(they never did make it to the fireworks factory....)

I think I'll be referring to all my future project failures as Munks now...

Human Cali Sweat Pants

So for my storyboarding class, I opted to take the Sponge Bob Square Pants test over the Fairly Odd Parents test. A storyboard test consists of a portion of a script of the show plus model sheets for characters, layout, props, etc.

The process has been... well.... met with multiple phases:
Maybe if I spent less time doodling and more time working, I would be more productive...

This Week in SUCK

Things are feeling very one-step-forward-two-steps-back these days. I wonder if it is just because it is the end of the semester and I am feeling drained. But now is not the time for complaints--it is the time for action.... umm... starting tomorrow.

I've been having too many off-days where my drawing is concerned. Funny thing about that: the next two weeks will consist of the most drawing I have ever done in such a short period, and if today's hours of life drawing is foreshadowing the weeks to come, it will be filled with a whole lot of suck indeed.

Chuck gave a pretty good and helpful lecture about trying to find work as a production board artist (which is what I want to do at present). So, I have to make a portfolio geared to that, meaning I need a portfolio to show off my ability to story board. Meaning I will only have a page or so of life drawing tagged on at the end anyways. For our final, he is requiring a production board portfolio be submitted for the Storyboarding class. I have a feeling mine will be pretty rough, but if anything, it will be a good jumping off point for refinement in the coming months.

Important thing to remember: draw less suck.

Revisting an Older Post

Something I forgot to mention in my last post--I had said something about that drawing being a culmination of many of the concepts and skills I have been learning in school, but I left out one of the most important things: the process!

As a young artist I always wondered:
And as much as I still find myself asking that kind of question (because every artist has their own process), some answers just end up being the definitive:

Simple shapes.
Figure construction.
Working in layers.

I was first taught these concepts in life drawing. And still hear it all the time from professors and professionals. It's fundamental knowledge, but for some reason it only really started sinking in towards the end of my college career. And of course I am still working on it like I do with the rest of my craft.
Life is filled with so much learning...

Revisiting an Older Drawing

What's this? New, completed, and colored artwork? How dare I do such a thing! I would almost be impressed with myself if this wasn't school related. But the assignment was to take an old drawing from class and recreate it in a personal work. If you remember, this is based off a quick sketch I posted last month.

I attempted to do somethings that I have been wanting to do (mostly based off some stuff I have been seeing on the internet). And I had some fun doing it.

This piece isn't perfect (the line work is unrefined and the brush-work boarder looks too mechanical for my tastes) but it is nothing I can't address at a later time (oh digital work--how convenient you are). But I feel as though it is a culmination of my time in art school: life drawing, anatomy, design, composition, photoshop, illustrator, and, the newest friend of mine, tvpaint.

Also, becoming more fond of my TabletPC (probably because it is working a lot better and getting comfortable with it too). So don't be surprised to be seeing more work like this one from me (but you will be allowed to be surprised for seeing finished work--because that is the real shocker).

The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.

This film feels like it will be the death of me. I still don't really have a title for it... I'm not really good at naming things anyways (*note lame blog title that is pending yet another name change)

Good news: Animating is actually kinda sorta maybe possibly a little fun. Go figure.
Bad news: I suck at it!!! :(
Ugly news:

(click on image)

Lovely Little Lilly

Lilly is starting to really like me, probably because she is realizing that I have a lot of cool stuff in my room and I am more then willing to let her smash everything in exchange for her love and admiration. This was an impromptu recording session just because she was doing some of the funniest things and because I just about rather be doing everything other then my homework(s).

I wanted to cut the footage together, but I was having some quality issues....

So here are just some of clips of the evening's shinanigans:

This one is probably my favorite video.