An Animator's Journey

Mogmas!

2012-01-29T13:33:00.001-08:00

I was really inspired by these retro posters and decided to try to create one of my own. It's not as graphic as I wanted it to be but I'm still fairly satisfied with it.

Good and Bad

2012-01-28T15:43:00.001-08:00

More Girls

2012-01-23T20:57:00.001-08:00

This evening produced some really nice drawings! =D

Girls Drawin' Girls

2012-01-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

I want in! =( Hopefully the group wont be full by the time I return to sunny CA.

Going Graphic!

2012-01-20T21:03:00.000-08:00

What started off as a bunch of scribbled lines during a failed attempt to brainstorm ideas for a sonic gif evolved into this. I'm quite happy with it since I've never done anything this graphic before. Now, if only I could do stuff like this at will lol. As always, Cookie belongs to my friend Fyuvix.

Years End

2011-12-24T09:20:00.000-08:00

Here's to another year of making movie magic!!!

Life Drawing

2011-12-13T12:49:00.000-08:00

I did some life drawings to try to counter the anger I feel at being too sick to go to work today.

New Work

2011-12-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

Mr. Popper's Penguins was released on dvd yesterday, which means I can post my work from the show! =D

Ice Age Trailer

2011-11-17T09:55:00.001-08:00

Awesome news, part 2 of Scrat's Continental Crack-up has been released! Check it out:

The shot of noodley Scrat swimming over to the acorn is fantastic!!!! =D

Wrapping Up

2011-10-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

Well, today was my last day at Rhythm & Hues. It's sad to leave friends behind but I'm confident I'll see everyone again in the future. The industry is small and people are always running into each other. Now it's just a matter of packing up the rest of my things and heading over to NY to begin my next adventure. =D

Work In Progress

2011-09-05T22:56:00.000-07:00

Learning

2011-09-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

After spending over three hours yesterday attempting to ink and paint my drawing of Robert, one of my friend's offered to help. We discovered that you can show two desktops at once via skype (which was awesome) and she showed me how to properly ink in Sai Painter. Not only was it super fun, it was also a great earning experience. I feel like that enforces the importance of speaking to/sharing with other artists since you never know what you'll find out! =D

Catching Up

2011-07-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
It's been a while since my last post and have a few things to share. My time at iAnimate is coming to an end in the next week or so. I'd like to continue on to workshop 4, but it'll have to be at a later date. If we're going to do any OT on Alvin, it should be starting soon and there's no way I'd be able to work on my assignments while doing 12's. So I'm going to take this term off rather than risking not being able to get anything done from overtime and hope to return for their next semester. In the meantime, I want to polish/finish up my workshop 3 assignments. My second one is much closer to being done than my first since it's shorter. I'll see if I can post that one once it's done.

In other news, a new trailer has been released for Alvin 3. I don't have any work in it this time. The shots I have aren't on the cruise ship side of things. =P

In other, other news, I'll be heading back to the east coast in the fall to work on this awesome movie!

Becoming An Animator

2011-07-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

Over the years, I've received multiple emails/notes asking for various levels of advice on becoming an animator/getting into the industry. I've answered this questions as best I can, considering that I've only been animating professionally since the fall of 2009. I found an article on cgtalk.com that was put together by someone working in the games industry who has over 25 years of experience. I think it would be very helpful for anyone who's interested in becoming an animator to read it and replace "game design/er" with "animation/animator". I think it will answer a lot of questions while also giving MUCH better advice than I ever could.

Career's in "perfect land": http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson55.htm

Words of Wisdom: http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson47.htm

Do A Barrel Roll!

2011-07-03T00:44:00.000-07:00

Cats

2011-06-26T18:18:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I was looking through some of my Claire Wendling books last week and got inspired to draw some cats. Jubilee was thanked for being such a gracious model with hugs, kisses and treats, lol. Anyway, one of these days I'll be able to draw their heads correctly. I don't feel like I have a solid understanding of the structure beneath all of that fur. When I have more time, I'll do some serious skull studies to help remedy that.

Mr. Popper's Penguins Review

2011-06-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

The LA Times gave Popper's a nice review! Here's a bit from the article: "But the-impossible-to-upstage stars are the penguins, a combination of real Gentoos specially trained for the film and some computer-generated counterparts. The special effects gurus blend the two seamlessly, making it easy to believe there was no digital wizardry involved, which is perhaps the niftiest trick of all."

It sounds like people are unable to tell the difference between the real and cg penguins which is a huge honor in vfx. Congrats to everyone who worked on the show! =D

Pokemon!

2011-06-06T23:53:00.000-07:00

New Stuff!

2011-06-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Rhythm & Hues has a new website that went live today. It's really cool and has reels for the studio's various departments. I think the website team did a fantastic job, the new site is much better than the old one and gives a better idea of the kinds of work the studio does. Feel free to check it out here: Rhythm & Hues

They've also released more trailers for Mr. Popper's Penguins! =D

Penguins!

2011-05-20T10:39:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,
Sorry for the lack of posts! I was expecting to show the progress of my iAnimate work but they've asked us to keep things under wraps. I do have something to show though. There's a new trailer for Mr. Popper's Penguins and part of one of my shots is in it! It's the two penguins shot towards the end where one is farting in a blue tub. =D

In other news, this is the end of my first week on Alvin 3 and I'm having a ton of fun! I'm really enjoying this show so far. I've been lucky enough to get the shots that I wanted and am working on a consecutive sequence of them which is awesome! I feel like I should get some really nice pieces for my reel from this show. =D

Color!

2011-05-07T11:37:00.001-07:00

Caricatured Life Drawing

2011-05-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

I saw this woman while walking over to the NG cafe. I found her proportions amusing and used Brett Bean's method to remember enough of her to be able to do this drawing when I got back to my desk. I'm rather pleased with this drawing and feel like it's a peek of things to come.

Painting pt. 2

2011-04-07T23:43:00.001-07:00

I tried keeping things simple this time and stuck with focusing on one body part. I used this tutorial as a guide: http://thundercake.deviantart.com/gallery/6353569#/d1w2et3 I think it was extremely helpful and I'm much happier with this than last nights attempt. I still have a ways to go though.

Painting

2011-04-06T23:55:00.000-07:00

One of my friend's announced that she had discovered new things about digital painting. She sent me the image that helped her and I was inspired to try some painting of my own. Here's a look at my wip image. I'm not happy with it. I'm in a constant war against my work looking like it was done digitally despite the fact that it is (since I dont know how to use physical paint >_>). I think it has to do with the fact that all of the edges are blurry and fuzzy. All of the images I like have distinct, specific edges to everything. I'll continue working on this tomorrow night. We'll see how it turns out.

It's Official...

2011-04-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

I'm starting in workshop 3 at iAnimate next month! I can't wait!!!!!!!!! =D =D =D

Meet the Tangled Animation and Production Crew

2011-04-01T22:40:00.000-07:00

I miss you guys!!!! Thanks for putting this together Claudio!

Winter 2011 Demo Reel

2011-03-28T23:04:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Tangled comes out on dvd tomorrow/in an hour!!!!! Which means I can post a more up to date version of my reel. =D It's still kind of old since my work from Hop isn't on there but its much more recent than the previous reel I had online.

Jocelyn Cofer Winter Demo Reel from Jocelyn Cofer on Vimeo.

And So It Begins...

2011-03-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

It's time to don my own fighting trousers and get to business. I am unhappy with the level that my work is on right now. Yes I'm better now than I was this time last year, but that's not good enough. To remedy this, I was going to work on personal tests in the little free time that I have. Instead I've decided to go back to school! What better way to improve than to watch lectures, do assignments and receive feedback? I'm planning on applying to iAnimate for the term that starts in May. Overtime should be over by then so I'll be able to start rested and fresh. It will be difficult doing classwork and working 10-12 hour days once OT starts up again, but I am determined to make it work. I've been at this level for far too long and its past time to kick things up a notch.

In the meantime, I need to finish the shot I've been working on for my friend's senior project Test Flight. Once that's done, I'll start coming up with ideas for a simple personal test to work on between then and May. I've been talking to one of the guys at work who's enrolled in the program and he said there are two assignments per class. At that rate I'm aiming to have at least four new personal shots for my reel along with my production work.

Let the quest for improvement begin! o_o

Oh, and in the meantime check out the trailer for the movie I'm currently working on. =D

Mr Popper's Penguins by teasertrailer

Yogi Reel

2011-03-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Yogi Bear is out on dvd, which means I can post my work online! Now if only the 29th would hurry and arrive...

Get To Know Carlos

2011-03-21T16:17:00.000-07:00

Man, I wish I got to have a Carlos shot or two. His design really fun and his personality must have been a blast to work with! =D

Looking For Work?

2011-03-18T11:24:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Are any of you looking for work? If so, head over to the Rhythm & Hues website and apply for the upcoming apprentice program! =D You can find all of the info here: 2011 Apprentice Program Good luck!

More Hop!

2011-03-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

New tv spots for Hop have been released! =D

They're Here

2011-03-03T22:04:00.000-08:00

My Tangled maquettes have arrived!!!! They're my first (in what will hopefully end up being a nice collection) Disney maquettes ever! =D I really wish I'd gotten all of them now...even though that would have cost over $1800. >_>

Now I just need to figure out where to put them. I don't really have any free surface space that Jubilee can't get to. I'll look into one of those glass display units. Hopefully they wont cost an arm and a leg. XD

Well Lookie There

2011-02-28T23:49:00.001-08:00

I believe I know these fine young folk...

Drawings From Today

2011-02-23T21:22:00.000-08:00

Now that the majority of the studio has finished with Hop and is no longer in crunch time, life drawing has started up again! I'm less happy with my one minute drawings that I am with the five minute ones though. I feel like they would have been better if we started with one minute poses and worked out way up, rather going from fives to ones. I was much faster at the start of the fives and slowed down towards the end of them. I think that messed me up on the first few pages of ones. It's amusing though to watch their progression as you go across and down the page.

Test Flight Art

2011-02-19T03:21:00.000-08:00

I've volunteered to work as an animator on a friend's senior project, Test Flight. I'm excited about learning how to animate a puppet in Flash and cant wait to get started. Her characters are super appealing and the story is cute. This is a drawing I did of one of the characters, Mabel Lawson. If you're interested in Test Flight, you can find more information about it on the Test Flight Production Blog.

New Brush

2011-02-18T13:14:00.000-08:00

Messing around with a new chalk brush that my friend referred me to. =D

Lots of Life Drawings

2011-02-17T20:09:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
I have a bunch of new life drawings to post. I went to the weekly model session at the Nucleus last night. It was fantastic to draw from a live model rather than photographs. I think I got some nice drawings out of the session and hope I can go again. I just wish traffic in LA wasn't so horrible. It's pretty impossible to get from work to the Nucleus by 7 if I leave at 6.

I also went to the zoo today and left with some bird drawings. I haven't spent much time drawing birds and really enjoyed doing so today. I made friends with the HUGE Andean Condor. He spent most of the time preening but at one point he came right up to the fence and watched me draw. He stayed there until some fool came by and made kissy noises at him. I'm always amused by the fools who show up at the zoo. While at the tortoise exhibit, some zoo keepers stopped by with a bucket of mulch. A guy who was watching the tortoises noticed them and blurted out "They eat dirt?!". That's really sad. >_>

Today's Drawings

2011-02-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

Things are winding down on Hop this week so I was free to spend the day drawing. It was awesome! Here's a look at the things I did today...

Second Hop Trailer

2011-02-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
Great news, the new Hop trailer was released today! This was a really fun film to work on despite the hectic schedule. The characters are adorable and I got to animate the awesome Pink Berets! In fact, the part in the trailer where they jump out of the bushes is the first section of my shot. =D

Anyway, I hope this film does well. I don't actually remember any animated or partially animated movies about the Easter bunny, so this might just be the very first. Congrats to everyone who worked on Hop. There are some really nice shots in this movie and you guys should be proud! =D

Awesomeness!

2011-02-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

I cant wait! =D

New Website!

2011-02-01T21:57:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
Sorry for the lack of posts. We're REALLY busy trying to finish up on Hop. There is some good news though. The film has a fun website up. The falling candy is very well done!

http://www.iwantcandy.com/

Brief Downtime

2011-01-21T00:22:00.001-08:00

Hey guys,
I finished my shot today and had a few hours of downtime before I was assigned another one. I drew these while waiting. =D I was trying to push the facial expression in the running one but I don't think I did a good job since it still looks really similar to the one beside it. >_<

Hello Old Friend...

2011-01-16T23:56:00.000-08:00

I've missed you! Man, it feels great to draw again. I'd still like to do a 2d test with this guy. I just need to time to do it in. I'm not too happy with the girl drawing. I hadn't used charcoal pencils in over a year and feel like I'm back at level 1 with them. I think it looked much better before I slapped some shadows on there. Afterwards, I realized I was using a hard pencil which would explain the nasty roughness. I'll have to pay more attention to that next time. Reference used: Miss Mosh

First Drawings of the New Year

2011-01-03T23:11:00.000-08:00

Happy new year everyone! Here's a look at the first drawings of this year. All of them have proportion issues but I'm the happiest with the last two faces. I was trying a different method with them and like where I seem to be headed. I was reading through part of Henry Yan's book when I saw his quick facial studies. I decided to give his workflow a try and these three faces are the result. The first one looks horrid but the next two show significant improvement.

I've signed up for the mailing lists of various figure drawing groups in the area too and hope to be able attend some of them. I really miss life drawing and know the practice would be excellent for me. It'll all depend on the schedule at work though. I've been away visiting family for the past 10 days but I'm guessing things have gotten pretty busy while I was away.

Operation Secret Santa

2010-12-21T22:57:00.001-08:00

Hey guys,
I dont watch tv so I'm afraid I'm late on catching this. Disney's Operation Secret Santa is out and looks great! I remember watching the story reel for the short and everything's just as I recalled. Prep and Landing is a wonderful short and I'm glad Kevina and Stevie are meeting so much success with it. I hope they can do one each year! =D

More Disney Magic

2010-12-13T13:42:00.000-08:00

It looks like they posted one of the videos that they showed at the Tangled wrap party. The new decorations look awesome! I really miss you guys! I hope everyone's doing well. =D

Yogi Bear Clips

2010-12-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

I just found out that Warner Brothers has released eight clips from Yogi Bear. I took a look and was pleasantly surprised to see two of my shots are in them. They're the first shots I did on the film and I think they turned out nicely. I did the shot in the opening clip where Booboo jumps up and says "Alright!" and the shot after that of Yogi doing a take before sailing into the tree. I still cant get over how amazing it is to see your animation professionally furred/clothed, lit and rendered. The departments after animation really make these shots sing!

$69 Million

2010-11-29T09:53:00.000-08:00

Tangled made $69 million over its five day weekend release!!!!! Thank you everyone who's gone out to see the film! Everyone I know who's seen it has really enjoyed the film. If you still haven't seen it you're missing out on something truly special. =D

Hop Teaser

2010-11-23T15:15:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
They've released the teaser for Hop! This movie has been really fun to work on so far. The characters are so CUTE!!!!!!! =D

First Look

2010-11-21T20:06:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
I just noticed that the first poster for Hop has been released. The characters in this movie are super cute and I'm having a blast working on it! =D

Tangled Wrap Party

2010-11-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
Here are the wrap party pictures that I mentioned a while ago. The whole event was filled with fun and awesomeness! Seeing everyone's hard work up on the big screen was amazing and the lighting make every single shot of the film look gorgeous! Seeing the gigantic Tangled sign outside the theater, the title projected onto the outer wall of the Highland and a huge version of one of Claire Keane's paintings was really cool. It was fantastic to see my fellow fixers and the animators again, I really miss those guys. They all seemed to be doing well though, so I'm glad for that. Hopefully we'll all get to work together again soon. As much as I enjoyed the PFrog wrap party, having actually worked on the film made the Tangled one even more special.

Another Round of Life Drawings

2010-11-14T11:04:00.001-08:00

Drawn last night from photographs taken by Mjranum-stock. I can see that my life drawings are improving but they're still far from where I want them to be. I've been looking through The Art and Feel of Making it Real and Passion for Life over the past few days and both books are filled with beautiful drawings. The style is different but both artists have graceful, flowing lines that I have yet to achieve. I'll get there one day...

Winnie The Pooh

2010-11-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

I cannot wait to see this movie, its going to be adorable! I really hope it does well! =D

Breaktime Sketch

2010-11-10T22:13:00.000-08:00

I just spent the past four or so hours OCing with my friend. We took a brake so she could go do something. I drew this while waiting for her to come back. Lol, it was inspired by the story/content of our OC session. It ended up being over three pages long but we finally finished a full story. =D

On Vacation

2010-11-09T00:55:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
I'm currently between projects and am on vacation. That means I finally have time to draw!!!! =D Yay! I'd like to go to the zoo tomorrow after I help a friend with an animation test. Here are some drawings that I did today and yesterday in the meantime. It feels great to put pen to paper again!

Apartment Sketch

2010-10-17T23:08:00.001-07:00

*Gasp!* I actually drew something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lol, I'm really looking forward to having more time again so I can continue to draw.

Tangled wrap party pics will be posted in the (hopefully) not too distant future.

Tangled Update

2010-10-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
The Tangled wrap party is this Saturday!!!! I cant wait to see everyone again and to watch the finished film. The shots in the trailer looked gorgeous! I hope all of the crew is doing well and my fellows who were let go have found work. John Wong was awesome and grabbed a Tangled poster for me and his equally awesome girlfriend Jess gave it to me the other day. I've gotten it framed and just need a chance to hang it up. =D

Hopefully this is the first of many framed posters to come. I plan on getting one for every show I've worked on and lining them up along one of the walls.

I also found out that Claudio posted the video that he made of all of us a few months ago. All of those guys have a special place in my heart. I loved being at Disney and working with them and hope to do so again one of these days.

Rat King work in progress

2010-10-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I'm still alive. Sorry for not posting very often. We're in super crunch time on Yogi and will be starting 12 hour days tomorrow. I will be taking a two week break once I roll of off the show though and plan on working on some 2d animation during my vacation.

In the meantime, here's a look at a wip drawing that I started this evening. I'm hoping to get some feedback on the composition. Lol, the idea was inspired by an image of a rat king that my friend sent me in combination with listening to epic music by Two Steps From Hell. The concept is that the rat king draws in rats (against their will) by the tail to make itself larger/more powerful. I wanted to show this process somewhat from one of the victims pov. I'm not sure how I feel about the super foreground rats in brownish yellow. They weren't in my original thumbnail and I'm not sure if I like them being there. I added them since I didn't have any plans for all of the negative space above the seething rat bodies horizon line, lol. Any comments and crits are highly encouraged to help make the composition stronger.

Thanks a bunch! =D

Prep and Landing Elf Launcher Animation

2010-09-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I got my dvd from Disney with my trainee work on it and figured it would be ok to post two of my assignments that have nothing to do with Tangled. The first one is a cycle that I did for the Prep and Landing Elf Launcher game. It should still be up on the show's website under stocking stuffers if anyone wants to play it. This was my first time working with actual directors (Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermer) and I was really excited when the mentors announced what we would be doing. This is also my first official piece of production work. =D

Life Drawings

2010-09-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

I was able to make it to life drawing today! It felt great to draw again, but man am I rusty. >_<

New Tangled Trailers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-09-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
It looks like they've released two new Tangled trailers! I seriously cannot wait for this movie! It looks gorgeous and the animation is unbelievable! It was such an honor to be a part of the Tangled crew and to work on such a wonderful film. Everyone at Disney is super talented and it shows. I hope everyone who's had a hand in Tangled is proud of what they've all accomplished.

I really hope this film does well and I'm eagerly awaiting what's next from Disney. =D

Character Development

2010-09-06T19:04:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,
I'm working on developing the leader of DaeDae's gang for use with my friend's Pompfiction characters. He's supposed to be misleadingly old and frail, but that isn't coming across in this drawing. I also want all the members (except for LaQuandae) to sport dreadlocks. Something about the dreads will determine the rank within the gang. I haven't decided if its the length, decorations, coloring or some combination of the two.

Scene Kid

2010-08-15T13:47:00.000-07:00

My friend and I were laughing at scene kids yesterday and thought it would be fun to draw our characters as such. Here's my contribution to the madness. All of my colors are washed out for some reason though and I dont know why. =(

Off topic, I saw Scott Pilgrim last night and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go see it!

Life Drawings

2010-08-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I went to my first model session at Rhythm&Hues on Wed. I was pleasantly surprised to see Karl Gnass as the instructor. I knew he taught at Disney and Dreamworks but he apparently teaches at R&H as well. That's quite awesome as he's a great teacher and an amazing draftsman. Here are some of my drawings from this week's session.

What's This?

2010-08-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

It looks like I have an IMDB page! =D

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4011271/

Sketch Dump

2010-08-08T16:47:00.001-07:00

Sketch dump of drawings done during today's zoo trip and my visit to the Norton Simon museum a few days ago.

New Job!

2010-08-06T23:39:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I have awesome news! I've accepted an offer from Rhythm & Hues and will be starting at my new job on Monday! I'm really excited about experiencing another studio and meeting more animators. Plus, this is my first job as a full on character animator! Rhythm & Hues also allows the artists to bring their dogs to work every day, how cool is that?! I wish I could bring my cat in too but I don't think that would end well lol.

Drawings From Today

2010-08-05T01:13:00.000-07:00

After going out to lunch and watching Despicable Me with my friends/fellow fixers I returned home to do some life drawing. I started out doing full figure work and decided that I would benefit from doing some chest studies after making the horrible drawing #3. I broke out Atlas of Human Anatomy For The Artist and The Human Figure to do some research before starting. I've noticed that I was having trouble finding where the sternum ends and the bottom sides of the ribcage on some of the models. Reading a section from those two books was really helpful. With practice, I should be able to draw an acceptable torso now that I have a better idea of where my landmarks are.

After my pages of life drawing, I figured it would be fun to do another LaQuandae drawing as well. These are posted in the order they were drawn.

Rusty

2010-08-04T01:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm clearly out of practice with life drawing. I now know what I'll be doing after I wake up.

Dae Dae Development

2010-08-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

After another fun round of LaQuandae and Cookie OC with my friend Bri, I decided to do some more Dae Dae drawings. I need to work on his full body proportions, facial expressions and making a simplified/cartoony version of him for OC-ing. Lol, despite that none of these fall into any of those categories.

Photos

2010-08-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been REALLY busy in crunch time for the past few months. I'm free now and am looking for work. Now I have time to draw again and update my blog more regularly. In the meantime, enjoy these crew pictures that were taking while working at Disney. =D

Tangled Animation Crew

Tangled Fix Animation Crew

More Straight Ahead

2010-07-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

After all of my talk about not animating straight ahead yesterday, guess what I ended up doing today. Lol, this time it wasn't as bad since the action I was trying to capture was more familiar. I decided to make a quick trip to the store after the drawing of the deer turning. It seems like that was a mistake since all of the ones after that don't make much sense. I had fun doing this one and would like to do it again (and finish) properly. I think the straight ahead pass captures a bit of the energy/feeling that I wanted though so it was a somewhat success in that aspect.

Why I Never Animate 100% Straight Ahead

2010-07-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I got my traditional animation lightbox and a new disc in the mail the other day! I'm really excited about finally being able to work in 2d at home. I tried it out for a couple of hours this evening and its working great! This crazy straight ahead animation test is what I ended up with. Lol, its a great example of why I dont work completely straight ahead. I haven't gotten to the point where I can just sit down and coherently animate something without planning everything out first and starting off pose to pose.

Tomorrow I'd like to start on a real 2d test. I'm stuck between animating Bambi prancing around in a circle, some kind of flying creature or a dog going through an agility course obstacle. So far, I'm leaning towards the first one. It sound extremely challenging and its a variation on an assignment that Andreas suggested during our meeting.

More Development Drawings

2010-07-05T22:43:00.001-07:00

Man, having a character really makes me want to just sit and draw all day. It's awesome to feel that way again! I feel like I lost that somewhere in high school. Anyway, I'm working on figuring out the structure of his face since I seem to have trouble drawing him from a few different angles. Hopefully the skull drawing will help. I also need to figure out a permanent pattern for his markings.

Less Realistic "Dae Dae"

2010-07-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys, I just had to make up for last nights off model drawing lol.

Progress

2010-07-04T01:58:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I got a tripod in the mail today for my video camera. I hooked it up and am very pleased to report that it will do fine as my poor man's capture station. Now I just need to receive the portable light table that I ordered and I'll be in business. I'm planning to do significantly more 2d work in my free time. I really want to work on the next 2d film at Disney but I don't feel like my traditional animation skills are where they should be for that. Hopefully they will be by the time the show is ready for production.

In the meantime, one of my friends surprised my by drawing an awesome picture of LaQuandae today. I figured I'd return the favor and draw another Cookie picture. I'm not very happy with either of tonight's drawings though. I used a different person as my model for LaQuandae which seems to have thrown me off. He looks completely off model in this drawing. Cookie is better but I'm not happy with her mouth. Lol, they both look wierd but LaQuandae is especially creepy.

.

Another One

2010-07-02T00:31:00.000-07:00

Even More LaQuandae

2010-07-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

He's fun to draw! Lol, I got lazy with the afro pick and changed the end from the usual fist to a bone.

More LaQuandae

2010-07-01T00:19:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

After filling a page with thumbnails last night, I somewhat randomly ended up throwing a drawing of LaQuandae in there. Lol, I'm sure the fact that I was listening to Mos Def while drawing had nothing to do with it. =P Anyway, you can see it if you look through the mess on the page. Today I did another drawing of him in a more realistic manner as well. I think his design lends itself well to this style and am looking forward to seeing how things turn out.

In other news, I've decided to purchase one of those fold-able traditional animation tables. I was debating against getting one of those or a cintiq and the traditional workstation won. It costs significantly less and I've solved the problem of not being able to capture drawings by purchasing a tripd for my video camera. I still really dislike drawing in the computer so the cintiq was an option simply because of my lack of capture station. Now that I've figured that out, I'm definately going with what I really want. I cant wait, I'll finally be able to produce traditional animation whenever I want (provided I have free time to do so, of course)! I hope to use these things to greatly improve my 2d animation abilities in the hopes of being able to work on future 2d films at Disney. =D

Pay Off

2010-06-27T23:38:00.001-07:00

It looks like all of my life drawing is paying off. I drew this from my head a few minutes ago. =D

In other news, the job hunt is in full swing. I have an interview with Pixar at work on Tuesday and am looking forward to meeting with people from Dreamworks and Rhythmn&Hues next week.

Tangled Trailer!

2010-06-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
It looks like the official Tangled trailer has been released! Its awesome to finally have this available for viewing. Lol and I even have some animation in the trailer. I animated the crown in Flynn's hand and Rapunzel's hair (with hair sim on top of my animation) in the shot where she's sliding down out of the tower. =D

Let the Hunt Begin!

2010-06-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

I made a few updates to my website last night after work. I found out that I will be rolling off of Tangled at the end of July, so I'm jumping into the job hunt now in the hopes of preventing months of unemployment. I'd really like to update my gallery section with a nice slide show widget but I feel like my time would be better spent working on a new test for my reel rather than messing around in Dreamweaver (especially since I don't know what I'm doing, lol). As the result, my Rabbit animation will have to be put on hold so I can work on this new test. I would love to finish Rabbit and put it o my reel as well, but unfortunately most studios don't seem to care very much about 2d animation and it would be more beneficial to include a new 3d test than a new 2d one. My drawing time will also have to be cut down so I can animate when I get home in the evenings.

Rhythm with Danny Galieote

2010-06-02T21:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday everyone at work received a fantastic announcement, Danny Galieote would be doing three classes on getting rhythm in your drawing!!!!! If you're unfamiliar with Danny, he's an animator at Disney (2d and 3d) and an amazing draftsman. You can check out some of his excellent drawings on his blog blog . Its super nice of him to do this for us since I know he's busy just like the rest of us on Tangled. Here are a few of the drawings that I did in his class today...

Random Surprise for a Friend

2010-06-01T23:25:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to do a quick drawing of a cartoon character using the things I've learned from the past few weeks of life drawing. I wanted to do a character that I had no clue how to draw so I would be forced to use observational skills. My friend's character Cookie came to mind almost immediately. I figured it would be a crappy drawing so I used it to fill up the rest of a page in my sketchbook who's upper half was filled with notes. I actually like how this turned out though and regret having all of that writing in the way. I erased as much as I could (with a mouse, lol) without losing some of the drawing.

Old Farmer

2010-06-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

We had a costumed model in life drawing today! I remembered what the instructor told me last week about drawing inside the form rather than just doing outlines. There are a few proportion issues (as usual, lol) but I think the drawing turned out nicely.

Proportion Practice

2010-05-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

I've been reading Robert Fawcett's On the Art of Drawing again and came to the section about drawing naturally. Fawcett believes the problem of getting the correct proportions can be solved by simply drawing things at the size that you see them. This makes a lot of sense but is very easily said than done. He says the problem with sighting and measuring is you're trying to figure out how to resize your subject and will fail once your eye becomes tired of calculating and you start to truly draw what you see. Your calculations wont be the same as the results of simply drawing what you see, and the resulting figure will be out of proportion. I really like this idea and would like to use his method. Here's a drawing I just did to practice.

Its difficult to draw something the same size as I see it when I have to look up at my monitor and down at my sketchbook. I'm going to do all that I can to make it to the model sessions this week and use this approach there. Hopefully the results will be better since I can place my board visually right the model. Fawcett says this method takes time to learn but once you've got it, you wont have issues with proportion anymore. In fact, the whole book is basically like that. It's debunking everything I've learned/read about life drawing with his own sound logic. It seems like Fawcett's main message is once you're able to truly draw what you see, you'll be able to draw any and everything. I think thats what Glen is trying to get me to see with this assignment and from recommending that I read Fawcett's book.

Fawcett also says that lots of students have learned various short cuts to drawing. He doesn't approve of such and says that true draftsmanship can only be attained once the artist has learned how to see and how to record that which he/she see's on paper in a particular (instead of a general) way. This can only be reached with hard study and constant practice. I really want to work in 2d as well as 3d and if this is what I have to do to get my drawing abilities to the level that they need to be then I'm all for it, regardless of how painfull the process can be.

Rabbit Update 5.0

2010-05-31T18:45:00.000-07:00

I had planned on finishing the roughs for my Rabbit test today but I ran out of time. Andreas suggested rotating Rabbits head from side to side on Friday and I ended up spending all of my time on that. It's extremely rough but the basic idea is there. I need to clean up the inbetweens though since they're the same drawings from the previous version. Once that's done, the side to side motion will be much clearer. I wanted to tie this down and finish it completely, but I think its probably time to move on once the roughs are done. I remember a quote from Glen about students who made as many pots as possible improving faster than the students who spent all of their time trying to make a one pot masterpiece. I dont want this to end up being a one pot masterpiece. I still have a lot to learn and would like to try some other things.

Drawing Before Bed

2010-05-31T12:09:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I decided to do another drawing before going to bed last night. I liked the flow the model achieved through his forearm, wrist and hand so I decided to reproduce it. I've noticed that Glen draws these epic hands that always have a sense of flow to them with anatomy laid on top. Lol, my drawing is light years away from his of course but hopefully he'll like it anyway.

The model's face looks wonky though. I think faces are the hardest thing for me. On Friday, Andreas pointed out that the body parts in my life drawings were well constructed but all together they don't quite fit. It sounds like I should do more full figure drawings in addition to individual studies.

Kitty Take Over

2010-05-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

You know, I don't think I've completely rid myself of my dislike of drawing people. Yes I want to get better at drawing them but I'm starting to question whether or not I actually enjoy them as a subject matter. These two pages were supposed to be filled with human faces, instead I ended up doing more gesture drawings of my cat, Jubilee. I find a lot more enjoyment in drawing animals and am much more fascinated by them than people. Maybe I'm trying to get better at drawing people simply because I have to. I cant be a 2d animator and not be able to draw humans. Granted, I find non-human more fun to animate (especially in 2d) I'm sure I'll have to animate a person at some point in my career. The funny thing is, this only pertains to 2d. I'm fine with animating people in 3d, I'm just dreading the day that I'll have to do the same in 2d since I'm not confident in my ability to draw them.

I think its safe to say that my seemingly sudden drive to get better at drawing people over the past few weeks is because I feel like I have to rather than simply drawing people because I want to. Hopefully this will go away as I improve, because right now it seems like the desire to get better at drawing people and the desire to simply draw them are two separate things. >_<

Trip to the Zoo

2010-05-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

I went to the LA Zoo for the first time today to do some animal drawing. I was pleasantly surprised by how close it is to where I live. My main purpose for going was to do some lion studies but I wasn't able to find any. I'm debating on whether or not I should get a membership and come to the zoo more often. I like that idea of that but I don't think I'll have the time to do so. Anyway, the tiger was the only big cat I was able to find and he spent most of the time pacing around his enclosure. Unfortunately, I'm not fast enough to successfully capture a moving target yet. The orangutans and goats (I don't remember their specific breed) made up for the lack of cats though. Both were active but held still long enough to draw.

The lion skull was done prior to going to the zoo. I planned on using it as a reminder of what's going on beneath the lion's fur.

Life Drawing Session

2010-05-27T20:53:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,
I was able to make it to today's lunch time life drawing session at work. As usual, I'm really glad that I went and wish I could go to every session. The instructor suggested a different approach for me to take when drawing. He said to draw really lightly and then pay attention to the center of things. He said I tend to pay attention to the outer contour of the figure while leaving the inside blank. His technique can be seen in my drawing of one of the model's legs. I worked on defining the shapes inside the leg and then worked on the contour, only darkening certain areas while leaving other faint. He said that helps to give the drawing a sense of personality rather than having a consistently dark contour line. I already draw lightly, I just end up going over my lines so many times that they end up all being the same shade. I'll have to make a conscious effort to work on that.

Studying

2010-05-26T23:24:00.001-07:00

Today ended up being a study day drawing-wise after a few failed attempts at sketching Rapunzel. Andreas said he'd look at my animal drawings so I figured it would be a good idea to have an animal as the subject of one of my studies. After failing at drawing this sailor guy, I decided for my next study to deal with the face and eyes in particular. When I finished the horse drawing, I pulled out one of my anatomy books and studied the muscles in a horse's chest area. Lol, it probably would have been more beneficial to do that prior to actually drawing the horse. I think the eyes were a success as well. I feel like I have a better understanding of what exactly is going on there anatomically. The evil eye on the top left is my favorite of the bunch. =D

Catching Up

2010-05-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

It seems I forgot to post my gesture drawings from yesterday. I finally worked up the courage to go to a Starbucks to draw people. I've always been afraid of getting caught drawing someone and having an awkward situation. Thankfully that didn't happen at all. I just avoided eye contact with people and glanced at them with my peripheral vision if they were looking in my direction. I found it to be a very interesting experience and saw all kinds of people. I wish I could draw faster so I could have gotten a better image of what my subjects looked like.

Sunday:

I did some gesture drawing today as well. I went to Issuing a bit early and drew the animation supe's and our two directors. Once again, it will be nice once I'm able to draw fast enough to actually capture their likeness as well as their pose lol. The guy in color is a character I'm fleshing out for OC improv sessions with one of my friend's from school. I'd never done OC before and tried it with her last night. It was super fun and a great exercise for drawing quickly and acting in character. His name is LaQuandae "Dae Dae" Ray and is meant to be used with her character, Cookie (the one on the far left).

Rabbit Update 4.0

2010-05-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Here's another Rabbit update. I feel like its finally getting close to where I want it to be. If I was able to work on this all day I could have all of the roughs finished. Unfortunately I had to leave early since I really need to wash clothes to do some more life drawing. As usual, I've created a list of things that need to be fixed but any comments and crits are always appreciated.

Back Online

2010-05-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of updates! My cat, Jubilee clothes lined herself with my internet cord on Monday night which caused the cord to rip from the plastic end in the wall. I've been internet-less at home since then. That didn't really matter though since this turned out to be an overtime week and I didn't leave work until after 10 each day. As the result, I don't have any drawings between Monday and today since I went to bed when I got home all of the other days. Today was normal hours though, so I was able to go to the store to buy a new cord. Here are the drawings a I did on Monday after I lost my internet and the drawings I did tonight.

Monday:

I've found that my drawings of human faces always turn out weird and wonky if I start from any place other than the eyes...

I dont know what happened with the face in the middle. It's quite hideous, lol. The other two are examples of how much better my human faces look if I start with the eyes. I'm not sure why that's the case.

Tonight:
I was able to shot Glen the drawings I'd done so far. I told him the blind contours are from life but the others were drawn from photos. He updated my assignment and now I'm only to draw directly from life. I guess that means my plans of drawing animals from my Planet Earth dvds is no longer relevant. I wonder if drawing sculptures in a museum counts. I dont feel like my drawings are good enough yet to try to quicky capture moving people without inadvertantly reverting to my previous ways of drawings.

Out of Time

2010-05-16T22:47:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,
I really liked the pose captured in this photo and decided to try and draw it. Once I got started I realized it contained almost everything I feel like I'm bad at drawing...hair, hands, and complex clothing. XDDDD

I kept going despite that but had to stop here so I could go to bed. At first I was just going to leave this as is, but now that I look at it again I might continue working on it tomorrow. Her shadowed hands scare me.

Skulls From Last Night

2010-05-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I chose to draw a couple of skulls last night in preparation for moving on to people. I spoke to one of the animators at work about how helpful it was for her to do pages and pages of skulls before trying to draw realistic heads. I feel like I struggle with the human face more than anything and that having a solid understanding of the structure beneath it will be a great help.

The drawings are filled with errors, but I'm leaving them in just as before. My mistakes will be there in person for Glen to view and thus shall be true here. I am quite pleased despite the proportion issues though. Both of these were done via blind contour with looking down at the page every now and then. I think that's why the lines are significantly less "hairy" than the ones in my previous drawings. Hurray for improvement!

Missed the Mark

2010-05-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I only got two drawings in today. I'm going to have to step it up if I'm to meet Glen's 50 drawings in two weeks estimate.

More Drawings

2010-05-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Here are my contour drawings from last night and today. I spent the evening wallowing in frustration, telling myself I couldn't draw and producing page after page of crappy imagery. Then I had the bright idea to try drawing things I actually care about, lol. I love drawing animals and have always struggled with horses, so I figured they would be a good place to start. It seems like my days of struggling has paid off in the form of a gypsy vanner, my first successful horse drawing! =D

Yesterday's Page: