What have I been up to this past month? Going back and picking up some new skills from Gesture Drawing with Alex Woo at schoolism! Both my traditional and digital sketchbook. Highly recommended course, having so much fun!
I’ve been studying the 1920′s cartoon character style, and man, I’ve been blown away! I love how dynamic their posing is, but never seems unbelievable, the way they constructed all of their shapes, and how even the inanimate objects they wear spark to life!
Needless to say, I had to take a stab at drawing up my friend’s corgi, Leo as a 1920′s cartoon character. I tried to imbue all the lessons I’ve learned, but have a long way to go.
So I have to ask, if you’ve made it down this far- what’s your favorite style, and why? Have you tried studying from it for a week? How did it go and what lessons did you learn?
Lastly, here are a few of my favorite production character sheets.
jdbrannan reblogged
Drag Your Writing, It’s Motivational
A few hours ago I posted a video called Line Editing 101, where I did line edits on three samples from the first draft of my first novel, which I wrote seven years ago. Several people have noted in the comments how hard I was on myself and how brutal I was with my own writing.
And you know what the odd thing is? Being that hard on myself helped me. Not just helped me realize old mistakes, but helped my confidence. Taking a 130 word sample and making 30 corrections on it felt kind of great. Writing rude, blunt comments felt great. Ripping apart my own work was awesome.
Why? Because if I can find the errors, that means I’ve grown enough since writing the book to notice them. Even when I line edit a story I wrote a month ago, I love the feeling of covering each page in ink. It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes, all writers make mistakes. Improvement shows in your ability to find them.
It takes time to become a good line editor. A lot of practice is needed, and it helps to line edit other people’s work before you edit your own. Line editing for other people is what allowed me to become a good line editor for myself, because it’s easier to know what you’re looking for in writing that doesn’t come from your own brain.
So, here’s my challenge for you: go find some old writing. Then, edit it. Ruthlessly. Drag your own writing. Even write up a critique for it detailing everything that sucks. Be rude if you have to, you’re only talking to yourself.
Then, sit back and marvel at how strong a writer you are. Because look at all those corrections you just made! The quality of the original work is meaningless. Each edit you make just shows how much you’ve grown.
I think it’s the same for all artists, I know I love it when I can do this to old sketches, paintings, etc!
jdbrannan reblogged
If you're an artist looking to diversify your faces:
- click this link
- draw whomever you get
- don’t worry about making it super-accurate, just focus on the characteristic parts of the face and have fun
- the outcome might not look like the ref, but it will be different and more varied than faces you draw out of your head, an dprobably pretty rad on its own right!
- feel free to reblog with your drawing, if you want!
Camp NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up
Hey guys, today is the last day for Camp NaNo and I know I won't be able to make my goal, but I'm incredibly excited of the progress I've made over the last month. I started working on my first draft and even got a hopeful character design for the main character. I've also started designing one of the side characters to try and get a feel for their personality a bit more. Also, I noticed that my break into two problem has been because I didn't really have a thought through plan of the subplots, so I've been going back and really forming each strand before I try and weave them together. This, I think, has been helping immensely. Also, the best part of Camp this year has to be my cabin. Seriously, they've all been nothing short of awesome and with continued encouragement and ideas. Hope to do it all again in the summer, maybe I'll be better prepared and will be able to finish my first draft! :D
Another Scout cat iteration. Playing around with proportions...
Camp NaNoWriMo-Week 2.5
Well, I don’t think I’m going to be able to complete the first draft by the end of the month like I had hoped. I’m stuck on the second act break where my outline had left off. I’m having trouble getting from one major plot point to the next and I think this is because I didn’t flesh out the side characters and subplots as much as I’d like to before I started.
To remedy this, I’ve been taking a dive into sketching out and designing a few characters for the story in hopes that the act of drawing them will help make their own story and journey a bit clearer for me. Sometimes, struggling with words to help define a character is far harder than drawing different things and having the story emerge from that drawing.
I figured a good place to start was with the main character, the cat. I’m thinking his name will be Scout, not only after my own cat, but because he is searching in various places for his lost lives. Here’s the latest Scout iteration that I’ve landed on for the time being, and if you want to see the WIP pictures that led to this, then check out my website here.
All in all, two chapters fleshed out for the first draft is a great start, and hope I can at least finish 2 more chapters before camp ends! :D
Camp NaNoWriMo Week 1.5
I’m now almost back on track and have some semblance of a beginning! The first two chapters are now written, albeit with a lot of placeholders, but still going strong! I reworked how I was writing the pages and that made a world of difference and will be a ton easier in the future to separate and draw the pages themselves. Getting started on Chapter 3 today and am in good spirits that I’ll be able to finish this in time!
In addition to my writing goals, I also set myself some reading goals as well, and have been having fun with my 1 hour of reading comics and other books from the genre / age range that I’m aiming for my comic.
I think I’m going to start to add some Art of ... books to the mix to start inspiring character designs and creation. Get a better feel for my characters and their personalities for the second draft and make the dialogue sound more natural.
Hopefully this means I’ll start to post some character designs and concepts in the future!
Camp NaNoWriMo- Week 1
It’s been 6 days since camp has commenced and even with my outline prepared and everything... I’m still stuck on trying to figure out how the story should begin! There’s so many different ways, it’s hard to decide which is the right one.
I’m looking back and thinking about the theme of the story and what would the character do in this situation, but there’s still so many ways, it’s hard to commit. I’m also looking into what would be the most interesting way to hook readers, but compared to other comics in the same genre, I’m not getting to the point fast enough. *sigh* I shall struggle onward and even if camp comes to a close, I’ll call it all a success if I can get this beginning scene worked out!
jdbrannan reblogged
Worlds Within Worlds: A Structural World-Building Exercise
We’re getting ready for Camp NaNoWriMo next week! Camp is a great way to expand your writing style or work on a different type of project than you normally do. Today, author, educator, and participant Tilia Klebenov Jacobs shares a fun technique to help the worlds that you create come alive:
World-building is the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with an entire fictional universe.
In terms of technique, it is sufficiently de rigueur to merit its own joke in La La Land, where a blowhard screenwriter vaunts his supposed world-building prowess as Emma Stone backs politely away. But there’s a reason the term has been around for over half a century: unless your fictional world feels real, the story fails. And by real I do not mean that it cannot contain, for example, trolls, light sabers, or plot devices hinging on magic and/or time travel. It can have all of this and more; but it must feel authentic.
jdbrannan reblogged
Today the Department of Awesome Parenting salutes French anime artist Thomas Romain, who lives in Tokyo where he collaborates with his sons on a project called Father and Sons Design Workshop. First Romain’s sons put their imaginations to work and draw original characters, such as cloud and plant people, steampunk doctors, towering kaiju, mecha, and warrior serpents. Then Romain uses his professional level skills to turn those characters into polished designs, not missing a single little detail created by his kids.
Head over to Bored Panda to view eve more of the Romain family’s fantastic characters. Follow Thomas Romain on Twitter to keep up with their latest collaborations.
[via Bored Panda]
Camp NaNoWriMo
Hey guys, it’s been awhile, but I figured I’d give this Tumblr thing one last try! On the horizon, I’ve joined Camp NaNoWriMo this year and intend to have tons of fun writing out the first draft of a story I hope to be my first comic. I know, things I’ve said in the past, but this is the closest I’ve come so far to finishing a story and I don’t intent to give up now! Only 4 more days until it starts!
Right now, I’ve successfully boarded Act 1, and am currently in the process of boarding Act 2 and Act 3. Just gotta fill in the details for my outline. I’m definitely a planner, not a pantser. Hope everyone’s doing great and enjoying the spring weather.
1) Boon of the Stars 2) Singing Yew Staff 3) Edge of Sanity 4) Cry of Broken Dreams 5) Legacy of the Sunwalker 6) Lore Keeper 7) Behir’s Rod of Power 8) Branch of Summoning 9) Wind-forged Great Staff 10) Renewed Energy Staff
1) Water sword with sand and seashell hilt and pommel. 2) Ice sword 3) Fire sword with molten lava center. 4) Burnished Guardian 5) “Black Obsidian” 6) Blessed Blade of the Night Sky 7) Moonlight Skewer 8) Spectral-Forged Diamond Blade 9) Dire Razor 10) Bolide Blade
Because magic swords have to have names.
jdbrannan reblogged
Some possible ideas for a raven character fin a short story I’m about to board. Trying to get used to bird anatomy and characterization. Definitely some influence from @elioli-art
Awesome
These are looking so good! So much character just oozing from them! :D
Nisha cat explorations