AniMaya - in 2D!

:-/

2011-12-25T11:51:00.002-05:00

Had to draw something to keep my sanity:

Actually i drew this girl on a shuttle bus on my way to a screening of Louis CK's new show. Quite uniquely, Louis uploaded the 1-hour show to his website this month, for users to download/stream conveniently for only $5 !

It's a really cool concept, and the show is hilarious (my cheeks and abdomen were aching so bad!!)

Here's an outtake that was put out there to promote the thing:

I warmly recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind honest, intelligent humor (and curse words, of course)

pay the $5, you'll even be doing some good to humanity:

https://buy.louisck.net/news

one year olds

2011-12-24T13:40:00.000-05:00

Drawings i did in the brief time between Sept-Dec 2010 when my hands were somewhat functional :-/

China marker is fun!!

hm, wish i had a sharper image of this one...

~ Happy Holidays everyone!

Faces on things

2011-12-05T13:07:00.001-05:00

Or: Pareidolia.
I love discovering faces on inanimate objects! anthropomorphism FTW.

Well, this doesn't really have a face - i added it. and the photshopped blood. But sitting at breakfast this is what i saw, and it reminded me of a head with a helmet. i don't mean to make this political whatsoever though!

See, the tea bag is smiling at you

i think both of them are distraught cuz there's rice&lentils in their head. And the fork makes it worse.

and on the other side, emotions change :)

Hola!

2011-12-05T12:43:00.001-05:00

This is actually new! hoorah. It's a completed drawing made from a recent sketch. a first!
I hope to do more of these soon.

I liked working with a limited palette (as opposed to the non-existing palette i usually use :) and it actually kind of fit what i had in mind when making the very sketchy sketch.

I imagined her as maybe a singer in a Cuban night club, though i didn't work with any reference. so since I had no ideas for a background, I left her floating on the scanned doodle page, looking at the other crappy doodles in puzzlement, for now.

initial sketch:

Hasta luego!

Life Drawing Time Warp

2011-11-21T15:35:00.001-05:00

So, these are some life drawings I made waaay back in August 2010.
At the time I hadn't life-drawn in almost a year (much like today..), so I was a bit scared of starting again and seeing just how rusty I am.
As you can see some of these aren't even complete drawing, maybe I liked a hand here or a knee there, and drawing took much longer than usual - I knew at school I'd have to produce these kinds of drawings at around 2-3 times the speed (and the quality)!

It's funny how slowly it takes to get faster :)

Just had to get these out of my system... expect more oldies soon, until i can produce new material!
Bye for now :)

Some new faces

2011-11-14T11:39:00.001-05:00

Hi,

So these are the newest people i've drawn ever since those old ones from last year (two posts ago):

People at the hospital waiting room in June:

People at the hospital (different waiting room though), last week:

that's my crowd, what can i do? :-/

And from us ugly normal people, to beautiful (and photoshopped) ones - drew these from some ads in my friend's copy of Vogue (OMG The September Issue!):

Models aside, I hope to draw more unsuspecting citizens soon :)
Bye for now and thanks for stopping by!

Cute creatures make for good Art :)

2011-11-10T16:42:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone,

I've recently registered to TED on YouTube and get daily updates.
[For those of you not familiar with TED, it's an organization dedicated to "spreading ideas": they invite interesting people, entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers, artists, etc. from all fields to talk about "ideas", tell stories, share discoveries, etc. Their talks are usually very uplifting and addictive to watch (so please open the hyperlink in a NEW tab! :)), although at the end I'm not really sure what to do with all that input. anyway, it's nice.]

The talks usually have cool or funny visual aids, but essentially it's quite serious stuff. So when i opened my update yesterday I didn't expect to find this:

My favorites HAVE to be the "PYGMIES"!! (@1:50 min.) aah i went nuts when i saw them. now i want them everywhere. it's not fair they're only displayed in galleries!
The Sunshadow (@4:15), falling man (@4:45) and Spacefiller cube (@6:50) are also wonderful!

I found that what ties them together, and also what really turned me on is this imaginative and unexpected anthropomorphizing of objects. I just loved that she talked about creating creatures that seem to be alive, and getting an emotional response from the viewer.

I think that generally speaking, what she and her colleagues are doing, is similar to (a certain kind of) an animator's aspiration: Creating creatures with human-like behaviors using technology, to stir emotion and induce involvement from an audience.

Some may look at it and think it's weird modern art, or just plain silly, but i feel things like these, cute and engaging, help spread joy and make us a bit more human :)

G'nite!

Old Caricatures

2011-11-08T11:45:00.001-05:00

Ok, so these are some caricatures for character design class i did in second year, 1st semester (Sept-Dec 2010)
I've barely ever done any caricaturing before this, so be merciful ;)
.. And take into account i had tendinitis in both forearms for most of that semester!
See how i suddenly made them look less sucky? magic.

I have this hedious habit of starting to draw right near the edges of the page.. gotta stop that.

I find most of them have emphasis, pencil pressure, in weird places. That's something to watch out for, in future works i hope :)

New Tee Desgin!

2011-11-02T17:13:00.008-04:00

OK, not the best way to make a "comeback", but i recently entered a Threadless contest to design my favorite Tee.

This is an idea i've had for a while, and I looove rubber duckies. i mean, who doesn't?

so please, VOTE me UP! :D

Score this design: "Life Saver," to help it get printed on Threadless!

.. it's been such a terrible year (thus no posts), but the fact that i've managed to make this photoshop thingie means progress, i hope :|
Anyway, i hope to soon start posting drawings like a normal person, so don't give up on me yet!

Thanks for the support, guys!
<3

more oldies

2010-10-30T12:34:00.003-04:00

a few more old sketches from the past spring/summer:

all these were inspired by a young businesswoman who got on the bus i was riding in -

and these were done at the museum, which had a lovely and surprisingly comprehensive Degas sculptures exhibit:

Ye Olde Doodles

2010-10-29T01:09:00.003-04:00

Some sketch-dumping from the past year - gotta let it out sometime :)

In June i visited an amazing glass art exhibition in Litvak Gallery. One of the world-class artists featured was Dante Marioni. His imaginative vases look like something straight out of a modern cartoon, or Disney's Hercules - I absolutely LOVE them!

So i had to sketch them... and turn their shapes and curves into creatures and ladies -

well, it still needs some work, hopefully ill get back to it soon.

more curvy sketches:

and some drawings based on these photos of Marylin and Bette i found on this lovely photo blog:

That's it for tonight ;)

How to Train Your... Pillow?

2010-10-26T02:28:00.004-04:00

I just watched "How to Train Your Dragon" 3 times in the past two days!! i'm so happy to own the DVDs, I have to share my feelings... in pillow-form:

Ok, this is a spur of the moment thing, this could use some work.

but i just enjoyed this film so much! I went to see it in theaters with no expectations, and i was so happily surprised! i don't remember the last time a movie made me feel like a kid again. sigh...

Paintings without paint - hooray!

2010-10-25T03:52:00.008-04:00

More retro-updates! now meshed together with recent updates.

This is the first painting assignment, where we:
1. develop an exterior layout into three different tonals
2. pick one tonal of the three and develop it into three different color versions
3. pick one color study of the three and go to a final big version with it.

Luckily for brush-o-phobic me, no actual painting had to be involved, just a traditional medium.

i went for color pencils:

final:

... Fast-forwarding one year (during which no painting took place on my end :P), here's the 2010 version of the same assignment.
This time Mike was kind enough to let me develop each tonal into one color study, instead of picking one tonal and coloring it in three variations:

(the big shape in the left lower corner is a tree top! too bad it looks like stylized flames about to devour the poor chair, table and entire scene whole..)

Instead of going back to the comfort zone of color pencils, i tried an ink wash for the first time, to set the tones, and went over that with the pencils afterward:

I found the ink gave the scene a slightly more somber, toned-down atmosphere:

yay! ok, on to the next project...

Story Time 1.0

2010-10-24T00:54:00.008-04:00

Retrospective update time!

As some of you may know, i started second year of animation back in fall 2009, but shortly after had to take time off unfortunately. i got to do pretty much only one assignment per class.
It was far from ideal, but I'm back and doing it again, full throttle!

Now with that year behind me, i feel free to update whatever decent work i had done back then.
So today i'll share the final boards for the Nursery Rhyme assignment from Storyboarding class.
At the beginning of school we are assigned two nursery rhymes and start developing them into short stories with original characters. We go to full boards with one rhyme, and this is the result:

(Excerpt from original rhyme by Heinrich Hoffman):
Where is Philip, where is he?
Fairly covered up you see!
Cloth and all are lying on him;
He has pulled down all upon him.
What a terrible to-do!
Dishes, glasses, snapped in two!
Here a knife, and there a fork!
Philip, this is cruel work.
Table all so bare, and ah!
Poor Papa, and poor Mamma
Look quite cross, and wonder how
They shall have their dinner now.

Starting out with beat boards (major story points illustrated on few cards), it was a bit different, since the portrait was just in the background and not a main driving force of the story.
With thanks to helpful input from Nancy Beiman, our teacher, and some friends, a lot changed between the original and final, but that's what i like about story-telling/boarding :)

Hope you enjoyed!

Got meself an original signed Emslie!

2010-10-24T00:41:00.005-04:00

Following the long tradition of drawing all second year students' caricatures, our wonderful character design teacher, Pete Emslie, was kind enough to draw mine:

After a year long wait (and a bit of dread) - I'm really happy with the result :)
Thanks, Pete!

Last pillows for now, i promise!

2010-09-10T22:26:00.002-04:00

Fine! I'm obsessed!

But while i was at home, i got so many pillow figurine ideas, and i knew i wouldn't be able to execute them throughout the school year. Fimo takes commitment, plus it slowly but surely dries...

So the last piece i manage to scramble up and finish last-minute are these newly-weds, a joyous after-party gift to my most recently married friends, Dana & Arbel !

Though i know D&A won't need a gold chain to keep them together, it was a nice suggestion from my mom, and i added the hearts.
Unfortunately, haven't nailed the delicate Fimo sculpting/baking conditions yet, so when they come out of the oven the pieces sometimes have little cuts and dots in them, so my apologies - since the groom's tux looks dirty and the bride looks like she's been terribly slashed! (with the power of true love, they see past each other's flaws..?)

I'm kind of proud of this little metallic corset "ribbon" i made for the bridal dress:

The Devil is in the details :)

and for dessert, an example of what I do when flipping through interior design magazines:

Working Pillows

2010-08-23T19:48:00.009-04:00

Contrary to common belief, pillows can be career-oriented:

Dr. Ploo here was made and dedicated to Mishka, who just completed his first year of Med school!

An inspiration to future Dr. Mish, here is Dr. Ploo with his very own cabinet of med books and glow-in-the-dark medicine/poison bottles.
We agreed that each year Mishka completes, Dr. Ploo will get more accessories until he has his very own clinic and office !

More amazing, intelligent and altruistic friends! This tiny Doc is dedicated to Anna, who is now in the middle of her successful medical studies and will soon be taking off to Cambridge for a year to complete a Poli-Sci MA!!

These are her accessories: teacup for England, Globe for Poli-Sci studies, and syringe for Med school :)

Good luck, Docs!

More career options include Architecture! This one is for my dad :)

Pencil and ruler always at the ready, (glow-in-the-dark) building plans rolled and wrapped, plus hard-hat for on-site tours - pillow-safety first!

Ok, this one isn't really about a job, it's just a Brazilian pillow (or "pillão" in the native tongue!)
- for Mom!

Sharpener for scale, with jolly maracas

and last one, Sir Pillowingtonshireham the First - who you already know - only I noticed lately that he had actually been standing next to a British phone booth (aka tin box for tea) all this time, and it just seemed appropriate:

Toodle pip!

Here Come the Brides

2010-08-15T15:10:00.025-04:00

Yay - more "Simchas" on my humble blog!

I've spent most of July working on wedding invitations for two of my friends, brides-to-be, who have always been awesome, and also lucky in finding their "other halves". So now we have four wonderful people, making for two amazing couples :)

This "commission adventure" was trying and exhausting, but also inspiring, fulfilling and a true learning experience. Plus, it's always fun to see satisfied clients, especially knowing them personally (and getting invited, too!).

So we start with Ela and Meir, who are getting married tomorrow (!!) -

lots of ideas had been raised, explored, tried, changed and canceled (most of which revolve around their beloved dog, Pasho):

As you can see, we went for the purple idea at the end, not forgetting Pasho, but also the happy couple itself:

Front

... and back

The gifts for the guests in their wedding will be lovely jars of homemade jam, so I also designed the stickers for the jars, which gave Pasho another chance to get center-stage:

some suggestions^

Final sticker design

Moving on to the eternal Dana and Arbel, who, after lots of easily-rejected ideas, went for the opening card:

Front

Inside

Back (it's a pilot thing)

See the magic trick? It's the same good old Dana and Arbel, only on this particular day they're more fantastically dressed :)

The animator in me wanted to do an entire (small) flipbook as an invitation, showing their abridged history together (they know each other from infancy!), but budget and logistics forced it out of the question. Oh well, two years ago i was commissioned to make them a comic of their life story, which is proudly hanging in their living room :)

~ Good luck to all the happy couples in their joined lives and their celebrations, spreading the love and all that jazz!! ~

UPDATE:
here are some official photos of the happy couples -
they look gorgeous! but do they look anything like the invitations?

Ela & Meir:

Thanks for orchestrating this one, Ela!

Dana & Arbel:

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

2010-08-11T14:10:00.004-04:00

My grandmother had a birthday this month, and I love her!

She's such an interesting person to talk to, and has amazing stories. She also has amazing family photos that were lucky enough to be preserved.

Last summer I had digital copies made of them all so a) they are backed up and wont disintegrate, and b) i could carry them with me wherever i go :)

These photos are very inspiring (so more familial posts from the 20's are sure to come soon!) -and scrolling through the other day, i stopped dead when noticing a part of one of them:

This is my grandma as a baby in the early 20s in Romania, held by her beautiful mother:

I love how relaxed the brand-new mom is, and though probably sleep-deprived, she's glowing :)

here is my version of this bit (not an exact copy, just a stylized rendition):

I love you grandma! and here's to many birthdays to come!

Hallelujah!

2010-07-20T19:57:00.042-04:00

I'm finally done with 3 out of 4 elective courses for the animation degree!

Since they're not supposed to be related to art and/or film, it's a chance to study something that might be interesting yet you never got the chance to get into.

One of those courses was Bible studies, specifically the book of Genesis. It also happened to be the heaviest elective i encountered:

A strange choice, most of my friends thought, for such a non-spiritual person. Actually i think taking this course may challenge the believer much more than the non-believer. We study the text from a literary research point of view, not a religious one. But hard as we try to treat this as any (ancient) literary text that's been put together by multiple sources over long periods of time - everybody arrives in this class with preconceptions about the "good book".
This might be true just about anywhere in the Judo-Christian world, but here in Israel we study the Old Testament for at least 11 years, as a mandatory subject we get tested on at the end of high school just like math and English. Not to mention all the religious-cultural-political (so incredibly sad) meanings you carry around regarding it, just by living here, just by osmosis (even the non-patriotic secular - even an atheist - can't turn away from those effects completely).

In any case, this class has a way of shattering a lot of ideas students have acquired through the years, by trying to analyze scripture as just what it is - a text, however heavy-laden with cultural, historical and, alas, spiritual meaning to many people. At least, I think, that's the objective of many researchers in the field. But reading many (many!) articles, we've also seen that even they tend to place too much meaning where there might be very little of it, or not any at all. The biblical editors were no doubt artful, but again this text seems to be difficult if not impossible to analyze without being biased one way or the other.

Perhaps this is the case in all academic research, but here you often get the feeling of people desperately trying to force meaning on the text - whether it's because the person analyzing it has a point of view to promote, or because the religious/cultural weight of it feels too great, or simply because it's a difficult, ancient text that inevitably leaves many questions open wide.

A lot of what we've seen researchers try in their articles is finding discrepancies in the ancient text and giving them explanations of all kinds.

But sometimes, in the name of common sense, you can't help but feel these discussions are kind of ridiculous. Take Genesis 17 for example, where Abraham gets yet more promises from his God.

I mean, here are well-educated grown men and women, PhDs at hand, arguing about how logically problematic in the chapter it is having the nighttime (stars act as a visual aid when Abe is shown how plentiful his seed will be) before the sunset (when Abe falls asleep and has a vision)... Really?? This is an OMNIPOTENT god! This is a god that can stop the sun in the middle of sky (Joshua 10)! Hell, he created the sun and moon just a few chapters ago!

I know they're trying to trace the editor's frame of mind, but they're not "problems" or even "gaps" at all as far as he and his audience are concerned! I mean, really - you take a magical dude making an entire woman out of a rib and a talking snake for granted, and you're worried about things not making sense?!

Thinking about all these things while studying obviously led me to doodle. Among the singing flying camels, sad piggies and snakes with speech bubbles, i also considered poor old Abraham. If he knew what would become of the stories of his family...

"Hmm, how did all of this happen?"

With or without all the problems, it is a beautifully written text nonetheless, and studying the storytelling techniques was a big factor for choosing the class. It's quite plainly, an awesome book of stories: human weaknesses and dilemmas propelling the plot guarantee drama and suspense. Even without the miraculous happenings you have the makings of incredibly memorable stories.

From that angle, it's not so much the god in the book that captures us, but the human characters (god manages to do that, i think, mostly when acting very human-like - ha ha).

I have always been fascinated with those, and one my portfolio pieces for the animation program, was my versions of selected female characters of the old testament (be merciful! it's from over 2.5 years ago!):

It's pretty amazing how much art these stories have inspired. One of my latest contemporary favorite adaptations is the "Awakened" photograph series by David LaChapelle: http://gayspirituality.typepad.com/blog/2010/01/awakened-by-david-lachapelle.html

and the not-so-contemporary tower of Babylon scene from Fritz Lang's 1927 "Metropolis": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlfvBgBDpm0 (which also brings me to this amazing Que Sera remix clip by Wax Tailor).

They manage to give the well-known characters and narratives new and profound meanings through their interpretations.

A really funny adaptation of biblical stories and characters can be found in the movie "Year 1" (clips of which kept me strong while studying :)).

On the face of it, it's a silly film exploding with anachronisms, but right under the surface you can find witty anti-religious messages (or even right on the surface - Spoiler Alert!! - the corrupt high priest ends up in the same furnace he had intended for sacrificing virgins..).

For example in this here clip, the sacrificing of Isaac is funny and all, but this and the subsequent scenes actually remind me a lot of things Richard Dawkins (*heart*!) has to say about religious practices (like them and the concepts behind them being perceived as legitimate and revered simply because they are "religious", but actually from any other consideration they present no real reason to be respected, and are simply F-ed in the head - though surely Richard says it better than me :)).

And not to finish on such a serious note, here is a clip from my favorite comedian at the moment, Tim Minchin:

(Keep your eyes peeled for "Storm", Minchin's animated beat poem coming out this year!)

This has been long, so thank you for reading - and i promise less eclectic posts with real drawings in them very soon!

Crumb Update

2010-06-17T09:02:00.008-04:00

Well, boys and girls, if you've been following previous episodes, you know by now that my ankle isn't what it used to be. It has a new, uncalled-for guest:

a tiny talus crumb! or as i like to call him, Crumbberry Finn. Now can be witnessed in a live portrait photo with full color:

Actually the doctor thinks it's quite bad. It's all fun and games till someone loses a foot!
there's even talk of necessary surgery. I know it sounds serious and all, but it also sounds pretty ridiculous. So though it's quite restricting not being able to really walk, I have a hard time taking it too seriously at the moment.

See, most offices in the clinic are shared by a couple of doctors, using it in turns throughout the week. So instead of focusing on my crumby (ha!) predicament, I just think how funny it is that the room next to the orthopedist is shared by both a hand experts, and a breast surgery expert.

I can always trust Barney Stinson to illustrate silly dirty ideas:

(i'm just making a point, HIMYM episodes property of CBS, of course, i don't own this material, etc.)

Prom Night - or - I heart my colored pencils

2010-06-08T06:52:00.003-04:00

Put on your best face - it's prom season!
Well, there isn't one style to unify all these girls, i just had a lot of fun coloring them with fancy Prismacolor pencils :D

the Jolly 20's

2010-05-26T10:45:00.004-04:00

Based on this photo of Binnie Hale and Seymour Beard from 1925, featured in Alan Jenkins' wonderful book "The Twenties" (p.14, published by Book Club Associates in 1974, London), I drew this:

Don't you just love the 20's? :)

"All I say is, taluses is taluses"

2010-05-25T20:03:00.008-04:00

So, it turns out a bit of my talus broke off from the bone itself.
My leg started hurting at the ankle whenever i walked, but i never thought a tiny bone crumb could spontaneously detach itself and take a hike on top of the bone (right under my tibia!)
So after an X-ray AND before an MRI scan (such a loud machine! they make it look so much simpler on Grey's Anatomy), I imagined this bone crumb setting out on its own, with a straw hat and a stick with one of them red handkerchiefs at its end. You know, gain independence, see the world, or at least what the tibia has to offer:

Do i smell a fourth-year film? no, it's probably just Osteoporosis.

Pillows Galore!

2010-05-04T10:43:00.010-04:00

If you know me up close, you know I have a thing for pillows (and soft, fuzzy things in general :)). And my online nickname "karit ktana" doesn't have anything to do with Japanese weaponry. In Hebrew, it means "small pillow".
For my own private pleasure, and as an inside joke of the family, i draw anthropomorphic pillows.
exhibit A: the name slate we were asked to do in year 1

but being 2D isn't enough for pillows! It does not encompass their whole potential. Thus, i started sculpting pillow figurines out of polymer clay. Here are some latest creations (stationary is placed next to it for scale):

Pillow lady and her pet piggy (yeah we have a thing with piggies too)

and going back to prehistory, their ancient ancestor - the mighty Pillosaurus:

Here displayed are mother Pillosaurus Magnus - and spirited offspring :)

fast forwarding to Victorian times, I'm delighted to present Sir Pillowingtonshireham the First:

A small birthday present for a very blond friend (with the sunny personality to match):

(The white parts are glow-in-the-dark clay, also mixed in with the yellow)

and my largest creation, the first Pillow Pilot (and female, too! check out the silvery ribbon on her pilot hat):

'Threadless' Competition!

2010-04-04T19:02:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone,

Threadless.com (the wonderful Tshirt website that sold me pretty much Tshirts for life...) is having a Threadless+Havaianas competition! This time you design not only a Tshirt, but a pair of flip flops to go with it, and the two lucky winners get a buttload of cash $_$

So, I gave it my best shot, and i'd very much appreciate it if you vote for my design (a 5 will do :P),and spread the news around to friends and family!

View this design at: http://threadless.com/submission/265554/Under_the_Palms

Thanks!

A bootilicious sketch-dump

2009-09-19T17:48:00.007-04:00

Some curvy ladies from the past year

from the old to the new - this is one of the first sketches I did during first year:

which turned into this, our first character design:

Dec '08

Sometime in semester 2...

and this little one from this month! so there's no voluptuous body to see here, i just wanted to throw it in..

Ye Olde Life Drawinges

2009-09-13T15:59:00.009-04:00

Toronto Zoo trip, March '09

Royal Winter Fair, Nov '08

Hand and Feet Drawings, Oct '08

Bang! Pow! Kaboom!

2009-09-05T23:55:00.007-04:00

These are the sounds of Mark Thurman kicking my ass. Figuratively speaking, of course.
I said i'd work on line quality, but now on vacation my conte just goes on an independent rampage! ... I think Keely put it well here.

and some more serious pencil work...

plaster cast muscle man!

and some trials of light and shade with colorful Nupastel. Too bad they take like 40 min. - 1 hour :/

French crystal cats are a girl's best friends!

2009-08-22T20:58:00.001-04:00

just came across this.. so adorable!!

House of Cats from Courtland Lomax on Vimeo.

meow.

year 1 life drawings

2009-08-17T10:27:00.009-04:00

30 SECONDS

1 MINUTE

3 MINUTES

5 MINUTES

Last two classes of the year, we could experiment with shading (which is a no-no in first year :P) and costumes:

More like "death drawing"...

2009-08-16T11:28:00.008-04:00

Selected Bone drawings, semester 1 :

PAIN-ting projects

2009-08-14T19:45:00.013-04:00

... selected from year 1

* Still life in gouache

YES, the perspective on the can is ALL wrong, but fixing it would be jeopardizing my sanity, which hangs by a thread as it is, especially when it comes to painting...

- Our next to last project of the year, the first part of which is the Master Copy - we pick an artist and copy one of his works.
This one is from Arthur Rackham's illustrations for "The Niebelungen". i don't have a picture of the original at the moment, but you can see the photocopy from a book on the right, and my colored copy on the left.

... The second part of the assignment was to adopt the above-mentioned artist's style or at least part of it that you like, and apply it to an original composition, which will be based on a book excerpt describing an interior.
So i picked the renovated house and courtyard (half-interior..) of the Buendia family from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude".

This is the under-drawing and some of the preliminary work:

I took a picture of it before applying the gouache since i usually prefer the black and white version, naturally assuming i'm going to ruin it with color :P

and this is the final version (still not really done..) - i used led pencil, dark umber colored pencil, gouache and ink, as was done in the Rackham copy:

Character Design Assignments

2009-07-26T00:36:00.000-04:00

My favorite subject, in which, alas we had the fewest assignments

Character Posing assignment from the first semester. This is my soldier character (no, it's not a janitor, though some days it sure felt like a fine line..)
* any connection with real people and events is purely UNcoincidental :)

The second semester was all about antropomorphic characters, and this is my lion for the "character in sequence" assignment. After submitting it i thought of some improvements, so i won't dump all 16 panels on you, just introduce the furry narcissus and a little taste of what happens to him later on :)

And the last assignment of the year - full character pack.
This one is a toddler red-panda, whose personality and attitude are based on stories i had heard of my cousin's daughter.
I haven't had a chance to meet her yet, and i hope she won't find this.. :O

I know technically the color of the animation pencil doesn't matter, but Camilla just didn't come out well if she wasn't drawn in pink

... and our last painting assignment was to build an environment for our character.
By far my favorite "painting" assignment of the year, since i didn't have to use a brush at all :P it's all wonderful Prismacolor colored pencils:

and here's another quick sketch from this summer:

Animation projects

2009-07-12T20:41:00.014-04:00

After some technical difficulties (and health issues..) i'm finally posting some content! yay!

Ball and Tail - the last assignment of the first semester. not something i'm too proud of, but it reminds me of some crazy times at the studio :P

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our dear animation teacher in the first semester, Johnny Williamson. A caring, warm person, he always challenged us to achieve more in the discovery of the pronciples of animation. Though the year before John taught second year storyboarding, i think what Amir wrote about him in this lovely post sums it up well: http://toonamir.blogspot.com/2008/03/keepin-it-old-school.html

Too bad you left :( we miss you, Johnny

The famous Pink Panther walk cycle - the first assignment of the second semester. I gave up on the tail though...

"If I can teach a parrot to sing God Save the Queen..." My favorite animation project of the year - the head turn :D

The First Post Barrier

2009-07-12T12:14:00.003-04:00

I have to get over it. so here goes!
I'm in the middle of summer vacation after finishing the first year of animation studies in Sheridan College. i figured that a first year student wouldnt have much to show on a blog, and now hindsight will allow me to be more selective about what i post.
In any case, this year was one wild ride, and it went by in a blink of an eye!

i think the best way to describe it would be that the days are long but they years are short.

I wonder what second year will have in store. On the one hand i'm having so much fun at home (finally eating some quality hummus and gelatto and pizza and...), on the other hand... wait, what was i saying?