Mission San Juan Capistrano

Happened to be in the neighborhood (I know, so random..)

Tradition Animation Basics with Alex Topete!

The Animation Guild - Local 839 IATSE in Burbank

So it turns out my teacher at the Animation Guild Alex Topete was a cleanup artist at Disney during the golden age of animation and he actually worked on all the classics! Click here to see his (insanely impressive) IMDB page. He worked on Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, the Lion King and even cleaned up Ursula from the Little Mermaid. Pretty far out!

Here is a pencil test of Mickey I did today in the first day of class. The famous classic Disney animator Fred Moore did the key poses, which are really strong, and I drew the in-between poses in blue.

Peter Rabbit Stills

Pitch boards for an Easter Project where the baskets were very poorly hidden around the house!

Quick Sketch on my way to class

Warming up on the train on the way to Karl Gnass's Figure Drawing Fundamentals class at the Animation Guild in Burbank . I have a feeling I'm going to really like this class, I get a lot out of what he is saying and I really like his no bs teaching style! 

Karl was kind enough to let me store my drawing board at the Guild, so I didn't get to take photos of my gestures , but I'll post some soon!

I cant wait to take his Head, Hands and Feet and his storyboarding class! Then there's also Mark McDonnell's character class too that I'm excited for! So many classes, so little time!

Jack Character Expression Sheet

First entry back in LA! Whew! Let me just say that it's great to be back. I'm still getting set up though, so I'll be taking photos for now until I can get my scanner up and running.

Studying human expressions. Depicting human emotion has always been a fascination of mine. The face and the eyes have so many complex surrounding muscles that a sometimes a single line can completely change what the character is thinking or feeling. This sort of thing is so much fun for me, but its going to take a while for me to do such a thing and stay on model and have folks know exactly what I'm trying to convey by simply looking at my drawing.

San Vito Lo Capo, Sicilia

A wip of a birthday painting for my mum, who grew up in Sicily.

Horror Movie Pin-Up Gal

This is that moment in a horror flick right before something really bad happens, when the gratuitously chested girl who's just gotten out of the shower hears a noise, and says "Who's there?!"

There's a lot of "stray" lines here, but I think if I continue drawing in pen I will get better at making these kinds of decisions and putting down more decisive lines.

Words of Wisdom from Tristan the Disney 2d Animator

So last week I had the insane privilege of sitting down to tea and a chat with Tristan, a friend and colleague who was kind enough to share some of his wisdom with me. Tristan mentioned that he never went to school for animation , but picked up most of his know-how from working in the field, making his way from an in-betweener to a key animator at Disney in Australia . The best part is that the skills that Tristan has (2d animation) are almost impossible to acquire these days (VERY few schools teach 2d animation anymore), so this kind of ensures that demand is always greater than supply, and that his skillets are almost always in demand. If you would like to be totally humbled , Tristan's work can be seen here - www.kifnetic.com

The essence of our conversation had to do with how its more important to capture the gesture , spirit, energy and life of a pose, than to get all the details. Its better to have a messy drawing that's full of energy and life, than a neat one that's very stiff and boring. That being said, aim to draw loose, fast and gestural.

What makes a good drawing?

1. Silhouette
2. Line of Action
3. Asymmetry
4. Variety of Shapes: S,M,L
5. Decide on a focal point
6. Avoid Parallels, instead use Straights vs Curves
7. Keep the negative space interesting
8. Always flip your drawing to reveal its weak spots 

Thanks so much Tristan!

With all these thought still fresh in my mind, I went off to the Art Students League for a quick sketch session...