Fisherman

Did a bit of practicing from pictures, thought this one was kinda fun.

Cuteness!

Hmm…the composition here is not exactly brilliant, I’m afraid, as this is actually a telephone doodle gone wild.
Anyway...
For years I've been afraid of color. I got used to pencil line drawing, and it became a comfortable place I sort of clung to, afraid of straying away. Happily, this is changing these days. I’m being constantly inspired by dozens of art blogs and forums (thank you, guys!), the Wacom technology introduced CTRL+Z to painting technique, and – perhaps most importantly – I’m much more relaxed than I used to be about mistakes and imperfection. So I’m finding myself having a lot of fun with color, like this little sketch - which was pure joy.

Fun kangaroo

Kangaroo sketches

Great animals to sketch, kangaroos - they have so much character.... I always have a feeling that they are a bit serious, even gloomy, which charmingly contrasts their hoping around all the time!

Thumbs page

A recent thumbnail session for a 3D dialogue scene. For me, thumbnailing is always the most enjoyable part of animating. No worries, no boundaries, no vanity - just let the brain go, and see what happens. After that, it's all just hard work...

Mr. Dude

I've been drawing more than usual lately, partly inspired by all the absolutely wonderful animation blogs I've been looking at (which I'm going to slowly add to the link list on the right). Now I decided to start publishing sketches, hoping it'll inspire me to sketch even more! Any thought, critics or whatever are very very welcome.

Say NO to walk cycles

All the to reason to not exercise walk cycles:

1. They're unnatural. People don’t walk in cycles, and the variations between steps add life to the walk.
2. They don’t allow for gradual development in the walk (like in the silly sneak walk above).
3. Which means that acting possibilities are very limited.
4. They're too technical: you have to make sure that the second step connects seamlessly to the first one, that they’re the same length, that the legs slide backwards in constant speed, and so on.
5. Which means that cycles are more difficult and take more time to make.
6. So, if you’re not already quite experienced and confident with the mechanics of walking, these technical problems are likely to distract you from the animation itself and lousify your walk.
7. Finally, it differentiates walking from all the rest. I constantly see animated characters who apparently can’t walk while doing something else, or do anything else while walking.

All the reasons to exercise walk cycles:

1. They can be watched in a loop.

So this is just an experimental post, but just to have something on ...here's a link to a great article with great drawing and painting tips. Check this out:
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

By the way: one of the things I really like about the article is that this guy seems to write just like he draws - casually, almost carelessly, but somehow everything is right on the money!