Abstract City: art outside the box

This is beautiful, this is one of my best finds yet. It’s a blog on the “New Yorker” site. It’s too rare to find something which is both “arty” and fun; artists tend to take themselves so seriously! Anyway, have a look, and make sure to check out some older entries. Here’s a good one to get you started:

I Lego NY

Cool 2D demo reel - Pedro Daniel Garcia

Very solid drawing, nice flow of motion. It's not every day that you see that combination. Cudos!

Stripgenerator

There's a cool little web application called "stripgenerator". Like with a lot of other web applications, you're very limited in what you can do with it. Which sparks up creativity like nothing else! You can start a comics blog, or just play around and make standalone strips.

Here's my first attempt (direct link here).

Springboard: a storyboarding software

A long time ago I promised to tell y'all about Springboard, a small but powerful storyboarding software I'm using. I love this software, and here is why.

• Basic drawing tools: the drawing tools are good enough for getting the point across, but they're too simple for beautifully executed artwork. This makes it easier for me to stay focused on storytelling.
• Zoom: you can zoom in and out. It's great to be able to take a step back and "watch the film", then go in again and draw. These screenshots show my 'story pass' for "catch!".

• Export/Import: When I was happy with my story pass, I did a 'drawing pass' - exported the panels, re-drew them in a different program, and imported them back in. You can even do this automatically, using an "external editing" feature.
• Presentation: Once the stuff is ready, Springboard offers an amazing variety of presentation outputs - you can pretty much arrange the panels into every storyboard format known to man. You can export them to HTML, as I've done in my previous post. The presentation can include text (there's a text box for each panel), timing (you can time it inside Springboard, play it, and even export it as AVI), headers, footers, filename, date - you name it.
  
• It's CHEAP!

The program does have some flaws, especially concerning stability. However, (a) I'm using an old version, so they might have fixed some bugs, and (b) the problems are absolutely minor compared to the software's amazing advantages.

Check it out! The trial version is fully operational except for printing (at least, that's the way it was when I first tried it).

Art and process: William Whitaker

Behold the art of William Whitaker. Very romantic stuff, very classic, beautifully executed. As a bonus - it's not very often that you see a non-digital artist taking the time to show his process. This guy does. Look under demonstration.

Pablo Lobato's caricatures

Look the these jazzy caricatures from Pablo Lobato.

Cameron Fielding's animation process

Hello boys and girls,

I've already shared this post in my "Google Reader Shared Items" page, however I think it's such a valuable resource, I decided to share it more "aggressively".

In his blog "Flip", Cameron Fielding shared not only a cool reel of his animation for "Turok" (a computer game), but also an amazingly detailed account of his process for making it. It's a long and demanding read (at least when English is not your native language), but it's SO worth the effort. If you're interested in getting the hang of making clear, appealing, effective action-packed animation, take the time and READ IT. Twice.

Sculpting demo

Absolutely brilliant.

Joseph Christian Leyendecker

Here are a bunch of great illustrations by Joseph Christian Leyendecker. Enjoy!

Team Fortress 2 trailers and teasers

Well, here's something I haven't done before in this blog: embedded teasers. However, I think the artistic value of this stuff is so great, that it absolutely justifies stepping out of character. So, here as some teasers for a multiplayer game called Team Fortress 2, and I think you'll agree that the character design could have easily made a Pixar feature film

Meet the Heavy: The heavy weapons character introducing himself. Excellent performance!


The Teaser:


Illustrative Rendering Featurette: A short presentation touching on artistic decisions and tech solutions.


And finally, a trailer showing some in-game footage:


Well, isn't that juicy? Can't wait to play already!

To be honest

I have to admit: when browsing through my art blog feeds, I usually look at the pictures, briefly go through the the text, and proceed to the next blog. A post from Emma's "Art, plz" blog made me stop and read carefully. It's really, really well written. It has a touch humor, a touch of personality, and a ton of wisdom. And good sketches to go with it, too! No wonder she works for Pixar. Have a look. Then come back, I want to add something.

[No no, don't continue - read her post first!]

So. Drawing honest is absolutely where the gold is. That's a great notion. Problem is, most of us consume mind-food in the same way we consume body-food: if it's not tasty, we're not going to eat it, no matter how good the nutrition value is. You can be honest till you're blue in the face, and it won't do anybody any good if it's not well put together.

That, folks, is the catch22 of good artwork: if you focus on good form you lose the honesty, if you don't – you lose your audience. How do you get honest, then?

I think, by taking the long road. You spend some years climbing up the mountain of craftsmanship, working hard to conquer form. Then you spend some more years climbing down again - down to reality, down to where your audience lives, down to content. It takes time and effort to learn how to use the craft as a consultant, not a tyrant. Once you can do that, then – and ONLY then – you can, and should, draw honest.

My Google Reader shared items page

Google Reader is an amazing tool for keeping track of your favorite blogs (and any other internet content that supports RSS). Among other goodies, it also allows you to create your own "shared items" web page, to which you can very easily (a single click) add interesting items. What you're practically doing is creating your very own "web magazine", sort of a mozaic blog made of bits and pieces you find interesting.

Long story short, HERE is my google reader share page (I'm also adding it to the links list on the right). You can find there a link to the RSS feed, to help you follow.

Enjoy!

Recommended blog: Temple of the Seven Golden Camels

Just after I published my "symbolism in staging" post, I got to read an excellent post by storyboard artist Mark Kennedy, about character introductions. I think some of what he writes there is strongly related to the subject of symbolism, particularly the part about Disney's Cruella de Vil.

Anyway, this is an excellent opportunity to recommend this remarkable blog. Mark is very active, writing his own ideas as well as uploading tons of reference and instructional material from master draftsmen. He presents interesting topics in story development, design, composition, and more. If you're at all interested in any aspect of storyboarding, this is a blog for you:

Temple of the Seven Golden Camels



Find other recommendations under the label "hot links" (or click here). All recommended posts appear on the side bar to your right. Check them out!

Recommanded blog: John Nevarez

There are some great draftsmen whose work is understandable to me. What I mean is, that when I look at their sketches, I can see how they did it - I can follow the way they use the various draftsmenship principles, and admire their excellence in putting it all together.

Then there are those whose work is a mystery to me. It's good, it's wonderful, but I can't figure out how they did it. I can't even figure out WHY it's so great. All I know is that I look at it and I love it. John Nevarez's work is a good example for that sort of stuff. Have a look:

John Nevarez's blog

Recommanded blog: The Firehouse Stomp

I found this one a few days ago. A very talented animator named Nick Sung from Toronto, Canada, is making an independent short in the spirit of old Disney designs and animation style. The blog includes some really great artwork, but to me its real value lies in that it shows the creative process - not just the final results. There are thumbnails, raw storyboards, doodles, inspirationsal art, color experiments, the whole deal. Very inspiring. Check it out!

The Firehouse Stomp