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.

Bad Obama caricature

So it doesn't look like him at all, but I like the drawing. It was nice to touch a real pencil again. Wacom is great, but it's just not the same.

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.

Straight Ahead #1

Inspired by Rune Brandt Bennicke, here is some straight ahead animation. It's so easy to get lost in all the rules and restrictions and perfectionism of animation, till you forget what it's really all about. This kind of things brings the fun back! I recommend.

3 Mamas

I'm currently illustrating a children book - a very interesting adventure for me. I'll post more details, including some of the working process, when the time comes. In the meanwhile, here are 3 sketches trying to capture "mom". The writer wanted her to be very beautiful; I wanted her to feel "real", not too perfect. So I was trying to walk this fine line of attractiveness without perfection. None of these really hit the mark - but between them, they give me a pretty solid direction.
As always, comments are more than welcome.

Car quick sketch

Something I sketched as a test for a test for an illustration. I think I might have stolen the small wheels idea from my good friend JP Vine. Turns out he stole a lady from Gary Larson, so he can't complain :-P

YouTube analysis: "You get away from here!"

This is one of the most animated live-action clips I've ever seen. The timing is simply perfect!

A few things I've noticed:

1. Much of the charm here comes from the contrast between the busy, wild 7 seconds of the beginning, and the remaining 5 seconds of quiet aftermath.
   
2. The dog detaches and leaves not at once, but gradually. It reminds me that the principle of arcs is much broader than we usually give it credit for: things tend to change direction over time, not in a single moment.
3. Another gradient is his posture. He's hunched down for the first 6 seconds or so, then straightens in three beats:
   00:06 - slightly straighter, the dog is further now
   00:07 - almost fully upright, but his back is still arched forward - he's still inside the situation
   00:10 - fully upright, spine arch reversed, he's out of the situation.
4. His arm up when he says "you go" is clearly an act of pride and victory.
   
5. For the first 10 seconds, the only thing in the world is that dog. This we see through change: when he feels the crisis to be over, he looks at the photographer - the rest of the world is relevant again

I'm sure there's more - feel free add your own observations.

Kudos for Shuki Gamliel, who sent me the link.

Finito

The head is finally finished, and it's time to move on. I made a little turntable version, too. Big thank you to Oleg Kuklin, my teacher. I wonder what my next project should be. Something more expressive, I think.

Quick sketch: a cute girl

It's about time I started uploading some drawings again. Here's a recent one.

Out of the cocoon

SO....the cast head is all but done, and I'm very excited and pleased. Still have some cleanup to do - a couple of hours of work, and my first real cast sculpture will be ready. It's going to be SO great to have it in my living room.

Sculpture update

Haven't been here in a while (busy busy busy...really). Did you miss me?

Here are some work process photos. First, I added a nice clay base to the thing. Then we prepared some cast and started splashing it onto the clay. It has this cool effect:



In the end you get this cast cocoon, in which hides the clay head. It's a very strange feeling, having your work buried in like that. It took 5 hours of hard physical work to bury it!



Today we opened the cast, removed the clay, and poured cast into the mold. These pictures were taken while we were removing clay:




Next time, we remove the mold, and the session after that we'll cleanup and make some correction on the cast statue itself. And then, hopefully, it will be over. I have to say, I'm looking forward to finishing this, and starting something new.

Finished clay stage

Well! My first clay sculpture is finally finished. I still need to transfer it to cast and all, of course, but the clay stage is done. It's not perfect, but perfectness is not an option on your first attempt.

...so nice to be old, you get so much more relaxed about not being perfect:)

So far so good

So today was lesson 7, and it's suddenly starting to look like something that could, in theory, have a slight chance of not being a total disaster.

Sculpting demo

Absolutely brilliant.

Sculpting scene

Bit creepy, ain't it? Nice photo taken by my teacher Oleg. This is where it's at so far (around the end of session 5). Proportion and basic facial features are more or less there. Now starts the REAL work....
Will upload a turnaround in a week or so.

Photo Analysis 1

Following something Alex Orrelle was talking about in the studio, I'm recently trying to notice interesting pictures and analyze what's interesting (to me) about them. Well, here's one:


So what's interesting about it? I did a few sketches trying to simplify and exaggerate, almost as if I was caricaturing the photo. I think what made me stare at it in the first place, was the sudden streak of strong warm yellow within all the blueness.


In this black and white, high contrast version (thank you Photoshop), something else comes up: the attractiveness of the small, relatively bright tree, in the midst of his big dark peers. Being an "oddity" in the context of this picture, it stands out and becomes a natural focal point for the picture.


[Disclaimer: I'm not a great painter to say the least, and I don't intend to teach anybody anything. These are just some illustrated thoughts, sort of a visual analysis for my own enjoyment.]

Sculpting frenzy!

Well, I'm not posting here as much as I would have liked, but what the hey. Doing my best.
After dreaming it from plenty of years, I've finally taken sculpting lessons. So far it's a huge pleasure, worth any penny and every moment invested. The head above is the model for my very first sculpting mission. I've started by sculpting the underlying skull. Below is the result after two lessons (about 6 hours). Judging from my teacher's response, I think it must be fairly quick for a first try.


And me:

I'll keep y'all posted as the thing comes along.

Joseph Christian Leyendecker

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

Yet another Team Fortress 2 video