Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Attendance Award?!?!?






Our school does a weekly attendance award and this year they even got a 6 foot tall trophy to pass around. Each class that wins it puts a little something something to make their mark...automotive put a spark plug...criminal justice their shoulder patch...Physical therapy wrapped one of the columns like a broken leg...architecture engineering design did some sort of plastic spiral thing around a column...so what did we do?

I did a dragon carrying off a maiden and sheep...it is very symbolic...but I haven't divulged the meaning yet...my students are trying to guess...so far they have that they are the sheep...now the question is if it will get past the no-fun police that sometimes pop up as being too 'outlandish'...you know...should've just put a paintbrush or pencil on there...but that top area was begging for a dragon...

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Dino Update




This one is really slow going but it has to be. Too quick and I'll mess up because it gets mindless after a while. I've been adding in the background and then will work on the water. After that I will have to go over the entire item a final time to get values adjusted. Between the off and on of this I've got about three other projects I'm hitting...a hand puppet maquette I'm 75% finished with...a t-shirt for a guy at school that I just started...and plans for some more Illustrator work to help hone my skills as I try to (still) switch from Freehand...which again makes me want to strangle Adobe for not incorporating the tools that are BETTER from Freehand or at least selling off Freehand so that someone else can let it live...

Friday, November 19, 2010

IF:Sneaky


The worst monster of all...one that steals candy from a babies...

Friday, November 05, 2010

IF: Eat your peas and then afterwards...


It doesn't matter what the 'afterwards' is...parents know this...that's why you always get the most of the worst...you can't do it..."You didn't finish em all this time...maybe next time you'll get that pet unicorn/dragon/giant robot."...if a parent feels like doing something they don't care if you eat anything for a month...there...I'm a whistle blower...kids know the truth...

Hog Hand Puppet Process

We are about a week into the process for the hand puppet this year. I did the complete process myself to try and give examples of what expectations were/are.


Because I knew there were a set number of thumbnails to do I gridded the page off for the format. And because I knew that all the puppets had to fit a hand I started of sketching the hand shape in each box. This enabled me to have a starting foundation and to help ensure some consistency. As I always try to say... a little work in the beginning and smart planning now saves a lot of heartache later.


The next step was quickly filling in details. The point of thumbnails is to try different things and to visually problem solve. They should be clear enough to see what is going on but they aren't hanging in a gallery. Some things work...some things don't...but variation is the key. I keep trying to reach them with the fact there needs to be variation and attempts at drawing things with different styles. Sometimes they get locked in with "there are only so many ways to draw something" after 3 or 4 thumbnails...but this is never true. There are endless ways to draw anything without losing the character of the starting animal...look at how many different ways people have drawn rabbits and ducks.


After they get a thumbnail approved they move on to the rough stage...if their thumbnails are weak and more development needs done we will do mini-roughs...bigger than thumbnails (usually 1/4th of a page) but not as big as the finished product. This was the last of the three roughs that I did and probably my favorite...once again proving the general law that your first isn't usually your best.


This was my second rough.

This was the first...at first I really liked it...but now not as much...

The next step will be doing the maquette this weekend and next week we will be doing a final in colored pencil.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

IF: Spent


My initial drawing was going to be of a trillion dollar bill after having been taken from the working class and having had to walk to Washington,DC...and he was going to say..."Shewww...I'm spent."Because that is waht politicians like to do...But I didn't get to it...and we had meetings all day...which made me spent...so it was a drawapoolooza...and I started by using the term spent for a possum that had been run over...and it just blossomed from there like a beautiful rose...