Imaginary Animal

Think of things like environment, eating habits weather etc. when designing your animal. Don't just mash things together! It needs to feel believable.

Some previous student work, I'll add more as I find it:

Thursday-7-14-16

Marker sketch process. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj2b-8NKyj0
Quick gray scale marker sketching:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcrup1oTzYQ
Complimentary colors:

Character Project

Cafe to Character Project: 

Final will be a large finished character along with your best roughs. laid out on 11' x 17" paper.

Some simple construction examples:

Some nice levels of finish and layout:

Some Images, links and PDF Download

One of the best things I've seen on shape language and working form life/photo reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpUE-oMpjNE
James Gurney's Site. You can find info on almost anything here. Amazing!
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com
Here's some really good examples of thumbnails from Sinbad.

More Sinbad work:

Sketch PDF: http://files.faso.us/33270/3893.pdf

Final Day This Saturday.

Bring in your final projects and sketches. I'll be bringing back all previous work.

Tank parade this weekend-May 21, 2016

This is the map for the shuttle tank route that will be happening on May 21.

UPDATE: Tag your sketches from the event at #sketchyet94 

This article has some good time info: http://www.dailybreeze.com/science/20160516/6-things-you-need-to-know-about-et-94-the-space-shuttle-fuel-tank-set-to-drive-on-las-streets

This is a good article on ET-94: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-shuttle-tank-20160303-story.html

Very relevant info in this: http://www.artcenter.edu/connect/dot-magazine/articles/concept-designer-neville-page-on-critiques-directors-and-gaboon-vipers.html

For Next Week-5/7/16

We are creating an imaginary creature. This has to have believability, not cartoony. Give yourself some background. Is it a tree dweller? Live in a hot climate? High altitude? In a desert? Etc. I'm not assigning a number of pages because I think by now you should have a working methodology and know the you need to explore. This requires a lot of research and sketching. It can be from wherever you want, this world or another, but make me believe it.

Terryl Whitlatch:

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/p/art-of-terryl-whitlatch.html

http://characterdesignnotes.blogspot.com/2010/09/welcome-terryl-whitlatch.html

Zoo this Saturday!

Address is 5333 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles, CA, 90027. I've arranged with the zoo to have you thrown into the lion's space if sketches aren't sufficient.
This is a great video from David Colman at the zoo. It's two parts WATCH THEM BOTH!:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7tM7u9mYnwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UiyDSEfvzEMore from him:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMd9VKZmfkIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKzsd5KCdcEThis is really good. Listen to the comments about foundation. IT IS ALL ABOUT STRONG FUNDAMENTALS! THERE ARE NO "TRICKS"!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKzsd5KCdcE
Part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJKHwT-YyIE#t=195.034420979

April 16, 2016

Ten pages FRONT AND BACK of vehicles drawn from life. Can be cars, bikes, motorcycles, planes etc. Concentrate on clear drawings, nice layouts, call out notes, think Norm, Scott Robertson and so on. These are not for a project, I want you to just concern yourself with great pages.
http://cargocollective.com/drawthrough/Plane-Hovercraft-Sketches
Here's a really good video by Scott Robertson, good advice and there is also a really good tutorial in it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfU0LkDaw7M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLlL8DjSeWU
Short video on transportation design it shows some cool ideation sketches:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHavcylj2O4

April 2, 2016

We will be at March Air Field Museum on April 16th. Then The Los Angeles Zoo on April 30th. It will probably be hot. These are good places for toned paper sketchbooks since the sun will blast on white pages. But I'm going to bring both. 
Ten pages of sketches for the "Cafe to Character" project. Final will be printed on 11"x17" paper. Find a good spot to sketch i.e. coffee shop, library, Walmart, DMV is good, mall etc. Sketch people that you can develop into a character. It is important to let your mind wander. Who is this person? Develop a "backstory" to hang your design on. In my roughs I sketched a guy at Mcdonalds that looked to me to be an ex KGB agent that had escaped from a Siberian work camp. He accomplished his escape with help from his bear friend Viktor. While on the lamb they posed as a wrestling team that would entertain local villages on their way out of the country. This also funded their travels. They made it to America where they remain "undercover" to this day. All of the story popped into my head while I was sketching my "mark".
Some Carter Goodrich. Simple shapes:
http://cartergoodrich.com/character-design/animal-crackers/animal-crackers_1/
http://cartergoodrich.com/character-design/the-croods/croods_1/
http://cartergoodrich.com/character-design/despicable-me/despicable-Gru-4/
http://cartergoodrich.com/character-design/finding-nemo/nemo-Shark1/
http://cartergoodrich.com/character-design/open-season/openseason-Beavers/
Peter de Seve. It's his world, you just live in it:
http://peterdeseve.com/anigallery.php
Nico Marlet, really graphic approach. Very designed:
http://artofnicomarlet.tumblr.com/
Chris Sasaki, Pixar character designer. I like that he has his own style, unique for the animation industry. It's important to find your style, your way of drawing etc. It's not an accident that the top guys have unique styles/techniques. Your style is out there but the only way to find it is by doing your miles. In other words it will find you if you do the hours, it will drop in your lap like a gift from the Gods...
Knowing your materials helps with this. It's very easy to fall into a lot of the "computerisms" I see a lot. Get in a rut? Pull out a different tool. This week I'm going to play with graphite powder because I haven't in forever. It's will force me out of my usual patterns.
http://www.csasaki.com/film/

Cool Pose/level of finish

Saturday March 19, 2016

This is a link to Norm's book, you can preview the whole thing:
http://www.blurb.com/books/1838491-to-draw-is-to-see
Some Scott Robertson sketches. Look at the linework!
http://cargocollective.com/drawthrough/Plane-Hovercraft-Sketches
http://cargocollective.com/drawthrough/Mechanimal-Sketches
Great video from David Colman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLDo-7OqzgY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0yk4XSj87U
Happy Easters!

3-5-2016

Remember on the 19th we are meeting at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum BUT check here first, I'm waiting on school approval.
Brush pen business:
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2016/01/answers-to-concert-sketching-question.html

Some Kim Jung Gi craziness:

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/11/freewheeling-imagination.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNtmdB6N5Qo&spfreload=10

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/10/artistic-devices.html

2-28-16

This is a great post Josh found showing Chris Sanders drawing process using trace paper. This is a great example what were doing for the current project:
http://floobynooby.blogspot.com/2012/02/chris-sanders-sketch-process.html?m=1
WATCH THIS VIDEO! It's a master class in developing a shape language:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpUE-oMpjNE

2-20-2016

I need to push the field trip to one week past March 12 so it is now March 19. If you hit a wall this week send me pics. I want you to keep moving forward. Really dig into the design/ideas. This is the stage of the process to try things out.
Here is the link to James Gurney's blog:
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/
Look at the motorcycle drawings on this page. Simple shape explorations. Some of them are really silly.  That is good. He's trying everything:
http://cargocollective.com/drawthrough/drawthrough-BLOG
Here's some Lilo drawings:
http://theartofmichaelspoonerlilo.blogspot.com/2008/10/concept-art-for-lilo-and-stitch.html
Look at the ship drawings. How he's trying different silhouettes, shapes ideas etc. Once he knows the basic "ship shape" he's free to explore.
http://cargocollective.com/drawthrough/Miscellaneous-Vehicle-Sketches
More strong drawings:

I'll add more as I find them.

2/6/2016

My contact info:

msheehan@fullcoll.edu

562 688 8949 I encourage students to text me images if you have questions. If you hit a wall or want some feedback text me a cell-snap of it and I'll respond as soon as I can.

Materials list: Get a reasonably sized sketchbook we talked about this, spiral bound works good. Roll of sketch paper.  We will do finished projects on this paper. It's inexpensive and a roll lasts forever. 

Pens: Uniball Vision, Pilot G2's for water soluble technique. Pitt Pen sets are great if you like a fiber-tipped pen and they come with a brush pen. Pentel Brush pen, this is more expensive and not a requirement, you can try mine to see if you like it. It's a much higher quality that the usual over the counter brush pen.

Below is a pic of my everyday bag and it's contents.I have everything I need in it to do color, pen, pencil, tonal drawing etc. I always have it and I know I always have everything I need sketch-wise. If there are any tools you want to try let me know. I probably have it and you can try it in class before you invest in it.

For this week: Find the architectural style you will base your design on. Create at least 7 pages of reference sketches. I would suggest you do more. You need to have a strong understanding before you can create a fantasy version.

I would start off with small sketches to start getting a feel for the subject. You'll find interesting details and ideas as you go along. That's the idea. Explore those ideas. Write down notes. Let your mind develop a story. You need to find the "shape language" of your subject. Also play with trying to simplify the shapes.

This is the download site for the sketch PDF: http://files.faso.us/33270/3893.pdf