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