Author Archives: AJAiken

Sidhe

The Fae Elders are desperate to restore the magic of the Sidhe. They think Owain and Eilidh can help … whether they want to or not. Click through the panels below, or scroll down to view the animatic (no sound). I’ve been working on Sidhe (Shee) as a portfolio piece. There’s lots more of theContinue reading “Sidhe”

All In Gesture – Pirate

Lots of fun poses in this pirate gesture session! I’ve been thinking about putting together some notes about how I approach gesture drawing, and some of the things I practice – which I need to practice more of myself. Let me know if that’s something you’d be interested in seeing!

All In Gesture – Freddie Mercury

In last week’s All In Gesture class Ralph posed as Freddie Mercury – except it was more than posing, it was performing. A great session and a good challenge! My drawings at the beginning resembled Mirror Universe Spock but I seemed to get the hang of it towards the end …

All In Gesture – Jane

It’s been great to get back to gesture drawing, and what a session to do it with! Jane’s a wonderful character. I loved exploring some of the situations from Tarzan – and now I know what I’m watching tonight!

All In Gesture – King Triton

After a bit of a break from drawing, this was a good (but difficult) way to start again! I was just starting to figure King Triton out by the time the session ended …

All In Gesture – Jacob Marley

With all there is to do pre-Christmas I’ve fallen a bit behind with All In Gesture. The class inspired by Jacob Marley was a fun way to catch up! Now I’m off to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol …

All In Gesture – Lofi Girl

This All In Gesture class was a change in pace from the previous ones, with a lot of relaxed poses.

All In Gesture – Lacrosse

Last week’s All In Gesture class took me back to high school, where we played lacrosse in PE. We didn’t have any eye protection though. I don’t remember much except being chucked out on the astroturf and told to get on with it.

All In Gesture – Diner Waitress

I drew these last week, I think … and forgot to post them. Some fun sketches of a 50s Diner waitress!

Simple Character Design Exercise

Next week I’m running a Traditional Animation Workshop in Hawick, so I thought I’d share a little preview from the class. I’ve always found creating characters to be challenging. Where do I start? And I often find they all end up looking the same. Why is that? This exercise helps you to think about whyContinue reading “Simple Character Design Exercise”

Storyboard Planning

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on a short storyboard sequence for my portfolio. It’s still a work in progress, but I’d thought I’d share some of the early planning from it. I don’t often share thumbnail storyboards because they’re usually pretty illegible! I love this part of the process, as thisContinue reading “Storyboard Planning”

All In Gesture – Disgust and Joy

Last Saturday’s All In Gesture class theme was the characters Disgust and Joy from Inside Out. Both express strong emotions, so it was fun to draw and exaggerate the model! I also had a few attempts at drawing the characters.

All In Gesture – Viking

Here are some sketches from another fantastic All In Gesture session, with Kelly as a Viking! I was definitely influenced by How to Train Your Dragon …

Costume Design

I’ve been working on a mini graphic novel project for a while (you may remember this, this and this) and recently I’ve been doing a lot of research into clothing. It’s set around 1300 but much of it falls into ‘vaguely medieval’. There are very few source materials for clothing in Scotland at that time.Continue reading “Costume Design”