Liquid Solid is now screening at DepicT! You can watch it in full here.
If you enjoy it please rate it out of five – your vote will count towards the DepicT! IMDbPro Audience Award.
Liquid Solid at DepicT!
Morna and Alistair
Morna and Alistair are from a story I’ve been working at over the last few months. As they both get older in it I’ve been trying to find characters that work at different ages. These quick doodles I did after work are the first ones I feel capture their characters.
Liquid Solid at Encounters
I’m thrilled to announce that my short animation Liquid Solid has been selected for Encounters Film Festival!
You can find out more about the film and the festival through the links above.
Life Drawing, 14th July
A couple of sketches of Naomi, from a session last month.
I’ve just started a new job with Wild Child on a children’s television series. Hopefully I’ll be able to show what I’m working on sometime next year!
Character Sketching – Pirate
John Mackey was completely in character at last week’s CTN Character Sketching session! It was great fun, and I came away with the desire to rewatch Pirates of the Caribbean …
Badger Prints For Sale
My badger sketches have proved popular, so I’ve had some lovely A4 prints made! You can purchase them using the buttons below.
A4 Signed Badger Print – UK only
Print on uncoated 350gsm card. Signed in pencil. Price includes postage within the UK.
£20.00
A4 Signed Badger Print – Worldwide
Print on uncoated 350gsm card. Signed in pencil. Price includes postage worldwide.
£25.00
Character Sketching – Housewife
Julie Wions modelled at this Character Sketching event a couple of weeks ago. I loved the interaction with the doll – I was reminded of my sister and my niece at times!
Character Sketching – Fantasy Creature
It’s taken me far too long to post these sketches from this session where Daniella Traub modelled as a ‘fantasy creature’!
Through the evening I explored different versions of the character – more elfin, a wild girl of the woods, a villain.
Character Sketching – Ballerina
Beatrix held some tricky-to-draw ballet poses last Friday for CTN’s On Model class.
Costumed Drawing – Maiden
Last week I was finally able to catch the free costumed drawing session CTN is running before it vanished from YouTube! As it’s a recording I was able to skip back and forward a bit as I pleased, so though poses were between two and seven minutes I spent less time on some and more time on others.
Kinsey’s Sword Thumbnails
A few years ago I posted some images from a short story I’d written and illustrated. You can view them here if you didn’t see them the first time around!
The story follows Kinsey, a young Queen who battles her fears in order to reclaim her sword, her family, and her purpose.
Since then I’ve adapted the story into a script, in collaboration with Philip Todd of Fellowship Film, with the intention of producing an animated short. As part of that process I drew a thumbnail storyboard, some of which is below.
Drawing the thumbnails really helped me visualise the story in depth. I had been struggling to separate the script from the original story – it’s been a challenge to convey through notes in a script what’s described in a page of prose!
So what’s next? Right now, I’m drawing beat boards for the latest draft of the script. Following that we’ll start work on a trailer, so we’re on the lookout for artists, animators, and others who may like to get involved! Please let me know if you want to find out more – you can reach me at aj.aiken@yahoo.co.uk or through social media.
Equitots Lanarkshire Pony Booklet
My sister and I were horse mad when we were younger, with model horses, multiple books, and notebooks filled with pony sketches and stories. I still ride, and (when I’m not in lockdown) volunteer with my local Riding for the Disabled group. So creating this booklet for Equitots Lanarkshire was a real pleasure!
Lee gave me the text and structure she wanted, and I began by sketching this quick layout of the whole booklet.
Next came the rough sketches – some more accurate and some less so …
Clean up is drawing the final line that will be seen in the finished booklet.
Next comes colour! Here are the pages with and without text.
Character Sketching – Dorothy
Rachel modelled as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz at last week’s On Model session. A little different from the last couple of weeks – this time I wasn’t following a model sheet!
Life Drawing, 19th May
Vera modelled at this Tuesday’s session. She held some great poses with interesting shapes.
Character Sketching – Alameda Slim
Last week’s CTN On Model sketching session featured Jonnathon as Alameda Slim, the villain from Home on the Range. I’ve only seen the film once so I don’t know the character very well. At first I really struggled to figure out how his head connects to his neck! By the end of the event I had ‘got’ the character a little more, but he remained pretty off-model.
Sometimes I just couldn’t get the character, so I drew Jonnathon instead.
Life Drawing, 12th May
Vilidian modelled at this week’s life drawing session. Unfortunately I’d run out of paper (more is on the way) but I drew in Photoshop instead. I tried to resist using ‘Undo’ but didn’t always succeed …
It was nice having some close-up poses near to the camera.
Thatched Cottage Studies
At the moment I’m gathering reference for a personal project, and I’m learning a lot! The way medieval houses were constructed depended so much on where they were built – stone or wood? Heather or straw for the thatch? There are the well-constructed houses, some of which are still standing today, and then the ones made of little more than twigs, wattle, and mud. And then, how is the thatch kept on the roof?
Character Sketching – Maleficent
I’ve admired artists who turned their life drawing sketches into characters for years, but though I’ve used my drawings as inspiration for characters I’ve never, until now, drawn a model and drawn a character at the same time. It’s tough. But it’s fun!
With so much online at present, I discovered that CTN is running their On Model Character Sessions through Zoom at a UK-friendly time. Last week I decided to try it out.
I set up a screen of Maleficent model sheets / animation drawings to reference during the session. Some of my drawings are a bit more like the model, Aryiel, some more like the character. It was a good way to practice simplification ‘on the go’. I learnt a lot, and I hope to keep attending.
Gesture Drawing, 5th May
Liat modelled at an amazing gesture drawing session this week. I gave a brief demo on gestures before we began, showing a little of what I’ve been taught while studying animation. The response to what I shared and to the session as a whole was really positive, much more so than I expected. It seems that short poses aren’t taught that often, so I’m glad I could share some of my experience and how helpful I find them as a base for building drawings onto.
It’s been a long time since I drew gestures from a live model. It was a fantastic session – here’s hoping for another one soon!
30 second poses
One minute poses
Two minute poses
Five minute poses
Ten minute pose
Life Drawing, April and May
I’ve joined for part of the last couple of life drawing sessions, modelled by Maxime and Dominique (plus a special guest). Some really lovely poses from both of them, and the added challenge of a snake …
*EDIT – The initial time posted was wrong. Updated time below.* Tomorrow (May 5th) there’s a special gesture-focused online life drawing class, and I’ll be giving a brief demo with some tips on how to draw gestures and quick poses. It’s free (but consider donating to the model) and starts at 18:15 BST. If you’d like to join in, send Deryck an email at deryck.henley@gmail.com
