I spent some time today drawing quick sketches using the Bodies in Motion site. The Muybridge images are especially good for quick studies, and after exploring a variety of sequences I settled on this one.
Maia is an orphan, sent out to Brazil to distant relatives in the care of Miss Minton.
Miss Minton is a severe but wonderful woman in Eva Ibbotson’s Journey to the River Sea, a beautiful book set in the early twentieth century about a young girl discovering the Amazon and the people who live there. I’ll be drawing a couple more of the characters over the next few days.
In this Cinderella-style story, Sarah is asked to dance by Prince Richard.
I took inspiration for Richard’s costume from John Peacock’s book Costume: 1066 to the Present.
Rudy is a very old character of mine, but this is the first time I’ve draw her. In her world centaurs are considered like animals and are hunted for sport (though not to be eaten). As such the stories I’ve made up about her are often quite grim. I’ve heard that many peoples’ first stories can be dark. Her stories will likely never see the light of day …
I meant to post these last weekend, but forgot. I drew them last month, using the Bodies in Motion site, beginning with 30 second poses and gradually giving myself more time. The site is excellent for capturing poses that a model would never be able to hold.
Inktober is an annual drawing challenge which I’ve taken part in before, but this year I’ve decided to do it a little differently. As the name suggests the drawings are supposed to be in ink, but this year I’m going to cheat and draw digitally. My aim with this challenge is to develop my character design skills, so I want to focus on that and not on my inking skills. I will also be taking the weekends off as I think it’s important to have a couple of days to rest or catch up, depending! To that end I’ve created a list of 23 characters (some mine and some from favourite books), many of which I’ve been meaning to draw for a long time.
Elsa is the first – not wholly a character, but certainly caricatured for my Selkie storyboard.
I was in Edinburgh yesterday for an animation event, so I spent some time drawing in the museum on Chambers Street. I sketched a sperm whale skull and a haughty-looking llama as well as some of the visitors. The sketches are pen on paper, but the tone was added digitally.
Recently I signed up to Scott Eaton’s Bodies in Motion website, which is stuffed to the gills with stunning figure references. The ‘Motions’ feature sequences of photographs of people dancing, leaping, and fighting. What’s lovely about it is that moments of action can be studied which could never be held by a life model.
Today I began by studying a sequence, playing each frame for 30 seconds. Getting all the information down was a challenge (I’m a bit rusty).
After drawing the gestures I took a bit more time to study one of the images.
I’m looking forward to exploring this site more. It’s possible to used the randomised ‘Quickdraw’ feature for free (as long as you register) and you can also view thumbnail images, but the plans, which give you various levels of access, are currently on sale.
While my sister and brother-in-law were visiting, a neighbour told us where we could watch badgers. I’d always been under the impression they only ventured out at the dead of night, but he assured us that from around 7pm was a good time to see them. After one false start (we misunderstood his instructions and ended up in the wrong wood) and a wait of about half an hour my sister and I saw a family of four badgers running about, scratching, and playing. I didn’t take my sketchbook – next time I will – but I took my camera, and though my pictures weren’t great the footage I filmed worked pretty well. The sketches below are studies from the videos I recorded.
While boarding the Pigeon Crumbs animatic I posted a few weeks ago I drew these reference sketches and character models to help me figure out how the character would look, feel and act.
I’m currently boarding a short idea featuring a pigeon, so I thought I’d put in some bird gesture practice! These are a mix of 30- and 60-second drawings. I want to practice wings more, and really get to grips with how they work.
Some quick studies from Line of Action – a mix of 30- and 60-second sketches.
Recently I animated a couple of elements for the new Skoog advert, which you can watch below.
I animated the girl’s moustache, plus several ‘flourishes’ throughout the video. I’ve added a couple of examples as gifs below.
I’ve not made it along to life drawing for a few weeks so I thought I’d better get back into practice with some gestures! I drew these from images at Line of Action, using the 30 and 60 second timers.
This is a little ink illustration I drew for a friend’s birthday card. I coloured it in Photoshop, but I think I prefer it in black and white.
The snow is beginning to melt, leaving icy pools of water and slush. As I struggled through it on a walk this afternoon I thought it would be a good subject for today’s study.
I struggled with this one. Choosing the colour and getting the texture right was difficult, and I don’t feel I’ve completely succeeded in either area. This was a study of a canvas bag. I guess I need to paint more cloth!
If you’ve been following me for a few years you may remember that back in 2015 I drew ‘Pieces of Sky’, small squares of the sky I saw that day. (Here’s an example.) I’ve been thinking about starting to draw small colour studies again, as I enjoyed the challenge. However I feel only drawing the sky is perhaps a bit limiting, so I’ve set myself a new goal within the same guidelines of a 500×500 pixel canvas. I’ll continue to take inspiration from life, but it will now be from anywhere.
It’s been a very grey, snowy day so unfortunately there is very little colour anywhere. Today’s ‘Study Square’ shows some of the snow piled up outside my window. I like how mountainous the shapes are despite the fact it’s only about a foot in height!
A few weeks ago I began working as a character and storyboard artist on an animated feature film called Spiked. I’ve been drawing a lot but of course I’m not able to share what I’m working on yet, so here’s a little doodle I drew today!
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