As a nod to Star Wars day earlier in May, the All In Gesture theme was Leia. I enjoyed the costume for this one – much simpler, and more iconic!
Tag Archives: digital
Sketching Morna
I first shared some sketches of Morna here, and I’m finally diving back in to developing her design. There are lots of things still to nail down but I’m pleased with how she’s coming to life!
Sketchbook 2019-2022
I’ve added a new Sketchbook pdf to my Gumroad page. It’s got 54 pages of life drawing, gestures, and animal sketches in a large square format – higher quality than on this blog! For £1 you can own your own copy. Buy it here.
Sketch Club: Wizard of Oz
Wild Child’s sketch prompt this week was ‘The Wizard of Oz’. My choice of character was Toto, played by a Cairn Terrier in the 1939 movie.
Sketch Club: Fairytale
This week’s prompt was ‘fairytale’. I was inspired by the birth of my nephew and drew a scene from Thumbelina.
Sketch Club: Road Trip
Wild Child has recently started a weekly Sketch Club with a prompt. This week’s was ‘Road Trip’. I had a lot of fun doing research and creating this little image of a family on the Oregon Trail.
Gorilla Sketches
A colleague took a video of some gorillas while visiting his local zoo, and I asked if I could sketch from it. The interactions between the gorillas were fascinating to study.
Light
This character jumped out while I doodled today. I’m not sure who she is or what she’s holding, but she seems a bit worried about it.
Jonah Music Video
Over the last few months I’ve been working on something really special – something a bit different from anything I’ve made before. Rachel Zylstra, a singer-songwriter based in Edinburgh, asked me to create a music video for one of the tracks on her new album On Faith. You can watch the result below!
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.
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 moreContinue reading “Costumed Drawing – Maiden”
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 onesContinue reading “Thatched Cottage Studies”
Animal Gestures
Some recent sketches. I love how much is shown by the way the rabbit stretches warily across screen, and the relaxed compared to the alert tail of the squirrels. Body language shares so much story. I’d really like to draw more ‘story’ poses for human characters.
Cats, big and small
Gestures of cats big and small from Line of Action. Some very quick 30 second gestures up to two minute studies.
Desert
I’ve been working on improving my colour studies and digital painting. There’s a lot I need to keep practicing, but I’m pleased with the sense of distance in this study.
‘Klaus’ Clean Up, Part II
Part I A brief note about some of the terms I use: keys, breakdowns, and inbetweens are names for different drawings in animation. Keys are ‘extreme’ poses that tell the story. Breakdowns show how (slowly, angrily, passionately) the character moves from one key to the next. Inbetweens are ‘in between’ all the others, usually halfwayContinue reading “‘Klaus’ Clean Up, Part II”
‘Klaus’ Clean Up, Part I
Last year I worked as a clean up artist on the Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning Klaus. SellOut Animation, based in Edinburgh, worked on scenes outsourced from the main studio, SPA, in Madrid. From May until August I joined the team, cleaning up a variety of shots and characters from throughout the film. It was a steepContinue reading “‘Klaus’ Clean Up, Part I”
Practice, practice, practice
Last year I came across this tweet, which challenged me to start thinking differently about how I draw through the week. Most of the time I only draw whatever I feel like, or what I’m working on. Life drawing has been the only regular study I’ve done since school. I pick things up here andContinue reading “Practice, practice, practice”
Sketches from Muybridge
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.