Story Time

Hey everyone!

Today, I'd like to start off this post with this comment from Tia (a senior at BASIS Scottsdale who's doing an awesome project involving art therapy, check out her blog!) on my last update:

Love all these inspiring sketches! (I was stuck in the hospital for quite some time and had my sketchbook with me, so I know how fun it can be to use drawing as "productive procrastination") But I also know the feeling of just pure laziness and not wanting to sketch, even though I know I should. I think it might be because I'm afraid to create something that isn't absolutely perfect. Do you ever experience the same sort of feeling? Any tips for overcoming a lack of sketching motivation? Keep up the great work :) I'm excited to see how your animation is coming along!  

First off, Tia, thank you so much for the kind words!

Second off, yes; unfortunately, I have experienced that pure feeling of bleh, that lack of will to do anything at all even though you know you should. And knowing you should is part of the stress that makes you feel... well... bleh (that lack of will to do anything at all even though you know you should).

And my answer would be that it's definitely one of those things you have to consistently and consciously push yourself and work to get over.

And the thing is, it's not so much the drawing process itself; it's getting up and putting pencil to paper in the first place. Once you get into the groove, all of that dread goes away.

Because, as you said, there's almost always this fear that you've lost artistic talent until you actually make something! It's astounding how many times I look at a finished work and think, "How the heck did I do that??"

So. What I do when I'm doubting my abilities is I get out something like watercolor or a really thick marker (or, if those supplies are lacking and you're stuck somewhere, even a pen can work!).

Something permanent and big.

With pencil, it's always so easy to obsess and erase and redo. But if you're working with fluid paint or a marker, you have to let go of all that fear and just put whatever you can onto that paper (or whatever medium you're using), no going back.

And if you mess up, well, you have to be creative and make the piece into something else, no matter if it's not what you initially thought you were going to make.

And, for me at least, that can be very liberating.

Speaking of watercolors, here are a few products of productive procrastination this week!

Yayyy flowery hair!

She leans on the chair as if to say, "Ha! I'm awesome."
She is awesome.
Also, never be afraid of shadows, kids. Gotta put that orange in there.

Yayyy flowery... everything...!

"Ugh. I forgot my chocolate at home. Again."
Hey; it's okay.
We've all been there.

And in pencil, a one-second shenanigan-y thing of a stick figure failing a cartwheel:

I also wanted to quickly go through how I made the little smooches and flowers animation from my last post, per the request of the illustrious Mr. Bloom:

So this is how the window looks when I open it in Photoshop Cs5, the software I usually use for digital work:

Hmmm

Wait a sec, let me adjust that a bit.

There we go!

As you can see, on the righthand side, there are layers. So I keep making new layers, adding on flowers every time. And then I make layers for the moving mouth (I can choose which layers to display/not display on the screen at any time, so it makes it easy to draw over a previous layer when animating!). When it comes down to the animation itself, for each frame, I combine what layers I want for the desired effect; so for the first few frames it's just adding on flowers, and then for the last few it's the mouth with the final number of flowers as a backdrop.

I hope that clears things up.

And finally, let's talk about my project!

The first page of my storyboard! *gasp*

Huzzah!

Now, I don't want to reveal too much of my story before it's done. However, I'll give you that first page as a teaser.

It all started because the little girl wanted cotton candy.

"Whoa wait, Daria, you decided on a character?"

Yeah! The little girl was what I'd used in my initial sketches, and I became really comfortable drawing her in different positions and expressions. So I ended up sticking with her. And the fact that she's a little girl is going to make for some sharp (and amusing) contrasts with some of the voices I'm giving her.

The first voice being:

You heard (saw?) it here first, folks. A gruff manly man voice.

At one point, though, I did make a whole page of potential characters for the role (though some of them, as you see, were more silly than anything):

I'm pretty sure the dude in the suspenders was subconsciously inspired by Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, as I'd just rewatched the movie... it's a great movie, by the by. I highly recommend it. 
But I digress.

So storyboarding is basically like making a comic! Except instead of speech bubbles, you make little notes about the scene to accompany the poses and expressions. It's really fun.

And, as you can tell, I'm going for a pretty simple style. No funky angles or zoom-ins on faces or anything. The characters are always gonna be flat on the page, and the setting/scenery will usually be implied through context when need be (there isn't even a ground!). Which I think will add to its light-heartedness, in that it's a bit reminiscent of the type of illustration you'd find in a children's book.

Speaking of storyboarding, before I got into it, I did have writer's/drawer's block! At which point I pulled out some watercolors, and started storyboarding without much attention to the quality, which resulted in this:

Shabby. But not too shabby.

As you can see, I was working those different perspectives and settings initially, though it was a bit of a mess. But it was stress-free, and it got the ideas rolling. And that's what's important.

Anyhow, I hope you're all enjoying the onset of spring as much as I am.

Except for you allergy-prone folk. I am very sorry for the pain the pesky pollen will prompt. Stay strong. We're all rooting for you.

Question time!

1. Do you have a favorite color? If so, what is it?

2. What is an odd hobby of yours?

And, to give you a break from all this reading of my ramblings, a short!

What?

You didn't actually think I'd forget to give you a short, did you?

Here is an animated short from Ringling College of Art and Design that reminds me a lot of the concept for Inside Out, a movie from Disney and Pixar that's coming out this summer:

Alright, that's it for today.

I hope everyone's having a great weekend! 

A Bit of Ranting

Hey everyone!

Remember when you told me what you'd had for breakfast?

Well...

Please excuse the hand

...I took your words and quickly sketched the ULTIMATE breakfast, consisting of milk, eggs, a sandwich, a yogurt and granola, samosas, an apple, a Nature Valley granola bar, and two and a half bowls of cheerios.

Which kindaish brings me to my next point.

Productive procrastination.

"Daria... that's oxymoronic..."

I know! I know.

But remember that book I told you about? Steal Like An Artist? The author, Austin Kleon, threw out that term in one of the chapters.

And it really stuck with me.

Sure, I could take a break and watch an episode on Netflix. But why do that when I can doodle in my sketchbook? Draw a character? An alien world? A portrait?

So, when I'm not working on my project (which is progressing, and I'll share what I've done next week!), I'm drawing. Constantly.

And I thought I'd share with you some of those drawings today!

I have this book called 642 things to draw that I've started completing

Smooches and flowers

A rendition of Persephone... I have no clue what happened with the hands but shh

Um... 'nuff said

A portrait of Savannah, whose birthday was last week! Happy birthday again, Savannah!

And of course, there are many more. I might share them in future posts.

But the takeaway is that I've been taking every opportunity I can to draw. I see something funny on the internet? I draw. I come across an interesting-looking face? I draw. I'm in a coffee shop and there are people around whom I have not yet drawn? I go to the bathroom because I'm overwhelmed by the fact that all these people remain to be drawn.

Wait, what? There is no fear in art! I draw.

And I think it's something that's really important to train oneself to do.

"...Drawing?"

Wait no I could've phrased that better. Productive procrastination. I think that's really important to train oneself to partake in.

I can't tell you how many times in the past I'd be trying to avoid work, do something meaningless and unproductive and unenjoyable out of guilt (why do something that I care about when I'm avoiding working on something that should be done?), and become more guilty in the process.

It's totally counterintuitive!

Which is why, these days, I draw. I try to become a better artist with every passing second. I actually literally just bought a new sketchbook. Like, just an hour ago. Dang.

And I think everyone has projects, side projects, dreams, "one day I'll do this"s, that they could be working on, no matter the time or deadlines.

If you're going to procrastinate, why not do it productively?

Anyway. That's all for today's ranting. Thank you very much for bearing with me.

And now, a short; Crayon Dragon, an extremely cute piece about the boundlessness of art and creativity, by Toniko Pantoja:

Your question this week: if you could create one new creature to roam this earth by combining an inanimate object and an existing animal, what combination would you create?

I hope y'all are having a lovely day.

Updates

Hey everyone!

I just thought I'd let you know what I've been up to, as I met with my mentors on Sunday.

1. I'm still clearing my desk. I think I'm making good progress. You'll see soon enough.

2. The idea that I chose was... *drum roll please*

3. THE VOICE IDEA! (refresher as to what that was: someone loses their voice, and in this world, voices are floating orbs, so they try to find their voice but they keep ingesting the wrong orbs)

4. I realized that I got into drawing for it the most, and that I really enjoy voices and the concept itself. The whole thing is going to be trying to play off of dichotomies in a comedic manner, so I'm excited.

5. I also need to decide whether I'm going to draw it or do paper animation. Drawn might be harder. But I really like drawing. We'll see. What do you guys think?

6. I'm also going to be fleshing out the main character for the story! I know I used a little girl in my concepts/example, but I think I'm gonna explore a few other options, present them to you, and then y'all can tell me what you think. If you so desire. I would be very grateful if you did.

7. While clearing my desk, I found this lil book I got at the Getty museum during fall break:

"Stealing?! Daria, I thought you were better than this!"

Well, it's a really good book. In my humble opinion. To quote a passage:

Conan O'Brien has talked about how comedians try to emulate their heroes, fall short, and end up doing their own thing. Johnny Carson tried to be Jack Benny but ended up Johnny Carson. David Letterman tried to copy Johnny Carson but ended up David Letterman. And Conan O'Brien tried to be David Letterman but ended up Conan O'Brien. In O'Brien's words, "It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique." Thank goodness. 

And another:

The best advice is not to write what you know, it's to write what you like. Write the kind of story you like best—write the story you want to read. The same principle applies to your life and your career: Whenever you're at a loss for what move to make next, just ask yourself, "What would make a better story?"

I mean... don't go off with some random stranger you meet on the street to have adventures just because it might make a better story. Not that I doubt your judgments when it comes to running off with people on the street. But. Let's write happy life stories, people.

And if you want any more, you'll have to go get the book yourself! I dunno, maybe I just have a thing for books that give advice and quote famous people's words of wisdom and talk about art and use cool diagrams. Maybe.

8. In fleshing out the main character, I'm also gonna start writing/boarding the story. I say that I'm going to do all three at the same time because I really don't know how it's gonna come to me, yah know? Like maybe while fleshing out the character I'll come up with some dialogue that they'd totally say and write that down, or come up with a scene that totally exemplifies their personality and draw that. Inspiration strikes haphazardly most of the time. Life is odd and beautiful that way.

9. I've realized that some of the things that were on the desk... are now on the floor. So. After I finish clearing the desk, I shall clear the floor. #goodplan

And now for a short; The Reward, by The Animation Workshop, a part of the VIA University College in Denmark (warning—there's a fight scene around 3:55-4:30 where there's a bit of gore, and a person gets stabbed and another person's two fingers are cut off, but it's pretty cartoonish and not too bad but just thought I'd let you know):

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I got responses back for my interview questions from Carol Wyatt, background painter for a lot of Nick shows and more, and Nick Jennings, who won an Emmy for being art director on Adventure Time! Many thanks to them for their time and effort in answering.

Side note, Peter Hannan and Dru Hardy are the best mentors ever. Just putting it out there. No joke. I am forever grateful for their help in this endeavor.

And that's pretty much it I think. I hope you guys are all doing well.

You know... I feel like I should ask a question at the end of each of these. I think I'll start doing that.

So, the question: What's your favorite quotation having to do with art and what did you have for breakfast today? (oho, two questions)

I look forward to reading your responses!