Shoutout Sunday: John K.

This Sunday I want to give thanks to: John K.

John Kricfalusi with Ren and Stimpy.

During my years in the wilderness of trying to improve my drawing and animation skills, I came upon the light.

That light was John K's blog.

John K., the creator of "Ren and Stimpy" and a Bakshi's Mighty Mouse animator, shared a small yet significant piece of advice that changed my entire way of approaching animation drawing.

He said that the best way to learn how to do animation drawing is to study the original version of Preston Blair's "How to Animate Film Cartoons."

This blew me away because I had that book…since I was a kid! I kept it all of these years thinking that it was a cute relic from my childhood. Even as a kid I dismissed it as…for kids.

Turns out I was wrong and that I was sitting on an animation education gold mine. It was John K. who opened my eyes to the value of this book.

John K. created his own animation school complete with lessons, some of which are based on the Blair book. As someone who was flailing around, unsure what I should be learning and how to learn it, John K. was a god send. If you want to improve your cartoon drawing, follow his curriculum. You'll be surprised at what you didn't know and with deliberate practice, your skills will definitely improve.