12 Insights from "Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics"

Narrated by Ryan Reynolds (soon to be seen in the title role in "Green Lantern"), "Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics" explores the history of the publisher who gave us Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, among others. There are interviews with Neal Adams, Paul Pope, Neil Gaiman, Louise Simonson, Karen Berger and the recently deceased Dwayne McDuffie, among others. It's a fascinating look behind the scenes of the publisher whose characters have endured for over 50 years.

Here are some insights gleaned from the film:

1. Neal Adams: comic books are the dreams and aspirations of human beings. It's the medium.

If you [combine] the best artist in the world and the best writer in the world, they will make the greatest piece of art in the world and you know what you'll call it? You'll call it a comic book.

RE: Frank Miller—He's not afraid. You gotta be kind of punk. You just gotta be punk once and awhile.

We think if the conditions present themselves, we will be the hero of the moment.

2. The characters with longevity often come from a place of oppression, a place of wanting to break out of the world they're in.

3. Vision and risk (this theme has come up in all of the documentaries on which I've commented). In the 1970's, no one thought that a superhero movie could be a blockbuster. But producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind decided to take a chance. Alexander: "I believe it could be very good as a major film if done right." Ilya: "I thought [the actor for Superman] should be an unknown. They all started working on me and commercial side said we need a star. There's a moment when you weaken and I said you might be right and we started looking for a star. Thank God Redford turned it down."

4. Hiring from without can help. In 1977, 28-year-old Jenette Kahn was hired as the first female and youngest publisher of DC. She had no comics experience but also no preconceived notions. She contributed tremendously to the company's new thinking and its modern literary sensibility.

5. Alan Moore: I don't want everybody to agree with me. I just want people to think.

6. Neil Gaiman: For years I had to explain to people that comics is a medium, not a genre. It's an empty bottle and you can put anything you like in that bottle.

Sandman really was a comic I was writing to please myself. I think there's lots of other people who like the same kinds of stuff I like.

7. Karen Berger (DC Editor): If we're really talking about making comics relevant and really treating this like a literary form, you've got to let people create their own work and have a stake in it.

8. Too much darkness. Despite the success of killing (then resurrecting) Superman, it inspired a rash of imitators. Almost every superhero began having the gritty psychological darkness of Watchmen and The Dark Knight. It became hard to tell the difference between the heroes and the villains because the heroes's behavior had become evil instead of morally ambiguous. There was a lack of meaning. Comics became so dark that they lost sight of their core—triumphing over adversity.

9. Mark Waid: Superheroes had become things that fight against things. They don't fight for anything. Waid and Alex Ross, with Kingdom Come, wanted to get away from meaningless, cynical storytelling.

10. Paul Pope: The world needs inspirational and aspirational heroes.

11. Chip Kidd: You've got to make these characters into real people that you care about. If you can do that then if somebody's dangling off the side of a building, it really does upset you.

12. Comics convey the deepest hopes of the generation.

8 Lessons from "Waking Sleeping Beauty"

From left to right: Peter Schneider, Roy E. Disney and Jeffrey Katzenberg

"Waking Sleeping Beauty" is a documentary directed by Disney producer Don Hahn and co-produced with Disney executive Peter Schneider. It focuses primarily the period from the release of "The Fox and the Hound" in 1980 through the release of "The Lion King" in 1994. Disney's animation fortunes began a turnaround starting in 1984 and reached its peak 10 years later.

What makes this documentary so compelling is that most of the major players—Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney, Tom Schumacher and Peter Schneider—were interviewed. The one exception is Frank Wells who died in 1994.

Here are some lessons I gleaned from the film:

1. Don Hahn says early in the film that as a kid, he would make a pilgrimage every four years to the theater to see the latest Disney animated masterpiece. I used to do the same. But once these movies started coming out every year in the theaters and several times per year via video, the animated feature film stopped being special. No longer was there a build up of anticipation and excitement for the next Disney feature; it was it had become commonplace.

2. Bringing outsiders into a company can be a good thing. Roy E. Disney brought in Frank Wells to be President and Chief Operating Officer and Michael Eisner to be Chairman and CEO in an attempt to fend off takeovers and the dismantling of the company. Neither man had animation experience but they had been successful executives in their previous positions. Disney wanted to infuse new life and ideas into the company.

Disney later hired Peter Schneider to be the president of the feature film division. He, too, did not have an animation background; he was from the theater. But he knew he couldn't do worse than "The Black Cauldron" and he said, "You can't fall off the first floor." Schneider dissected the entire animation process and questioned everything, knowing he had 100 days to change the culture before it changed him.

3. Bringing outsiders into a company can be a bad thing. Both Katzenberg and Eisner struggled to understand the animation process, like storyboard pitches, since they were accustomed to dealing with scripts. Katzenberg also revealed a lack of understanding of the animation staff when he said he didn't care about the Academy Awards, just the Bank of America awards. It's probably not a good idea to tell a room full of artists-storytellers that the only concern of management is making money.


4. If there's an office, there's politics. When Schneider arrived at the studio, "Oliver & Company" was in production with two directors. Schneider admits that he fired the director who was belligerent towards him and kept the one who sucked up to him. I was struck by Schneider's admission of preference; we're constantly told about the American "meritocracy" in the workplace and how to be worthy of it. So much for that idea!


5. "Nobody knows nothing!" That's a quote from Schneider in reference to Katzenberg thinking "Pocahontas" was going to be a huge hit while having no faith in "The Lion King." There you have it.


6. Ego destroys. There was a continuous power play among Eisner, Katzenberg and Disney regarding credit. I know how important this issue is: I worked as a production assistant for an animator who was obsessed with getting credit because it was denied him by a previous employer. So what did this particular guy do to me and the other production assistant? Had our names removed from a project so he could get credit for…a rabbit voice. Seriously. It wasn't sufficient that he was credited as the production company, producer and maybe even the director. No, he needed credit for making a weird squawking voice over the need to give his staff credit. I learned a lot about how not to treat people from that dude.


But back to Eisner, Katzenberg and Disney—Katzenberg was the media's front man during this peak period and of course, they gave him all of the credit which especially irritated Disney. Wells was the humble one—he kept a piece of paper in his wallet that said "humility is the ultimate virtue"—who balanced the increasingly hostile egos of Eisner, Katzenberg and Disney. Once he died, the balance was completely lost and was never to be regained.


7. Never lobby for a recently deceased guy's job. Katzenberg alleged lobbied hard for Wells job after his untimely death in a helicopter crash. Eisner told Katzenberg that he had originally considered him for the job but had changed his mind. Katzenberg felt he no longer had a future at the company and resigned soon after "The Lion King's" opening. Eisner says in the film that Katzenberg "was a very good executive who just played it wrong. If he'd been happy to stay at the studio, stay at his job, not push everyone against a wall at a moment when someone died, he would've gotten the job if he'd just have the patience to wait." In other words, don't be a pest.


8. What matters most is the work. As Don Hahn says at the end, no one will remember who did what to whom (well, I don't know about that. I still remember who did what to me!) but they will remember the films.


I, for one, hope to have my work remembered fondly like that.

13 Filmmaking Insights from "A Decade Under the Influence"—Part 3

Ellen Burstyn in "A Decade Under the Influence"

1. Jean Renoir—A picture often when it is good, is the result of some inner belief which is so strong that you have to show what you want in spite of a stupid story or difficulty about the commercial side…a picture is a state of mind.

2. William Friedkin—The single defining phrase motivating filmmakers at that time, it was probably moral ambiguity.

3. Robert Towne re: "Shampoo"—Even though the characters were flawed or especially because they were flawed, audiences could identify with them. In the first place, theirs were flaws that either arose from or were victimized by what they perceived to be a very flawed system.

4. Milos Forman re: Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"—The real dangerous evil is always trying to look like an angel. Everything is done in the name of helping you.


5. Robert Towne re: "Jaws"—We've never really gotten around "Jaws." Trouble is a very talented filmmaker [Steven Spielberg] made a very good movie and I won't say that the wrong lessons were learned, the lessons were followed to a fault.

6. Sydney Pollack—So marketing became king; something happened which is that the aggressive lead in this area became the marketing division of the company.

7. Francis Ford Coppola—And the best way they could come up with no risk was to make a movie in exactly the mold of the last one that had been successful with exactly the same stars.

No risk. There can't be art without risk. It's like saying there's no sex and expect there to be children.

The "m" that had always stood for "movies" now stood for "money."

8. Paul Schrader—Audiences were slowly educated to believe that good movies make money on opening weekend and bad movies don't.

9. Pollack—MTV started to happen and there was an impatience for linear narrative. You wanted to jump everything and get to the high points and make everything a collection of high points. Why sit through the valleys? Let's just do peaks!

10. Ellen Burstyn—Audiences enjoy movies. And if they can't get high-quality, they'll enjoy whatever they can get.

11. Robert Altman—They're [movie studios] in the hands of these guys who run these corporations and they don't care if it's a movie or a ski.

12. Burstyn—Thank God for the independent film movement because that's re-enlivening the art of cinema…There's an artist at work there. To me that's what cinema should be, it should be one of the ways the artist expresses to the culture what's going on with everybody.

There has to be the personal statement otherwise the culture's going unrepresented on a deep level.

13. Friedkin—That's the thrill of filmmaking to me, the thrill of failure, potential failure. "This may not work."

" Yeah, but if it does work, it's gonna be terrific."

Lost the Desire to Work on Your Project? 5 Steps for Reigniting Your Creative Fire

I date all of my drawings and files. The last day I worked on my animatic was Feb. 22; before that, Feb. 2. That's a TWENTY DAY gap of work on what is supposed to be my life's passion.

What happened?

The fire of creative desire burned out.

Why?

The usual: self-doubt, self-criticism, feelings of being overwhelmed, etc.

But I reignited the fire. And if you find yourself in the same situation, here's what you can do to reignite yours:

1. Truthfully recognize how you're feeling
Your loss of interest in your project will probably manifest as a desire to do everything except work on your project. You'll find yourself cleaning, walking around your home pointlessly, reading, watching t.v. (this is a BIG one!) cooking, eating…like I said, EVERYTHING except drawing, animating or writing. You're not being lazy. You're not even really procrastinating. You're acting out a psychological block that's preventing you from putting your butt in your seat and cranking out your creations. So the first step is to recognize that your interest has waned. The second step is to NOT beat yourself up over it.

2. Go with how you're feeling…briefly

Initially, don't fight the feeling. It'll just make you feel worse about yourself, like you're neglecting your project. Instead, allow yourself to focus on—and even enjoy—the non-project activities you find yourself wanting to do. Your mind will appreciate the change and it could ultimately help your project. You'll be pleasantly surprised how you'll get new story and character ideas or will solve old storytelling problems when you're not as focused on it.

3. Immerse yourself in inspiration

Inundate yourself with those things that inspired you in the first place. For example, during the course of a four-day weekend, I watched three movies. Two in particular—"Social Network" and "Toy Story 3"—were exceptional. The third, "The American," was not as good but it had such beautiful scenery (Italy!) that I'm keeping the DVD to paint from it. Watching (good) movies reminds me why I love films so much, especially creating films and stories. 

Go to a museum…or look at museum collections online. Open up an art book and flip through it. Expose yourself to as much inspirational beauty you can find.

4. Meditate on your goal

Turn off the t.v.,  the music, the video games. Sit quietly with a pen and paper and meditate on your goal. Ask yourself, "Why am I doing this project? What about it appeals to me? Why do I think it's important to share this particular story with the world? And when can I realistically complete it?" Write down the answers to these questions so you can refer to them if you lose the fire again. Once you answer these questions, you'll find yourself reinvigorated. You'll be reminded of the reason for the passion you lost and it will return with a rush, smacking you in the head and pushing you back to work!

5. TAKE ACTION!

Once you've gone through all of these steps, you'll be ready to get back to work! Put aside all of the earlier distractions recognizing that working on your project is what you were meant to do. Pull out all of the tools and resources you need to get back to work. For example, I had to watch my animatic again to refamiliarize myself with what I'd done, it had been so long! It was fun to see what I had accomplished and what I'm intending to do in the future. 

Hopefully you'll have happen to you what happened to me: you'll fall in love all over again with your project…and it will feel GREAT!

12 Words of Filmmaking Wisdom from "A Decade Under the Influence"—Part 2

1. Orson Welles—I believe that a work is good to the the degree that it expresses the [artist] who created it.

2. Robert Altman re: "M*A*S*H"—All we have to do is stay hidden, not go over budget, don't do anything to draw attention to ourselves, keep our mouths shut and make our picture.

3. Sydney Pollack re: "M*A*S*H"—…who wasn't afraid? How were these guys not afraid because until that time there was something sacred about that, this was a war, the United States was at war, you don't poke fun at this stuff.

4. Julie Christie re: Robert Altman—By breaking the rules he created a sort of template for so many things that came after, like subversion of genre.

5. Robert Altman—I don't tell stories. Stories don't interest me. There's only about six stories. Basically I'm more interested in behavior. What it is simply is I want to see something onscreen that I've never seen before.

6. John Calley (former Warner Bros. executive)—Having been a producer, I felt the balance of power should shift to the director. I felt that it was inherently a director's medium, that the most exciting filmwork was being done by those filmmakers who had control like Fellini and Visconti…Felt that they [filmmakers] didn't need producers to be parental towards them.

7. Marshall Brickman (writer) re: Woody Allen—[Allen] used to always say, if you act like an artist, they'll treat you like an artist.

8. Clint Eastwood re: Michael Cimino's script for "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot"—What kind of mind is writing this? This guy is bizarre but fun. Bizarre is great as long as you're having fun. The relationships [among the characters] was great, too.

9. Paul Mazursky—My feeling was, there's nothing we couldn't do, there's nothing we couldn't try.

10. Robert Towne—The idea of barriers being broken and the promise of being able to do whatever you could imagine was very exciting. There was a sense of a new freedom and it was up to you to have the imagination to push it wherever and however far you could.

11. Sidney Lumet re: Dog Day Afternoon—I said to the cast, the only way I know of avoiding any sensationalism and any sense of exploitation is if you make this so much your own that they see nothing but human beings up there. The humanity of it will stop any sense of outrageousness [of the audience towards the gay characters.]

12. Ellen Burstyn re: Bob Rafelson's casting in "The King of Marvin Gardens"—That's kind of typical of the attitude of the time, of Bob Rafelson, of BBS, which was this is the conventional or the expected thing to do, let's flip it and do it the opposite.

Labrador, Portie, Poodle & Mutt, Attorneys at Law—Contract Cartoon

5 Filmmaking Lessons From "The Pixar Story"

I just recently discovered the 2007 documentary "The Pixar Story," a behind-the-scenes look at the creation, struggles and accomplishments of probably the most successful film studio in history. In addition to the usual rise-to-greatness story, the film also contains of insights into the mindsets of filmmakers. I took 11 pages of notes as I watched it! Don't worry, I won't force all of that information onto you. Instead, I'll share what I think are the five most helpful lessons one can learn from watching this documentary.

1. Filmmaking is collaborative but the end product is the director's vision.

As Pixar began production on its first film with Disney Studios—"Toy Story"—they were bombarded with Disney input. Disney's then chairman of the studio, Jeffrey Katzenberg, wanted all Disney films, including Toy Story, to be "edgy." Pixar obliged this request, addressing every note and jumping through every Disney hoop. 

The result?

A disastrous animatic that was described as: not funny, not moving, not emotional and with characters that didn't quite work, especially Woody, who was mean-spirited. It was clear that this wasn't the film Lasseter had intended to make.

The response to the animatic was so dismal that Disney shut down production and told Pixar to lay off staff. Pixar did neither. Collectively they said, "screw it," trashed the storyboard and jumped back in with a fresh mindset of, "What do we want? What would be the funniest thing?"

They listened to their guts 100%, were brutally honest and worked non-stop. They were empowered and excited because they were finally making the movie they wanted to make. Lasseter knew that the story drove every choice and he confidently had every frame in his head. Their energy produced a new animatic in an unheard of 2-3 weeks which, when presented to Disney, showed the film's potential.

Production was resumed and the rest is history!

2. A support system is necessary.
When Lasseter returned home exhausted from the international press tour for "A Bug's Life," he intended to take time off, recharge and remind his family that he existed. Before he could do this, he learned that "Toy Story 2's" status had been upgraded from direct-to-video to theatrical release and that it was currently a mess. Lasseter's wife understood why he had to swoop in and rescue the production but she made it clear that he'd have to keep more regular hours.

Kate Capshaw reportedly made the same request of husband Steven Spielberg when he was in the process of creating Dreamworks studio; go ahead and have your studio but make sure you're home for dinner every night.

In other words, love and understanding from one's family are essential not only to a creative person's success, but also to maintaining the life balance that feeds the creativity.


3. Be fearless. Be different.

Steve Jobs saw what others overlooked: Pixar's potential. He jumped in and supported the company even at its most desperate moments. Although he lost over $1 million per year during Pixar's first five years, he bravely took the long view because he saw what the company was trying to accomplish even before they accomplished it. Jobs knew that Pixar was way beyond what everyone else was doing. His attitude made it easier for Lasseter to decide to go in a different direction from the usual Disney films—no musicals, no fairy tales. No other studio understands nor embraces fearlessness and originality as completely as Pixar does.

4. Overnight success takes years.

Pixar's original form was created in 1979. John Lasseter joined in 1984. Pixar released it's first feature in 1995. During those years, there was experimentation, commercials, live-action effects and animated shorts. That's a lot of years of a lot of work before the triumph of "Toy Story." It was during those lean years that—while working on the short "Red's Dream"—Lasseter had to share one computer with three other guys! He took the late shift, doing most of his animation between 10:30pm and 5am. He kept a futon under his desk; his assistant would wake him in the morning and he'd get right back to animating. He did this routine for weeks. THAT'S dedication. As Brad Bird aptly noted at the end of the film, "Film is forever; pain is temporary."

5. Enthusiasm can change minds and open doors.

I'd read this before in Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich but didn't fully believe it until this film showed me some real-world examples. 

Lasseter showed Tim Allen sketches of Buzz Lightyear hoping to convince Allen to do the film. But it wasn't those sketches that won Allen over; it was Lasseter's enthusiasm. It was this same enthusiasm that fired up a most likely demoralized "Toy Story 2" crew to get the film ready for release in a mere nine months.

Enthusiasm can make the sale when other methods fail.

I highly recommend watching the documentary but if you don't, hopefully you'll find these summarized lessons useful.

COMING SOON: 5 Lessons From "The Pixar Story"

Pixar's heart and soul: Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs and John Lasseter

Four Steps to Create an Illustration

Step 1: Thumbnails

Step 2: Roughs

Step 3: Cleanup

Step 4: Final rendering with color

Lacking Story Ideas? Two Ways to Get You Started

John K. described on his blog a pitch meeting he had at Dreamworks Animation. To summarize: before he could even show his work, he was told that before considering characters, they first determine an arena. Arenas—according to their definition—are environments (desert, sea, forest, etc.) that contain potentially funny animals that would make good characters for a movie.

Upon first reading about this, I admit I thought it was absurd, as did many other animators and cartoon aficionados. But upon second thought, this idea of "arenas" is an excellent starting point for story ideas. And getting started with generating ideas is half of the challenge.

Method 1 for generating story ideas: make a list of all of the places where a story can occur. He's a partial list I made two years ago:

This list ended up being about 3 pages. I actually got the idea for my current project from this list! So although this method may seem silly, its success is measured by how effective it is in getting you closer to your goal.

Method 2 for generating story ideas is described here—in comic book-like fashion—by Frank Chimero, graphic designer and illustrator. Here's a sample:

Basically, he encourages alogical yet meaningful connections. Ya gotta read it to get it and once you get it, you'll never find yourself wanting for an idea again!

I'm Goin' to the Land of Crockett & Tubbs!

There'll be a brief hiatus with the blog since I'm headed to Miami for a long, Valentine's Day weekend. I'll be tweeting about Miami while I'm away so you can keep up with that here.

Enjoy your weekend and Valentine's Day!

Want to be More Creative & Productive? Sleep Better With These 10 Methods

Indie animator M dot StrangE learned after completing his first feature film, "We Are The Strange," that eating properly and getting enough rest are essential to productivity and creativity.

From the Dumb Little Man site, here's a summary of the 10 ways to improve your sleep:

1. Increase vitamin D

2. Decrease stimulants

3.  Have some tryptophan for dinner

4. Avoid eating or drinking alcohol closer to 2 hours before bedtime

5. Relax the senses

6. Set the bedroom mood

7. Still your mind

8. Drown out your thoughts

9. Have a morning workout

10. If all else fails, seek professional help

Complete explanations are here.

Which will improve your health!

Which will improve your ART!

5 Steps to Create a Gag Cartoon

Step 1: Initial idea

This cartoon started out innocently enough. The idea was to have a law firm run by dogs. This dated note below shows the idea for the scene (a partners's meeting), the punchline (in quotes) and the name of the firm (the list of dog breeds).

Step 2: Thumbnail

This is an important step. This is when you determine if your original written idea will "read" properly once drawn. 

In this case, there were five elements that needed to be made clear to the viewer: the speaking dog, the listening dog, the human, the sign of the name of the firm and the location (an office). I had to figure out the best way to arrange these five elements in the space so that the viewer would immediately understand at what they were looking.

Generating numerous thumbnails is a helpful method for arriving at the best solution. You're not striving for a perfect drawing when creating thumbnails; instead, you're exploring all of the options to discover which works best. I also started creating various versions of the punchline, searching for the most succinct (and funny!) wording.

I used different colors (blue, green, burgundy and graphite) to differentiate among the elements as I arranged them, keeping them apart to avoid confusion as I worked out the idea.

Step 3: Rough drawing

Now it's time to take the thumbnail and make it into a larger, more detailed drawing. In my case, after thinking about and drawing the layout several times, I realized that my original staging of the cartoon was not working well. I created a new thumbnail with which I was satisfied and made that thumbnail into my rough drawing.

Step 4: Cleanup drawing

Now you take the rough drawing and do a clean, more revised and detailed drawing.

When I first did this drawing, I was happy with it. I put it aside and returned to it several days later.

Upon second review, I saw a few things wrong with it! First, I didn't like the listening dog's face. I had reverted to my usual way of drawing…flat. So I applied what I've been learning lately and redrew the dog using three-dimensional shapes, not just outlines. Second, although I liked the cartoony forward leg of the human, I realized that his perspective was off in relation to the floor and ceiling lines. That definitely needed to be fixed otherwise it would look super amateurish which is the exact opposite effect I'm attempting. Those errors I fixed in the final drawing.

Step 5: Final drawing

This step involves copying the rough drawing, "perfecting" your lines and adding tone/color. Some artists make a tight rough drawing and simply ink over the rough to get clean lines for the final. Other artists feel that some life is lost by doing a direct copy so they use the rough merely as a guide for the final. How you create your final drawing is up to your own preferences and style. 

In my case, I adjusted some elements and added some tone. Voila, a cartoon is created!

7 Ways to Unblock Your Imagination

 James Gurney's wonderful website shares 7 ways to activate your imagination. The list provides explanations of the methods. Here's a summary:

1. Imagine a story behind the model's pose.

2. Keep a sketchbook dedicated solely to image generation rather than observation.

3. Refrain from using photo reference initially.

4. Learn to draw from a mannequin figure from memory.

5. Do memory drawings.

6. Do multi-figure compositions.

7. Learn to draw independently from the model.

The First Step to Creating a Masterpiece

From The 99%.

When you plan your goal and break it down into smaller steps, all things are possible.

It worked for Michaelangelo and the Beatles so it must be good!

Francis Ford Coppola's Thoughts on Filmmaking

Photo via Grazia Magazine.

I just read an incredibly informative interview with Francis Ford Coppola here. He reveals his three rules for filmmaking, adapting books to movies, risk, screenwriting and directing. I found it to be a treasure of information.

But I nearly gasped when I saw this quote, "Maybe the students are right. They should be able to download music and movies. I'm going to be shot for saying this. But who said art has to cost money? And therefore, who says artists have to make money?"

Wow, I couldn't disagree more. Coppola's basically devaluing his own work! How and when was it decided that the creation of "art" has no value? Is every job worthy of payment except for the creation of movies and music? The reason "art" should cost money to consume it is because it cost money to CREATE it! Usually numerous people are involved in the creation of movies and music. How do we justify not paying them for their time and work?

I see young people constantly consuming movies and music. But despite the importance it apparently has in their lives, they don't want to pay for it?! Don't they pay for everything else in their lives—their clothes, their MP3 players, their tv's, their video games and consoles, etc. What's the justification for paying for those things—things CREATED by other people—and not paying for music and movies? Maybe their XBox's and Urban Outfitters clothes should be free, too!

Art gives something to the viewer—an experience that they otherwise would not have had if not for the particular vision of the artist. Therefore, the viewer should give back to the artist in the form of payment. Think about what "Star Wars" and "Harry Potter" have done for the imaginations of millions of people. I think George Lucas and J. K. Rowling deserve every penny they've charged for the pleasure of experiencing their creations.

I think I'm particularly sensitive about this issue of "free" since I work in graphic design, an industry that has seen a tremendous devaluing in the last 10 years. People think that since layouts, typefaces and photos are readily available online that combining these elements together into a piece that communicates effectively is easy and requires no craft. I had a former colleague ask me to do some design for free. I politely declined for this very reason; I didn't want to contribute to the devaluing of my work.

Having said all of that, I DO believe there's a difference between making a living and making a killing. I don't think any of us artists should expect to make a killing. I discussed before the idea of redefining success in a culture that values only youth and extreme wealth. We can live fulfilling lives by making a good living; we don't all need Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey dollars.

Remember: ALL work—all human endeavor—has value. When we start devaluing music and movies, we undermine their importance in society and sow the seeds of their destruction.

How Not to Draw Generic Cartoon Expressions

Tracy J. Butler's "Lackadaisy" comic site is a treasure of wonderful drawings and helpful tips on digital drawing, painting and comics-making. Butler put a lot of effort into this expressions tutorial and it shows. Enjoy!

Creative Work vs. Reactive Work

Carrie Underwood, genuine talent.

Kardashian sisters, nothing to offer except sex tapes and big asses. Not exactly the qualities that bring you a long career.

Another article about productivity from The 99%. It was the title that caught my eye, "The Key to Creating Remarkable Things."

YES, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!

REMARKABLE!

We're in a culture and an era of disposable. Kardashians, anyone? But I don't want to be a part of that, I want to be one of the exceptional, one who's remembered for doing something exceptional.


One of my favorite quotes from this article: "We don't find it remarkable when our expectations are met – only when they are exceeded, or when we are surprised by something completely unexpected."


That sentence sums up exactly what's absent from American entertainment today—too many marginally talented people and projects being presented as exceptional. 


And my second favorite quote: "The thing is, if you want to create something truly remarkable, it won't be built in a day. A great novel, a stunning design, a game-changing software application, a revolutionary company – this kind of thing takes time, thought, craft, and persistence."


OH MY GOD, THIS IS SOOOO TRUE!


That quote sums up what I think is wrong with Tyler Perry's work—no time, thought or craftsmanship. His films always feel like a first draft. I read that Perry writes his scripts in two weeks; no comment about rewrites. NO film should be shot with a script that took only two weeks!


I'm going to apply the tips listed in this article and see what happens.

Drawing the Planes of the Head

An important area of study which with I've always struggled is memorizing and understanding the planes of the head. When I was first approached this subject in the summer of 2010, none of it made sense. I was trying to understand this page from the Andrew Loomis planes from his book "Drawing the Head and Hands":

For some reason, I couldn't "get" it. I couldn't remember the location of the planes, I kept forgetting them and eventually abandoned learning them. But I knew I had to go back to it eventually because it's vital to drawing; the head CANNOT be properly depicted without understanding how light falls on it which means knowing the planes.

I don't know what happened between now and then but I suddenly understand the planes. I think it's because I'm now relating the planes of the head to what causes the planes which is, of course, the skull! The planes are directly related to the shape of the skull and, to a lesser extent, the facial muscles. NOW it makes sense!

It also helped to use other diagrams in addition to Loomis's. There are various ways to depict some of the planes, some ways more complicated then others. Here's some of the photo reference I've been using to study the planes:

This is from James Gurney's website. I based my studies of the front of the head primarily on this drawing.

These Asaro heads are really helpful for understanding the planes in profile.

The Fred Fixler planes, particularly helpful in showing the 3/4 view.

Another 3/4 view for studying via the Asaro head.

As you can see, each of these examples varies slightly. I was originally overwhelmed by the differences. But once I realized that the differences are minor, I set about just absorbing the approaches that made the most sense to me. What makes sense to me is more likely to be retained than pure memorization.

Happy studying!

Prolong Your Creative Productivity

I came across this article at The 99% website.

Since productivity and maximizing time are important to me, I found these suggestions to be helpful. I easily begin to feel burned out so I discovered awhile ago that switching from drawing to the computer and vice versa helps keeps me going.

Basically, whatever works for you is RIGHT and don't let anyone tell you different!

Kevin Smith Returns to His Indie Roots

Kevin Smith—writer/director of "Clerks" and "Dogma,"among other films—is returning to his indie roots with the self-distribution of his latest movie, "Red State." He talks about his motivations here. An eye-opening read.

Amazing Animation—Nick Cross's "The Pig Farmer"

Nick Cross's bio from the ASIFA-Hollywood site: Nick Cross is a self taught animator/independent filmmaker who also works commercially. His professional credits range from music videos to television. While working a full schedule, Nick is able to animate short films entirely on his own to a standard higher than most. Some of his films include "The Waif of Persephone" and "Yellow Cake." 


He recently completed "The Pig Farmer" which is can be viewed here. All I can say is that he's an inspiration.

Changed Twitter Name to @Rochelle_Krause

I changed my name on Twitter to read "Rochelle_Krause" instead of "rochellekrause." I knew I couldn't use spaces in the name but I didn't know I could just use an underscore. It looks better that way, more intuitive.

Animation Oscar Nominations

CartoonBrew has the animated short and feature Oscar nominations here with links to info about the shorts. I feel for Bill Plympton, he said on his blog that an Oscar nomination for "The Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger" which surprised me considering how long and successful his career has been. Maybe he meant that a nomination would give his career a boost.

Plympton also said that all of the short nominations are "computer films." I'm not sure if that's accurate. Teddy Newton's "Day and Night's" characters are—according to this explanation—2-D animation with 3-D animation existing inside of them that reflects the characters's emotions. This video gives an explanation.

Based on the clips I've seen of this film—and the Academy's alleged preferences for both West Coast animators and 3-D animation—I believe Newton will walk away with the Oscar. I'm also intrigued by the idea of this film and its execution and look forward to seeing it in its entirety (haven't seen Toy Story 3.)

The only other short film I have any familiarity with is "Madagascar, A Journey Diary." I saw this still from the film that blew me away. I've also seen scenes of the film and it not only looks like a watercolored travel diary but it includes some great technical shots. I can definitely see why this was nominated.

After a quick search, I found the film for download here. This is surprising because I thought films online were ineligible for Oscar consideration. Plympton said his "Santa: The Fascist Years" —one of his recent best films, I think—wasn't eligible for Oscar consideration when it was completed. 

The other short nominations:

"Let's Pollute"

"The Gruffalo"

"The Lost Thing"

Best of luck to all of the nominees!

I'm on Twitter @RochelleKrause

I set up a Twitter account to share my short bursts of DIY animation brain farts! You don't want to miss that!

American Film Industry Declining Like Japanese Anime?

Yutaka Yamamoto holds up a poster of a new anime series, "Fractale," at his office in Tokyo.
(Yoshiyuki Suzuki)

This recent article discusses the now two decades decline of Japanese anime. One producer, Yutaka Yamamoto, places most of the blame on "the domestic industry [becoming] glutted with similar anime styles." He also laments the "the priority has been on quantity." This isn't surprising to any fan of anime.

I have only three favorite anime series: StarBlazers, Battle of the Planets and Cowboy Bebop. It could be argued that these series look distinct from each other but they do resemble other anime series. This is most likely why I watch little anime; I feel that I'm watching remakes of other series full of generic characters.

I fear this is the path that American live-action filmmaking is taking. With such a heavy reliance on tentpole and superhero stories that focus on the angst of their protagonists, American films are chasing away some their audience.

I also believe that the focus on quantity (otherwise known as "greed") is what killed Disney's hand-drawn animation business. After "The Lion King," Disney became greedy and started producing more theatrical and straight-to-video films and labeling them "instant classics." They were anything but classic. Instead, they were poorly-developed pieces of disposable art.

Additionally, Yamamoto criticizes himself and others for focusing on creating cutesy characters that they thought would be sure things instead of focusing on originality.

Sound familiar?

Hello, Transformers!

Final Animatic Update 1—Sounddogs.com

I am now officially working on the final animatic for my film. Usually there's just one animatic made. But since I want this to look as good as I can get it, I made a quick, down n' dirty version before making the clean one.

I've just started with the opening titles and am making myself giggle with the sound effects I'm using! Currently I use one source for sound effects, Sounddogs.com. What I love about this site is it's ease of use. You type in what you're looking for in the search box; a list appears with prices and descriptions; you click on the file and listen to it; you download it and use. SIMPLE!!!

I used Sounddogs for my Plympton School film and it was a breeze. I highly recommend their site. Of course, if you know of a site that's just as good or better, please share. Thanks!

Studies from Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 6

I bought the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 6 for ONE cartoon, "Rocket-Bye Baby." I won't go into the quality of this collection too much—I think it's lacking—but this is the sixth volume; maybe the preceding five are better.

I spent almost four hours yesterday watching this collection for the first time in its entirety (most via fast forward) becasue these 1940's cartoons are the reason I fell in love with animation. With the help of John K.'s analysis, I've learned why I prefer those cartoons to the dreck on t.v. today. It's a matter of the characters being drawn as three-dimensional forms, not 2D, angular cutouts. And, of course, the animation is superior to anything on t.v. today. If these classic cartoons are what excite me, then watching and studying them will inspire me to emulate their skill. I saw a lot of the dry brush "zip" effect. I saw some great acting. And I saw some beautifully rendered backgrounds.

Some of the studies I did from these disks are below. I was particularly concerned about how I was going to draw the brick facade and windows for the first pan shot. Why reinvent the wheel? By going to this source, I found several examples of both and now know how I can approach it.

FYI, the notes on these pages are written in both my left and right hands (hence the difference in clarity). I'm right-handed but am training to write in my left to save the right for drawing. When Frank Frazetta had his stroke, he had to paint with his left. You never know when you might need a particular skill.

Practice Drawings

Based on Lesson Four of the John K. curriculum. Copied from "Advanced Animation" by Preston Blair. Also a copy from MAD Magazine No. 2, Jack Davis.

More copies from MAD Magazine No. 2, Jack Davis. I love the way Davis does expressions and hands!

Man vs. Art Episode 30—Unleash the Cartoonist Within

Commuting on my LONG-ASSED bus ride to work this morning (an express bus takes one hour and 35 minutes to go the 14.6 miles from the Bronx to Tribeca! WTF?! I could ride my damn bike in the same amount of time!), I finished listening to Episode 30 of Raul Aguirre, Jr.'s Man vs. Art podcast. I know this episode dates from 9/8/10 but his podcasts are so full of helpful information that I'm listening to each carefully AND taking notes.

This episode's title is "Unleash the Cartoonist Within." I'll summarize what I think are the highlights. I strongly suggest that you listen to the podcast in its entirety to get the full effect (especially Aguirre's badass voice!):

1. The differences between cartoon drawing and illustrating. Cartooning suggests, simplifies, exaggerates, distorts, indicates, interprets, expresses and favors visual clichés. Illustration reproduces, mirrors, specifies and represents.

2. Simplicity allows the audience to project their own imagination on to the drawing thereby creating a personal involvement. Gaps are left for the audience to fill with their own imaginations.

3. Copying is a good thing, especially for beginners. Copying your favorite artists contributes to developing your own style. (I was glad to hear this because I've been copying the early Will Elder, Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood MAD Magazine art. And it HAS helped improve my drawing!)

4. Learning to cartoon begins with constant doodling. This allows for technical practice and learning plus it stimulates the free association process which is integral to successful cartooning.

5. ONE Man vs. Art rule: cartoon characters should NEVER laugh at the situations in which they're participating. (I can understand that one.)

6. Doctors in cartoons should always be male and nurses always female to communicate quickly and clearly. (I disagree with this one. I think the white robe and stethoscope are the visual clues to communicate a doctor regardless of gender while scrubs communicate nurse or surgeon.)

7. People communicate non-verbally with body language, facial expressions and hand positions.

The podcast additionally contains exercises to put these ideas into practice.

Man vs. Art nails it again!

Useful Thumbnailing Exercise from Temple of the Seven Golden Camels

Mark Kennedy at his Temple of the Seven Golden Camels blog describes an exercise he does in thumbnailing while watching a DVD. I've read elsewhere that it's a helpful practice to draw while watching tv, especially if it's something you don't want to pay attention to.

Practice, practice, practice!