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!

Are Values Missing From American Films?

Politically, I am a left-leaning person. I don't consider myself an ideologue; I occasionally agree with non-left views. I limit my exposure, however, to opposing views because I find them poorly argued, hyperbolic or unnecessarily insulting. Ultimately, I don't think most people's minds change unless they, or someone close to them, has a personal experience that forces them to see things differently.

In my humble opinion, Andrew Breitbart's BigHollywood blog too often resorts to the negatives I listed above. I believe reducing films to "liberal" or "conservative" is inaccurate and pointless. I did, however, come across this piece—by Lawrence Meyers—whose content I wholly agreed with despite being initially turned off by the last sentence.

But the more I thought about that last sentence, the more I began to realize that the author may have a valid point. Here's the last paragraph in question:

"In a way, however, it almost doesn’t matter what the reason is [for decreased box office admissions]. The numbers speak for themselves. In the face of declining admissions, Hollywood should be improving its product, not relying on higher ticket prices for 3D and IMAX (which I believe are fads, anyway). I’ve written extensively on why this doesn’t happen, and BH [BigHollywood] readers know that Hollywood repeatedly refuses to create content that reflects the values of much of America."


So I was nodding in agreement during the entire article until I hit that last sentence and was like, "Values?!" I have a knee jerk reaction to that word since it's often used by the Right to flaunt their phony superiority to the Left.


Then I calmed down (LOL) and thought back to Robert McKee's book Story, pg 17:

"The final cause for the decline of story runs very deep. Values, the positive/negative charges of life, are at the soul of our art. The writer shapes story around a perception of what's worth living for, what's worth dying for, what's foolish to pursue, the meaning of justice, truth—the essential values. In decades past, writer and society more or less agreed on these questions, but more and more ours has become an age of moral and ethical cynicism, relativism and subjectivism—a great confusion of values. As the family disintegrates and sexual antagonisms rise, who, for example, feels he understands the nature of love? And how, if you do have a conviction, do you express it to an ever-more skeptical audience?


This erosion of values has brought with it a corresponding erosion of story. Unlike writers in the past, we can assume nothing. First we must dig deeply into life to uncover new insights, new refinements of value and meaning, then create a story vehicle that expresses our interpretation to an increasingly agnostic world. No small task."


Now, Meyers and McKee may be defining values differently; they apparently occupy opposite ends of the political spectrum. But I do think they're both saying the same thing. Hollywood doesn't create content that reflects the values of much of America because American values have become so dispersed and disparate that filmmakers don't even know what those values are.

In addition to the values problem, I believe that the handful of white, middle-aged men who greenlight ALL of the movies we see live such a limited, privileged lifestyle that they honestly just don't know nor understand how other people live. Why are there so many movies about drug abusers, prostitutes, bank robbers, other criminals and the dregs of society? Do people really curse as much as characters in movies?

If we take the time to dig deeply—as McKee suggests—we can provide value-based entertainment that appeals more than the current batch of crap.

Rough Animatic 100% DONE!

Whew! That was a challenge, figuring out the shots while learning Storyboard Pro 2.

But it was worth it. I'm completely satisfied with my shot selection. I now have a clearer idea of what's happening when and the staging. Now comes the new challenge: making a presentable, final animatic. This is the version I'm going to be showing people, particularly my Plympton Film School classmates. This is the version I want to be judged. Here's what it's going to need:

1. Improved, consistent drawing. This includes designs of Honey and Luthor that I will maintain throughout the project. Also includes appropriate expressions. I predict this step taking the longest since I'll have to creatively search—through thumbnails—the best poses and expressions for each scene.

2. Tone. I've noticed that many professional storyboards contain gray tone. I'm going to remove all of the color from the final animatic and use just black, white and gray.

3. Final sets. I need to be consistent and logical about the placement of furniture in the bedroom and the placement of the bathroom fixtures.

4. Sound effects and temporary music. This final animatic will be used by the composer to create the music. I'll add temporary music to give myself an idea of what I want and what works. The sound effects will transfer to the final animation step.

This is a lot of work especially with my still-evolving skills. But a deadline's necessary so here it is:

FINAL ANIMATIC WILL BE COMPLETED BY MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2011.

That gives me approximately 7 weeks. I'll create a new bar graph to chart the progress.

Let's get it started!

Practice Drawings

Rough Animatic 91% Done!

Wow, this doing-a-little-every-day approach really works! Between 2 days ago and today I completed 11% more of the scenes for the rough animatic. Way ahead of schedule to complete this step. Woo hoo!!

Business Advice from M dot StrangE

M dot StrangE first gained national attention in 2007 when his feature-length animated film, "We Are the Strange," premiered at Sundance. Since then, he's chronicled the making of his second film at his blog. I find that he regularly has words of wisdom like in this post.

Framed Ink Review

Another Christmas gift from my parents (love you guys!) is Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers by Marcos Mateu-Mestre, visual concept, animation layout and graphic novel artist whose credits include "Balto" and "The Prince of Egypt." I was so eager to absorb the information in this book that I opened it before Christmas.

I read it in one sitting and highly recommend it to filmmakers and comic artists. It's not a huge book but it's hugely packed with visual explanations of the text, each image clearly describing the principle being discussed. I especially liked the opening chapter, "General Thoughts on Narrative Art." He listed these priorities when approaching one's visual story:
1. What are we trying to say in our narration as a whole?
2. What mood do we want our audience to be in throughout the story and at any given time within a specific sequence or shot?
3. What is the function of this moment within the story?
4. How are we going to take our audience there?
5. What in our drawing is contributing to the general statement?
6. What can we leave out without changing what we are trying to say?

I'll be sure to keep all of the above in mind as I work on my film.

Rough Animatic 80% Done!

I'm at the end of the rough animatic now with only 9 out of 45 scenes needing to be completed.

At this rate, I will finish before my Sunday, January 23, 2011 deadline.

Then I make a NEW deadline for the NEXT step!

Keep it moving, folks!

Mark Kennedy's 3 C's of Story

Storyboard artist Mark Kennedy breaks down story to three C's: Clarity, Character and Conflict. He includes examples of Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee commercials to make his point. A helpful read.

Inspiring Read About the Creative Process

THIS article totally lit a fire under my butt! In the immediate aftermath of reading it, I completed almost six hours of work on my film's rough animatic, more than I'd done in the last two weeks.

Pen Densham—writer of "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" and writer/director of "Moll Flanders," among other accomplishments—describes how he gets past the self-doubt to allow the creative process to flow. Some highlights:

• Ignore advice that interferes with your natural process. What works for one may not work for another.

• Find your own "music": create from who YOU are instead of trying to be someone else.

• Recognize that the creative process is not a straight line; it often takes diversions to get to the final place you've envisioned.

• "Try to see your writing [creating] as adventure, imaginary play. Surrender to your instincts. The ideas will flow more easily." In other words, you can't force creativity and ideas.

• Don't worry about being totally original. There are only about seven plots from which all other stories are derived. "Creativity reinvents the world."

• Ignore your doubts, the internal critic.

Densham quotes copywriter Andrew Cavanagh's terrific advice about dealing with writer's block, advice that can be applied to any creative process.

These articles really spoke to me because I regularly allow too much self-doubt to creep into my brain. It's those doubts that push me away from my computer or drawing table to other activities like watching endless amounts of tv and movies, anything but creating. Too often I think that I'm going too slowly with my project or not doing one of the steps correctly…or something. What I'm slowly beginning to understand and internalize is that there's rarely one right way to be creative. Whatever process works for me is the process I should follow. There's always room for more efficiency but aside from that, I'm sticking to what WORKS.

More importantly, I'm training my brain to not care if "others" don't understand why my project is "taking so long." Every person who feels that way is NOT a creative person. They're not making something out of nothing, I AM! How would a non-animator possibly know how long it "should" take to make an animated film?! C'mon, man!! I tell them how long it takes, NOT the other way around!

Let's keep going!

Gag Cartoons

I've always entertained the idea of being a gag or editorial cartoonist. The idea of telling a story in one panel was an alluring challenge. I admire those who do it well.

I inadvertently created an opportunity for myself to create a weekly cartoon at my job. At first, I rejected the the idea of doing the cartoon myself despite my companion enthusiastically suggesting otherwise. I thought it would be too time-consuming during a period when I wanted to concentrate on improving my drawing and make films.

Then I started reading "The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Comic Genius of Comics" by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle. It was a Christmas present from my lovely parents (thank you, Mommy and Daddy!) that I hated having to put down. Not only is it full of wonderful Kurtzman art—roughs and finals—but the story of Kurtzman's professional career is fascinating.

I was struck by all of the different types of work Kurtzman did—posters, magazines, comics, advertising. He just kept drawing. It suddenly struck me that I need to do the same, just keep drawing. And doing a gag cartoon that requires no approval from anyone else is a GIFT! By giving myself a deadline of one finished cartoon per week, I'm forcing myself to stretch my creative muscles.

How silly of me to have almost passed on this tremendous opportunity! Although the cartoons I create are for my paying job and are therefore the property of my employer, I can still put them in my portfolio. So everyone wins!

Below are my original rough layout, where I was figuring out how to place all of the elements in the space so it communicates clearly. Below that is a rough pencil drawing that I will refine for the final. The text of the sign was typed in Photoshop.

Jerry Seinfeld's "Don't Break the Chain"

I downloaded this pdf file via the Writer's Store although I had to go through the motions of "purchasing" it (probably so they can collect information about me.) Technically, you can create it yourself easily in any page layout program or maybe even Word.


It's based on a productivity idea of Jerry Seinfeld's. Here's the blurb from the Writer's Store:


Years ago, when software developer Brad Isaac was performing stand-up at open mic nights, he received his best advice ever from the already-famous comedian.

Seinfeld explained his method for success: each January, he hangs a large year-at-a-glance calendar on his wall and, for every day he wrote new material, he had the exquisite pleasure that can only come from drawing a big red "X" over that day.

Drawing those Xs got to be pretty fun and rewarding, so he kept doing it. Eventually, he began to create a chain of red Xs.

The idea was to never break that chain.

Not only does this approach program the body and mind to sit down and write [or any other creative activity] daily – it also motivates you to continue that beautiful string of big, red Xs. If you don't write/draw, etc. one day, you don't get to draw the X.

It doesn't particularly matter what you write/draw, etc.. It can be anything, as long as you're actively and routinely pushing yourself.

The calendar pdf download is simply boxes numbered 1-365. I decided to use green check marks instead of red X's, it just feels friendlier. I might also use red X's to indicate the days I don't accomplish any work.

I still haven't decided if I'm going to do this for just the film, for a combination of the film and drawing practice, or separate ones for the film and drawing practice. When I decide, I'll post them so you can see the progress.