I Gotta Get Back to the Grind

I gotta bet back the grind. I gotta stay in the cave. My talent needs to be developed. Much of my free time will be spent on honing my craft. Starting with the fundamentals and moving into more complex ideologies of images creation. My dream is to work as a film director. In particular, an animation film director. When Brad Bird won the Oscar for The Incredibles with tears in my eyes I said, "Me too, me too." And, it's possible. There are many great artists out there who can draw circles around me but, I'm gonna keep plugging away at it and never stop improving my artistic skills. I mean this not only for creative endeavors but, for other areas of my life as well. I've been a slacker for far, far too long and I never want to go back to what I used to be. In the past, I had a down and out attitude about life. Someone I consider a close friend helped me to overcome some really paralyzing obstacles that I will forever be grateful for. She really doesn't understand what she's done for me. I hope I can help her in some way in the future to overcome whatever she's facing that needs to be overcome by her. Now, I'm working on getting and staying motivated because, I know there's a lot of work I need to do. The fundamentals of art are just the beginning. If I believe it, I can achieve it. By this time next week I will have a much better understanding of human anatomy than I do now. This begins today. NO MORE MEDIOCRITY!!!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EGWEUf9Xr8

I'm Posting this as a Reminder for Myself

I think all creative people have at some point in their lives had to deal with this issue. And, I am no exception. Procrastination is a problem I don't need and I am adamant to get rid of it from my life. My intention is not to plagiarize the writer of this original post but, to have access to this from my own blog if the original post ever gets deleted or moved to another server sometime in the future. The original link is: http://www.freelancersunion.org/blog/2013/01/15/five-tips-preventing-procrastination/ This post is ©2013 Freelancers Union. I don't not own the content of this post. I have posted it here for educational purposes. (As of the time of this writing this post I have not checked Jonathan Kastner's website so, I can not endorse anything else except this post.)

Editor's Note: Guest blogger Jonathan Kastner, LCSW, a psychotherapist in private practice in Manhattan and Brooklyn, helps people work towards achieving their personal and professional goals through cognitive-behavioral therapy and solution-focused therapy. www.JonathanKastner.com
We all know that the work of a freelancer can be incredibly fulfilling, and the lifestyle has many benefits. But sometimes, even for the most productive of freelancers, starting a project can seem overwhelming – and we delay for so long that it makes the job less fun and less rewarding. This can be called many things (blowing it off, messing around, taking a nap, puttering), but at its core, we're talking about procrastination. Procrastination is the bête noir of the motivated freelancer.
But fear not. By identifying and confronting some common dysfunctional thoughts that perpetuate procrastination, we can change the way we respond. The following suggestions are adapted from Dr. David Burns’ The Feeling Good Handbook.
Don't wait for the mood to strike. Let’s start at the beginning. Literally. Just starting a project can be a monumental task. Why?  Because work is work (as opposed to play) and work sucks, or it can feel that way in comparison to more exciting things such as shopping, going to the gym, napping, getting coffee, or checking Twitter. So, rather than sitting down and getting to business, we may instead decide to wait for when the mood strikes, unannounced, and then respond by creating/building/writing. It doesn’t happen that way. Waiting for such inspiration is more likely to result in panic than product. Prolific people don’t wait to be moved, they begin the work, and the work moves them to create more.
You're not lazy, but you might be scared. Procrastinators are not lazy people. Lazy people simply don’t care. Procrastinators often care too much and this can be an obstacle to productivity. The fear of failure can be paralyzing, and the simplest of decisions can feel like life or death. We are creative people, and this usually comes in handy, except when we allow our creativity to intersect with fear. Have you ever thought of all the ways that things could go wrong?  Has this ever been of any help?  Probably not. Unfortunately, we never allow ourselves to think of all the ways that things might go right. Halting the imagined worst-case scenarios, and injecting some optimism (or just realism) can do wonders.
Work isn’t easy. Work is only difficult for you. …Wrong! It only feels that way. When you believe that professional achievement comes easy to everyone else, you may conclude that something is wrong with you. That’s BS. Success doesn’t come easy to anyone. This is something you probably already know, but you might forget when you hit an obstacle. When you are in the midst of a block, or some other hurdle, it is important to remember back to the past when you successfully made it through to the other side. Reassurance that “this too shall pass” can sometimes be enough to provide enough breathing room to find a way through.
For the first pass, good enough is good enough. The desire for success is healthy. Even the aim for perfection can be healthy, but the constant demand for perfection is daunting, self-defeating, and ultimately unrewarding. I must complete this project perfectly. I need to do it all by myself. I have to make everyone happy. Albert Ellis, the father of cognitive therapy, describes this pattern of thinking as MUSTerbation. Wanting to be great is what inspires us to tackle formidable challenges, but to demand that we must do so perfectly is too much to bear. When we lower our standards (just a bit – we don’t need you in sweatpants all day) we can free ourselves to enjoy greater satisfaction and facilitate creativity.
Give yourself a little credit. Getting paid is nice, but it won't help with procrastination. It can be helpful to have little payoffs along the way to stay motivated. Otherwise, the promised rewards at the completion of a project may not be enough to keep you going. Work can be a slog, and if you provide a few incentives along the way, the marathon can feel more like several rewarding jogs.
We have all struggled with procrastination. By developing new patterns of thinking, it’s possible to avoid the pit-falls that have stalled us all at one point.

One of the Links Sites to See is a Dead Link

"Animation Archive Composition Tutorials" is the link in question. Which I'm about to delete from the list of  "Sites To See."I've looked up an alternative for this broken link. And, here it is: http://theanimationarchive.com/ From what I've gleaned from this site it's a lot like the other one. Also, I'll look up the actual website the other content was hosted on if it still exists. I hope it does.

TRON Fan Art

I've been thinking about drawing Korra from TRON: Legacy for some time now. And, since I've been playing around in Flash to create some Gif animations I thought why not use it to create some cool art of one of my favorite characters from the movie? So, here's the full size sketch. If I finish my portfolio paintings this weekend I may finish this and post it by this Sunday. I'm not promising but, it's an estimated time frame. :)

Concept Art Portfolio Process

I'm working on a Concept Artist Portfolio for entrance into the  video game, animation and film industries. Here's what I have so far. This painting was started a while ago for a friend's laptop computer but, I will take it into a new direction. There are three more paintings I'd like to finish by this weekend. I have the time so, it's doable. After they're done, I'll post them on my professional website and lo-rez versions here with a link to the professional site. I've got a lot of work ahead of me so I may not get the animated Gif images done this week. Have a great Holiday Season! Ciao. :-)

All artwork and other content posted on this blog is © 2013 Eric R. Watson unless otherwise indicated.  Do not use, reproduce, post, re-post, copy, or redistribute any images or other media posted to this blog without my written permission.

A Gif Animation of a Bouncing Ball

The other animation is a lot more involved than this one. Even though this seems simple; it really is the foundation for all character animated movement. Animating a ball can be as complex or, as simple as an artist wants it to be. It came out better than I thought it would. I used frame by frame symbolized vector animation for this. Next time, I'll upload some screen grabs from the animation session.

The animation itself is twenty-six frames long with two layers. One layer holds the horizon line and the lines that visually describe the ball's bouncing path. The ball is a symbol that I squashed and stretched to give it the illusion of life. This was animated using an antiquated version of Flash. Macromedia Flash MX.

All artwork and other content posted on this blog is © 2013 Eric R. Watson unless otherwise indicated.  Do not use, reproduce, post, re-post, copy, or redistribute any images or other media posted to this blog without my written permission.

Gif Animation in Macromedia Flash MX

These three sketches are extreme drawings in a short Gif animation I started working on today. I've wanted to play around with making Gif animations since I first found out about them many years ago. Flash is a superb animation software to create these little mini movies. Back in the day, I started using Macromedia Flash 5. At the time, I thought it was too complicated to learn. Now, I've got Adobe Flash CS 5 but, I'm not as familiar with it as I am Macromedia Flash MX. Although it's antiquated, it's a solid piece of animation software that I fully intend to push to create some pretty dazzling animated art. I'm keeping this very loose so I don't over work anything and to work quickly. The third drawing is a mirror image of the first drawing and it will need to be redrawn for more consistency. I'll color this and post both the line art and color versions later. I think I may start animating something every week and post it here.

More Sketches

This blog was originally intended to showcase my digital art and my non digital art was intended to be seen on a different blog. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the name of that blog and I'm not sure if my old sign on name and password will still work for it. Oh well.
Still practicing with the pen brushes. My skill with the pen bushes is not exactly where I want it to be but, it's not where it was a week ago. More sketches coming soon. :)

Animation Visual Library - an archive of reference materials for anatomy, models, and character/creature/costume design

I found this resource via the Flooby Nooby site. (Check my "Sites to See" section of my blog to access Floobynooby.blogspot.com.) Here's a huge collection of tutorials on mostly anything a character animator should need to get started in animation and graphic novels too. Here's the link.
http://www.pinterest.com/characterdesigh/

Now, I have some really great art to study and get inspired by. I'll be busy with some pretty amazing work for the next few weeks. Next year, I should have a personal project underway. It's a graphic novel and, I'm still writing the story. Although, its still in the planning stages it will get done hopefully by Spring. Sorry, I will not post any art from it here until its finnished and ready to post as a Web Comic.

I Have A Dream

This is a very motivational video. I really needed to hear this. When Brad Bird won an Oscar for the animated movie The Incredibles I tearfully said, "Me too. Me Too!" Today is the day I make the change that needs begin with me to create the kind of future I want no, need to see. I've had this dream of being an animation director since early childhood. Now many years later, I've almost forgotten how to get there. So many people are so much more talented than me. There's so much I don't know already but, that's okay. I will do what's necessary to get to where I've got to go. I will imagine myself living my dream each day until that dream is accomplished. Thank you lil sis for rekindling the fire. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-jwWYX7Jlo
Right Click and Open Link in New Tab to see the video in full screen.



This is something I found in the column to the right of the video above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYKsbld6LII
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This is just for inspiration purposes and gettin' hyped up! Hahaha!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuoBRVrkYqY
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z4Kft47kBM
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Just Some Sketches... Still Playing Around with the Pen Brushes

This was drawn and inked this evening. I've had some time to practice with these pen brushes and they are very nice. Unfortunately, I still need more practice with them before my line work looks anything like what I want it to. If only they had been available when I was a kid.

All artwork in this post is © 2013 Eric R. Watson.

I'm still getting used to inking with these pen brushes from Jetpens.com. The brush pens I use are very similar to the one pictured below. They're great for sketching and inking your artwork. And, they're not very expensive. Only $8.25. Also, I suggest you buy the Pentel Brush Pen Cartridge - Black Ink for $2.50. http://www.jetpens.com/

I'll post more art soon.

A Seemingly Short Excursion to the Grocery Store

A seemingly short excursion to the grocery store turned out to be a day long stay which I wasn't altogether unprepared for. You see, I brought along some things to do in case I couldn't draw people as they shopped. I had my trusty brush pens to draw gestures of people and mecha pencils to draw cartoon facial expressions if too many people figured out what I was doing. No, they don't transform. They're the mechanical variety instead of the mere old school wooden ones. I need to get back into using the wooden pencils when I want a more rendered look in my art. Unfortunately, I didn't draw any gestures with the pen brushes. The sketch pad I used for this foray into sketching on the fly is not ideal for this kind of thing. The ink doesn't dry as fast as I would like so, I spent a lot of time out and about today. Here's a drawing I did.

And, here's some cartooning I drew as I waited for the ink to dry. Some of the grocery store's staff complimented me on my art. Which I am thankful for but, I've got to get my skills up to where they should be now. My art has been on hiatus for way too many years and I should be much better and faster than I am now. Practice makes perfect. So, I'll eventually get to the level of draftsmanship I want to achieve.

More to come soon. I've been thinking about drawing revamped versions of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Urusei Yatsura - 'Lum, Those Obnoxious Aliens' for those of you who are not in the know. I also want to draw some art of some of my favorite 80s and 90s cartoons.

Also, here's a hairstyle I drew for "she who will remain nameless on this blog" from a horror movie I rented a while ago and she refuses to wear it. The haircut in the movie looks cooler than cool but, I didn't do it justice in these drawings. For some reason, I can't remember the title of the movie. Oh well. Enjoy the artwork. It's all freehand done with Adobe Photoshop using a Wacom tablet. This latter part of the post was drawn several months ago.

(All artwork in this post is Copyright 2013 Eric R. Watson.)

Some Sketches From 11-12-13.

Here's a sketch I did after work yesterday on receipt paper. I hope you like it. More to come soon. :)

A Few of the 30 Day Challenge Paintings.

 It was hard to sit still to paint this one as I've not painted anything in a long time.

 I've been drawing a lot of cartoon facial expressions so, this one was a joy to paint.

 As you can see I was just having fun with this one.

 This bears no likeness at all to the actress I painted this from. I'll rework it. If not, I'll do it over again.

 I like this color combination. :-)

 A fish hiding behind a rock.

This last one is about an anime character and a mech shrouded in shadow. The second one and last two are my personal favorites.

These are a few of my favorite paintings I'm working on for my 30 Day Challenge. Maybe, I'll post more in about a week or so. I'm using Colors DS in a Nintendo DS Lite. All artwork is copyrighted by me,  Eric R. Watson.

A Long Awaited Post.

Lately, I've been drawing a lot of cartoon facial expressions. The first one I drew on receipt paper at a restaurant. The other three are from my second cartoon expressions sketchbook. Jack Hamm's book on 'Cartooning the Head and Figure' is what I used to draw them. All artwork in this post is copyrighted by me, Eric R. Watson.

There's more cartooning and Colors DS paintings to come. :-)

30 Day Challenge: Well, Sort Of

Recently, a close friend of mine called me out on some things that she feels needs to change about my character. And, as a result of seeing a TED video about a computer programmer who decided to take a 30 Day Challenge to change something about his life in 30 days has inspired me to do the same.  I found it on Pixelovely.com while looking for photo reference to draw from. I will only talk about the artistic portion of this challenge not the more personal things she and I spoke about. I’ve had an issue with not being all that good at painting so this is a challenge for me to create three paintings a day for the next 30+ days starting today. I’ll post my work here. For about a week and half, I slacked off because of my work schedule and lack of real discipline. As a result of this, I’ll paint 143 paintings on my Nintendo DS using Colors DS over the course of 41 days. This is starting from about two weeks ago when I first announced the challenge to my friend and, not from today. Technically, I know close to nothing about how to effectively use color. I can paint but, to make a painting sing like some of the great artwork I’ve seen online is a different story altogether. I need to study and practice. That’s where this challenge comes into play. I finished my first painting this morning and plan to do more as the day goes on.

http://artists.pixelovely.com/30-day-challenge/

Also, I saw a video by Steven Silver that has inspired me to do great things not only with my art but, with life in general. He says, “What I am worrying about? What can I do about it? Here is what I’m going to do. When I am going to start doing it? What is the problem? What caused the problem? And, how do I find a solution to the problem?” The advice Stephen gives in the podcast is valuable not only for artists but, for anyone.

There is more. Watch the video. J

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOIp6Gckvgo

I Found This Cool Funny Video On Youtube Just Now

If you know me personally you'd know I've wanted to be an animator for most of my life. This video is a humorous behind the scenes look at what the creators of Phineas and Ferb do in their daily jobs. I look forward to doing the same. Unfortunately, I have never seen an episode of Phineas and Ferb so, I have no way of knowing if the show is something I'd like. I'll check it out on Youtube. :-)

PS
You want to double the click the video after clicking play to view in full screen mode to prevent cropping of the video. The following is the description of their video. No copyright infringement is intended.

Uploaded on Oct 19, 2011

The Phineas and Ferb "Animatin" rap music video is a humorous take on a day in the life of the show's co-creators and producers, Dan Povenmire and Jeff 'Swampy' as animators. Phineas and Ferb has gone from strength to strength since premiering in 2008, recently celebrating the premiere of its first feature length Disney Channel Original Movie, Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension. Currently in its third series, the show features brand new episodes starring Jamie Oliver and the spin-off series Take Two with Phineas and Ferb featured an appearance from David Beckham. The third season of Phineas and Ferb is currently on air on Disney XD.

Sorry for the Lack of Recent Updates - I'm Working on a Graphic Novel

I'm writing again. Although, this time it's a sci-fi graphic novel story. I really wanted it to be a tragic love story but, that's not where I wanted it to go. There are several ideas I'd like to see completed but, this one is definitely something I'd want to see in print if possible. This project is something I've never quite undertaken so I'm not an expert at any of it. I've told only a few people about this story so, I've got to get it done. My deadline is Christmas season 2013. I'll try to have hard copies for family and a close friend of mine to read hopefully by then. My mom probably won't read it because she doesn't read comics. I hope she'll read this one. There will probably not be any color in this book so the price of printing won't be very high. And, I can omit the laborious process of painting each panel at least until sometime next year.

C.C. thank you for your interest in my personal project. I really want you and I to hit Starbucks up so you can read my graphic novel and give me some real honest feed back on it. I'm very interested in what you as female reader will like about my story. Of course, I've got to get the thing copyrighted before you read it. :)

An Old Drawing from the 90s.

I've been thinking about using this drawing as the beginning of a painting. Not sure when I'll have the time to do it. Acrylics will be my medium of choice. And, I may post the finished piece here on this blog. Yeah, I know. The anatomy is off. All that will be fixed in the painting. I'm a much better artist now than I was then. :)

Flooby Nooby: An Animation Artist Resource Blog

It's not a one stop shop but, it is a great place to find a lot of animation resources and links to some really great content to ogle. Here's the link. http://floobynooby.blogspot.com/

Recently, I've started watching an internet show called "Bravest Warriors." It was created by Pendelton Ward. The same guy who created "Adventure Time." Yeah, that Pendelton Ward. Anywho, I'm really digging this super cool show. If you'd like to check it out here's the link. https://www.youtube.com/user/BravestWarriors And, here's the link to the studio that brings us both cartoons. http://frederator.com/ If you are an huber nerdie-nerd like me; you'll really want to get your hands on some of what I've got to show you. Fred Seibert, the man behind Frederator Studios has a Scribd account where he uploads scripts, storyboards, and books for anyone with a Scribd account to download and enjoy. So, what are you waiting for? Go out and enjoy some of this animation goodness. :)

A Storyboard Sheet I've Created Using Flash

I'm not only an artist but, a designer as well. The week of Christmas last year I had a cold and was sick and shut in. That gave me plenty of time to create a storyboard template in Flash to use as a paperless way to draw storyboards. I've been debating whether or not to post the .fla files for them. If I do I may have to post a video, as well. There's a bit of functionality that needs to be shown for people to use them. Included with the storyboard .fla file there's a scene that's set up as a Character Design Sheet. In addition to that there's a Beat Board scene to sketch out your ideas. Without any further adieu. Here's the .jpg file to oggle. :)

Also, I've uploaded this at full size so if you'd like to use this to print your own storyboards that's fine. This was copied from a storyboard I found online from Scribd.com. It's based on an actual Frederator storyboard of El Tigre. The title of which is: No Belt, No Boots, No Brero storyboarded by
Ricky Garduno. Unfortunately, Ricky passed away. I would have liked to sit and talk shop with him about his storyboarding experiences on El Tigre and Mucha Lucha. If someone would upload the full No Belt, No Boots, No Brero episode to Youtube, that would be great. I could then see how good the translation from storyboard to film was.

Here's the link where I found the story.
http://ownerofwendys.blogspot.com/2011/12/farewell-ricky-garduno.html
And, if you'd like the direct download link here it is.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/75127279/No-Belt-no-boots-no-brero

If you'd like to learn more about "Adventure Time" and "Bravest Warriors" by looking at the storyboards of these two animated shows here's somethings you really should have a look at.

http://frederator.com/ - Character Designs, Scripts, Storyboard, Concept Art, Interviews, etc.
http://www.scribd.com/fredseibert - Storyboards and Scripts. And, a little bit extra.

Sometime in the near future I'll post some storyboards drawn from some scripts I've found online. :)