A Work in Progress

I've been away from digital painting for far too long. And, here is a painting I'm working on now. It's in black and white because it's faster and easier for me to distinguish tones this way. Later I'll paint this in color. There are proportion issues in this portrait but, all of that will be worked on later. And, this is without any photo reference or a live model.

I'll post more as I finish them.

Story Shots - Emma Coats

Emma Coats was a story artist for Pixar animation studios. I found her tumbr sometime ago while surfing web for writing tutorials on how to write for animation and graphic novels. She's got really cool things to say about film-making and storyboarding in particular. What really got me interested in her tumbr was a post she did about writing. I found it posted somewhere else so I hope posting it here won't be an issue.

(Emma if you'd like me to delete this post please, comment about it on your tumblr and I'll delete it immediately.)

22 #storybasics I’ve picked up in my time at Pixar

I tweeted these forever ago, but the internet just noticed and I figure I should probably at least put them on my blog. I’m glad people are finding them useful.
Here they are, a mix of things learned from directors & coworkers at Pixar, listening to writers & directors talk about their craft, and via trial and error in the making of my own films.

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
#2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later.
#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
#22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

You can find more stuff I talk about on twitter as @lawnrocket - film and storytelling mostly. I try to keep the what-I-ate-for-lunch posts to a minimum.

http://storyshots.tumblr.com/

There is no intention of copyright infringement. This is for educational purposes only.

The Purpose of Storyboarding

 What I want to know is why is this not in HD or, at least in a high enough detail to draw from it?

Mark Andrews Cal Arts Lecture Notes

Just thought I'd post this because I've been posting storyboard templates to help the film and animation community. And, this will help a lot of people endeavoring to become storyboard artists. Also, I hope I won't get into trouble for posting these notes from Mark Andrews story-boarding class without permission. Oddly enough, most people I talk with about story-boarding have no idea what I'm referring to. These two videos will hopefully shed some light on the subject. Unfortunately, I haven't started on my boards yet. They are a comin'! I've been thinking about redoing some storyboards I started in college. From my collection, there's a least three stories I'd like to re-imagine as visual narratives. Or, I may use Mark Andrews suggestion from his class. We'll see how it goes. : )

The original videos of parts 1 & 2 can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmd7YIHUI5M and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ayjNzBnFXo

Yet Another Storyboard Sheet 1280 x 720 Ratio

Seems like I make these things just because they're fun to create. This one is for movies that are 1280 x 720 ratio.

More Storyboard Template Updates

The Japanese Storyboard Template was not as clear when printed so, I made some modifications to the original file. And, I've decided to update the NickToons Storyboard Template because the panels themselves were too small. Here are the updated versions.

Also, I'm thinking about creating another Japanese or, rather Korean storyboard template like the one LeSean Thomas used when storyboarding The Legend of Korra. I really need to buckle down and create some storyboards instead. Anywho, I might do because these things don't take very long to create. And, it's kinda fun. : )

You can check out who LeSean Thomas is and his work by following this link:
https://www.youtube.com/user/leseant/about

The Japanese Storyboard Template Needs MORE Fine Tuning

Today, I printed out some copies of the Japanese Storyboard Template. I'm not very happy with how light the lines are. So, I will darken some lines and make others thicker but, the format will stay the same. On the hand, the NickToons Storyboard Template looks great. So, there will probably be no more tinkering with that one.

Life Drawing After About 10 Years

 Before the session, I drew the monitor.

 After drawing the monitor, I drew another artist who sat there drawing.

 I went to my first life drawing session today in about ten years. And, I must say it was a refreshing to practice drawing from a nude figure again. As I walked inside the empty building I could hear the echo of my footsteps ring out. After a few minutes of searching for someone to ask about a parking permit I finally spoke up and asked if there was anyone there. From a side office a young attractive, raven haired woman of about 5'3" walked out. I was so hoping she was the model. Unfortunately, she wasn't. She told me where to park and gave me a parking permit. We made small talk about maybe she should take some art lessons there. She said, "No, I can't even draw a straight line." I should said, "It's not the straight lines that interest people in art its the squiggly curvy ones that grab their attention." And, then she showed me where the room is located for the three hour life drawing session. At that time, I had to go and tell the person who brought me there what time I would need to be picked up. When I got back, I saw this guy dressed in a business suit. He looked really an attorney. As I arrived in the room to draw the model I met one the artists that would be the pseudo monitor of the session. (He kept the time as far as letting model know the end of each timed pose.) Which he did a great job of doing. As he and I were speaking the man wearing the business suit comes in and introduces himself as the model. He then goes on to say he can pose clothed or nude. Its up to us. I was thinking, "I paid twenty dollars to draw somebody nude so, you better be disrobing soon, jack!" The monitor had a problem with an artist who showed up late and wanted to stir up something the length of the poses. The late artist thought all the poses were gonna be short poses. Before he came in, everyone had agreed on short poses of 15 seconds, 30 seconds, one minute, 5 minute, 10 minute poses. The later were of a longer duration. 20 o 30 minutes at a time.

Although, there's no frontal nudity in these drawings I must warn you they are nude drawings. If you don't want to see them don't click on the thumbnails.

Japanese Storyboard Template (FINAL)

I've tweaked this template again to include more of Gainax's storyboard concepts. Now, there's a way to pan from side to side. And, it should now have a completely white background. Again, feel free to distribute this template.

Please, give me credit for creating it for your use.

Japanese Storyboard Template (TWEAKED)

Here's the tweaked version of the Japanese Storyboard Template I created using Adobe Flash. I'm still not completely happy with it. So, I might create some functionality for it similar to one of my previous storyboards.

You may download and use these blank storyboard sheets as you see fit.

More tweaks for this storyboard template are on the way.

Nicktoons TV Ratio Storyboards

Back in the day, when I was in college Nickelodeon had a animation competition called Nicktoons. Unfortunately, I didn't apply for it. Although, I did learn about their requirements for the screen ratios for the videos they would accept. Here's another storyboard sheet for those of you so inclined to use it.

The second image is for you to know that the first image is a hi-rez printable image. You may download and use these blank storyboard sheets as you see fit.

I may upload some storyboards of my own later next week. : )

Japanese Storyboard Template (UNFINISHED)

I've been tinkering around with this little doodad for a while now. It's based on the storyboard format from the FLCL Storyboard Book by Gainax Animation Studios. This template is not exactly like theirs but, it's close. You can use it if you want to. If you're into storyboarding how the Japanese do it this should be self explanatory. If not, you'll have to look it up for yourself. I had to.

Yes, this was created in Adobe Flash 5.5. And, it's not done yet. There's some tweaks I'd still like to do. Unfortunately, I could not upload the .fla file to blogger. That would have been a great asset to anyone wanting to use the actual file to its fullest potential. Later, I may show some screen grabs of how it works so if you have Adobe or Macromedia Flash installed on your computer you can create this file yourself.