Friday, September 26, 2008

Television and Life








Back again! I decided to do some long overdue caricatures of two of my favourite shows which just started up again for their 5th seasons over the last two weeks. The Office's Dwight Schrute played by Rainn Wilson, and the amazing Dr. Gregory House played by Hugh Laurie. The House sketch still needs some work, and I'm going to keep attempting it - it's his smugness that I find hardest to capture. The third drawing is something I did while at a mall in Montreal over the weekend (went to visit some family) and I forgot my sketchbook in the car, so we were drinking coffee and I took that sleeve thing and just did a few quick sketches on there. Any crits (especially for the caricatures) are very welcome.

Just some stuff around the net I found interesting: James Robertson did a fantastic post about how he thinks about story as he dissected a short from a great film called "Paris, Je T'aime" - his passion for filmmaking and understanding of story and film structure really comes through. Go support him and comment so that he keeps doing them. Special congrats to my friends Vlad Kooperman and James Higuchi for placing first and second, respectively in the Most Promising category in the Teletoon Animation Scholarship which took place in Ottawa this past weekend. Last, but not least, is a little golden book that is now available on Amazon of Pixar's short PRESTO! and is illustrated by none other than the amazing Teddy Newton. That's all for now!
R.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Sorry...


Sorry for neglecting the blog for so long, I think this is the longest I've gone without posting since I started the thing, or maybe it was the stretch during the film. Thanks to all those who've been coming by, I really, really appreciate it. The above drawing was a quick drawing done just as I got off the subway.
Anyway, it's not like I haven't been drawing - I've been commuting downtown everyday, and as a result have been filling up a sketchbook a week, focusing on one aspect of a drawing that needs improving (read: all of them) at a time, be it faces/heads, hands, compositions, posing etc. Re-reading the Walt Stanchfield notes as well, and they're making a whole lot of new sense all of a sudden. Fantastic stuff. I've been spending the weekend getting around to scanning the sketchbooks and tying up some other loose ends, so hopefully by the end of the week I will do a large sketchdump.

Also, Ed Catmull is my hero, there's a new podcast of his that can be found here. Definitely worth a listen. Nick Sung, one of the most inspirational (to me) artists I've had the pleasure of speaking with, reminds us about the value of hard work something that's easy to forget, so a welcome reminder is always appreciated. There's been a lot going on, and once again I apologize for not being able to post more, but I'm back!! I promise! For a while, at least.
More on the way,
R.