Thoughts on Life Drawing

The human form is one of the hardest things for an artist to master. It is incredibly complex—the hundreds of bones and muscles in the body can twist and pull into an infinite combination of expressive poses. In addition, people come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. It’s important for an artist to study different body types so he can convincingly illustrate characters with variety and personality

The best way to master the human form is simply to draw it…again and again and again. To keep my skills from getting dull I regularly attend drawing co-ops in my city (a co-op is simply a group of artists getting together to draw real live models). Although I’m a cartoonist, I consider life drawing to be one of the most important and helpful exercises I can do. The more I understand the human form, the easier it is for me to simplify and exaggerate it with cartooning.

It’s hard to understate the value of drawing from life. Photographs can be helpful, and there are some good reference books out there for artists. But because photos are 2D they tend to flatten the form. Also, because a photograph is permanently frozen it can suck some of the life out of a pose. For the serious artist, nothing beats the freshness and energy of drawing from a live model. Drawing from a photo is like eating reheated leftovers rather than fresh food hot off the stove.

However, as much as I believe in it there’s one part of the life drawing tradition I’ve never understood.

Misc. Links

This is shaping up to be one of my busiest weeks as a freelancer in quite a while. This blog is a big priority for me, but clients always come first. In lieu of writing a fresh post today, I’m forced to do some recycling.

Here’s a few interesting links I originally posted way back in 2005/2006, which you may or may not have seen. Hopefully I can write up a fresh blog post tomorrow:

Animation Podcast – A terrific collection of interviews with some of the industry’s top animators, past and present. New episodes are few and far between, but they are always worth waiting for.

How To Be A Cartoonist – A helpful article by Chris Browne, the artist behind “Hagar the Horrible”.

Evolution: The Case Of The Exploding Bugs – Piggy-backing on last week’s post about Expelled!, Ben Stien’s excellent new documentary about the battle between evolution and intelligent design, here’s a short but fascinating video clip from a series called “Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution”.

Fi-Fi’s Mind Reading Tricks – See if you can figure out how it’s done!

Photoshop Contest – Participants were asked to “update” iconic or classic photos using Photoshop. Fun stuff!

Interactive Facial Anatomy for Artists – Artnatomy is a fascinating website that uses Flash to help artists understand how the muscles of the face communicate emotion.

Deadline Crunch

I’ve got a mountain of freelance work to do this week, so unfortunately there is no blog post today. Should have something tomorrow, though.

Before you leave, don’t forget to visit some of the fantastically awesome Art Blogs listed over in the left-hand column.

Illustration Friday: Wrinkles

Illustration Friday is a fun website for artists. Every Friday a new topic or keyword is posted, and artists are encouraged to sketch or illustrate anything they want to based on that topic. Some artists (such as Guy Francis) will really get creative and treat it like a professional assignment, putting a clever or goofy twist on the theme. There aren’t really any rules, so you can take any twist on the theme that you’d like.

I wish I had time to take part regularly, but I don’t. This week’s theme is “Wrinkles”, and I couldn’t pass it up. I love drawing old guys; their faces are so full of character. So I’ve cobbled together some misc. sketches of elderly men from my various sketchbooks. Some have appeared on this blog before, but at least one (upper left) is new.

Hopefully in the near future things will slow down enough for me to really sink my teeth into an Illustration Friday project. It would be loads of fun.

Copyright or Copywrong?

In case you haven’t heard, there’s legislation moving through Congress that could have serious negative consequences for artists. It’s called the Orphan Works Act, and if passed it would radically change copyright law and seriously water down the legal protections artists currently enjoy.

My friend and fellow blogger Tom Richmond did a terrific job explaining the dangers of the Orphan Works Act when it first came before Congress in 2006. It’s back again, and at the risk of sounding like Chicken Little let me say that if you make a living as an artist you need to educate yourself about this serious issue.

The Illustrator’s Partnership is a group of artists and illustrators dedicated to fighting the Orphan Works Act. I strongly urge you to visit their website. You might also want to listen to a recent audio interview with award-winning illustrator Brad Holland as he explains what’s going on and why the Orphan Work Act is serious.

(EDIT: Tom Richmond has just written a post clearing up six “myths” about the Orphan Works Act. Worth reading!)

Networking For Dummies

As the saying goes, it’s not just what you know; it’s who you know.

When it comes to making connections and finding new clients, there is only so much you can do online or through the mail. At some point every freelancer needs to get out there and make face-to-face connections with potential clients. If you aren’t networking, you should be.

Many creative types struggle with networking, myself included. I’m shy and introverted. I’m much happier alone in my cave than out there mingling with people. I don’t like making small talk, and there are many things I would rather do than spend my time shaking the hands of strangers and trying to sell my services.

I do it anyway, because networking is one of the most effective ways I know of to make connections and land new clients.

I’m still a beginner at networking, so I’ve been researching what works and what doesn’t and learning how I can make the process less stressful, even fun. Here’s a few tips and tricks I’ve learned that have worked for me:

Sketchbook Update

Here’s a few recent doodles from my sketchbook, including an attempt at caricaturing Norm Peterson from Cheers. (Caricature is not my strong suit.)

MicroCon is Coming!

Attention Minnesota comic book and animation fans! MicroCon 2008 is returning to the State Fairgrounds on Sunday, April 27.

MicroCon is Minnesota’s second largest comic book convention (the largest being FallCon, a two-day event in October). It’s a fun gathering of artists, retailers, and fans. Expect to see dozens of artists including pencillers and inkers from Marvel and DC, local animators, and even a few freelance illustrators. There will also be plenty of dealers selling/trading comics and toys, and some fun door prizes. Here’s my post about last year’s MicroCon.

As always I’ll have a table and be showcasing some of my artwork. Stop by and say “hi”!

MicroCon is this Sunday, April 27 from 10am-4pm. The first 500 visitors get a free grab bag of assorted goodies. More info at the official MicroCon website.

“Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” Opens Tonight

I generally try to keep this blog about art-related topics, but every once in a while something completely unrelated grabs my attention. I beg your indulgence.

Do you ever look up at the stars and wonder, “How on earth did we humans ever get here in the first place? Were we created by God, or did we evolve on our own from a puddle of goo zillions of years ago?”

It’s an important question with big implications, and is certainly worthy of discussion and debate. However, the scientific and educational establishments don’t always see it that way. In many intellectual circles Darwin’s theory of evolution is the only legitimate explanation for the origin of life, period.

Actor, businessman, and columnist Ben Stein (best known for his comedic role in Ferris Beuller’s Day Off) has produced a very serious documentary about the debate between Intellgent Design and Evolution. In Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed he claims that scientists and educators put their careers at risk if they dare question Darwin’s theories, or worse, subscribe to the idea that the universe just may have been designed by an intelligent Creator. For many scientists and scholars, to publicly challenge Darwin’s secular ideology can be nothing short of career suicide.

I think Stein is on to something.

Lest you think Stein is just one of those conservative right-wing “nut-jobs”, consider the following: He is not a Christian (he’s Jewish); he’s a respected columnist whose writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times; and last year he gave $2,000 to the Senate campaign of the ultra-liberal Al Frankin. Stein hardly fits the stereotype of a religious “fanatic”.

Here’s the trailer for Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed:

This looks extremely interesting to me. [EDIT: I heard an interview with Stein on the radio today where he stated that Expelled has very high production values (as documentaries go) and in terms of cost-per-minute it is possibly the most expensive documentary ever made. There's even a sequence that is all-animation.]

As I’ve written before (here and here), while I’m not a scientist it seems clear that there are serious scientific problems with the theory of evolution, problems that are worth discussing. The question of how we human beings came to be is an important one with huge implications. Unfortunately, it’s not only risky for some to question Darwinism publicly but it’s even illegal to teach anything but evolution in some public schools. (If you think I am overstating the case, read this news story).

Stein’s message is one that I think needs to be heard. Of course Michael Moore, Al Gore, and James Cameron have all shown us how easy it is for documentary filmmakers to play fast and loose with the facts. I hope Stein will do better, but I will be watching Expelled with a critical eye just in case. At the very least, Expelled should create lots of discussion and inject some new energy into a very important debate

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (official site) premieres tonight in movie theaters nationwide.

[EDIT: I've seen the movie and it's very well done. Much better than I thought it would be. Intelligent, thought-provoking, captivating, and sprinkled with humor. No matter which side of the debate you are on, this one is a must-see!]

Animation Notes From Ollie Johnston and John Lasseter

The passing of legendary Disney animator Ollie Johnston has stirred a lot of emotion, memories, and discussion among animators and animation fans. In that spirit fellow Minnesotan Robbie Halvorson sent me a link to some of Ollie’s notes on animation. The notes came from Disney animator G. Scott Owen Pixar’s John Lasseter, who writes:

When I was an animator at the Disney Studios, I had a xeroxed list of simple notes from one of the great Disney animators, Ollie Johnston, pinned to my drawing table. The list was originally written down by another great Disney animator, Glen Keane, after working as Ollie’s assistant for a few years.

Robbie also sent me a link to some more notes on animation, also attributed to Pixar’s John Lasseter:

Tricks To Animating Characters With A Computer

These notes are loaded with valuable information and highly worth reading. And they aren’t strictly for animators only. Much of the information can also apply to anyone (like myself) who works in humorous illustration or cartooning.