A while back I started constantly yammering to anyone unfortunate enough to be around me about how I'd like to produce animation. I had started writing down and refining some concepts, when I realized how many more things were involved. I mentioned in my previous update that my ability to draw is somewhere around the "embarrassingly bad" level. The closest I came to drawing experience was an offensively bad stick figure comic I had the audacity to put on the internet when I was 16. As it turns out, drawing is kind of relevant to animation. Learning to draw is a relatively cheap activity, and usually doesn't involve bears, for the most part. Why not try?
Because the artwork of a beginner is hilariously bad, usually.
After hours of youtube tutorials and looking at pictures of naked people (anatomy research, you understand), I was ready to start. First challenge; human face.
So, ears, I guess.
Ok, well, while that is a bit off-putting at first, I wouldn't go so far as to say it's terrible. I'm sure it would at least get a stiff smile and a "Good effort, keep trying!" from an art teacher. After this it was time to take a stab at some bodies. Drawing them, I mean.
Aside from the moderately ridiculous proportions on that poor woman, this also wasn't quite horrible. I'll say this, though; hands are a total motherfucker. You would think something I use all-day every-day might be a little easier to visualize and draw. At least I was able to communicate a feeling of a strong wind on an emo kid, coupled with the angst of handlessness. After this drawing I thought it might be a smart idea to go a little more cartoony, so I can pretend the hilarity is completely intentional.
This guy is Billy Hunt, a character from a show I've been obsessing over writing. I sketched out this first draft of him with only a vague idea of what he would look like, and so far he's way less of a disaster than I would have figured. The more musically astute among you might notice his name is a deadly song by a deadly band called The Jam. The less musically astute among you are lucky, because holy shit, you just heard about The Jam! Go to youtube right now, dude! Listen to some Jam! I was pretty happy after drawing this guy, because even my fantastic power of self-deprecation had to admit that there was visible progress.
I don't even know what to say about this one
After Billy came this, which I didn't really know at the time, turned out to be a different version of the main character of the awful internet comic I made so long ago. I have to admit I was pretty pleased after this, the body is intentionally minimal and there's still the problem of the ol' flipper hands, but that face! I'm so self-satisfied I might just go waste time on video games.
So, there's a little bit of what I'm doing as far as trying to learn to draw. Journey of a thousand miles etc. etc., but I'm hoping to occasionally have some more improvement to put on here. Since I left you last week with a song by Ben and me, this time you get a song written and performed by Ben and his brother John Ross, and I swear it's the punkest fucking thing you'll ever hear.
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