I've been putting my "monster dad" character through the wringer, and wound up scrapping the old version entirely in favor of something more expressive, more limber, and more . . . well, just plain more fun to draw!
I can imagine this guy having a world of adventures beyond my current book project. I haven't even named him yet, but he's become a fast friend.
One thing I wanted to tackle this week was exploring whether my "monster dad" could act at all (I mean, drawing him once doesn't tell me much. Could I draw him again? In different poses? Could he emote at all? . . . and what kind of character was coming through?).
The first thing I discovered was that there's very little difference between a cow, a dinosaur, and my monster. But I want a design that's simple and likable. This may not be the final version, but I like it enough to stay in this basic "envelope" for now. More acting explorations ahead!
Illustration Friday's theme this week is "cocoon" . . . and the little monster tucked safely inside mommy's little tummy is about to birth a whole new project.
This is an early study for a children's book I'm cooking up, all about a little monster and his daddy. If you asked my son Max, he'd tell you it's autobiographical . . . and maybe it is.
After all, all the best stuff comes from taking the hidden stuff out of hiding.
Illustration Friday's theme this week is "ahead" . . . and what a perfect theme, since Zero2Illo's 12-week challenge is all about looking ahead. I'm still trying to find my way forward, but I'm having a ton of fun doing art along the way.
This little fella knows that whatever's out there, it's ahead. Let's go find it!
I was sorting through old family photos — dusty, archival stuff no one's seen in years — and came across this picture of my mother and her sister at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Apparently the zoo had just captured a Grønkle (at least, I think that was the name scribbled on the back of the photo!) and the girls had rushed right down to see the thing for themselves.
Illustration Friday's theme this week is "detective" . . . which was fine for my little monster, as he felt like quite the detective sneaking through the woods that snowy morning. Whatever that scent was swirling in the breeze, he was determined to find it, and then pounce on it, and eat it, because what else could a monster do? . . .
How time flies! It was January when I received my newly-minted diploma in Advanced Character Animation from Animation Mentor, and what a ride it was! I came to AM (Animation Mentor) knowing next to nothing, and now having graduated I know . . . that I love animation.
I really had no idea: no idea how many things are involved in making animation — not just concept and story and entertainment, or body kinetics and physics and timing and motion . . . animation is all these things and so much more. I had no idea 3D animators had to know how to draw (enough to plan and explore character and posing, at least that much!). No idea that animators are . . . well, actors! (that performance has to come from somewhere, right?). I really just had no idea.
And that's the beauty of Animation Mentor. They can take someone with no idea and teach them what they need to know — step-by-step, building on the basics — until they can put a film together.
It's time, then, to share my Animation Mentor film: "O, Lucky Day!"
I'll start with the animatic (which is just a rough assemblage of storyboard sketches, a good way to solve a lot of problems before animation begins):
"O, Lucky Day!" animatic from Justin Segal on Vimeo.
And now, the finished film:
"O, Lucky Day!" from Justin Segal on Vimeo.
Do the blood, sweat and tears show?
I can't wait to make the next one!
Illustration Friday's theme this week is "linked." This piece started out being about the links we all share (witness the telephone pole in the background), and wound up being about the more-important, smaller links between friends.
Really, this has been a week all about links and new friends, thanks to Jon Woodward's amazing 12-week challenge! Jon has brought so many people together to share and enjoy art, it's become a real happening. The feedback, the fun we're all having is incredible. If you're interested, it's not too late to join!
Illustration Friday's theme this week is "Dip" . . . one of those words that has so many different meanings. Just when I was thinking about a disastrous dip in the road or the dip of the Loch Ness Monster's back, my son Max came along and suggested someone dipping his foot in the water instead.
I always do what Max says.
Just saw "How to Train Your Dragon" . . . yup.
. . . another one of the coolest things about the blogosphere is everyone's not just blowing their own horn. Sure, we all want to tell the world when we've got something new to share, but mostly it's all about the back-and-forth, and that includes shouting about someone else's blog when you've discovered how awesome it is.
Susan Mordigal of Susan Beth Studio has given me the Renee Award, which acknowledges friends in cyberspace — people who've really been there with support or laughter or in a crunch, even if they're people who've we've only met . . . well, virtually. Whatever small support I've been able to give Susan, she's given me that back and then some (Susan herself has been given the Renee Award and it's richly deserved). Thanks, Susan!
Illustration Friday's theme this week is "rescue." Grandmother may think she's rescuing Little Red Riding Hood, but if you ask me, it's Red who needs rescuing from the blood-crazed, axe-wielding grandma. And where was PETA when the poor wolf needed a hand? Fairy tales are twisted, twisted things.
From the archives . . . a jungle meditation. I haven't done anything abstract for awhile, but I should. Abstractions are good for us. They force us to unfocus, to see into the middle-distance where our imagination dances free.
One of the wonderful things about the internet is how it levels the playing field. It doesn't matter whether you're the most-famous artist in the world or someone who does art just for themselves, just for fun. On the net, everyone's having a gallery opening, and no one has to eat those tiny squares of cheese . . .
. . . but even with that, there's something hard-wired into civilization that always asks: "what are you doing with it?" I'm sure some incredible Mayan artist carved a calendar wheel detailing humanity's fate til 2012 and his wife said: "Great, but instead of making one giant wheel, why don't you carve 100 tiny ones and we'll get rich for a change?!" . . .
Jonathan Woodward is an aspiring artist. If you check out his portfolio here, you'll see he's already very good and loving it. He's wanted to be a thriving, successful illustrator for at least half his life, and probably a lot longer. He's created and maintains a fantastic blog called "Zero 2 Illo" (check it here) which not only charts his own journey toward an illustrative career, but functions as a fantastic resource for all aspiring illustrators and creative types . . .
. . . but civilization is scratching its head again. Thus Jon has launched the 12-week challenge:
One of the greatest experiences I've had in my life is trekking through Nepal. I had a chance to explore the rich diversity of the country, from the cattle-choked metropolis of Kathmandu to the arid deserts bordering China in the North to the lush jungles approaching India in the south. But one of the highlights, above all, was hiking the 150-mile Annapurna Circuit, which many have called — hands down — the greatest trek in the world.
The Annapurna Circuit takes hikers from lush rice-paddy filled valleys, the Marsyangdi, up over Thorong La, a 17,769-foot high pass (higher than any place in the continental US) and back down into the Kali Gandaki valley, a wide, dust-filled journey between cliffs that's mystical and magical and exhausting and ... wonderful.
And now ... it's being paved over with a road.
Sorry for the lag in posting. A special thanks — huge thanks! — to those of you who came calling to see if everything was ok or to kick me in the arse to get more artwork on the blog! I love that! . . .
. . . the truth is, I've been in one of those slumps where nothing I produce pleases me. Everything I've sketched or painted the past couple weeks I've sniffed my nose at — even throwing away digital files after Photoshop paints and all. It's all part of the process, I know . . . this business of trying things and trying again. Not everything is going to work for me — especially since you've got to fail to succeed, and I'm still very new in the process of exploring and discovering my style, etc . . .
Enough with the complaints. I'm getting an iPad in a couple weeks, so I'm super-excited about being able to sketch and paint directly onscreen. Expect a flood of new explorations!
Here's a quick sketch for Illustration Friday's challenge this week: Expired.
If there's one thing that fascinates me above all else, it's strange and unexplained things in our world. In that category falls all kinds of things — UFOs and why our Moon "rings" like a hollow bell when struck, for example (NASA did a test on this during the Apollo landings). Then there's the mysterious disappearance of David Lang, which occupies a curious corner of my mind . . .
Lang was a Tennessee farmer in the 1880s, quite normal in every way until the day he walked into his fields and — in full view of his wife, children, brother-in-law and a local Judge — vanished into thin air! One moment he was there; the next, gone.
There was no trace of him on the spot he vanished, no hole in the ground, nothing at all except . . . the grass where he disappeared grew higher and thicker than anywhere else, and no animal would go near it. His family called out for him, and could hear his voice calling back, calling for help, but the calls grew fainter and eventually faded away. David Lang was never seen again.
Had he slipped into another dimension? Been abducted by some invisible beam? No one knows. Whatever happened to him, one thing is certain: he was a brave pioneer into mysterious new worlds. And that's Illustration Friday's word for this week: brave.
Art Jumble's theme this week is "Thor" . . . and while this isn't quite Stan Lee's version, it definitely owes something to his creation. Doesn't everything owe something to Stan Lee, after all? . . .
A short while back my friend Andrew Finnie awarded me the bald-faced liar Creative Writer's Award, the rules of which state I tell 6 "bald-faced" lies about myself and one surprising truth. It's time to reveal the truth!
Illustration Friday's theme this week is "perspective" . . . which is cool, because there literally IS no such thing as one single perspective — everybody has their own view on things, even if they think they're looking at the exact same thing. It got me thinking about shifting points of view and how people see what they want to see . . .
Somehow, that got me pondering how monkeys feel when they've been caged for scientific experiments. It's a subject that's always torn at me. I always feel bad for the monkeys.
Monday Artday's challenge this week is "Winter Games!" . . . and with the Vancouver Olympics still in full swing, I can image people everywhere are getting into the "gaming" spirit!
I've been blessed and I've been cursed. Sir Andrew Finnie has awarded me the bald-faced liar Creative Writer Award for entertaining my readers and making them laugh!
Illustration Friday's theme this week is "propagate" . . . which immediately brought to mind a pastoral image of laundry fluttering on the line, row after row of laundry in a quaint domestic scene. It was a beautiful, tranquil image [ sigh ] . . . but then, I decided to sketch something that made me laugh instead!
Illustration Friday's theme this week is "adrift" . . . I think there's nothing better than mixing Old World low-tech stuff with the future (steampunk rules!), so the image of a tiny wooden river raft drifting through space immediately came to mind . . .
I came across this little cartoon while digging through the piles of work from Animation Mentor. This was done just for fun — kinda an in-house gag for animators. It makes me miss the times when I used to cartoon regularly . . . the comic muse is calling me!
Nice Justin! I sad when I saw on Twitter that you changed him but I can see why! Definitely much more fun!
Thanks, Danielle! ... I could imagine animating this guy, and that's all the street cred he needs!
I think he's really great Justin. I wasn't sure about him at first but he has grown on me. Did you change him at all? Maybe he just seemed so much younger than the first guy, anyway he works nicely with the wife character. I love the stripes! You are just working away and I am bogged down and can't get anything done. IT's soooooooooo frustrating. Love the direction your characters are going in. I can definitely see them animated. Who knows they may be the next "Spongebob Squarepants"
He is great Justin and I totally agree with you about being able to see this one animated! Just a wonderful character design and he suits mommy much better than the other dad. They actually seem to be a couple!
..he is wonderful justin..come on..i want to see him animated..
Justin - Fantastic! I agree with the comment above - he seems younger and more spry. (Maybe less middle-age is bogging him down-ish)More quirky and less dopey. (no offense to the prior monster dad because he is fun too - maybe he could be a lovable cousin or goofy neighbor?!) This new guy though.... he creates interest and curiosity and... anticipation! Nicely done.
awesome, Karen!
... change is so difficult in creative projects, isn't it? Just when you get attached to something, it changes — but I've learned to embrace change, always looking for the best way forward!
I'll swing by and see what's bogging you down. Keep at it — breakthroughs happen inch-by-inch!
Hee hee ... you cracked me up, Maria ... tho I had the exact same thought — that I could imagine these two monsters actually being a couple (with the "old" monster dad, I actually found myself wondering: "what the heck is she doing with HIM?! She could have any monster she wants!").
story first, anil ... but it's on my mind, for sure!
great feedback, Shana — thanks!
... I do kinda think the "old" monster dad will make an appearance somewhere. Then those in the know can say: "that guy ... the fat one in the back ... you know, he used to BE monster dad, but he got replaced!"
It's a rough world, even for monsters.
Bro, these are great! I'd say don't phase out old monster yet - they could be brothers, running around throwing things at each other, like the good ol' days. Fat monster always vying for the attention of the ladies, sulking in the background. Until he meets super-hot curvy monster babe and everybody wins!
人有兩眼一舌，是為了觀察倍於說話的緣故。..................................................
Josh, sounds like I need to come to you if I get stuck on story ... lookit you go, man!
Hey Justin, you know I can see him as your self portrait, now don't be shy :)
Just incredable how your breath life into these little fellows, how they are so affable and likeable (Is that a tautology?)
For an animation? All you are missing is the tweeners I guess.
cheers
Hey Finn ... are ye saying I'm a monster?! (ok, the secret's out) ...
... still learning on the "life-breathing" stuff, but it's so fun to do a drawing and then do it again, trying to push everything further, loosen it up, etc. etc.
Thanks for the feedback!
Google translates the Chinese above as:
"People have eyes of a tongue, is the observation times for the sake of talking."
... what a curious comment!
Lol, sounds like the wise (but uninterpretable) words of some old man .. =D
Love the new design, 'specially cause I'm a sucker for stripes. I agree with you (and everyone else) that this guy looks a lot more mobile and emotive! :)
awesome, Jose! ... now I'm trying to remember how many striped marshmallows I've seen—
Your monster-dad is great, but you know, I kind of have the sweets for his monster-girlfriend. I think she is the perfect combo of feminine and monster and motherly. Nice work!
thank, Janne!
I kinda have a "thing" for her, too ...
(maybe it's that Breck-girl hairdo!)