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I thought it was time to post a photograph. Since I happened on this old photo of my daughter I thought I’d share. I always liked this photo, daughter aside but also because it has a freshness I like. Now that I look at it nearly two decades later I still like it for that reason.

I remember my first 35 mm camera. A friend I meet in France noticed I liked photography and introduced me to the real world of camera formats by letting me use his inexpensive fixed lens 35mm. Upon returning to the states I bought a Pentax K1000, a real workhorse which I took this with. You’ve probably heard others say the same but I have to say it too…I miss the format compared to digital.

Taken during me and my daughter’s walks. Note; our friend above is “boiling” mad.

I haven’t a name for her tribe yet. Ursa’s character relates to Abominable.

Tagged: Allen Capoferri, Art, character design, Childhood, Childrens Storybook, Illustration, people sketches

Tagged: Allen Capoferri, Aquatic Life, Art, character design, Funny, Humor, Illustration, Pre-Vis

Hey..have a pleasant Fathers Day if I don’t see you again. If you know what I mean.

Above is a vis dev story beat for A Fish Story. For those of you not familiar with the terminology “vis dev” is short for visual development. A “story beat” is an important part of the story…one that “drives the characters”.  These are all terms in “previs” which is short for pre-visualization.

My daughter said the drawing reminded her of the “original Cinderella story. You know, the Chinese folktale?” I never heard of this.

I recently finished revising my website to a more streamlined version. Allen’s Online Portfolio. My blog seems to be the best way to let people know I’ve done so.

A little history about the image above since it now has. It was shown at the exhibition at the Nagashima Museum in Kagoshima, Japan. This is the link for the post about it quite a while back…Kagoshima.

Tagged: Allen Capoferri, antagonist, Anti-Heroine, Art, character design, Illustration

I continue to be very busy but I’d like to share photos I took recently on an excursion and a few films worth seeing. The first revisited again, for I think 4th time is, The Year of Living Dangerously. Of course you’ve seen it. Vangelis’ music still runs shivers down by back. Proof 1991, also an Australian film and Hukkle 2002 a Hungarian film. Something old, something new, something blue”, nothing borrowed.

Here’s some initial photos I received of the 2011 Vietnam International Illustration Exhibition sponsored by The Korea Society of Illustration Research in Hanoi. Once again I’d like thank my friend and major coordinator of this and previous exhibits Jae Chang. It was suggested this year’s exhibition location was more exotic, less modern atmosphere compared with the previous exhibitions in Kagoshima, Japan 2010 and the 2009 exhibition in Bangkok, Thailand. I imagined it would look something like what you see above. I’m told more photos will be forthcoming. I’ll share them on this post when I receive them.

2 Comments on Hanoi Exhibition, last added: 3/23/2011

Recent page from my sketchbook. Some may have noticed my absence from the blogosphere recently. Not only was I too busy when I had a moment I had to pause and reflect about the news coming from Japan. So in this post I want to convey…my thoughts are with friends and others who are there.

In the morning one of the first things I do is grab my sketchbook, subsequently dream/s from the previous night are often what shows up in my sketchbook. I felt my daughter, who was in one of the dreams, would find it interesting to see this. She laughed and asked who the fun character was. She said, “Is he like a Japanese gangster of some sort?” She also said she, “Felt secure in the fact that I will never become a chain smoker.” I’m sure. It’s cut off and so not clear but in the dream it was her coworker who was the chain smoker. If you like click on the image to see an enlargement.

Another sketchbook aquatic character design for A Fish Story finished in Photoshop.

Done today at a local bookstore, this a good example of what I referred to in my previous post “More People Sketches.” By taking a visual snapshot of, I guess we can use the word subject here, then applying what you already know about drawing you can draw the subject from any angle. Imagination is important. Should anyone have told you should draw a human anatomically without imagination needs to look at a doctor’s drawing to see how wrong that is.

While considering a title for this post I remembered occasions in the past when I’d draw people in public. I’ve heard of different names for this kind of drawing people in natural settings. One is “Cafe Drawings”. Not really an appropriate name for where I draw though. The alternative is sitting in an art class with fifty or sixty other people drawing a model in a pose you may have seen a hundred times before…and they look like they’ve done it hundred times before. Although you learn it does get stale..fast.

You can only get good drawings of people in completely relaxed environments. People are different when they know their being observed. I’ve always been a people watcher and feel being a good observer is an essential ingredient to being a good artist. Something funny I recall is once I was at one of my favorite places, Huntington Gardens. I was on a bench drawing people at the entrance a few down from where tours of the garden were given. One conscientious tour person asked if I was waiting for a tour. I made the mistake of being forthcoming with her. She said “Are you telling them your drawing them?” I can only remember smiling. How would you respond to a question like that? Considering this I guess you could call this post “Surreptitious Sketching”.