sonjebasaland

Supplies

2012-01-26T22:07:00.000-08:00

Did some visual aids for the suggested supplies students will need this semester, because reading it off the syllabus was just not cool enough.Col-Erase pencils; the blue and the Carmine red, because the scarlet red isn't really red but more orange-y. I think there is secret guerrilla police force that will club you senseless if you use yellow, light/lime green, or light violet. Who would blame them? Yellow colored pencil indeed. Prismacolor pencils, specifically PC935 black, I love you PC935. China markers/grease pencils, when used with SMOOTH newsprint (below) it's magical. X-acto knife to sharpen with.
Random pens. Low maintenance on supplies, use what works.Brush pens and other pens. I really like the Faber-Castell PITT pens. They cost more...
Smooth newsprint SMOOTH...because we all know there is big difference between smooth and rough. I mean roads...smooth roads and rough roads...rough roads are really bumpy...what were you thinking about?Animation peg bar.Animation paper.A light box as sold on Amazon.com
A lot of time to devote to your work. Is this not a cool clock?Something to keep you awake and working-pick your poison. Me, I love Peet's as you can tell by the image above which I shamefully stole but don't remember where I got it from (apparently from somebody named Clemson's Flickr account. Sorry Clemson.

This really doesn't need a caption does it?
That's right, soap. I know you guys stay up all night working of your assignments but one word; HYGIENE people! Bleah....And a sorry card like this one. Because you'll be working and will miss a date...or two...or three or fourty-seven. Have fun and rewarding semester.

Classes start Thursday!

2012-01-24T23:16:00.001-08:00

Yay! I have to say I've been looking forward to getting back to teaching. young minds, be ready for major warp-age. Here's this semester's welcome card:Which I shamefully stole from this Pulp Cover. Bad me, bad, bad.
And just to make the authors of SOPA cringe...Drop in and say hi, and thanks for stopping by.

Model Sheets Continued

2012-01-23T13:48:00.001-08:00

Working on stuff...
And right after posting this, I realized how still the waking bear is and whipped out a more silhouetted one. This goes back to the comment, "Push it." Guess I outa play the music...you know.

Happy New Year! Welcome 2012

2012-01-02T20:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight's sunset in San Jose CA

Santa 2011 WIP

2011-12-22T00:00:00.001-08:00

Probably ain't going to happen before Christmas. I'll try though, keep an eye out in your mailboxes...

38 minutes (or less)

2011-12-15T17:50:00.000-08:00

Lemon with a little time after my my thirty minute limit for some corrections. Added seeds etc. Gotta work a little on these. Added this lemon on 01/10/2012 to the original post from 12/15/2011...

And an apple, painted with no stylus on a lap top. Hats off to you folks who can use this stupid lap top mouse/track pad to create stuff, I just found it annoying. Waiting to give my next final, work from the first final was awesome. Students, you rocked it. Have a great winter break (had a great winter break)

Okay any body else who wasn't an artist would be offended if somebody told them their apples weren't round enough (guys, DO NOT say this on a date) but I took it as a challenge and tried to fix my apple in under a minute and here is what I got. Admittedly I fixed it with my stylus on my own machine but now my apple is more round. Round apples..teehee...Ahem. As seen above as done on Jan 12, 2012.

Working on a senses book continued...

2011-12-12T14:42:00.000-08:00

Black and white images for the senses book. More to come.

All of the books in this series have a comic book. One day I may actually get good at doing them, not going to hold my breath though.

So, what would you like?

2011-12-10T14:54:00.001-08:00

"42-the answer to life, the universe and everything."

Good afternoon, and I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season, finals, or end of 2011.
I'd like to give a shout out to the 42 followers of this blog, even though it looks like one of you is following it twice - which is a little weird but what the heck) thanks for believing this blog is worthy enough to keep looking at. Even if you're not a follower of this blog, thanks for stopping by.

Anyway, I plan to revamp some of the posts here or post new, uh, posts starting with "How to Draw a turnaround" which was posted in 2008. I would love to hear what you'd like to know or to see up here in Sonjebasaland and if I can in some way address a topic for you (hopefully in a way that doesn't suck). Thank you for your support and interest in this little blog. Have fun drawing! Happy Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas, happy Kwanzaa, happy Boxing Day, & so many others that there is not enough room to type here and here's to a good new year,on whatever date you enjoy celebrating.
-Jeff

Anatomy: "eyes and ears and mo-uth and nose..."

2011-12-02T16:09:00.000-08:00

Stuff I get to work on, anatomical diagrams (unlabeled) for a book.
A brain too. (just so I get hits from zombies)

The 'Orizon Be Near, Lads!

2011-11-13T23:35:00.000-08:00

Thar be but little more 'en four weeks left of t' fall s'mester me hearties. Wind be t' yer sails!

You must be this tall...er...short to save the earth.

2011-11-11T23:28:00.000-08:00

Due to a recent accident we had to go out trying on cars. So here is today's review of car shopping: Honda only makes cars for teeny people and they have strange names for their cars; the Insight would have worked if the seat went about a foot further back but the Hybrid (a hybrid -sort of like naming your child "Human") is built to accommodate people who reach 2.5 feet tall or less.
The Volt is about as un-American sized as it can get. Caterpillars probably could drive the Leaf. Ford makes cars for big sized people rather than elves and fairies but to get a hybrid means to get the high end/fully loaded highest priced car on the lot. (same with Chevy...but for smallish people). Prius (the regular one - er -2, 3, 5 take your pick) has this console thingy that takes up the entire front seat portion of the car (elves and fairies again) but the Camry hybrid seems okay and the Prius v is the biggest/roomiest of the bunch but pricey. So my final thoughts for the day are, "Only wee wittle folk with pockets full of gold drive cars that are supposed to be "green" and not a single one of these hybrid actually comes in the color green. More on this later. It WAS quite funny to walk into Toyota as two men shorter than my wife came up and I said, "I need to see if I will fit in a Prius." Both of their faces fell.

Sorry no helpful posts today.

Costume Simplification

2011-11-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

Welcome back. In one class, my students are assigned their final project on the first day of class and that assignment is to conceptualize and bring to finish two characters which fit into what I call the "Dynamic Duo" two characters who are either 'lovers', 'buddies' or 'arch nemesis'. In the process of designing characters, we discuss the fundamentals of figure drawing, cloth, staging and so forth (many notes of which are posted throughout this blog). In a recent class we discussed simplifying the details of their characters. I am a big proponent of K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid and so, help my students find a low detail approach to their characters. In doing so I get to do the part I love which is drawing the students' characters in class for them. I have provided notes below as broken down by Gesture, Construction (with anatomy) and technique in this case, costume. This is also a good opportunity for me to ask them questions about their characters which they not have given thought. Two students' examples are below.
Everything begins with gesture so we discuss that as shown above.
Then we discuss construction from the standpoint of how it is utilized in their character(s). Above we have a student's "Dr. Jekyll". This version is that of a gentleman-by-day-evil-genius-who-hope-to-destroy-the-world-at-night kind of fellow. This is a very tall and thin character so I suggested we use cylinders as the main forms with the head and top hat (circa 1850) actually being a single connected shape. The nose is the one feature that counters this thought by being large, square and hawk-like. Here is my final version of his character. The ascot, jacket, vest and even trousers are brought down to their simplest level.

The arch nemesis here, is Mr. Hyde who apparently bumbles his way through Jekyll's lab smashing the inventions of destruction or something like that. Hyde is built like a gorilla. Did I tell you I love gorillas? The gesture above was soooo easy because, well I love to draw gorillas.Construction next. Large forearms and straight back with a large head just like a gorilla...I love drawing gorillas.
My final version above. Hydes legs get so short that the trouser legs flops behind but not a whole lot of detail in the tight clothes, just a wrinkle under the shoulder, shortened sleeves etc. KISS.
Another student chose to work on lovers and in this concept she decided to have two characters, one from the mid 1600's and the other from 1700's who own painting of the other. the owners of the paintings are madly in love with each other but, alas will never see each other because they separated by a hundred years in time. (I'm sure it's nothing that Marty and Doc Brown couldn't fix). Anyway the girl is a large bottomed lass with a short torso whose gesture is above.
Work into a pear shaped torso or a torso made up of a large sphere with a box shaped bucket thingy for the chest.

A dress from the 1700's is beautiful, but too freaking complex to act as an animated character especially from beginning student. So we toss away a lot of fringe ( A LOT OF FRINGE) to get the simplest details in but still enough so we can see the time period of the costume. After all is said and done, I almost wonder why the big bottom under that dress but....Here's her man (Whom this student always draw in that "creepy uncle" kind of pose. I don't' know what she means by doing so, but I don't really want to ask. I just drew him holding his sword. Guys liked swords back then, heck guys like sword now too but we don't get carry them around in public.

This guy is big and round, belly and chest are one with a small pelvis (just like that creepy uncle).
Guys, especially those gentlemanly types wore those crazy pantaloons back then which actually looked like swim trucks full of air in the pool, you know what I mean? All costume needs to be thought of a shape to be controlled easily.Here's my final version. Notice that I took off the lace (yes, guys wore a lot of lace in those times, both around the wrists and around the thighs...there is that creepy uncle factor there) I broke the costume down to the simplest forms. Yes, you could add stripes and such to the pantaloons but I'm just trying to get the overall shape across. Made the cape shorter to emphasize the belly.

So my point here is to simplify the costume. Lapels and the like need to stay because they really give an idea of the piece of dress, however embroidery, jewelry, excess lace or other accoutrements can be simplified or discarded because they will get complicated in an animated sequence. Hope that explains some things. Thanks for stopping by.

Figure Drawing: Hands...solo(?)

2011-11-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

Notes from class: "hands" lecture on Friday. Keep hands simple, don't draw all those wrinkles or big bulby knuckles otherwise you'll wonder why your young princess drawing looks like they have 90 year old hands. Less is more and keep it simple stupid (KISS). the back of the hand/palm part - metacarpals - is basically a wedge shape that doesn't really change.

Gesture of fingers radiate from center of wrist. (in red), square off fingers, round shapes are too hard to control. This way you can lay in the side planes and keep the fingers looking solid (in green). Details last (in black) every wrinkle ages the hand about 15 years - simplify take away excess detail even finger nails unless it's a close up.
Fingers tend to act like "ice cubes" from the old ice cube trays that formed cubes that were more broad on top then on the bottom. If you think of finger segments this way, they will 'fit' together better when bending inward.
Three fingered (+ thumb) hands are plainer too and should be considered with the same approach as four fingered. Round off edges and take away even more detail for elegant female hands.
Go and practice drawing hands using solid forms applied to gesture. More later, questions-please ask in comments, thanks for stopping by.

Even though I don't Know you, I feel like I do

2011-11-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

It occurs to me that I had 38 followers, which was great but now, 39 is fine. I'd like to take a moment to welcome all of you to SonjebasaLand. I hope you enjoy your stay here. If you have specific questions regarding any of my posts or if there is something you'd like to see posted please let me know. Thanks for stopping by!

Have a happy and safe Halloween 2011

2011-10-30T21:16:00.001-07:00

from SonjebasaLand. Okay, okay the above is a little lame. So if you want a better Halloween image click here.

Cloth: In Class Notes

2011-10-29T23:29:00.000-07:00

Some notes from Friday's class regarding Cloth. I will post hair notes at a later time.
It's always a little frustrating for me, drawing stuff in class, for some reason it never looks the way I can do it when I'm not speaking in front of people. However (enough of this belly achin') here are some quick examples of how cloth sits on a figure. Again, always know what the figure looks like or what the action is under the costume. It's best to 'dress' the character rather than let the costume 'dress' you.
Start with a figure. The one above is a little over-detailed but will do if you stand the off-register presentation (I don't remember why he looks like Harry Potter either).
Simple drapery, like a toga would just flow over the figure into a cascade of pipe folds and hanging folds. Always keep it simple, drawing in every single wrinkle or fold if unnecessary and makes the drawing too visually complex. Not to mention if it's more contemporary costume, it will look like it's been slept in.
Pleats become hanging folds like this skirt shown above. Get over it, there wasn't enough time in class to draw a female. Which is the same reason why I usually draw stripes on polar bears in the animal drawing class...I mean there is only just a sort amount of time to get all of this information out there. Note, however how the skirt falls or drops off from the hips as gravity takes over. It doesn't cling but flows freely.
The material does "cling" when it's thinner or tighter as in the long sleeves above. Starting to get to many folds here so you must train your eye to put in just enough details to make it believable. Also it's safe to say, folds radiate from the joints - armpits and sockets, elbows, the crotch, and knees. You will see most of the material's compression from contact happen at these places. Folds don't just sit on large masses of surface area or planes, folds found here are generally always due to the joints like ripples in water. In slacks and most pants, you will see compression in the form of folds at the crotch and under the knee down to where the material meets the top of the foot. Folds along the seems act as pull folds but are still related to direction the material is made to preform moving away from the joints.
Tee shirts as shown above tend to hang a little more loosely depending on the cut but folds are not random. Blue jeans tend to be a little tighter with more pronounced folds in the crotch but the KISS method applies here as well.Running out of time in class lead me to draw three different styles of 'period' costume at once. But you can see each has their own associations to the joints. The huge shoulders are cause by bunched clothed sewn into pleats then bound at the top of the bicepts and again at the elbow. long sleeves cascade off the forearm but react to the position of the wrist. The cloth around chest to pulled by the cord making smaller folds radiate from the seam under the arm in the armpit. Pleats across the chest cause large pip folds in the material the flows downward in the gown-ish thing that meets the feet. I'll post more on this as time permits. And, yes, the feet on this last drawing are in the wrong place - you can see the compression of the foot just off to the right of each foot...darn off-register mumble mumble, belly ache belly ache. Anyway, have fun drawing.

Vader Sez REBUTTAL And....THOR

2011-10-29T22:22:00.000-07:00

This was given to me by a student. Is this stuff sinking in, I wonder?On a different note, yet same topic; at least students of mine can't say I don't out of my way for them. For in class modeling on Thursdays, I opted to join them for 20 one minute poses...as Thor! (I have a hammer - Mjölnir - now) Thanks to Tien for the photos.

The above could almost work for for the Turnaround page (which is in need of some updating).The stuff I do. Higher learning indeed. By the way, did I say I now have a crankin' hammer?

Some Cool Students

2011-10-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

Now...if only they would stop talking in class.

Vader Sez Part 8

2011-10-23T00:17:00.000-07:00

In Case You Need An Exposure Sheet

2011-10-19T08:28:00.001-07:00

A ShrunkenHeadMan X-Sheet.
Here's a 12 Field guide (full sized) as well. Go animate something.

Sometimes grading sketchbooks can be fun.

2011-10-17T14:48:00.001-07:00

Next time, make it real and you've got an A.

Vader Sez Part 7

2011-10-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

Vader Sez Part 6

2011-10-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

Anatomy - Facial Expression

2011-10-07T23:06:00.001-07:00

Greetings, was talking about facial expression today and remembered I started this e-handout but never finished it up to post. So without further ado, a quick guide to the muscle of expression.

Okay, it's a skull. Or not just a skull, a LABELED skull. Oh yeah! Neat huh? What's that? Where's the muscles? I know, this IS supposed to be a "Muscles of Expression" e-handout so...
Look, there they are, Technicolored for your convenience (actually they are all different colors, really, that's why Colorado is really pink because it's pink on the map. Anyway, I didn't draw many deep layer muscles because, well, they are deep layered muscles and not really vital to understanding facial expression as they act to "assist" the upper layer muscles. The buccinator (sounds like buck-sin-a-tor not like 'buccaneer') is about as deep layer as I got here. The levator palpebrae is under the orbicularis oculi and opens the eye, it's a deep layer muscle too. You'll notice that I included origin and insertion of these muscles (labeled as "O" and "I") because it's very important to know how the muscle works and therefore changes to the face so it can express. Origination of a muscle means where the muscle "pulls" to. Think of origination as the place where you dig in your heels at the start of a tug-o-war. Insertion means the part that is being pulled. If you were in a tug-o-war against a kitten, you would drag the kitten toward you....unless it was a REALLY big kitten, but that's another story.

Let's go back to the skull, I have isolated the muscles and drawn what those specific muscles are doing. Refer to the labeled skull and labeled muscles images above to see where everything attaches etc. Here is an expressionless face that will be overlaid on the skull. In the images that follow, you will see this face (shown below) and on the left of the face, the muscle or muscle groups will be shown in action. Note, generally the muscles act as a group which also hides a specific muscle's action so the isolated versions may look out of context or even silly.
When applying expression, it's extremely important to learn the anchor points of the face, these keep the face in proportion even through many emotions may be expressed in a series. Because of the pliability of the face locate the parts that don't move so the rest doesn't get all "wonky".
The main anchor points (shown above) are the outermost points of the eyebrows, the corners of the eyes themselves, the connection of the septum and philtrum (the base of the nose) and back up. The upper teeth or maxilla The hair line usually stays in the same relative spot as do the cheek bones but that depends on the character. The points mentioned will always be the same in relationship to the entire face. If you pay attention to the triangle made from these anchor points, you get what many of my animator pals call the "Bermuda Triangle" of facial expression as shown below. Keep everything in this triangle in correct proportion and it will be much easier to keep the rest of the face in proportion.
To get started on the topic of muscular expression, I dropped in the frontal portion of the epicranius. This is the muscle that is associated with movement of the eyebrows. Expressions of fear and surprise use this muscle instinctively. If some outside stimulus is sudden or scarey, the epicranius immediately responds by pulling the eye brows upward out of the way so the eye can open wider and let in more information to better judge the situation. Raised eyebrows also express questioning, confusion, contentment and satisfaction among others.
Below the eye is wide open as the levator palpebrae (not shown) lifts the upper eyelid while the epicranius pulls the eyebrow upward.
The corrugator (below) which sits right in the 'notch' between the brow ridge and the nasal bone works to pull the eyebrow inward toward the nose, expressing anger, concentration, contempt etc. The epicranius and corrugator work together to pull the eyebrow up and inward to achieve a look of sadness or longing.

Which brings us to the procerus (in magenta) and nasalis (lavender). These are the 'nose wrinklers' which become especially prominent in expressing disgust. A yucky flavor, a nasty smell, a tall fat guy in a Hawaiian shrit - all of these make the nose want to wrinkle. These two muscles also work with the corrugator to aid in expressing anger as in the tightness of the center of the face.
The Orbicularis Oculii sits around the orbital rim of the eye socket it acts as an "activator" for other muscles such as those that make the face smile.
in addition, I drew an example of the eye closed. The closed eye is the relaxed levator p. as shown below. This is why you close your eyes when you sleep or why it's hard to keep your eyes open when you are tired, your levator p. is tired and can't keep the eye open.
Besides making the nostrils flair, the group of muscles known at Quadratus labii superioris work to activate the cheek and lips into the start of a smile or flesh under the eyes into a squint. these really help to pull the corners of the mouth outward to assist in smirks and also consonant formation also known as blend shapes or mouth shapes. There's another handout up here about just that. May post something newer and better...later.
Ah, below we have, the smile muscle (the zygomaticus, in orange) and the sneer muscle (the caninus, in red), two opposing forces doing constant battle. The smile verses the Idol, the "Billy Idol" that is. go back and read the origin and insertion and you'll get what I mean. The caninus also activates disgust and contempt.

Now the muscles that bring the face (and you) down. Or, at least show it. Below is the triangularis which works to draw the corners of the mouth down and assists in closing the top lip on the bottom lip.
And the quadratus labii inferioris (dark yellow) and mentalis (green) are the ones that really make you frown. The QLI pulls the lower lip down and forces it outward while the mentalis really pulls the lower down and rolls it outward away from the teeth and causes the wrinkes in the chin.
Below is one example how all the m,muscles of the face work together to get the face to express an emotion. Here is disgust. It could also read as bitter as in you just tasted unsweetened chocolate powder.
The muscles of the lips are also know as the orbicularis oris (in brown). This muscle closes the lips and is mostly responsible for mouth shapes. And for puckering up, how about a kiss? Mwwwah! The buccinator (dark green) draws out the corners of the mouth and pulls in the cheeks when you're standing front of the mirrow looking to see if you have lost any weight this week. This is also the muscle that causes the dimple just beyond the edge of the mouth. So those of you who have dimples, here is the muscle responsible.
Thought not directly responsible for expressing emotion, the temporalis (which is actually a chewing muscle) has been known to flex showing tension in the sides of the face to aid in showing stress or more often then not, a character will rub the temporalis to express quite contempt or exhaustion.
I would be remiss if I did not discuss the masseter (another chewing muscle but also the one that pulls the mandible back to the 'closed mouth' position. When relaxed as in sleep or after playing thirteen straight hours of WOW or Halo, this muscle is the one that lets the mouth dangle open so drool spill out copiously. When showing frustration or determination, the jaws will clench and flex-this is the muscle that employs that action.
The muscles of the muscles of the face act as an orchestra that produce an entire concerto of emotions, some that last for fleeting moments and others that persist for a long time. Some expressions are strong, like anger or fear while others are subtle like pride or love. take time to get to know and understand the actions of the face

Below are some examples of facial expression used in "Me and My Feelings; What Emotions Are and How we Can manage Them" now available. Can you name the expressions and even better, list all of the muscles used in each? I hope this helps! If you are interested in reading further about emotions check out these books: Unmasking the Face and Emotions Revealed both by Paul Ekman. Now get out there and get some really expressive expressions! Thanks for stopping by.

Sock Talk

2011-10-04T23:33:00.001-07:00

And welcome back. Got socks? Got sock talk?
Another old handout which needs to be revised (pretend these are good drawings of the figure). Anyway, I hope it helps a bit.

Vader Sez Part 5

2011-10-03T21:32:00.001-07:00

Construction/Anatomy: Arms and Legs

2011-10-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a handout made in 2007 to assist my students in drawing arms and legs. With hope you will all respect me after reading this. I will post a newer, more respectable version as time permits.

Taxonomy of Big Bird

2011-09-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

I don't usually post other people's videos here but this is genius. I always thought I was the only one who wondered where Big Bird evolved from. I like also how he says, "This is science." and later asks jokingly for a blood sample. From boingboing.net.

Because you asked.

2011-09-26T10:43:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's still up there, search Proportions or more specifically "Skeletal Proportions" Or maybe just click the link provided. See? Don't worry.

Vader Sez Part 4

2011-09-25T08:03:00.001-07:00

With reference to camera angle

Arrr matey!

2011-09-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

Vader Sez part 3

2011-09-15T23:17:00.001-07:00

Cube Rotation Getting Started Notes From Class

2011-09-14T12:15:00.001-07:00

Cube rotation assignment notes from class.

Vader Sez Part 2

2011-09-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

Always more meaningful when Vader says it...

Faces From The Train 9/9/11

2011-09-11T10:47:00.001-07:00

I took the lightrail to work. Here's what I got done both ways. (yay Tombo pens!)

I get asked the same questions. A lot.

2011-09-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

So instead of repeating myself a thousand times I sent this email out to all my students. I hope it works, we'll see.

All classes have 50 gestures to do for next Thursday. Gesture assignments are always due on Thursday. The gestures which are due on Thursday, will be due on Thursday not Tuesday-that's when the cubes and other stuff are due-but Thursday and those gestures which are due on Thursday will be 50 gestures (due Thursday). 50 Gestures (due on Thursday) really? Yes, Thursday. So go out to some crowded place, sporting event, lightrail station, coffee shop, restaurant, funeral parlor etc. and draw people walking, dancing, playing, working out etc. and do gesture drawings for next Thursday. By the way your gesture drawings are due on Thursday. Gesture drawings (which are due Thursday) should be done in your sketchbook and take a minute or less, so in under an hour your should have enough to photocopy and hang on the wall for next Thursday, the day (Thursday) when you'll turn these in and also remember to take them down once you've put them up for review on Thursday. Thursday gesture drawings which are due on Thursday should fill a sketchbook page but be should be large enough so that 10 to 15 fit on a page. Don't draw all 50 gestures (due Thursday) so teeny tiny that they, all 50 fifty of them - due Thursday - fit on one page. That's too teeny tiny even if it is on Thursday. So be sure you get around 10 per sketchbook page. This assignment is due on Thursday and should be done in your sketchbook for Thursday in your sketchbook so you can photocopy them and hang them on the wall for Thursday. I'll see all of you on Tuesday which is when your cubes are due. It's also the day your 3 locations made from cubes are due and that day, again, is Tuesday, not Thursday which is two days after Tuesday and Thursday is when your 50 gesture drawings are due on Thursday.
This should clear things up. I hope. Thank you.
JAx

(Warning: there is no sarcasm on this blog. Ever.)

Vader Sez Part 1

2011-09-07T12:54:00.001-07:00

Once again employing the help of the dark lord of the Sith to get some teaching points across. We'll see if these go all semester.

Animal Quick Sketch

2011-08-12T10:32:00.001-07:00

"Woof"
"Cock-a-doodle-doo."
"Meow."
"Moo"

Belle As (well, you know)

2011-08-04T22:51:00.001-07:00

Mulan as Boba Fett Ruff Sketch

2011-08-03T11:12:00.001-07:00

Animal Drawing - Fur (The Old Handout)

2011-07-22T23:53:00.000-07:00

Animal Drawing - Fur Lecture

2011-07-22T16:47:00.001-07:00

Welcome back. Rendering fur is the icing part of drawing that everybody can't wait to do but if you jump right in to the process of rendering you can run into a whole host of problems with a big one being having your model wander off while you are trying to figure out just where to lay in your shadows.

Before you commit to "furring" your animal, understand not only the forms under it but also how the fur flows around those forms.

As always, let's start with simple gesture and construction for a gorilla.
With proper attention to forms (and ignoring the fur for now) you get your generic hairless simian which looks pretty weird.
But before you freak out and start just drawing hair that looks spaghetti find the flow of the fur/hair. Above I have plotted out paths of the fur as it travels around and down the limbs, getting compressed at lower joints like the wrists and ankles. Note also how, on this animal, the fur appears to come out off the shoulder and "pour" down the upper arm and doing it again at the start of the forearm. gravity always effects the hair/fur and pulls it downward. The longer the hair, more it flows or cascades like water down to meet with the ground.
Here, I have simplified the masses of the fur. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DRAW EVERY HAIR! In fact you shouldn't, always simplify - if you don't you'll take your first steps toward making "fur" that looks and acts more like spaghetti than fur. Character designers and animators work in this style because, really, drawing hair over and over or worse, animating it is a tedious process. To really think about a shadow pass, reconsider the volumes you have created and plot how the light will hit each of these as single elements and combined. A shadow pass should appear controlled but suggests flow while still describing the under lying volumes.

If you plan on doing a single image, follow the steps above, but now you can pull out the hair shapes, but still keep it simple. Always, ALWAYS follow the flow of the fur. Don't just start cross-rendering just because you're feeling lazy. Your finished product look terrible. Attention to detail is key here.
A finished gorilla with attention to construction and how the fur is flowing around them. The fur on the back of the animal is much shorter than the on the shoulders and especially the forearms. You can see in the simplified drawings how much more form is being shown in these areas and how the attention shifts to the hair in the shoulders and forearms.

Let's try an lighter animal. Not light as in weight, but in value because these animals are heavy and...anyway, below is the gesture and simple construction of a polar bear.
I'm making it solid with some anatomy as shown below.
Now that all of that is down, we're ready to render.
The simplified version for animation with slightly larger eye and brows for expression. Very little hair "looking" and more about volume here.
A rendered version, staying in touch with the volumes all of that long white (actually, it's clear but that is another blog post) hair is 'flowing' around. Be sure not to over render, it's pretty easy to loose track of where you are and start plunking down rendered hair any where. if white fur is being hit by direct light leave it white. If it's in shadow, think about a middle grey for the darkest park. Otherwise it'll get too dark- "The lighter you keep it, the longer you keep, the better off you'll be." More on stripes, spots, wrinkles, and other stuff soon but until then, here's an oldie.

Anatomical Diagrams...

2011-07-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

Some ruffs of diagrams for senses. Anatomy is fun!

Using Brushes...the app

2011-07-19T07:32:00.000-07:00

Trying to get a hang of the Brushes app for iPod. I guess this qualifies of my first paining in this app.

POV Con't.

2011-07-18T10:11:00.001-07:00

Welcome back! As you know, I presented in an SCBWI conference in San Rafael last weekend and had a blast. Getting to finally meet David Weitzman and hear him speak about the book building process was a real treat. He spoke in depth on flow of the image from panel to panel and spread to spread as well as what it takes to build a great illustrated book. David made a really strong quote, "Think of your illustrations as the harmony and the writing as the melody." Neither really works without the other and the harmony doesn't literally follow the melody but can be subtly different. neither should attempt to overpower the other and when the compliment each other they cam make a beautiful piece of music or, in this case, a book.

I was a bit worried that my little chat on POV wouldn't find a good transition from Mr. Weitzman's talk but it seemed to have worked out. We discussed the power of cinematic camera view and then went into Point of View. I really had a great time drawing in front of these talented folks who attended the conference, even though secretly, it's one of my biggest fears. So when I was done on the first day, I gave homework.

-Those of you who know me, will shake their heads with the understanding that I can't NOT give homework for anything-

They had to take one of five nursery rhymes and do up some thumbnails in an illustrated form or in a series of panels and tell the rhyme from a certain character's point of view. They coould choose from Mary or her lamb, The old woman in the shoe or any of her many children, Jack or Jill, Little Miss Muffet or the spider, or The crooked man, the crooked cat or the crooked mouse.
The results were great! despite the fact fact that we were all there for a children's book conference, most of them were a little of the dark humor side. We had the lamb following Mary into a port-a-potty, the spider getting accidentally eaten by Miss Muffet, the old woman running for her life from a tower of beastly kids and so on. Still everybody seemed to have fun and learned something new which I hope they will continue to think about and apply. I always have students tell me that I don't do the assignments I give out, so to silence them I did these. David and I both discussed how important thumbnails are so I started with some thumbnails too.

Just some quick stuff to get my Miss Muffet outa my head. I knew there had to be a huge spider. The attendees all balked at the above drawings because I didn't really think about whose POV it was. So then I showed them the ruff below.
Miss Muffet's POV, folks. May be a bit a jump cut but still carries the idea of who's experience we are feeling.
Next I showed another thumbnail, this time for Mary and her little lamb. (it is truly amazing what you can get done in a night if the twin bed in my "hotel/dorm" room is too small to sleep in. I mean, hey, I'm a big tall fat guy. It also doesn't hurt not having the kids around either. Mental note: ship kids to grandma's for rest of summer. COD.

I got a call on Saturday and my daughter told me she lost a another tooth. So Mary is missing her front teeth. this is the lamb's point of view as seen in ruff above. left room for type in the left and was concentrating on a spread for this one. I'll bring these up to finish when i get a chance.

Wow I even had time to get started on the Old Woman in the Shoe. I like the old version of this rhyme:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do
She gave them all broth without any bread
And whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.

So I showed it from the old woman's POV, sans children...although it may be better if I got some of them in there. She's hoarding a loaf of French bread and holding a cat of nine tails. Oh yeah. Spiral staircase didn't come out in the thumbnail but I'll work that in folks.

If I do another presentation, I think I'll cover the topic below, would you attend if I did?...

Point of View (POV) In Thumbnails

2011-07-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome back.
Here are some thumbnails for a presentation regarding POV for the SCBWI conference in San Rafael this weekend. Point of View is all about which character the audience is supposed to relate to in each image. There are basically three main points of view in story telling; First person - having the story told from character, so we the viewers or audience, see or feel events as they happen to the character. Third Person - the audience sees events happen to many characters at once but may be limited to seeing these events as they happen. And Omniscience - the viewers see all and know what is going to happen to all characters before it happens. I writing, most first person POV begins with "I see, I will see, I will go, I ran away, We eat the pie, We jumped on the train", etc. Third person can be referred to as "the boy went fishing, The dog barked, He left the show, She was mad, They ran", etc. It's a little different to understand the process of writing POV than visually describing it. One easy start is an understanding of your horizon line. If all of your images or, in a cinematic case, your shots should relate to the horizon line and if you are trying to relate to one character for first person, you should share that character's horizon line. Look at the image below, this thumbnail is about two children playing in a sandbox. Note the horizon line is low at their eye height. This image is about these kids, specifically the girl with the pony tails.

I know what you're thinking, "You put two kids in overalls in the sand? you'll be vacuuming up sand for weeks!" I know, stay with me. Anyway, if the girl looks at the boy in the baseball hat, what we will be lead to see is below...

Here the boy (in MCU) is looking directly at the camera or viewer. This will really give the feeling that we are seeing exactly what the girl sees especially if we (the viewers) are placed at the little girl's eyeline or horizon line. At times, though, looking directly at the camera or viewer is frowned upon, so we can show the thumbnail example below.
Here the boy is positioned, so he still feels like he is looking at the girl but is not staring directly at the camera. This type of setup gets across the conversational quality but feels more like a third person point of view. In the example above, the shot is set up so the boy feels more subjective and the overall feel is omniscient. We know he is looking at the girl but we are almost out of the conversation. We are being held in the moment by the girl's horizon line established in the previous shot (at top).

To further explain POV, let's try to add a new character. Here, again, are the two kids playing in the sandbox. The camera/view is low on horizon line to get across the kids' POV.

Let's add the preschool teacher to the shot/image..."kids, it's time for lunch. Now why don't you spend the next three hours shaking all of that sand off your overalls"
Below is the finished thumbnail with the teacher placed at the proper height. In most cases if this were on screen, the teacher would not fit in the shot completely because she is much taller than the assumed horizon line.
If we wanted to cut to (or show) the teacher speaking to the kids we could use the following thumbnail.
This doesn't seem to work for the visual narrative, does it? Not really for two reasons. First the teacher is not looking at the kids, who are below her and we are at the teacher's horizon line. So how can we keep the narrative and still cut to the teacher? Have a look below.
In this thumbnail, the teacher is looking at the kids, we know because we know their location from the previous shot, but the first person feel of the little girl is missing because we are too high to see what the little girl is seeing. The camera is level with the teacher and thus sharing her horizon line, but because the teacher is looking down where teh kids would be, we get a third person feel.

But we can reestablish that first person POV of the little girl by moving the horizon line down and having the teacher look down (at the girl and us/the viewers) as seen below.
By paying attention to horizon line of your character you can keep a constant first person feel and not show exactly what that character is "seeing".
To further this, the thumbnail above would be a cut from the shot. Here is an OTS (Over The Shoulder) from the teacher on the little girl. Again, not a first person POV because the camera is much too high. Although a good example of third person. Below is a better example of first person because the horizon line is shared with the little girl. The OTS would be off the teacher's hip and legs.
I hope this helps a bit, thanks for stopping by!

Sketches

2011-07-02T23:00:00.001-07:00

Playing around with these chisel tipped pens. Some kangaroo, lion, bears, gorillas and a mandrill.

A typical page of faces on the train.

Artist(s) on the Train

2011-06-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm riding on lightrail tonight, sketching as usual. There is this younger guy sitting across from me, probably 20ish, who's writing. I draw him but then don't pay any attention to him until it's my stop. He rises too, exits then right before I exit he turns and hands me this folded piece of paper. At first I think, "oh great, what is this?" But I open it and begin to read. Before he gets too far I call him back and reach in my bag and give him the sketches I was doing on the train. I've never been the subject of a rap, at least not to my knowledge. Giving him my page of sketches felt like the right thing to do and I was left with a little brighter hope for the human race. One day I'll have to find this kid though and get the T-rex I drew on the other side back.

Animal Drawing - Comparative Anatomy

2011-06-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

Welcome back. I am putting together an Animal Drawing handout regarding comparative anatomy, and I'll be discussing these three species. To start, the best thing to do at this point is to take anatomical reference from something we all know, the human form. With figure drawing of any kind, the gesture (the "G") is what counts most. it needs to stay lively and active throughout the process, don't forget to "Push it".
For animal drawing, we encourage students to lay in a gestural "simple skeleton" as seen above. then move on to simple construction (the "C") below. This is where you begin to consider proportion.
Construction, especially for quadrupeds, is easily handled with the use of "tombstones" or "lima beans"; shapes or volumes that describe large muscle groups and the bones those groups attach to. For humans, the lima beans of the legs and the tombstone of the shoulder/elbow are very elongated and come off the trunk of the figure as seen below.

Next, apply the skeleton or the hard masses of the figure. This is part of construction but I am going a bit in depth here.
I've labeled some parts that I'll discuss a little later below.
After skeleton comes musculature (the "A"). Muscles define the overall shape of the limbs/appendages and "flesh out" (pun intended) the animal. BTW, I had to alter the right hand here-it just wasn't comfortable looking.Look at the muscles labeled below. Keep in mind that most of the time, muscle systems lay in similar locations across animal species. Many of these muscles retain the same name and by learning their position in on animal, you will find it easier to spot them on another. Shoulders or at least the muscles covering the scapula vary little from animal to animal. In almost all cases the scapula is divided by the scapular spine. What we consider the "top" portion of the scapula (above the scapular spine) is the place where the trapezius originates. This muscle wraps over a small part of the scapular spine on the edge opposite the acromion process an attaches via origination down the spine. This trapezius inserts at the occipital protuberance at the dorsal base of the skull. The trapezius acts to pull the scapula together and bring the skull back toward the spine (lift the head). This muscle tends to cover slightly or completely the infraspinatus muscle which originates from the infraspinous fossa a flat, blade-like portion of the scapula toward the spine. This muscle inserts at the head of humerus and rotates the humerus back toward the scapula. It is often covered by the deltoid which originates along the "lower" side of the scapular spine and inserts lower down the shaft of the humerus below the head.

The function of the deltoid in primates, bears, cats and other animals is to raise the forearm or on more stiffly built animals such as horses, dogs, deer and the like the function is to move the humerus toward the anterior or the front of the ribcage. The humerus is allowed to rotate slightly by the teres major which originates from the round portion of the scapula opposite the acromion process. The biceps bring the ulna/radius (lower arm) up to the humerus while the triceps bring it back. The triceps is another muscle that is easy to spot in almost any animal. it originates just below the head of the humerus and inserts at the olecranon process (the head) of the ulna. If you can find the upper portion of the unla in an animal. you should be able to locate the triceps.

The muscles of the trunk are similarly universal. The pectoralis muscles move down the sternum and insert at the humerus. underneath these, lie the rectus abdominis muscles which originate along the ribcage and lower portion of the sternum and insert at the symphysis pubis. Above these is the external oblique which weave into the serratus anterior. A very predominant muscle that runs along the side of the ribcage toward the back of the pelivs and spine is the latissimus dorsi which inserts at the humerus.

Other muscles that you will find on many animals are the gluteus medius which originates from the iliac crest and inserts at the great trochanter, the quadriceps muscles in this case the vastest medialis and the rectus femorus and you will also see the gastrocnemius turning into the Achilies tendon wraping arouund the calcaneus or heel bone of the foot. you will find many others in your explorations. I feel this post is getting long winded and there is still more to go so I will move on now, if you have specific questions just leave a comment.

Admittedly if you draw in everything on every drawing, it will end up looking really cluttered. Draw lightly at the start. Once you get to know all of the steps, you will see what you can suggest or (dare I say it?) leave out. Click on any of these images for a larger version.Now let's look at Panthera tigres. Again begin with a gesture, a lively one, stay loose and remember those straights and curves AND that the tail is part of the gesture. These profile drawings are getting pretty stiff but they work for this anatomy stuff. I'd suggest taking this information and once you've gotten your anatomy down, draw your animal from 3/4 views etc. to show depth.
Next, lay in the construction. The lima beans are clearly visible here as they don't really extend past the trunk of ribcage or mid-region of the animal.
With that done lay in the simple skeleton, I've gone a little further just to show where the muscles are going to go. Note the similarities between the human skeleton and that of the tiger. Notice also the length of the neck and the distance between the ribcage and pelvis. This adds to the predator's flexibility. The scapula is on the side of the ribcage (like most quadrupeds) rather than toward the back like humans, gorillas and other simians. However you can still see the scapular spine and acromion process. The presence of an unfused radius gives this animal full rotation of its paw for gripping its prey. The largest of the cat family is a very efficient killing machine.
Laying in the anatomy is relatively simple if you remember the above discussion.
There are some obvious differences in the musculature namely the absence of the clavicle demands a larger muscle to support the weight of the head as well as still providing it with mobility. What we call the sternomastoid (the muscle that originates at the manubrium of the sternum and inserts at the mastoid process or a notch behind the ear on the skull) is replaced with the brachiocephialis. A very large muscle which originates from the humerus and acromion process and inserts at the mastoid process in most quadrupeds. The pectoralis looses its "major" and "minor" labels and is replaced with "transversus" and "profundus" because it looses its prominence due to the way a quadruped's body is situated. The gluteus superficialis assumes the roll of the gluteus maximus but has a slightly different function than the one intended for bipeds. Despite this take note of just how many of the muscle groups mentioned above retain the same name and function.
Now on to Giraffa camelopardalis; an animal that is incredibly graceful yet, disturbingly awkward at the same time. Quick gesture below.
Next, constructed forms - there's that tombstone at the shoulders we've been talking about. However in a giraffe the tombstone is so large and square one student referred it as the "cowbell".
Simple skeleton follows, again I over did the details to show the scapula and other components. Most of the time you can get away with simple lines or shapes. That 'hump' above the scapula is actually the withers, boney projections extending from the thoracic vertebra which serve as attachment points for muscles and tendons which lay on the neck to support and move the head.
Finally, lay in the musculature.
Find the recognizable anatomical similarities first. The deltoids, triceps, gluteus medius, gastrocnemius as well as the tensor faciae latae are in relatively the same place and serve similar functions. The gluteus maximus is now referred to as the gluteobiceps and is larger. The brachiocephalicus sits prominently on the head of the humerus and the acromion process (giving a shelf-like form to the chest of the giraffe) but doesn't extend all the way up the neck. It feeds into other tendon groups that reach up toward the skull.
Despite the minor variations, muscular similarities are prevalent throughout the animal kingdom. Get to know more what the bones and muscle groups look like rather than just the names and you will have a much easier time deciphering the volumes that make up whatever animal you are drawing. Next up, drawing imagined animals using this concept. Thanks for stopping by, I know this was long post but I hope it was informative for you.

AntiChrist Brownies

2011-05-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd repost this recipe because it is a bit hard to find (one more reason I need to revamp this blog huh?) Anyway, Ill be bringing these for my students after their final on Monday and Tuesday....

For lack of a better title (other than The AntiChrist of Weight Watchers Brownies) I am going to call them 'chocolatechipnutbuttermarshmallowbrowniekrispys'. You can make up your own title.

fudge brownie mix 1 pkg (2 eggs, 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup water)
1 bag mini marshmallows
chocolate chips 1 1/2 cups
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (Jif is always better for baking)
1 tbs butter
1 1/2 cups rice krispys
13x9 pan

mix and cook brownies as directed on box. I like the fudge-y-er brownies from Duncan Hines but whatever is on sale or use what you like. (I haven't made brownies from scratch in years-who's got time for that?)
cook about 25 mins (see box)
check for done-ness with toothpick allow to cool

sprinkle marshmallows on top of brownies, I know it says a whole bag of mini marshmallows but dang, that's a lot of marshmallows-I just use enough to cover.
bake another 5-10 or until marshmallows golden brown, allow to cool

While brownies are baking, mix chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli milk chocolate morsels but use whatever suits you), peanut butter and butter in sauce pan and melt completely on low temp

add Rice Krispys to chocolate mixture
spread on top of marshmallows

The Chocolate mix should still be warm enough to spread easily with a spatula or wooden spoon. I don’t worry about the Marshmallows mixing with the chocolate, though I do believe that the original recipe says should be three layers; brownie, marshmallow, and chocolate. If you want to do it that way, allow the chocolate mix to cool and then spoon evenly on marshmallows.
Allow to cool completely or place in freezer for 15 minutes before cutting into 1.5"-2" squares.
Enjoy!

Thor

2011-05-09T08:20:00.001-07:00

Character Building Notes and Suggestions

2011-03-31T22:18:00.000-07:00

Good evening. I thought I'd take some old notes from previous class lectures on character design and compile them into an online handout. When designing figures, animals, characters or anything organic really, remember this statement first:

Get that gesture in first! (That is, once you have a concept or character outline) Push the gesture so it conveys the best story. If the figure or character is tired, sad, happy, proud, angry, sneaky, timid, or feeling anything the gesture should broadcast the feeling of the drawing loud and clear. All the rest; construction, costume, value, eyelashes - is all icing.
Once you have solid gestures think about what goes into your character that sets it apart from other characters. If you have a character who is excited or moves around a lot think about how diagonals can be used to push the idea of the characters. Diagonals convey action. if your character is a villain or supposed to appear dangerous or evil, try sharp angles. These angles can make the character painful to look at; in effect suggesting teeth, thorns, shards of glass, daggers etc.
Or another approach is to use curves. Curves act to soften a character, make it comfortable to look at, and relaxing.
Think also about the volumes or shapes that will make up the character. Most shapes have an associated meaning and you can work those meanings into your designs. I'm sure I've said this before but the three main basic shapes are a circle (sphere also cylinder), square (cube), and triangle (pyramid or cone).

Each has it's own set of meanings and you can choose which of those meanings fit the design. So you don't have to look up the meanings, some are included below...

Associated meanings for Circle: unity, wholeness, infinity, calm, purity, happiness, sun even moving into goddess/female power or spirit.

Associated meanings for Square: Strength, durability, solidity, honesty, fairness or justness, firmness, immobility, anger moving into masculinity etc.

Associated meanings for Triangle: Illumination, angular, action, tension, discomfort, proportion, order and (depending which way you draw it - pointing up or down) male or female.

ORRRR you could just use these shapes because they best convey what you want to show in the character.

Santa using a sphere...you know, because he has a round belly that shakes when he laughs like a-well you know.
A crusty sea captain as made from a cube.
An old feller based off of three main triangles and other minor triangles.

Don't limit yourself to just simple shapes in your design either. There is a wealth of shapes that can push the visual idea of your character as long as they follow the gesture. Below are an oval, bean, pear, rounded cube thingy, and a hour glass. Look up the meanings of these shapes, I can't tell you everything. (Yeesh)

Cat using bean shape for the torso. Play around with the curve of the bean or think about types of beans...lima? kidney? vanilla? Whatever works.
The pear bodied disgruntled spear wielding fat guy, everybody needs one. If you look at bears, they are basically pear shaped...go ahead I'll wait...also raccoons, rabbits, pears (incredible, I know) and other stuff. If the larger part is at the bottom of the character as shown above, it will feel heavier or fatter. If you invert it, the character will feel stronger or more imposing.
Hour glasses make drawing females easy but can be cliche. Control your volumes, try triangles as well.
Variations of shapes and size of shapes. Don't be afraid to play around with proportions as well. Who says you can't have a character with a huge torso and tiny legs? Or long legs and a tiny torso? Also placement of appendages are up to you; the head doesn't always rest at the top of the neck. Removing the neck and dropping the head between the shoulders makes the character look really strong. reduce the size of the forehead and you'll make your character appear less intelligent or, dare I say, dumb. Doing both and you have, well, me. "Whatever it takes to bake those cakes" as they say.Use whatever is in front of you to best convey your character's attitude. Look at the difference achieved in the two drawings of the same pose above just by making the back straight on one and curved on the other. Push what you know and exaggerate. Have fun drawing!

Costume/Uniform Design: Perceptions

2011-03-31T00:13:00.000-07:00

Work continues on the Perceptions book. I didn't need to, but spent a little time working up uniforms for the characters. Ruffed out quick models as shown below. My daughter has played with paper dolls and the starting poses are always in underwear so why should I be any different? I know we'll never see their undies but you gotta start somewhere, right? Maybe I'll play paper dolls with my daughter now that I have an opportunity.
I really wanted something that had that dated, campy feel of classic Sci-Fi so I leaned on the past including Star Trek, Buck Rodgers, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet and others. But the design couldn't be so silly that it was unworkable. I mean a mini-skirt in deep space? that would be nice and warm and maybe a tad sexist.
These characters are the senses as seen in units or battalions so each will have it's own color. Sight is blue, Taste is orange, Touch is red, Taste is green, Feel is purple or some other color. So the unit color will act as a highlight. I like the gray field but the dark fatigue pants seem to work better. oh yes and moon boots. For some reason, I have to have moon boots.
Lots of old uniforms from this genre have that "V" design on the chest. Solid color is too strong. Logo for each unit (needs to be designed) will go on the white badge.
I'm liking this direction. Sort of voyager with a old 'skool' twist on the shoulders. Then I started to think about other Sci-Fi uniforms I've liked over the years. So I cranked out a little Slave Leia action as seen below...
But that just would be feasible because this look just doesn't work for the male characters...I don't know why, it just doesn't...

(Thanks for stopping by)

Discussing Camera Angle

2011-03-09T14:44:00.001-08:00

We have been discussing camera angles in terms of illustration and film and here is a handout. Click for larger version. On the same topic is Scale or Framing Heights (How much of the subject's height is seen in the shot) each has a different meaning. Do not over use any of them, a variety of shots and angles keeps your work alive. I call it the Hershey's Kiss Principle: If you eat one or two Hershey's Kisses, they are satisfying, but if somebody poured a truckload of them down your throat, you wouldn't like them much, or at least you'd tired of them.
Thanks for stopping by, have fun drawing/boarding.

Perceptions Characters: Evolution, Part 1

2011-03-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

Hi there. Well, I've been working on another book for the "All About Me" series for Hoopoe Books. This is about perceptions and discusses the five senses. When I started on this book, I was told that the characters and visuals would be a throw back to the first book, "Me and My Memory; Why We Forget Some things and Remember Others" and the characters would again be robots or 'bots' as we (my publisher and I) have come to refer to them. Okay, another bot book, but there is stuff in the manuscript about a bear -a cave bear- so I got into working on bears for a term.

Despite how much fun it is to draw bears, I needed to stay focused and work up comps for the characters that would represent the five senses. At an initial meeting with the publisher, we were discussing possibilities and the question was raised,"What if these guys were just the sense like a nose with little legs?" I shrugged it off, instantly thinking of those product adds from the 50's where some poor dancer had to put a giant cigarette carton on and dance around. So I just drew these things below right there at the meeting. After the first (the nose) my pub could see what a bad idea it was but I continued to toss out the other sketches until he was forced to concede. (nothing says "It's a bad idea" better than a little overkill) The disco dancing robot started a new line of thinking for us.
I did already have some rough (and very terrible) sketches of some bots but I was hitting a wall. What the heck can you do with a 'smell bot'? I had an air filter but my pub scowled at me.I do like my note from this meeting, "not so 'roboty'" as shown above. So I started to focus more on 'humanoid' bots. We discussed the need for many 'sight bot' because of the many ways the brain perceives what we see. So progress appears below.
The nose dudes literally stink.
I liked the idea of a big machine that would be the touch bot but i wasn't enjoying it, as you can see-my sketches are so stiff and uninteresting above.
Another head shake from the publisher and I went back to an early sketch of team of bots that seemed right and did the sketch below.I got an email back that these were heading in a better direction but there were a huge list of changes for these fellows. Including, "Please refer to notes from previous meeting about needing many sight bots...". So I was at the drawing board again, when I started to think about the crew from Star trek and how they would go adventures off ship. We were going to reuse the "Decider" idea from "Me and My Memory". Why couldn't the decider receive stimulus and 'send' out squads of senses to investigate? So, while, riding the bus to teach at SJSU, I hustled out sketches like the one below. My publisher dug the idea when I sent this rough lineup above. More changes and suggestions and i started working up ideas for the space ship that would carry this group of misfits with giant ears, hands, eyes, noses etc. They are based off a brain, get it?Now that I had something that would fly these explorers here and there, I could focus on the decider, shown here in various stages of anonymity. they like the fourth one, even though I thought it was a little scary or at least heading in another direction. Just goes to show once again, they will always like the one you don't.
Here are the rough final characters for the project. Uniforms will change a bit, I am really leaning toward those campy space uniforms from classic B grade Sci-Fi flicks. I'll post those in a while. Concept for these guys is misfits. They really don't fit in the real world, like O'l Pap is that guy who waxes about long gone days of piracy and other foolishness (you know the guy at work who should have retired 40 years ago but sticks around just to say random stuff like, 'thar be a storm a'blowin').

There's a funny story about the Touch Team, or at least notes I got from publisher about what the most sensitive parts of the body are and how I should incorporate them into a character...i didn't post the results of those notes here, maybe some other place. If you're really interested in THAT story, post a comment...A line up of the entire away team; the Senses Squad. Click for a larger image. that's progress for now, more later. Thanks for stopping by.

Primary and Secondary Gesture Drawing.

2011-01-17T22:17:00.001-08:00

Okay Students of my DAA 264 Drawing Animation class, let's be more clear about the gesture enigma. Gesture shows only weight and action and so I've tried to make it as clear as possible. the drawings below go with the first image from "modelworkbook2" in the group. This fellow is pushing his weight up on a pedestal and the so called 'primary gesture' describes the main visual force being exerted from the arc in the back down through the leg doing the pushing upward. Also the left arm and shoulder thrusting up to support the weight of the upper body. not much here but note the "catch/release" of the lines denoting the back and leg.

The Secondary portion of the gesture are those lines that describe the action of the rest of the body, in this case the limbs, feet, turn of the head etc. as shown below. This is done quickly to nail down the overall action of the pose, realistically it should take more than 20 seconds to nail this. It only gives a rough idea of what is happening in the pose but is the basis and "life" of rest of the drawing.
Below another example with a little construction thrown in. Note: the torque of the gesture for the weight leg.

Below is the same drawing but with the 'primary gesture' highlighted in red and the secondary in blue. Remember this only about primary/secondary gesture. Don't worry about constructing arms and legs or placing the anatomy correctly or anything else at this point even if the examples found here go further. This is all we should be looking for at this point, the other stuff will come later.
Other examples follow below. Try to find the primary/secondary gestures of these drawings, thinking this way and pushing the gesture allows me to keep my drawings alive. By the way, none of these drawings took longer than 5 minutes and most were two minutes. Go draw, draw, draw.

Emotions and What's the Catch now available!

2010-12-03T22:35:00.000-08:00

Just got my copies of the two books that I worked on earlier this year (work in progress links are here, here, here, here, and here)More links as to where it's available and so, soon. (but my kid just woke up so I have to go for now...)

Chrsitmas Card 2010

2010-12-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

Good morning, here are some ruffs for this year's family Christmas card...
Santa shushing a T-rex, what could be better than that? Other than the t-rex looking really lame, of course.Better t-rex, now to fix my man, Santa.
Final line drawing...with presents! My son saw and yelled, "Santa!" 'must be doing something right.Under painting, first pass.
Detail: in progress.
more in progress. Almost done now, would have been done if I remembered to save BEFORE my son found the off switch on the power strip to my computer. (This week's lesson: SAVE OFTEN)Almost there...almost there.
...Aaand here is the final. What do you think? The plan (at least) will be for each hard copy card to be personalized for the kids of each recipient. Want one? Do I have your address? Send me an email so I know. Merry Christmas! Thanks for stopping by!

Skull Turn-Around and Proportions

2010-10-28T11:21:00.001-07:00

Click for larger view

Anatomy: Visable Muscles of the Anterior Trunk

2010-10-19T23:35:00.000-07:00

I will update the text for this post soon, including originaltion and insertion points of the muscles shown in the images below as well as their function. Please stay tuned

Skeleton/Bones

2010-10-16T21:20:00.001-07:00

Just in case you need to see what real bones look like. Focus on Scapula/ribcage today.

Perspective Drawing: Two Point Cube

2010-09-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

More to come, stay tuned.

Perspective Drawing: One Point Cube

2010-08-31T11:20:00.001-07:00

Drawing a cube is the most basic way of describing concepts of One Point Perspective (1pp). See Perspective Drawing Basics for more information.

Perspective Drawing: Basics

2010-08-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

From my class handouts, hope it is useful to you. Click on images for larger version.

Next time; one(1) Point Perspective notes, stay tuned...

What's the Catch? Part 2

2010-06-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

Hi! Well, all the images have been created for this project. The last stages of edits and redos are among us, so this thing ("What's the Catch: How to Avoid Being Influenced and Manipulated") should be ready for press very soon. Here are some more images from this project. The cast page, with just some of the charactersappearing in the book. All of the books in this series have a cast page but this is the first that really gets to feature more than just a few characters. this book was fun because it allowed me to work many different races and still stay relative true to the clothing styles of contemporary high school students. There were limits, I couldn't get too mod or gangsta or goth and I couoldn't explore some other styles but the publisher did loosen the reigns a bit for this book.

The cover. I came up with a lot of ideas for this including a chalkboard touting the "Catch of the day" but it wasn't working with the interior concept or copy.

Kids saying "no". Oh the possibilities, but deadlines allowed just the above and the two that follow in the end.

This got edited out as it didn't quite work with the concept.

The above illustrates the concept of giving something or somebody an inch and then having to give up a mile. If you let a camel stick his head in your tent, soon it will find its way all of the way inside, leaving your with no room or no tent.

Following those who claim to be leaders.

(A quick color attempt. All of these b/w spots are giving me color envey.)

This illustrates the idea that people tend to follow those who are on display or have material things of higher value. The publisher notes suggested a peacock struting around with a bunch of peahens fawning after him. Actually the peahen usually gets to choose from the group of adoring peacocks who all struggle to get teh best spot for the peahen to see them display. If you've ever seen this behavior at a zoo or elsewhere, you'd know the peahen doesn't appear to care at all for all the attention the crazy males are showing her.

The human version is below but, alas, was cut from the book.

The three shoppers. they are basically hanging at the throuoghout the entire book.They were supposed to look like they have been hooked and were ready to buy whatever it was that caught their fancy-pushing eachother out of the way to do so, but it sort reads like they are responding to a Chippendales show or something.

Nothing like drawing a kid crying...

...if you're fool enough to try to take away ahis favorite toy.

Black Friday...the moments before the doors to the stores open.

Volunteering at the soup kitchen.

being shown the pricey stuff by the sales staff...

...to make the sale with the cheeper stuff.

If you want something, ask for the moon, when the person you ask freaks out, ask for someting tiny instead and it won't seem like a big deal and you'll probably get what you're looking for.
Think before you buy.

And you won't get hooked. Thanks for stopping by, more images soon.

What's the Catch?

2010-04-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a long, long time between posts. All of you loyal followers, I send out a warm digital hug for sticking around. 'Been working on book three "What's The Catch; How to Avoid Getting Hooked and Manipulated" for Hoopoe/ISHK for the "All About Me" series.
Here are some of the images so far. More later.Nuts! I just noticed that I didn't export all my layers for this one and the next. The guy, Frank, on the left is supposed to be in a doorway pressing his arms against the door frame. Try it, after 30 seconds or so step away from the the threshold and your arm will feel really light. Here Frank's arms are so light he clocks Marquis. Did it again, Sally and Jillian are shirt shopping and there is a sign behind them (which didn't export) that says 'buy 1 get 1 half price'. Cool that I get to use the characters from the last book Warning: don't take teddy bears or other loveys away from toddlers or the above will happen.Aw cameos! See previous posts for references to the above.Poor Marquis, always the punchline.
It's easier to say "no" to peer pressure if you are in a group.
The internet...it's a scary place, beware ye who enter.

These have been fun to do, I just wish every computer problem in the book didn't arrive while working on this with such a tight deadline. Oh yeah I broke my foot too. Fifth metatarsal; 1.5 cm break, whoo.Against all odds I am going to do everything I can to get this project done on time. More images soon, promise. Thanks for stopping by.

Spring

2010-03-07T09:23:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-19T08:51:00.001-08:00

Once again, I made Valentine's cards for my daughter to pass put to her class and this year she wanted princesses. So we decided on three (it took a while - choosing just three princesses from the group is pretty difficult for a four year old) and we also agreed that the boys in her class would probably like something else so we went for super heroes. I was going to also do an old robot toy from the fifties but decided instead that Darth Vader would be an excellent addition to the group. Here they are.I know the Batman's cape looks weird, oh well, she was happy with them.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

Probably posted these Santa's already (too lazy to check)
I Hope the holidays and the coming new year bring you good fortune, health and great happiness. Thank you all for stopping by to Sonjebasaland, see you next year!

Covers

2009-12-16T11:39:00.000-08:00

Two color comps for the cover of the Emotions book.

Emotion Comix

2009-12-03T22:26:00.000-08:00

Each one of these books has a section in the introduction that my publisher refers to as the "Comic Book". Here are the pages for this book, based closely on a real life experience of my own...gotta love those assigned group projects huh? Enjoy.

Emotion Promo Posters

2009-12-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

'Should be out early 2010. I'll post a link when it's up.

These Pieces Need a Good Home

2009-11-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

I will be displaying these paintings from past illustration jobs at the MAIYA gallery in Sacramento December '09 through January '10 with other SCBWI members. they are for sale too, if you want to hang them on your wall.

Click for a larger view.

Puppy Dog Eyes

2009-11-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

Did this really quick for my publisher as a joke. Have a great night of trick r treatin! Please, don't drink and drive. Click image for a larger view.

Still More Emotions Illos

2009-10-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

So far this has been a bit more fun to do than the Memories book, because I have had the chance to draw people rather than robots. Not to say the robots weren't fun but people are so darn cool. 'Next to no time to shoot reference so just about all of this stuff is right out of my head. A plus to doing illos for high school students is that you can create content that is a little more mature in nature; people in bathtubs and kissing (I don't think I've ever illustrated kissing before) and the like. Funny thing about the tub; I originally drew the ruff below because I thought it would be funny but the editor's comment was" Why is that guy in the bath with his clothes on? What does that mean? Put somebody else in the tub, a girl, who really appears to be relaxing..." Well you do what the editor wants, so there is the finish under the ruff with ipod docking station included. Hope you like them.

Five Items Or Less...

2009-10-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

Will return next week...Dealines, deadlines, deadlines, busy busy. stay tuned.

Emotions_More Stuff

2009-09-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

Greetings, so I posted a ruff version of the one above earlier, here's the finish.

Here's more stuff below, Can you tell which emotions these are describing?...If you want to see the ruffs for these let me know.

A New Post and New Challenge

2009-09-11T10:40:00.001-07:00

In an effort to resuscitate this blog, and to start drawing for fun again, I am starting a new weekly challenge. This is based on an idea from one of my wonderful students, Joyce Ng. Each Friday five(5) items (or less...sometimes more) will be chosen at random. Your challenge will be to take the five items and build a character from that group. Stuff to ask yourself: What type of character would carry or need these items and why? any submissions should be sent or posted by Friday September 18th. Incorporate these into a drawing (any media) and email (if you want that email address leave a comment) it to me so I can post it here or just post it to your page, blog, site and send me the link. For examples of other challenges from this blog click here. All you need to do is scribble out an idea/character(s) but if you want to take it further and and do up some turnarounds, be my guest.
What do you get if you complete the challenge? The best one will get a free coffee as usual. Anybody can participate, from you followers to you blurkers out there. Hope you have fun drawing and sorry for letting this blog get so stale.

And for this week's 5 Items Or Less Challenge:

1) leopard pelt
2) sword
3) Ford Mustang GT -or- helicopter (or some other metal vehicle)
4) face mask -or- helmet visor
5) something with stripes

See what you can come up with. It can be silly, sad, or serious. See you next week.

Further Progress

2009-07-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

Yeow, it's been a long time between posts. I even lost 2 followers, heh. Oh well. Here are some more spots from the emotion book. And I promise I'll get the composition stuff up soon. My other blog gets updated every day, mainly because it's pictures of my kids (that's where most of my time goes anyway).
I'm a little bumbed because the other book' s illos were done using a black 935 Prismacolor pencil. Analog-GASP! I tried to do all of these on the computer but the publisher wanted the same look as the first book so here they are, still rendered in pencil. Not that I mind, but I was liking the PSD stuff a little better. Oh well, be careful what you wish for.

Constructing For The Rule Of Thirds

2009-06-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

Good morning. While thinking about composition it's a great idea to employ the use of the "Rule of thirds" as a basic visual balancing tool. I am just going to assume you know what that rule is about because you can do a search and just about every site that mentions it gives you an idea what it is. Go ahead and do a quick search on "rule of thirds" or even "composition principles"...I'll wait....
Okay so hopefully you were lead to a good site which imbues valuable information about the above topic. Did you notice that in all of the information there are suggestions of what to do with your nine equal segments and four main intersections, but you'll be hard pressed to find a site that tells you how to actually divide your frame to allow for the rule? Now I now that there are those sites that lay down the complex math that the Greeks came up with long ago, and if you're into that-more power to you. And I also know that the human eye can see in thirds nearly as easily as seeing in halves or quarters, but it takes practice. If I asked you all to simply draw a frame and then eyeball divisions of thirds, you may make a good guess but how do you know your guess is exact?
Well friends, here is a quick method to construct intersections to help you with following the rule.
First, you have to start with a frame. This method will work for ANY rectangle or shapes with four corners (it also works with shapes with more than four but I'm trying to keep this easy). above, you have the basic 1.77:1 aspect ratio most of you'll know it as 16x9. If you need me to explain the proportions of the frame, leave me a comment.

Next draw a line from opposing corners, bottom to far top corner, etc as shown above.

Repeat this with other opposing corners.

The "x" you get will denote the center of the rectangle. High school geometry is suddenly coming back, huh? Draw a line parallel to any side so that it passes through the "x".

Now draw a line from an opposite corner to the medial intersection - the middle top. Where the original diagonal and the new diagonal intersect is a THIRD! Really. Neat huh.

Now the rest is easy but I'll just show you in case. Drop a line parallel to the short sides down and where it intersects the diagonal is another third as shown above.

A parallel line with the long sides (top or bottom) will give you the next third at the intersection of the diagonal.

Almost done now, draw a line parallel to the short side again, this time so it passes through the intersection of the new third aaaaand WHAPPO! you've got your four main intersections.

Now just draw lines that are parallel to the sides through the intersection and you've got your nine equal unit divisions.

Leaving you ready to work in the thirds for your composition. Take time to memorize this process, seriously draw frames this way at least one hundred times with the thumbnails you do and you'll get so used to seeing the intersections, you won't have to draw the lines that make up this method.

Next up, some composition tips

Framing Help

2009-06-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

Hi Welcome back.
So, if you want to frame a character or any subject, here's a 'little' handout that is general enough to be applicable to all frames and aspect ratios but shown in 1:1.85 Widescreen.

ECU = Extreme Close Up
CU = Close Up
MCU = Medium Close Up (Also called the Medium Close Shot)
MS = Medium Shot ( in this case, not to be confused with Master Shot)
MFS = Medium Full Shot ( head down to the knee)
FS = Full Shot ( The whole figure, head to toes)Click image for larger view.
Up next, more composition information. Hopefully this helps somebody.

What Got Me Into Skeletal Structure....

2009-06-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

Hi...I am about to torture you with something from college. Stop looking now if you don't want to see. Too late.
Commemorating the break up of the Soviet Union and the shelving of the SR-71 Blackbird. What year was that?

One Of Those Days...

2009-05-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

Work in progress images.

Fun With Warning Labels

2009-05-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

FARM EQUIPMENT
For the storyboarding class we take a look at images that may or may not convey the basic idea. Warning labels seem to be a good place to start and this time we will have a look at labels found on tractor attachments such as threshers and spreaders.Now storyboarding is build a sequence of images (panels) to show story progression and action as well as other factors of story. Bujt the point of this excersise is to be sure each image is clear and readable on its own and works with the other panels that will preceed and follow it.

Warning labels like these may be difficult to understand without text. So I encourage my students to use clarity and not muddle their compositions. However the captions one does come up with when ignoring text on some of these labels can bring about a smile or two. Even better are those cations that go with teh warnings that are not accompanied with text. FEEL FREE TO ADD YOUR OWN!!Hmmm....Danger: babies may crawl out of implement while in use. Your ankles and wrists will be beaten with rulers if they opperate equipment in a disembodied state.
It looks like that "bistander" is moving...don't bi-STAND-ers stand? Shouldn't it say pedestrians? Those move...anyway...
Danger: On rare occasions little sparkly things will shoot out at people who dance or cheer to close to equipment. Operators will always look indifferently at vicims.
Danger: Avoid mating with equipment for obvious reasons.
-or-
Danger: getting wrapped up in your work can be hazardous to your health.

Here's a spreader nozzle. I don't even have a clue what this label is trying to warn me about.
Danger: Sometimes pulling the key out of the ignition will throw a wrench into your manual.
Danger: You may find yourself in box if you use this equipment. Sometimes the box may be in you.
Danger: There is a big black box in your pants that wants to come out.
Danger: NO Hand Jives

Below are examples of no text labels. Did you get the same things out of these?
danger: Do not kick the spinning ninja star.
Danger: Do not try to catch the spinning ninja star with your foot.
Danger: Do not stick your left foot in, pull your left foot out, don't shake it all about and whatever you do, DON'T do the Hokey Pokey and turn yourself around...
Operation of this machinery while drunk with friends with rifles, may force you to end up in a pine box or vise-versa.
Caution: The book you are about to read has pages that get progressively smaller toward the center.

Let me know what you come up with.

Me and My Memory....May 27, 2009

2009-04-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

Me and My memory: Why We Remember Somethings and Forget Others will be out May 27, 2009. I just got an advance copy. It looks good as final product here, are some examples below.

Buy some copies and I'll sign them all for you. We can discuss what worked as far as image building and what did not later, there are some things that need to change for the next one. For now, I'll breathe a sign of relief knowing it's finally done. The next one, "Me and My Emotions: What emotions are and how we can manage them" is on it's way stay tuned. I need to get as much done on it before I come to teach summer semester. Thanks for stopping by.

Back For Another Round

2009-04-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

I will be back for two classes this summer semester 2009 and will do my best to earn and bring honor to this award presented to me in 2007. I'll look forward to seeing you in class. The rest of you, I will teaching animal drawing, if you'd like to join the class meetings at the zoo on Saturdays.

Some Characters

2009-04-04T23:45:00.000-07:00

Hi. Some spots from the book I'm working on. Fun to make up these poses and lay in the characters. More on their way, stay tuned.

Eighth Anniversary

2009-03-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

Happy eighth anniversary, Lynette! Wow eight years, hard to imagine. Thanks for marrying me, I love you. This is our wedding invitation I did. It came with a seashell which you used to RSVP. All part of the Monterey Bay Aquarium theme where we got married.

Old Whales

2009-03-30T13:57:00.001-07:00

Sketches for a job I did a long, long time ago. Maybe I'll come back to them, one day.

Brithday Thanks

2009-03-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hello, March 20th is here again which means Spring has finally arrived and it's also my birthday. I take this day, as I always do, to extend a thank you to to everyone one who has come into my life, even briefly. You have all made an impact and I'm glad you all have made into my life. So if it has been to point out a direction, to inspire, to encourage, to share a hug or just a laugh, I thank you all and don't know what the world would be like without you. Happy birthday to all of you no matter when your birthday is. Make yourself a bookmark or something with the image above.
Happy birthday also to the great Bobby Orr, big band leader Bobby Chester, Mrs. Incredible Holly Hunter and my friend Derek Smith. If you're interested in who else shares a birthday check this out.
I hope you all have a great day, I hear it's a national holiday in Japan.
Have fun drawing
-Jeff Jackson

Emotions Continued

2009-03-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

Hello out there. These are the characters which will represent the main emotions; happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, and fear. Still fighting with the more cartoon-y vs "realistic". I didn't get to choose names or ethnicity for these guys, the guidelines were specific. What are your thoughts so far?
I need to step up progress on this and other projects, the deadline looms ever closer. I have been asked to go back and teach a class or two-stay tuned on that front.

(Pink) Troll Thursday!

2009-03-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

The real trolls in Sacramento have slashed education spending and have eaten just about all of the flesh off of the bare bones school budgets across CA. I am doing my part to protest the direction the State has chosen to go. For more information check out Pink Friday and wear pink tomorrow.
Get your pink on.

Interview'd

2009-03-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of those email surveys and questionnaires from Facebook and LinkedIn and so on. To be very honest, I hate those things (really). I guess I am pleased you guys want to know so much about me but I really don't like talking about myself. So to quell these inquiries and because I know I'll never be interviewed by CDB, I have decided to post an interview that was done by the North/Central Ca Society Of Children's Book Wrters and Illustrators last year. If you don't like reading you can stop now and I certainly won't be offended. Enjoy...

According to the dictionary, an illustrator is one who illuminates, clarifies or uses the visual arts to demonstrate ideas. Whether robots, animals, ships, or you-name-it, animator/illustrator, Jeff S. Jackson imagines a concept, grabs his favorite #935 Prismacolor pencil or revs up his computer, brews a never-ending pot of coffee, then zaps life into ideas. Like many authors and illustrators, his art is done while multi-tasking other jobs, parenting, and volunteer work such as being the Graphics Designer for our Acorn online magazine.
After graduating from San Jose State College, Jeff has worked as both an animator and illustrator for a wide range of clients: Hallmark Cards Inc., The Nature Company, Wizard Magazine and the Seaside Police Department. In the year 2000, his first picture book debuted from Hoopoe Books, The Silly Chicken, a Central Asian tale retold by Idries Shah. In this book, Jeff takes his humor and love of drawing animals to a delightful level, partnering seamlessly with Shah's "the sky is falling" storyline.
Jeff started in animation as a traditional effects animator. He has taught storyboarding, figure and animal drawing as well as other subjects at Cogswell College in Sunnyvale. He also enjoys coordinating Zoo Sketch Crawl events (aka ZSCs) where students and illustrators spend a day at local zoos, sketching animals then critiquing their works. Check out Jeff's gallery at www.sonjebasa.net or his blog at http://sonjebasa.blogspot.com/

Here's Inside the Illustrator's Cranium, Jeff S. Jackson in his own words:

1. What's your favorite word?
I love words that have a sense of flow like slugabed, disingenuous, superfluous, mellifluous, and tensor fasciae latae. I also love onomatopoetic words like Blam, Whoosh, Boing, pow, and "kazzzzzzzzzzooooooooooshah!"
2. What's your least favorite word?
I really hate words that depersonalize human acts between two or more people like gifting or words that condense a group effort into a single moment that can be checked off on a clipboard like animations.
3. Describe your artist statement.
"Coffee. I love you, coffee."
4. Describe your work ethic in regards to your art:
Let's see, after the kid goes down for nap and when grading is all done, I jump into what I have on the board or on the computer and try to get something done…nuts, the kid's awake or the toilet is overflowing…guess I'll have to stay up (see number 3).
5. What is your favorite medium and why?
I work a lot in Photoshop or Painter now. My favorite tool is still a black #935 Prismacolor pencil.
6. Any tips on using that medium?
Buy Prismacolors by the box, it's cheaper. Try working on animation paper or layout bond paper.
7. Any tips on illustrating?
Try to learn something from each project, whether it's about the subject you are illustrating or about the medium. That will keep it from seeming like a job.
8. What's your favorite book?
This week's fav: Pi-Shu; the Little Panda by John Butler. The one I like to read again and again, Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo.
9. What inspires you to create your art?
Other than the need to eat? I have been teaching a lot lately and I love it. To be able to relay concepts and see my students begin to apply what they have learned and get better in the process is very inspiring.
10. Who are your favorite painters and/or composers?
There is not enough room here to even begin a list. The golden age illustrators like Dean Cornwell always beckon to me, as do masters like Jose Jimenez y Aranda, Vermeer, Caravaggio and Velazquez and some modern day wonders like Joy Allen, Janet Stevens and Daniel San Souchi.
11. Who are your real life heroes?
My dad. He is such a great dad (and now grandpa) that he is the bar to which I measure everything. And anyone who doesn't use words like...gifting and animations.
12. What intrigues you?
Why on earth I would be asked to fill out this questionnaire when there are some many other truly incredible and talented folks out there who would be waaay more interesting than myself.
13. What profession/job other than illustrating would you like to try?
I have always wanted to work as an ice cream flavor tester.
14. What profession/job would you never try?
The person who squishes lemons for lemonade at Hot Dog On A Stick.
15. Assuming there will be an afterlife, whom would you like to meet and why?
Hmmm...see question 10. I would love to get J.S. Sargent, Charles Dana Gibson, N. C. Wyeth, Illya Repin, Rembrant van Rjin, Dean Cornwell, Bill Peet, Tyrus Wong, Edgar Degas, Howard Pyle, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Marc Davis in the same room so we could all talk shop.
16. What is your favorite work motto/mantra?
Mind over matter-if I don't mind, it won't matter.

Wow, wasn't that great? That was actually edited, I think there were like 20 questions but article space and the fact that everybody kept nodding off forced it to be condensed. NPR actually interviewed Cookie Monster with the same questions, the best interview I have heard in a long long time. I tell you what, if you want to be interviewed by me, let me know and I'll be most happy to post it.

Amara's Work Continues

2009-03-06T15:48:00.000-08:00

Hello, I thought I would post some more of Amara's work up here. As you have seen in previous posts she usually takes over when I'm on the computer and here's some recent work. I just ask her what colors she wants and we've gotten to the point where she tells me which brush to pick and so on. I let her do what she wants with the mouse or stylus (my poor stylus barely works, now). When she feels like she is done she says "new paper!" and I call up another blank "page".
I always ask her what she wants to call each of her finished "pieces" and she blurts out
This one is called, 'Gramma Bobby'
Here's, 'Grampa Bill'And here's 'Fordinnacycle'. I have no idea where that one came from, but that was as close to spelling it as I could get. If you want to see some more of her work you can click here. Or see some new drawings here.
fine art is fun when you're three!

WonderCon '09

2009-02-28T21:02:00.001-08:00

I went to WonderCon in San Francisco today. I am still undecided if I like this con better or less than San Diego Comic Con overall but this year really was great. I went with my good friend Dave and saw lots of great stuff. This year was pretty easy going and one thing for sure, it's a lot less crowded in SF than down south. There were still folks who went all out to make great costumes as you'll see below but WC is also small enough (still) to get to chat with sellers and so on. Some well respected names in the animation industry were at their tables and actually had time to have a conversation. The guys I wanted to rub elbows with were the most approachable folks I've had the chance to banter with in some time. I mean where else are you going to get to talk with Emmy award winning Ben Balisteri about hockey? Or swap stories about your kids with Pascal Campion? Dave and I talked about Zoo Sketch Crawl and Sketch Crawls in general with Pixar story artist Enrico Casarosa while he and Ronnie Del Carmen were signing our books, congrats by the way, to you guys and everyone at Pixar for winning the Oscar for Wall-e.
I also spent some time chatting with the gang from ghostbot who were responsible for animating the Esurance commercials, some of the best "traditionally" animated commercials I have seen in a long time. Even better I very pleased to see my 'ol college chum Kris works there, it was great to see her again.

I always wanted to be a cylon but this guy actually was one complete with that crazy noise with red eye moving.
I've never wanted to be a big yellow bug but these ladies sure did with style.Here's Fabian Molina a former student of mine doing us proud by doing up a kick ass sketchbook and serving up copies hotter than hotcakes to lumberjacks.Here's my loot from the event, I was a strict budget this time but I still came home with awesomeness. What a great day. Only bummer was that hot dog from the cafe outside. Stay away from those, next time I bring my own lunch. If I saw you there, I hope you had a great time if I didn't let's make a point of going next year!

The Body Under Stress

2009-02-25T21:54:00.000-08:00

I know anatomy. I've looked at flayed cadavers. But I'll admit, I don't really know the internal organs very well. So when I had to draw up the figure displaying the inner workings of the adrenal system as in the "flight or fight" response I had to crawl waay back through the dark, swampy memories of that med school class I took way back in '94. The one I stopped paying attention to once we got past exterior layer musculature. Well, I also sort of stopped paying attention because I was surrounded by all of those nursing student babes.....good times.
Ahem, anyway now I find that the notes I jotted down as far as relationship of skeleton to organ location actually helped after all.
So, as always I started with a quick gesture and ruffed in the skeleton, laid in the figure and then placed in the organs. The parts will be labeled as far as function, IE: the eyes widen, the blood vessels near the skin fill with blood, the mouth drops open for better respiration etc. I like this project!
Speaking of anatomy I didn't know before, but here's the limbic system. (I mean as an animator who is ever going to animate the limbic system?) But, just in case you were wondering where your amygdala and hippocampus live...