click to see it larger
By the way, this marks a turning point in world history- I have submitted two DG entries in a row after averaging one every three years. Stock up on canned goods, liquor and ammunition folks- the end is nigh.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Dragon
Another DrawerGeeks, another entry. This one is a little more 'artsy'. Several comments/emails on my previous DG effort referenced a lack of artistic acumen on my part. So I figured I'd dust off my old artist's hat and wear it for a spell.
By the way, this marks a turning point in world history- I have submitted two DG entries in a row after averaging one every three years. Stock up on canned goods, liquor and ammunition folks- the end is nigh.
By the way, this marks a turning point in world history- I have submitted two DG entries in a row after averaging one every three years. Stock up on canned goods, liquor and ammunition folks- the end is nigh.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
New tutorial translation: Power Centers- now in Chinese
Big thanks go out to Victor Luo for his Chinese translation of my older tutorial on Power Centers and Personality. It's been available for a while, but I'm finally getting around to posting it here.
I am always humbled and thankful when folks translate my writings into other languages. Honestly I never would have imagined that my various ramblings would have been quite this widely translated back when I wrote them. Heck, I never even thought about translating them at all! Goes to show how little vision I have. heh. You guys make me look better than I deserve. :)
I am always humbled and thankful when folks translate my writings into other languages. Honestly I never would have imagined that my various ramblings would have been quite this widely translated back when I wrote them. Heck, I never even thought about translating them at all! Goes to show how little vision I have. heh. You guys make me look better than I deserve. :)
New tutorial translation: Italian
With special thanks to Andrea Perrone we now have an Italian translation of one of my older tutorials, Life After Pose to Pose. For all of you who might benefit from some Italian tutorializing, this is your lucky day.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Silhouette
Just a quick peek from something I'm working on right now.
Never under-estimate the power of clear, strong silhouette. I think we should do everything we can to make it flow so as to maximize the appeal of a pose. I often work in silhouette when I'm polishing my poses. It's a great way to visualize things for readability- even something as simple and seemingly nebulous as a 'squash' shape on a fast inbetween is good to work out this way.
Never under-estimate the power of clear, strong silhouette. I think we should do everything we can to make it flow so as to maximize the appeal of a pose. I often work in silhouette when I'm polishing my poses. It's a great way to visualize things for readability- even something as simple and seemingly nebulous as a 'squash' shape on a fast inbetween is good to work out this way.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Ninja
This week's DrawerGeek theme was Ninjas (click the link to see all the cool entries). For some odd reason I decided to whip up an entry. Don't know why really- maybe it was the moon phase? Anyhow, this brings my total submissions to about 4 drawings in the 7 years I've been a 'member' of the DrawerGeek club. Yeah, I'm not a high volume kind of guy. Sadly I can't say that I've been saving all that effort in order to make sure that I deliver higher quality.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Anime
Tom Sito's blog re-posts an eye opening article on the future viability of anime as a going business concern. While the points on the long term surival of anime may or may not be valid, the points in the article that stood out to me were the stories of what life is like as an artist in the anime animation business.
Full disclosure- I've never been a huge fan of anime. I mean some of it's OK, but a lot of it is violent, disgusting and mysogenistic. But there are some pieces that can be rewarding, yet there's a nagging nag in the back of my mind that always keeps me from enjoying it fully. I have a hard time appreciating the product of an industry that is as blatantly exploitative as the Japanese anime industry is. Anybody who has paid attention over the years has heard the horror stories of working hours and disgustingly low pay. In the article noted they tell of a young lady making 80,000 yen per month working 60 hours a week drawing inbetweens. 80,000 yen per month comes out to ~$800, or €635 euros. These folks aren't working in some dusty little village in po-dunk East Asia. This is the wage paid to people working in Tokyo, the 4th most expensive city in the world. I'm willing to bet that people working at McDonalds get paid better. But it's not like anime as a selling product is a dud. The article also notes that global annual sales for all anime products runs in the 200 billion yen range ($2 billion per year). That's not chicken scratch. That so little of that lucre finds its way to the bottom of the production chain is appalling. It has been and continues to be an exploitative industry. This one fact alone dampens my appreciation for the work of people like Miyazaki, et al.
Full disclosure- I've never been a huge fan of anime. I mean some of it's OK, but a lot of it is violent, disgusting and mysogenistic. But there are some pieces that can be rewarding, yet there's a nagging nag in the back of my mind that always keeps me from enjoying it fully. I have a hard time appreciating the product of an industry that is as blatantly exploitative as the Japanese anime industry is. Anybody who has paid attention over the years has heard the horror stories of working hours and disgustingly low pay. In the article noted they tell of a young lady making 80,000 yen per month working 60 hours a week drawing inbetweens. 80,000 yen per month comes out to ~$800, or €635 euros. These folks aren't working in some dusty little village in po-dunk East Asia. This is the wage paid to people working in Tokyo, the 4th most expensive city in the world. I'm willing to bet that people working at McDonalds get paid better. But it's not like anime as a selling product is a dud. The article also notes that global annual sales for all anime products runs in the 200 billion yen range ($2 billion per year). That's not chicken scratch. That so little of that lucre finds its way to the bottom of the production chain is appalling. It has been and continues to be an exploitative industry. This one fact alone dampens my appreciation for the work of people like Miyazaki, et al.
time you won't want back...
I spotted this on the Drawn blog, so I'm assuming many here have at least seen its mention. However if you didn't take time to watch it, or if you don't keep up with Drawn, then really- just watch this. It's 8 of perhaps the stupidest minutes of your life that will indeed be wasted, but I'm willing to bet that you won't care.
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