Thursday, April 4, 2013

Trying to improve!

 Practicing hard in an attempt to solve several drawing problems I face every day on the job. Drapery I always fake. Generic heads. Lousy hair. Generic clothing. Unimaginative lighting. Poor attempts at likenesses. Some of the usual suspects of most live action storyboarders!
I spent nine years doing shooting boards for TV commercials, and it was hammered into me to always draw bland, generic characters, so that the client wouldn't focus on any particular type.  And it's a hard habit to break. Everything nondescript and bashed out quickly can pay the bills, but it also can be soul crushing as an artist!


Freeze framing movies, trying out poses, drapery, lighting. This was "For Greater Glory", directed by Dean Wright, who I worked with a few years ago.

 Playing around with blacks. Something I definitely need more practice with.
 If I see some staging or camera work I wouldn't have thought of, I sometimes thumbnail it out and do an overhead, hoping it will come back to me in a similar situation.


Copying drapery from Al Dorne is a bit maddening. Every wrinkle has it's own sub-wrinkles.


 Hoping I can improve my hair drawing. Nashville is a big hair show.


 Here is something I have rarely ever done: drawing from photos! And I think my work suffers because I've hardly done it all these years. I'm vowing to do a lot more of this. Right away I was drawing new shapes and lines I'd never drawn before. I think I'm getting less generic characters already.

 I drew some of these pages in the cheapest sketchbook I've ever found. Velvety smooth thin paper from China, that used to be available at Big Lots, or the 99¢ Store. When I tried to ink over the pencils, the lines just went fuzzy.


 National Geographic Magazine is great for a variety of people from all over the World. Trying to pay more attention to different head shapes.