Sketch Adventure!

Ringing in the New Year with Woflmans and Sketchbook Making

2012-01-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

Hello and Happy New Year, Interneters!

It feels late to be saying that 3 weeks into the year, but I've been quiet for the last little while. Near the end of last year I was experiencing some fatigue and minor pain in my drawing hand, so at my doctor's behest I took it easy over the holidays until it started feeling better. And now that I am feeling better, let the drawing ensue!

In other news, here are a bunch of things that Wolfmans like:

Apples

Safari Shirts

Basketball

Jukeboxes

Handmade Sketchbooks

I know what your thinking--you have a lot in common with wolfmans. Well, you should probably go to the doctor like I did. If you have pain in your drawing hand, you may be a wolfman. (Luckily, my diagnosis was a false positive.)

Or you may have been thinking, "That is no sketchbook, sir! That is the box of a popular breakfast cereal!" Well, you'd only be half right, friend, for indeed it is both. My officemate and trained botanical professional, Anthony Zierhut showed me a totally easy method of making sketchbooks a couple of weeks ago, and I'm hooked.

You can try it too--he posted the easy to follow instructions RIGHT HERE IN PUBLIC for anyone to see. What a nice guy, right? He even gave me materials to make my first book (though I cannot guarantee he'll do the same for you).

Now, if you're thinking to yourself, "I can't make a nifty sketchbook like that; I'm allergic to cereal boxes," it turns out that you can make sketchbooks out of all kinds of stuff. I didn't have any bookbinding supplies at home, so I improvised with found materials for my next few books.

For the covers, I used the thick pages from a discarded children's board book.

The spine tape is duct tape instead of fancy binding tape.

I used regular sewing thread and a cheap candle instead of bookbinding thread and beeswax.

The paper is just regular cheap color printer paper--perfect for no-fuss sketchery.

The glue that binds it all together is regular white glue, like Elmer's.

To me, it's pretty cool that I could make a book out of stuff I found lying around our house. Give it a try and let me know how it works out for you

Anyway, I hope this year is fun and productive for all. Be good, and I hope to be back with more drawings soon!

Christmas Cheer

2011-12-14T21:48:00.001-07:00

It feels like it's been far too long since I've posted comics. My kids continue to say really funny things, so I thank them for writing my material. Actually, it's mostly my son Sawyer. Lately the only thing I hear my daughter say is "boppoli!" (Her favorite food is broccoli. This is what happens when you raise vegan babies.)

(click comics to bigify)

I generally don't approve of the F-word, but it's pretty cute when you hear a 3 year old say it. And with such sincerity.

In 30 years you will, Sawyer. Then who will be laughing?

Hope this Season is bright for all!

What If... @ Gallery Nucleus

2011-11-30T16:04:00.001-07:00

I was asked to participate in an upcoming micro-show titled "What If..." at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra. This is my piece: 7"X7", gouache and acrylic ink on board.

The show opens on December 10th. Hope to see you there!

CTN Fan Art Giveaway: One Piece Edition!

2011-11-18T00:04:00.001-07:00

Boys and Girls, it's time for CTN!

I'll be strolling the floor on Saturday with a backpack full of fan art to give away. Here's the One Piece series; below you can find the Batman doodles--come talk to me, and let's trade drawings!

I'll also have a bunch of the Summer Doodles for sale with me.

...

Also, to make it easy to find me, I'm including a handy reference chart. Adhere to these easy-to-follow steps, and you too can spot an Anthony Holden in the wild.

So, see you there! By the by, who is YOUR favorite One Piece character?

Be good!

Just For Fun

2011-11-10T18:11:00.001-07:00

Waiting.

Fanart Thursday: Batman Postcards

2011-11-03T10:13:00.001-06:00

I drew some embarrassing Batman fan art at work the other day, with sharpies on 5X8 index cards.

...I have little explanation to offer for the images that follow.

By now you've probably realized that I like giving things away. So here's a heads-up to anyone who will be attending the CTN Animation Expo in a few weeks: I will be giving away these little post cards for free at the convention on Saturday, November 19th. So come find me and let's exchange pleasantries--and, if you like, drawings.

If I'm feeling ambitious, I might get around to doing more. Any suggestions on my next topic?

Warm Ups

2011-10-28T12:08:00.000-06:00

I've been doing some sketchbook doodling to warm up at work these days. Some of my favorite paper to draw on is BIG PAPER (of any variety). Recently I pulled out an old unfinished sketchbook to fill up the last half. I'm reducing, reusing, and recycling. The paper is a no-frills Windpower Sketch book from Strathmore--it's not fancy, but it is big (14.75"X17"). And it's made with 100% windpower from 30% post consumer fiber, so that's pretty good too, I guess (if you like numbers).

A few years ago I was lucky enough to stumble upon a great book collection while helping a friend clean out a storage space, and he let me keep it! Back in the early 1960s, Life Magazine published a series called the World Library with volumes covering a number of countries and regions around the world. I love looking at old photos, especially of countries that are foreign to me--it makes for really cool reference. The two images above are from photos in the volume covering the Balkans.

...

And about CTN, I'm excited to see you folks there. I won't have a booth, but I will be wandering the floor. It will be cool to meet you people whose work I've been admiring from afar!

Memory Sketch

2011-10-24T12:42:00.000-06:00

A memory sketch for the first time in a long time. It has been many moons since I've drawn with a pencil...in fact, I think the last time I picked up a pencil to draw was the last memory sketch I did (which also happened to be of a dog and its owner).

It feels kind of good to fuss over something a little. If you look closely, you can see how much erasing happened before I landed on the final image.

In other, unrelated news...who out there in blog-world is planning on attending this year's CTN Expo in Burbank? Drop a comment below!

More Gestures with Dave Pimentel

2011-10-13T22:48:00.000-06:00

At work, my friend and coworker Dave Pimentel teaches a bi-weekly gesture class on alternating Mondays. He's always an inspiration to work under; quick with a spot-on critique and even quicker with a brush pen.

The above are a collection of one-, two-, and five-minute poses from last Monday. Drawn in Sharpie on regular ole computer paper; tone added in post, thanks to a little 'shoppery.

Dear Inktober,

2011-10-11T15:50:00.000-06:00

According to some of my internet pals, there is a drawing event called Inktober happening all month long! I feel silly to have spent all summer doing something that I should have waited until now to do.

In other, related news, all of the summer doodles are at an end now--a number of them are up for sale on my Tumblr HERE. Hope you like what you see!

Meanwhile, with any luck, there will be more comics up soon. Take luck, all!

Doodle Book: Post 7 (Epilogue)

2011-09-21T11:43:00.002-06:00

Well, it looks like we've reached the end of the sketchbook! Thanks, everybody, for coming on the ride with me and leaving comments.

Winners this go round are:

Houston Trueblood for the trivia question

Aminder Dhaliwal and

Frankie Swan for the raffle

Please contact me with your mailing address so I can put a doodle in the post for you!

In other news, I am hoping to do a small print run of the doodlebook sketches in a single bound volume. It's looking right now like there will be around 200 pages of doodles, so it should make for a nice little book.

In an effort to get some funds together I'll be selling original artwork from the book, so I started a Tumblr HERE. There are 5"X8" drawings and 2"X3" drawings all over the place, looking for a home. If you see one you like, contact me at Precious (dot) Rascal (dot) Store (at) gmail (dot) com. Pass the word on to interested parties!

With any luck, I'll get a Kickstarter up soon, and we'll launch this book project into high gear post haste. More on that when it happens.

Otherwise, I'd love to know what some of your all-time doodlebook favorites have been. Peruse them HERE and leave a comment. The most popular ones may become a print package.

16 Aug For Junko

17 Aug For Meredith

18 Aug

19 Aug

19 Aug For Pete

23 Aug, with special guest doodle by Sr. Michael Lester

PS, when did blogger add this radical function where I can post big drawings?! Thank you, blogger folks! PPS, I love THIS FUNCTION on Tumblr--which I don't see on blogger...maybe sometime soon...

Supermans: You and Me

2011-09-08T13:01:00.002-06:00

Even if you don't like Superman, even if you don't like drawing, if you like JUSTICE, then you should participate in THIS RELIEF EFFORT.

Thanks to my pal Nate for filling me in on this.

Testing, testing

2011-08-25T21:19:00.004-06:00

One of the coolest things about where I work is being within a stone's throw of so much tremendous talent. Seriously, I can't walk five paces without running into someone who's generating fantastic and inspiring work.

After a couple of recent chats with both Bob Logan and Dan Krall, I decided to dust off the old scratch quills and colored acrylic inks. I love trying new stuff out (and re-trying out old stuff). Thanks, guys, for inspiring me!

In other news, the raffle for drawings continues; so if you like getting free stuff in the mail consider leaving a comment HERE. Until next time, be good!

Doodle Book: Post 6

2011-08-19T09:50:00.000-06:00

Blammo!

Hiya, bloggers and blogettes! How's things?

I've gotten a few questions about my doodling process. It's pretty simple: I'm drawing in a Handbook Journal sketchbook with a Uniball Roller pen (micro 0.5mm) and Kuretake Water Brush, which I have instead filled with Rapidograph Universal Black India ink.

Since the doodles are just for fun, I'm not fussing over much. The tools are simple and I don't do an under drawing in pencil (who's got time for that?). It leads to a lot of mistakes and accidents, but it also forces me to commit to the lines and shapes I make.

Before we get to the doodles, here are this time's RAFFLE WINNERS!

Each of you will be getting a doodle in the mail

so, at your earliest convenience, please send me

a message with your mailing address!! :)

This time around, I'll be selecting TWO MORE WINNERS at random,
so please leave a comment below if you'd like to be entered.
...
Also, the first commenter who can correctly identify the character
below will win the TRIVIA PRIZE (...which is also a doodle).

Anyway, on to the doodles!

25 July and 26 July

27 July and 28 July

29 July and 30 July

31 July and 1 August

1 August and 2 August

3 August

4 August and 5 August

5 August

6 August and 9 August

7 August, for Carrie (last time's raffle winner)

8 August, for L Rossi (last time's trivia winner)

10 August and 11 August

11 August

12 August and 13 August

14 August and 15 August

16 August

17 August

Thanks for stopping by!
As always, let me know which ones are your favorites.

The Latest

2011-08-10T10:34:00.005-06:00

Sorry for the gap in posts--it's been a little nuts at work. I've got more doodles to post, and I hope to get to them soon.

Meanwhile, if you haven't entered yourself in the raffle for a free drawing, leave a comment

HERE

HERE

or HERE.

See you guys soon!

Moving Comics

2011-07-28T22:12:00.013-06:00

...

or, at least, comics that move are a subject that has fascinated me recently.

The last one I did got a pretty good response, with some questions about how I did it. Well, you should know that I'm almost always making things up, so I can't be considered and authority on this (or any) subject. Anyway, I'm sure there are a bunch of ways to get to the result that I did, but I will divulge my secrets (which are so simple that, upon their divulging, you will wonder why you even asked).

First, a new comic:

and in an alternate form:

Some Dads Give Their Kids Blocks from Anthony Holden on Vimeo.

Ideally, I think it would be cool to build in a Flash functionality that allowed readers to click on a panel when they are ready to watch the animation. That way, you could get the benefit of animating moments while maintaining a more traditional feel to the comic (one that doesn't distract from the other panels because of the constant movement). I might do a little more studying to look into that option. It may involve learning some code, so buckle up.

Some Philosophy:

There are advantages and disadvantages inherent to both animation and comics. Comics, similar to novels, have the ability to delve into a world rich with sensory experience via the words and images on a page. In film, ideas can only be conveyed visually or aurally. That said, film has the advantage of time-manipulation; a director can control exactly how long you see and hear things. You can't do that with comics.

Sure, comics employ some parlor tricks: filling pages with dialogue or stacking multiple drawings that depict an action in order to slow down the reading experience. But at the end of the day, a reader gets through a comic as fast as he or she wants. The author does not control time.

By animating comics, the author can cheat a little. I can manipulate small moments of time within a panel. I think this has tremendous potential. I apologize that all I've used it for so far is to make jokes about butts and handing bricks of hash to minors.

The point is that someone with more noble tastes than me could do something really great with this. Please, noble people of the interweb, I adjure you: make great things with moving comics!

The Tricks:

I use Flash (CS3) to make the comic. I'm most familiar with this program when it comes to animating digitally, so the drawing process is pretty intuitive. When planning out individual panels, I try to make sure that things loop in increments of 24 frames, so that if I end up with panels of different loop lengths, they don't hiccup (so to speak) when the loop comes full circle.

I've tried a number of methods for actual GIF file-creation. Flash's compression engine is sort of crummy, so I tried a handful of export options in After Effects (also CS3). After Effects GIFs had similar compression issues in my experience.

Then, my good friend, Eric Armstrong, showed me the light. Here's the deal:

1. Export Quicktime (.mov) from After Effects at full quality.
2. In Photoshop, File>Import>Video to Layers. Your animation will show up in a stack of layers.
3.Cmd+Option+Shift+S ...it's a heck of a hotkey, please stretch before attempting.
4. Preview your .GIF, mess with the options, get it to where you like it.
5. Export!

Blogger has weird issues hosting gifs sometimes, so I have been using Photobucket to host the files, and then embedding image links in blog posts. I have noticed other gifs elsewhere on blogger that seem to work just fine--what are you folks doing to get yours to work?

Like I said, there are probably less convoluted ways of making GIFs, but this is what's been working for me. Let me know if you have any luck with this process, or if you have a method of your own that you use to make GIFs. I understand there are ways to make GIFs exclusively within Photoshop as well. Anyone with experience doing so, please chime in!

My thanks to you if you read this far. With any luck, I'll keep experimenting with these in the future. See you soon!

Doodle Book: Post 5

2011-07-26T11:11:00.003-06:00

I think I broke Blogger by putting too many images in a post, so I'm splitting up the last giant Doodlebook post into a couple of smaller posts.

Next time I won't wait a whole month in between posts!

14 July

15 July and 16 July

16 July

17 July and 18 July

19 July and 20 July

21 July and 22 July

23 July and 24 July

RAFFLE STUFFS!

Today's winner is:

(click to solve the mystery!)
Dear winner, please contact me with precise GPS coordinates so I can send you a doodle in the mail!

An ADDITIONAL free doodle to the first commenter to recognize the character above.

To Enter The Upcoming Raffle for a free doodle-in-the-mail,
please leave a comment on Doodlebook post 3, 4, or 5!

ALSO,
Since it's been a whole month in between posts,
this time I will be selecting TWO WINNERS at random.

Good luck!

Let me know what your favorite doodles have been so far. See you in less than a month!

Doodlebook: Post 4

2011-07-26T10:56:00.004-06:00

02 July
This doodle went to last time's raffle winner.
It looks a little different 'cause it's on bristol board. (I couldn't just rip a page out of the book!)

03 July and 04 July

05 July and 06 July

7 July

08 July

09 July

10 July

11 July

12 July and 13 July

**LEAVE A COMMENT TO ENTER YOURSELF INTO THE RAFFLE FOR A FREE DOODLE!
I'LL BE RANDOMLY SELECTING TWO WINNERS FROM THE COMMENTS SECTIONS OF
DOODLEBOOK POSTS 3, 4, AND 5.**

Doodlebook: Post 3

2011-07-26T10:49:00.008-06:00

22 June and 23 June

24 June

25 June

26 June

27 June and 28 June

29 June and 30 June

1 July

1 July

**LEAVE A COMMENT TO ENTER YOURSELF INTO THE RAFFLE FOR A FREE DOODLE!
I'LL BE RANDOMLY SELECTING TWO WINNERS FROM THE COMMENTS SECTIONS OF
DOODLEBOOK POSTS 3, 4, AND 5.**

Watercolor wash

2011-07-25T12:26:00.002-06:00

In other news, it was my wife's birthday not so long ago. I drawled up an ink doodle and put a watercolor wash over it. Kinda made me wanna go back over some favorites in the book with a little wash...you know, when I have time.

Feeling a Little Patriotic

2011-07-22T16:04:00.005-06:00

The Comic-Con Season always brings a tear to my eye when I see that red white and blue.

Sometimes I find myself drawing characters I know nothing about. Thanks to this fellow, for the inspiration.

PS, I've got more Doodlebook drawings to post and the winner of last time's raffle to announce...I'll get to that this weekend, I promise!!

A Brief Lesson in Nutrition:

2011-07-15T00:51:00.004-06:00

This is my first foray into the world of animated gif comics. It was super fun to make--sorry it's been so long; things just picked up at work, so I haven't had as much free time for fun stuff.

But I have been keeping up with the daily Doodlebook drawings, and I hope to get a post up soon. Meanwhile, if you haven't entered your self into the raffle for a free doodle, go HERE and leave a comment!

Hope everyone's good. If you live in Southern California and you need an excuse to avoid the 405 this weekend, leave me a message and let's go ride bikes somewhere fun.

Doodle Book: Post 2

2011-06-22T00:00:00.001-06:00

First of all, BIG TIME THANK YOU to everyone who left comments on the first Doodlebook Post. I'm glad you like the doodles; I feel like they are a good critical thinking exercise, blah blah blah...but mostly they are just fun to do.

Our family will be out of town on vacation until next week, so I'm putting up the next round of doodles now, instead of waiting will there are a million more to post. We'll be doing family stuff in the Seattle area, but hopefully I'll be able to sneak away during nap time to do a few doodles while we're there!

15 June

15 June and 16 June

16 June and 17 June

17 June

17 June and 18 June

19 June

20 June and 21 June

In other good news, we have a WINNER from last time's raffle! Dear Winner (revealed in the video below, starring my adorable son), please email or Facebook me your street address so that you may claim your doodle.

Congratulations!

**PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS BELOW TO ENTER YOURSELF IN THE NEXT ROUND OF DOODLEBOOK RAFFLEMANIA. THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE A FREE DOODLE (QUALITY TO BE DETERMINED UPON THE DRAWING THEREOF) IN THE MAIL. GOOD LUCK, ALL!!**

By the by, a number of people have expressed interest in buying prints of Doodlebook pages. I'm looking in to getting a print shop set up so prints can be purchased easily online, from the comfort of your own home where you browse the internet in your unmentionables. But that will have to wait until I'm back from vacation. Meanwhile, safe pajama-browsing, everyone!

大海賊時代

2011-06-21T12:27:00.003-06:00

Calligraphy ink on an old music book, acrylics added after class.

Pirate costumes yesterday in Dave Pimentel's gesture class...which was perfect for me, 'cause I'm on a One Piece kick lately.

PS, Rad was ON FIRE yesterday, so sitting next to him didn't make me feel very good.

PPS, the Doodlebook winner has been selected and will be announced tomorrow! Enter again on the morrow's post.

Father's Day

2011-06-20T13:24:00.004-06:00

You don't have to follow this blog for very long to know that being a dad is the best part of my life. I had a great day yesterday, thanks to my wonderful family--and most of all thanks to my beautiful wife, Allison, without whom I could never have known the joy of being a daddy.

Here are a few excerpts from recent weeks. Being a dad is the greatest adventure I've been on yet!

PS, there are more Doodle Book drawings coming up soon, so if you haven't yet, leave a comment on the post below to enter yourself in the doodle-giveaway raffle (no boxtops required)! We'll be picking the winner tomorrow!

Doodle Book: Post 1

2011-06-15T01:01:00.018-06:00

Dudes and Dudettes of Bloggerville,

Welcome to my doodle book! On the 31st of May, I committed to a daily doodle, with the idea in mind that I would be posting all of them here--the wins and the losses (since it seemed inevitable that there would be a little bit of both).

I like sitting down to a drawing and having no idea of what I want to make. I believe in doodling, in drawing for fun, in staring a drawing with no agenda, in letting a line or a shape tell me what it wants to be and then letting something happen. Be warned, fellow adventurers, this method doesn't yield consistent results (as you may note below). But it's liberating not to have to drive all the time. Some of the drawings below I don't even like, but I feel like I've made some cool discoveries and stumbled upon drawings that I wouldn't have made otherwise.

I'll keep posting all the pages until I fill up the whole sketchbook, and we'll see if this takes us someplace interesting (or regrettable). Only time and a little ink will tell!

*Also I've decided it would be cool to do a little raffle every time I make a Doodle Book post. So please leave comments below, and I'll select a name at random to send an original doodle to. Everyone likes free prizes, right? Comment away, and an experimental (and possibly failed) doodle could be making its way to you post haste! *

Anyways, I hadn't intended for this to get so long-winded. On to the doodles!

19 May and 29 May

31 May and 1 June

1 June (landscape)

1 June and 2 June

3 June

4 June

5 June

6 June and 7 June

7 June and 8 June

8 June

9 June

9 June (landscape)

10 June

11 June

12 June

13 June

14 June

Summer Summer Summer

2011-06-09T23:05:00.000-06:00

First of all, can I just say that I'm glad I have such talented friends? I've been having so much fun making these little animated gifs, but I probably wouldn't have thought to do so if I hadn't first seen THIS, THIS, THIS, and THIS. Go BYU Animation.

Also, I'd like to mention how much I love happy accidents. When I was playing with the gif render settings in After Effects, cool stuff like this pixelation kept happening.

I suppose this is a more faithful reproduction of the original Flash swf file, with a little added grain from the compression.

Anyway, with a bit of luck, I hope I can find more free time to keep making some of these little do-dads 'cause they're pretty fun.

Summer responsibly, everyone!

And, for interested parties, a little playlist of some summery tunes...

Bike Advocacy

2011-06-08T00:02:00.005-06:00

When left to my own devices, I think of things like this. If I've ever glossed over during a conversation with you, THIS may have been the very thing that was crossing my mind.

Playing around with some animated loops.

...and for those who like to bigify, full screen this (please).

Sketch Adventure Header from Anthony Holden on Vimeo.

Hits and Misses

2011-05-27T17:47:00.019-06:00

Warning: this post is kind of a journey. You may want to get a drink before you sit down to read.

Several weeks ago now, we had an event at work called "Story Days," wherein all the story artists on campus attended lectures, pitched sequences from upcoming films, then drank too much and swore loudly at each other across the tables of a fancy restaurant.

It is my habit to avoid drinking and swearing, but I did enjoy the lectures very much. Guillermo Del Toro, Roger Deakins, and Dean DeBlois had some really insightful and inspiring things to say, so I'm really glad I got to attend.

Like most of you, probably, I doodle incessantly...especially when listening to people talk for long stretches. The following are what I thought to be fairly successful caricatures of

Roger Deakins

and Guillermo Del Toro, who on the day was wearing what appeared to be pajamas. The drawings themselves were quick and intuitive, made with a cheap Bic Round Stic ballpoint pen (tone added later by the inimitable Philip Craven).

Usually when a good doodle happens in my sketchbook, it is a complete accident (especially meeting doodles, since I'm thinking about what's being said and not thinking about the drawing...depending on how well the meeting is going).

These two rare successes were followed by my more comfortable friend and companion: ABJECT FAILURE...

No matter how I tried, for the life of me, I couldn't capture a likeness of Dean DeBlois. Below, you will find all of my failed attempts. The first bunch are in ballpoint, with the little guy in the middle on the bottom being the only attempt made during the lecture. After my initial failure, I turned to my trusty friend YouTube to provide me with some footage of Dean (I prefer video to still images when drawing people that I can't observe directly). More failure followed in both

ballpoint

and marker.
(photoshop coloring, ex post facto)

After a while (not so very long, really), I gave up and just started drawing Aquamans. Then, I couldn't stop drawing Aquamans during meetings for, like, a week after that. This has been known to happen to me from time to time.

I realized that part of what sent me on this journey is a personal failing of mine: I'm impatient. As I mentioned previously, I find myself drawing in ink almost exclusively. For better or for worse, this means a lot of quick drawings that don't get fussed with. If I don't like the way something is going, I'll usually just start another drawing...or turn the current drawing into something irreversibly silly (this is a common fix for me).

I suppose I should wrap this all up with some kind of resolution. I don't want to be stuck in a rut, so I suppose I'll try my hand at some pencil drawing...I tried it out a few weeks ago, and met with mixed results. Let's see if there are things I can learn from getting a little fussy with drawings. See you on the other side of this experiement.

Chit for Chat

2011-05-24T19:19:00.001-06:00

My son writes the best dialogue.

Making a Mark

2011-05-20T17:40:00.005-06:00

A Friday afternoon sketch.

I don't know whether it's my impatience or what, but I draw almost exclusively with pens when I'm not working digitally (more on this later). Last night, while refilling a reservoir brush pen, I found some cartridges for my long-neglected Pilot Parallel Calligraphy pen. So, I pulled it out of retirement and was reminded of how much fun it is to draw with. I decided on this cool electric blue cartridge, and the first bit of the drawing shows darker because of the remnants of the previous navy cartridge that was in there from months ago.

Maybe I'll make some more drawings with it soon, instead of letting it sit around unused for several months in a row... :)

Holdens: IN SPACE!

2011-05-08T15:41:00.003-06:00

Happy Mother's Day to my dear wife, who requested this post.

Incidentally, I happen to have a few extra prints of this left over from the gift that I gave my wife, so if it wouldn't weird you out to have a picture of my family hanging up in your house, I can give away 8X10 prints to the first 3 people who want em.

Male Bonding: Part Two

2011-05-06T12:26:00.002-06:00

Part one, here.

Brothers

2011-05-04T16:30:00.004-06:00

Saw these dudes crossing the street on my way home from work.

Man, I can't stay away from that orange, can I?

Friday

2011-04-29T15:18:00.000-06:00

Dave P's Monday Noon Gesture Emporium

2011-04-25T18:31:00.002-06:00

Cures what ails ya.

Sketches posted at the behest of my pal, Jenny.

Pen and marker on some old book (Historical Anthology of Music), tone added in ye old photo-shoppe.

Brainstorm Sketch: the story room

2011-04-22T00:49:00.004-06:00

So, this is what the inside of our story room looks like (I'm nearing the end of a Cachet landscape sketchbook, which I love for looooong drawings like this one).

I've been fortunate to be on the story team of a movie called Me and My Shadow at work for the last several months (and hopefully more to come). It's a great opportunity to work with fabulously talented people, and I've been learning a lot from them: Shane Prigmore (not pictured here, since he was sitting behind me to the left), Dave Pimentel, Ben Balistreri, Elaine Bogan, and our director Mark Dindal. Also in this sketch--Scott Sakamoto and Nick Fletcher.

More sketches and comics to come soon.

Male Bonding

2011-04-07T18:43:00.003-06:00

I'm ready for your lightsaber jokes.

Meeting Doodle

2011-04-01T07:58:00.002-06:00

Now that we have two kids, I find I have less and less time to draw in my sketchbook when I'm with my family. I sketched this guy during a meeting at work yesterday.

Just in One of Those Moods

2011-03-22T15:54:00.004-06:00

A little update from the Holden house.

I used to hate it when people wouldn't post for weeks at a time...and now I am that person.
Sorry!!

Things at work have been super busy. I haven't checked my google reader in several weeks either (which explains why I haven't been commenting on your blogs, dear readers). Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon!

Bike Hippo

2011-02-07T01:11:00.004-07:00

For Will.

click images to bigify

Late Christmas

2011-01-28T11:00:00.003-07:00

Painted this little watercolor for my father-in-law as a Christmas gift.

And here's the swatch that I tested in, like, 5 minutes beforehand. One day I'll be able to figure out more complex color relationships, but that is another battle for another time.

Zoo Sketches

2011-01-28T10:53:00.003-07:00

Finally got to get out and do some sketching in the bright sunshine! Yesterday I went to the zoo with friend and coworker Dave Derrick who teaches an animal drawing class here at DreamWorks. It's extra fun to go with Dave because he's super knowledgeable about all sorts of animals--it felt like having the director's commentary playing while watching a favorite movie.
Saw a magnificent Asian bull elephant, some chimpanzees, a couple of gorillas, and even a Cecil.

Friday Bonus Sketch!

2011-01-14T18:24:00.001-07:00

Warm-down sketch.

Weekend responsibly, everyone!

Fanart Friday: Rocky and Bullwinkle

2011-01-14T16:18:00.003-07:00

IN:

The Cramping of Frostbite Falls

or

On Pins and Needles

I was listening to a podcast on acupuncture while drawing this...

My thanks to J. Ward, Bill Scott, and a host of others for making my childhood.
Also, to my mother-in-law for getting me the complete collection for Christmas. :)

A Deadly Allergy

2011-01-10T18:28:00.002-07:00

Maybe pediatrics was a misstep.

Fanart Friday: アキラ

2011-01-08T00:18:00.004-07:00

Fanart Friday's topic this week was selected by my good friend, Jacob Wyatt.*

Having not seen Akira since probably 1996, I thought I'd give myself a little refresher. It was a heck of a lot more violent than I remember. The animation is as keen now as it was then--a true feat to behold--and stands the test of time. You'd be hard pressed today to find draftsmen who could accomplish the things they were pulling off 25 years ago. Those camera moves are astounding.

But somewhere between 1996 and now, I became a papa (twice over); and my tastes have changed...which is to be expected, I suppose. Which is to say, I lean unabashedly towards whimsy. Given these leanings, and especially considering that today I spent the greater portion of my day at the doctors office, rocking feverish children, wiping up puke, and chasing down prescriptions--got me thinking how Kaneda and the Capsules could have put their hobby to better use...you know, without the brandishing of so much blood-stained piping.

All joking aside though, I have to hand it to Otomo: he predicted 2019 fashion trends, like, 40 years in advance.

*His image is infinitely more faithful to the dystopian vibe of Otomo's masterwork.

No One of Consequence

2010-12-21T10:53:00.005-07:00

I find that Thibault cancels out Capoferro, don't you?

Snorkel Cat

2010-12-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

Yup.

Bring It On Home To Me

2010-12-14T17:21:00.004-07:00

I've been a getting over a cold, so this is just a quickie. When I get sick, there are a few things that I hold close as comforts: hot soup, The Princess Bride, and Sam Cooke. That voice soothes the soul.

I'm feeling a little better, so there should be more comics to come soon(ish).

Fanart Friday: 天空の城ラピュタ

2010-12-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

A little bird told me about a fan art movement...okay, it was a large-ish bird wearing a fedora and necktie.
At any rate, this is my first offering. I have this problem where I can never remember which Miyazaki film is my favorite, so I watch them all in rotation all the time.
Wednesday was Laputa day. If you've never seen "Castle in the Sky," avail yourself of the opportunity promptly.

...

technically posted a few minutes before it was actually Friday...I have patience issues.

Digital Snapshot

2010-11-23T14:50:00.003-07:00

A little more of the same--only this time I took the picture with a digital camera.
I'm probably imagining there was something more sinister in the trunk than there really was.

Snapshot

2010-11-12T16:07:00.002-07:00

I saw this scene out of the corner of my eye on my bike ride to work this morning; it was in my field of vision for approximately 3 or 4 seconds, which made for an interesting challenge.
Usually when I get the idea to do a memory sketch (when I see something cool and don't have a sketchbook handy), I take a moment to observe my subject intently for as long as I can, so as to try and pick up specific details that I'll be able to recall when I sit down to draw it. With this drawing, having 3 seconds of peripheral information means that probably a lot of what wound up on the page is stuff I made up. I mean, for all we know it could have been a lady drinking a latte shooing a squirrel that I saw. But that's the fun of doing this kind of drawing, I suppose.
Give it a shot sometime! Next time you find yourself thinking, 'that would be cool to draw,' stop looking and start making things up, just for a change.

Sketches

2010-11-11T17:17:00.002-07:00

I know The Sartorialist is no secret but, man, is it a cool drawing tool. Sometimes to warm up at work, I search the archives and draw interesting people in their costumes. In other desktop sketching news, a friend tipped me off to this awesome gesture drawing site with all kinds of options.

Humpty Dumpty

2010-11-09T17:50:00.003-07:00

The other night at the dinner table Sawyer was playing with his broccoli, teetering it on the edge of his plate while singing 'Humpty Dumpty' to himself. I know he's seen at least a dozen poorly animated flash versions of it on YouTube, and he's read different versions in a handful of Nursery Rhyme books we have. He knows Humpty is an egg--we all know that--so what made it okay in his mind that Humpty could be a piece of broccoli?

I scoured the text.
I couldn't find the word 'egg' anywhere.

So, cool. Humpty Dumpty is a sprig of broccoli in Sawyer's version. Yeah. Why not?
It was just a toddler having some fun at the dinner table, but it turned into a cool lesson in creative thought for me. By changing the central premise of Humpty Dumpty, a two year old effectively rewrote the nursery rhyme on a whim--and it became instantly more interesting to me. Now that he's a sprig of broccoli, Humpty's story can go in a million new directions--all different from the premise we're familiar with.

Anyway, it was a cue to me not to let ANYTHING get in the way of the creative process--all ideas are okay, just let them come and sort them later.

So, what are your thoughts on creative process? I wanna know.

Fighting in the Street 2: Pig in the City

2010-10-28T16:51:00.005-06:00

Not being a wicked hard-core gamer, I have little reverence for the awesomeness of Street Fighter. Most of what I remember of the game was discreetly observed from behind the pages of the game manual (where all the character art was), while my brother and his friends would play the game. Hence, this goofiness.

Comics! (Click to enlarge.)

It's like some kind of illness--I don't know how much longer Street Fighter will plague me, but until it stops, you may or may not see more of this sort of thing.

(PS, thanks to Jed, for the M. Bison prompt!)

In Memoriam

2010-10-21T18:07:00.002-06:00

Today, much to my dismay, our little group was broken up. Matt Braly and Javier Recio Gracia have been my office mates for the last three months, and today we were all moved to separate offices on campus. This comic is a memorial of a real life event that happened a few weeks ago...only replace "timebomb" with "recently laundered underwear."

True story.

Don't Fight in the Street, Children

2010-10-19T15:44:00.001-06:00

It isn't good for your health.

Power Girl

2010-10-10T00:05:00.003-06:00

She has powers.

Idle Sketching

2010-10-07T00:57:00.006-06:00

Now and again I find myself with a little free time. I've recently discovered a drawing program called Colors on the Nintendo DS that's pretty handy. It's nice because its capabilities are limited and the screen is tiny--which prevents me from overdoing anything or trying to get too fancy. Plus it's got this neato playback function that tells you everything that's wrong with how you make drawings.
Here are a handful of my initial explorations.

A quick shout-out to the dudes that made Colors and the drawing playback possible.

Surprise!

2010-09-28T02:53:00.001-06:00

Children are wonderful.
More and other work to come soon.

(click image to enlarge. please.)

Kickin' it

2010-09-23T01:45:00.004-06:00

Most days I get home from work around 6:30. Near our house is a field--and around that time of day it's usually occupied by shouting middle aged Armenian men chasing a polka-dot ball into a net. Today there was a girl on the field, and she kicked the ball into a dude's face.
This seemed noteworthy to me, even though the ball did not leave a polka-dot pattern on the recipient's face, as it would have in a more ideal world.

After watching a few rounds of chase-a-ball, my son, Sawyer, and I like to have a little pick-up match in our yard before dinner. It helps us prime our appetites for pancakes.

The end.

Characters

2010-08-19T23:17:00.003-06:00

It has been many moons since a real post--for this I apologize. Our family has been very busy fighting a life or death battle (more on this later).
In big news, we've made a major life change, moving from our home in Utah to California. I get to draw cartoons all day at work and we're a heck of a lot closer to the beach, so it's basically a win-win.
Below are some characters from recent sketch adventures. It's always fun to go to new places and see new faces. Hopefully we'll finish moving in soon, so I can get back to a regular posting schedule.

Dudes from church. Yes, that guy's name is seriously Ziff.
To me, nothing says "super powers" more than an onomatopoetic name.

My pal and coworker, one Matthew Braly.

Other partners in crime: John Sanford (our fearless leader)
and Javier Recio Gracia

A dude I spied at a recent Ray Harryhausen exhibit.
Just the sort of guy you might expect to find frequenting a
Ray Harryhausen exhibit.

Some dudette I saw cruising the hallways at work;
her origin remains largely a mystery.

Twice as Nice

2010-07-04T21:36:00.003-06:00

I know posting this twice doesn't really count as a real post, but the quality on VIMEO is so much nicer. So, for your viewing pleasure...

BYU Center for Animation Presents Anthony Holden's Mashed from Anthony Holden on Vimeo.

"Mashed" in Its Entirety

2010-06-23T00:11:00.004-06:00

I know it's been a long time since I've posted. That's for a good reason--our family is very busy right now, expecting our second child and trying our best to orchestrate a move to California as painlessly as possible. Really sorry I haven't posted anything in a long while--even more sorry that I haven't had much time to draw for fun while taking care of all this grown-up stuff.

I promised some time ago that I would get around to posting my cartoon movie, "Mashed," and today is that day. Without further ado, I present to you the fruits of my BYU education.

I hope you love it. If you do, spread the word, because I would love for many people to be able to enjoy it. Thanks so much!!

Also of note: somebody else produced a student animated short this year called "Mashed." From what I understand, it was a student from RIT. Sorry, other kid, for stealing the title to your short film. Luckily the twain shall never be confused, because while yours is a sophisticated animated short, no doubt, mine is a stupid cartoon movie.

Just Like a Car, You're Pleasing to Behold

2010-04-15T21:43:00.004-06:00

I'll call you Jaguar if I may be so bold...

You may remember I've got a soft spot for vintage cars. But kind of in the same way that Marc Bolan does. As it turns out, as much as the flamboyant front man of T Rex loved to sing about and collect cars, he apparently never learned to drive--and as much as I like to draw old cars, I actually know next to nothing about them other than what they look like on the outside.

At any rate, right down the block from us is a little shop called Ace and Jerry's Auto Glass where there are really cool cars parked out front, pretty frequently. This one happens to be for sale, if anyone's interested in a Buick Roadmaster of undetermined year (which is to say I don't know--I'm sure the seller would have a better idea). With any luck, people will keep parking their cool-looking cars out front, giving me something to draw when I go on walks to the market to pick up cough drops and such.

Also, incidentally...

Pretty Cool

2010-04-13T21:40:00.006-06:00

Many congratulations to my friend and co-conspirator, Richard Williams, who won a Student Emmy for "Best Composition" for the music he wrote and arranged for Mashed (with the help of Stephen Nelson).
A short article on the event can be found on BYU's page, here.

I know I haven't posted much on the film yet, so here are some stills:

And a short trailer of sorts:

Inspire Days at Disney Animation Studios

2010-04-13T15:50:00.001-06:00

Some fellow BYU students and I had the opportunity last week to attend the Inspire Days event at Walt Disney Animation Studios. We got to tour the studios, sit in on panels and lectures, and have one-on-one portfolio reviews. Below, some sketches to document the trip:

Pictured above: some dudes at Disney (and some dudes not)...
(Clockwise from top left) Bruce Smith, superstar Disney Animator; Maurice Sendak, not currently at Disney; Bill Perkins, Designer; Paul Briggs, afraid of physical exhertion; Steve Hickner, looking like Gilbert Gottfried; Bill Caparella, clearly a distant cousin of Vincent Price; and Brigham Taylor with his doppelganger.

Spaceman doodles, cowboy doodles, girls with guns doodles.

We stayed at the Marriott hotel across from the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank; I took the opportunity to draw things that I don't usually get to see living in Utah...like espresso makers.

Assorted Animal Characters

2010-03-30T02:24:00.002-06:00

(handily labeled individually, for ease of perusal)

Recently, it was brought to my attention that while there are many different kinds of human characters in my portfolio, there is a blatant paucity of characters of the animal variety. By means of remedy, I post here the findings of last weekend. I spent most of Saturday doing sketch-research on various animals, and a number of hours today hashing out some rough designs from what I learned.
I sure had fun learning all sorts of new things about animals, too. (Did you know that over 86% of dogs have four legs, and use all of them to walk, or even run? Funny, when you think that most humans get by pretty okay on only half as many legs.) Suffice it to say, this has been an eye-opening weekend; and I plan on doing some more of this informal study of animals...at a safe distance, across from a computer monitor.

Portfolio

2010-03-24T17:09:00.003-06:00

Character Animation Demo Reel 2010 from Anthony Holden on Vimeo.

I've jumped on the bandwagon and created a PORTFOLIO BLOG where, amongst other things, you'll be able to see all the stuff that I've been posting here, only in a slightly more professional context. Also, here's my animation demo reel. I spend most of my time doing boards and character designs, but I sure love the heck out of animating.

Thanks, Will.

2010-03-22T13:28:00.003-06:00

The other day, I was looking over the shoulder of my friend, Will Strong, as he drew in his sketchbook. All I could see of his drawing was goggles and a mustache; I still don't know what it was that he was doing, but because of him I couldn't stop drawing these guys for a week. Week-long sketch addictions are becoming a thing for me lately.

Dirty Birds: Sal

2010-03-22T07:46:00.001-06:00

He sells hotdogs. Also, he's behind the stand throughout the short, so no need to design a bottom half. (Maybe he doesn't even have a bottom half?)

Dirty Birds: Herbie

2010-03-17T17:44:00.002-06:00

Here are some explorations of the Herbie character in my latest short project. By way of excuse, I've been spending the last few weeks doing lots of storyboards, so when they get to a presentable stage, I'll post them here.

Ye Olde Sketches

2010-02-23T20:04:00.003-07:00

Digging through sketchbooks, I found some old stuff that I never posted. I still think this is funny.

An Answer

2010-02-10T22:19:00.003-07:00

So, I know many of you have been losing a lot of sleep over Tuesday's riddle...
"What has two horns, a wooden leg, and a super-cooled nuclear core?"

And while you probably figured out the answer on your own, I'm going to give it to you again here:

ROBOT GOAT PIRATES!

Now, for further clarification, some images for your perusal.

[Fig. 1] Regular Goat Pirates (notice the conspicuous lack of cool android limbs)

[Fig. 2] This is an example of a pretty standard Robot Goat Pirate:

[Fig. 3] Dada as a Robot Goat Pirate. (Left image, according to Sawyer's imagination; right image, according to my own estimations)

[Fig. 4] Assorted other Robot Goat Pirates. (Seriously, I couldn't stop drawing these for an entire week.)

For Further Study: I'm pretty sure that THIS and THIS are both results of the same idea-generation process that produced Robot Goat Pirates.

A True-life Mystery

2010-02-09T00:38:00.015-07:00

A riddle, dear readers.

What has two horns, a wooden leg, and a super-cooled nuclear core?

Feel free to think about it long and hard--but if you need help solving this riddle, allow me to elucidate with the following clues.

CLUE # 1: The Costume Shop.

In our town of Provo, there is a certain costume shop on Center street that always has scantily-clad mannequins displayed in the windows. One day, while Allison and Sawyer were walking by said shop...

Dada!

CLUE # 2: The Storybook.

One day, while innocently reading a picture book together...

Dada!

Clue # 3: The Screensaver Slideshow.

And again, one morning while Sawyer was watching our family photos go by on the slideshow...

Dada!

Something the matter, honey?

Yeah...

How certain are you that I'm Sawyer's father?

These are, of a truth, how events unfolded.
So, have you guessed the answer to the riddle?

[Addendum: Sawyer has moved from the habit of pointing at seemingly random things and saying "Dada," to the habit of pointing at seemingly random things and saying "Not Dada." For instance, the other day he brought me a book from our shelf and, while pointing proudly to the cover image of a weathered and bearded Walt Whitman, exclaimed "NOT DADA!" He followed this by further explaining to me that Mr. Whitman is also "Not Jesus" and "Not Santa."]

One of these things is not like the other...

2010-02-03T12:48:00.002-07:00

Some brief character explorations. vive la différence.

Why You Make Me Hitchoo, Girl?

2010-01-25T23:25:00.004-07:00

I keep coming back to Izzy, the senior film for our class in the animation program at BYU. It's like an abusive boyfriend--I know it will just keep hurting me if I go back to it, but I can't help but come back because I'm still in love. Foolishly in love.
These are some potential extras for the intro sequence of the film. The ideas continue to grow more ridiculous and less usable (baby on a flamingo, anyone?). But the fun-factor is through the roof (for me at least).
Thanks for letting me get away with some of this stuff, Sean.

Because We Can

2010-01-25T23:11:00.003-07:00

Just finished one cartoon movie--gearing up to start another one. Bet you can't guess what it's about...

:)

Trying to figure out a look for our winged friends.

There was supposed to be some kind of rest period...

2010-01-19T22:31:00.006-07:00

Hooray.

So, the big news is: I finished making a cartoon movie (sketch above, totally unrelated). I actually finished it a little while ago, but have been pretty busy submitting it to a number of festivals so I haven't had so much time to blog about it.
Customarily, here is where you might see me post a link to the short, but apparently lots of festivals don't like it when you make your cartoon a free online viewing experience for mass audiences. So I won't actually be able to post it until after it makes its run through the festivals.
However, I'll try to post about when and where it will be playing in case anyone is feeling adventurous and wants to see it on the big screen. For people living in Utah, if you're free this weekend, Mashed (that's the title) will be playing in the LDS Film Festival in Orem, UT on Saturday the 23rd, in a line up of other shorts starting at 5:00 pm. Ticketing info HERE.

Also, as this is my last semester of school, I'm currently putting a portfolio together. What I thought was going to be a pretty relaxed semester is turning out to be down right crazy. Rest period = officially over. Apparently you're supposed to get a job when you're done with school.
Anyway, here are some recent doodles from my sketchbook. Sorry I haven't posted in so long--I'll try and be better about that. (Below: crazy Santa, also unrelated to my cartoon movie.)

(The sad part about this is that it's not even a late sketch from Christmastime--I drew this last week in class--call it a nervous tick...I draw Santas...kind of incessantly. Some people can't quit smoking; I can't quit drawing the jolly Brother Kringle.)

This Ain't Baseball

2009-11-24T22:59:00.005-07:00

Just in case you were wondering.

But they do make for cute trading cards, no?

ブルースマン町田謙介

2009-11-11T20:02:00.003-07:00

Japanese Bluesman, Machida Kensuke.

Click here for a sampling of his diggable sounds.

Game Time

2009-11-11T00:05:00.002-07:00

Working inside all day makes me want to go out and play.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T19:39:00.002-07:00

I hadn't touched anything on the Izzy project for a long time, but there's a strangeness in the air on Halloween so I thought I'd carve up a little treat.

Mr. Chung

2009-10-27T00:35:00.000-06:00

Look out behind you.

Testing...

2009-10-25T00:56:00.001-06:00

Just trying a few things out.

Autumn

2009-10-17T00:03:00.000-06:00

Colored pencils on paper.

Recent Gestures

2009-10-13T22:22:00.005-06:00

So, I've been spending most of my time animating my senior film. Sitting for so many hours in front of a Cintiq, I started getting pretty rusty at observational gestures so I skipped on down to the open drawing session and loosened up some.

I usually like to mix it up by doing some quick poses that are less anatomically based,

and other poses that focus more on anatomy.

Since it is a student-run open drawing session (not an actual class with a professor), sometimes I end up waiting around for a little while if the model doesn't change poses frequently enough. After drawing a pose 2 or 3 times what do I do if I'm still waiting for the model to change?
Why, draw students drawing, of course!

Some animation or backgrounds from my film soon, hopefully!
Thanks for stopping by!

More doodling

2009-10-01T19:00:00.001-06:00

Some more experimenting with the acrylic inks, this time with color pencils layered on top. The edges are a little loose, but when you're experimenting sometimes unexpected things happen.

Doodles

2009-09-30T13:04:00.004-06:00

I got some new acrylic inks last week, and took them out to see what they could do (or rather what I could do with them). Some successes and some not-so-successes later, here we are.
And still growing.

Some Simple Math

2009-09-23T21:50:00.004-06:00

Given the fact that I haven't done math in an academic sense for well over a decade now, this calculation may be slightly inaccurate...but I think the principle is correct.

I don't know what to tell Allison.

Click the image to enlarge. Bonus points to anyone who can name all of the celebrities (and their best starring roles).

School and Sketches

2009-09-18T00:23:00.003-06:00

Some sketches from the beginning of school. Mostly, I animate all day...sometimes I go to other classes. When that happens, I draw people--you know, to stay loose for animating.
With any luck I'll be able to put up some stuff from the film I'm working on soon. For now, on to the sketches! Hope you enjoy!

A military dude from a Japanese class.

Ben Jensen is a super stud (see above).
Some dudette from a class I'm in.

When I doodle in Japanese class, sometimes I try different things like this below. Perhaps this is because I'm paying more attention to the analysis of syntax and morphology, which takes my mind off the technical aspects of drawing and allows my brush to wander. Anyway, I thought this one was pretty fun.

Also, I found an acorn today. It had a cool shell thingy too. Below, I've attempted to diagram the acorn cycle (like the water cycle, but only with acorns). PS, if you're wondering why the girl below has too many eyes, it's because I messed up, but I still liked the drawring...which is okay. sometimes we mess up.

PCC Animation

2009-08-20T22:03:00.003-06:00

It's not very often that I am allowed to post work-related stuff here (or even that I'd want to post some of what I do for pay), but this is a cool opportunity to share something.
A few months ago I was hired as an animator to help create a handful of animated short pieces to be played in conjunction with a live stage show at the Polynesian Cultural Center in O'ahu, Hawaii. The new show is called Ha, Breath of Life, and plays nightly (excluding Sundays) at the Center. (Click on the link to learn more about the show.) It's kind of cool to have been part of a project like this that gets such frequent and comparatively broad exposure.
The link above is, from what I can tell, taken (likely unauthorized) from the handheld of a tourist who went to see the show. You can watch quite a bit of the show, but the animation starts at around 1:15 in to the clip. Unfortunately, the coolest animation is further in to the show, and I haven't seen any of it surface on the web yet, so I guess this gives everyone an excuse to go to Hawaii! (You should be thanking me.)

Also, as with all work of this sort, a number of drafts were gone through before we got to a final product, so I can post here some of my animation that was rejected in favor of stuff that was less fun. Alas.

While we're at it

2009-07-29T12:44:00.002-06:00

This was a sketch that began, I think, in January and then promptly got lost somewhere inside my computer. While I was doing some spring cleaning (I know I'm a little late), I found it and finished it.
If you're curious, it happens to be of a professor of mine, Darl Larsen, who (among other things) teaches a History of Animation course at Brigham Young University (where I attend school). We had a running contest wherein every week a number of students would decide on a topic and draw Darl according to the confines we set. The image above is from "Cap'n Darl" week; I will spare you the results of "Darl-ene" week. If you're really curious (and of a steady constitution), you can ask Jake.
Okay. Now I'm really off for vacation...seriously. Before we miss our flight.
Be well!

Pre-vacation

2009-07-29T12:03:00.004-06:00

Our family is off to do a little summer vacationing in Washington to visit my wife's parents. But before we go, I thought I'd leave a few sketches and the like--in case you wanted new stuff to look at until we get back. I'm scheduled to go backpacking with my father in law for a few days, but apparently Seattle area is having record heat right now so it will hardly be a respite from Utah. Oh well, I'm excited to see some new terrain and, with any luck, do some wilderness sketching while we're out.
Have a great week, everyone, and be safe!

Everything is an Experiment

2009-07-26T00:46:00.002-06:00

Dear Everyone,
Please pardon the paucity of postings in the recent past. I've been busy with work and animating (but mostly work)--which is good, because I'm trying to make sure I don't have to work during the school year.
I notice it's been about a month since I posted last, so I'm posting highlights from last month's sketchbookery. Think of it as an apology with a gift. Can we kiss and make up?
(In lieu of posting a million individual images, I've put a lot of little sketches into larger compositions--just click on any of the images below to magnify and get a better look.)
Thanks for stopping by!

Sketches In and Out of the Dark

2009-06-25T21:03:00.005-06:00

So, back in April, I participated in an art show at the University of Utah. While the show itself was a marginal success (more a show about technology than art, really), I did have the chance to sketch some cool faces from the crowd while sitting on a post-show question-and-answer panel.
Here are some of the faces from those couple of weekends:

Also in April (every April, as a matter of fact), the LDS church holds a general conference during which leaders speak on various gospel-related topics. This year's was the 178th Annual General Conference, since the conferences have been going ever since 1830 (well, we take breaks...they don't happen all year round). Pretty cool, huh. Below are some sketches made while watching conference (which is broadcast by satellite and over the internet).

Something that was interesting for me was making these sketches almost in the complete dark. I could see the screen, which was several hundred feet away, but I could barely see my own paper--leading to an interesting method of scrawling out shapes and chunks of value. I guess drawing in the dark probably isn't really good for your eyes, but it was a cool chance to try a different way of seeing things (by not seeing them, I guess). Plus the results are mostly a surprise, since you can't really see what's going on while you're drawing--talk about a sketch adventure! Below are some of the more intelligible images that were created using this method. Hope you enjoy! And I promise to be better about posting a little more frequently...(these are from April...oops).

Finally Some Sketches!

2009-05-23T22:37:00.011-06:00

So, if any of you have been thinking what I have (and I know you probably have), you're wondering whether it's even okay to call a blog sketch adventure and post so few sketches lately.
You'd be right in thinking this.
So, here are a bunch of sketches of Sawyer, who grows increasingly fun to draw as he ages and figures out how to get into more stuff. These sketches were done in pen when I should have been helping my wife, Allison, with our crazy baby. The simple color was done with ye olde photoeshoppe when I should have been working on my film.
But, I wanted to share some sketches, so I hope you enjoy this little tangent as much as I did!
Back with more sketches soon.

A Contest!

2009-05-12T15:05:00.007-06:00

So, as everyone knows, with today's computers you can do basically anything. As we saw in the recent blockbuster sensation The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, computers can make Brad Pitt look like an old man or a baby.
Given these incredible leaps in technology, I've contacted Digital Domain (the effects house responsible for the amazing computer graphics that allow us to know what Brad Pitt will look like in 30 years) and they have agreed to produce a feature length film about our son Sawyer's first year of life.
It's a really fortunate multimillion dollar deal that basically guarantees that I will be able to draw cartoons for the rest of my life, since I obviously won't be worrying about money any more.
The only really tricky part now is that we have to settle on an actor who will portray Sawyer in the film. This is where you come in--place your votes in the comments section (a special bonus prize to anyone who can name all of the candidates, spelling their names correctly)!

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

Of course, you know, I realize that many of the potential stars of this film are either long since passed, or on their way out (or in and out of jail), but you're forgetting one thing:

Computers can do anything.

Now cast your vote...because the one thing computers can't do is win this contest.

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Just For Fun

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Memory Sketch

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Doodlebook: Post 4

Doodlebook: Post 3

Watercolor wash

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Father's Day

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Summer Summer Summer

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Chit for Chat

Making a Mark

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Male Bonding: Part Two

Brothers

Friday

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Male Bonding

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Snapshot

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Pretty Cool

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Assorted Animal Characters

Portfolio

Thanks, Will.

Dirty Birds: Sal

Dirty Birds: Herbie

Ye Olde Sketches

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A True-life Mystery

One of these things is not like the other...

Why You Make Me Hitchoo, Girl?