Met some Fantastic Artists in LA

I haven't posted art or "diary" posts in a long, long time. Anyway here's a good time to get one in quickly. I'm pretty excited about the potential of work I have here. Waking up I was thinking about how I have so much to my disposal as far as classes and brilliant people. I could potentially learn anything I wanted or needed about animation and I find that... just ridiculously amazing. 

I'm pretty psyched.

Meeting so many phenomenal people who work in the Industry is more than inspiring to me... it's almost not even registering at the same time as it's happening (which might be a damn good thing.)

I am just in awe of how hard these artists work at their craft, how dedicated they are to their ideas and artwork... It just makes me want to work harder and learn faster.

That's all for now, I really want to keep up on this blog. I really have no excuse after what I've seen/learned 

BLAHGging FAILURE

I have been doing quite the Shitty job of keeping up with blogging and keeping an up-to-date account of my drawing/animation progress lately but I'm giving myself a responsibility pass on account of "A Lot of Shit going Down" (to state it class-fully). The rug has pretty much been pulled out from under us (Steve and I) but we're doing the best we can to keep our heads up and push forward in an optimistic mind state. I think we're doing pretty well all things considered... hopefully we'll pull out of this craziness one step ahead and with more spirit and knowledge than we started with. That all said, I learned a new way of approaching my character today(!!) Well actually I think I learned the approach prior to today but I put it into motion today(!!) Thanks ANdy..WooWHO!

So here are two of the designs from today...

They're not finished yet but I'm definitely Thrilled with the progress I feel I've made just in expressing my design ability... Even after a few months of using Photoshop I still don't feel as comfortable "sketching" with brushes as I did with paper and pencil. Using the techniques that I employed today felt much better to me simply because it is more structural and even abstract(!).. which is my middle name.

So I plan on adding a few more pieces I worked this week but for now.. I'm going to get back to Dinner.

Tootles...

-Sue

Going with the Flow

So... It's been one crazy week.. been a crazy month on the whole actually. I've lost my laptop, had it returned, my boyfriend lost his job forcing us to "quickly" reorganize our lives (not completely finished) and we're now about to move in a matter of days into a smaller, much cheaper apartment. I've really had my eyes opened to a lot of amazing things about life I didn't really know. Oh yes... March 2011' has been quite the ride. I've been a little behind on the blogging and "updating" aspect of things but I feel it's understandable and allowed with how exhausted I've been. After we get situated into this new apartment and (fingers crossed) we find a stable income I'm really hoping things head toward the upswing. We've had pretty good luck this far now I just hope it keeps going for us. I want to post some good work on here soon too my files are kind of in disarray right now but I'll get them all collected and add some work soon. That's all for now. Here's hoping Karma treats me (and Steve) well!!

sKc

All's Well

It's Wednesday night (the 9th)... another awesome day with the ADC crew. Didn't do much drawing or art making today. More of the research type o' work but it was still awesome. We also had a class in perspective and dealing with the layers of a scene, back, mid and foreground... pretty interesting. I think I first learned about perspective in a drawing class I was in when I was three or four in Albany. It's amazing I can remember that. The more I think of it I can even remember the actual class and the drawing I was doing. Mountains in the background, a playground in the mid... maybe a school next to it and my usual tree in the fore ground I'm pretty sure.
I wish I had some of those old drawings. Maybe they're somewhere, who knows? Anyway I'm still in awe of the fact that all of this craziness is happening. It's really pretty amazing. Tomorrow we're working on a Bingo idea for FB which should be cool, that reminds me I have to upload something(!).. will do that now.
Anyway, wanted to post a bit just to keep in the habit of it.
Tonight I'm going to play around, maybe clean up my computer and draw some more. There really aren't enough days in the week or hours in the day. I need more doodle time. I'm sure it'll all iron out over time.
Tootles for now...

-sKc

Awesome Day In House

It's Saturday, March 5th... My mom's birthday. It's a gorgeous day here in SoCal. Just about perfect. Today was pretty sweet. I had a class at ADC and learned some tips on adding light and tone to an image. Really cool. I think I'm going to practice with it a little bit now just so it actually sinks in further. I'm so(oo) tired though. I've been sleep good, long nights but I somehow still feel like it all needs to catch up with me. Yesterday I spent the day in Burbank for the first time. We (The ADC team) worked "in house" at Cosmic Toast a pretty sweet little studio there. It was amazing but a little chaotic because they had a deadline. All the same I was o happy to be getting even more studio interaction.
We worked on a project they have going ... mostly just sketching concept art for it. We'll be going there on fridays from here out, hopefully things will be more relaxed as we ease into it over time.

So, this isn't going to be too long. I'll post the color work I did today and get started on some more drawings tonight.

Here's Spidey, some of my first tonal-lighting work. Not bad but I'm eager to get some more practice into color and lighting.

Will ty to keep up with posting more. Just been so tired and busy. Peace!

sKc

Sunday, Sunday.. Sun-DAY!

It's Sunday....
A very rainy, dismal one.

I haven't posted in a few days, been a busy week. I've been drawing, brain storming for my animation short and painting at the Art Center this week. Lots of art making.

Ironically, as busy as I've been I really don't have much art to post. Yesterday I took a few steps bac and looked at the story and frame of my short rather than rushing into the character design. I definitely needed a more solid structure for the story before I moved on with characters and drawing.

That's really where I'm at. Building my story and thinking about characters. One of the things I've been trying to focus on most with my characters is silhouette. Here are a couple of quick designs that show that a bit. I wanted to play around with a solid character with no detail and a strong silhouette.

Not sure if they'll be used in my animation, haven't decided on a style yet but this was an exercise and it definitely brought me a new perspective and some fresh ideas.

I'll post my progress from this week, probably mid-week. Happy Sunday!

-sKc

Coffee Shop Short

Been making slow progress with my short. Sort of working from the inside out, building characters and thinking about a plot. I haven't gotten too, too far but I like what I have so far. Two male characters Jeremy and Eli... I think they'll both be Barista's. I'd like to have many characters, other barista's and customers but it being a "short"... I'm trying to stay weary of that.

Here is Jeremy..

He's very "Intellectual", kind of condescending and cocky... the typical (stereotypical) coffee snob. I think I'm going to have a lot of reference material for him. I haven't gotten much further than his head shot (here). I have a few gesture sketches and prop ideas but yeah.

Next is Eli, he started out as a customer but I think he'd be a funny barista, maybe he knows nothing about coffee and frequently screws everything up.

I like him the most so far, he's trying to be laid back amongst a group of ego's and head cases (enter comedic relief). 

So that's all for now. I'm at the Cartel ... was going to work on the bags but I'm not comfortable enough (on the stool and low table) to get anything done.

People are kind of funny here, it's entertaining. 

sKc