Akame ga Kiru Study

I felt like this study was worth posting, since I haven't spent this much time on a study in a while and it was really fun :) I've been reading this manga, Akame ga Kiru (and now I'm caught up GAAHHH) and I've been saving pages of it to study because it has some killer action sequences, and the art is just SOOO gorgeous!

This panel in particular I chose to analyze because I've been focusing on understanding shapes, contours, forms and anatomy lately, and I thought that the contrast between hard and soft in this was really awesome. The way that the girl is juxtaposed against the hard suit of armor is really powerful and fun :D And man that guy looks SOOO badass!!! I've never actually drawn any type of robot or suit of armor seriously before, so understanding the different planes and how each part works together and how each line and wrinkles accentuates form was really exciting to me :) The contrast of values I found beautiful also, with light against dark in a bunch of different parts of the image like her hair against the cloak, the shadows of her dress against his leg... things like that.

I'm going to be doing a lot more Akame ga Kiru studies... I'm so in love with this manga, which is saying something. The last time I did any type of study on manga or anime was back in my Sailor Moon days. It's a great read and I highly recommended :) The perfect balance between action, comedy, drama, and romance, with really loveable characters and badass imaginative weapons. Super inspiring!!! You can check it out here! http://www.mangahere.com/manga/akame_ga_kiru/

Daily 5: Frank Frazetta

Super quick Frank Frazetta study before work. Oh man this stuff is HARD. Gonna study him a LOT MORE from now on. Always been meaning to but was scared for some reason... that has GOT to stop.

Horse Study

Too lazy to hook up the scanner so it's phone camera quality... sorry about that xD

Sketching for Animators and Illustrators Week 2

So 2 weeks ago I started taking Marshall Vandruff's Sketching for Animators and Illustrators class at Fullerton College... and let me tell you... it is AMAZING. I feel SO PRIVILEGED to finally be taking a class (not a seminar... a 16 week class!) with Marshall :) It's only week 2 but I have already learned so much, and I have a feeling I'm going to be improving a lot in the next couple months with what I'll be learning this term... it gets me all giddy inside! :D

Anyway. Here's an in class exercise we did...a study of one of Frank Thomas' pencil tests, "The Laughing Gauchito." It was really fun :) Each of these were about a minute or two each. I'm going to be posting a lot of studies from Marshall's class on here in the weeks to come to track my progress.

This class is REALLY making me want to animate! ARGH! Especially because we're going through the Richard Williams Animator's Survival Guide DVDs. SOOO GREAT.

Here's the pencil test the study is from :D

Caniff Study

Study of a Milton Caniff piece~ I loveeee his linework @__@ Still learning to use my brush pen! This was a ton of fun though :D

Character Design Week 1

 

Alright, so I know it's been a while since I've updated...but I think I really need to keep track of my classwork on here. Hopefully I maintain it :\ I dunno why I'm so lazy with updating this thing! GAH!!

Anyway, so this term I'm taking Intro to Character Design with David Colman and Sketching for Character Design with Shiyoon Kim. Here's stuff for week 1!! Basically just figures...gestures...and then a study of Shere Khan. Because, you know, Milt Kahl is the man. 

Sketching for Composition Week 02 - LA Arboretum

So I'm taking this Sketching for Composition class with Will Weston at the Animation Guild. This was our first week out on the field... you can see how CLUELESS I was with the first drawing on the upper left. The drawing on the upper right Will drew over a bit to make it look nicer, and gave me a little lecture on focal points. Then I redrew the rock on the top left, and that aloe on the top right, in the bottom left image. The page with the peacock was done after :) I just really wanted to draw a peacock because they were all OVER the place at the LA Arboretum and it was AWESOME.

Great Scott! Back to the Future Studies! :O

Back to the Future is like my favorite movie EVER!!! It's one of those movies I can watch over and over...and a movie I DO watch when I'm frustrated/depressed. Yesterday was a nice rainy day and I was having Disney marathons due to...frustration/depression...and when I surprisingly got tired of that I put good ol' BTTF on! Cured my mood! And then I decided to draw it :)

I feel like I want to draw every single frame of this movie! SOOO FUN TO DRAW. Too bad I don't do Marty McFly justice. He's such a dream!!! ;)

I was told this looks like some kinda BTTF anime. HA. That'd be cool. ;)

Aladdin Studies For Class

These are just studies, but since I posted them on the class blog I figured I'd do it here too. I'm realizing more and more how much I suck at drawing guys... I drew Jasmine in like half the time or less than it took for me to draw Aladdin, with like no erasing either. :( Aladdin was a mess to draw.

So now I vowed all my studies will focus on men. Sigh. I love men but I hate drawing them. Time to change that!

Ariel is TOO Pretty

I shouldn't even post my studies really, but I liked this one a lot. :) I think Ariel is the prettiest princess, along with Rapunzel. It's gotta be that red hair and those curves~ Damn you Glen Keane!

Green sharpie for a green mermaid :) I'm starting to get really used to Sharpie. LOVE!

Quick Lunchtime Ariel Study

I'll probably go back and fix this later... I usually draw at lunch but today I had to go get my brakes fixed ~__~ So I didn't have much time. Just did this quick study so I wouldn't feel so bad about myself haha.

Belle Study

So I've been supplementing Shiyoon's class with Walt Stanchfield's "Drawn to Life" which is seriously like...a Bible. I just love how there are such great animation books out there :) But really, it's great. And something that I've always read and have been taught about are overlaps and avoiding tangents. I've seen examples but for some reason I've always been afraid to just COPY something... you know? I have the stupidest fears...I guess because I always think that if I try to copy something I'll suck and hate myself forever. Starting to get over that though.

ANYWAY.

So Shiyoon told me to copy frames from animated movies, which finally drove me to actually do it. Originally I was going to just do gesture or something from Beauty and the Beast, but then I was so frustrated with how awful I was drawing Belle that I wanted to spend time and really study her construction.

And wow.

Why haven't I been doing this again?

Just this simple drawing taught me SO MUCH. All those things I've been reading about...it's soooo different to just look at examples than it is to try and draw it EXACTLY and UNDERSTAND how it's working. This will probably be Beauty and the Beast month...hopefully every month I can study a different film. I'll start with one since I'm new at this... :) But yeah. No wonder so many people do this. Hopefully I can do at least one of these a day...then maybe I can do 20. We'll see. ;)