Into the Woods...

One of the most incredible and valuable aspects of this class was the necessity - not just the option, but necessity - to loosen the hell up! Of the millions of things I learned about myself, my style, my inspiration, and my process throughout the course, one thing I found interesting (or, rather, confounding) is that I am a walking artistic contradiction when it comes to character design. 

My brain will happily wander down any rabbit hole it happens upon and irresponsibly explore ideas until I have driven myself at least seven miles past my freeway exit. I have strategically placed sketchbooks and notebooks very un-strategically; I have provided myself the opportunity to write or draw my ideas willy-nilly nearly everywhere I happen to be. For the character of Ichabod, I drew inspiration from not simply a myriad of comedic film clips, but additionally from things like...doorknobs. I savor the process of exquisite character detail to the point of near Daniel Day-Lewis delusional immersion...and YET, when it comes time to release my mind to paper in a fury of Pollock-like expression, I never fail to sit quietly with my microscopic-tipped mechanical pencil hovering over an obsessively cleaned surface, looking for the perfect way to execute my first line, then erase it, then re-execute. 

I've been wound tighter than a Swiss time piece.

And I realized this translates to everything in my life. My mind is Fosse and the rest is Nureyev! Oy. What sort of psychological ink-blot delving hypnosis is required to undo the furrowed, purse-lipped expression of my right hand and bring my life-choreographer metaphor closer to something resembling Twyla?!

Oh...wait...what's that? Good Will Hunting-like therapy not required? Chris Sasaki, in twelve short weeks, you just saved me millions. 

Even in the beginning weeks of "experimentation" I found myself bringing to class my very reigned-in examples of crazy. Apparently I wasn't fooling anyone, at least not Chris. Goddamit, we were going to have FUN! Messy in-class exercises! NO pencils! Don't put your hair up for this, it's a perfectly good brush! If you want to fulfill your childhood dream, if you want to DO what you've wanted to DO since you were a kid, BE A GODDAM KID!

Just for the record, Chris is not a drill sergeant. The above were my internal mantra. That pencil wasn't coming out of my hand on its own, I had to slap it out.

So...below are the results of my progression from Goody Two-Shoes to drawing Floozy. I'm still practicing. I'm striving for Lili VonSchtupp-like looseness...

Ok...perhaps the magazine cutout
method didn't QUITE help loosen
me up technically, but it was a really
great way to think about shape
choices, texture, mood, and
simplistic ways to convey expression
and character!

Scaredy-pants Ichabod in the forest...thanks to a whole mess of ink!

This is where it got just plain goofy fun. Ne'er a pencil in sight! You can also see (perhaps) this is the point where Michael Richards' Kramer had been added to the mix of inspiration....playing with Mr. Bean, Kramer, and a mouse...yeehaw!

Just a few notes...playing with both the Headless Horseman and Ichabod.

Where There's an Ichabod...

 Surely there's a guy without a head....

Continuing in my reflection on the awesomest 12 weeks ever, I will show you the darker side of the first two weeks of Chris Sasaki's Advanced Character Design class at the Animation Collaborative. Chris assigned two characters for the course from Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. 

Previously I posted some reference images and beginning sketches of my process in trying to get a feel for who Ichabod was. Irving paints a very detailed picture of Ichabod, both physically and in personality. It's was a challenge to not be literal or, worse, re-create Disney's Ichabod, who is essentially Irving's description come to life. We had to dig a little deeper and extract the most prominent characteristics from the self-serving schoolmaster and make every effort to allow those characteristics to aesthetically exude from his design.

The Headless Horseman was quite the opposite. Not only vague in description, he is vague to the very narrator of the story and the characters within! Is he the ghost of a Hessian soldier? An apparition that materialized from superstition? Or was he really the town bully, Brom Bones, disguised to play one final, fatal prank on poor Ichabod?

This is the Choose Your Own Adventure book-like part of character design....so much fun. I personally liked the idea of the Headless Horseman as a mysterious apparition. I felt it would be more fun to play with both in story and visually in animation. A number of cool ideas came about in experimenting: what if he were a hulking, solid figure that dissipates into a hovering mist, giving him speed through vaporization? Or an ominous figure that shatters into thousands of blackbirds in flight? The possibilities were endless! 

Anywho, here are some reference images and beginning sketches and experimentations of The Headless Horseman!

Some Reference:

Aaaand Some Fun:

The incredibly challenging-but-fun magazine cutout method in which I learned to somehow gluestick myself to...myself.

Some finger painting with charcoal dust on (ugh) an Anthropologie bag. Sue me.

And now for some REAL fun with ink, straws, and maybe just a WEE bit of wine induced inhibition...

YES!! I mean seriously...way too much fun. More to come!! Please feel free to comment or make suggestions as this is all part of my portfolio building process. Thanks, ya'll!

Like Walking and Chewing Gum...

Hello again!
Now don't ya'll go thinkin' that simply because I haven't updated this here blog, I haven't drawn a lick - cuz WHOA, have I! (I don't really know why I decided to open with a panning-for-gold yee-haw accent. It just came to me, but I think I'll stop).

I have had the most incredible 12 weeks, learning and drawing more than perhaps I ever have, and certainly having the most fun possible. In a very tiny nutshell, the sort of lightning-bolt inspired decision to go all out in pursuing the one thing I always wanted to do has opened into the most validating, rewarding, fulfilling, welcoming, reassuring, and ridiculously enjoyable experience - more than I could have imagined. I made the decision with a very specific goal in mind, but in working toward that goal I have become overwhelmed by the gratification of the journey. And this is all after just the very first step.
The first step being the 12 week class I just completed at the Animation Collaborative, a wonderful little place across the street from the glowing gates of Pixar Animation Studios. The school, opened in 2011, was founded by Pixar veterans Andrew Gordon and Michal Makarewicz to provide quality supplemental and specified education in the field of animation. I'd have never known this unassuming and unmarked gem existed without the serendipitous recommendation of Daniela Strijleva. Specifically, the very class she suggest I take: Character Design with Chris Sasaki.

When I looked into the class and took a few deep breaths to digest the $2k tuition fee, I saw that Chris's class was an advanced class and a portfolio review was required for entrance. OK, so now I was looking at a $4k educational experience starting with the beginning character design course. But it was going to be OK. I would submit my portfolio for the hell of it, pick up more shifts than I could work, and eventually make my way into Chris's class....
THANK the glorious universe my portfolio SOMEHOW passed. I'd like to think it was based on skill, but to be honest at this point, I don't care if they simply needed a warm body to fill the chair. I was now a part of what would be the greatest class in the universe. The education I received is near indescribable. Hopefully it will simply be evident in my work. But the class...

The ten people I shared twelve Thursday nights with...I wouldn't know where to start in describing that dynamic. Some, I know, will be lifelong friends. I hope they all will. But what I learned from each one of them - how they all came through with INCREDIBLE surprises and unlocked talents! We all had the unusual commonality of fully exposed exhaustion and emotion. A good exhaustion - the kind of "that's IT! I'm exhausted by my current existence and am going to muster every ounce of bravery I have and DO THIS THING!" kind of motivating exhaustion. This is also the sort of position in life that makes one vulnerable. And when one is vulnerable and walking into the unknown and sees ten other people there, anything can happen. One could clam up and shut down, for instance. Or....one could bring banana bread. I have come to realize that baked goods serve as one of the greatest bridges to the unknown. They are like an introductory hug without the invasive creepiness.
The banana bread by no means created the warm and supportive love-fest-to-be. But I do think that it's impossible NOT to let your guard down when you are attempting to politely mash gooey banana bread through your teeth. And I think vulnerability inevitably taps in and grabs onto the first sign of coziness. Needless to say, I was gratified to see that no one was too shy or too cool (or too allergic - I did make a gluten-free loaf so there would be no excuses) to take a slice. I decided at that moment I would bring something delicious to every class. Mostly because I have a tendency to tear up at the drop of a hat and spill "I love you guys"'s all over the place like a mascara-smeared girl during last call. Cake was a good way to say "I love you guys"...without all the invasive creepiness.

Anywho, I could go on and on about the amazingness of the experience or about the serendipity of how our work as a class will be showcased in a museum in NEW YORK among other things, but from here, I'll simply show the work and the process - from beginning to end.
As I post the work, I'll also be building my portfolio, so PLEASE feel free to provide comments and/or suggestions about what to include and how to include it! So here it goes....

WEEKS 1&2:
I'm grouping the first two weeks because they were solely research - no drawing. The way Chris teaches this class is sort of an abbreviated version of the character design process at Pixar. The beginning of any process is research. I was incredibly excited and validated to learn this - that it wasn't all about shape or design - because this is how I've worked my whole life.
I recall specifically as a kid at Christmastime drawing a scene of a living room. In it, I had decided the family had all just gone to bed, the fire was dwindling, and Santa was expected to arrive. I spent HOURS looking through my mom's Betty Crocker cookbook trying to decide which cookies they had left for Santa. It was snowing through the windows outside, so they lived some place with snow. Sweden? Well, that changes everything. What kind of cookies do they make in Sweden?.... I always thought I was just a weird kid who had drawing OCD. Turns out I'm just built for feature animation! Whew!
We were given Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as our story, which we would be using for the duration of the course. We were assigned two characters from the story - Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman - to conceptualize and eventually design. Chris's choice in assigning these 2 characters became increasingly interesting and intentionally challenging, which I'll explain later.
For now, the images below include just a taste of what was used for my research in creating a feeling, both in Sleepy Hollow itself and in the characters as well as some initial research sketches.

Beginning sketches: