THE MARCH 4 ROUNDUP: yee haw

Hey bloggerfolk! 

Been a while since I visited the Roost. Looks like I'm going to average about a post a month this year, and that's ok. As long as that pace is due a good kind of busy-ness rather than just slothfulness. And boy have I been busy! But since the functional animation lab on campus is currently an asbestos danger zone (one of the not-fun parts of sharing space in a 50+ year-old science building) and the cintiqs in the other lab (yes, we now have two labs!) are more buggy than an ant farm, it seems as good a time as any to stay in my room and write. Since last post was a nice venture into the philosophical, this one will probably be more life update-y and art share-y! 

First - I may have mentioned before that I'm directing a short film now?! So exciting. It's based on my storyboarding final from last semester which you can check over on that Storyboard Portfolio tab. Since my end goal dream job would be showrunning for TV, it's been a great experience to lead a team and make some cartoons. While learning to cope with a TV-length production schedule! And by that I mean that it is SHORT. We're going from storyboards to final film in about 2.5 months, to meet our nearly divine mandate to finish it for the 5 Minute Film Festival here on campus. It's been great to see the team really rally and make some amazing stuff: Aedan Peterson crushed it on the background art, and Jon/Joel/Hayley E./Lorna have been making some incredible animation. It's the first time I've seen my boards transformed into something bigger and better and it's amazing to watch! It's also incredibly humbling because I feel like most of my non-directorial contributions aren't measuring up at the moment. I've been trying to animate this one shot for the past couple weeks and am feeling super rusty :( I think this whole thing is also causing me a lot of background anxiety?? I just get this gross feeling in my stomach sometimes and I don't really know why. But I think it's because I want to make this film really good and really on time and those things don't always go hand in hand. But we will do it! And I will recover my animation mojo! And you will see this film on March 26th! I'll probably tease it on Instagram pretty soon but since you guys read the blog you're getting this info first!

Overall the semester has been really frontloaded and March is the time when things will finally start to wrap up. I already wrapped on a month long comic coloring gig (I'm doing freelance now! Yay :D) I'm nearing the end of internship applications - really hoping/praying for the best this summer. And as I mentioned earlier the short film will be complete by the end of the month too. I'm looking forward to having time for my other classes again and actually being able to do some meaningful work on my senior film independent study. I've discovered that one man cannot serve two short film masters and so my senior film has been unfortunately pushed to the backburner... 

Over the past few months I've gone into survival/going through the motions zone to get stuff done and it's not been particularly fun. I'm not opposed to a solid routine, but it's hard to make those special college memories when your weekends are filled with internship apps and long hours in the lab... But perhaps this is a season of preparation so that I can have some really cool experiences this April and beyond. Cause I can't get an internship without applying. And I can't get a short film without months of work :P And perhaps this glum pre-spring time is the perfect opportunity to get that kinda stuff knocked out. And the end of the tunnel will be here soon enough. 

Some good news - I'll doing some official stuff for Zeldathon! (That's a dream list item, in case you forgot). They put out a call for artists a few weeks ago and they like my stuff, so I'll be making a few pieces for them that you can win if you donate! I'm very excited. 

I'm now an official "Featherhead" which means I'm officially approved to talk to anyone and everyone about the upcoming re-release of The Wingfeather Saga. The new edition of the book series features the work of two of my favorite illustrators (Joe Sutphin and Nicholas Kole) supporting the epic tale told by Andrew Peterson. My feathers were initially a little ruffled by having a childhood favorite get such a significant update (I'm rather nostalgic for the old look) but after seeing the new books in person I think it's for the best! So if you like fantasy, fangs, and getting emotionally invested in the lives of characters then check it out! It's a great read aloud book if you've got a family or another group of people that you read to. And it's a great brothers story! Which means I CRY.

Also this past weekend was our big guest speaker weekend for the semester, featuring animator/showrunner Bruce W. Smith! His Friday night talk was very lively and full of great stories - he kept having to censor them due to there being "kids in the audience" which made the stories even more mysterious since we couldn't have all the details... As animation director on Space Jam he had a lot of fascinating stories about the basketball players who were on set and his infamous match with Michael Jordan. 

bruce smith

A couple days before Bruce's visit, Professor Tom had offered us the chance to get our drawings critiqued by Bruce if we did a character design based on a certain prompt. The prompt was something about a 35-year-old bartender who was losing his edge but still thought he's "got it." This was a kinda awkward prompt since I don't think 35 is really that old and also because Lipscomb students shouldn't be very familiar with bartenders (no student is supposed to drink here. No matter your age.) But I still wanted to get my drawing in front of Bruce. So I gave it a shot! ;) I tried to do a human at first but was getting frustrated with the design/pose. And I wasn't having fun. So I hopped back into my fun comfort zone and drew an animal character! I was looking a lot a James Wood's stuff here, and his spontaneous sense of linework - something I've been trying to work on since my final lines often look very dead. 

At the Saturday workshop this drawing was on screen for approximately 20 seconds. :( Most of the drawings did not get a critique (not really sure why). And mine was one of those drawings. BUT when it was flashed on screen the crowd reaction was great! And Bruce commented that he liked it. So critique accomplished? Regardless, it's given me more courage to do these kind of quick designs for the Character Design Challenge (CDC) and really get some non-fanart work out into the world. On Sunday night I was even able to get jammin' and finish a piece for Februrary's CDC which I'm really proud of! But I'm not going to post it here yet - sorry for the tease :P

Nashville actually just got hit by a major tornado two nights ago and it feels weird posting my stock of light-hearted fun-times art when social media is appropriately mourning the destruction that's happened across our fair city. I'm ok, Lipscomb's fine, and today was a beautiful spring day. But there's a lot of photos on the news that are quite sobering - including the damage to a favorite hangout spot, the Soda Parlor. And one of our dear animation professors, Eric Stars, was near the worst of the storm and while his house is ok, he's still having to sort through a lot of other details. It's just not something you ever expect to happen, even though we usually have at least one tornado warning each spring. 

So stay safe, bloggerfolk! And stay inspired! I'll be back soon with that Character Design Challenge post I promised, but until then I wish you strength for your daily struggles and victories. 

-dh



Music Rec: 
Louie Zong just released his jazz album which I've been looking forward to for a long time. I don't know enough about music to really say what it's about but... it's got all the good and complex jazz stuff with the unique Louie instrumentation that updates it for a geek like me. Hope that makes sense :P

How to Use Your Last Moments of Freedom Before Submitting to the Animation Overlords: Preparing for Art School

Hey Roost-ers,

I was talking with a group of prospective students at Lipscomb today and someone asked what they should be doing during the summer to prepare to study animation in the fall. In the moment, I stumbled something out about making sure to practice your drawing so that you can focus on caricature more once you come to school, but my inadequate answer has been haunting me for the rest of the day and I felt like I needed to tell someone a more complete answer to this query. And if you're reading this, I guess it happens to be you. I hope it's applicable, or if you know someone who's preparing to go to art school, feel free to send this post to them. Of course, I'm perhaps not the best person to ask, but this is the Internet and I can SAY THINGS I'M NOT QUALIFIED TO TALK ABOUT GERSH DERN IT! This is also directed primarily at people who have already been accepted to a college or are applying to a school like Lipscomb which doesn't require portfolio reviews (though that may be changing soon). You're probably already doing most of these if you have a portfolio good enough for major art schools, and portfolio building is a whole 'nother topic, which I can discuss if you're interested.

Things that I Think Are Good Things to Do During the Summer Before Your Freshman Year at College if You're Pretty Sure You Will Be Studying Animation During Your Freshman Year

or 

Preparing for Animation School

• Work on your drawing and draftsmanship. Richard Williams recounts in The Animator's Survival Kit being told by Richard Kelsey: "First of all, kid, learn to draw. You can always do the animation stuff later." I live by this, and both Winsor McCay and Milt Kahl agree - you can only go so far in any kind of 2D production without having a solid grasp of drawing skills.  Unless you're planning on working mostly in CG, the most important thing I can tell you is draw all the stuff. As I've spent the past year animating, I've been more crippled by my inability to draw the figure from strange perspectives than my ignorance of animation techniques/principles. Even if you think you're good at drawing already (and if you got into CalArts, Sheridan, or Ringling you probably are), there's bound to be something you're not so great at drawing. Work on that. My first assignment at Lipscomb was to do several concepts of a 6 year old girl character, not at all my comfort zone. 
  

Why I did I decide to draw a sick girl? I do not know.

If you draw amazing girl characters, do some angular muscle men. What? You can draw humans of any age, physique, and gender perfectly? Then draw cars. Drawing cars humbles a man. Draw from life. Copy the masters. I started my drawing career only a year or two before coming to college, and if you're in that spot too, then pick up that pencil and get going!
• Give digital art a shot. On a related note, if you have access to a tablet or another way to draw digitally, give it a try. The animation world is heavily digital nowadays and there's a bit of a learning curve to the medium. If you're good with traditional media, this curve will be a little less. Digital art can be overwhelming, but at least get familiar with the idea of layers, clipping masks, and free textured brushes. There's so many different ways to do digital art, but chances are each tutorial will use 2 out of those 3. If you don't have access to digital, look those things up but don't buy a tablet - you'll be given access to one pretty soon when you get to school.
• Listen to animation podcasts. Hearing how other animators got their start will help inspire your own journey and show you that even the best industry artists still had to work hard and deal with rejection in order to get where they are today! It's easy to forget that. I recommend the Jorge Guitierrez or Glen Keane episodes of the Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast or the first episode of the Three Point Perspective Podcast. And Three Point just released an episode specifically about being an art student! I haven't listened to it yet, but I'm pretty sure it's good.
• Buy at least one "art of" book and cherish it. If you want to study animation, chances are you like at least one animated movie. And if that movie was good and/or made within the past 30 years, there's a pretty good chance that the movie was accompanied by a whole book filled with the concept art that helped to make that movie possible. That is an "art of" book, and you should buy it. Art of books are awesome. They're basically my textbooks/bibles when it comes to designs. Need some storyboard reference? I look at Coco. Working on a fur.. I mean anthropomorphic project? I pull out my Zootopia and Madagascar books. Art of books show what is industry standard and what you should try to meet or exceed when it comes to your own work (but don't expect that kind of quality to appear freshman year or perhaps even in college - these guys are pros and they are old) If you need recommendations based on my highly refined personal taste, Zootopia and Over the Garden Wall have nice books. Look for volume of art, artists being credited next to their works, and text describing how they made the thing. 
• See if the school/animation department (or individual animators/artists) have a social media presence. It's a good way to get a vibe of the program and to start those friendships before you even get to school! For Lipscomb it's @lipscombanim. In my experience, most students will follow back if they know you will be coming to campus soon! Don't be a stalker, but you don't have to be a stranger either...
• Don't forget about Daniel Haycox when you're famous and working on cool projects in the animation industry. This step is a good idea! Probably. Just like I'll still be looking for jobs at that point. Probably. "cries"
• Go somewhere or do something new. You can't spend your whole summer doing animation stuff. That's what freshman year is for! If you have the budget to travel, go! I frequently reference specific places I've visited when researching new projects. It doesn't have to be a big or expensive trip, I referenced a neighborhood in my hometown for a recent project. Just something out of your normal path. Meet up with a teacher or mentor and get advice for college. College goes by fast, and you can expect to have only three more summers after this before you don't have summer break anymore!

On that happy note, enjoy graduation and summer. Freshman year can seem scary, but once you get to campus you'll get to meet a bunch of new people (potential friends??) and have a lot of fun. Hold on to that youthful optimism! And feel free to come to the Roost if you need some help. Good luck, and if this helped you, let me know!

-dh