Zeldathon Heals Art Collection

Over the past week I've been posting one Zelda-related illustration a day to celebrate the eight-day run of Zeldathon Heals, a charity livestream on Twitch. Last Zeldathon I completed just one illustration of Link, but this time I decided to up the number as an excuse to try new styles, explore more aspects of the Zelda world, and (long shot) get the opportunity to do official work for the Zeldathon team. It also built up a nice base of art which could be included in a (buyable!!) Zelda sketchbook. All the pieces are collected here. It was a fun adventure, but now that I'm at the end of it, I'm ready to rest! 

-dh

Heroes Con 2019

the best corner at the con - david petersen in red, cory godbey in blue

I'm back from Heroes Con, and since I'm in the middle of a few other projects I thought it best to give the con it's own little retrospective rather than lop it in with some other collection of thoughts.

In short - it was a good convention. I've been to Heroes Con once before, in 2017. That was the summer before college. A lot has changed in my life since then, but the familiar con social-anxiety was still there: how in the world do you have a meaningful conversation with a famous artist and express interest in their work, all the while not seeming like a creep? Cause I know a lot about these guys. I know what projects they're working on. I've studied their moves. It's kinda my job. But I'm a total stranger to these guys. And I want any conversation to build up naturally, as if we both didn't know that much about each other. That was hard in 2017. But in 2019, I had a newfound advantage.  I could now, as they say, talk shop! Now I could talk about art process and running a booth and freelancing in addition to the usual fan stuff. It felt like I was beginning to transition from being a fan standing in front of the table to being an artist behind it. Since I want to run a table at future conventions, it was nice to have this trip to do some research - checking prices, asking for advice, and seeing what sells. 

The day started off good with a surprise appearance of Cory Godbey, an artist I don't directly reference in my work, but whose blog posts on Muddy Colors are always nice to read. He wasn't on the guest list, but he was nevertheless there, and with a very well-put-together booth.

I took photos of a few tables to use as reference

There was no one at his booth, so we just talked for a while as I flipped through his books. That's probably rare at other conventions, but at Heroes Con you get a lot of time to talk to the artists. As I was looking through his Visions of Whence, I came across a process explanation of his pencil sketches. It was surprisingly intuitive, and definitely effective in the hands of Godbey. The book was out of my price range, but I made a mental note of the steps and tried to replicate it in my Zeldathon drawing for today - with surprisingly good results!

thank you cory, I will try to pay you back later

I met a few other artists, inadvertently insulted Jeremy Bastian's slow inking speed, and marveled at the amount of cosplay. One of my favorite parts about the convention experience is that as you walk closer and closer to the convention hall, you can pick out more and more people who are very clearly also going to the con. And it's always fun to see people in full airbender robes walking around uptown Charlotte. 

Heroes Con has a minimal animation presence, but I attended a basic storyboarding workshop and I peddled my story portfolio around to the few story artists that were there. They proceeded to rip it apart pretty thoroughly. I'm kinda a critique masochist, so I was fine with that, but I thought it strange that these exact boards elicited nearly no critique when presented in class. I think the boards may have relied too much on me pitching them with additional explanation (which I do in class, but not at cons). I also didn't have my best sequence in a presentable format, and I think that sequence avoided most of the errors the artists were pointing out. The big takeaway I learned was clarity over coolness. I think I get carried away trying to add depth or difficult shots and forget about conveying the idea clearly, which often requires a simpler approach. And all my pans and trucks/zooms would be a hassle to actually animate. It's good to learn that now, I guess! We've yet to see if I'll actually edit my portfolio based on this advice - at this point I don't know if it would be a better use of my time to refine these sequences (which were some of my first boards ever) or take the knowledge and make newer sequences. Knowing my tendencies and aversion to serious drawing revisions, it will probably be the latter.

Anyways, that was my experience. I hope to be on the other side of the table next time. But in order for that to happen, I need to have something to sell ... and my current book is taking twice as long as expected. 

Oh bother.

-dh

Celebrating the Fiction: Zeldathon, Comic Con, and Donald Duck

So yesterday I made a post on Instagram celebrating Donald Duck's 85th birthday. And when I was posting it, I realized that the whole thing was a little strange. Celebrating the "birthday" of a fictional duck? Not a real person, but a product of hundreds of artists and writers, owned by one of the most powerful entertainment companies on earth? Certainly, it seemed a little foolish. But not entirely insensible. I wasn't the only one celebrating Donald, after all. Other artists and photographers were joining in. People cared about Donald. As if he was a real person.

This leads me to think that Donald Duck is somehow more than lines on a page and pages in a script. He has a character, a personality that has grown over time, and can't really be thrown aside by some upstart writer. We as an audience know when Donald is Donald, and get bored or frustrated when he is not acting thusly. People love Donald (and Frodo, and Link, and Chihiro, and Janner, and Simba), and like the Velveteen Rabbit, this love grants them a kind of life. Would it be going too far to say that they are real? And for those who aren't so sentimental or poetic (which is ok), all of these characters draw from, amplify, and/or idealize things the artists took from real life. So there's still something beating in the hearts of all these characters.

And so we celebrate them and the stories they are a part of - in no small manner. This week has been full of celebrations honoring fictional victories and heroes. People gathering together, giving their full attention (dare I say worship?) to the mythologies of our day. E3 (arguably the year's biggest videogame conference) was this past weekend. Zeldathon begins today. Zeldathon is a week-long, 24/7 charity livestream wherein a crew of over 70 people come together to play through every Legend of Zelda game back to back. In my mind, it is the celebration of Zelda and the stories of Link. Why would this be successful if not for immense love of the Zelda franchise? On Saturday, I will be going to Heroes Con, my local comic con. Comic Con. Oh boy. The ultimate expression of geek love and community. A true modern-day pilgrimage.

So all this has got me thinking about how much we as geeks/fans, and for me personally as a follower of Christ, should care about all this stuff. 

One of Nicholas Kole's (you knew this was coming) core ideals that he mentions often in talks and blogs is the "permission to care." By this he means that we should allow ourselves to engage deeply with the things we care about, even if those things are incredibly nerdy. The Lion King. Breath of the Wild. Princess Mononoke. Kole invites us to set aside our cynicism about these things being "just entertainment" and be open to believing, loving, and seeking God-given meaning and truth inside these works of art. It's acknowledging the fact that nothing is truly mundane - each movie, song, or game is pushing us closer to God, or degrading us away. Here's the core of his idea:

"Theory: When we nerd out, I think we are closer to the Spirit of God- we are open to things being more, mattering more. When we pretend things don't matter, we are further away. Don't hide behind irony. Nerd hard."

I think Kole's advice is a breath of fresh air to a cynical age, and a good reminder for geeks to engage the things they love at a level deeper than mere escapism or entertainment. But I've begun to feel like the whole situation is just a bit more ... complicated than Nicholas makes it out to be.

First of all, I think that Nicholas Kole happens to have incredibly good taste in art (and one that aligns closely with my own). This is important because we shouldn't only love deeply, but we ought to love the right things. Things that aren't shallow, or corruptive, or despair-laden. This requires a high level of discernment. For example, I find modern country music incredibly vapid. Although there are exceptions, the lyrics are without substance and often glorify things I don't agree with. It's hard for me to love it, or to think of it as having much value. But my brother loves country music, and loves it deeply. Should I then try to find something admirable in the music? Or encourage him to love something else? There are worse examples than country music, even within my sphere of geek-dom. Should I be happy for people who love Doom deeply, or any other media that celebrates gore and wonton violence? It's situations like these when Kole's principle begins to break down. It's great to love deeply. But you become like the things you love, for better or worse.

Rarely do I see people rally around works that are difficult to understand, yet are incredibly profound. Works without flashy visuals, without spectacle, where "fun" is not the first word that comes to mind when you think of them. I can't imagine a con based on Dante's Divine Comedy would be very well attended. I wouldn't even go. Yet Dante's Comedy is an incredible work of art which has withstood the decay of time for hundreds of years. There's no Kurosawa theme park. But Star Wars is getting one later this summer.

Despite all this, I don't think Kole is wrong in his invocation to care. I think Zeldathon is still a wonderful celebration of a extremely good video game series. And part of our duties as people and artists is to celebrate the good. We ought to seek out good and filling food, but once we're there, let's feast! And feast with friends! There's something admirable about love for a story - unlike love of self, it is a love that compels you to go outward, to seek community, and in turn, to love others. It's a love that deserves a place in our lives, nestled in with and giving great respect to our love of Christ. I think our geek love is working best when it compels us to go out - to D&D tables, to conventions, and to those in our community who wouldn't find a place anywhere else. And as a story-crafter, I (and maybe you, dear reader!) have an extra responsibility to make sure our art is worth caring about! Let's make better stories, support better stories, and rally around the things worth caring about. Even if those things are nerdy. As a reflection of this mission, I'll be posting art each day of Zeldathon on my Instagram and Twitter - and I'll be dropping by the livestream from time to time as well! I'll also be at Heroes Con. Maybe I'll see you there! 

The first Zeldathon painting

Thanks for sticking around - this is an important topic to me and I imagine it will come back in future articles here on the Roost. I just found this piece by Joshua Gibbs that I'll have to read in the meantime.

Thanks for your readership and support! 
-dh

Color Keys from the Florida Keys

Hey everyone! 

I just got back from a week-long trip boat trip with my family. Yep, that's right, a boat trip. Do people still do many boating vacations nowadays? Not a cruise ship or anything. I'm talking one-family-two-sails-really-feel-the-waves-underneath-the-hull kind of boating. Anyways, I really enjoyed it. It's a totally different way of of life, and while I'm glad to be back on land, it was fun to try! I now have a much better understanding of what Rat means when he talks about "Simply messing, messing about in boats, or with boats. In or out of em, it doesn't matter" (that's Rat from The Wind in the Willows - though I dearly hope you already knew that). I'm still trying to get all the salt out of my clothes and hair - it's a process. Especially since I won't be going to Ireland this summer, it was nice to have the chance to see a new place, though one of a significantly warmer and more humid nature: the Florida Keys. I've been recently amazed by just how big America is. Even though Florida is still in the states, it definitely feels like a different country compared to Tennessee. The expansive salt marshes, the spanish moss, the decaying rust bridges set over azure salt water - it just all seems so summer-y and adventurous. And this strange nostalgia for the landscape of Florida and the coastal American South (part of the reason why I LOVE Princess and the Frog), was nice to indulge. And indulge I did! Through gazing for hours out of the car window and the boat ... spaces on deck??? Oh and I also did some art. Bet you didn't expect that! ;) 

I brought, as usual, way too many art supplies, most of which I never used. I intended to do watercolor pieces like I did during my Bahamas mission trip last summer, but when I started the first one I kept getting frustrated with the pencil sketch which seemed to predict getting even more frustrated with the watercolor later down the line... so I caved, pulled out the Ipad, and worked almost entirely digitally for the remainder of the trip. The watercolors and gouache were not touched :( I have mixed feelings about the outcome. This was my first big trip with The Pad, by the way. I felt like the digital nature of the art was able to capture the luminosity and vibrancy of the color and water in way that would have been difficult for me to do with traditional media. And the whole process is just so much easier. I feel more comfortable with it as a medium, I feel more free to experiment, depicting light is quick (lookin at u, multiply and overlay layers), I don't have to wait for paint to dry, and I don't have to mix colors unless I want to. So all that means drawings that look prettier (in my opinion) and I have more time to spend on the actual vacation. (which is kinda the point of the thing)

But, on the other hand, I feel like traditional plein air painting in new and inspiring places is what encourages me to still keep traditional media as part of my skillset. I don't want to be a primarily/exclusively digital artist if I can help it, cause I feel like each time I put serious effort into my traditional work, I make breakthroughs on the digital side as well. Remember that Brother Bear poster? Or perhaps any tree I have drawn in the past year? Those were directly influenced by how I plein air paint with gouache.

It's in the simplification of shading and round shapes in the tree

Traditional media is just cool, and becoming increasingly rare in animation art. In other words, the Disney Archives are quickly becoming something you access through a computer, and not something you hold in you hands and think, "Wow. Milt Kahl drew this. And now I am trying not to spill something on it." I know I'm not going to get better at traditional media if I don't actual try it, fail, succeed, and learn. So part of me was a little disappointed that I didn't risk it on this trip. Plus, using traditional media fosters a greater sense of "place." Knowing that I worked on this piece of paper at this place in the universe makes the art a bit more special than a file that just ends up in Google Drive. Anyways, I digress. You probably didn't come here to listen to me ramble about drawing mediums. Maybe you actually wanted to see some art.

So here's some art.

Sombrero Key Lighthouse

Many, if not most, of these were inspired by what's in animation called "color keys." Popularized by Pixar, these are small paintings which are intended to direct the color of a scene rather than the detail and design. I like to do them because they don't take a lot of time, and if the detail is off, eeeeehhhhh, just shrug and say it's a just a color key/sketch. Actually, don't say that. (personal pet peeve: calling something a "sketch" to lower the bar when in fact, the piece is not "a sketch." Just own it, people. The piece is probably good anyways.) I would love to do color keys professionally some day, but combining them all into a harmonious order called a "color script" seems baffling and something that takes guts.

 Snappers

I actually got to pet this manatee, who lived in a marina and was pretty scarred up

Many of these were also inspired by the art of Louie Zong, a man whose work has become increasingly influential to me over the past several months. His art has a lot of texture to it and good color sense all submerged in a childlike simplicity and innocence which I really appreciate. His work often gets very simplistic but somehow still feels professional ... needless to say I'm a fan, and am trying to incorporate some of his sensibilities into my own art. But at the moment, the most immediate thing you'll notice is quite a liberal use of Procreate's "Splatter" and my modified "Flicks" brushes.

Clownfish, Moon Jellies, and Sandbar Shark

I needed to use a pencil after sooo much digital art. Also, baby gators.

Sleeping Hawksbill Sea Turtle

In Key West, they have wild chickens that roam around town, just doin their thing. I've known several friends who kept chickens, but what surprised me most about the Key West chickens was watching the hens run around surrounded their chicks - back at home you usually just see the adults or mail-order chicks by themselves in a pen. So it was delightful to see these little families where everyone was all together! When I got back home I wanted to make a more stylized piece that reflected this memory (drawing on *heh* the art of Annette Marnat, thanks Naomi Bethel). This took a LOT longer than I expected but was a fun exploration into a new, soft, and even-more-texture-y style.

also took some cues from Audubon's Great American Hen and Young

Although I don't try to pressure myself to draw when I'm on vacation, it's nice when art like this spills out naturally! You may have implied from that statement that drawing often feels like work now, which is true. And although it's good work, work that makes me happy and time fly, I realized that I need to recapture that spirit of play, be willing to let pieces suck, and draw without reference... but that's likely a topic for another day. Be sure to check back here on the Roost for that! A lot is going on on my Instagram too - I'll be posting most of these pictures there and celebrating 500 followers! That's a big milestone, and I'm going to try to focus on being grateful for that rather than envious of 1000... let's see how that goes. ;) As usual, feel free to share Roost posts with your friends if you think they would be helpful. People really seemed to like the only "advice" post I have on here, and I plan on posting a few more tutorial kind of stuff here over the summer, so if there's a specific topic you want me to cover, let me know in the comments. 

Thankful for you guys, your readership, and your support! Hope your summer is off to a great start.

-dh


ALSO Music Recommendation for this week: I've been playing the BotW Hyrule Castle theme frequently to make everything seem more epic, maybe you would like a (Triforce of) Courage boost too? I finished BotW the week before the sailing trip and Man Was It Awesome. Storming the castle is so intense, especially when accompanied by this song. And for those Ambrosia fans out there, know that she participated in the final battle against Ganon! Very cool. Thanks Fujibayashi. More BotW art (and Ambrosia art???) to come during Zeldathon this June 13. 

woah that sounded official 

A Happiest of Days, A Saddest of Days

photo of the artist from back when his hair was even longer

photo by Arina P.

written on April 30, 2019

God is good! Today has just been a most fantastic of days and I wanted to make sure I recorded at least some of it on the Roost, cause days like these are treasures and God's faithfulness ought to remembered. Consider it a very joyful Ebenezer.

Today was the last day of my sophomore year of college - meaning that the brutal hours of the finals push are at last over. I gave myself a massive storyboarding load to do, and as usual, not enough time to do it. I was up until 3:30 am this morning, very late for me, especially since I had been working on boards since 9am on the previous day... But I felt very proud of what I had made and the final sequence felt worth all the time put into it! Always nice when it works out that way. It was received positively during the critique (at 8am) and we had a nice storyboarding exam time/party. Summer was finally here!

Then I checked my email and found out that I had been offered an internship by Cartoon Saloon. And there was no one else in the animation lab. So I was free to express the intense happiness of getting my first ANIMATION internship EVER and reaching the beginning of summer in the most exuberant display of fist pumping, unskilled dancing, and shouts of praise. And dance and praise I did. I don't think I had felt this good all semester. I found Tom. He gave me a hug. Things were awesome. And when I found Aedan we learned that he had got the Cartoon Saloon internship too! So we're both going to Ireland this summer! SO AWESOME! Lots of high fives were to be had. It's still kind of hard to believe. But I am so thankful for God's providence and so ready for this summer. This was totally His doing.

Wow. Just wow. I'm going to Cartoon Saloon!

It all seems like a wonderful dream come true. I've been in a weird spot expectation-wise - since I applied to so many studios, I kinda thought I had to get a yes from at least one, but as the torrent of no's rained in, I was reminded of my equally strong expectation that there was no way that I would get an internship on the first go around. And one of my new favorite artists, who is leagues ahead of me art-wise, had been recently posting about her internship rejections. So I figured it was kinda out of the picture for this summer. But God works in mysterious ways, and here I am! I've never felt "imposter syndrome" before, but maybe this is what it feels like?

written on May 15, 2019

Everything has kinda come crashing down regarding the CS internship. About a week ago, Aedan and I got an email from Cartoon Saloon explaining that due to a strict minimum wage law in Ireland, they recently discovered that unpaid internships with non EU citizens were illegal. Cartoon Saloon unfortunately had to rescind their offer. It was a big shock, probably more to Aedan than me, cause CS is his dream studio and I couldn't really accept that this internship wasn't going to happen. I decided to fight this decision as long as I could, without burning any major bridges at the studio. My dad was able to find an internship visa that we hadn't noticed before, one that seemingly allowed for unpaid work even with the minimum wage law. We contacted friends and tried to get as much advice as we could (it's very nice to have a lawyer for a dad in these kind of circumstances). The visa was kinda a long shot - it required a lot of documentation and had a long (8 week max) processing time. But I wanted this internship and was willing to work even more for it. Cartoon Saloon seemed willing to consider this option. I read some Ireland travel books, finished an illustration announcing the internship, and started getting together the documentation, all as an act of faith. In retrospect, it may not have been the smartest idea to try to "prove" my faith to God. I was just praying that He would make a way, and I wanted to show that I knew he could provide. But I was offered this internship by grace, and if it was still going to happen, then it would be by grace as well.

But today was the death knell for the internship. Worried about the high processing time, CS decided that this option was too risky. And the wording in the email seemed to indicate that there would be no more options. It was over. And I can't blame them either. They've put in a lot of work trying to get just two little interns from the US when I'm sure they would have had a much easier time getting talented people from the EU. Throughout the whole process Cartoon Saloon has been very gracious, and I don't write all this out of anger with them. Please don't blame them either. I really like Cartoon Saloon! I still very much want to work with them and maybe Aedan and I would have the chance to next summer. If I am angry with anyone, it's the Irish labor lawmakers who didn't really consider this exception to their otherwise well-intentioned law.

But it still sucks. And it's hard to find the joy in today, or how things turned out. I've begun making plans for the summer that I hope will be fruitful: creating an artbook for sale and pre-production on my junior year film, in addition to some travel. I think it will be a good summer. But my window of time for getting an internship just got one summer smaller. (Many studios want people who are at junior level yet still in college - meaning I only have one more summer before I don't perfectly meet those requirements.) I thought it was important to share both the beginning and the end of this particular application experience, because the happy moments are the easiest to share online and the ones that are the most fun to write about. But the sad moments exist too, and ought to be remembered as well. I think it's easy to forget most, if not all, successful artists (well, actually, people in general) had moments when things weren't going well, when plans gave out, and when it seemed like there was nowhere else to go. And this just felt like one of those moments.

-dh

Lipscomb Animation Caricature Show 2019

Caricature time! 

Call me a little biased, but I love the Lipscomb Caricature Show! I started it last year after learning how Disney does one every April, which generates a lot of good artwork and seems very fun! (Check Bobby Pontillas' stuff if you don't believe me). Our show is fairly similar - before spring finals get too rough, students in the animation department take time draw each other (mostly in friendly and non-offensive ways) and then we pin all the art up in the animation lab. It's kind of like an end of year party for the animation majors and everyone enjoys seeing themselves in a friend's style!

I really dove into my caricatures this year and used them as an avenue to explore new styles that I wanted to try, mainly Ieafy, David Depasquale, and Nick Kole's digital watercolor work. And I did them all on Procreate so that I could get a better grip of the software and make some new brushes in the process (where the free Procreate brushes at???) I still really like working on the Ipad - I feel like I can do most anything I can do on Photoshop with it, although sketching is still a little clunky. I still can't sketch as well digitally as I do on paper, no matter the platform. I loved working in Ieafy's style, studying her use of color, and building texture through layers with an untextured brush. Here's an Ieafy-styled one to start things off:

I had to do a caricature of Naomi Bethel, one of the first animation students I met from Lipscomb and a constant friend throughout my time here! So sad that she is leaving all too soon (MAY!!!) but happy that she will be out in LA gettin' a job and paving the way for the rest of us!

Madi Williams - animation freshman and world traveler. Do not accept her odds, do not challenge her to odds, or you will regret it and/or have to jump over an actual fire.

And here the tone changes entirely - in my personal ink work I sometimes like to try David Depasquale's angular, monochrome style, which helped to depict the regal, strong lady that is Audrey Witherspoon. 

Professor Pepper! The reason why I will always be a big fan of gestural drawings and pieces.

Asher Styers feat. long boi and the hundreds of other cats he knows, draws, and loves.

A minimalist Sam Abner

Head Animation Professor Tom Bancroft. Keep fighting the good fight, Tom.

My fellow animation students put a lot of work into their caricatures and made this show the best yet! We also had donuts this year, which may have helped. I love this show because it's a dual celebration of the people in our program, and the talent they have!

I was surprised to find myself as a popular subject of caricatures! And since I think they are great drawings, and I'm more than a little egotistical, I wanted to share them all here.

Madi Williams

Jon Densk 

Naomi Bethel

Natalie Martin

Robert

Hayley Mullins and Rachel Winsor

Asher Styers

Hope you enjoyed this small selection of the show!

-dh

Easter

A drawing that barely relates at all to what I am about to write.

I just like drawing Easter bunnies.

It may not come as a surprise to you that I cry during movies. I don't really try to hide it - the heroes in the epic Greek poems cried a lot and I consider them some of the manliest men ever. So I know it's ok. But I do find it surprising when I cry, because it's incredibly specific moment: the renewal moment. I have such a longing for the part of the story when all things are set right again, and when I see it on screen it just breaks me. When Miguel awakens Coco's memory of her father. When Simba restores balance to the pridelands. When Kubo forgives his grandfather and gives him a new identity. These are the moments that make me weep. The world is so broken, the shadows are so deep - but it will not be this way forever. And that is something worth remembering and experiencing. 

In a small way, this process of renewal is a reason why I do art. In the act of creation, artists take a space and gift it with new order and life. In this way, the best artists are redeemers of paint and canvas. That's why a well-executed drawing of a goblin or dragon is can still be an act of worship - the artist is bestowing order and beauty to even a small area of our broken world. This is really a topic for another day, and I hope to discuss it here with you soon :)

Back to the topic of this post - I've noticed with no small degree of sadness that over the past couple years nearly every holiday that I enjoyed as a kid has become less special in my heart. They always seem to come and go quickly and when they do come, they don't seem as "holy" and set apart as they used to. But for some reason Easter this year seemed much more special than it has in the past. I was so excited for Easter to come. It may be because I took Lent more seriously this year. It may be because Easter and spring came very late. But in addition to these reasons, I think it's because as I get older I long more for the kind of renewal and new-life that Easter celebrates, remembers, and looks forward to. The life that burst forth when Christ rose from the grave and that will be brought to the whole earth when He returns. The fact that chaos and brokenness will end someday. As they say in The Green Ember when things are terribly awful, "It will not be so in the Mended Woods." 

And the incredible thing about all this is that it's a promise. To use the words of Andrew Peterson's song that really brought this whole idea home to me:

Does our God intend to dwell again with us? He does.

The king is coming home.
And He is risen.
-dh

Art Flow - Alebrije, Ghibli, and Generally Pleasant Stuff

Hey everyone,
I've been an particularly strange mood recently and have needed somewhere to gush, which as usual happens to be the Roost!

 I feel like I've been in the opposite of an art block recently, which is very weird. No one ever talks about this kind of thing, and I don't even know if there is a word for it. But it feels like riding high on a wave or simultaneously eating and cooking something delicious. Art flow maybe? I can't remember ever feeling like this before and so I thought I'd try to capture some of it here in words before it drifts away. 

One reason is that I've been making a lot of art recently, and mostly stuff that I enjoy doing while being uncommonly surprised by the number of pleasant outcomes. I'm working under a schedule that feels motivating but still allows time for rest, and I've been doing a lot of personal work. The Ipad has definitely made doing good looking (read: colored and fussed with) personal work easier, but I'm more pleased with the fact that I actually got something of portfolio quality done that wasn't for school. I'm still working on the discipline needed to do high quality work that isn't for a professor - while working on other projects that are assigned by a professor. I'm just not super great at keeping personal deadlines when there's no immediate consequences for breaking them and when there's Smash Bros to be played...

But I did it! I was accepted into the Character Design Challenge group (yay) and contributed to this month's theme, "Alebrije Creatures." The prompt promised the chance to draw animals and also do a creature design, which was good since I've been putting "creature design" on a bunch of resumes despite not having any actual designs to show yet. I immediately hit on the idea of a character that was ethereal, haunting, and dark while still being elegant and not-totally-evil - kind of a mysterious beauty kind of thing. And although I tried other options, nothing seemed to work as well as a fantastical peacock. Along the way I added in some crane, magpie jay, and luna moth elements, keeping a crescent moon motif as a central "beat" of the design. 

The pose was directly inspired by a sketch I made at the zoo! It's fun that God allows us to play with his creation on paper - an act of "sub-creation" as Tolkien would put it. Like legos made of animal parts. EW GROSS IMAGE BUT TRUE

less gross image (top left pose)

 first drawings where I felt like I hit on something good

figuring out motifs and floof

It didn't win anything, but I'm hoping the challenge will still feature it on their social media! And even if it doesn't, I'll at least have one legitimate creature design for my portfolio.

And that's not all! I've been doing a some various fanarts, caricatures for the upcoming show at Lipscomb, and life drawings. I'm also helping with background art for the Juniors' short film, working in Audrey Wagnon's wonky style adaptation of Frederick Gardner. Most of this stuff will be posted soon here and on Instagram.

Portrait of a Cursed Young Businessman

All this art has been especially fueled by the enormous amount of inspiration I've been digesting over the past month. I'm still on a big Breath of the Wild kick, which continues to be a source of wonder and exploration and fanart. I'm actually thinking about making a BotW art book for sale full of digital "plein airs" of Hyrule and some sketches at the end. I think it would be a fun project and have a chance at selling copies? I really want to table at conventions but currently don't have anything better than stickers to sell. Let me know if this sounds cool! And for those who care or just like to make fun of me about this, Ambrosia is still doing fine and running swiftly, though I was a little peeved that the game designers have made it impossible for her to traverse several major parts of the map. "Open world" does not always mean open to horses. 

And as a result of BotW, I've been in a very Ghibli mood too, which conveniently coincided with my History of Animation class studying Miyazaki. I went to watch Howl's Moving Castle for the first time, at the theater by myself. Although it sounds lonely, it was actually a very peaceful and independent experience, and it was nice to have some time to think upon the movie before feeling obligated to talk about it with others. It's a very delightful and gentle movie, made most enjoyable by the characters of Howl and Calcifer. I guess it's odd to call a movie featuring an air raid "gentle," but the overall impression and pacing of the film felt that way, and it was definitely less epic in scale than Spirited Away or Mononoke. I watched the English dub, and Calcifer's comedy and voice acting is so spot on and consistently funny. Which merited a drawing inspired by Miyazaki's watercolor work:

After watching the documentary The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness I've grown even more impressed by Miyazaki and his work. What dedication! And humorous/insightful old man curmudgeonry!

I've rediscovered the artist Ieafy and have been doing a lot of work in her style - I love the colors and how unapologetically bright and digital it is. She has such a unique eye for light and color that I'd like to be able to learn. And her Zelda pieces are very cool and very topical for me right now. 

Ieafy's Zelda art

I've used the caricature show as a place to experiment in Ieafy's style which means I can't yet show any of my work here, but they will arrive in about a week! And of course I haven't forgotten Nicholas Kole - his work continues to be a guiding star and the base that I mix all other style inspirations into to create something that feels right. But recently I've been listening more to Kole rather than looking at his art. He had a great podcast with Bobby Chiu which inspired me to go hunting for other interviews with the man which led me to one that he did with a concept development club. It's fun to hear him talk to an audience specifically of people my age! I've been learning more about Kole's early and low points in his career which has been reassuring, since as an ALMOST JUNIOR the future seems very close and scary. I most definitely expect the first years out of school to be rough, but it's nice to hear from a fellow Christian that things will work out for the good! I'm also now an official patron of his Jellybots project, meaning I'm now able to support him in a more helpful way than my previous Major Fanboying (but I will still Majorly Fanboy).

I'm not too worried about my style right now, though I do feel that group of artists that inspire me is becoming more clarified in my mind. Although I always want to be improving, I do worry that I'll lose some of myself if I draw in a studio style for too long. It's been a thought on my mind as I work in another's style for that short film project and hope to be at a studio sometime soon. I guess I'll just return to these artists again and begin the discovery process anew!

All of this has been very bright, very wonder-full stuff which I think has helped contribute to my good art mood recently. I plan to savor it and remember it when art block visits again. I just feel very full, which helps to make the art spill out more easily! It feels like a good balance of making and consuming, which is rare for me. All my internship applications are sent, and while I have not gotten any yeses, I still feel that God has been incredibly faithful. I got to pretend to be animation faculty and go to a recruiting dinner with Tom! I'm on the cusp of getting my first commissions ever! Spring is here! With finals around the corner, I hope I can ride this wave at least until May, and hopefully further.

I hope your heart is warm, if not, watch some Ghibli!
dh

Life Drawing - Jack Frost

Hey everyone!

I can't believe it's already April. Wow. But before another month went by I wanted to share my some of my life drawings from March. Over the past two semesters I've been running a monthly life drawing club on campus, the Lipscomb Life Drawing Club. It's loosely based on Bob Kato's club, meaning a focus on shorter poses, story, and as a result, themed models! Our model this month was Susanna, a current senior animation major. She brought her Jack Frost costume! 

I've been doing more gestures in ink recently and so during the club I decided to add watercolor to them too - a lot to fit in the short time of each pose, but I thought the effect was pretty cool! They might seem a little washed out here on the blog due to the scanner, but I don't have the time or the skill to fix that. Oh well!

Hope you're having a good week, Roost-ers! More art to come soon :)

-dh