101 replies to this topic

[GordonM]

Either that or Patrick Stewart is PISSED.

[Adam Balson]

Everyone must love Fight Club - it's one of the golden rules!

I know right?! It's, like, the first rule of Fight Club. No wait, the first rule is that one I can't talk about...

[GordonM]

No trainers?

[Elliot Balson]

Found this knocking around facebook - the animation we did a few weeks ago. All credit to the other students named, I only did the smoking Tyler Durden clip.

The brief was to start and end with 2 parallel lines (the dimensions were/a layout was given to us) so that everyone's could link. The music was added by the tutor once it was done, she just added the first song that came up on itunes that was the right length.

EDIT: Yeah, something's up, I'll see if I can sort it.

Attached Files

•  ._parallel lines.mov   4K   41 downloads

[Adam Balson]

I can't get it to work, Ell but I think it's just QuickTime Player has never really worked on this laptop.

[Ewan Shepherd]

This art is great, loving the BLOW piece there ;p

[Elliot Balson]

Finally finished Pages 4 & 5 - so without further ado, here's the last set of pencils of Monster by our own Paul Penna!





Definitely going to try out drawing on A3 next time, as A4's starting to become a bit of a hassle and I usually have to forsake more detail for fitting everything onto the page. That, or I need to experiment with style, maybe find a simpler/less detailed one that I'm happy with and can draw faster. O maybe both, maybe A3 will help with that. We shall see. I also need to practice women and start doing scenery sketches as well. Also need to finish project ASAP - otherwise something pops up and the longer it takes to get a project down the harder it gets.
This was a fun script to work with as it's not exactly my usual kind of thing, so it was good fun to draw a jungle, a space Pirate, caves and a woman (as I don't draw women very often, for some reason).

So with that done, time for a MASSIVE UPDATE, so bare with me here. This is what happens when I don't post in here in a while. So;

I passed first year with good/reasonable results (everyone got lower marks than they expected, but I kind of figured as the requirement are stiffer than Highschool and the modules were quite varied until we picked them). However, there was a bit of surprise when it came to applying to our second year specialisations - Illustration didn't think I was a fit with their department and turned me down.
Now, don't know about you guys, but I was quite surprised at that (my tutor was, so much so he phoned me a day in advance to give me a heads up) as where many of my friend and course-mates who genuinely thought I was joking. Most had told me beforehand they took it for granted I'd get in, easy. While there's been some speculation (from both staff and students) that they didn't let me in because of the bias towards comic books that some people in the art world have, that maybe Illustration wasn't I'd thought it was, and originally I was pretty shocked I'm not really bothered now. Why?

Because the head of the Animation department and my said they'd be more than happy to take me.
I'm more than pleased with this because;
1) If they're happy with what I do 'as is' then it makes more sense to go to them than force my way into Illustration that don't. Animation was also my backup choice for a reason, even if I never expected to have to fall back on it.
2) They asked to so me folio AFTER accepting me, meaning they'd taken me on based on what little animation work I've done so far despite some people that aimed specifically for animation being turned down, so they must see potential and think I'm a fit. I find that incredibly flattering, especially as what they said they like about my work are all elements I've been told to work for if I aim to do well in comics.
3) While hard work, the 4 week project was a lot of fun with a decent pay-off - partly because I was working with one of my good friends, and the majority of my friends are going into Animation. So, it all works out pretty nicely.
4) As some of my mates pointed out - if I went into Illustration I'd come out being able to do comics better and some more illustrative work (which they feel I can do already). By doing animation, I can come out of Uni being able to do both comics, more illustrative work AND animation, which will boost my portfolio. Win win.

So, this thread could start going in a bit of a different direction, which I'm excited about. Kind of cautious though (if that's the word), as it's a new area I'm moving into that I don't know nearly as much about. But, I can learn, and animation's how I got into comics - so it's come full circle, in a way. Maybe animation will not help me get into comics, but into the Comics business? We shall see.
Comics will still play a big part in my work, and I'm still aiming for a career there some day - though now I have other avenues to explore. I've got a summer project to explore the History Of Animation with a sketchbook, which I'll likely be putting up in here to keep the thread above ground and get some input on as I'm exploring something new. I'll also be putting up random doodles and sketches as always, and may take some commissions again if I have some down time along with work for my new project once it gets rolling. Which bring me to the next part of my update.

I'm going to be working my good friend and one of my future flatmates, Ryan West, on a Western. He'll be writing, and I'll be pencilling (and likely inking and colouring, which I'll be practising here too). It's early days yet, so details may change but so far it's called "The Greatest Show On Earth" and will follow two members of a travelling 'freak-show' (a young American member and the show's British trick-shot) in early 1900s America as they discover, and pick up, individuals whose abilities are a cut above the usual bearded ladies and strongmen. They'll also use the nomadic nature of the show to try and investigate what exactly is behind these people - science or the supernatural? - aiming for areas these individuals seem most prevalent.
We're really looking forward to it as we both love Westerns and the Superhero genre (though we've realised it's more the characters and powers than the actual costumes that we enjoy) aside from DC's 'Weird West' (Jonah Hex, and may wild west themed comics we can't think of many (if any) westerns that actually feature super-humans. We're also excited because while putting together a short film (which I'll post here) Ryan was working with an actress whose Uncle works at Darkhorse comics (yeah, 'Hellboy and Co.') - he explained our premise and a few things he's been thinking about for it (like naming characters after old West magicians, doing the covers like old freak-show posters, using relatively tame powers etc.) and she was apparently interested - so once we get the ball rolling she asked if we could send it along and she'll see what her Uncle thinks. While early days, and we don't want to get our hopes up, that's definitely no bad thing.

I'll also be doing more work on The Fisherman between now and starting The Greatest Show On Earth, as we'll be taking quite a while preparing it to make sure it's exactly how we want it.

Phew, so that about brings us up to date. I'll likely be posting something soon, and now that Monster's done I'll be starting History Of Animation and giving Ryan a bell to see how things are coming along. Thanks for reading all that, and thanks again for the continued support, encouragement and advice!

Also, here's the short thriller Ryan and a group of friends worked on. Best with headphones or good speakers, helps with the soundtrack/effects later one. He's the one with the beard, by the way:

This art is great, loving the BLOW piece there ;p

Thanks, Ewan!

[GordonM]

Very nice. The 'pinchy face' panel is my favourite one.

[Elliot Balson]

Very nice. The 'pinchy face' panel is my favourite one.

Cheers, Gordon!

[Michael Stranger]

Nice. Really enjoyed the full thing on Facebook - it's totally legible and reads well without dialogue, always a good sign! Looking forward to seeing it inked. If you're going to colour it, and you're using Photoshop, then I can't recommend using 'adjustment layers' highly enough.

Otherwise, it's probably a good thing to go into animation. Illustration's fun and all that, but it's really tricky to get into, with a comic book style (ahem, failed illustrator here). Basically, Illustration Departments seem to prefer it if you're into the more illustrate-y artists who use paint, like Dave McKean, Bill Sienkiewicz, Barron Storey etc, and don't really go for the pencil-inks-then colours style of art. If you think about it, looking at the illustrations you see in magazines and childrens' books, they are nearly always either painted or digitally painted-style illustrations, very rarely comic-style art unless the article specifically suits it. There's not a lot of point to an illustration department encouraging a style which won't get their student employment, and in the world of illustration it's sort of true, it won't.

Really, you need either a dedicated comic-book course, or yes, something like animation, to take your pencilling education to the next level. Illustration is a very painterly course, and quite a narrow field of expertise, compared with something like animation which could take you into avenues like cartooning, matt background painting, and all the while promoting the use of technologies - something which traditional illustration wouldn't, so much.

I think your style would suit animation much more, as it's not particularly painterly, or rough-edged. You also have a good, disciplined work-ethic to be so prolific at your age, so animation would be well suited (LOTS of drawing involved!).

If you fancy a headstart over your classmates, you could do a lot worse than picking up this book:


It's a collection of lessons and drawing exercises from the daily lectures Disney animators used to have to attend. Really well written, and eye-opening in many ways.

Also, Imagine FX has got a great anatomy book out in 'Smith's at the moment. Covers lots of cool stuff, although they take no prisoners, it's dense work.

[Elliot Balson]

Nice. Really enjoyed the full thing on Facebook - it's totally legible and reads well without dialogue, always a good sign! Looking forward to seeing it inked. If you're going to colour it, and you're using Photoshop, then I can't recommend using 'adjustment layers' highly enough.

Otherwise, it's probably a good thing to go into animation. Illustration's fun and all that, but it's really tricky to get into, with a comic book style (ahem, failed illustrator here). Basically, Illustration Departments seem to prefer it if you're into the more illustrate-y artists who use paint, like Dave McKean, Bill Sienkiewicz, Barron Storey etc, and don't really go for the pencil-inks-then colours style of art. If you think about it, looking at the illustrations you see in magazines and childrens' books, they are nearly always either painted or digitally painted-style illustrations, very rarely comic-style art unless the article specifically suits it. There's not a lot of point to an illustration department encouraging a style which won't get their student employment, and in the world of illustration it's sort of true, it won't.

Really, you need either a dedicated comic-book course, or yes, something like animation, to take your pencilling education to the next level. Illustration is a very painterly course, and quite a narrow field of expertise, compared with something like animation which could take you into avenues like cartooning, matt background painting, and all the while promoting the use of technologies - something which traditional illustration wouldn't, so much.

I think your style would suit animation much more, as it's not particularly painterly, or rough-edged. You also have a good, disciplined work-ethic to be so prolific at your age, so animation would be well suited (LOTS of drawing involved!).

If you fancy a headstart over your classmates, you could do a lot worse than picking up this book:


It's a collection of lessons and drawing exercises from the daily lectures Disney animators used to have to attend. Really well written, and eye-opening in many ways.

Also, Imagine FX has got a great anatomy book out in 'Smith's at the moment. Covers lots of cool stuff, although they take no prisoners, it's dense work.

Thanks, Michael, always good to hear from you! Glad it works out, though Paul's script may have a big hand in that.

I think someone else will be inking Monster, but I plan on doing everything on the art side for my next project - so that tutorial will be a lot of help, thanks. We're planning on trying to have the colours a bit washed out, like Quitely or Geoff Darrow. It looks simple, but it's deceptively difficult to get right, so it'll be a fun challenge.

Yeah, I definitely got that impression - which is a shame, as they're not leaving much room for range, which seems counter-productive and against the whole 'out-side-of-the-box' thing art college tries to promote and comics fit perfectly into the definition of illustration we were - an image or sequence of images accompanied by text to convey a message or narrative. Hell, they even said photography is starting to leak into photography, which seems strange as some drawing styles aren't even accepted yet. But anyway, I see what you mean - that makes a lot of sense.

Those are some very good points - animation's good practice for comics as they really hammer drawing into you, and you have to learn to work FAST. There's also a comic book post-grad course, so animation will lead nicely into that if all goes well.

Thanks, I think that' the uni's way of thinking too - as I say, I was maybe aiming for the wrong discipline. Cheers, that'll be useful! One of my mates is dead-set on animation, and he's got a good book called "The Animators Survival Guide", which he's had for a while and we were eventually told we should get a hold of for next year. I'll need to do a bit of shopping soon!

Thanks again, should have new stuff up soon!

[Elliot Balson]

Went through some sketchbooks I'd forgotten about and found a few sketches I like. I'll dump them here as a wee update until my next 'proper' addition.











Same as above, but trying out a more typical 'animated-style' variation of my usual stuff.








Another 'animated' Wolverine, but with a WD Rick in my usual style.

[Elliot Balson]

Been a while since I did an pin-up, and I need some practice doing the hat-trick of pencils, inks and colours - so, I've started drawing the gang from The Walking Dead game. Love the comic (only read the first Compendium though, so up to Chapter 3, I believe), the game's just as good but the TV Show doesn't excite me as much as it used to (Daryl rocks though, as everybody keeps saying).

Inks and colours soon.

[Elliot Balson]

Inks:

[Elliot Balson]

Secondary Inks/Grays:

[Elliot Balson]

Colours:


And the final, with logo:


Had a lot of fun with this, especially inking - and the greys too. Realised two things though: need a better brush and need to find a tutorial on how to effectively colour pictures with greys already in. What I was trying doesn't seem to work. Might need to ink first, print out the flat, stark black and white and then do the greys over that too to get a better divide that doesn't effect the greys too.

Comments and critique welcome as per usual!

[Michael Stranger]

This?

[Elliot Balson]

This?

Thanks again, Michael, that'll be really useful for next time!

[Elliot Balson]

Mate of mine really likes that House sketch a while back, so he asked me to give it some inks. Couldn't find the original, so I printed it off in blue-line and inked over it like that. Sounds stupid, but I've never tried that before - but damn is it a lot easier. Saves erasing, if you fuck up you can just print off another etc.
No wonder so many people do it, I feel like an idiot for not doing it sooner. I like how it turned out, the combination of inks and pens is good fun, but I definitely need some better ones. Sable brushes I think.



Another friend's drawing a sketch of me and Ruaridh (the guy who asked for House) Family Guy/Rat Pack style, which'll be fun to see, in exchange for me drawing him Constantine smoking in an alley. What more could I ask for?

So, that's likely what'll be up here next. Should be good fun.

[Michael Stranger]

Looks really nice. I particularly like the marks used for the stubble on his neck.

One thing, the shading's not needed on the left side of his nose, as your light source is coming from the left. It might fall a little bit in the bit where his right eye (our left) meets the bridge of his nose, and maybe cast a little from his frown line, though.