Just a few days ago I was winging my way from Toronto back to my home in Los Angeles. I was returning from a good friend’s wedding (congratulations Steve and Ruth!) when on a completely unrelated train of thought, I started doodling this dragon in my sketchbook.
Of course he looks ornery. You would be too if you never knew the joy of playing with a balloon!
While the wedding didn’t inspire this red pencil and ink sketch (really – no bridezillas there), my time spent that very morning at the Royal Ontario Museum‘s dinosaur bone exhibit DID get my mind working. I was quite fascinated by the supposed bones they had on display.
I say “supposed” because they never do reveal how much of those skeletons are created by a sculptor rather than a casting of actual bones. So, my imagination may very well have been inspired by the imagination of a master sculptor. Somehow my imagination seems to have included opposable thumbs.
Alright, let’s just get it out of the way early, shall we? I can’t help doodling Frankenstein’s monster all the time. At least not since doing that big Frankenstein watercolor painting based on the Mona Lisa awhile back. (CLICK HERE if you would like to revisit it!)
So, here is yet another in the fine line of Frankensteins by yours truly – this time drawn with a ball point pen from the pages of my sketchbook.
You’d be blue, too, if your whole wardrobe was in tatters like Frankie’s.
You know, I often see other people’s children behaving badly in public places. One of my pet peeves is seeing little tykes kicking and screaming publicly while their parents just let them do it. Why do these parents seem so intent on not punishing their little ones while they are actually punishing the rest of us by letting the kid carry on? I may not fully understand the parental thinking on that since I do not have children of my own. However, as memory serves, my own youthful attempts at causing a commotion were often swiftly dealt with. What it all boils down to is if I couldn’t get away with it, why should these crybabies?
So, if I’m pushing my cart around the grocery store, and I see a little one red faced and very vocal while mama pretends to ignore them, I break out my very stern evil eye and stare the kid down. I would say 8 times out of 10 the kid shuts up from the sheer shock of this strange disapproving scary hairy adult. The other 2 out of 10 start crying again, but not from a place of selfish strong will. This time it is usually out of fear.
Having said all that, which creature in this drawing is truly the real monster?
Well, there’s one thing to be said about that kid – he’s sure got moxie!
When an evil villain requires someone else to carry out their nefarious plans, they turn towards a creature not as mentally blessed as they to do their evil bidding. Often they turn towards the practice of falconry by luring winged creatures into their schemes. Some falconers use ravens like Maleficent in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. Others, like Nazi sympathizer Franz Liebkind from The Producers, depend on disposable carrier pigeons. Even the Wicked Witch of the West had her flying monkeys.
Well, today’s MONSTER MONTHcreature from my sketchbook (graphite pencil) uses the ever-dreaded and fearfully malicious SONGBIRD. Yeah, you read that right. Don’t mess with this bad boy…
That little birdie may look cute, but beware – its song can shatter the souls of men.
“When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it’s best to let him run.”
– Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)
The key, boys and girls, is to moisturize.
Feeling saggy? Feeling baggy? Perhaps you can relate to this sketch I whipped up last night. There was no rhyme or reason for it – just felt like drawing an elephant in the ol’ sketchbook, and happened to find a great elephant quote from Abraham Lincoln this morning. Though, I’m not quite sure what kind of experience Lincoln had with elephants – outside of the Republican party, that is.
While I know that it has been really hot across the United States these past few months, Southern California has had one of the most mild, beautiful summers in all the years I’ve lived here – until this week. This has been a sweltering week in Los Angeles, so of course, as that great leader of jurisprudence known as “Murphy” would have it, my air conditioning ceased to condition my air.
In sitting here waiting for the arrival of the repair men, I was thumbing through my sketchbook and came across this polar bear sketch drawn earlier this year. Even though he came from my own pencil, I couldn’t help but wonder if his smug little expression was coming from the fact that he was enjoying crisp, cool temperatures while I most definitely was not. He just stood there mocking me.
A polar bear enjoying the cool degrees of his summer. Either that or he’s listening to Barry Manilow. Hard to tell, really.
So, now the repair men have come and performed their patriotic duty. My air is working just in time to keep the paint from peeling off the walls, and I’m standing in front of my vent with a satisfied stance not unlike my fuzzy friend above.
Over the course of what feels like a very short career despite having been a member of the full-time creative field for 16 years, have drawn in many styles to please many clients. That is what a freelance illustrator/cartoonist does. You always bring a little of yourself to the table, but if somebody needs Yogi Bear, they don’t want him to look like Mickey Mouse. You need to work cohesively with the other players. I get that.
Over the past number of years, the animation business has adopted the philosophy that if an artist’s portfolio does not look like their product, the artist must not be able to draw their characters. And if they think there is a glimmer of hope in the pencil wielder, the studio will require a remunerationless drawing test that usually is a good week’s worth of work. In essence, they make the artists try out for the team.
Perhaps these ideas came along because artists would lie on their resumès, or maybe it’s because hiring is usually handled by human resource agents that don’t truly understand the drawing process. I don’t say this as a slam on them by any means. With budgets being slashed, with many animation jobs leaving our borders, and with a local workforce greater than the amount of available jobs, companies want to know if you can draw what they need. I just wonder why, when a resumè has legitimate claims of having drawn things as diverse as characters for Disney, Pixar, Warner Bros., Hanna Barbera, Mercer Mayer, Fisher-Price, and superheroes that one would assume that artist cannot draw new things? Just last year I was turned down for a job with the stated reason that they didn’t think I could draw their characters.
So, that being said, when I apply for a new job in animation, I try to find out a little of the style of a show and see if I can quickly add some drawings to my portfolio that would key the bosses to the fact that I can draw their characters. They need to know that I can play ball with them.
The following is an example of just that. You’ll notice that this baseball boy is not exactly like the style of my other personal work here on the blog. He was created as a part of my portfolio customized for a job application earlier this year. Started as a rough sketch in my sketchbook, he then became an inked drawing with some color added in Photoshop for good measure. I didn’t get that job, but I did have fun trying to broaden my horizons a bit.
This baseball boy is a rough sketch taken directly from the pages of my sketchbook.And here’s a more finished look at the sketch. Click on the image to see it larger!
Ironically, despite what I wrote above, I didn’t have to “try out” for a character design position I currently hold. Based on the reputation of my past work, I am grateful to be helping bring Zhu Zhu Pets toys to life in the animated realm. Sometimes the resumè and a good pitch from colleagues alone can help get the game play going. Then you have to step up to the plate and prove you deserve to be swinging the bat.
