Inktober 2019 Part 2

Two more.

Inktober 2019

Some quick ink drawings for the

Animation Guild's post-it note art show coming in December.

Too cute, I know. It's a curse.

Satina Wants a Glass of Water

                                
Welcome to the Ninth Level where dysfunctional families can still get together and get the most out of life. Or the After life, as the case may be. Meet Satina, the cutest little demon who manages to keep her hapless parents on the run!

Satina, her simmering Demon Queen mother Lucia, and lovable doofus dad Dave are created by Hannah Daigle, a student at the Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts. It's great how a project can take on a life of its own, plus Hannah's music choices help support the comical situation.

Hannah has lovable characters in one of the worst marital situations of all time, namely, what do you do when your fling with the devil ends up with such an adorable child? Stay tuned, and check Hannah's patreon page. I'm hooked and now I'm a supporter! But don't let the boss catch you.

https://www.patreon.com/satina/posts

You can also get to Hannah's youtube channel here-

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1fjSSxPEEHb7WqAdd6xChQ

3D print dragon

Finally got my female dragon head. The resolution is a little low, 

but it gives the figure an interesting texture.

Sculpted in Maya, "Cassandra" was made in 

Woodbury University's Digital Fabrication Lab, kudos to Matt and his crew!

Here is the Dimension UPrint + (SD) unit that did the dirty work.

Super cool! Good modeling experience, 

but I need more practice in modeling the interior 

to get the proper wall thickness.

She has a few errors on her surfaces, and the eyes 

didn't print for some reason. Will have to go over that again.

Matt and William use Rhino software to convert .obj files into .stl (stereo lithography) files.

Have a good summer gang, school starts at the end of August.

The Social Commentary of Zootopia

I finally saw Zootopia, and I was surprised at some of the issues the directors took on, such prejudice, class and disillusionment. For example:

Good people fall back on old negative stereotypes.

(Every Disney movie has plot point where the hero makes a horrible mistake, and then has to overcome the consequences of that error. Judy's press interview for instance.)

"Treat me like a criminal, I will act like a criminal."

(Nick Wilde is Zootopia's Han Solo, but he is also finally coaxed away from his criminal past.)

 Characters get hurt emotionally as well as physically.
(Both Judy and Nick during their childhoods.)

(my photo from CTN 2015, characters copyright Disney)

While the world of Zootopia doesn't have our level of wars, poverty and injustices, the basic personal issues still remain:

I have an image to maintain.
Jumping to conclusions.

Not sure who to trust.
What's in it for me?

 On the other hand, Zootopia did cheer me up a little bit, when I look past their cloying cutesiness:

 Things are not what they seem.
The strong don't always prey on the weak.
People can go beyond their apparent limitations.
The past does not have to decide your future.

Imho, Some of the old cartoon jokes hurt the movie, like the population counter of Bunny Borough, but that's showbiz.

This blogger has a more severe view:

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/03/03/zootopia-review-a-muddled-mess-of-racial-messaging...-and-cute-animalshttp://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/03/03/zootopia-review-a-muddled-mess-of-racial-messaging...-and-cute-animals

 Good points. What are our real cultural and ethnic blind spots? How do you present these issues to younger children without sugar-coating it too much?

Minor points:

Where does the protein for carnivores come from? What forests were cut down, and what mountains were strip mined to build the city? There all kinds of  logistical and technical questions that interfere with my suspension of disbelief, but Zootopia is still a clever, thoughtful movie nevertheless.

The Gnomon Workshop presents an Evening with Grzegorz Jonkajtys

Polish animator Grzegorz Jonkajtys has an interesting technique in combining miniature hand built sets with CG characters. Glad I made it over to Gnomon to see the talk.

Grzegorz's film credits include Sin City, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Mist, Rango, Pacific Rim, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Warcraft, and The Revenant. His titles were VFX Artist and Lead Animator.

(copyright Grzegorz Jonkajtys?)

After such grim short films such as ARK, where an animated Leonard Nimoy type character is trapped on a doomed plague ship, Grzegorz is bringing us a family oriented film based on a Polish character, Teddy Floppy-Ear. 

Teddy, and his friend Hare find out that a toy factory is not all fun and games. Grzegorz slips in some social commentary when the system tries to toss Teddy into an incinerator for having one minor defect, in this case, his floppy ear,

After years of CG work, Grzegorz said it was refreshing to build miniature sets by hand. He pointed out that his hand built sets have a more convincing depth and character than the usual CG backgrounds. This was his strategy in filming "ARK". Grzegorz had his crew do lighting checks with real miniature models so the lighting on the CG characters would match the hand made backgrounds in a more convincing way.

Using kit-bashing and Styrofoam containers, drinking straws and mint candy box tins, Grzegorz and his crew built the charming, and at the same time, frightening world of Teddy Floppy Ear.

http://jonkajtysfilm.com/following/all/jonkajtysfilm.com/Teddy-Bear

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/2016/03/an-evening-with-grzegorz-jonkajtys-combining-cg-animation-miniature-sets/

Best Animated Short 2016 - Bear Story

 Okay, it's not heavy journalism, but now I want to see this.

I guess that's what the Oscars are for, more exposure.

(images copyright of the authors)

http://oscar.go.com/nominees/short-film-animated/bear-story

Up on the housetop...

No reindeer are pausing...

It's "Cubcake" up on the roof, snug in her insulated super-suit. She's staking out the seedy bar across the street.

It's not exactly Christmas, but the snow is helping her stay out of sight. She'll be ready to pounce on some thugs when they come out. And she's still wearing a cute scarf, even though she really doesn't need it.

 

Basic coloring in Photoshop, bashed out over a rough sketch.

I also wanted to work on some perspective drawing.

In the wake of today's news, I offer the image of another protective spirit for the Holidays.

And to the folks who want it:

Merry Christmas.

The evil within

Another rough sketch: the Ibex reveals Herman Bear's dark side. In this case, she uses her magic to bring his shadow to life. The Ibex claims that HB's shadow represents every murderous thought, an destructive impulse he ever had...

Started clean up in Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator has always been my Kryptonite. This drawing still has a long way to go, but I'm finally getting some cool brush strokes.

My hats off to Jose and Sue at the Animation Guild computer lab for helping me start to overcome one of my biggest software roadblocks. Clay Butler's tutorial on YouTube is also invaluable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5wW_65iAiU

The Screaming Skull!

Just some rough sketches; 

Herman Bear goes on little evening stroll with his new companion, the Ibex.

But instead of getting some Trick or Treats...

They find a different Halloween item!

(Another version, want to have the skull facing them a bit more as they approach.)

(Another version, still need to get my ink line back.)

Happy Halloween!

Christopher Lee in the Last Unicorn

Almost forgot, Christopher Lee as King Haggard in the Last Unicorn. If someone else had done the voice for this character, King Haggard would have been just another anime' villain. But with other stars such as Mia Farrow and Jeff Bridges (the DUDE!) lending their voices to this movie, Lee helped make Peter S. Beagle's story the rare gem it is. I understand that Mr. Lee was a big fan of the book.

The Last Unicorn came on cable at a time when I was finding out how things don't work out the way we planned. It's painful for me to watch it now. I had to pass it up when it came to Los Angeles this winter.

http://lastunicorntour.com/

(original copyright 1982 Rankin/Bass)

But here's to the charisma, and the dignity that Christopher Lee brought to all his film roles.

Symbicort Grandpa Wolf by ffake Animation

I wondered who did this TV ad. It was ffake Animation up in Portland.

 http://web.ffake.com/ 

The  animation is nifty, and the characters have a lot of classic appeal, even though the meds they are promoting seem kind of gruesome.

Symbicort Grandpa from FFAKE Animation on Vimeo.

https://vimeo.com/106622307

Here there be Dragons...

Made from large sheets of styro my neighbor was throwing out, wood glue and tooth picks.

And Cobras!

She's actually on a rod to support plants, styro for the head and a "water worm" for her body.

Happy Halloween!

Christmas coffee at Coffee Fix

Well, these sketches didn't turn out the way I had hoped. But I wanted to show my female superhero characters relaxing at the Coffee Fix over on Moorpark and Whitsett.

Coffee Fix is very pleasant, quiet and feels very homey. This is probably because of the old store front it's in.

Cubcake, Boffette and Lady Cobra take a break from Christmas shopping.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/coffee-fix-studio-city?nb=1

Cute Stuff - Part IV - Adorable Dynamic Damsels look development

Here is some further ruff cleanup and color for the Adorable Dynamic Damsels-

And a 60's style color design.

More coloring in Photoshop

Someday I'll get this done. But beyond my personal satisfaction, I don't know if there is any market for these characters. Cubcake (the squirrel-girl) is sort of the team's hot-head, and has hit or miss magic powers. She is also the team gearhead and hot rod driver. Jet Puffin, with her power suit, has the genius of Tony Stark, but is more of the "mom" of the group. Lady Cobra is the real mystic of the group. She works as a librarian. Her coils are strong and dexterous enough to handle most of the volumes.

Cute Stuff - Part II

Here's a woodcut from a print making class back at old Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. It was done probably when Edinboro was Edinboro State College.

More weird than cute I guess. Horse and rider become blended together. This was shown in Woodbury University's faculty art show last spring.