Foist Lastus

2011-11-13T12:45:00.000-08:00

On the subject of magic, like the sorcerers apprentice it quickly multiplies itself!

2010-10-06T12:31:00.001-07:00

An illustration inspired from one in the back of the Charles Addams Mother Goose book

2010-03-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

I am kind of stuck on my next frame progression series. I keep on thinking about it and don't have the last frame imagined yet. So, I decided to post this doodle. I like the consistency of lines, the expectation of the character, the mysterious pictogram within the thought balloon.

2010-01-25T11:29:00.000-08:00

I used photoshop to clean this cartoon up and add the "black-out" frames. It was originally done with pencil and the original sketch did not scan well. Even with going back over the various shapes with a darker pencil, there was still work to be done to realize the ambition.

2009-12-30T14:43:00.000-08:00

Here are two scene sketches inspired by cartoon action panels with Tomato the rabbit and friends.

2009-11-09T08:55:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a story starts out with a great idea but concluding it in a series of frames becomes a challenge. With this adventure, after drawing the first seven panels, I was not sure how to plot out the conclusion in the allotted number of frames. To make the story fit, I then worked backward from the end, drawing the last, second to last, until the panels each had a complete idea.

2009-10-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Often times I attempt to distill ideas that I have thought long ago for Tomato adventures.

The story diverges from the forgotten plans and explores surrealism and that familiar dilemma of
dream tales:
Namely, Waking up from a dreams after thinking too hard.

2009-09-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

This scene is all about ideas that transform.

Tomato uses a magic wand to transform the first bomb out of a hat and into a type writer and Potato thinks up a second bomb using the type writer to scheme up musical concepts after getting inspired.

An idea that at first attempt doesn't seem to translate, but after repeated attempts exploring with different musical instruments, the vision is realized vocally, somewhat like the initial idea .

2009-09-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a cartoon I felt I needed to refine with photoshop Why?

Because the paper had distracting marks. I experimented with shading the character and props.

The sequence is meant to represent the characters thinking process: planning and realizing concept driven projects.

2009-05-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

The second page of cartooning Tomato the rabbit involves more magic.

I like to draw the act of magic happening and the unexpected outcomes resulting.

That is what appeals to be about drawing panel comics; the sequential nature of the story telling. This strip was created improvisational with little forethought.

2009-04-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

Finally, some new art!

I have not published anything in quite a long time. I have moved several times and did not have the place to be able to explore serious drawing.

Taking a break is some times good. In this case I have switched to drawing some cartoon strips freehand with dramatic content and resolution. This is from "Tomato & Potato" a series about a pair of rabbits who have bizarre and precarious adventures involving magic and the supernatural .

2007-12-09T03:05:00.000-08:00

Bosko Animation
Here is the beginning of an animation exploration. I decided to do only a few frames and reflect on them before I went any further.
I don't like how the reference number hops around.
Maybe the transition speed is off...

2007-11-27T20:53:00.000-08:00

Drawing scenery and plants for a change. These pieces may be combined to create a scene using color combs and photo shop.

2007-11-19T02:24:00.000-08:00

The animal heads are all sphere based exercises from the Ken Hultgren book. I am using all right handed drawing strategies, and am beginning to feel the line sequences, like following a foot path in snow, identifying a way of looking at the source material using drawing right handed to mimic the original ideas.

The horse poses and the other dynamic animal movements are line of action studies. I have never really drawn horses before. I note that a lot of these drawings are not completely connected lines, and are not very cartoonesque. Having drawn these sketches for a series of months, I get a sense of being able to more easily draw what I perceive. I have a sense of the character, based on shapes connected by forms.

2007-11-09T02:18:00.000-08:00

These images represent the beginning of Line of Action poses. In these sketches, after drawing the action line, head, hands and feet were created first with body second. All sketching with right hand. The figures were afforded few details and the mice's heads were drawn a little smaller, creating variations on the characters.

2007-11-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

This session is all about dogs.

Both Preston Blair and Ken Hultgren dedicate multiple pages to various dog characters. I have been exploring the stretch and squash on dog heads in the top sketch.

I have been doing most of this sketching with my right hand, which some times results in screw ups in proportion, but new ideas are being identified.

The second sketch features dogs from the Know-How of Cartooning book. Some day I hope to animate the Doberman Pinscher.

2007-10-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

I found that it was a lot more difficult to draw hand shapes with the right hand than the left. There is definitely a challenge to drawing accurately what is perceived versus that which is interpreted into what is drawn. Most of these sketches are done with the right hand, because they are way easier with the left. I anticipate doing more hand sketches. It is one thing to copy a drawing, it is another to think the concept with no references available.

2007-10-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some sketches from the Ken Hultgren book. I was able to purchase one online for eight bucks! It is obvious after studying it, that the Preston Blair book is based upon it, with the concepts and their order refined. The Hultgren book is based upon pen and ink techniques. Why should you acquire it? For all the cartoon character examples, for the inspiration. It was published in 1946, and the costumes the characters wear represent styles from 60 years ago. The hultgren book explores a lot of different concepts to animation, but not with a coherent strategy.

2007-10-22T02:35:00.000-07:00

This exercise might be a little advanced for me, but I felt compelled to try, after being inspired by the example pictures. Comparing the source, I see that the dog needs a slightly bigger jaw and the distance between the two characters, I think is a little off. But they both look so mad they could spit! - I would add some saliva drips to this altercation.

2007-10-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

I like the way the examples in the original edition of the Preston Blair Book present the concepts to me. I find them to be alluring and inspirational, and they are fun to draw. Like the second edition, the character drawings seem to me to be a lot more complex after detail examination. The way to truly learn these ideas is to draw them multiple times.

2007-10-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

Looking over the First edition of the Preston Blair Book, I discovered the difference between the editions. For some reason I always pondered about some of the images, they seemed to not be drawn with the same level of enthusiasm. While some of the concepts are refine in addition two, some of the ideas seem more obvious with the original drawings of the original edition. Comparing the two editions and how the concepts are refined is a worth while endevour. I think I am going to spend a little bit more time drawing these ideas. All this exploring also led to the discovery of the Ken Hultgren book.

2007-10-16T00:32:00.000-07:00

Stretch and Squash

Mouseover/MouseOut the graphic to view the animation sequence.

Through practice I am getting better at creating sequential art, but I don't like how the animation for the left eye and the nose turned out, a little bit too twitchy. The whole jaw movement seems to rock a little to the right as it opens... Upon further reflection, I realized that the reference character in the book is looking slightly to the right..

2007-10-14T00:15:00.000-07:00

I started out with drawing the bird heads and decided to add the fox and dog heads to this exercise as well. I find my way of thinking about cartoon characters is changing because of these exercises. The hierarchical design structures are becoming much more predominate on the construct of the drawings. I wonder where these ideas will lead me?

2007-10-13T03:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some developed wolf sketches. The eye shapes and the jowls are a little off.

2007-10-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

Attempt #2

Mouseover the graphic to see it animate...
I used a light table and tracing for this practise.

2007-10-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

Attempt #1

Mouseover the graphic to see it animate...
This was a daydream before it was a drawing.
My aspiration is for all the lines to sync.
Guess that's what the light table is for.

2007-10-07T12:51:00.001-07:00

2007-10-04T01:21:00.000-07:00

I am discovering things in this book I never saw before.

Its kind of amazing that I have had the book for years (hand me down from my sister) I never looked closely at the drawings, though I had used the walk exercises for computer animation cues. There are all sorts of faint construction lines in the example sketches which I barely noticed before.

I like to draw with both hands and find it a continued observation that my left hand is very reliable but has a hard time maintaining proportion, my right hand is weaker, more fumbly, but I can maintain proportions and relationships proper to the examples.

2007-09-29T08:58:00.001-07:00

Here are sketches of Construction of the Head and Skeleton Foundation.

2007-09-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

This is a sketch of a photo from a newspaper of a dada theatre troupe. I really appreciated their expressions.

2007-09-05T10:05:00.001-07:00

These characters are based on images that I found on various artists sites which asked to be drawn!

2007-09-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here some sketches of Ed Benedict characters. Why did I draw them? These days I work off of inspiration and I got it from a comment to the JohnK blog by Dagan Moriarty about drawing eyes. I have taken a few liberties... As I was experimenting I started to notice line weights and beginning, ending points of the original sketches.

2007-08-29T21:49:00.001-07:00

This is a self portrait of my subconscious. In dreams I am sometimes flying and in conflict with zombies and space aliens. I got turned on to JohnK's way via digg and have gotten inspired in the quest for animation. I have made cartoons every since I had a computer that could pixelate as well as a few super 8 films and some live action videos. I have always wanted to manifest something big, but until I ran into JohnK's crowd, haven't had the impulse. I have friends in LA but can't foresee myself moving there. I live in Chicago right now and teach html, CSS and javascript at IADT in the loop. I have also taught flash, illustrator and Photoshop. I am a big fan of 3d Max and Maya. I am doing the graduate school program for interdisciplinary arts at the Academy of Arts University San Fransisco via online and this fall have to create a dynamic thesis project to work upon for the next two to three years. I hope I can channel some of the animation inspiration that way!

2006-08-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

When every day is halloween for years ....

halloween becomes just another day.

2006-01-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

The opposite of Love is Fear ...
Hate is a form of Fear

2005-12-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

Relative to Absolute; a Meat perspective

Ideas in the head are relative. Until they are spoken, written or otherwise expressed they remain vauge and non-specific.

Once an idea is literarily or verbally expressed it becomes absolute.

Inside your/my head there is (at least) an objective voice (articulating thoughts) as well as one or more 'additional' voices which may be the subconscious(es) counter argueing thoughts, representing conflicting ideas or persons.

2005-10-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

A terrible truth is one the individual is afraid of, due to difficulty of cognizing.

2005-09-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

Visceral

Things you know to be true and undeniable reactions

1. reading a text that causes you to laugh
2. thinking a romantic thought that causes you to sneeze
3. reading a text that causes you to break out in goosebumps

2005-08-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

Absolute to Relative

Observations

A web address, can be absolute: a specific address pointing at a direct location
A web address, can be relative: looking for a local page, refering to a folder name or ../

A web graphic, can be absolute: a specific pixel size:height and width
A web graphic, can be relative: sized height and width by % and modulated by a browser window

A web site, can be seen absolute: audience may see info as intended by author
A web site, can be seen relative: a relationship with a window smaller than intended by author

A within the document url, can be absolute: navigating to a #name anchor
A within the document url, can be relative: scrolling through a page, horizontally and vertically