Yesterday I covered part 1 of my latest schoolism.com assignment (my instructor is Stephen Silver). Part 2 was to do a memory sketch. "Memory sketching" is an exercise designed to strengthen your observation muscles. It works like this: Go to a place where there are a lot of people (i.e. a mall, airport, coffee shop, etc.). Choose someone in the...
For eight weeks now I've been posting my assignments from a character design class I'm taking at schoolism.com (taught by Stephen Silver). Only one more week to go! This week's assignement was another two-parter. For Part 1 we had to go to a busy public place and fill a page with observational sketches. The Mall of America is near my house,...
For the last few months I've been working as a freelance character designer on 3-2-1 Penguins!, a new animated series on NBC. The premiere episode airs this Saturday (10:30am Central, check your local listings). 3-2-1 Penguins! is about four wacky penguins (Zidgel, Fidgel, Midgel, and Kevin) who travel the universe along with two kids, Jason and Michelle. Imagine Star Trek...
Dream On Silly Dreamer is a fascinating documentary about the rise and fall of modern Disney animation, told from the point of view of the animators who lived through it. I've blogged about it before, but here's a summary: The film starts with the "renaissance" of Disney animation in the 1980's (i.e. The Little Mermaid), moves on towards the...
One of the more challenging aspects of freelancing (especially if you are just starting out) is figuring out what to charge for your services. Different clients have different budgets, and they will be using your artwork in different ways. How do you know what your fee should be for a greeting card illustration? What is a reasonable royalty for a...
As my regular blog readers know, I'm taking a character design class online from Stephen Silver over at schoolism.com. I've been posting my work from each week's lesson here on the ol' blog-o-rama. So far I've designed a character (Dr. Jeckyll) for a pretend "Jeckyll and Hyde" movie, starting with thumbnail silhouettes, then concept sketches, final clean-up, and then turnarounds. This...
