Award winning animator Shawn Kelly has written a 90-page eBook called Animation Tips and Tricks. It's hot off the presses, so to speak, and chock full of advice for aspiring animators. Best of all, it's free! It's being offered as a PDF download from the folks at Animation Mentor. Just sign up to download the book. Here's a neat little bonus:...
Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman famously wrote that "in Hollywood, nobody knows anything". What he meant was that nobody really understands how to make a successful film. Despite all the money and effort poured into every movie, it's a total mystery why some films rake in mega bucks and others flop big time. If there was a secret formula to making...
To any art directors and creative directors who read my blog, this post is just for you. It's a list of resources I found online geared towards art directors. I'm not an AD myself so I'm not too familiar with most of them, but at first glance they seem like they would be helpful: Art Director's ToolKit - Software with tools...
Marketing Mentor is an excellent website and blog for freelancers run by Ilise Benun, a consultant who specializes in helping creative professionals do a better job of marketing themselves. Her blog posts are short, direct, and very helpful. For a sample, check out her recent posts "What does it take to be your own boss?" and "Hourly rates and salaries". Last...
Yesterday I received my copy of Stephen Silver's latest art book, Life.
For those who don't know, Silver is an amazing animation character designer whose credits include Disney's Kim Possible and Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom. He's a versatile artist and I find his work very inspiring. Silver also teaches an online Character Design course through Schoolism.com. I took the course last year and I learned a ton. It's expensive but well worth the investment for anyone serious about character design.
Silver has published several popular sketchbooks in the past, each one jam-packed with his amazing drawings.
I'm slowly working on a post (or series of posts) about digital inking. In my research and in talking to other artists I've been hearing a lot of great things about a drawing program called Sketchbook Pro. Apparently it's super fantastically awesome, rivaling Photoshop and Painter at a significantly lower price. When it comes to inking with a Cintiq, Sketchbook...
