My First Ever Drawing Demo Video

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I’ve just completed my first-ever YouTube drawing demo video. Back when I was raising funds on Kickstarter for the Pose Drawing Sparkbook, I promised my backers that if we reached a certain goal I’d do a demo video, with commentary, based on a drawing prompt from the book. The prompt I chose reads: “Vending machine took their money”.

There’s a bit of a learning curve, for instance I talk too fast at first. But it was a lot of fun. Hopefully there’s something here that people will find helpful. This was sort of “test run” to work out a few kinks as I prepare my upcoming webinar, “Bringing Your Drawings To Life” (which is available for pre-order in my store).

Here’s how the finished sketch turned out:

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Last Chance To Back The Pose Drawing Sparkbook On Kickstarter

MAINIMAGE16-forwebsite-FINAL48This is it! The home stretch! As I write this there are only 30 hours left to back the Pose Drawing Sparkbook on Kickstarter. I’m excited to say the project has been a success – 100% funded with over 450 backers and counting – and we’ve been pushing forward through some fun stretch goals.

I really the Sparkbook will be a big help to a lot of artists who want to learn to put more life and personality into their drawings. The more backers we get, the more stretch goals we reach, the better we can make this thing! Jump on board!

If you’d rather not be a backer, would you consider helping spread the word? Just paste this into your favorite social media:

Last chance to back the Pose Drawing Sparkbook on Kickstarter: http://kck.st/12K2otL

Thanks to all of you for your encouragement and support. It means a lot!

 

Sparkbook Snippet: Personality and Emotions

(This excerpt is from a rough draft of  the Pose Drawing Sparkbook, a super-charged sketchbook designed to help you put more life and personality into your drawings. Think of it as acting exercises for your sketchbook.Read other snippets here and here.)

As human beings we all experience the same basic emotions, but everyone has their own unique personality through which those emotions are filtered. This can make for interesting results.

Sometimes emotions and personality can overlap. For instance, everyone has situations in which they feel confident but there are some people for whom confidence seems to be a defining characteristic. They are up for any challenge and not easily discouraged.

Likewise, when a naturally confident person begins to feel nervous they may demonstrate it differently than a timid person who is nervous all the time. The confident person may try to hide their nervousness whereas a timid person may wear it on their sleeve for all to see. Both are experiencing the same feeling but it comes out in very different ways.

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Here are two boys waiting for the bus. Let’s call the Tommy and Timmy. From their poses we can tell that Timmy is shy and insecure. His back is hunched over, his chin is down, and his knees and elbows are pulled in. He is taking a clear posture of submission. Tommy, on the other hand, stands strong and confident. His feet are apart and his back is arched. He is the more powerful of the two and he knows it.

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Now lets take that simple set-up and turn it on it’s head. A snake slithers by and the usually-confident Tommy is suddenly gripped with fear. Drawing Tommy climbing onto Timmy’s back not only creates a comical visual, but it is also consistent with their personalities. Tommy is still pushing Timmy around. He’s forcing himself on Timmy and using Timmy as a sort of shield. Timmy, on the other hand, is clearly not afraid. He is curious and even excited, yet he is still accepting a submissive role. Either that, or he is so excited about this wonder of creation that he is oblivious to Tommy’s bullying.

In this short little scene we see each character expressing both confidence and fear – but those same emotions are revealing themselves in different ways, consistent with their overall personalities.

Read two more Sparkbook Snippets: “Action Reveals Character” and “Acting With The Entire Body”. The Pose Drawing Sparkbook is now available for pre-orderAlso, don’t forget to download your free list of 100 Sketchbook Ideas as my gift to you. 

The Pose Drawing Sparkbook is 100% FUNDED!!

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The Pose Drawing Sparkbook just broke the tape! We are now 100% funded and this thing is gonna happen! Woo hoo! (Hard to type this while I’m dancing a jig.) Thank you all so much!! I’m sending a fist bump with this message – just touch your knuckles to the screen.

We still have 8 days to push forward toward some awesome stretch goals. Let’s see if we can make the Sparkbook even more awesomer!! Feel free to tell your friends and followers that the Sparkbook train is now leaving the station and ask them to jump on board.

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Attack of the Killer Word Balloons! (Why Artists Should Study Silent Storytelling)

Attack of the Killer Word Balloons - Illustration by Cedric Hohnstadt

News about my Kickstarter the Pose Drawing Sparkbook continues to spread! More sites are featuring it including On AnimationAnimator Island, ShowMeTheAnimation, ComicRelated, and even a concept art blog from BrazilBut the biggest news is that the Sparkbook is now on the pop culture blog BleedingCool.com. I wrote a short article for them called Attack of the Killer Word Balloons (Why Artists Should Study Silent Storytelling) and whipped up the above image to go with it.

BleedingCool has a pretty big audience which is great exposure! I had hoped the article would run on Saturday, which is what prompted me to try the Special Weekend Stretch Goal. Since the article didn’t go live until Sunday evening that momentum didn’t get a chance to build like I had hoped, but a lot of backers still stepped up to the plate which is great! Thank you so much! You are helping us get to 100% faster, which means we’ll have more time to add some awesome stretch goals.

We are almost there! As I write this we are 92% funded with almost 300 backers, so we could cross the line as soon as tomorrow. Once that happens I’ll be announce some great stretch goals so stay tuned! In the mean time it’s not too late to back the project and get your own copy of the Pose Drawing Sparkbook, plus other goodies like a webinar, sketch club membership, and original art.