New Pose Drawing Sparkbook Ad

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"Pose Drawing Sparkbook" Ad for CTN Animation Expo

(Click to enlarge.)

I’ll be officially launching the Pose Drawing Sparkbook at the CTN Animation Expo in November (although you can pre-order now). I just submitted this ad for inclusion in the conference book that will be given to all attendees. It was a lot of fun to work up these sketches.

If you work in (or want to work in) the animation industry, the Expo is a must-see. Tons of terrific speakers, exhibits, booths, and networking galore.

In addition to launching the Sparkbook I’ll also be giving a workshop called “Be Your Own Boss: Freelancing Tips and Tricks”. Sign up when you register.

Come See Me At The CTN Animation Expo

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Once again I’ll be attending the CTN Animation Expo in Burbank Nov. 15-17, and I can’t wait. It’s always a great show and one of the highlights of my year.

For the third year in a row I’ll be giving my workshop Be Your Own Boss: Freelancing Tips and Tricks. It’s a 45 minute presentation full of business tips for artists, to help you work smarter instead of harder. You have to sign up ahead of time to attend and I think there’s a $5 fee for the workshop, but I’m told it’s been expanded from a fifty-seat room to a 100-seat room due to the popularity of my talk in past years. The talk is on Saturday, November 16 from 4:00-4:45pm.

I’ll also be launching my brand new book, the Pose Drawing Sparkbook – a tool to help artists put more life into their drawings. Last month it was successfully funded on Kickstarter and pre-orders just keep coming in. I’ll have a table at booth XB06, located in a tent they are setting up outside the main entrance. Stop on by and pick up your copy.

Early registration for the CTN Expo is now open. Come on down – you won’t be sorry.

 

Last Chance To Back The Pose Drawing Sparkbook On Kickstarter

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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

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(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-order. Also, don’t forget to download your free list of 100 Sketchbook Ideas as my gift to you. 

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

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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 Animation, Animator Island, ShowMeTheAnimation, ComicRelated, and even a concept art blog from Brazil. But 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.

Sparkbook Snippet: Acting With The Entire Body

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(This excerpt is from 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.)

Don’t limit your acting to just the face and hands. The head makes up less than ten percent of a person’s body. You’ve got another ninety percent of your character to work with. Don’t let it go to waste! Is your character crying? Don’t just add a tear; hunch the back, droop the shoulders and bend the knees. Is your character feeling joyful? Don’t just smile; arch the back, raise the arms, and get those toes a-dancin’.

As an example, let’s travel back in time to the year 1800. Two southern gentlemen are having an argument. Insults fly and tempers flare until finally one of them shouts in a furious rage, “I challenge you to a duel!” How might you draw that pose?

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This first attempt is generic and boring. There’s nothing special about it. Other than the facial expression, it tells us almost nothing about what the character is feeling. To illustrate, look at what happens when I simply change the eyebrows:

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Suddenly it turns from an active, angry pose to a passive, worried pose. One subtle difference has completely changed the pose’s meaning. Why? Because the pose was weak and generic to begin with.

Here’s the same emotion with poses that use the entire body. Notice how much more clearly the attitude reads:

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Here’s another example of the power of body language. I’ve purposely left the faces blank to show how much you can say with just a pose.

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Before you get caught up in a detailed drawing, start by simply roughing in the pose. Use stick figures if necessary. If the pose doesn’t read clearly at the beginning, no amount of detail will fix it later.

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