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.

Sketchbook Update: Getting Dressed In A Hurry

Sketch-"Getting Dressed In A Hurry"

Very soon I’ll be launching a Kickstarter project, a new tool to help artists add more life and personality to their poses. In preparation I’ve started doing pose sketches to communicate various themes and situations. I’ve already posted a page of sketches playing off the theme of “tired”. Here’s one of a man getting dressed in a hurry.

Once the Kickstarter launches I’ll also be giving away a freebie for artists to help promote the project. If you’d like to be one of the first people to be notified when it launches, just send me an email at [email protected].

Sketchbook Exercise: Posing A Tired Man in a Chair

Tired Pose Sketches by Cedric Hohnstadt

I’m working on a Kickstarter project that I’m planning to launch soon. I don’t want to say too much about it yet, but it will be a tool designed to help other artists strengthen their poses and put more life into their drawings.

One of the exercises related to the project is to take a mood or an expression and explore as many different poses as you can to communicate the idea. In this case I chose a tired man in a chair. How many different ways could I communicate exhaustion using the same sitting pose? These rough doodles are the result.

If you’d like to be one of the first people to hear about the Kickstarter project when it finally happens (hopefully soon), just shoot me an email with your email address and I’ll be sure you get on the list.