Friday, September 5, 2008

A good mentor gives sight to artists

I'm a fan of getting instruction from someone that I respect. In my experience a person can get pretty far on their own if they want to learn to draw. But, there is nothing like having an artist whose work you respect look at your work and tell you what you can do to improve. It's worth the money or time it takes to get that kind of feedback.

So here's an example: I was in a drawing session last night at The Bridge Academy in Provo, Utah. We were drawing from the live figure. Jeff Hein was the instructor and since I was new to the class he asked that I just draw the best drawing I could in that session. At the end of the session he comes over and stands in front of my work and then there is an amazing thing that happens. Before he even says a word, I can instantly see several things that are incorrect with my drawing. The same thing would happen at AnimatonMentor.com. When we show our work to peers we respect or teachers we respect, we get to see our work from a new perspective.. as if we are looking through their eyes.

The more we can get that type of feedback and fix problems in our work, the faster we can come to see the same things that our mentors see. In effect, see with their eyes. If you don't have a mentor to show you how to see, it's very easy to get lost in technical artistic issues. You will most likely go round and round on issues without finding real resolution to your concerns. My recommendation. If you ever want to learn something. Find someone who is very good at what you want to do. Someone whose opinion you respect. Allow them to mentor you if they are willing to do so.

Friday, March 9, 2007

New square drawing

The weather is changing and my thoughts are turning to art. It's about this time of year that I create a certain brand of imagery. It's a soul searching romp of whimsy and substance that could possibly mean absolutely nothing. I don't try to contain it too much, i just try and let it happen and help it along as best as I can.


if you look at the words falling closest to the bubble you will see a word scramble of "sex" and "love". Imagine that.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

blogg'n it

So I have a site that I don't update too often. A great friend of mine "MenacingTourist" is constantly posting on blogger and it looks like a quick and easy way to get the word out. I'm an artist and a animator and an all around pain in the ass. But most people take a quick liking to me because I'm easy to please, and I slip them 20's under the table... that never hurts. So that's about it for now. I'll quit trying to be funny at 5 o'clock in the morning and leave that for later in the day. Here is a drawing. More art and animation to soon follow.

I'm a student of AnimationMentor.com. One assignment last term was to
show strength in a character, just by the pose he is in.