Your Story Through Art

Ran across this video from Cartoon Brew today while working on my kinetic typography project for Film/TV. Storytelling has always been important to me when I draw comics and write dialogue for the characters...or write the pacing of the scene (not every panel needs to fill up with text...silence is golden).

The speaker is Doug TenNapel, the creator of Earthworm Jim and Nickelodeon's Catscratch. I've enjoyed Earthworm Jim in the mid 90s, and I just wanted to add this to my blog. For inspiration. :)

Enjoy if you watch this.

Tim Burton at MoMA

After watching this video from TIME.com, makes me really want to visit MoMA and see Tim's exhibit. I've enjoyed Tim's work in animation (Nightmare and Corpse Bride), as well as some of his live action movies. His artwork style is truly unique, and it is inspiring. :)

Inspiration For Me to Move!

Sweeeeet!!! :D

More Inspiration to Blow My Mind!

Simply ridiculous!



Now that's inspiration to jumping over hurdles in designing concepts! :D

"It's Safe to Fail"

Found an article on Variety (dot) com on Pixar director John Lasseter and his philosophy for achieving success. In his own words, "It's safe to fail."

Something I need to know/be reminded of as I continue this graphic design program. It's not bad to fail at something, as long as I learn from it, and continue to push harder in my concepts and projects....as well as fail early so I can gain success sooner! :D

Hope this is inspirational to someone. And have a great weekend! ;)

Learn From Jack

I am sure everyone remembers the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, and how one's desire to push past complacency can open to many results. We saw Jack Skellington wanting to do something different, yearning to get out of the norm of his usual antics. In his discovery of Christmastown, he was intrigued to not only gain understanding of the atmosphere and its' spirit, but to also put his best efforts in doing the festivities. In his attempts, he failed; however, he still felt energized to try something new. After all his participation in learning Christmas, he was able to see more potential in his strengths of making mischief.

With this all said, I believe there's a lesson we can learn from Jack as artists: Putting our best efforts into an unknown skill/ability/medium will impact our strengths. Whether you are strong in drawing, or strong in photography, if you find the connection between your strength and weakness, your strength will benefit more from your experimentation.

For instance, I took up watercolor painting last year, and I was completely horrible at it. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the medium down, or get a good understanding of it. However, if I had saw the benefits of the process, I would have found that it was helping me get better at drawing. Learning to use the strokes of a brush impacted my strokes of a pencil. How lightly I use the charcoal/lead pencil as I press against the paper. Allowing my arm to be loose and free, like painting with watercolor. Another good example was doing 3D: I thought it was a waste of time. I was proven wrong after I got into Life Drawing. If I had understood the necessities of 3D shapes, and how they relate, my drawings would have shown more volume and weight.

Now, I can see that not every weakness will become a strength. I do believe that through extra sacrifice and hard work the possibilities for that to happen are high. And I also believe that the weakness of a medium you put your best efforts to will push your strengths even further. So if you are not strong in drawing but you are strong in photography, push your drawing skills some more. Or if you are really good in sculpture, but you are not well in ink, see how using inks will help you explore sculpture. The key is having an exciting attitude to explore...just like Jack Skellington.

Networking

Read a great article on being effective in networking. While the site is geared to those in the animation industry, I truly believe it applies to any art industry, such as graphic design or interior design.

I agreed with what the author had to say in her first advice:

Creating a network is a long term commitment to building strong, mutually beneficial relationships. If you are a student, begin with the other students at your school, your teachers, and some alumni. You can be a source of information for those who have graduated and want news of their old school. Once you are working, you can be a source to your teachers and the other students at your school about who is working, what it's like on your first job, and who might be hiring.

We need each other to survive in the art industry, no matter how you look at it. In my perspective at least. Hope this is inspirational and encouraging to someone. :)

7 Creative Principles By John Lasseter

I ran across this article of John Lasseter giving advice on creative principles, thanks to Darren Rawlings (who happens to be a professional illustrator).

Here are the subjects Lasseter goes over in the article:

1. Never Come Up With Just One Idea.
2. Remember the First Laugh.
3. Quality is a Great Business Plan. Period.
4. It's the Team, Stupid.
5. Fun Invokes Creativity, Not Competition
6. Creative Output Always Reflects the Person on Top.
7. Surround Yourself with Creative People Whom You Trust.

I really think what he spoke on can work, not just for animation, but also graphic design and other artistic outlets. I hope this read will be inspiring and interesting. Have a great weekend! :)