two train sketches and two from S.D.

Cartoon Brew

So the guys at cartoon brew have slammed DW and Jeffrey katzenberg and then went after Steve Macleod? Why do they have such a chip on their shoulder? All of us who are actually working in this business are putting tons of time and energy into trying to make good films.

The truth for me is, I used to go to cartoon brew quite often as well, but I stopped going about a year ago because they just don't get the fact that there are a lot of talented people working at Dreamworks who don't deserve to get thrown out into the trash can with someone's opinion.

I think Jeffrey has got a good head on his shoulders and I give him credit for keeping the studio alive for this long. Im also surprised to see that when we opened the gates to hire a couple of story artists, we recieved tons of portfolios from amazing artist around the animation community. So it makes me think that there arent as many DW haters out there, especially when they need a job.

I met Jerry Beck {when he was authoring the "Bee Movie" Book....interenting?}and I liked him, he seemed genuinely interested in the studio and the art behind it all. I cant say much for anyone else at cartoon brew and I'm just not interested in the bashing that comes from the site-especially for Dreamworks.

I'm on Macleod's side.

Gravity pulls!

Many times in class or in sketch books I see drawings that seem to be off balance or unstable. I started thinking about it. remembering that I'm constantly trying to place the feet on my sketch as quickly as possible before my subject moves or before I forget and I have a floating torso drawing.

The foot placement or contact with gravity has all the stability built in. if you find that placement and lock down those feet early, your sketch will usually feel pretty good. I've done drawings before that seem incomplete or off balance because I hadn't given enough thought to the feet{or even drew them in for that matter}. Even if the subject where to be sitting then gravity would pull from their rump and you'd want to feel that flat contact like the little sketch above. When a sketch is off balance, then it looks like the subject is falling.

So with that said..... I played around with some squiggles that showed blue stability and red gravity. It pulls!





No Problem





A little lean but still no problem




Problem! but we he can still catch himself if he tries.




He's probably not going to catch himself.



Too far gone.

waiting for the next meeting....

Stay loose

anyone doing a story test? My advice? ......Stay loose!