New Year's Resolutions

Art-Related Resolutions
1. Finish a 2 minute Cartoon by July.
2. Paint a Portrait.
3. Practice a little every day.
4. Do some Plein Air Painting with acrylics.
5. Draw 100 Hands.
6. Earn some money with my Art.

Geek-Related Resolutions
1.Finish Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door before I forget the beginning again.
2. Beat Yoshi's Island and try to unlock all of the bonus levels.
3. Play more Pokemon.

Personal Resolutions
1.Clean and Rearrange my room.
2. Get my 'studio' set up proper.
3. Be nicer to my friends and family.
4. Get a job that I can enjoy, which would also support my family.

Yay!

For Christmas, I recieved a discount drafting table, easel, and some canvases. I now have the supplies to create things, as well as a place to work! YAY!

No pictures or art for this post, I'm afraid, since my scanner is disconnected at the moment. (I was cleaning my desk, and now I'm too tired to hook it back up)

Expect new updates soon!

Things that are done but not yet uploaded:

CRAYON Painting (with video!)
more, new watercolor sketches!
More animations from the Christmas game I was working on!

concept sketches

some quick concept sketches for another project. this project wouldn't let me sleep, so I had to scritch it out.

sound guy quick design concept

 

layout concept

and now, I am going to try to sleep. :) Peace.

Materials:
Photoshop
Wacom Cintiq

What I Learned:
nothing new, really. except maybe how annoying ideas can be when they really want you to write them down or sketch them up, lol.

Walk Cycle Practice

Practice animation for the upcoming game I've been hired to work on.

Materials:

12f Animation Paper

Lightbox

Ruler

Pegbar

Blue Col-erase Pencil

Sakura Pigma Micron 8, Black

Scanner

Toonboom Studio 6

Wacom Cintiq

What I learned:

That I need to plan my arcs before drawing the keys

how to use traditional and digital techniques together to create a seamless animation process.

that I really need to study more, instead of just Forrest Gumping my way through, like I did here.

to be honest, I'm not real happy with it, but I did learn a lot. attempted shortcuts in animation only lead to trouble, and a whole lot of mess. better to just do the work properly, and spend the extra time plotting out your motions, then trying to rush through. especially if you're as new at animating as I am.

line vs form

When I first started drawing, my Mother got me a few 'how to draw' books. (she is always so extremely supportive of me, love you Mom! ^_^)

those books were wonderful, they fed my growing appetite for art, and helped me to start translating my thoughts onto the page.

but I'm starting to realise that, for the past couple of weeks, I have been fighting against most of the things I've learned in those how-to-draw books.

you see, they were teaching me to see and think in lines. contours. just the edges. recently I've begun painting, and when you paint you really need to think more in form, and values. the shapes and insides, not so much the edges. If I don't include the lining step, I struggle for the entire painting. especially with 'edge control', which is one of the big things I'm trying to work through.

I'm not saying that how-to-draw books aren't worth it, or that they messed me up. they were just the only learning source I had for a very long time (until Youtube was invented) so they trained me to think only in one way. that way is great for when I'm drawing characters or cartoons, not so much when I'm attempting realism, or even abstract.

I always thought that, since I wanted to be a cartoonist, I wouldn't need to learn the way of the Realistic painter. I was so very wrong.

you see, I didn't realize this until quite recently but,
Every Art benefits from every other Art.

I just caught myself watching an interior design class tutorial video on wall painting on youtube, and I learned a ton about getting different textures from your paints. things I would not have thought to try before, because I never thought to look to interior design.

I guess what I am trying to say in this long rambling rant is that, if you're an aspiring artist, learn everything you can about every art you can. it can only help your favorite field of art, and help you develop skills you would not have otherwise had by just studying a single field.

watercolor pencil sketches

just a few sketches drawn up while hanging around a jazz bistro, waiting for my sis to get off work. there's no better place to sketch then when surrounded by jazz music. :)

quick scritch to see if I could theoretically do a value painting with watercolor pencils.

started as an apple, but when I thought it looked a little lopsided I developed it as a bell pepper.

the band played 'rocking around the christmas tree', and someone commented saying we needed a christmas tree to rock around...so I made one. the mouse was added in by request.

this one I'm most proud of, and it was just a 10 min doodle. I really like it, but I don't know why.

Mediums:

Cheap Sketchbook

Watercolor Pencils

Niji Waterbrush (small)

Scanner

What I learned:

that I can use those mediums to practice seeing in value, and create sepia-toned paintings.

more control with my waterbrush

how badly cheap paper crumbles under water, but it doesn't matter much if it's just for practice

Early Christmas Present

 I love Michael's Arts & Crafts stores. they are always giving out coupons for 40% off, even when it isn't sale season. their coupons during Thanksgiving weekend are unreal.

so with huge hand full of coupons, a pocket of pennies, and hope in my heart, I dared the holiday traffic and set out on my christmas quest to get reasonably priced art supplies.

I ended up getting some nice brushes discounted 70%

I've never owned a nice brush, always had the cheap ones from wal-mart that you get 10 to a pack for $5. but I've had them so long they are starting to fall apart, leaving bristles in the strokes. I don't know much about the different materials, so I got a range of pure Synthetics, synthetic/Sable blend, a Nylon, and even 1 pure Sable. so I can try them and see which material and brand I prefer.

From left to right;
Size 3/4 Loew-Cornell 270 Maxine's Mop
Size 2 Expression Robert Simmons E47 Fan Blender
Size 10 Expression Rober Simmons E85 Round
Size 1/2 Loew-Cornell 7600 Oval Wash (my first Sable!)
Size 2 Sapphire S85 Robert Simmons (it's a nice looking liner)
Size 1/2 Grumbacher Goldenedge 4622 Aquarelle Acuarela (flat wash brush)
Size 2 over 0 Sapphire s85 Rober Simmons (thinner detailer)

I am so excited to try them out, it just isn't funny.
but they are christmas presents...Shhh...I'm not supposed to know about them. :D

What I Learned:

buying brushes can be very very confusing.

that coupons + holiday sales = me getting things normally outside of my budget.

I have not yet learned the exact differences in the different bristle blends yet, that will have to be for another update after I play with them for a while. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

First off, Happy Thanksgiving!
I am thankful for my Mother, and Sister, my Brother, my dogs and my friends. I am thankful for my health, my life, and my love. but not only on this day, but every moment of every day, all year. I do not believe that you should only think about what you are thankful for on one goverment-sanctioned day each year.

That's like only praying on Sundays.

Oekaki practices

a couple more Oekaki scribbles drawn for practice.

perspective practices.

please note, the objects are not intended to be in perspective with each other, as each object was drawn individually.

\

I discovered the opacity button, so I decided to push the tool to see if I could do a value painting similar in quality to that of a photoshop one. it was tricker, but possible. unfortunatly, I can't figure out how to glaze color over the value painting without destroying it completely. 

I should have refined the apple more, but the program started lagging and I was afraid I was about to lose the drawing.

Materials:

PaintBBS via www.oekakicentral.com

Wacom Intuos 4 tablet

Netbook computer

What I Learned:

How to control the brush flow in PaintBBS

A little bit about perspective

a little bit about value relationships

the value of a Value painting

for those who don't know values, like me just a few hours ago, a value painting is a painting entirely in greyscale, where you focus more on the lighting relationships between the objects (Value) then the details of the object themselves.
it really helps to hammer out the shadows and highlights in this way, without all the extra worries color brings.

this one was done from imagination, so I got caught up in details a bit. I plan to try to color-ize this tomorrow, as an experiment. :)

Materials:

Photoshop
Wacom Cintiq

What I Learned:

I Learned the Value of Value painting...hahahah..hah.
WHY HAVN'T I BEEN DOING THIS ALL ALONG?! O_O

Hammering out shading and highlights in it's own non-destructive stage...omg. dreamy.

20min Egg Value Study

quick value painting trying out some techniques from Ctrl+Paint's tutorial videos. I'm going to try to do daily studies like this, hopefully. I definatly need more practice.

Materials:

Photoshop

Wacom Cintiq

What I Learned:

better brush control

using 'temp' layers

building value

sampling color to build unity

natural-like blending in photoshop

edge-control via eraser

when to use soft edge brushes vs hard edge brushes

how to attempt realistic painting in photoshop

Go Figure! Productions Presents: Alien Drive Thru

The first short released under my new production company 'Go Figure! Productions'. Also my first animated short with SOUND!!
My ever so talented little sister Becca June composed the title tracks for me, and let me tell you...they are amazing. AMAZING! so watch the cartoon, if only to hear her awesome music!! :D
and check out her page while you're at it; reverbnation.com/beccajune
did I mention she's a CMA nominee and Country Recording Artist? Selections from her upcoming album are already available on iTunes. just search 'Becca June' and you'll find her. ^_^ Forgive my rambling, I am very proud of her. :)

ANYWHO! About the video:
this started out with me just playing with sound effects in toonboom. ended up crafting a 'script' with sound effects, so I went ahead and drew a few elements and animated them via puppetry. I was happy with it, so I got ready to upload it, when I got the bright idea to add a title screen.

well, being the sort of person I am, it couldn't just be a still shot. so I experimented with a title sequence. when I realized the titles were now more interesting then the puppets, I knew I had to fix the animation up. so I did a few frames hand-drawn, though it is still mostly puppet thanks to my limited time. well, now the animation is not too terrible.
but there is no sound for the titles. it didn't feel complete.

so I asked my sister to compose some simple music. I was expecting a little melody line, nothing complicated. but she jumped at the chance to play around. when she asked what feelings I was looking for in the music, I responded with a generic "uhm...Danny Elfman meets Hans Zimmer at the Carnival. :3 can you do that?" she laughed and set to work, and came up with that brilliance. absolute brilliance!! I cannot rave about that soundtrack enough. I can't wait to work with her again.

With this short under my belt, I feel for the first time that I actually can be an Animator. now I need to work on my actual animating skills. :)

The next cartoon will have a storyline, I promise. ^_^


Materials Used:

Computer

Toon Boom Studio 6

Wacom Cintiq

Notion 3 (music composition program)
Photoshop

What I Learned:

Wow, so much... let's see...

How to add and manipulate sound effects in Toon Boom

How to judge timing the sound effects to the animations

how to create a title sequence

how to import transparent images into Toon Boom

How to mix puppetry and frame-to-frame animation

how to use Pegs as folders to handle a cramped timeline

how vectors really work

how amazing a composer my Sister is

how to add and manipulate music, and time the animations to it

how to make a moving background

how to NOT make a moving background

the difference between Digital Animation's definition of Keyframes as opposed to traditional Keyframes
how to create pretty things in photoshop and incorporate them into my cartoons.

Mistletoe timed 1hr sketch

Sketch Practice. 

Materials:

Photoshop

Google for Reference picture

1hr timer

Wacom Cintiq tablet

What I learned:

Sketching on a timer can be really good practice, especially when you don't have time to draw alot.

branches and berries are fun to draw, and full of little quirks you never noticed before

I should keep my Debut video Capture window square, and focused on the drawing.

My wrist and elbow can operate the slid strips on the sides of my cintiq, whether I want them to or not.

First job as a conceptual Artist/Animator

A friend of mine is developing an iphone and android game, and has hired me on as graphic designer and animation director. pay is slight, but it is what I proposed since I wanted the job for practice more then money. as much as I actually need money, experience is worth more in the long run.

I don't think I can post any images until the game is released, and only then with the developer's permission, so this is as much as I can share for now. :)

So exciting!!!!!

Oekaki

did some doodles last night, thought I'd share. first time I've been on oekaki central in 4 years, forgot how fun it was. :)

Frey, the Alpaca, in Grey. drawn in PaintBBS 

Arty doodle, drawn in PaintBBS

just for fun. :)

Fun fact: Oekaki means doodle in Japanese. ^_^

Complications.

So, got allllllll the animation done for my latest experimental cartoon, then I decided to add a fancy title thing, which upped the ante. so now I'm having my sister  Becca June compose a short tune for my toon. 

I'm also seriously considering reworking the main animation to be hand-drawn instead of puppetry. currently weighing the pros and cons of that. this is what happens when I think on a project too much >.>
it gets complicated.

The Best Airbender

so today, I painted a tattoo similar to Aang's from Avatar: The Last Airbender on an awesome kid named Brandon. he's doing a skit at a tai-kwon-do tournement tomorrow. we have done this before, back in February for his belt test, and the Master of his do-jangh asked him to repeat the performance at the official tournament.

here's a picture from the February performance :)

will update tomorrow with pictures from the tattoo I painted today. personally, I think February's turned out better. had more time to work on it, better light, and I wasn't so tired. but I dunno, he liked it, so I'm happy. :)

Mediums:

Blacklight Alcohol-based Airbrush Tattoo Ink

Black Alcohol-based Airbrush Tattoo Ink

Small round paint brush

Rubbing Alcohol to erase mistakes

Reference screenshots from the movie and concept art

Q-tips

Cotton makeup pads

Brandon's Skin (to paint on.)

a piece of square paper I cut out to help me with the angles

What I learned:

Blacklight airbrush tattoo ink is thinner then the standard black airbrush tattoo ink, and will run if given the chance.

bring LOTS of Q-Tips

Airbrush ink evaporates VERY quickly, don't pour too much into your cup at once.

A shaved head still has alot of hair that can and will catch your brush.

The backstory of The Avatar.

bring 2 containers of rubbing alcohol; 1 to clean your brush, and 1 to erase with.

Keep your brush clean!

short shaved hair + cotton makeup pad = shredded cotton.
going to sleep at 9pm results in me waking up at 2am and not being able to sleep, but even sleep deprived I can still work on artsy things. ^_^

playing with puppetry

first cut-out animation attempted. was fun, but I think I really prefer the frame-by-frame method. this way feels very robotic, and, well, like puppetry. nothing wrong with it, it's just not my style. :)

What I learned:

How to rig and control the bone system in toonboom studio 6

how to draw a picture designed to be used with the bone system

how to use pegs in conjunction with bones to create movement

how this style differs from tradtional frame-by-frame animation.

Traditional Animation Practice

my first three tradtional animations actually drawn on real live animation paper! you can't imagine how much I geeked out when I got my package of animation paper in the mail. I literally danced around with it, lol.

Anywho, about this:

these are practices based on Tony White's first lesson from his book 'How to make animated films'

I highly recommend it, it even comes with a dvd with demonstrations. ^_^

materials/tools used:

Tony White's 'How to make animated films.'

Blue prismacolor col-erase pencil

12field student animation paper

ruler

hand-cut stencils for the bottoms of the pendulums

prismacolor markers for the color

sakura micron 05 inking pen for the lines

lightbox

pegbar (acme standard) <- another thing I geeked out about when it came in the mail ^_^

scanner

toonboom animation studio 4.5 to compile the drawings into a video.

youtube, to host the video.

What I learned:

How to use animation paper in conjunction with a lightbox and pegbar

how to flip the drawings

how to create my own shape stencils out of acrylic paper

how to super impose images to check the volumes of the animated subject

how to write and understand animation charts

how to use the charts to figure out your timing

how to create key frames and breakdown frames

how to inbetween

how to import scanned images into toonboom studio 4.5

What's Next?

the next lesson in the book is for the Bouncing Ball. hoping to have time next week to start working on it. :)

Also, hoping to use sound effects in my next animation practice. I'm intimidated by the complexities that brings, and I need to work past it.

Another update

since you've seen most of the other steps, here's another update on that title screen picture I've been working on. :)

Still to do on it: Mist from waterfall, shading on characters, final touches, and that's about it. :) probably needs another 3 hours or so, unless I change something major.

'Art Lessons' 11 redo

my second 'Art Lessons' picture to be redone. this time I've included Arty's updated design. (which includes arms!)

What I learned:

- Burnt Umber is a wonderful, powerful color, but there probably is such a thing as overusing it.

- I should plan my palette ahead of time.

- I should use a water-proof pen if I'm going to be using watercolors over it, and the ink should be completely dry.

- Prismacolor ink takes longer then Micron ink to dry.

- When working with fancy color effects, it is probably best to paint in decent lighting.

- Rocks can be purple and yellow, and people won't notice until you point it out. or they are just too nice to notice. :)

-French, which is the name of the "Llama", looks more like an Alpaca, and his character has been updated accordingly.

- A hand cannot possibly hold a sword in that fashion. I need to do a serious study on hands.

'Art Lessons' #7 Redo

A watercolor pencil experiment, I learned alot from this picture. I am still new to the medium though, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. :)

What I learned with this picture:

- I learned how to control a waterbrush.

- I learned how to mix the colors on the canvas.

- I learned how I can use the pencils just like paint.

- I learned that I can do a sketch in the color I want the main wash to be in, and then can 'erase' the sketch by using water to smear the color all over the paper.

- I learned what the difference is between watercolor paper and normal sketch paper.

- I learned that I need to do a study on skies and sunsets to avoid another splotchy sky.

- I learned to love my moleskine watercolor sketchbook. this was the first thing I've drawn in it.

Background revised

Rehashed the background, made it more painterly. whatcha think? still gotta add the spray and foam on the water, and a bit of mist that you would usually see from a waterfall. got more blending to do, and then of course color on the characters. but yeah, I'm starting to like it. :)

10 things I love about CtrlPaint.com

This Week's Featured Website: Ctrl+Paint

I would like to take this time to talk about one of the art websites I visit on a regular basis.

It's called Ctrl+Paint - Digital Painting Simplified.

What it is:  A video tutorial website run by Matt Kohr based around Digital painting techniques, and classic Art Principles.

There are so many reasons to adore this website, and the tutorial videos that are posted there. (Matt Kohr's butter-smooth voice, or those awesome free brushpacks to name a few.) but I've boiled my love of Ctrl+Paint down to an easy-to-digest list.

I like to call it "10 Reasons Ctrlpaint.com's Tutorial Videos are Beyond the Realm of Awesomeness and has Attained a State of Cool Unheard of Before in the History of Mankind."

...it's a working title, but it has a nice ring to it. Here goes.

10 Reasons Ctrlpaint.com's Tutorial Videos are Beyond the Realm of Awesomeness and has Attained a State of Cool Unheard of Before in the History of Mankind.

1. They are free.

Seriously, the videos are completely free. He doesn't even run ads on his site!

well, actually, they aren't ALL completely free. he has 3 video Sets that he sells for $10 each. they are all multi-part in depth tutorials, with run times ranging from 35 minutes, to 57 minutes! I don't know about you, but that's the cheapest art class I've ever heard of.
Also, if his free videos are anything to judge by, these special classes must be mind-blowingly amazing.

But aside from that, there are currently a whopping 87 COMPLETELY FREE videos! You read that right, that's Eighty-Seven. EIGHTY-FREAKING-SEVEN free ones. with more being added every week. So I really don't begrudge him the special video sets he sells. Guy's gotta make a living, right?

2. He explains things so that even my unevolved caveman brain can understand them.

Matt always starts off a basic video with the information you'll need to follow the lesson, and he talks in real terms - not 'Art Speak'. if he does have to resort to 'Art Speak', he explains each term he uses in plain English.

For example: Every tutorial I've ever read or watched about perspective has scared me off of the subject with mathematical terms and measurements and vanishing points and other scary-sounding things.
Matt Kohr explains perspective like this:
"Here's an apple. I'm going to draw another one like this, but slightly smaller and slightly behind the first. There ya go, Basic Perspective."
he goes on to explain more in-depth, but he introduced it in such a way that immediately dispelled my fears, and helped me understand perspective drawing as I never had before. my life-sketching saw an immediate improvement after I applied the simple principles I learned in that 6 minute video.

3. He doesn't stay in the standard realm of photoshop tutorials.

Everyone who owns a copy of photoshop has read at least one tutorial on how to use it. sometimes it seems as though if you've seen one, you've seen them all. they all seem to focus on how to create layers, or use effects on photos, simple stuff like that. very few of the tutorials I've been able to find actually focus on using the tool to create Art.

Matt Kohr does. His approach to photoshop makes realistic digital painting possible, in such an otherwise clunky, artificial photo manipulation tool.
even though I've been a photoshop user for about 9 years now, I've never been able to approach it like I would approach a real canvas. the tools were just so different, I thought it impossible to achieve the same kinds of effects as you would with watercolors or acrylic.

but after watching his videos on blending and brush control, I am starting to see a difference in how I approach a drawing in photoshop. I've learned how to translate my thoughts, which are usually grounded in traditional tools, into photoshop terms to achieve the same effect. it's amazing what a few changed settings and the right brushpack can do to improve the digital painting experience. he has several videos walking you through this process.

4. He explains his process thoroughly

Matt does very well in explaining the steps of both his thought process, and actual step-by-step process of applying a principle to a painting or drawing.

For example, in his video about line weight, he gets the point across very quickly using bold text as an example. he then walks you through exactly when and why you would want to use line weight, and gives a practical demonstration of the principle in action. that's how almost all of his videos are.

A.) he presents the principle in a quick factoid.
B.) he then gives you a simple theoretical reason why it's good to use this principle, and when it's good to use it.
C.) finally, he shows how to apply the principle in a practical setting.

and if you are left with any questions after the tutorial, you can leave it in the comments and he will actually answer.

5. There is a video for almost anything Photoshop/Art related you might be looking for.

From Silhouette thumbnails to perspective to color theory, it's there, or will be soon. there is also a thread on the forum for specific requests that you would like to see him do a video on.

6. Even if you think you understand a topic, it is still worth it to watch the videos.

you may glean a trick or two you didn't know you didn't know. even if you understand the principle entirely, it's always a good thing to practice, and see how others use the principle. it can give you new ideas, and better understanding of the tools at your disposal.

7. He has recently expanded his tutorials to include Traditional mediums.

if you've been strictly a digital artist, like I was up till this past year, you may be intimidated by traditional mediums. just the thought of drawing something complicated without an undo button or layers can still strike a chord of fear in my soul.

growing up poor made it to where I was always afraid of wasting my paper. I still have a canvas I was given when I was 14 because I've 'saved it until I can paint something good enough to earn the use of the canvas'. it is literally still in the plastic wrap it came in. that attitude has held me back for years.

it wasn't until I became aware of people like James Gurney and Matt Kohr and started following their examples that I've really allowed myself to experiment with traditional mediums. Thanks to people like that, I have recently been able to train myself to think in terms of 'practice' and 'experimentation' when using my supplies, instead of catagorizing that as wasted materials.

But I digress, this line of thought is best saved for my article on James Gurney. back to the point - learning more about your tools and techniques can help you not to fear your materials, so I look forward to Ctrl+Paint's new unplugged series.

8. He Updates Twice a week!

New videos are usually up every Tuesday and Thursday, which gives you just enough time to practice the techniques he teaches in between videos, without leaving you waiting too long.

9. He gives you assignments, exercises to help you understand the techniques you just learned.

things like 'draw 20 cellphones in different positions', and simple technique-training exercises like that. they are usually fun, and help you see things differently. the exercises are geared toward training your hand, eye, and mind to really understand the concepts portrayed in the video. they may sound tedious at first, but give them a try, you'll see and feel the difference. I know I have.

10. The Commentors are highly intellegent, and helpful.

you can learn just about as much from the comments people have made on the videos as you learned from the video itself. people often share their own approaches, and links to other helpful sites. there is also a forum, for further discussion.

All in all, it is a wonderful website.
for someone who can't afford real art classes, I have found it absolutely invaluable as a learning tool.

but don't just take my word for it, check it out, and decide for yourself.

http://www.ctrlpaint.com/

Preview Sketch

I'm looking for some feedback on a preview sketch for my current project,
it's for a promotional thing set to be released alongside my cartoon, hopefully.

this thing is likely to change alot. this is the fourth sketch of it, and I'm still not
married to the layout. Anywho, this is the title image for my new game.
more details soon. :)

Added note here, I was gifted a scanner tonight (THANK YOU WALTER!!!!) so I
will be able to update more often, since the majority of my work lately has been traditional.
(and watercolor, to boot!)

Playing in Plein Air

OH HI INTERNET! okay...so first blog post...this is new. so I'll just start with the most recent thing.

After reading about 3 months worth of James Gurney's blog  in a single day, I've decided that in order to improve my understanding of color, and life drawing, I need to venture into the realm of Plein Air painting.
From the Wikipedia page; "(Plein Air) is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors"

basically, what that means is taking a bunch of my art supplies with me where ever I go and draw from life where ever I end up being. since I'm hardly ever home, it will give me a chance to practice constantly.
since I'm short on funds, I will be using whatever mediums I have around. unfortunatly I don't own an easel that I could fold up and take with me, so I'll be doing my plein air studies via water color pencils. which I've never used... I was given a small set of Faber-Castell watercolor pencils a few years ago, but I've been so absolutely terrified of Watercolors that I've avoided them completely. until last night. Last night everything changed.

Mom and I are sitting in the van waiting on my sister to get out of rehearsal. all of a sudden I remember I have my sketchbook in my purse. I pull it out and stare at a page for 10 minutes trying to decide what to draw.

"Draw your animation characters!"  Richard Williams' voice whispered in my brain.
"No, plan out the chart for the bouncing ball animation you're supposed to work on. that's the next lesson in my book, you know."  Tony White this time.
"DRAW CUPCAKES AND SPIDERS AND RAINBOWS AND PONIES AND UNICORNS AND SKELETONS AND THE UNIVERSE!" ... O_O Brianna! get out of my head!

undecided, I pick up my ipod to check the time. I still have James Gurney's blog open on an article about plein air life drawing.

EUREKA MOMENT!

so I pick a view out of the van window that had interesting angles, and started sketching. This is what I end up with.

I'm fairly happy with it, considering I drew it in the dark, and in about 30 mins. I mean, it isn't perfect - but that's why I need to practice. :)

Anywho; so I get home, and after reading another hours worth of content on the Gurney Journey, I stumble onto a video of him doing a watercolor pencil plein air sketch. watch it here;

O_O...INSPIRED.
so I toss my room upside down and inside out until I discover my long-abandoned watercolor pencils. hesitantly, I gather my stuff to the kitchen table and sat down to practice. but what to paint?!

"CUPCAKES AND SPIDERS AND RAINBO-" Brianna, GET OUT OF MY HEAD! >.<!!
think think think...OH! Of Course! the picture I did earlier! it was soon enough after the fact that I still remembered the colors and moods, why not? so I did.

I have to say, I'm really loving the ease at which I can use these pencils to achieve that soft watercolor-y effect. So, they will be going in my Plein Air kit. I definatly need more practice with them. Ultimate goal of water color pencils - to be able to use them to quickly paint landscapes and backgrounds that  I can later use in my animations.