On Saturday we all piled into the car and went to the annual Bug Fair at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History. We go every year, seeing as my son loves bugs and has since birth. At one point I thought he might become an entymologist, but now I’m not sure… Anyway, now we’re brand new owners of three “ironclad beetles“, one of which is named “Bridget”.
Here’s hoping all the moms had a great Sunday.
I scribbled this at lunch about an hour ago. Working again on a Saturday – crunch time.
I was doing some visual research yesterday on city stuff and accidentally came upon some interesting information about the inventor of the traffic light system that’s used throughout the world. I am constantly amazed about the things we take for granted. Sitting at a red traffic light, watching the cross traffic, well, cross, it’s interesting to think – somebody had to invent that traffic signal. I suppose we all kind of think, yeah, some giant corporation somewhere came up with it, etc., etc. But in reality that’s rarely the case. Usually these things are invented by one person and it goes corporate after that, not the other way around. In the case of the traffic signal, it was invented by an American named Garrett Augustus Morgan – a man who’s remarkable not only for the fact that he also invented the gas mask, but that his parents were former slaves in the Confederate South. A brilliant and creative man who became wealthy by his wits, and whose ideas affect virtually all of us several times a day, nearly 130 years after his birth.
I drew this standing up. I think I still need a bit more practice holding a sketchbook in one hand and a pencil in the other (the marker gripped temporarily between my teeth). The result is the proportions may be a bit skewed – I unintentionally added a few unnecessary pounds to my subject… oops. (I still like the sketch, though – if I can say that.)
All of us in the commercial art field have to deal with the business of being hired. As a storyboard artist or previs artist it’s usually the director or production designer or vfx supervisor who does the hiring. In my experience word-of-mouth recommendations are the avenue through which 90% of the work comes, with resume/sample/web site making up for the rest. In any case, the last step before getting the job is the interview – usually in which you show your portfolio and reel. I just read a nice article with some good pointers on how to conduct yourself on an interview here. It’s helpful information to know.
I happened upon this blog post yesterday, about a young man in Britain who can barely speak, but who has the uncanny ability to draw anything just after a moment’s glance. In the photo he can be seen drawing a large, nearly photographically accurate panorama of Rome after a short helicopter ride over the city. To see samples of his work, Mr. Wiltshire’s official web site is here.
To say that I’m amazed is an understatement. His oil paintings remind me somehow of pinhole photography – almost like a truer representation of what the human eye sees than what’s processed through the artifice of a camera and lens. Check out the “Los Angeles Traffic” sample on this page to see what I mean. But my favorite thing he does is his pencil drawings. There’s a wonderful human energy to the archetectural subjects he chooses, and I think it comes from the fact that he freehands all those lines. It slows the eye, makes you stop and look. The fact that he does this all from memory is just a wonder. It’s both humbling and inspiring, and makes me glad to be on a planet with so many different kinds of people with so many different interests and abilities.
She was looking up at me, noticing that I was looking at her and making marks in my book. She’s got the “what is he looking at?” attitude.
This guy was reading a script at the table just in front of me. I liked this pose of his and would have drawn more, but he got up and left. Part of the fun and risk of sketching from life. The subject has the power to pick up and leave without notice.
Less than an hour ago I was sitting outside and inside the venerable S&W; diner. A co-worker and I were going to have breakfast there before starting to work, but I think he forgot. No matter, there’s always the trusty sketchbook!
Sketchup is a 3d modeling program that is very “drawing oriented” and has been adopted by several storyboard artist friends of mine as a way to segue into the world of 3d. I’ve never used it, but have been aware of it for years. Most 3d programs like Maya or LightWave make use of “primitives”, ie: cubes or spheres, from which you can create complex objects by extruding faces or dividing and shaping the primitive. Sketchup actually allows you to “draw” shapes in a 3d window and “pull” other shapes out of it. Some video tutorials of what I’m talking about can be seen here. It seems like a great program especially for creating archetectural objects like buildings and rooms.
This program used to cost about four or five hundred bucks. Now it’s free. No kidding. You can check it out and download it here. I guess Google bought it and is making a version of it free to download for PC.
I’ve had several friends use it to generate background images for storyboards, and the results are impressive. And, as I’ve said, it may be a good stepping stone from the world of drawing into the world of 3d, if one were inclined to go that way.
Anthony Zierhut 