Head Oddities...

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New Sketchbook...

I usually don't like to draw in sketchbooks...it's too intimidating but when a union rep came by cube the other day and gave me a free Animation Guild Sketchbook I couldn't let all that paper go to waste. Besides, some poor cow even gave its' hide for the cover. So now I have a stack of dead trees covered by a dead animal and bound in spiral wire that I feel obligated to put to good use...enjoy.

NEW BLOGS!!!

Added a bunch of new Blogs in the Links section, please check 'em out!

GOOD, BAD, UGLY...

My pal Sean Szeles inspired me with the studies he posted on his blog from the movie "Once Upon A Time In The West" I chose to study from the only Sergio Leone movie I own on DVD.."The Good The Bad And The Ugly" When I intially started to draw from this film I planned on just doing caricatures of all the great faces in the movie. I quickly discovered that the actors were already pretty much caricatures themselves which actually made it more not less difficult for me to exaggerate their features. So besides the great faces the things I admire most about this film are the contrasts between cuts: 'Extreme wide shot directly to extreme close up' and the compositions: 'Background and foreground elements leading your eye to the subject' and 'framing the subject'. I tried to capture some of these techniques in my studies while still slightly caricaturing the actors faces. It's pretty tough going so far, but hopefully by the time I get to the end of the film the studies will improve. If anyone has any suggestions please don't hesitate to share.

Thanks-
Fred

CARTOONS!!!

Heya all, thought I'd share some drawings from the morgue. These are for a pitch I was putting together to take around and try to sell to some cartoon type networks. It's another one of those things that get shelved due to actual paying work and family life and what not. Looks like I may have a chance to develop it further as I'll have some time off between gigs during the month of May.

CARTOONS...and caricatures...

Well, I seem to be over my caricature kick for the time being. Thought I'd share some more cartoony type drawings. The first four are studies I did from Milton Steins Supermouse comic. I think they're from a Jim Tyer issue? The artwork in those comics is so amazing and these studies don't do them justice. Everything is so solid, round and organic with appealing shapes, expressions, and all around excellent drafstmanship. Great source of education in those comics. The last pic is an animation drawing for a cartoon I've been developing for Cartoon Retro called Rufus and Horny. Pretty slow going on that project but I have a ton of stuff stockpiled and will hopefully have some of it posted on Shanes site in the not too distant future.

NEW POST!

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have no excuses. All of these caricatures are done with one of those carpenter pencils with the wide lead. Didn't really help my drawing any but it's fun to shake things up a bit. Any guesses on who these celebs are?

Second Attempt at Paiting...Sorta...

Well I finally broke down and bought one of them fancy wacom tablet thing-a-ma-jigs. You know the ones...paperless paper powered by Voodoo and Black Magic, modern cousin to the Ouija Board. It came with a stripped down version of Corel Painter (also some form of Dark Magic) and I started screwin' around with it...Please click to enlarge so as that you can see how the devlish machine was able to suck the soul out of actual paint to create an almost life like reproduction.

Farewell Maggie Crew...

Unfortunately the bigshots at Disney decided not to pick up "The Buzz On Maggie" for another season. It really is too bad because they had one of the best crews I've ever had the opportunity to work with. Here are just some of the great talents that won't be reunited....


Aaron...one of the best flash animators I've ever seen..

Kyle... Amazing Background Artist...

Dave...one of the best Directors I've ever had the opportunity to work for

Gabe...genius cartoonist...

Katrien... Amazing Background Artist...

Farewell Maggie Crew...

More amazing Maggie crew members....




Katie...Great Character Designer/Board artist and one of the best 'Girl artists' in the world

Ricky....Super Funny Board Aritst

Sean...Awesome Flash Animator

Pong...another awesome fash animator...

Jorge... Great character Designer and amazing story teller

Farewell Maggie Crew...

More amazing Maggie crew members....


Luke... amazing board artist and all around great cartoonist

Tim...The absolute best producer I've ever worked for

Roman...genius background artist

Pam...Flash wrangler extrodinaire

There are a lot more super talented people I never got around to drawing or can't find the caricature I did of them so please forgive...

THE AMAZING JIM SMITH!!!

These are caricatures from the sketchbook "Deadly Are The Naked" by the amazing JIM SMITH. For those who aren't familiar with Jims work, he is one of the most amazing draftsman working in animation today and probably of all time. He's one of the only people I know who can make a drawing so solid it makes you feel like you can reach into the paper and grab hold of it. On top of Jims amazing drawing ability he's a hell of a guitarist and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Jim gave me my first paid animation job, cleaning up his storyboard drawings, a position for which I was highly underqualified but was paid for none the less. If you're interested in seeing more of Jims work you can visit his website at www.jimsmithcartoons.com (also in the links section) I also highly recommend purchasing his sketchbooks "Lonely Are The Naked" and his latest "Deadly Are The Naked" go to his site for more info.

A few new celebs...

Heya all, haven't had much time for caricatures lately but I thought I'd post a few I was able to squeeze in. Any guesses???

Ladies Night....

Women are more difficult to draw/caricature than men. This is fact. Proven by science. Without a doubt. Which is why I have so much respect for people like Katie Rice and Shane Glines. They are a few of my favorite 'girl artists' working today. The truth is that they are actually much more than 'girl artists' that just happens to be one of their specialties. I think one of the tricks to drawing well is the mastery of the female form, once you have that beautiful, subtle thing down everything else must just be childs play. Unfortunately, I wouldn't know, my girl drawings are sorely lacking but every once in a while I get inspired by seeing a Glines, or a Rice or even a Moore or a Blair girl and think...gee that doesn't look so hard, think I'll give that a try. And inevitably I fail to achieve the kind of subtle, beautiful appeal that's inherent in each of these artists drawings. So...in the meantime, here are some practices of celebrity female caricature, any guesses?

Three more guesses

So I did three more caricatures to share tonight. The first one I struggled with for about an hour and a half and is like the 50th version. I don't think I achieved a very good likeness at all. After finishing it though, I left the drawing board for about a half hour, came back and did these next two in about 10 minutes each and achieved a better likeness(I think). Why does it work that way sometimes?? Seems like the more work and effort you put into a drawing should result in a better payout, but a lot of time that's not the case. Who has the answer?? And who can guess who these hot celebrity heads belong too???