Alex Woo's Blog

Gesture Drawing with Louis Gonzales

2012-01-26T14:49:00.000-08:00

Exciting news! Pixar Story Artist Louis Gonzales will be guest instructing a Gesture Drawing class at Schoolism.com!

This is very exciting for prospective students because Louis is an amazing artist and a fantastic teacher. He has been a mentor in the Pixar Story Intern program for the last two years, teaches his own Story class at the Animation Collaborative, and helped me put together the curriculum that the Schoolism Gesture Drawing class is based on.

If you're lucky enough to enroll before the class fills up, you're going to be learning from one of the industries best.

Hurry, before the class fills up!

Winter Sale

2012-01-24T01:08:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that the Winter sale at Schoolism is almost over. There are only a few hours left before the Self-taught classes go back to full price.

Click here for more info.

Creative Synthesis

2012-01-16T13:13:00.000-08:00

Martin Luther King Jr is one of my favorite thinkers.

His book "Strength to Love" is one of my favorite books.

And this is one of my favorite passages from his sermon 'A tough mind and a tender heart':

A French Philosopher once said: “No man is so strong unless he bears within his character antitheses strongly marked”. The strong man is the man who can hold in a living blend strongly marked opposites. Very seldom do men achieve this balance of opposites. The idealists are not usually realistic, and the realists are not usually idealistic. The militant are not usually passive, and the passive are not usually militant. The humble are very seldom self-assertive and the self-assertive are rarely humble. But life at its best is a creative synthesis. It is the bringing together of opposites into fruitful harmony. As the philosopher Hegel said, “truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.”

This quote articulates the struggle of life beautifully, and I believe that what Mr. King said about the tension in man is also true of drawing:

A strong drawing is one that bears within it’s character the two antitheses of draftsmanship and vitality.

Figure drawing emphasizes observation, anatomy, and representation - Draftsmanship.

Gesture drawing emphasizes interpretation, feeling, and improvisation - Vitality.

It is the combination of these two skill sets- the 'creative synthesis' - that drawing is at it's best.

Live with a tough mind and a tender heart.

Draw with solid draftsmanship and spontaneous vitality.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr day.

2011 Holiday Sale

2011-12-28T18:30:00.000-08:00

Schoolism has just informed me that they're having a Holiday sale on Self-Taught classes! From now until Jan 25th, 3AM EST, you can receive $100 off the class of your choice. They have just added my gesture class to the Self-Taught roster, so if you're interested in doing the Self-Taught version, now is a great time to sign up!

What is a self-taught class? It means you can activate the class whenever you choose. Once activated, you will have 100 days to finish the course. You will learn by completing the assignments on your own and watching the previous critiques of other students assignments. The only difference is that you won't receive personal critiques on your own assignments.

To sign up, go to SCHOOLISM.COM

Superman on the Street

2011-11-11T00:10:00.001-08:00

Last weekend, a few friends and I competed in a Two Day Film Competition. The rules were:

1) Must use the line: "Emeryville is lovely in the Autumn"

2) Must include an annoying use of product placement

3) Must be in your assigned genre (mockumentary or super hero)

You can see our film here.

Schoolism Back to School Sale

2011-09-10T15:14:00.000-07:00

Schoolism is having a rare back to school sale for this weekend only. It starts today and goes until tomorrow (Sunday 11:59pm EST) for $100 off of Self-Taught classes on http://www.Schoolism.com. This will be the last time that Schoolism will have a $100 discount. There are still a few spots left in the January Gesture class, so sign up now before it's too late!

Oct. 17th Class Full!

2011-08-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

Registration for January 12, 2012 just opened.

Gesture Drawing at Schoolism!

2011-08-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to announce that the online Gesture Drawing class is now available for enrollment at Schoolism!

The class will cover the 7 foundational topics from the Gesture 101 course and I will provide one-on-one feedback to each of the 12 students enrolled in the class. Class begins on October 17th, 2011.

For more information, visit Schoolism.com.

ArchAndroids

2011-07-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to meet Janelle Monae and her crew during her SF tour with Bruno Mars. Here is some art work that their performance inspired:

2nd Gesture 101 Class

2011-06-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to announce that a second Gesture 101 class is now open for enrollment!

Here are the details:

The course will consist of 8 classes over the course of 8 weeks. The curriculum will be as follows:

Week 1: Line - Distilling the pose to its essence
Week 2: Shape - Abstracting the pose
Week 3: Silhouette - A clear read
Week 4; Space - Creating depth and dynamics
Week 5: Exaggeration - Pushing and pulling a drawing
Week 6: Extrapolation - Seeing beyond the surface
Week 7: Story - Giving your drawings context
Week 8: Final Review

The class will meet on Wednesdays from 7pm-9pm at 160 Folsom Street starting July 6th and ending August 24th, 2011.

Tuition will be $800 for the entire course (all materials will be provided).

Class size will be limited to 12 students.

If you're interested and/or would like more information, you can email me at alex@woohoopictures.com.

Class FULL!

2011-05-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

The Gesture 101 Class is now full!

Because I was not able to accommodate all the interest with the first class, I am considering offering a second class soon. Email me (alex@woohoopictures.com) if you are interested, and I will keep you updated with the schedule and all other relevant information.

On a completely unrelated note:

My thoughts on macaroons:

Credit where credit is due

2011-05-15T15:49:00.000-07:00

On my last post about the Gesture 101 class, I failed to mention a very important fact: the curriculum was developed in collaboration with my good friend Louie Gonzales. Louie is a veteran board artist at Pixar and we've worked on a couple of films together. We built the intro class together over an 8 week period, and that is the foundation of the curriculum that will be taught in the Gesture 101 class. Here's a shout out to professor Louie!

Gesture Drawing 101

2011-04-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

I've been leading the gesture class at Pixar for the past year or so, and I recently completed teaching my first Introductory Gesture Class there. The response from the students was very positive, and seeing them grow in just eight short weeks was extremely rewarding. I've been hearing rumblings that there is interest outside the gates of Pixar for a class like this, so I've decided to give it a shot!

Here are the details:

The course will consist of 8 classes over the course of 8 weeks. The curriculum will be as follows:

Week 1: Line - Distilling the pose to its essence
Week 2: Shape - Abstracting the pose
Week 3: Silhouette - A clear read
Week 4; Space - Creating depth and dynamics
Week 5: Exaggeration - Pushing and pulling a drawing
Week 6: Extrapolation - Seeing beyond the surface
Week 7: Story - Giving your drawings context
Week 8: Final Review

The class will meet on Thursdays from 7pm-9pm at 160 Folsom Street starting June 16th and ending August 4th, 2011.

Tuition will be $800 for the entire course (all materials will be provided).

Class size will be limited to 12 students.

If you're interested and/or would like more information, you can email me at alex@woohoopictures.com.

Thanks!

Thursday Gestures

2011-04-21T18:12:00.000-07:00

New Post

2011-04-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some drawings from the last two classes:

Innovation & Creativity Event Fundraiser

2011-02-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

I will be leading a gesture drawing workshop this Saturday from 1:30-2:20pm as part of an Innovation and Creativity event that is raising funds for the Vanavasi Ashram Trust, a school located in the forest of India that educates the regional tribe’s kids and that is in need of a Jeep!

There will be tons of other classes available, as well as a very interesting Creativity Panel Q&A. One of the panelists will be the uber talented Peter Sohn of Pixar Animation Studios. Peter directed the short "Partly Cloudy", and is a working on Pixar's upcoming 2013 film.

You can find out more details here:

There will be workshops from 10-4:30pm taking place at:
Eucharist Commons
285 Main Street
San Francisco, CA

Come by for one class, or stay for the whole event. Hope to see you there!

1000 worst ways to die

2010-11-03T21:34:00.000-07:00

My friend was telling me about a show she saw the other day while channel surfing: 1000 worst ways to die. She described one of the scenarios where a guy and his girlfriend were drinking beer by a power plant that was surrounded by an electric fence, and the girl dared her boyfriend to pee on the fence. Not wanting to look like a coward, he did... what followed involved a giant explosion and the man's genitals. Her description was so damn funny, I just had to draw it.

So kids, let this be a lesson to you. ALWAYS... I mean NEVER pee on something that contains an electric current.

Painted.

2010-10-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

Finito! (well, one of them)

2010-09-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

The Big Night

2010-09-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

Ready to paint

2010-09-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Our highly sophisticated paint numbering system.

Colors ready for application, courtesy of Rachael and Andrea.

Day 3

2010-09-09T00:05:00.000-07:00

Ready for first layer of paint.

Suited up.

Mine is, of course, from Prada.

Julie is the most detail oriented person I have ever met.

She's awesome.

Peeling the tape after an hours worth of drying.

It's almost as satisfying as pulling off a scab... almost.

Voila!

Tomorrow: Remasking!

More process

2010-09-07T23:41:00.000-07:00

Julie trying hard not to break a nail.

Daniel: Stop sleeping on the job...

...or I'm going to give you a lap dance.

The Process

2010-09-07T00:32:00.001-07:00

We started with two 4x8ft pieces of ply wood.

We then gridded the piece out into squares. 1 inch = 1 ft

Rachel and I laboriously penciled in every shape.

While Michael and Lawrence taped off the edges.

Ting Ting and Leyna then covered up the large sections of black with Hefty garbage bags.

Voila! The piece is now ready to be painted!

WAY TO GO TEAM! They did such awesome work. Fingers crossed that the final piece turns out well!

Real Art!

2010-08-28T16:53:00.001-07:00

A mock up for a piece called "Breaking In" I'm planning on doing for my Church's new space:

The piece will be 4ft x 16ft. I'll post pics of the final piece when it's done.

Tuesday Gestures

2010-07-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

Been a while...

2009-12-08T14:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween Everyone!

2009-10-30T20:37:00.001-07:00

See the video HERE

Gesturing with Shapes

2009-09-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

For this week's gesture drawing class, Louis Gonzales had us draw with thick markers. His goal was to get us to think in terms of shape and silhouette, instead of line and anatomy. It was a fun exercise, and one I recommend trying. The line work in these drawings was done after the fact in an attempt to push and pull the poses... although most of my line work just ended up tracing the shapes. Im guessing we'll be doing more of these exercises next week. I'll leave a bunch without lines so you guys can see the purpose of the exercise.

Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher the Score!

2009-09-08T23:03:00.000-07:00

For those of you that remember the Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher short film I made a few years ago, I have some good news!! Ryan Shore, the uber talented composer and conductor of the score has just released a new CD entitled: "Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher and other short film scores". I'm proud to say that we traveled all the way to Prague to have the score performed and recorded by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, so it's really something special! The album is being distributed by Screen Archives Entertainment and is commercially available on CD or MP3 download.

You can listen to clips HERE

Download the 320 kbit MP3 HERE

or get it from Itunes HERE

Tuesday Gestures

2009-09-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

page 1: 30 sec poses

Page 2 and 3: 1 min poses

A different kind of gesturing...

2009-08-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

In honor of Michael's would be 51st birthday: My Moonwalk

Wed Gestures

2009-08-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

Wed Gestures

2009-08-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Gestures

2009-08-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

Wed Gestures

2009-07-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

Still rusty, but getting back into it...

Tuesday Gestures

2009-07-28T17:39:00.001-07:00

Gone too soon...

2009-06-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

GONE TOO SOON

It's a sad sad day for me... Thank you for all that you shared with the world. See you on the other side.

This is one of my favorite interviews of him (cheesy intro, and terrible sound quality, but some great stuff if you can sit through it):
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

and some great photos from RollingStone

The Art of the Title Sequence: Wall-e

2009-06-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, Jim Capobianco and myself were interviewed about the end credits title sequence from Wall-e. Jim directed, while Scott Morse and myself did most of the story work. Scott also pulled double duty as the sequences art director, while I doubled as an animator and compositor.

You can read the interview HERE. Enjoy!

Randolph

2009-05-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

Some 30 second gestures from today's class

Wednesday Gestures

2009-05-13T13:54:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I've been to drawing class... and it shows... oi!

The Soloist

2009-04-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

I've been really excited about this movie. I'm a big fan of Joe Wright's other films (Pride and Prejudice and Atonement) and I'm eager to see his third feature. It comes out this Friday. Hopefully, it won't disappoint!

HERE is the trailer.

The Man in Black

2009-04-14T00:39:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled on to this Johnny Cash video and was blown away. It has got to be the most powerful music video I have ever seen. It came out a while ago, so forgive me if I'm a little behind on the times... Here is the link.

It was directed by Mark Romanek, a well known music video director. I looked up a few of his other videos, but none of them had the gravity or power of this one.

It's finally done!

2009-04-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

After more than a year of stop and start, I've finally finished my story for Afterworks 3! Here's the title page:

Unfortunately, it may be another year before this hits the comic stands. The details haven't been completely ironed out yet, but Afterworks definitely won't be out in time for this year's comic con. You can rest assured that it will come out eventually, and the stories will (hopefully) be worth the wait!

Some left handed gestures

2009-03-16T22:49:00.001-07:00

I spent a portion of the class last week gesturing with my left hand. I do this from time to time to keep myself from caring about the 'greatness' of the drawing, and to just focus on the physical act of drawing itself. The ironic thing is that these drawings usually end up being better than when I draw with my right. It reminds me of a quote my roommate read to me the other day by Thomas Merton: "we cannot achieve greatness unless we lose all interest in being great." I don't know about you, but that resonates so deeply with me. Hopefully these drawings will attest to that!

and here's some right handed gestures:

Tuesday gestures

2009-02-24T22:54:00.000-08:00

Oscar!

2009-02-22T22:03:00.000-08:00

Woohoo!!!

Gately is back!

2009-02-10T22:56:00.001-08:00

Here are a few of the sketches from today's class.

A Tease

2009-02-09T23:55:00.000-08:00

So I'm almost done with my Afterworks story. I'm ashamed to say that it's taken me over a year to finish this thing. I blame my old friends: laziness and procrastination... ah, I know them so well!

Anyways, thought I'd post two inked frames from the story. Enjoy!

Waltz with Bashir

2009-01-19T20:46:00.000-08:00

I saw Waltz with Bashir on Sunday night with a good friend of mine from work. Having heard great things about the film, I was excited to finally see what all the buzz was about. Unfortunately, the film didn't live up to the hype. I found it disappointing on a number of different levels. Here are a few:

The medium of the film was frustrating... or I should say the lack of proficiency with which the animation was executed was frustrating. Because the film's animation was limited, I was never able to experience emotionally what the characters were going through. They would talk about being confused, remorseful, scared, or whatever other emotion it was they were feeling about their memories of the war, but I could never see it in their faces, in the trembling of their lips, or in the quiver of their eyes. It was like watching a robot tell you a war story. Cold. Harsh. Completely void of human emotion.

Now I know a lot of people are going to be shocked at my insensitivity to this film. "After all", they'll say, "this is a serious movie! It's about war. About genocide. This is an important film!"

Yes, the subject matter had gravity. Genocide is no frivolous matter. But it's precisely because the subject matter carries so much weight that the film completely failed for me. We're talking about genocide here - mass killings of groups of human beings. If you're going to depict this in a film, I want to see the emotional responses of both parties: the victims and the perpetrators. War is inherently full of contradictions - moral, ethical, emotional. I want to see those contradictions, those conflicts, those tensions play out on the screen, not just hear about it.

While I was watching the film, I kept asking myself, "why is this film animated?... and why is it animated in flash?... what storytelling advantages does the director gain by using this technique?" And the only reasons I could come up with were: (1) budgetary reasons. Animating the movie in flash would allow the director to portray scenes of war without having to foot the bill of real life helicopters, exploding buildings, and special effects. (2) Style for styles sake. Which is no reason at all in my book.

The most relevant parts of the film are the last few shots, where we see real footage of the Palestinians reacting in horror to the violence and injustices enacted on them and their families. The images were powerful, the emotion potent and real, and it bore a gravity that I wished the rest of the 115 minutes of the film had.

Revolutionary Road - Trailer Analysis

2008-12-06T16:49:00.000-08:00

I spent my saturday afternoon watching some trailers online, and one of the trailers that stuck out to me was the TV spot for Sam Mendes new film "Revolutionary Road". I saw the theatrical trailer for this film while watching 'Slumdog Millionaire' (which is a great film) with my Dad, and I remember finding it really intriguing. The TV spot, in my opinion, is even more successful than the theatrical trailer. There's hardly any dialogue in the TV spot and it relies almost completely on visual storytelling. I decided to break down the TV spot to exercise my analysis muscles.

Shot 1:

The spot opens with a wide shot of a couple embracing in front of their house. Two pairs of kids legs run through the frame, while the sprinkler waters the lawn. This first shot gives us a lot of information. It tells us that this is an archetypal suburban American family : they have a house, a lawn, two kids, and are happily married - the picture perfect marriage of the 1950's.

Shot 2:

This next shot expands on their family life. The husband (leonardo dicaprio) bringing his wife some tea, while she shows him some kind of paperwork (maybe a bill). A glimpse into a typical morning for this couple.

Shot 3:

The wife (Kate Winslet) looks lovingly at her husband as he gets ready for work. The look on her face tells us that she is deeply in love with her husband. This really seems like the perfect couple.

Shot 4:

The spot now enters split screen mode (perhaps signaling the beginning of their separate lives). We see Winslet seeing her husband off to work. Both images seem a little lonely.

Shot 5:

Husband and Wife say goodbye to each other for the day. A snapshot into the ideal American family life, and yet the expressions on their faces tell us that things are not as picture perfect as they might seem.

Shot 6:

Work Life. Both are isolated. DiCaprio in a sea of people, but completely alone (no one makes eye contact). Winslet at home carrying out her chores in an empty house.

Shot 7:

Both look longingly out the window. We sense their loneliness. Their dissatisfaction.

Shot 8:

Again, DiCaprio is surrounded by people, and yet the expression on his face tells us he's utterly alone. He's faceless in this crowd of conformity. Winslet is out of the house, among people, but not interacting with anyone.

Shot 9:

This shot juxtaposes the perception of family life with the reality of it. On the left side of the screen, we see DiCaprio walking past a window ad depicting happy assiduous house wives, while the right side shows us the reality of life as a house wife.

Shot 10:

His work. Her work.

Shot 11:

Not exactly sure what the purpose of this shot is. Although you can't tell from the still, the shot has both characters turning toward camera, as if they were reacting to someone/something that has caught their attention.

Shot 12:

End of the day. Husband returns home from work and is greeted by his beautiful wife. She's wearing an apron which implies that she's in the middle of making dinner, and yet it's spotless. She's wearing an evening dress and high heels. Again, everything on the surface is reinforcing the idea of a picture perfect marriage.

Shot 13:

Back to the single image frame (the couples lives are now joined together again). Close up of Dicaprio. He has tears in his eyes. Are they tears of joy? Sorrow? Regret?

Shot 14:

We see what he's reacting to: a perfect family - beautiful wife, two kids, celebrating his birthday.

Shot 15:

Weekend life. In-laws or perhaps neighbors visiting.

Shot 16:

Drinks with the neighbors.

Shot 17:

Back to the work week. Dicaprio flicks a cigarette off the train during his commute. He's in deep thought about something.

Shot 18:

Close up of a record player. The needle is at the edge of the disc (where record needles go when you start a new disc). A symbol, perhaps, that their relationship is now starting to play to a different tune.

Shot 19:

Hints at infidelity. The only two people making eye contact in the entire frame are Dicaprio and the woman.

Shot 20:

More hints. And from the other side of the relationship.

Shot 21:

She's in deep contemplation about something, possibly over a big decision she has to make.

Shot 22:

Winslet is at a dance club of some sort. Red lights. She's looking carelessly at someone... but who?

Shot 23:

Love scene in the car. We can't see the man's face, but it's definitely not her husband.

Shot 24:

The aftermath. Her husband has found out about the adultery. He's furious.

Shot 25:

He attacks the perpetrator.

Shot 26:

The husband looks tired, exhausted, and defeated.

Shot 27:

Home life is now anything but picture perfect.

Shot 28:

Winslet is on the beach, maybe to get away from the discord at home. Her eyes are covered by big dark sunglasses, and yet the sky is gray and overcast. There isn't another person in the frame wearing shades. This tells me that she's wearing those glasses to hide something - maybe the bags from under her eyes from all the crying and fighting.

Shot 29:

They're still in love. Their relationship is full of passion, ups and downs, togetherness...

Shot 30:

...and separation. Love...

Shot 31:

... and hate.

Shot 32:

Unrestrained emotion...

Shot 33:

...and deep reflection.

On this shot, the music for the trailer abruptly stops, and the only sound we hear are footsteps walking. Are they his or hers?

Shot 34:

Title Card, as if to say "To find out the answer, come see this film."

Shot 35:

The first of only two lines of dialogue for the entire spot plays over this shot. DiCaprio: "We can be happy here."

Shot 36:

Winslet: "I hope so Frank."

Shot 37:

"I really hope so..."

Shot 38:

Second to last shot of the spot shows DiCaprio running down the street of his suburban neighborhood. He's chasing someone or something. His wife perhaps? Or maybe in this context it's more symbolic: A dream? An ideal? A fantasy?

Shot 39:

The entire spot plays to Phil Phillips and George Khoury's 1959 single "Sea of Love" (the cultural significance of which I'm not entirely aware of). The lyrics go:

come with me
my love
to the sea
the sea of love
i want to tell you
how much i love you

So what I gather from this trailer is that this is a story about love. More specifically, it seems like a story about marriage and the disillusionment a generation had with the promises of significance and fulfillment that marriage would bring.

What do you think? Was the trailer successful? I for one am sold!

You can view the actual trailer here.

The Artist as Actor

2008-11-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

One of the exercises we tried this week was to have the model strike a pose that embodied an emotion. I then asked the students to internalize and personalize that emotion (almost as if they were an actor preparing for a scene) before they started drawing. They ended up with drawings that were much more emotive and expressive than usual. The only problem was that because some of the students were so focused on the emotion, they forgot to think about the visual fundamentals of good design and staging. It's a tricky balancing act between the two states of mind, and it's something that I continue to wrestle with today. Here are some a few of the drawings I did during class:

quick gestures

2008-10-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

Here are a few gestures from class the other day. I haven't put together any new handouts, but when I do, I'll make sure I post them. Enjoy!

Baby Cousin...

2008-10-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

My new baby cousin is on her way into the world! Here's the birthday card I made her:

I'll post a couple gestures up soon. Until then...

Michael Jackson gives some insight into gesture drawing

2008-09-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

For todays gesture drawing class, I grabbed a few frames from some home video footage of Michael Jackson dancing in a doorway. What I wanted to show the class was how conscious Michael is of where his body is in relation to the audience (in this case the camera). Every pose he strikes, and every move he makes is tailored to the viewer to give maximum readability and appeal. Every single pose creates a clear and striking silhouette. That's what we should be aiming for when we're drawing. For Michael, since he knows the camera is locked, he adjusts his body to create clear and readable poses. For us, as artists drawing a locked subject, we need to adjust our drawings in order to create clear and readable poses. It's not just about capturing what we see in front of us. It's also very important how we present what we see. Michael was keenly aware of his relationship with the audience. We should be too.

Look at the great lines and shapes Michael creates with his body, playing around with weight (the moonwalk is the ultimate example of playing with the illusion of weightlessness) and embodying different attitudes. It's no different in animation and drawing.

Here is a link to the actual clip.

And here are some great clips of him moonwalking (notice how you almost always see the moonwalk from a side profile angle? It's because that's the angle at which it reads the best):

So next time you draw, don't be afraid to push, pull, move and turn things in order to clarify your drawing for the audience. You're the director of your drawing. Don't be afraid to direct!

Gesturing with your left

2008-09-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

I've been gesture drawing lately with my left hand (I'm right handed) just as an experiment. It's been quite interesting to see the drawings that emerge. I often times like them more than the drawings I do with my right hand. They have a freshness and life to them that my right handed drawings seem to lack. I'm not sure why this is, but I think it's because I have no bad habits with my left - no shorthands that I can rely on. It may also have to do with the fact that my left hand is directly connected to my right brain, so maybe that's helping? In any case, I recommend giving it a shot (if you're left handed, try drawing with your right). The first few drawings will probably be illegible, but push past them. I think you'll find that you'll get some very interesting results! Here are a few of the more successful left handed drawings I've done in the last two weeks:

Afterworks blog!

2008-07-24T18:04:00.000-07:00

The AFTERWORKS blog is up! Thanks to my buddy Scott Morse. You can go there for sneak peaks at some of the upcoming Afterworks stories. Here are a few more pages from me, in no particular order. Enjoy!

Afterworks pages...FINALLY!

2008-07-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while. Things have been busy at work, and I've been spending more of my time thinking about my Afterworks 3 story (I still have a couple of pages that I haven't figured out yet). Fortunately, I was able to get in some inking as well. Here are some pages below: inked and valued. I still need to do a color pass. That will come later. I've also put in a picture of this great new pen I discovered at Kinokuniya (a Japanese stationary store). It's made the inking process much more enjoyable. Enjoy the new pages!

Seeing beyond the surface

2008-05-21T16:28:00.000-07:00

For one of the sessions, our male model decided to cross dress and role play as a woman. He's done this before, and in the past, my drawings were representative of what was in front of me: a man dressing up as a woman. But today, I decided to ignore his gender, and to take gesture drawing to it's logical extreme - I started drawing him as a woman. I found that this exercise helped me really focus on the gesture and essence of the pose because I was forced to almost completely ignore any sort of anatomy I was seeing. I don't know if the drawings are any stronger than usual, but I think the important thing is that it helped me think properly. So the next time you figure draw, try drawing the model as the opposite gender, or even as an animal, or a character. It will force you to look beyond what you see.

more gestures

2008-05-02T10:24:00.001-07:00

Thoughts on Gesture Drawing

2008-04-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

A sense of purpose and direction is important in everything in life, and it's no different when it comes to gesture drawing. I got to monitor the gesture class today for 15 quick minutes, and walking around helping others draw really made it clear how important it is to be committed to a direction - to have each of your drawings make a statement. Draftsmanship is helpful, but if you aren't committed to a statement, your drawing will be nothing more than a pretty picture. If, however, you really commit to a statement (and that statement can be anything), your drawing will come alive.

As far as technique goes, these are some of the things that I think about when I do a gesture drawing:

After the model hits a pose, I try to find a line of action that best captures the essence of the pose. it's purely visual at this point. I haven't even begun to think about the story behind the pose.

Usually, the next step I take is to find the focus of the pose/drawing. Depending on the pose, it can be very obvious or it can be completely arbitrary. I try not to think about it too much, and I tend to let my instincts drive at this point.

After finding the focus, I start drawing the rest of the body. It's usually informed by the model in front of me, but I try to use that as more of a cheat sheet than an answer book (if that makes any sense). I start relating the rest of the body to this area of focus. This is where anatomy and draftsmanship can really be helpful. And as the drawing begins to take form, I then start thinking about the statement of the drawing. What is the character doing? Is she sad? Happy? Confused? Lonely? etc. It's almost as if I'm asking the drawing who it is, what it is about, where it wants to go, and really listening to what it needs.

The last step, which I usually don't get to, is to push and pull things in the drawing to strengthen the statement it's making. That can range from anything like coloring her hair, moving a leg or an arm to make a stronger silhouette, or drawing in a prop or two to really sell the statement.

Here are the drawings I did today. Hopefully they make a statement, and have life to them!

Gestures!

2008-04-28T15:35:00.000-07:00

Story Auction!

2008-04-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

So the Story Auction was a HUGE success (not to mention loads of fun)!! It was the first time I'd participated in an art auction, and I'm hoping it was the first of many to come. Here are some pictures from the show.

My pieces are circled in red.

And here is a scan of the finished version of the grandma and grandpa kissing:

Art Auction Pt 3

2008-04-14T16:58:00.001-07:00

So I finished the third part... well almost... i have a few finishing touches I want to put on this last painting. The focus of the painting should be on their faces, but right now, my eye goes directly to the center pocket of his overalls... I think because that's the point of highest contrast. I'll have to figure out a way to bring up the contrast in grandma and grandpas faces. I'll post the revisions when I get to them.

Also, Ollie Johnston (on the right), the last of Disney's famed Nine Old Men, and co-author of "The Illusion of Life", died today. :(

Thanks for all your amazing work Ollie.

You can read about his contributions to the art of animation here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ollie_Johnston

Art Auction part 2

2008-04-10T11:49:00.001-07:00

So here's the second piece in the series that I'm hoping to finish for the auction. It's a continuation of the love story between the characters in the gouache painting I posted last week. I'm hoping to finish the last one this weekend. Wish me luck!

Art Auction

2008-04-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

So a bunch of us in the story department are contributing art work for a small little inter-company auction. It's been inspiring, and very very humbling, to see all the amazing work my fellow story artists come up with. It just reminds me of what a privilege it is to be working at Pixar - working among some of the greatest artists in the world!

We were given free reign to draw or paint whatever our hearts desired. For some reason, all I wanted to do was draw cheesy romantic 'hallmark' art... i guess maybe because I'm a cheesy romantic hallmark guy... (barf)

Anyways, here's what I'm contributing to the show:

The piece below is my first attempt at gouache.

For Justin

2008-03-20T11:39:00.001-07:00

Rest in Peace

2008-03-19T14:00:00.001-07:00

Some sad sad news. Justin Wright, a good friend and fellow story artist here at Pixar, passed away yesterday. He was only 27 years old.

Justin - Your talent and exuberance for animation and life was inspiring. You will be dearly missed. But I know I'll see you again in the future, not just as you were, but as "a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly…His own boundless power and delight and goodness" (C.S. Lewis).

Until that day my friend...

- You can see some of the awesome work he did HERE

Analysis of a Shot - All the President's Men

2008-03-18T21:58:00.001-07:00

I am watching "All the President's Men" at the moment (I'm about half way through the film... I know, I know... it's an abomination to stop a film halfway through, but I've been really short on time lately), and there is one shot in particular that blew me away. It's the scene where Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) is sitting at his desk, juggling two phone calls as he tries to discover why a $25,000 check from a Republican campaign donor ended up in the bank account of one of the Watergate burglars.

The shot is unique for a number of different reasons. First, it is a single take that lasts for about 6 or 7 minutes. Second, it was shot with a dual-focus lens (a lens with two focal points) and thus has two deliberate points of focus within the frame.

At first, when I was watching the scene unfold, I couldn't understand why the director would use such a strange lens. Dual focus lenses are hardly the norm, and audiences will undoubtedly find the image it produces strange, at best, and jarring, at worst. My first instinct was that this shot was a gimmick - that the director or cinematographer had recently discovered this new dual-focus lens, and wanted to throw it into the film to be technologically savvy. It wasn't until the shot unfolded that I realized the choice was deliberate, purposeful, and brilliant!

If you look at the shot, you'll see that the background on the right side of the frame (behind Redford) is slightly out of focus, while the background on the left side of the frame is in focus. This is a clear and deliberate choice by the director telling the audience to pay attention to both Redford and the background character's on the left side of the frame.

As the scene unfolds, we see all of Redford's coworkers gradually make their way over to television in the back of the room. People even enter from off screen to see what all the fuss is about.

Redford is the only person in frame that is fully focused on his work.

Redford's performance reinforces this separation between him and his coworkers by covering his right ear with his hand.

The brilliance of this shot is that it creates a stark contrast between Redford and the rest of the newsroom. Based purely on the visuals, the director is telling us that this is a man that is dedicated to his work - a man who is intensely focused and passionate about what he is doing - someone who is different from everyone else.

That wide shot alone would have been enough to impress me, but as the scene continues to unfold, we see that the camera is very, very slowly zooming in on Redford's character. The director is taking us into Redford's mindset. We're becoming just as focused as he is as we inch in towards the close up.

Narratively, the world is beginning to drop out of Redford's mind. The camera is reinforcing this idea by zooming in to Redford, dropping out the rest of the visual world we see - the second point of focus drops out of frame, and then the background behind Redford begins to completely blur out of focus.

The shot climaxes on a close up of Redford's face, emphasizing the tension and intensity of the moment.

Blown away? I still am!!!

There was one other shot in the film, earlier on, that also used the dual-focus lens. It was another scene where Redford is on the phone, hunting down information on the watergate scandal. This shot is not as impressive as the one above, but it uses the dual focus lens very effectively to set up contrast. See if you can figure out what he the director was trying to do.

Wednesday Gestures

2008-03-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some gestures from yesterdays class. I'm finding that gestures are much easier to do when the model has clothes on. The folds on the clothing really tell me where to accent the compression and extension of the model's body. It also helped that this model gave some great 'non' figure drawing poses.

Wednesday Gestures

2008-03-05T18:02:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Gestures

2008-03-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

Some quick gestures... I might go back in and turn some of these in to scenes... unfortunately, my brain wasn't working fast enough to put the pose down and come up with a scenario at the same time.

Gestures from class

2008-02-29T09:37:00.000-08:00

Here are the few quick sketches I was able to do in between instructing the class. To give you guys an idea of how the class is structured, the model will pose anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. We try to keep the time to a minimum, so that we don't get too focused on details of the anatomy, and focus more on the gesture of the pose. The philosophy is to use the pose as a foundation (a sort of jumping off point) and then to use our imagination and create a drawing that tells a story, or has some sort of entertainment value. It's very fun when your mind finally is open to the idea of not being constrained to what's in front of you. I still have a difficult time with it, so it's great to have those little quotes from Walt to remind me where I should be when I'm drawing.

Walt's Witty Wisdom

2008-02-28T21:29:00.000-08:00

I was given the chance to teach a gesture drawing class the other day. I was a bit nervous and worried that I wouldn't have anything useful to say. Fortunately, I stumbled across some Walt Stanchfield notes, and found a number of great bits of wisdom to pass on to the class. Here are some of my favorites:

"If yer eyes is stuck on the model, yer mind is bein' left out."

"In drawin', yer eyes and yer mind is pardners -- yer eyes sees it first but yer mind has to correct what they seen."

"It may take two hundred words to convince someone that yer honest, but it only takes 5 lines in a drawin' ta prove you ain't."

"Any details that don't 'help the gesture 'll never be missed."

"When drawin's takes tha place of talk -- they gotta say jest as much"

"A good drawin' doesn't need dialogue ta say what it's got ta."

I didn't get to do very many drawings, as I spent most of the time giving pointers to others, but I'll post what I have tomorrow.

The New Frontier DVD

2008-02-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

The new Justice League movie comes out today on DVD. I storyboarded an aerial dog fight sequence in the film. I have yet to see it, but I hear the film is really good. My friend Dave Bullock directed it, and I have full confidence in his talents. Pick up a copy today if you're interested! Here's a link to the trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=cnkKnvomyjU

Oh, and how about three cheers for Ratatouille winning the oscar for Best Animated Feature! WOOHOO!!! WOOHOO!!! WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Color Test

2008-02-19T15:03:00.001-08:00

So I've been trying to find the final look of the comic, and I just can't get anything that I am crazy about. I actually like the looseness and the vitality of the roughs, and I'm finding that every time I clean up the drawings, they lose a lot of life. I got so frustrated, that I decided to forget about the line work for now, and try to work on the color. Here is a test I did today during my lunch break.

And here are some figures from todays gesture drawing class:

Back to the drawing table

2008-02-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been soooo long. I went on vacation for a month during the holidays, and I got blind sided by life the minute I got back. Despite life's constant changes, it's reassuring to know that blogger is always here for me. :) I've been inching my way back to the drawing table. Here are some of the most recent sketches I've done. I've also started experimenting with the final look of my Afterworks 3 comic. So far I've been playing around with the line work. Below are some samples:

Afterworks Character Designs

2007-11-19T19:14:00.000-08:00

My Afterworks story features a few of my friends from work. It's a little strange doing 'model sheets' of your co-workers, but also immensely enjoyable. It is a real challenge to figure out how far I can push their expressions while still maintaining their likeness (especially in the first batch). Anyways, here they are:

Gestures

2007-11-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

Was able to get some gestures in this week. The first batch was done during class. The last page is me trying to clean up some of the better poses, but I think they lost quite a bit of life.

Grandma and Grandpa

2007-10-28T02:16:00.000-07:00

I've been spending a lot of time making things for my family lately - everything from wedding videos to caricatures. Here's one of my grandma and grandpa.

Here are a few of the pics I was working with:

Sunday Sketches

2007-10-22T00:46:00.001-07:00

I was able to fit in an hour or so of sketching at a coffee shop today. I forget sometimes how relaxing drawing can be. It's so nice to be able to just concentrate on what's in front of you. So much of my time is spent thinking about the future, or solving problems, or whatever other worries that life can bring. It's nice to know that the pencil and paper are always there for me.

Back to the blog...

2007-10-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

Oh man, it's been a while. Been caught up with making wedding videos and work. I finally got a chance to sit down and do some drawing tonight. I am definitely rusty. I've been looking at a lot of Hirshfeld lately, trying to figure out the art of caricatures. I was talking to a coworker of mine yesterday about it, and he said that it's really strange how a good caricature can resemble a person more than a photograph. Sounds strange, but I know exactly he means. I think the reason for that is because very often in pictures, people are not in their 'natural state'. Everyone is always smiling or putting on a face, and it's usually not the face or expression that we associate with them. I've always found caricatures difficult because I focus too much on the physicality of someone's face, when i should really be focused on capturing their spirit. I know, sounds so lofty and esoteric, but I think it's true. Anyways, here was my attempt at a Hirschfeld-esque caricature of me and my girlfriend at the wedding I spent the last two months making a video for. Enjoy!

Here's the picture I used for the drawing:

CAM

2007-07-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

...or otherwise known as the Creative Arts Ministry at my church (www.grxsf.org). We're having our first ever church wide retreat in a few weeks, and our small group was put in charge of promoting the event. This is a video we did to try and get people to sign up:

It's silly...but it was a lot of fun making it!

Kids!!

2007-07-06T00:49:00.000-07:00

Got inspired by some kid drawings my good friend Nick Sung was doing today. Kids are so funny!

Afterworks 3 - more thumbnails

2007-06-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

My afterworks story has been coming along slowly but surely. I'm about 4/5 of the way through thumbnails. The story is turning out to be a longer than I had anticipated, so after I finish this stage, I'm going to go back and streamline the story - see which panels I can combine, which story points can be cut, etc. After that, I will go in an rough in the values, and then after that the color. I'm not sure how i'm going to finish the art work...if it will be digital, watercolor, or guaoche. I'm leaning toward the first two, as they seem to be the quickest and most familiar mediums for me. But we'll see...

There is a section missing between this section of thumbnails and the next...I have yet to work that part of the story out.

Bill Presing's new blog

2007-06-04T23:42:00.001-07:00

If you haven't been to it already, make sure you check out Bill Presing's new blog: www.billpresing.com
It is friggin' AWESOME!!! Here's a pic of him in action at the Ratatouille wrap party this past Saturday.

gestures...with watercolor!

2007-05-22T23:04:00.001-07:00

SF ballet

2007-04-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

So a bunch of us at pixar got to go to a full dress rehearsal of Don Quixote at the SF ballet. It was an amazing experience, and we got some really nice drawings from the trip. Here are the some that I did. Enjoy!

Gestures from Wednesdays class

2007-04-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

Gesture drawing Tuesdays....

2007-04-17T18:09:00.000-07:00

The all new Cleveland Steamer:

2007-04-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

painting begun....

2007-04-05T00:02:00.000-07:00

Started the painting... here's the in progress... also got sidetracked drawing a shirtless dude.

two men and a monster....

2007-04-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

the monster is for the tag team monster battle at fistacuffs.blogspot.com

the two dudes are just random sketches... hopefully I'll get to that painting some time over Easter weekend.

Until then...

no painting... but here's the layout

2007-03-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

Didn't get to do any painting this weekend, but here's the sketch that I'm going to use. enjoy!

Ratatouille Trailer!

2007-03-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/ratatouille/

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

more gestures...

2007-03-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

sorry this is getting a bit redundant with the gesture drawings. I'm gonna try and do some painting this weekend. I have a few ideas for some pieces I'd like to do for the next 'ancient book of' series that Scott Morse has been putting together. You can check out the first part of this series at http://scottmorse.blogspot.com/ The book is amazing, and I highly recommend picking up a copy. Until then, here are some gestures from this week and last...

gestures...

2007-03-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

birthday cards

2007-03-03T21:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some birthday cards i made for a friend. The background on the card with the grave was painted by my office mate, the uber talented Scott Morse.

Three valuable lessons...

2007-02-28T00:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been a while. I've been sick, and swamped with work. Haven't been drawing that much, but i have been doing some writing. I'm applying for this grant from my alma-mater, and as part of the application I had to write an essay about my work. Here it is:

Growing up, my mother always said, "if you do what you love, then you'll be good at what you do." Of course, everything she said went in one ear and out the other. But when it came time for me to choose a university to attend and what degree to pursue, I somehow recalled those words of wisdom she so lovingly gave me. "I love movies, Mom, so I'm going to go to film school."

Now, as first generation immigrants from Hong Kong, both from relatively modest backgrounds, my parents were not too keen on the idea of paying tuition for their first born to study movies. Film school was not their idea of higher education, nor did a future career in filmmaking seem like a legitimate profession. But, I loved movies. And, I wanted to make them. And, well, according to my mother, that meant that I was going to be darn good at it.

So, with bright eyes and an eager spirit, I enrolled into NYU's Film & TV production program. My parents were supportive (meaning they paid for my tuition), but they were eager to remind me that it was never too late to change majors.

During my first day at Sight and Sound Film, we were asked to introduce ourselves and to name our number one all time favorite film. "What a great ice breaker," I thought, "and how appropriate. I wonder how many people like the same movies I like." The first student gave his name and said that his number one all-time favorite film was Federico Fellini's 81/2. He said that the film struck a chord deep in his soul, and that it single handedly inspired him to become a filmmaker. The other students nodded in agreement over the films' brilliance. The second student mentioned a film by Jean Luc Godard and again, everyone acknowledged his refined taste in cinema. As we continued around the classroom, people continued to name films and directors that I had never even heard of --Films from the French New Wave, German Expressionism, and the Italian Neo-Realism movements. Everyone seemed so intelligent, their taste so sophisticated and their intentions so serious. What were they going to think when I told them that Back to the Future was my all-time favorite film? Was this some kind of mistake? Did the admissions officer accidentally let a popcorn-munching, brain-dead movie junkie into this refined and sophisticated institution?

I spent the rest of the semester frantically trying to catch up with the high culture of cinema that I was so clearly ignorant of. I watched all the films my peers talked so intelligently about, read all the books that documented the different movements throughout films' history. I even tried to dress like a filmmaker. I bought turtle necks, a plaid sport jacket, and even started sporting a pair of black rim blue-tinted glasses (despite the fact that I had perfect 20/20 vision). If I were capable of growing a beard, I most definitely would have.

Needless to say, my antics were not very effective in transforming me into a 'serious filmmaker'. My creative efforts were sorely misdirected, and the results were not surprising. All I had to show for at the end of the semester was a handful of terribly pretentious short films, and an even more atrocious wardrobe.

In New York City, and particularly in the film community, there seemed to be a sort of unspoken expectation for filmmakers to break new ground, to push the envelope, and to make films with earth-shattering ideas. This tyranny of potential was crushing and, for me, creatively stifling. I spent most of my time trying to dance to someone else's beat, and I ended up falling flat on my face.

I started to think that I had made a serious mistake in choosing to go to film school. "I think I should change majors. I just don't feel like I belong here," I lamented to my mother. "I thought you loved movies," she said. "I do! But not these kinds of movies. Give me Speilberg, Zemeckis and Bird, not Lynch, Truffaut, or von Trier! I want to make movie equivalents of Rockwell's, not Picasso's." "Well, then do it".

So I did.

I threw away my glasses, my turtlenecks and the silly notion that I had to be a 'serious filmmaker'. I took refuge in the animation department, where entertainment was not only accepted, but cherished. Under the tutelage of John Canemaker and the other animation professors, I found a place where my creativity could run amuck. I rediscovered my love for the medium of film, and threw myself head first into production on an ambitious ten minute animated action-adventure that was perhaps the most unserious film imaginable, Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher.

Three long, but rewarding years of production later, I found myself on stage at the Student Academy Awards, accepting the trophy for first place in the animation category. A year after that, I found myself at Skywalker Ranch in front of George Lucas, pitching him the story for an animated feature that LucasFilm Animation had optioned from me, based on the strength of the short. And the year after that, I found myself at Pixar, next to Brad Bird (my number one all-time favorite director) telling me that my film was "way cool", while I was pitching him a sequence I storyboarded for his next film Ratatouille.

Since the films completion, Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher has won 17 awards, garnered 21 nominations, and played at over 40 film festivals around the world. The DVD has sold nearly 4000 units (700 of which sold within the first five days of release) and will soon be published in France in conjunction with the Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher graphic novel as part of a two-piece collector’s set.

There are three valuable lessons that I've learned about my work and my own creative process from these experiences. The first is that for creativity to thrive, I need to be in an environment where I can work uncensored - where mistakes are considered an integral part of the creative process. The second is that (while it may come off trite) I need to stay true to myself - that trying to be someone else is a surefire recipe for failure. And the third, and most important lesson I've learned is, of course, that I should listen to my mother.

More gestures from Gately's class

2007-02-15T11:25:00.000-08:00