Drawings!

So I'm trying to do a lot more on location sketching - these were all done either at a mall or the local Starbucks. There's always a great variety of people around, and I've gotten much more accustomed to doing sketches with locations (what a novel concept...) The first one I was attempting to nail down the pose and character with as few lines as possible (my dog is in there too). Hope you like them, comments and critiques are appreciated.
In other news - one of my favourite artists has his own blog - Alessandro Barbucci, creator of Skydoll - which Marvel is actually reprinting in a translated version, seemingly different from the earlier Heavy Metal.
Jim Hull of the on and off blog "Seward Street" has a blog devoted entirely to story called "StoryFanatic", definitely worth checking out.
AnimationMentor has a couple of articles about ergonomics that should be read if you are working at a desk all day, regardless if you're an animator or whatever. They can be found here and here.
Last and most definitely not least, I wanted to once again congratulate Vlad Kooperman, animator extraordinaire, on his winning "best animation" in the Toronto International Film Festival 2008 Student Showcase. His film "C-Block" kicks ass.
Kung Fu Panda is awesome. Go see it when it comes out.
That's all for now, be posting again soon. Comments are greatly appreciated.
R.

More Subway sketching.

At the food court of St. Bruno mall in Montreal, QC.

Outside on the patio of a Second Cup.

Some more drawings, mostly from the subway unless otherwise labelled. I may be changing up my story idea to a little gag idea about a spaceman, as I've been talking to a few people who've said that the driver idea is much too elaborate to pursue as a finished animated film by one person. I've also decided that my focus is going to be storyboarding, so don't worry, the driver film will be finished, in the form of a completed animatic, so expect to see some boards here shortly for both. The first pass of a very, very rough thumbnail animatic is actually done for the driver film, but I haven't decided if I'll be posting it up here yet.
Also, on that note, to all those making a film (students especially) in the (near) future, please do yourselves a favor and check out Spline Doctors for a podcast (also downloadable via iTunes) featuring the incomparable Ted Mathot and Mark Andrews, story artists at Pixar who delve deep into the story process at Pixar and discuss the common mistakes made by students making films among other things, and it's also hilarious to hear the soft-spoken Mr. Mathot with the outspoken Mr. Andrews.
Another huge inspiration of late has been the amazingly talented Deanna Marsigliese whose new book "The Art of Deanna Marsigliese" shows off an amazing new talent. If you haven't seen any of her stuff, I suggest you check out her blog and book. Definitely worth seeing.
After SDCC, Andrew Stanton has been doing interviews all over the place - check out his audio interview at ComingSoon.net
Lastly, thank you so much to everyone who has been commenting on the last few posts, your encouragement means a lot.
-R.