Warning!: Bad Drawings Ahead!

So, I tried something different. While having coffee at a wonderful new coffee shop I discovered (not the different part) on Friday of last week, I attempted to draw with my wrong hand (read: left). The results kind of surprised me and were interesting enough to post on here I suppose (that, and I needed to update). The drawings are unedited, the first four pages are entirely done with my wrong hand (the first page being the first drawings I drew with it and so on) and the last page was just some random doodles I did while attempting to brainstorm.

Ronnie Del Carmen illustrated the UP tie-in book! Check out his post and some preview page goodness here. Bolt apparently comes out on dvd next week! Check it out! I also saw the most amazingly terrible movie this past weekend...more on that in the next post! Also, Nicole posted a St. Patty's day challenge, and Lissa solved it. Also, for fans of Scott Pilgrim, I'm sure you all know a movie is coming out (or you've heard me not shut up about it and how amazing the casting is) but how cool and hilarious is this?

That's all for now! Comments appreciated!
R.

Movies!

Pulp Fiction

Drawings! I watched Pulp Fiction for the first time this past weekend (I know, I know, missed out on movies growing up, terrible tastes back in the day, etc.) and it was pretty cool. Unsurprisingly I'd assume, my favourite parts involved Jules Winfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta).

Garden State

Garden State is a movie I used to watch a lot when it first came out on dvd. I hadn't seen it since then (number of years) and was worried it wouldn't live up to what I remembered. It did, albeit in a different way. Not really amazingly shot or anything, but he made good with what he was working with, I think. The emotional core of the movie, which I think is contained in Sam's (Natalie Portman) character was really endearing - she's (I think) extremely likable and I love the way she opens Andrew up to not shying away from life or running from his problems.

Speaking of running.. Nicole, Lissa and I were walking back from lunch whereupon Nicole attempted to catch a piece of dust. Unsuccessful, the dust attempted to retaliate, and tried to attach itself to Nicole like an evil parasite. Nicole ran.
The dust was defeated. This drawing was created as a commemoration to the event.

The Walt Stanchfield books are coming!!! Can't WAIT! Put together by the legendary Disney producer, Don Hahn, check out his site for an exclusive trailer!
Don't know who he is? Clay, Mark Kennedy and Will Finn have posted great accounts about the man himself.
Til next time!

R.

Doodlies!

I'm totally setting a record for my blog for the new year. Two posts in two weeks! Take that, world! Unfortunately, this post is pretty anti-climactic due to just having a page of doodles which include some very bizarre bat-rabbits. Ah, c'est la vie.
Links! Don Hahn's Walt Stanchfield books are poised to come out sometime in the next 3 months...I could go on and on about how immensely amazing his notes are and how you should totally buy his book because having it collected in 2 volumes like this is indispensable, but Mark's already said it better. If you're into gesture sketching in cafes/subways and the like, this is really a must-have. There's a little trailer on Don Hahn's site too.
Also, Nina Paley did a feature length animated film all on her own called "Sita Sings the Blues", which the website describes as: "Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by e-mail." It's set to the old Indian mythological story of the Ramayana, and is now completely available in full for FREE here!
Thanks for everyone who commented on the last couple posts, much appreciated.
R.

Attack!!

So, it's been a while since I posted...I've..been busy?
Sorry.
Anyway, here are some drawings:

ATTACK OF THE GORGONZOLA!

Inspired by a friend saying that every time she hears the word "Gorgonzola", she thinks of an endangered species. I thought of this. No idea where THAT came from.

Some life drawings that I did around LA - the first at a bunch of cafe's around while searching for the perfect coffee - still doesn't beat the first place I found thanks to James. And the last was done at my new favourite sushi shop on sushi row in the Valley. Thanks to Johnny Drama for that one.







Lastly, some awesome links: I've been reading Outliers the past couple days, and so far, it's pretty awesome. Some things are hard to swallow, some make a lot of sense even if you don't want them to. Either way, one of the most interesting things I've found is what Gladwell calls the "10,000 hour rule", I'll let him explain: the 10,000 hour rule
Also, I implore you, if you haven't seen Dr. Horrible yet, GO WATCH IT.
Nicole started a blog!! Go to it! And Lissa's blog too, because it's awesome and she hasn't posted in a while and maybe this will make her. I added links to the side for both their blogs, along with Tealin's as well.
Kate Beaton's valentine's day drawings are the best things ever (my favourite is the Curies)

That is all for now, as always comments and crits are appreciated!!
Post again soon!
R.

Another post!

Wow, two posts in two weeks. Looks like I'm getting back on track. I was watching the Globes last night, and one of my favourite movies this year won pretty big. Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle - who, as a director amazes me with his genre jumping. I'm glad someone actually made a modern "Bollywood" movie that didn't suck. Even the soundtrack was pretty catchy...Anyway, I saw Boyle accepting last night, and felt I needed to caricature him, for obvious reasons.
Also, re-reading everything of Calvin and Hobbes I own and brought with me to L.A., Bill Watterson is genius, as is his strip. For those of you who haven't read it since you were kids and have learned a lot since then, I suggest you read it again. It holds a whole new meaning besides nostalgia. Amazing.

R.

Happy New Year!

So, how awful of a blogger am I? It's been a whole 3 months since I posted. Not for lack of work, just lack of time. I'm currently a story trainee at the House of Mouse - so they've been keeping us super busy, I'm learning an inordinate amount though. Kicks the pants off of school for sure. I just got back from visiting home in good ol' Toronto. Friends, family and the whole nine made it a great break. All to quick, but great nonetheless. Good to be back at work and in the swing of things, even though I've caught a little cold. Hopefully this vile thing won't last long. 2008 was a whirlwind/rollercoaster of a year - graduated, got a job, got another job, moved to a different country where I knew no one etc. Friends got awesome jobs and are all over the place now and met some amazing people. Here's hoping 2009 brings even more awesomeness to the front.

Not really any links to post to, though, if you haven't already you should watch "Slumdog Millionaire", Danny Boyle's latest. Always astounded by his non-genre conforming ways. Also, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was quite good as well, and finally got around to watching "Real Time" with Jay Baruchel and Randy Quaid (also interesting and good) and About a Boy with Hugh Grant, which was really good.
If you get a chance, check out my friend and co-worker Lissa's blog she has some hilarious and awesome stuff. I've also started reading a couple of hilarious web comics, some of which I've been reading for a while now. Most notably, Kate Beaton and Xkcd.


Happy 2009! Hopefully I won't be waiting another 3 months to post!
R.

Television and Life

Back again! I decided to do some long overdue caricatures of two of my favourite shows which just started up again for their 5th seasons over the last two weeks. The Office's Dwight Schrute played by Rainn Wilson, and the amazing Dr. Gregory House played by Hugh Laurie. The House sketch still needs some work, and I'm going to keep attempting it - it's his smugness that I find hardest to capture. The third drawing is something I did while at a mall in Montreal over the weekend (went to visit some family) and I forgot my sketchbook in the car, so we were drinking coffee and I took that sleeve thing and just did a few quick sketches on there. Any crits (especially for the caricatures) are very welcome.

Just some stuff around the net I found interesting: James Robertson did a fantastic post about how he thinks about story as he dissected a short from a great film called "Paris, Je T'aime" - his passion for filmmaking and understanding of story and film structure really comes through. Go support him and comment so that he keeps doing them. Special congrats to my friends Vlad Kooperman and James Higuchi for placing first and second, respectively in the Most Promising category in the Teletoon Animation Scholarship which took place in Ottawa this past weekend. Last, but not least, is a little golden book that is now available on Amazon of Pixar's short PRESTO! and is illustrated by none other than the amazing Teddy Newton. That's all for now!
R.

Sorry...

Sorry for neglecting the blog for so long, I think this is the longest I've gone without posting since I started the thing, or maybe it was the stretch during the film. Thanks to all those who've been coming by, I really, really appreciate it. The above drawing was a quick drawing done just as I got off the subway.
Anyway, it's not like I haven't been drawing - I've been commuting downtown everyday, and as a result have been filling up a sketchbook a week, focusing on one aspect of a drawing that needs improving (read: all of them) at a time, be it faces/heads, hands, compositions, posing etc. Re-reading the Walt Stanchfield notes as well, and they're making a whole lot of new sense all of a sudden. Fantastic stuff. I've been spending the weekend getting around to scanning the sketchbooks and tying up some other loose ends, so hopefully by the end of the week I will do a large sketchdump.

Also, Ed Catmull is my hero, there's a new podcast of his that can be found here. Definitely worth a listen. Nick Sung, one of the most inspirational (to me) artists I've had the pleasure of speaking with, reminds us about the value of hard work something that's easy to forget, so a welcome reminder is always appreciated. There's been a lot going on, and once again I apologize for not being able to post more, but I'm back!! I promise! For a while, at least.
More on the way,
R.

Cintiq

So, there's much to report after coming back from ComicCon and L.A., I'll do a full comic con/L.A. entry with pictures soon, been really busy with a bunch of stuff. I've had the chance to play around with a Cintiq lately...and now I see what all the fuss is about. This little device is AWESOME. Here's a quick little doodle I did on it - will be posting more soon.
Also, if you haven't heard about it already, here's a lecture from the "Last Lecture" series run at Carnegie Mellon University by a professor named Randy Pausch who, at the time of this taping, was recently diagnosed with cancer with no more than 6 months to live. He passed away last week, and this lecture is amazing and definitely worth the time to watch it, or listen. Do yourself a favour and check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo


I'll be back real soon.
R.

Nerd Prom '08.

I've been off the radar for a while, due to applying for jobs (still looking) and prepping for the trip to San Diego and Los Angeles. I'll be gone for the week, but will report when I get back. Here's a little quick doodle I did at Starbucks while waiting for my friend Jon to show up.
R.

Sketchbook Dump: Subway & Starbucks

I finished off another sketchbook before I had time to scan in any of the drawings for a smaller update. Most of these drawings were done either at my local Starbucks or on the subway back and forth from Toronto. The monkeys however, were not on the subway or in the Starbucks, those were done in the zoo.
Lately, more so than before, I've been attempting to put more story into the sketches I do, as a result of a reminder from Kris. One of the funniest people I know and a super nice guy to boot. I've also been using the Signpen again a lot this summer after James told me about it two summers ago, it's almost like using a Sharpie, but with slightly more control. If you haven't seen James' work for some reason, head on over there right away, his stuff is fantastic and yet, somehow keeps getting better. His drawings have a great sense of story, design and shape/form - something I'm really striving to do myself.
In other news - Andrew Stanton has confirmed that he's writing the script for John Carter of Mars, an old sci-fi serial by Tarzan scribe Edgar Rice Burroughs. This could be awesome. Also, a few Dreamworks artists including David Pimentel, Ken Morrisey and Jenny Lerew are part of an anthology called Scrambled Ink published by Dark Horse, you can learn about it over at Jenny's blog.
AICN via The New York Licensing show has some sneak peeks at Dreamworks upcoming projects such as Monsters vs. Aliens and How to Train Your Dragon. The ultimate Wall-E Toy is now available.
Last but not least - the End Credits to Kung Fu Panda are available online on the website of the studio which animated them, Shine.

That's all for now, more later.
R.

Bye..

R.I.P. Sparky
May 18th, 2000-June 05, 2008

R.

Dog.

Here are some drawings I did of my dog Sparky (my brother and I were young when we came up with this oh-so-original name) around the house. When I get bored, I like following him around, the "problem" is that he then notices I'm following him around and wants me to play with him, which I inevitably end up doing.
No real news to report this time. More to come soon.
R.