I’m starting to branch out and try new things. Last month I did a design for Debbie Viguie. It’s sort of like ghost writing, but for artists. This one was was Pinkie Pie, dressed as Harley Quinn. It was a lot of fun doing this, and I think I’m going to be doing a few more of these to test the waters. If I can paint them fast enough, there’s money to be made here.
The other one, the Cthulhu shirt, I did in about half a day. It’s a lot faster when you don’t have to worry about being on model for whatever you’re drawing. I had fun working out the lighting effects, and I’m trying to get more comfortable working in color over all, so this was a good exercise.
Every day we assess our world, evaluate the risks to ourselves, and gauge what things to be happy about, what things to be afraid of. We find happiness in too few things, and fear in too many – and what we once feared for good reason, we often never reevaluate and the fear of that thing has hold on us the rest of our lives, often well beyond the point where that fear is useful or justified.
Take a step upward. Get to higher ground. Find the happiness you’ve overlooked. And look downward on what you were once fearful of, and see if you’re still afraid.
I’m an animator too, and here are some samples. Most are Maya, one is in Rhythm & Hues’ “Voodoo” (I worked there for nearly ten years teaching animators) and my demo reel, which predates all that, is in Lightwave.
Why am I just splatting out this thing I found on Facebook? Emma Coates was a storyboard artist for Pixar. The rules seem to be sound, and I want to remember them. Posting them here is handy for me if nothing else. If you’re a writer, you might find them useful too.
You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.
You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
Here’s the same drawing with a little color. I just used the black and white and selectively tweaked the color layers. Fun.
You would think that being able to do something like this in 90 seconds flat would be worth some serious money to somebody. Especially combined with all my other skills. I’m hoping it is, anyway. I’m testing the waters to see what I can really do now that I’ve been steeped in motion picture studio culture for almost ten years.
Yes, I did paint this. Yes, it took 90 seconds. And I was talking to somebody about something completely unrelated who was standing in the room while I did it.
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