Today I started messing around with a program called Mudbox (free if you’re a student)…I think I can argue that I count!). Although I ought to test my newfound patience on regular 3D software, I like this particular program because it offers more of an artistic approach to sculpting a model.

Anyway, back in the old days at Disney, there was a whole department dedicated to creating plaster character models for the animators’ reference. It occurred to me that I could do the same thing with a program like this. I definitely need help when it comes to noodling through what my characters look like at different angles.

Above and below are my first attempt at using Mudbox. It’s what I’ve decided is a “typical” Warner Bros’ style human head. While I modeled it, I referred to Private Snafu and a few incidental background characters.

Not only can I view this model in 360 degrees on my computer, but I found an iPhone app that will let me do the same. I could even find someone with a 3D printer and turn it into a physical model. Talk about coming full circle!

I debated: which would make for a less interesting post, the Bargue practice I’m doing, or a stylized photo of myself practicing?

Now the question is, did I choose to post the less interesting one, or the more interesting one? I just broke your brain.

I know, just what you wanted to see from me: scissors in a mug. Actually, weekdays on the ‘ol Sketchbook are about to get a little more boring, because I’ve now set aside certain days for exercises like this. I really want to ramp up my drawing/seeing ability in anticipation of the two-week painting workshop I’m taking in Florence, Italy this Summer. So there’ll be still life days and Bargue days, with fun stuff saved for the weekends. I’ll at least try to find funny objects to draw.

Oh, and hey, Kerkel surives another week. Vote if you wanna.

I made a little test animation tonight. It’s a guy pulling a chain and shouting “whoo whoo!” It’s not supposed to make sense. I just wanted to see what it would be like to do the initial animation on paper, then the inbetweens on the computer.

I love my Cintiq tablet, but when I was doing the 11 Second contest, I noticed that the small screen and bulky stylus didn’t lend themselves to loose gesture drawing–you know, the kind you put your whole arm into. Of course, the computer is invaluable for cleaning up artwork, and saving drawing time on static elements.

As I suspected, I kind of like this process; I think I animated a little faster, in spite of the awkwardness of pulling pieces of paper on and off a peg bar, over a light table.

Being the Apple geek I am, my method for digitizing the pencil drawings was an iPhone app called iMotion HD, with my iPhone stationed on a Tripod. iMotion has a companion iPad app that allows you to trigger the shutter without touching the phone. Then I was able to sit down at my computer, pull all the frames directly to my hard drive via wifi, and get back to work.

Nothing beats using cutting edge technology to do old-fashioned work!

Here’s the long pose from today’s class–40 minutes, in fact.  That’s about twice as long as we usually do.

Of course, my teacher was off hanging pictures for the class art show, so I didn’t get the feedback that helps me notice my mistakes quicker. 20 minutes in, this was a disaster.

Hey, here’s Van Dork hanging on the wall as if it were actually art: