11/26/06 Digital Illustration Links & Events

Guys, here's a little doodle to get you in the Christmas Spirit (women visitors are encouraged to post a link for their hot Santa).

Did not get to go to MOC (see previous post), home sick today ;-(

But here are some links some of you may find interesting. I have talked about the Gnomon Workshop videos before, they are based out in California and really work to support the movie and television production industry out there. Well I have found some other folks in that same market who have some nice sites with really good tutorials (no videos or DVDs yet). Conceptart.org is hosting the Insomania workshop and seem to be physically centered in the San Francisco area. I know of at least one CCG member who is a big Jason Chan (lately of Imagine FX magazine fame) fan, he seems to be a prominent member in this online community. Some great content there, but hard to navigate all the forum posts to know what's happening! Massive Black is a large studio for concept artists and they apparently are on the brink of releasing some video instruction and also have info about a workshop they host/hosted in June (I checked my calendar and think this is a past event - but they were too cool to put the year anywhere on their site!).

11/22/06 - Mid-Ohio Con This Weekend!

In case you didn't know there will be a fairly large comic convention this weekend 11/25 to 11/26/06 in Columbus Ohio. There will be some fairly big name creators there: Adam Hughes, Ron Garney, Matt Haley, Herb Trimpe, Beau Smith (frequent contributor to Sketch Magazine) and Don Rosa (UK graduate and famous Disney comic artist). Here is a link to the con site. This event has been up on the CCG calendar for several days - so you might want to remember to check that link on the blog sidebar!

I hope to make the trek to attend this, if anyone local is interested in joining me (and helping with some of the expenses) please send me an email ASAP!

11/22/06 - What is the CCG about?

Hey everyone! Please read and comment on this post - I have lined out what I think is the CCG's reason for being. Have I done so accurately? Here is an excerpt from an email exchange with an artist who is just finding out about our group:

---

Hi Jonathan,

Sorry for the late reply. What all do you do in the comic meetings?

---

Our meetings follow this basic pattern:

• Announcements: local events of interest, group business, etc.,
• Round Table Review: where we bring in recent work (finished or WIP) and let everyone comment, with writers I am asking that they bring copies of their scripts for everyone to take home and read thoroughly before making comments. Visual artists work is usually easier to scan and comment on.
• Closing: I try to get anyone new added to email list and maybe some other last minute announcements.
  

Our meetings are pretty short, 1 hour - 1.5 hours. (Update: As of May 2007 we have gone to a once monthly frequency but meet for 3 hours - added a hands on workshop for the second and third hour.) We did have a special meeting back in October to work at a local library. We had a mini 24-hour comic event. Three of us met and worked on spontaneously creating a 4-6 page comic story. I would like to meet like this again for an Artist's Jam or maybe some Digital Painting workshops. We also have tentative plans to produce a print anthology comic to get our work in print and help promote the group in the local arts community.

I probably need to add a mission statement to the CCG blog: but basically my goals for the group are:

1. Community - Build a community for the comic creators, illustrators, animators, caricature artists in the area so we can have one place to go to share and find out what's going on in the area - this is accomplished through the blog posts and announcements by email or at the meetings.
2. Education - Share knowledge between members; use one another for critiques and advise. Teach basic to intermediate skills in seminars or workshops. Share and or review instructional books and videos. Promote the medium to community at large, try to increase readership.
3. Networking - Serve as a "matchmaker" of sorts - to join creators in creative teams. Also to serve as referral service for those wishing to contract the services of our members.
   

---

I do want to formalize our goals and purpose as a group. Please send me your feedback!

11/18/06 - Using the Computer for Drawing and Reference

I found this post over at Newsarama.com, it is an interview with Brandon Peterson. He has worked with using 3D design software for comics since he was the art director for CrossGen Comics (sigh, I miss that company!). I found out about Google's SketchUp (WOW! A free 3D program that's easy to use and learn!) from reading this piece and find it touches on some timely issues: use of photo references and TRACING! SketchUp looks like a great way to work out perspective for interior or exterior comic scenes...but I will still be working on my hand drawing skills for drawing perspective scenes, interior and exterior. Ask me about the great tutorial DVD I purchased from Gnomon Workshop by Scott Robertson on sketching by hand various 3D objects. Over at eatpoo.com (Yum! what an inventive name!) they have a post by Scott showing his special perspective skills if you are interested.

Just keep saying this mantra: "The computer is just a TOOL, The computer is just a TOOL...". By the way the images above are by moi, they were drawn freehand with a Intuous 3 tablet and SketchBook Pro 2. If anyone has samples they have created in SketchUp I would be interested in seeing it - I will post something once I have gotten through the tutorial!

11/17/06 - Children's Literature Conference in March & DMAG

UK is hosting a Children's Literature Conference in March 2007 here in Lexington. Loren Long who I met a this years Bluegrass Festival of Books will be a speaker. Loren grew up in Lexington and graduated from UK. He gained national attention as the illustrator for one of Madonna's childrens books (Mr. Peabody's Apples). There is a cost to atttend, see website for specifics - I don't know if there is a discount for students?

I just found out about a neat group that meets once a month here in Lexington. DMAG (Digital Media Artists Group) appears to essentially be an Adobe Users Group (but with the aquistion of Macromedia by Adobe there is a lot to cover under Adobe's banner!). Thanks to Loren Elks for organizing a cool and much needed group!