Billy Boy

Tex Avery did so many great cartoons. I've been watching a few and came across one called "Billy Boy". I always end up freezing a few shots to look at the animation. I stopped while the little billy goat dipped his head down and gave this cute look as if to ask..."Would you please let me in?". I haven't drawn too many cute drawings...so I gave it a shot. Cuteness is a very defined look and this was a great exercise.

Back from Michigan

Went to see family in Michigan and haven't posted any new drawings. While I was on the plane I did a couple Preston Blair models. The wolf was fun and I tried to keep some of my construction lines visible with the fox.

Mice And Men

Here's an article that was given to me a while back. It's great to see where Disney animation was at that time.

Tom Throwing

I finally got a drawing tablet for the computer. It is called a "Bamboo" by Wacom. It is such a new experience drawing with it. I know the more I use it, the better I will get. This is my starting drawing so be kind. I was constructing like mad to get this together. Learning to draw correctly is going to be hard work and take lots of time. So I want to start right.

Drawing #13 - Mad Daffy

I was watching "Duck Amuck" today and studied different parts of the animation frame by frame. The timing and expressions are priceless. I found my favorite mad face (and there were many!) and drew it.

Drawing #12 - Rabbit's Joy

I really enjoyed drawing this one, though it took a while to get the construction correct. This is a shot I found watching "Winnie The Pooh And Tigger Too!". Rabbit ditches Tigger and comes up with this great smile. Don Bluth animated Rabbit and it shows. Lots of great emotion in every frame. Love it!

Drawing #11 - Preston's dog

It sure is nice to draw on a real pad rather than on printer paper. Here's Preston Blair's dog. Worked hard on constructing this one right. Took a while, but it was fun. He's a happy guy!

Drawing #10 - Our dog "Ginger"

I just bought a new drawing pad and was hot to draw something around the house. Well, there curled up on our new couch was our German Shorthair Pointer "Ginger". I sat next to her and did my best to quickly draw her before she moved. This is what came of the whole thing...

Drawing #9 - Drawing loose with Preston's Swing Shift Cinderella

I was checking out a video that Don Bluth put together on learning to draw loose. I gave it a shot with Preston Blair's girl from Swing Shift Cinderella. No details, just loose drawing. This was a freeing exercise because I tend to hold my pencil way too tight.



Here's the screen shot I used from "Swing Shift Cinderella" animated by the one...the only...Preston Blair himself.

Drawing #8 - Sad Sasha

Here's my attempt on making Sasha have a rough day. I tried to study what things give a character a sad look. The eyes, mouth, ears, head tilt, etc. She's not a happy camper.

Drawing #7 - Sasha

Don Bluth has a great website where he's helping regular folks like me learn to animate. I've learned quite a bit about the process and he's got a "Cyber Garage Project" going that gives members a chance to animate a scene from a short film he developed. Here's a drawing of one of the characters called "Sasha". You can see the turn around reference here. She a cute little bunny.

Drawing #6 - Jeremy

Here's another "Nimh" picture of Jeremy the crow leaning back before he falls and sings about his future lady friend.

Drawing #5 - Mrs. Brisby

I'm a big Don Bluth fan. Here's a shot from "Secret Of Nimh" where Mrs. Brisby is looking worried.

Drawing #4 - Preston's Barney Bear

Barney has a great goofy look. Fun to draw.

Drawing #3 - Preston Bear 1

Check out this happy bear. Boy...if I could be this content.

Drawing #2 - Preston Blair Egg Heads

Throughout this blog you'll find drawings that I'm working on from an online copy of Preston Blair's original book called "Advanced Animation" or otherwise known as the "$100,000 Animation Drawing Course. You can find it here. For us broke Dads out there who want to learn to animate, this is a treasure. Here is my first attempt at some egg heads from the book. It's great in learning construction of a simple head.

Drawing #1 - Kip

Here's a little drawing of a character I call "Kip". He represents my lack of confidence in drawing. He's not quite sure of himself and neither am I. Someone asked me if Kip is a canine and he is. So I thrust my drawings out there and see how things progress (Lord willing) or regress.