http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/05/animation-school-lesson-1-construction.html
I'm wondering whether I should continue taking anyone through these lessons.
I'll tell you why.
I've given a lot of free and good advice to young artists in my life, yet not many of them choose to take advantage of me.
The few that did, got really good -FAST.
I know a lot of people buy the Preston Blair book, flip through the pages and then lay it to rest and never bother to learn the valuable lessons inside.
There is only one reason I would bother to offer all this advice-in the hopes that some very talented young artists will actually do what I tell them, learn their fundamentals and then someday work for me and save me the trouble of having to train them from scratch.
I've hired many artists who have graduated from animation schools who don't know a damn thing about how to make a good strong solid or appealing drawing - after they have paid a fortune to the schools. I consider these schools to be criminal institutions. They are stealing from you, and they are stealing from me and they are stealing from culture.
I have spent so much money retraining cartoonists-just to teach them the very basics of good drawing. Nick and Katie and Fred and other Spumco alumni-back me up on this!
All these basics are laid out for you in The Preston Blair Book for 8 measly dollars. 8 fuckin' bucks for Christ's sake!
I'd even be willing to help guide you through the lessons, if I thought some serious young cartoonists would actually do the work.
So you're gonna have to convince me that enough of you want to be able to draw this well:
These lessons are aimed mostly at folks between 10 and 24 years of age. Why? After 24 if you haven't already become really good, you will stagnate and your powers of learning and your rebellious youthful attitude will have died. I know this from 20 years of experience working with young artists. If you don't develop your brain, skills and analytic eye while you are young you will be creatively crippled for life. Or at least it will be much harder the older and more set in your ways you become.
If you want me to continue these lessons, convince my ass.
Then you will have to do the work involved and draw all the lessons I give you. And read what the lessons say. Do the drawings in the steps that Preston and I tell you. If a lot of young cartoonists do this, in a few years there could be a rebirth of great cartoons. I would sure as Hell love that. So would the audience.
Your best friend,
John
196 comments:
Music to my ears! I can't wait to draw stuff from the original Blair book that ASIFA posted! Blair's squirrel drawing is the best cartoon squirrel I've ever seen and the dog drawings are to die for!
-Eddie Fitzgerald
Please keep giving the lessons!!! I am 38 and I have never stopped studying that book! Your added explainations give me new insight!!!
Eddie!!! I was a student of yours at CalArtrs!!! Some of the most importanmt things I knowabout drawing cartoons I learned in your class!!!
PLEASE KEEP GIVING LESSONS!
I promise you that I take advatnage of every lesson you give. I have been drawing from the Preston Blair book for months, drawing everything the way it says to draw, and not letting it rot on my bookshelf. I do all this hoping one day I will be able to work for you. DO NOT LOSE FAITH!
Please keep giving lessons, since I started reading your blog my animation and comics have gotten tons better. But it's still crap so please teach me more!
Continue, of course. I'm in animation school and I'm 26. Accordion to yous, I'm hopeless. Well I draw like a madman and listen to my elders. (that would be you)
So yes continue with the lessons, teach!
I stop by everyday and find the lessons and discussions that ensue here very inspiring and by the end of my workday I am itching to get home and draw (and I do!) I've already seen a big improvement in my drawings since I have started studying Preston Blair and taking your advice(despite the fact that I am a 30 year old hag that is past her creative prime), please don't stop posting the lessons!
OK, everybody draw the lessons on page 1 and 2 and post them then send links.
If I am impressed, I'll go to the next lesson.
Hey John, I'm friggin' 27 but I still want to grow as a cartoonist, more than ANYTHING! It may not mean anything to you because of my age, but I've been flying threw that book again just as I did in college and I'm redrawing tons of old 40's and 30's cartoons like you said to do as well. I'll start posting my progress up on my blog,(including all my 40's and 30's cartoon drawings)every single weekend if you care to check up on my progress at all...every single weekend! I'm sure tons of other much younger artists would be willing to do the same! Believe me if you say this will help us, artist on this blog will do it!
-Robert
Mr K:
I'm seventeen years old, and at your recommendation I went and bought the Preston Blair book. Since then I have diligently been trying to teach myself construction. I'm having a difficult time, but I'm beginning to understand, and your lessons make it alot easier. Since I bought the book, I've been drawing more than I ever have before, and am expanding my very limited "style".
I've been learning the characters in the book, and also trying to construct drawings of manly men and bodacious ladies. Any assistance you give will be greatly appreciated, and I promise to listen to you and Preston Blair.
Ren and Stimpy are the ones that made me seriously interested in animation and cartoons, and to get lessons from the man who created them would be pretty much the best thing I could imagine.
Sincerely
Josh Heisie
what if im 25 but have been a student of your original season of ren and stimpy all my life?
I was just thinking about this last night. Since I've been reading about the BOOK in blogs and the sort. I tried the construction of the head lesson yesterday. I'll give it a go some more today.
-David O.
Argh. I'd love to draw the lessons, but I haven't gotten my copy of the book yet. I have to wait until after finals are over.
I've really enjoyed the instructional entries, though. A lot of the points on the appeal and development of nuanced characters really hit upon the same issues I've been worried about with animation these days. Sometimes, it's hard to pinpoint where exactly everything went so wrong, and it almost seems like UPA led to the eventual crapification of things.
Hey john,
I love the lessons. I'm not what you'ld consider a cartoonist. I'm a 3d character rigger and animator. I love the lessons so much I have done all the drawigs for lesson 1. I am super stoaked to be doing them and I've learned more about good draftsmanship in the last week then I have in 2 years of school. I have no place to post it. I still use the net like its 1998, but a coworker is helping me set all that nonsense up. Thanks again mang!
andy seredy
For the love of all that is good!!!
Yes, Please Yes!!
John, your blog is an oasis in the dessert that is the animation/cartoon industry!
I think what you are doing, and GIVING AWAY for free is priceless! You are sharing the secrets that noone seems willing to pass on. Cartooning is a rare art these days!
By educating young-in's in the old school ( read: correct ) way to draw cartoons, you are fostering an envitable boom when these young-in's start to make thier own cartoons!
You could be teachin' the next Tex, or Bob! Not to mention that now your cartoonist talent pool will grow! This is a wise business choice! I applaud you!
You are cartoon king!
Hi John! I started on Tuesday and have posted some of my eggs on my blog. I was out of town last night but I'm already excited to get home to pick up where I left off. I promise there will be more by tonight!
Your bud,
Alicia
im using the book john
I got the book, an animation disc, pencils, and this blog! What else can I say? Start er up!
Well, I'm from COLOMBIA, South America, and here are NOT A SINGLE respectable animation school. All you can get is some lessons in the graphic design career. So i found your stuff REALLY IMPORTANT. I'm making some drawings based on some Bugs Bunny stuff, you can check them on my blog http://www.carlocartun.blogspot.com Please keep the lessons, Johnny Boy
Keep it coming Mr. K! I scribbled some heads for you as requested so check them out here:
http://dhaynes.wordpress.com/
and please feel free to tear me to shreds.
In some ways I think now with the computer becoming more and more prevalent in animation, the ability to draw really well is even more important. Computer animation can make an artist lazy, which is the opposite of what a real animator should be.You've got to work and do a million bad, terrible drawingsbefore you start to get good, this is why a lot of times I think of classic cartooning as a dying art. (which makes being able to do it a rare talent). I also think a lot of young artists look at the Preston Blair book as some sort of archaic and old-fashioned irrelevant text. Almost as though learning these lessons will ruin their "style". This of course is the folly of youth. The ability to draw like Preston Blair, using all the tips in the book gives you the strength to do ANYTHING. Style is a paper tiger.
"If I am impressed, I'll go to the next lesson."
............This is the last lesson folks.
Begging John to continue isn't going to work. You have to participate. Teaching and learning is a two way street- show him your drawings. If you don't have a webpage, register for a free blog with bloggger at...
www.blogger.com
Set it up as a free blog at Blogspot and use the free image service. That is what John is doing here... you can do it too.
Once you've posted your drawings, post the address of your blog here and email it to me at sworth@animationarchive.org
I'll be posting the students' completed assignments on the lesson page at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive...
Lesson 1: Construction/The Head
You have the world's greatest cartoonist offering to teach you all his secrets. What the hell are you sitting on your hands for?
GO DRAW!
Steve
I'm in my early 20's, but the only problem is that I grew up with CONSERVATIVE FAMILY VALUES and have been WITHDRAWN and RECLUSIVE most of my life, so any SOCIAL NUANCES make me NERVOUS and UNCOMFORTABLE, because I CAN'T TRUST ANYTHING SUBTLE, worrying about being considered an UNGODLY COMMUNIST!!!
D Haynes added to the students' blogroll.
Steve
LESSON ONE!
john said:Why? After 24 if you haven't already become really good, you will stagnate and your powers of learning and your rebellious youthful attitude will have died.
As a 26-year-old, this makes me very sad (even though I'm not going to be an artist). I'll try drawing the first lessons and see how I do.
Keep'em coming, those are some of the very best posts you make!
benj said...
LESSON ONE!
1:37 PM
nice
I'd really like for you to continue this stuff. I've learned sooooo much just from your blog, and I now have much more respect for Preston's book. I had originally found Animator's Survival Kit to be more helpful because it went into more detail about movement, but after coming here and studying the cartoons you post and studying the Ren and Stimpy DVDs, I realize that the most beautiful movement is worthless if the drawings suck.
Look at what you just did. I ordered a copy of that book just now!
I'll get back to you and I hope to learn so much as I already have from you John K!
www.snoweyes.com
John (or anyone else who would like to respond), do you consider the Richard Williams book "The Animator's Survival Kit" to be a worthy replacement for the Preston Blair book, or merely a supplement or companion? I am very impressed with the amount and quality of information in the Williams book, but perhaps its not quite as good(?)
In any case, i'll probably be getting the Blair book. I'll also be doing the first lesson and posting my results. I think it's clear that we all value and respect your wit, wisdom and experience, John, so please do continue the lessons (at least one more).
Alright, even though I don't have a copy of the book on hand, I used the page that was posted here and tried to do the lesson anyway.
Unfortunately, this was the result.
http://animationlessoned.blogspot.com/2006/05/lesson-1.html
I'll do better next time.
Heavens John, you're good at putting across a sense of urgency.
I think it could be extremely effective making everybody actually provide visual evidence of their learning. There's something about being exposed in this immediate blog way that makes you realise you've nowhere to hide and nobody to kid and you might as well just be as good as nature permits you to be (and that's pretty intense in a good way. Nature makes you work hard if you listen to her).
I don't have the Preston Blair book yet but 'tis on my birthday list. I am 25 but I like to think my analytical eye stays youthful. Phew! I kept it alive! A shrivelled eye is an unpleasant thought.
I blooming wish you had taught me the basics when I was ten, apprenticed in a Renaissance style workshop system or something, it could have made things so much simpler. Ten was the age I was ready to get serious. God I yearned for someone to actually 'guide my hand'. I think I'm not alone in feeling I've stayed an artist despite, not because of, my formal 'art education'. It's obvious to me that the underlying problems don't just apply to cartoons. And the care you take in this blog is not wasted on me. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm sure there are others who feel similarly.
I made this blog to post my drawings from the book: http://locodancartoons.blogspot.com/
I'll post some more soon. I've definetly learned a ton about animation from this blog, especially from the posts about Preston Blair and the one about rubber hose animation (which I had never heard of before, but I enjoyed Swing You Sinners very much) I'm 16, by the way.
Hi ROBO! Thanks for the compliment! I loved teaching that class. I felt like a kid at Christmas everytime I walked in the door. When I get my blog started in a week or two (for real this time) I'll talk about some of the things that I learned from that experience. BTW, I like your comic strips!
-Eddie Fitzgerald
I'm 25, and when I see Katie's or any of those other young artists' blogs I just want to pull out all of my hair. And now you tell me I'm hopeless. What am I supposed to do? Give up on art and get some boring office job?
Let's make it easier for all of us to see the results of everybody's tries by directly linking your stuff. That way we don't have to copy and paste.
Here's How to Link
Hey, I'm on board! Woo woo! I just saw this today. Amazon is flinging the Preston book my way as we speak, and I'll do the Lesson One exercises this weekend. Thanks John!
>>John (or anyone else who would like to respond), do you consider the Richard Williams book "The Animator's Survival Kit" to be a worthy replacement for the Preston Blair book,<<
No, throw it out.
It's very hard to see the fundamental principles through all the useless details and ugly drawings in the book.
Cartoons are about having good principles presented in a simple yet appealing fun way.
Richard Williams book is a good way to turn people off of becoming animators because it makes animating look so tedious and unpleasant.
Preston is as simple as you can get and it retains everything important you need to know-and it makes cartoons look fun. It's easier to learn something if the practice is actually enjoyable.
Sounds great !!
Then people can post their progress on their blogs, and everybody can compare notes!!!
The back and forth on these blogs can can keep people motivated by looking at each others work, your advice, and build a really great momentum. A little cartooning school online.
You should be like Preston Blair and Richard Williams and just make a book yourself.
You obviously have enough useful knowledge and insight(not to forget opinions), so why not attempt one?
you'll reach a lot more people than some random internet crowd. If I told people I know the guy from Ren & Stimpy wrote a book they'd probably buy it, or at least read it.
And among those people there have got to be a few who put them to good use.
Oh and by the way, I don't know if you like Dick William's stuff, but some guy has re-edited his never-really-finished masterpiece the Thief and the Cobbler, and after watching it I can really recommend it to any animation fan.
Anyway, I hope you continue these lessons in some way, because I for one am putting them to good use.
If I find a scanner i'll try to show you some of it.
John,
Here is lesson 1. I am literaly learning to draw from the Preston Blair book. Any feed back would rule.
http://andyseredy.blogspot.com/
thanks,
andy
>>You should be like Preston Blair and Richard Williams and just make a book yourself.<<
I think this blogging is much more effective than any book. It's interactive and I learn as I blog, and there is an army of fans willing to help me with screen grabs and film clips.
A publisher wouldn't understand any of this and would tell me what to write and then would hire a "book designer" to screw up the layouts.
PLEASE! keep these lessons. I've been reading your blog for about a month now and this post has finally spurred me to make a comment. I promise I will make use of your wisdom!
JOhn,
I bought the preston blair book the first time you recommended it months ago...and have gone through each page redrawing and redrawing everything! (trying to absorb the concepts) I also bought the TEX Avery MGM years book you recommended and have been working through that as well... I just turned 20...and almost made the mistake of going to Animation school(until you recommended against it)...I have to say, over the past few months my art skills have tripled...I recently landed a character design and graphic design job...and I owe it to you and everything you have taught me... On average, and my girlfriend can contest to this, I spend about 4 hours a day alone practicing drawing from all the greats you recommend...whether it be freeze framing the clips of the videos you post, or from preston blair's book, or t. avery’s...
One day i would like to be part of a team even half as good as Spumco, and I'm dedicated to working towards that for however long it takes.
So John, please don't stop teaching us, we are listening....and taking everything you have to say as gospel!
Thank you so much,
Jacob
PLEASE PLEASE keep the lessons coming. Obviously you hope that good cartoons come back, so help us!! We need good solid foundations. There is tons of material out there just waiting to come to life.
hi john,
i felt it would be good to write to you at this juncture. im sure like so many would agree you have been hitting the nail on the head with your blog. your frustration is valid completely. modern media and mediums have dulled senses and created many lazy eyed people. since before i was in college for animation i had the same view that what brought us to where we are now with all the really shitty stuff playing on tv and cinemas and the net is a lack of understanding of what the people who begun the industry discovered and understood. not many people can appreciate the quantity and quality of amazing things created by hand and shot on film. i think though that the current low dip we are is starting to curve upwards, and im sure you sense this too. my passion for all this is building day after day and im getting to where i cant stand the lack of quality films and toons being created. the same for comics too. almost nothing that is current interests me in almost any medium you could mention, i cant stand tv anymore, and all i will watch these days is stuff off the net or dvds. all the best stuff has been removed from modern mass media. what the fuck happened? im not missing over stuff you and other blogs such as cartoon brew are pointing to. im on a quest to see all the classic materials and information that has been lost to modern society. recently a friend emailed me saying that a guy had restored to some degree the thief and the cobbler. i nearly died. ive been wanting to see this since i learned the legend of the film in college and had only seen a really bad copy of it. i dont know if you know about this edition but the site you can learn about it from is :
http://www.originaltrilogy.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=4256
all the info you need to start from is there.
the guys name is garrett gilcrest. ive gotten in contact will him and im arranging to get a copy of the material. it would be of benefit to mention on your blog about williams and some of his work, and how he was inspired and how much he learned from the legends of animation such as art babbitt and milt kahl.
these people and their work should never be forgotten and through the internet we are gradually seeing a reimurgence of a culture that is currently lost with bastardised knock offs filling childrens dead brains with ideas of what to get mommy to buy them that particular day. fuck these corporate mongrels who have destroyed the animation culture and peoples interests. your blog must continue. teach us all you have learned, remind us of forgotten cartoons. we need to be reminded what quality is. today in colleges they want you to learn things too quickly. i felt 5 years of studying animation in college wasnt enough, even when i begun. i would gladly have stayed for 10 years. theres too much to understand about animation to be rushed through in 5 years. i would be so happy to work for you as my boss. you have such an admirable spirit for this stuff which i would hope to match. the structure of the business world now allows too much scum to rule what happens. i hope you have read this far... if i could send you my work it would be wonderful. but im sure everyone reading this blog is trying to do the same. i dont want to work at anything else except for animation and comics. since i was about 3 i knew this is what i was interested in. i cant stand having to work at other shitty jobs to have to earn money. this is bullshit. these corporate pigs have destroyed this industry so that so many people are unemployed, and companies become lliquidated so that some scum bag shareholders can make money to spend on holidays, or building mansions, yachting around the world and making their lives more bling bling. all by making money doing nothing worthwhile! i want to work drawing animation and comics. thats it! nothing else. if people like you cant make it possible then maybe your blog is futile as you say. will people learn anything? will people study and investigate what was created in the past decades? they fucking better, i cant stand working in this crappy admin job. its not interesting - period. i want a job like they had in the 30s and 40s, where you could start off as a junior animator learning from a jedi animator, learning from them what to look for, what to study, how best to bring to life pencil and paper. i want to spend time drawing scenes and creating captivating features. im currently 25. i dont want to find myself at 30 still working at a job i have no interest in. ill send you anything you want to have me as your animation slave. my cleanup is immaculate, no one does cleanup like me! give me anything! i can draw the most complicated character in line you could throw at me. im not saying these as bragging things, im telling the truth, you only have to see with your own eyes. perhaps if i post a link with an example. i was thinking about a previous post where you had the animation of the horse done in rough and then done in solid drawing. i could draw like this and have drawn better and clearer images like this. again i dont want this to be a braggin g post, my emotion isnt to brag in these sentences. i want you to know i am so passionate to work at this stuff, it breaks my heart to not be working in the industry. so dont post saying you will end this blog [ unless you are absoulutly sure nobody can appreciate the reasons for you doing this blog ]. i dont live in america unfortunatly, so this also complicates matters, so i cant find you and wring your neck and then soon after grovel at your feet and beg for a job in animation. maybe in a couple of days, with the right planning.... mmmm
im a little trepidatious about posting my site here as its a few months since ive update it, but i hope someone can see it and say, hey thats not too bad....
http://www.crolyss-corporation.150m.com/_.htm
kind regards.
keep up the good work! fight the good fight!
christian
YES John,
TEACH US!!!!
So we can become better Cartoonists and save the cartoon world.
By the way, when's that Spumco animation software coming out ?
_Eric
ericcrooks.blogspot.com
(I have some stuff from my latest film, tell me what you think so far. I'll let you know more about my stuff when I get it uploaded)
Hey John
It's me Jesse. I want you to know that I have been creating my own cartoons since 1994. But when I was a kid my favorite cartoons were Ren & Stimpy, Beavis & Butthead, Rocko's Modern Life, The Brothers Grunt, the classic MGM cartoons by Tex Avery and the classic 30's & 40's WB cartoons by Avery, Clampett and Jones. My favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons are the following
1. Elmers Canned Camera
2. Wild Hare
3. Elmers Pet Rabbit
4. Heckling Hare
5. Tortise Beats Hare
6. Hare Wins By Tortise
7. Falling Hare
8. Hare Ribbin
9. Bugs Bunny Bond Rally
I wish there was a DVD of those cartoons. But anyway one day I would like you to see some of my creations. Just please go easy on me. I've been reading the Preston Blair book. I need to find out where I can get an Animation Board. I know how to draw cartoons I just want to know how to animate and start making funny cartoon shorts. You are my BIGGEST insperation in cartoon making.
your pal,
Jesse
This may belong under the previous post, but does anyone know how to differentiate the "Daffy" Daffy Duck cartoons from the "Greedy" Daffy cartoons. What years bookend the true Daffy flics? What directors are involved?
What's the name of the one where Daffy and Porky are sharing a hotel room and Daffy is drunk?
R L Peterson
Dan
Andy Seredy
Added to the Students' Blogroll at...
Lesson One Jump Page
See ya
Steve
trust me you have lots of lookers and you inspire many upcoming cartoonists...keep up the great work!@, i really appreciate it!
Fuck yeah! I'll do what ever you tell me to do, John!
Hey Johnny K.
I read your blog daily and draw the Preston Blair instructions you put up.
I'm tyring to work my way up to one day working for you. Please keep up the lessons!!
I'm up for the Challenge!!
I know how to solve quadratic equations, convert decimal numbers into hexadecimal and binary numbers, and develop software, but I can't draw or animate worth merde. I'm lucky if I can draw a stick figure! I think that's why I really appreciate good artwork and animation.
It's great to see these animators and artists are taking you up on your offer. My goodness, getting lessons from one of the trailblazing animators FOR FREE! What a deal! It's also a good deal for someone who likes art and animation. Some of the work looks great. I'm so jealous!
I wish there were more DARK, DISTURBING cartoons, independently made, ones not made for kids!
John....
I forgot to post the links to my blog...
http://funnierandcuter.blogspot.com/
here you can see that i have been actually drawing what you suggested.
thanks again,
jacob
I've certainly been learning from what you've been posting here. I've been developing those fundementals and my sketchbook has been filling up with drawings from classic cartoons (and a few more recent ones). I've already seen a huge improvement in my own work.
And i guess since i'm 24, i'll have to work extra hard this year so next year when my creative learning goes, i'll have enough worked out to get me by. :)
Hi John K,
nice to stumble on your blog. Wow, this thing really is popping! I hope you get to read my post... I agree that Animation by Preston Blair is the only way to learn. I got my copy when I was a teenager in the 70s, a gift from an enlightened parent! Today it hangs proudly on the wall next to my computer. I used to draw from it all the time and the only regret I had was not having a camera so that I could animate Red Hot Riding Hood and the crazy Alligator dance!
Anyway here is my submission for the first lesson:
http://www.beautardy.com/pictures/herm.jpg
His name is Herm and he is a Jazz drummer.
Take a look at him in a cartoon at:
http://www.dizzythecat.com
Tell me what you think! I'd love your feedback.
All the best,
Beau Tardy
www.beautardy.com
I started a blog to show my cartoon sketches, and progress in that preston Blair book as well as old warner Bros stuff. I compare old stuff withb stuff after practicing the Blair lessons.
www.steveameycartoons.blogspot.com
Give me some feedback!
Will you teach us anything about timing eventually? The Preston Blair book tells nothing about it.
Please keep the lessons coming!
I really enjoyed the first one - see my attempt
Would love any comments and crits from those hanging out in this neck of the woods.
Some of you folks aren't listening...
DRAW THE LESSON ON JUST THE TWO PAGES JOHN GAVE YOU.
Make an egg model and draw it from various angles.
Construct the characters on page 2.
Don't do your own characters. Don't do characters other than the ones on those two pages. Before you post your work, make sure you have constructed and drawn them EXACTLY LIKE THEY APPEAR IN THE BOOK. There should be no difference between your constructed drawing and Preston Blair's. If it doesn't look like the one in the book, you haven't constructed it properly.
You can't go on to lesson two until you have mastered lesson one. Draw a hundred drawings if that's what it takes to get one good one.
Understand?
See ya
Steve
I'm too old already, but I'm still going through the lessons and drawing every last bit over and over. Please, please don't stop! even if I'm never good enough to work for you, I'd like to feel like I'm good enough to work for me!
I mean, I went out and bought eggs for the first time in ten years. !
The Blair book is currently whizzing through the wonderful connection that is the post. Please keep showing us the ropes, I'm learning and enjoying every post.
I'd like to know which Simpson characters John thinks are REALLY CHARACTERS, with full personalities, and which characters he would get rid of.
John, Please give us the lessons. I am 14 years old and I can already draw basic flatness but I wanna know more about how I can do better. O need your lessons, you've been my idol since the I saw the Ren and Stimpy show when I was a wee lad. I've orderd the Preston Blair but since my artist parents are too busy I need someone to guide me. Who knows. Mabey someday I might appear at your doorstep to prove myself. JOHN, DON"T FAIL ME NOW!
-Drew Johnson
I'm betting on:
everyone from the intermediate family, of course (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie), Grampa, Selma (but not Patty), Flanders, Apu, Mr. Burns, Smithers, Moe, Barney, Lenny (but not Carl), Principal Skinner, Ms. Krabappel, Willie, Milhouse, Nelson, Martin, Jimbo, Krusty, Sideshow Bob, Chief Wiggum, Dr. Hibbert and Rev. Lovejoy.
This may belong under the previous post, but does anyone know how to differentiate the "Daffy" Daffy Duck cartoons from the "Greedy" Daffy cartoons. What years bookend the true Daffy flics? What directors are involved?
What's the name of the one where Daffy and Porky are sharing a hotel room and Daffy is drunk?
1. The turning point for Daffy would be The Scarlet Pumpernickel (by Chuck Jones c. 1950). This is the first cartoon where Daffy says "I'm sick of comedy. I want to try some action/drama." Thus, this is where Daffy's ego made him feel that he could find work BEYOND his WOO HOO WOO HOO persona.
2. That cartoon's name is Daffy Duck Slept Here (by Robert McKimson c. 1948).
3. At my animation school, all of our lessons came from the Preston Blair book. The principal of the school posted up a couple of pages from that book on the wall (mostly the walk cycles and such) and drummed into us every day the 5 important aspects of a good animation drawing. I can still remember them:
1. Strong silohuette through line of action.
2. Contour continuation of the natural flow and rhythm of the line.
3. Repetition with variation on a theme.
4. Even placement of large, medium and small shapes.
5. Use complimentary shapes.
So, this site is more of a review for me really. To judge if I learned the lessons well, I have several pictures on my blog open for critique. Go nuts, everybody. :)
Hey John, your cartoons are like sex to me. I should know, as a 24 year old virgin! I have lived off of your cartoons like I would a woman, and now it is time for me to return the favor by improving my art skills so I can work for you one day!! Please continue these awesome lessons...I am taking them to task!
Hugs,
Nate
If you don't like the 88% satisfaction rating of the Amazon seller, you could order the book direct from the publisher here:
http://www.walterfoster.com/catalog/product.php?itemNo=HT26&cat=1
Link
I was shocked earlier this evening when I saw only 5 enrolled after this course was "boing-boinged!" At least now it's up to 12.
(See Student's Pages links here:
http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/05/meta-100000-animation-drawing-course.html
Link
)
John: Please allow folks a little time to get their books and blog accounts set up (and a few eggs boiled!) before you give up on our ability to follow instructions!
--Bob
hi john, please keep posting your lessons 'couse are great!. i'm looking forward for this weekend so i'll be able to do the firt couple of pages and post them for critics!
best of luck
julian from argentina
hi john, please keep posting your lessons 'couse are great!. i'm looking forward for this weekend so i'll be able to do the firt couple of pages and post them for critics!
best of luck
julian from argentina
Oh, when I said "Jimbo", I meant "Otto". I guess I confused the two.
>>1. Strong silohuette through line of action.
2. Contour continuation of the natural flow and rhythm of the line.
3. Repetition with variation on a theme.
4. Even placement of large, medium and small shapes.
5. Use complimentary shapes.<<
None of those muddled sentences have anything to do with fundamental principles.
Sorry to be harsh, but I don't want people here to be confused by advice that isn't clear and useful.
You need to review the book a lot more...
and do the drawings.
> A publisher wouldn't understand any of this and would tell me what to write and then would hire a "book designer" to screw up the layouts.
John, I completely support your blogging and agree with its benefits. But I have to say that your comment above wasn't my experience at all with Chronicle. Good publishers, like Chronicle, don't tell authors what to write and give one so much leeway that it's almost scary (but in a good way). My editor at Chronicle gave me complete freedom to write and sequence my 50s design book the way I wanted, and they even let me hire a book designer of my choice to make sure it wouldn't get screwed up along the way. I can't vouch that all publishers are like this, but I do know a good number are. It's quite a different experience than animation, where know-nothing's run up and down the entire food chain and dictate their ignorance every step of the way.
Yes please keep giving lessons!
I have been drawing and learning from the Preston Blair book and will continue to do so! I'm lucky I'm still under 24 (Just). I will defiantly show you my work!
hi Amid
well I would be happy to do some books, but doubt a publisher would be interested.
They certainly must know about me by now!
I hope you are reserving a copy of your book for me!
BTW, I wanna do some posts about those 50s commercials and stuff that you have but I would need to put some of them up on youtube.
Wanna do some cross posting?
I mean "definitely" show you my work! I draw not spell!
OK, John. Way to lay the cards on the table. I'm up for it and will be back to post a link as soon as I've got something to show you.
Thanks for this opportunity!
PS - It amazes me how not a single person posting their drawings here has yet shown they're capable of following the first lesson. The idea is to draw those exact Blair drawings over and over until you understand the principles that are being taught on those pages.
And then there's some people who are cleaning up their drawings and making them look all nice. Pretty doesn't count for crap if you don't have a grasp of the fundamental construction underneath. It's a good thing I'm not a teacher because I'd beat all your students on the first day.
Hi John - I know how to upload stuff to YouTube, but I don't know how to make Quicktime clips of the stuff in the first place. I just picked up Final Cut and am learning that as we speak so in a couple weeks we can start doing that.
you tell 'em Amid!
and post your studies too...
welp i did some eggs haha, not the best work, im used to doing realistic stuff...ill post more of my preston blair teachings in a hour or so..thanks again john.
I am now and will always be a fan of your work. I think that what you are doing here is a great place for students and fans to learn what they may have been missing before. I for one will tune in day after day to see the next thing you are going to say.
I must say though, that I have to disagree with what you have said about the lost edge at the age of 24. The founders of animation that pushed the medium for years, molded it to the way that we know it, were almost all pushing thirty when they started. This would mean that they had already reached the pinnacle of their ability to learn. By your own statement it would have been too late for them. I refuse to believe that they had started a period of "refinement". The technological advancements to the medium alone would dictate a need to learn new things just to ensure survival. Richard Williams claims to be almost fourty before he really had a grasp of this industry, he's a genius!
I could go on for hours before fully reaching my point and if you or anyone would like to continue this discussion please email me at
lutz_animation@yahoo.com.
-James Lutz
I started a new blog to start scanning and showcasing what i've been drawing from the lessons and tips given on this site. My first post is a bunch of the heads from a the head construction post and this one.
My blog!
Ok John I posted Lesson 1...I'll post more drawings tomorrow, and more after that, and keep posting until you think that I got all of the fundamentals in that amazing book down!
http://thebobhumeroom.blogspot.com/
Thanks John for everything man, you really are making a difference!
-Bob
John K! Lesson one completed, and I even followed directions!
Lesson one
Alright John and whoever else cares, here's lesson one:
http://bulldogbob.blogspot.com/
BTW Sorry for no link though John, I'm reading up on how to do that but I'm so 1994 when it comes to shit like that...I'll figure it out and have a link for you next time!
:(
John, I just wanted to tell you - although I have no ability to draw myself... I have 2 very talented young children (11 & 12) and I bought the Preston Blair book for them after reading about it here. I explained to them that they'll be tempted to just flip through the book and start drawing whatever - but that they should start from the beginning and follow Mr. Blair's instructions. I told them if they learn to do it the right way it can make them great artists. I explained that you learned how to draw cartoons from this very same book and they were impressed with that fact.
Thanks for doing what you do. I'm not even an artist and I still check this blog daily so I can read up on your latest rant.
They've only been reading the book and sketching some of the early lessons for just a couple of days now - and me and the wife can already see a huge improvement in their drawing abilities.
Wish us luck!
- Jason Davis
www.jasondavis.com