Daily Picture: 5 - Ninja Day (Japan).

Another picture that took longer than I liked for an unsatisfying result. I'm late posting this one too.

Today's theme was "Favourite TV cartoon character."

It was National Ninja Day in Japan (Feb 22) so I decided to draw my favourite ninja. I'm sure Japanese visitors will role their eyes and be quick to tell me that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aren't real ninjas.

I also realised while thinking of TV cartoon shows that I couldn't think of any from the last 10 years. I am getting too old!! lol.

Daily Picture: 4

From the "30 day drawing challenge" I found on DeviantArt, today's theme is "Star Wars."

This took a lot longer than expected and is still unfinished! I thought it would be a quick doodle, but it ended up taking a long time drawing it into Photoshop and then I got too obsessive about the line quality, so that ended up taking even more time.

I am a fan of the Pod Racing scene from Episode One. I loved it so much I have the old PC game and the PlayStation 2 sequel. 

Daily Picture: Day 3

Staying with the "30 day drawing challenge" I found on DeviantArt, today's theme is "Favourite Pet or Animal."

I drew my dog, Molly. (Pom Terrier).

She is a bit of a nuisance when it comes to barking. I don't even think she knows why she is barking or what the expected outcome is. She barks at people that come to the house, barks at them when they stop rubbing her, and then barks at them when they are leaving. She even runs up barking to dogs (Boxers) that come into our garden from next door, much bigger than herself. Very gentle dogs actually, but their size can be intimidating.

It got me thinking what other creatures would she stupidly have a stand-off against. 

Drawing animals or nature scenes (or any background scenes) is actually quite challenging for me and I tend to shy away from it, focusing on people instead. That might explain the stiffness of the scene above (very frozen and on display.
Rather than spend loads of time draw a dodgy sketch of just my dog, I went a little further (and maybe the easier route) and drew this scene. It was still tough and I'm not happy with the forest or the bear... or the dog.

I will need to start thinking about colouring some of these pictures.

Daily Picture: Day #2

I'm still struggling to come up with ideas for these daily drawing tasks, but I found a "30 day drawing challenge" over on DeviantArt that might help.

I was tempted to use some copic markers to add shades of gray and black, but I need more practise with them. I might come back to this picture in the future.

Daily Picture: Day #1

I haven't drawn anything in a long time. That's not completely true, but the things I have drawn or painted have been requests from the school (props, art project templates, etc). But I have been avoiding drawing or painting when there wasn't a demand. 

It is that time of year we Irish Catholics call Lent. It use to be traditional to give up something during the 40 day event. Kids would give up sweets (except on St Patrick's day when they might get a temporary pass) or adults would try to give up smoking or drinking ("try" being the word). But it is also considered a time to take up a new habit, usually of the spiritual/ religious kind. 

So, I have decided (among other things) to set myself the task of doing a picture a day during Lent...

I have been away from the action and convinced myself that maybe art isn't in my future after all (despite all the time and money gone into my Animation studies), and I'm finding it tough to get back into the swing of things.

This could be a rough 40 days. (or is it 46 days??)

YFE The Animated Adventures Ep 5

Be careful not to meditate too hard, or you might pass-out. 
Yes, I know, WTF?

During 2011, I was recruited by the Canadian band “Your Favorite Enemies” to produce a series of short animations. I was originally invited over with many possibilities up in the air for illustration work, but in the end I settled with time consuming task of animating short episodes which were presented during the band's live Ustream broadcasts, titled "The BlaBlaBla."

As we approach the 2nd anniversary of this missing episode, I have decided to do something with it and post it. It tells the story of Alex looking for locations in Japan to film for his next project while the rest of the band arrive later and do a bit of the usual tourist activities.

Video after the jump...

YFE - The Animated Adventures [playlist]

During 2011, I was working with the Canadian band Your Favorite Enemies. As well as providing some fun illustrations, I produced a series of short animations which were shown at the end of their live Ustream broadcast. They had a broadcast roughly once a month. I did a total of 5 animations for them over the course of 8 months. Each episode had a 3 or 4 week turnaround. 

I managed to create a playlist which skips to the segments where my animation is shown. I included some commentary from the band before and after the segments, but just in case there are any glitches (or you just get bored), you can easily skip to the next episode. 

I have included some promo images I did (for myself for fun) after the jump...