Instructions for making pop-up cards

I finally got my act together to publish instructions for creating pop-up cards.
Vertical fold and horizontal fold directions can be found at CraftDay.

Animator vs Animation (I and II)

Animator vs. Animation

"A simple stick figure created in Flash gets sick and tired of being tortured,
so he fights back. Check out this John Woo-style fight scene that takes place
entirely within a Flash program (which gets trashed in brilliant fashion). "

Animator vs. Animation II

"The badass stick figure is back and this time it's personal. In this
episode, victim becomes victimizer as he breaks out of Flash and takes on mighty
opponents like Firefox, the AOL IM guy and the Photoshop* icon. "

Still more random drawings

from September

Successful


Analytical


Hair


Not sure


Wow

More random drawings

... from September:

Thoughtful


Sleepy


Guilty


Entertained

Line drawing

I hesitate to call this style a caricature. Mostly because it doesn't really take any artistic liberties with the subject matter. So I'll refer to it as a line drawing. I'm working on this one for a client of mine. (This is being displayed with his permission.)

Later I'll post some that I did a few years back so you can see how the style has changed over time.

Random drawings

Here are some random drawings from September. I'm not that comfortable drawing with ballpoint on paper -- and it shows!

Poem: Friendship Wish

Somewhere out there,
There's someone who needs a smile.

Somewhere out there,
There's someone who needs a touch of your hand.

There's someone who needs a kind word,
Some understanding,
Forgiveness,
A whisper of appreciation.

Somewhere out there,
There's someone who needs something to eat,
A place out of the cold,
A pair of warm socks.

Somewhere out there,
There's a soul who needs to be remembered,
Just remembered,
Even that will do.

As you live your life from this moment to next,
Please think about those whose paths you cross,
Even if they stand right in front of you,
Take one little step that can,
And will,
Make all the difference in the world.

copyright 1992, Susan Simmons

www.alansimmons.com

Note to self: Mentos + Soda = Fun!

I'm old enough to never have done this in school, but I hear it's big in science classes these days.

I first read about it in The Star's article "Pepsi and Mentos -- How a high-school teacher's science experiment became an Internet phenomenon and taught kids about nucleation sites along the way."

The first paragraph reads:

Before hitting the big time, the "Mentos effect" was a schoolteacher's gimmick to make 13-year-olds listen up in science class. Drop an unwrapped roll of Mentos into a freshly opened 2L bottle of soda and stand back. The pop becomes a geyser of foam guaranteed to soak the ceiling of anybody foolish enough to try it indoors.

And the obligatory Google search turned up a bazillion sites describing this experiment.

But my favourite one is this from EepyBird.com. Two-hundred liters of Diet Coke combined with over 500 Mentos mints. It's amazing and completely insane.

Lesson 9 [Hands] part two

The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course - Lesson 9
(also seen at ASIFA-Hollywood)

Notes:

• Here are the rest of the hands from Lesson Nine
• I've highlighted some of my favourite hands. Not necessarily favourite because I matched proportion -- just a feeling I had about the hand. Typically it was one that I didn't think too hard about -- the kind that just "happens."
• I consistently had issues getting the "fleshy" parts of the digits and palm to look fleshy. At least to look as fleshy as Blair's.
• Wahoo! I'm finally caught up on my lessons. It's a good thing that JohnK took the summer off from teaching!
  

Hand One:


Hand Two:


Hand Three:


Hand Four:



Hand Five:


Hand Six:


Hand Seven:


Hand Eight:




Page 3:


Page 4:


Page 5:

The Whole Mom Rocks!

A big thank you to TheWholeMom.ca for picking up "Sods'n'Odds" as a regular feature! Now I've just got to get cracking on more strips. No pressure!

Lesson 9 [Hands] part one

The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course - Lesson 9 (also seen at ASIFA-Hollywood)
Notes:

• After a two month break, it took quite a while for my hand to become reacquainted with the pencil and paper
• I'm not focusing on proportion as much as the previous lessons (won't be doing digital comparisons), because I want to make sure I focus more on perspective and variation
• More pages and commentary to follow... I put these up just to prove I'm still working at it!

Page one:



Page two:

Drawn.ca chosen by TIME!

TIME Magazine has selected Canada's own Drawn.ca blog as one of it's "50 Coolest Websites."

Kudos to Drawn.ca! Well deserved!

Where does the time go?

I had wonderful momentum going with these animation lessons. And then June hit.

I found myself juggling external commitments, domestic activities and the compelling call of summer. For the most part, my sketch book sat lonely and untouched. I hear it calling to me in my sleep. The pages for Lesson Nine look at me longingly each and every day.

I'll be back soon. Very soon.

Wait for me!

Lesson 8 [Proportions affect design-Contrasts]

The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course - Lesson 8
(also seen at ASIFA-Hollywood)

Notes:

• I won't bore you with excuses for why this post took so long
• without further delay ...

Bulldog 1


Click here for largest version




Click here for largest version


Bulldog 2


Click here for largest version




Click here for largest version

Lesson 7 [When Generic Is A Good Thing]

The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course - Lesson 7
(also seen at ASIFA-Hollywood)

Notes:

• I have a much better appreciation for the ease of learning the basics through generic character shapes (and a better understanding of the character choices in this kids show)
• Apparently, Blogger doesn't let allow you to delete the photos you upload to their server. So I'm trying this post using Flickr.com

Mickey:






Dwarf:







Fudd: