HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I haven't had the chance to do a Holiday post, and I've been needing to work on caricature so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. In case you're not aware, or my caricatures are too terrible to recognize, these are a couple of my favorite Griswold characters from National Lampoon's Christmas vacation.

I was rewatching this movie recently and realized just about everyone in it was perfect for caricature. So, where better to start. I know these are still a little stiff and there are some twinning issues going on, but I'm working with shapes and likeness first. My next round of caricatures will also be from this movie, and I'll do my best to make their poses express their personality more. I'm thinking the two neighbors in their jogging gear. I'm doing these as a break from internship work, so it might be a little while before I do those ones, but I'm hoping they'll be even better than these characters. Enjoy!

JAMES'S ANIMATION FESTIVAL 2

So I know everyone looks to my blog for the most ambitious and up to date animations of our time, and I'm quite sure my fundamental exercises won't disappoint. I'm presenting you with three featurettes titled "Walk Cycle" "Side Step" and "Step Up." The final feature film is titled "Jump, Drop, and Run" This feature comes complete with a new fangled background drawn with the rarely used blue cole-erase pencil. So sit back and prepare to be awed by these masterpieces.

On a serious note, though these videos are of a small file size they may take a moment to load, so please be patient. Also I'm aware that they're not perfectly executed exercises, and I could fix a lot, but you have to move on to new exercises and understandings at some point. I'm sure I'll be animating many of these again in the future . . . over and over and over. Getting better each time ;)

-James

JACK THE GIANT KILLER: ROUND 2

This is the second round of perfecting my characters for the Jack the Giant Killer fairy tale project. Even though I'm quite pleased, with these designs, I think I may have to go further with them at some point. Even though I more than fulfilled the requirements for this project there are some expressions and details that I feel could be further fleshed out and explored.

A lot of people might not realize that behind the designs I've posted here, there are at least twice as many pictures that weren't working that I had to perfect to get these to the point that they're at. The day a design comes out perfectly formed on the first round is the day I should probably stop working on art, because in my mind it'd mean that I've stopped trying to learn and perfect my craft. One of my teachers said it best when mentioned that "Struggle is good, if you're not struggling, then you're not learning." I couldn't agree more. I've struggled with my work long enough to know the truth in that statement. So keep working hard, never stop questioning, and as always, enjoy!

HOLIDAY ART FAIRE

That time of year is upon us yet again, and I'll be there in high spirits. Make your way out to CCA for the Winter Faire next saturday (Dec. 4th) and come find me. I'll be selling my paintings at new low prices and will have some new prints as well. So swing by and check out my artwork or just hang out and talk shop. Can't wait to see you there.

MODELS, AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I'm not going to type much about the last three posts at the moment, but I will come in and reedit them at a later point. At least the art is here right? ;) Happy Halloween.

MILESTONES, MY 50TH BLOG POST

Well, I've hit some milestones recently. My birthday was last week, I just started school about three and a half weeks ago, and most importantly I've reached my 50th blog post. To be honest this, post is mostly about that last one. It's been a little over a year and 3 months since I first started this blog, and I don't intend on shutting it down or stopping my posts, so there will be a lot more art to come.

In celebration of this occasion I've actually constructed my very own banner, as opposed to just throwing a clipping of art up and having Blogger throw some text up in front of it. I decided to clean up an old piece of my artwork and add extra shadows and design elements to it to showcase the front page of my blog. You'll also notice I took some time and thought into personalizing a new template. I don't know html and did not create the template myself, but I chose something that was close to what I wanted and tried to tweak it as much as possible. I might make small additional tweaks in the future, but this is pretty much it for now. Maybe I'll change the look again for the 100th blog post, but for now enjoy a whole new blog.

ANOTHER 111 MINNA GALLERY SELL FINDS A HOME

I have so much artwork these days that I no longer have space on my own walls for the majority of it, and creating new work becomes bittersweet. On the positive side I have new work that I enjoy working on and sharing with people. An artist also gets better with every piece of artwork he/she makes. On the down side, the original might not get seen much after its completion. I can't tell you how much work I have hidden away, waiting to be rediscovered, and I'm a little afraid to delve back into it all and find out for myself. That's why I always love it when other people enjoy my work enough to take it home.

I just received some pictures of my artwork framed and hung on a wall. This is always a big thing for me, because it means more of my artwork has found somewhere where it will be seen and enjoyed. This particular person is even an incredible artist himself. I was lucky enough to get to take a look at his sketch work last Tuesday only to be blown away by his skills in the medium. It's truly an honor to have my art hanging on his wall. Thanks for the pics Levi, they're perfect.