Maui Sketch (Moana)

I will be posting storyboards from the newly released Moana in the near future. For now this quick sketch of Maui will have to do.

Hands, Baby, Hands!

I drew these baby hands as examples for a homework assignment given to the students in my Figure Invention class at CDA. We used photo reference as inspiration to draw expressive hands. The goal was not to reproduce the hand in a realistic way, but to enhance the feel and gesture of the hand in more simplified shapes and forms.

This is a study in contrasts.

Here's a sample of the photo reference with the gestural interpretation.

Sumo Wrestler (Walk, Run)

The idea here was to depict a large figure running and walking. I chose to go for comedy in the run poses.

Being a large man, the sumo takes heavier steps than the Park Ave. woman in my previous post.

Park Ave. Woman Walking

I just finished teaching a course at The Concept Design Academy in Pasadena called Figure Invention for Animation. It was my first time teaching in a formal setting. The students were very gracious, as I fumbled around, trying to figure out how to reduce the whole process into bite-size parts. So much of what I do is the product of a long, quiet, internal journey of self-discovery, and as such, it's hard to formalize into a hard-boiled curriculum. However, I appreciated the chance to try, and perhaps will take it up again in the future. But for now, I have to put away my professor's hat, as I just don't have adequate time to devote to teaching right now. Thank you, Kevin Chen at CDA for the opportunity.

This is a sample sketch from a class assignment on the figure in motion. We were to study and draw different types of characters walking, running and skipping with appropriate attitude and personality.