Strike a Pose

Whenever you are developing your character, it is always a good practice to draw your character in various positions. Try to capture them in different attitudes by focusing on strong silhouettes in their poses like this Lil' Ninja is showing us.

How Do I Look?

Before leaving the house, most of us will take a quick look in the mirror to make sure we aren't missing anything. The same is true for the characters we create. A great exercise when you are creating new characters is to do what is called a "turn-around".

Start by drawing your character in an interesting pose. Now imagine that your character is a statue on a rotating platform that you can turn around. What would your character look like from the front? The sides? The Back? How well do you know your character so you can draw them in poses you rarely use? Try it. And if you are having a difficult time drawing the backside, take a little more time to think about the smallest details of your creation so that you aren't missing anything.

VoogDesigns Visits DreamWorks

Wow! What a great opportunity I had tonight to walk around the campus of DreamWorks Animation Studios in Glendale, CA. I scheduled some time to visit a friend of mine that works there and he was gracious enough to give me a tour of the studios.

From seeing detailed plant sculptures (and a life-size Kung Fu Panda sculpture) to running streams and a secret hidden lounge, this campus is certainly a catalyst for creativity. With mission style architecture and ornately landscaped Zen gardens, given the opportunity to work here, I don't think I would ever want to leave!

Wild Kingdom

One of the great things about taking human and animal anatomy art classes, is that once you have studied the basic skeletons, muscles and proportions, you can then begin to believably draw animal characters in poses that they would never be able to do in the real world. This exercise not only challenges your imagination, but it helps you to really "flesh out" a character due to your new found knowledge of anatomy.

Personality

One secret to creating animated characters that are so believable can be found in the lyrics of the old Lloyd Price song, "Personality."

♫ Cause you've got (personality). Walk (with personality). Talk (with personality). Smile (with personality). Charm (with personality). Love (with personality). An' plus you got a great big heart. ♫

Keep this in mind while roughing out your scene, and your drawings will come to life!

Creative Space

When I am assigned a project, I always ask the client what design style they are looking for. Disney looks different than Looney Tunes, which looks different than Nickelodeon. Some of my most favorite projects are the ones in which a client allows me the creative freedom to take their idea and adapt it to my particular style of drawing. On the left is a drawing of their concept character, and on the right is my design.

Caricatures of Employees Offered (CEO)

Since I was 15 years old working in a "small Roman pizza shop", I have always enjoyed drawing caricatures of my co-workers. At that time I had envisioned creating a "Wall of Fame" (or shame) for those things that happen "Behind the Scenes", which only the employees know. I offered this caricature to a former CEO shortly before leaving the company. (And no, I wasn't fired!)

Loan Ranger

After working with some great people over the years, you really get to know them and their families. While working as an Account Executive at a "coast to coast" mortgage company, I gave a co-worker this caricature of his son, who at that time loved a certain "space ranger". He's probably 10 or 11 years old now.

Furry Friends

My daughter loves the movie Cats & Dogs. And although I have always grown up with canine companions, I'm told that they can coexist. Hey, I've seen stranger pairs on AFV!

This is a concept sketch of a logo I was designing for a local pet store, which was not used. However, I always attempt to make my drawings esthetically pleasing to look at, and of course with pets, I was going for "cute".