Friday, June 26, 2009

Ninja Mountain Episode #22 - Long and Drawn out

This week we welcome longtime ninja Eric Lofgren to the show! He joins Jeremy, Socar and Patrick, and everyone tries to stay on the subject of drawing: techniques, tips and philosophical meanderings. Plus a call from a listener, a write-in question, and some book and web site recommendations. It's a long, jam-packed episode, so what are you waiting for? Start listening now!

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain022.mp3

Subscribe for free on iTunes if you don't want a pie in your face, too!

** UPDATE: There was a sound problem at the end of the call-in section, which has now been fixed! **

Show notes...
http://www.ericlofgren.net/

http://www.waynebarlowe.com/

Roger Dean books:
Dragon's Dream: Roger Dean

Views

Magnetic Storm

15 comments:

Joe Slucher said...

Ah, Hogarth draws like a plumber. :)

Jan said...

Awesome! Good I didn't go to bed early. Now I can paint!

Eric could be on the podcast more often. I never realized he was a ninja as well! Despite the fact I've been drooling over his work on RPG.net lately. O_o Silly me.

:D Socar sounds a lot more scottish today for some reason.
Oh, rubber jokes. Nice.

Tales from Art School - episode 1: White Stockings!

Socar raised a good point about drapery being somewhat unintuitive. When I don't think about it before I start drawing, my cloth often ends up looking like the person is wrapped in roots, mud, or some weird jelly flaps.
I think Jon would agree with me that Angus McBride was quite the master of painting cloth that's immediately readable. "Yep, that's wool, look how heavy and bulky it is. That's silk, look how it wrinkles..."

You guys didn't know Wayne Barlowe?! He did creatures for Hellboy! And he's working on The Hobbit!

Neat episode, thanks again for making it! :)

Michael Jaecks said...

Thanks for another great podcast guys. The discussion at the end about clients that approve, accept, use or don't use or work, and generally leave you high and dry wondering if they really liked your work is something that I have been giving a lot of thought to lately. I think I can add to this discussion, without discussing specifics, that different art directors also work very differently. In case you hadn't noticed, I can tend towards the verbose in my written communication. I tend to hope for the same from the people, including ADs, that I communicate with... but it is not always the case. And I have to remind myself that while I may rattle off a long e-mail with a bunch of thoughts, questions, contingency plans, etc in the hopes of being conscientious and thorough for the client, the response I get may be as simple as "Roll with it!"

It can feel frustrating not to get thorough feedback, but if you're getting green lights, approvals and paid, that's about as much as one can ask for...

Another great episode. I'm sort of fascinated that all of you still draw with pencil first... do any of you just draw directly on the Cintiq or Intuos? I haven't really drawn on paper for quite some time.

MuYoung Kim said...

Hi Ninja's, a very big thank you for answering my question! I had forgotten how, well, nasally I sound. Sigh.

Oh, and was it just my inept downloading skills, or did the call itself get overlaid on top of the comments?

Patrick McEvoy said...

Damn, MuYoung - you're right!! I'm making a fixed version now.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Michael! I don't do digital art, but when I did, YES, I drew directly on the tablet from scratch. (But only because I didn't have a scanner. I've never been good at digital drawing. Doesn't feel natural for me.)

Ninja Mountain said...

I've tried drawing directly on the computer and I just don't really enjoy it. I don't feel the same improvisational control as pencil and paper, if that makes any sense. :?

Ninja Mountain said...

Joe - I can't say I'm a big fan of Hogarth's strips. Kind of stiff. But I do think his educational theories have a lot to be said for them, and his book "Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery" is NOT to be missed by anyone. Even you! :)

Ninja Mountain said...

Hey Jan, happy you enjoyed it!

Jeffrey Lai said...

*thought Eric made a great debut!
(not to mention that you're all awesome anyway!)
great podcast again!

Ninja Mountain said...

PS - those last three comments were all me! Forgot to sign my name there..

-Patrick

Ninja Mountain said...

Thanks Jeffery! Eric fit right in, didn't he? It's nice we have so many folks to come on who've all known each other for so long, so we all feel pretty comfortable chatting. :D

-Patrick

Joe Slucher said...

I don't really hate Hogarth. I just remember looking through my college anatomy teacher's books and he had all of these notes on these anatomy books and then in Hogarth's book, written in the margins was "he draws like a plumber!". And that was about the only non-anatomy related comment I saw. I always think that now, whenever I see Hogarth's stuff.

Ninja Mountain said...

I actually like that description! He's very structural and not very flashy, but he gets the job done!

Ninja Mountain said...

I mix it up. I often now do thumbnails in a sketchbook. Scan the thumbs and then refine the sketch on the computer. Send it in for approval.

If the subject is relatively simple, I may just finish the drawing on the computer and go on to paint.
More often though, I print the sketch out and lightbox it to illustration paper for drawing refinements.
The finished drawing is then scanned and painted.

---Jeremy