The Journal of Dan

New!!

2010-03-08T20:41:00.007Z

Put up 2 new paintings in the painting section of blog (see link in upper left of screen. This is my first time posting this year as have been very busy. My training and lessons from artist Nahem Shoa, who was taught by the late Robert Lenkiewicz, have come full circle aftr over 2 years and I am now passing on what I learnt to others. I am thankful to Nahem for his patience during this time and for training me on principles, techniques, philosophies etc on painting, drawing and art history. Also thanks to Des and Ben for your friendship and for representing on the scene.. Caroline and Rob for your hospitality.

Samson and the Philistine...round two

2009-04-08T13:14:00.005+01:00

I love this sculpt and never get tired of looking at it. I find every time I draw it I'm seeing new things and learning so much about anatomy and form, which, I guess is one of the rewards of drawing from life. I have to continually remember to find interesting angles. I start quite slow and work my way up the page. I find this helps me think about what im looking at instead of just trying to gesturally 'sketch' it in. Need to constantly remind myself to do this and work slower and really understand the underlying form when working from sculpts as it can be tricky to distinguish the form, anatomy and tone from the discoloration of ageing marble and the effects of stone. I guess Rubens was right. It's a challenge, working with just line whereas, when using tone, mistakes are harder to see.

Still Life

2009-04-07T17:34:00.002+01:00

Papa Bear

2009-04-07T17:34:00.001+01:00

Eve listening to voice of Adam

2008-08-23T12:28:00.010+01:00

Another one of those long sessions... I love this sculpt and am simultaneosly working on various poses, but this pose was a BIG Big big challenge for me, I learnt a lot about concepts that would take a while to explain here. There were erasings happening literally every 5 seconds at times!I need to start using thicker sheets to avoid tearing through the paper, which I almost did several times. But whenever I made a mistake I was honest with myself and corrected it, which is not easy to do. A few times, I think I put a mark down, even knowing it was not accurate, just to see how it played. But then remembered that no mark I put down should be arbitary. Im trying to get into the habit of this and am slowly starting to see improvements..

There are still a few things that have to be corrected and fully realised in this drawing.. back to 'seeing'.
Dan

Torso of Banovic Strahinja from the side

2008-08-20T21:58:00.008+01:00

This was another one of those long sessions.. practicing seeing tone, trying to focus on the key range.
Dan

Samson and Philistine study at museum

2008-05-04T18:13:00.005+01:00

This was one of those long sessions... I'm working on longer poses (good couple of hours), trying not to make 'sketchy' marks or think about making a good drawing... but to focus on whats really there..practice this more. Also get a new scanner (this drawing did'nt scan that well).
Dan

The GREAT Jimmy Smith

2008-01-08T17:39:00.002Z

I'm always amazed by the similarities between art and music. But more specifically, between animation and music. They work so well together. I guess one of the reasons is that they both have 'timing' as an essential part of their structure. Some of my fave examples are Fantasia (classical music), the Tom n Jerry shorts (theres jazz music from the 40's and classical too) and a lot of the work by Chuck Jones. A friend got me this Jimmy Smith collection as a christmas gift..I mean I know about Mr Smith, he's one of my fave jazzers. But I just have to recommend this one to all the jazz lovers out there that know about or have yet to discover the amazing sounds that come from the keys when Jimmy touches them. Its a great intro to one of the best periods of his career, the Blue Note years. BE WARNED: Jimmy is smokin and swingin hard on every track so be prepared to tap you're feet or bob your head to the beat. Check out 'Get Happy' on disc one..ohh boy!

Dan

Jerry

2008-01-08T17:39:00.000Z

Felt a bit challenged with myself.. I've started setting myself time limts for all my sketches. This sketch took around three minutes. The quicker it takes, the better. This is'nt to say that the drawing should be rushed, or thats its a race, not at all! Learning to work faster should not be taken literally in a way. I want to be more honest in my drawings from life and avoid being 'illustrational' or concerned with style or making a 'nice drawing', so I guess its more a matter of being clear in my mind about what im looking at. I learnt this method of drawing/painting (and am still practicing it) from a virtuoso painter and good friend. I learnt from him that honesty and guts are very important in drawing.. its all about having the courage and humility to put down the colors, tones and shapes that are REALLY there, otherwise the end result is 'illustrational' or mediocre. I have to practice this even MORE now. Also try the opposite, and draw longer poses...I think integrity in art is very important.. Setting myself time limits is one of the methods I am using to achieve this. . I need to remember to buy new paints and a sharpener.. will pay a visit to the store.

Dan

Happy New Year.. from life

2008-01-01T12:41:00.007Z

What better way to start the year, by posting in the journal. I know I have'nt posted in a while, but will try to get back into the rhythm, have been very busy lately.. Before I forget, much love out to all the peeps on the animation course at St Martins who I studied with. I learnt a lot from all of you, even the 3d guys and yes, even from Tom, who I sat next to for a year. Have now posted some new character designs, MOUSE-SPECTOR HOLMES, a few quick sketches from life.. I should have done this ages ago but will put up my final project and showreel soon. Much love to Shouren Ho and Daniel M.C. Alvite, without your help I would'nt have been able to finish the project.

Dan

my last sketches of 2007

2008-01-01T12:41:00.006Z

2008-01-01T12:41:00.005Z

meet mouse-spector holmes

2008-01-01T12:41:00.004Z

He can defend himself, he has high efficiency weaponry at his disposal, he speaks five languages, he is a master of deception and disguise.. he's MOUSE SPECTOR HOLMES!! This character is being developed slowly and will be used in a short animation. Will keep you posted.

Dan

expressions

2008-01-01T12:41:00.003Z

body language poses

2008-01-01T12:41:00.000Z

sketchbook

2007-09-06T16:57:00.001+01:00

2007-09-06T16:55:00.000+01:00

the animatic

2007-06-08T19:59:00.000+01:00

Here is the first draft of the animatic. There is a second one which has a slightly different ending, which i'll post soon. I learnt a lot from doing this. I'm quite new when it comes to character designs and storyboards so every mistake was a lesson.

Storyboard 1 from Daniel on Vimeo

life drawings

2007-06-08T19:34:00.000+01:00

Before I started animating I did a little research and preparation. This included life drawing, watching real ballerinas, acting out some of the movements myself and doing rough sketches of movements. Oh yeah! and listening to a lot of classical music. Ha! Its funny but it helped me to get into the right frame of mind somehow:) being as they are closely related. Drawing from life prepared me for the difficult task of animating two caricatured women. I tried to picture in my mind scenes that I knew would be a challenge, like say raising the arm into a certain position, which may seem quite basic. But I wanted it to look believable whilst being funny at the same time. The fact that I chose to use 'cartoony' characters as opposed to realistic looking figures did make it a bit easier for me as I knew that I would be able to exaggerate a bit more. But that isn't to say that I was going to take liberties:) For this reason I knew that I would have to at least have a basic understanding of what actually happens when an arm bends or a foot takes off from the floor so that I could use it as a starting point in the animation. Phew! that was a bit long winded:)

2007-06-08T19:32:00.000+01:00

Looking at it now, I can see that her left arm is a bit wobbly, maybe too long, I must have gotten carried away:)

2007-06-08T19:31:00.000+01:00

2007-06-08T19:30:00.001+01:00

2007-06-08T19:28:00.000+01:00

This was drawn using pastel. It gives a soft, flowing line, which is very hard to control and cannot really be erased.

2007-06-08T19:27:00.000+01:00

I tried to think 'line' and 'contour' whilst drawing this model, as I knew I'd have to be thinking like that whilst animating.

anatomy studies

2007-06-08T19:23:00.000+01:00

The above drawing and the few below were all good reminders for me and may seem pretty basic, actually they all look very basic. But this was done for a good reason. I wanted to keep it simple and not get bogged down with the precise latin names of the muscles and bones or fancy drawings.

2007-06-08T19:11:00.000+01:00

I sketched out a quick pose and then, from memory, drew out the underlying muscles on the left. Its probably not as detailed as it could be if I had used a reference book, but it helped nonetheless.

2007-06-08T19:10:00.001+01:00

2007-06-08T19:07:00.000+01:00

2007-06-08T19:02:00.001+01:00

This is the one I cleaned up of her with a skirt but I will clean up the previous one with the leotard.

2007-06-08T18:57:00.000+01:00

This still has to be cleaned up and coloured. Will do when I get time...

2007-06-07T17:25:00.000+01:00

character designs: ballet student

2007-06-07T17:18:00.000+01:00

2007-06-04T17:20:00.000+01:00

I had a good idea of what I wanted the student to look like from the beginning after watching the original Fantasia and seeing the larger-than-life hippos performing ballet...

2007-06-04T17:19:00.001+01:00

character designs: ballet teacher

2007-06-04T17:14:00.004+01:00

The above image is the final model of the ballet teacher. Below are various other designs based on the same character. I tried to keep her as simple as possible whilst still being appealing.

2007-06-04T17:14:00.003+01:00

2007-06-04T17:14:00.001+01:00

2007-06-04T17:13:00.001+01:00

early designs for ballet teacher

2007-06-04T16:59:00.002+01:00

The drawing above and the two below are some of the early character designs for the ballet teacher. They were not actually used in their entirety, but each played an important part in how I arrived at the final design for her. The one above is influenced by the late Al Hirschfeld. He is known for his caricatures and illustrations of famous americans. Their is a quality to his line which can be best described by the word 'flowing'. I was immediately struck by the potential of this quality to represent ballet. This was further reinforced after watching Fantasia 2000, which contains a short film titled 'Rhapsody in Blue' Its based on a lot of Al Hirschfeld own characters, which the Disney team got permission to use directly or re-design. His flow of line and use of simple, yet elusive graphic shapes is an element which I tried to incorporate into my own designs.

2007-06-04T16:59:00.001+01:00

I liked some things about this early design for her face (above) and body (below), which I took into the final design. I knew that to use them as they were for the final design would not be a good choice, as I would have to animate them and keep on model throughout all the ballet movements. This could probably be achieved with a lot of hard work and time, but time was something that I was running out of so some simplification was necessary...

2007-06-04T16:54:00.000+01:00

early concept sketches

2007-06-04T16:35:00.000+01:00

I chose to focus on Degas painting called ballet dancer as the springboard for my final project. The brief of the project being to create a short animated film based on a painting in the National Gallery. These are a few of the concept sketches I began with as a gut reaction to this theme. Ultimately, it would be a learning process from here on. First of all, I wanted to see what my preconceptions, if any, of ballet dancers were. So I began sketching from memory and imagination and produced a number of sketches. The three I posted here show the direction I was heading in... what I learned from doing these few sketches is that, to me, one aspect of ballet that distinguishes it from other dance forms is the gracefulness of the movements. I know this is quite obvious, most people know this about ballet, but it would prove to be an important factor that would influence each stage of the project, from character designs to techniques of animation used. What I eventually decided on as the story for the animation would be: based inside a ballet studio, typical teacher/student scenario. Ha! It was a bit of a mission deciding who would be who. First I decided on the student being the large one and the teacher being the slim one. Then I reversed it but went back to the original idea. The story is not directly based on the painting, but without that painting as a springboard I dont think I would have ended up with the same plot. I particularly felt the sketch done using pastel (one of Degas favourite medium) appealed to me the most. I then thought about why I liked it, and realised the flow of the line was interesting. This then led me to check out Al Hirscfeld who I knew capitalised on this technique(more on him in later post:)

2007-06-04T16:34:00.000+01:00

2007-06-04T16:33:00.000+01:00

still life

2006-12-15T17:35:00.000Z

This was done quite quickly. I never did finish it, but would have liked to have done more with the flowers. Its best to work on a painting as a whole in the early stages, composition, rather than focusing on one section.

life class

2006-12-14T15:03:00.000Z

I hardly use markers but they are quite fun to work with, that distinct smell under your nose just to remind you that its not a pencil. But if the tip is left on the paper for too long the ink seeps through.

a brief encounter

2006-12-14T14:41:00.000Z

The following quick sketches were done during my short but sweet stay in the polish countryside. Horses are definently my second favourite animal after apes. This horse was all alone on a huge stretch of land, so I reached for the sketch book so fast, i think I startled it. He kept a close eye on me from then on, half chewing the grass whilst watching. So I tried to tame him and beckoned for him to share with me the tasty sweet i was eating as I had more. Suddenly he changed his mood. Horses have a thing for sweet goodies, and an incredible sense of smell, im sure he picked up the fruity flavour (you know what animals are like with their senses). I think we got on fine from then on. He continued chewing on the liitle stubs of grass with more enthusiasm but would stop now and then in a classic pose just to show that he appreciated my gesture.

london aquarium

2006-12-14T14:22:00.000Z

Task for the week: animate a fish swimming through water. First we were advised to observe real fish to get an understanding of how they move. So off we went to the london aquarium... Fish in general look like they move so effortlessly, when in fact there is a lot going on structurally, especially sharks. So huge, yet they move gracefully though the water with an ease that defies their size.

london zoo

2006-12-14T13:31:00.000Z

Task for the week: animate a four legged walk. The class, as aspiring animators, were encouraged to observe from life before getting down to the nitty gritty. So off we went to london zoo, on a freezing monday morning...This cow was too busy eating to pay any attention to me. A stack of dried grass had been tied into a bundle and hung from some sort of hook, so her head was upright whilst feeding instead of the classic down position. But I mean, I was'nt complaining, I think she stood in roughly the same pose for nearly 15 mins. Wow! That may not sound like a lot but that number is BIG in london zoo! You know they say cows have three stomachs, so thats a lot of grass. I had to leave to see the other animals because I was running out of time, but I thanked her for being such a good model, she never heard me, or maybe she did. I came back 30 mins later before leaving, she was still there, on round three I think because her movements were slower.

2006-12-14T13:18:00.000Z

This little fellow (diana monkey I think) was moving so fast, he was nothing but a blur.

2006-12-14T13:11:00.000Z

Of all animals, gorillas have to be my favourite, they have so much presence and are such intelligent and peaceful animals. I tried to capture that classic pose, where you can feel the weight through the upper limbs... but then he moved. The only time he stayed still was to give me a staring match with those intense eyes...) I had to work very fast, it was fun.

life class

2006-12-14T00:39:00.000Z

20 min pose, so I decided to do a quick study. It still needs a lot of work...

in the gesture mood

2006-12-14T00:12:00.000Z

I felt really gestural tonight at life class, maybe its because we had quite a few short poses and so had to work quickly. Heres a bit of what I gestured out.

2006-12-13T23:59:00.000Z

Ha! the model actually had his head resting on the floor with out stretched arms. Hmm! Maybe next time dan:)

2006-12-13T23:55:00.000Z

life class

2006-12-13T12:31:00.000Z

This drawing and the one below are all from the same model, and both done in pen. I enjoy working in pen, its like rock climbing. Every move has to be carefully planned, as mistakes cannot be so easily corrected, as can be seen.

2006-12-13T12:28:00.000Z

a friend of the family

2006-12-13T11:48:00.000Z

I got some handy life drawing classes for free this week (my uncles son). I dont want to slack with drawing now that im on xmas break, my belly will naturally increase in size but hey! ITS CHRISTMAS. I had to work quick, kids never stop moving, unless asleep, but even then...

sketches from nature

2006-12-13T11:43:00.000Z

2006-12-12T20:20:00.000Z

life class

2006-12-12T20:05:00.000Z

2006-11-29T23:19:00.000Z

left hand studies

2006-11-28T20:23:00.000Z

2006-11-28T20:15:00.000Z

quick sketches

2006-11-26T22:29:00.000Z

interesting gestures

2006-11-25T16:22:00.000Z

studies

2006-11-25T16:20:00.000Z

2 sketches done at the tate

2006-11-25T16:07:00.000Z

2006-11-25T16:05:00.000Z

life class

2006-11-25T16:01:00.000Z

2006-11-25T15:56:00.000Z

i tried to focus on her face

2006-11-25T15:33:00.000Z

2006-11-25T14:50:00.000Z