The Royal Winter Fair III

There's a wee antique show on one floor of the Royal, and I've actually found some good things there. Mostly it's old plates and antique furniture, but there are a couple dealers who sell books; one lady in particular who sells early edition childrens books. One gent had two enormous "table albums" of the drawings of Charles Dana Gibson (we're talking huge) from the turn of the century--if I'd had more money at the time (and a truck with which to carry them) I surely would have bought them. I've seen a number of the little travelogues by one of my favourite artists, Joseph Pennell, and I think it was at the fair that I bought my antique copy of The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed. Good stuff.

But while the Practice and Science is a good manual, it's entirely different to put drawing concepts into practice. I was speaking with James the other day about the severe test that quicksketch is--particularly animal drawing. You can't draw well what you don't understand, and the *tricks* learned from habit quickly fail in the face of moving, unfamilar subjects. Could anything be better for you?

With birds, (this year removed for avian flu precaution!) I found that success lay in getting across their invariably complex, elegant silhouettes and interior shapes. Birds especially test your ability to render shape, form, anatomy, texture, and weight. Needless to say, I didn't find success, but it's a wonderful challenge anyway.




A few more from 2003; these again with the pentel sign pen
Notice the skinny pigeon!

The Royal Winter Fair II

There's a bit of magic in the air at the Royal--something to do with the combination of natural leather (still on the animals), apple dumplings and hay. The giant & fancy vegetables are also fun, as well as the fowl (absent this year) and the petting zoo. You really could spend days here. It's a terrific introduction to the bigger world of agriculture that most of us are ignorant to.

There is such a variety of display, activity and people, it's difficult to choose subjects to settle on, although inevitably, everyone gets drawn to the horse rings. It's fine to draw them in their stalls, but you can only do so many studies of horse bums and legs. It's something else entirely to try to capture them in motion. Thanks to Vilppu, Stanchfield, Muybridge and many many anatomy books for their insight into what's going on. Nothing's like careful observation though, and long hours of struggling and struggling and struggling. So many bad drawings can only inevitably reward... with an apple dumpling.

Puts Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron in perspective (as well as Degas).

Pentel Sign pen on bond; 2003



Ehn! No motion here!
First, a lady and horse dressed in Native American getup;
Clydesdales (I think) gussied up for pulling wagons;
a page of cows & horses being positioned for judging

The Royal Winter Fair I

Busy as I am I probably won't be able to attend the Royal Winter Fair this weekend. I really do enjoy going though. Canada's big agricultural fair, it's something of a tradition that I go for at least one day to do some sketching-we used to go all the time in school. I believe last year I went like everyday or something. I actually did a bunch of drawing at the Royal before Sheridan, and it helped me get in! Unfortuately the fair also aggrevates my breathing and is full of big meaty sandwiches which I can't eat. Oh well, potatoes then. Maybe next weekend. If I do, I'll take pictures.

Yes, in lieu of new stuff, old winter fair drawings. 2002?

Goodbye Sunny B

Oh-ho! Another aside. *sigh*

Perhaps you remember that image of a kid wearing a feather headdress from my grid of influences? Perhaps you read the post below? These are by a one Sunny B Cook; one of the bigger influences on the short film I'm working on now, and a favourite illustrator of mine. Please read my unfortunate Ebay experience at my Preservation Hall blog.

Influences

MOVING ON!

Going through my library led me to favourite illustrators who exemplified the fun-ness and qualities of draughtsmanship I sought. I was going after a bright 50's storybook look:

One of my favourite illustrators, the elusive and mostly unknown Sunny B. Cook merged a keen observational sense for posing with a strong control of shapes to sell characters who, though very stylized, had tension, weight, elegance and a gentle sense of reality to them. Very pleasant; light, graphic and full.



Miroslav Sasek of the THIS IS... series created fully realized worlds, matching taut, detailed observational drawing with his trademark graphic style.


Mary Blair is full of bold, brave choices that I wrack my brains over and enjoy; colours and shapes that defy convention. She mixes a distorted brooding quality with whimsy. Her work reminds me to not just choose the first solution to a problem--and that I have a lot to learn about colour (from my friend Dani as well).



JP Miller managed stylization, design, composition and colour with clarity, control, and elegance, making his worlds engaging and full of life. I liked that there were smaller stories being told through pantomime, costumes and props; business--bits of storytelling that hadn't been written in the text.


Marc Simont draws with a simple controlled immediacy that I'm extremely envious of, capturing very specific characters doing very specific things; incredible posing, staging and storytelling drawings; charming and real. At his best, he cannot be lauded highly enough.


Al Hirschfeld is of course the man who made caricature a science, distilling personalities in simple elegant shapes. I really admire the energy and seeming spontaneity of his drawings--especially those with figures dancing. He draws the personalities of people, not just their appearances-his graphic symbols a product of heavy observation and careful thought about the specific attitude of a person.



And last but certainly not least, the works of Aurelius Battaglia, Sempe and Quentin Blake. Lots of fun, energetic stuff going on here--everything has a sense of lightness and delicacy while managing strong, spirited storytelling. There's a relaxed, throwaway confidence to them that I like-an assuredness that certainly adds to their appeal. Terrific confluences of subject and handling. Good work fellas!




A book I would definitely recommend is Mr. Blake's from Klutz.

Weekend.

Seems like everything came down on me this week---
Chris Ware's in town this weekend, and Canzine's on Sunday; good relatives in town and looking for a new apartment; assembling big portfolios and many little books. Here's to a calmer weekend, and a continuation of my portfolio posts.

some of this drawing thanks to Victor Bergen-Henegouwen and Steve Liss.

04-05

Looks like until I can figure out Blogger-browser issues, who knows who'll be able to see what. Anyway, I've continued to work on my little suburb story, developing it in all sorts of fun directions, but over the last year I've started a number of other projects as well, working them to greater or lesser degrees. The kick that I get out of this stuff is all the pre-production business--coming up with ideas, concepts, characters, and stories.

What I'm after this time is something more fun and upbeat than the last submission. After a couple months of chefs, diners, spies, little girls, robots, scientists, and elderly men buying goldfish, I found something to go ahead with that seemed to thoroughly satisfy my fun quota...

A pastiche.
For J.

2003 again.

For everyone who couldn't see what I'd posted previously:
a repost--plus and minus some.

Let's see if it'll work.

2003

A couple years ago I started on a project based on my experience of the suburbs--a little pleasant, a little melancholy. I really think that the real world can be beautiful and compelling, and I wanted to make something that was. I'm a big fan of animation being animation, but I think that there's a place in animation for something more subtle and sincere; a good story is a good story, isn't it? Make it entertaining, make it challenging, make it funny, make it heartwarming, make it poignant; we owe it to people to do good stuff.

Needless to say, it's two years later. From this portfolio I've had some good responses; I've flown around a bit, drawn some storyboards, production designed, animated; I'm still working through this fella, but have since moved on to a number of other projects in its wake. But anyway, that's where I was going, so this is where we'll start.

An excerpt:

Preservation Hall

Before showing new work, I thought it'd be good to dip into the archives.

First, the announcement of some posts on my until now defunct Preservation Hall Blog. I started it right when Hurricane Katrina hit, and it felt wrong for me to start writing about New Orleans and art and beauty... Bad stuff going on out there, as we all know; hopefully everything turns out alright. Anyway, it was meant to be a forum about influences and aesthetics--a place to talk about the bigger world of art stuffs and processes. Check it out here.

On a related note, due to request, the artists from my grid of fellas:

Mary Blair, Joaquin Sorolla, Al Hirschfeld, Charles Dana Gibson, Quentin Blake
Tony Fucile, Milt Kahl, John Singer Sargent, Tom Oreb, Glen Keane
Alex Toth, Anders Zorn, Hayao Miyazaki, Harald Siepermann, Alice and Martin Provensen
James Baxter, Sergio Pablos, JC Leyendecker, Lisbeth Zwerger, JP Miller
Bill Peet, Miraslov Sasek, Marc Davis, Tadahiro Uesugi and Sunny B. Cook