Style Exploration

Artists whose styles I'm trying to experiment w/:

Ted Mathot
Lou Romano
Scott Morse
Walt Stanchfield
Mary Blair
(will add more later)

Ultimately, I'm trying to find ways to improve not only the overall appeal of my illustrations/sketches/etc., but also the efficiency of them. I want to be able tell a lot with as few extraneous lines, details, and visual distractions as possible. It's not just speed I'm going for, it's clarity, it's appeal, and it's believability. And if anything, to at least have fun leaving my comfort zone!

Here's an existing character I decided to practice on:

Character (c) Namco Bandai, MonolithSoft.

Who needs sleep?

So, more and more it sounds like the art college thing is happenin'. I talked to Mandrews today and, as usual, got a head-full of amazing storyboard/life advice. So far I had researched 3 schools:

Academy of Art
CalArts
Joe Kubert School of Cartoon & Graphic Art

Mark gave a strong pitch for CalArts, not only because he did their character animation program, but because it he knows the program would offer a lot of great story and animation classes taught by professionals currently in the industry, as well as push me to produce my own short film each year (...which is insane!) It also has a great environment for artists to form close relationships, and have access to other programs such as the film directing, theater, photography, etc. programs. The only problem is the expensive tuition (about $27k a year for tuition alone). However, if I really want to go, which I do, and I keep on top of financial aid options and deadlines, which I am already doing, then I'm willing to take the risk. This is for my life, and no one else!

In the meantime, I've kinda scared myself into a drawing revival/insecurity panic attack, and have been producing copious doodles. Those will be scanned in as soon as I figure out how to return to a normal sleeping schedule...zzz...

Little doodlage for a rough story idea.

The two principal characters.