Viva La Artista

Ohhh gosh, thank you! I’m glad you like em! I actually don’t do anything too special, but here’s a few tips! 

The first thing I focus on is the top lip. The more you focus on the curve, the more variation and form it’s given.

Then, I focus on the lip shape in general. The top lip is actually “darker” than the bottom, because it’s in shadow.

It’s better illustrated in color, and it makes seeing form in it easier and clearer.

Another big aspect I rely on and love to utilize is the gums. Gums are great for giving a very real, tangible, finite look to the teeth, rather than have them stretch endlessly in the mouth. Again, use curves!

Another big thing with the gums, is knowing where the’re at. Think of how the jaw is lowered and raised, rather than the top, which remains static. For the top though, the lip itself can reveal the gums, when stretched.

When expressing emotion, (and I know I bring this up a LOT) exaggerate! Pull the corners back far, show the gums, show the bottom row, move the tongue! Again, use curves! Never keep too static a line, especially in the top lip.

And finally, wrinkles! Use the surrounding skin and flesh I to your advantage! Pull it for age and expression, compress it to show youth, (typically).

Maquettes from our 25 years of Nickelodeon Animation exhibit

Maquettes are 3D character models that animators use for reference when drawing a character from different angles. Along with model sheets, maquettes also help bring consistency to drawings of the same character by different artists.

This is both a really personal, and also a really universal issue. Let me answer you in a bit of stream of consciousness here, bear with me.

1—”Breaking thru” and “Big Deal” are completely arbitrary concepts, depending entirely on your POV. I am friends with artists who were (and still are) heroes to me. They’re so famous, and so goddamn good, that you’d think they could rest on their laurels and finally relax and just go about being great and enjoying it. But it’s not true, because that feeling of never being where you want to be, not having made it yet, never goes away. It doesn’t matter how far you climb, that feeling climbs with you. So get used to it. In a way, you need it. The artists that don’t have that drive never rise above mediocre. It’s that dissatisfaction that keeps you striving. Unfortunately it can also make you miserable. Each of us needs to find a way to balance and walk the tightrope between being dissatisfied enough to keep growing, while letting ourselves be pleased with what we’ve accomplished at the same time. 

Go ahead, listen to some interviews with some artists you admire - they’re all going to talk about having this feeling. 

And remember, no matter where you are on the ladder - you’re only looking up the ladder to your heroes. Remember there’s also people below you on the ladder looking to YOU and wishing they could be where you are.

2—Don’t fall into the trap of comparing the 100% of your life that you know with the 10% or 25% or even 50% of someone else’s life that you can see. Social media and the internet in general is the worst for this, but it happens in real life too…you’ll see someone’s successes and not see their hardships. We do this naturally as human beings. We don’t put our chronic diseases, our divorces, our depressions, our failures, out there for the world to see nearly as much as we celebrate our wins. You see the artist suddenly getting all the book cover commissions, but you don’t see that they’re stuck in the house 5 out of 7 days with Crohn’s Disease. You see someone get into Spectrum or American Illustration, but you don’t see that they’re going through a period of depression and intense dissatisfaction with their work to the point that they haven’t made anything new in six months. You see the concept artist working on a bunch of big movies, but you don’t see them struggling with overwork injuries. The key here is to just assume, just know, that you’re not seeing the whole story. Don’t compare your lows to another person’s highs.

3—Goals are both critical to your success, but at the same time, can defeat you before you begin. Instead of setting really big goals that immediately overwhelm you with how far you have to climb to get there, try setting priorities instead. This exercise might help. 

4—The solution is to stop caring about what everyone else is doing, how young or old everyone else is, and especially worrying that you’re too old, too late, not where you want to be yet, haven’t hit an arbitrary goalpost. Just put your head down and make great work. Show it to the right people. Repeat. You’ll get there. Everyone who has gotten there ahead of you got there this way.

1. Interrupt the denigrating, negative self talk.

2. Don’t beat yourself up when you get something wrong.

3. Give yourself credit for the ways you’ve changed and grown.

4. Say something good about yourself everyday.

5. Refuse to fixate on the things that could go wrong.

This weekend was the grand opening of Happy Happy! Joy Joy! Art and Artifacts from 25 years of Creator-Driven Cartoons, an art exhibit we created in partnership with Cal State Fullerton. 

There are pencils that turn into plants when you’re done using them. 

The ‘Sprout Pencil’ is the first sustainable pencil in the world that can be planted after use.

“We have chosen the seeds for our pencils with great care, and they germinate quickly: i.e. within 1-3 weeks, depending on the seed variety. Most plants can be grown both indoors and outdoors.” 

It’s made of natural materials: the body is cedar wood, and the “lead” is a mixture of clay and graphite.

Sprout pencils are available in 22 varieties, including sunflower, mint, lavender, sage, forget-me-not, cherry tomato, sweet pea, cilantro, and wild strawberry.

What to do

“When the Sprout Pencil has become too short to write with, it is ready to be planted. Follow the simple instructions below and see your Sprout pencil sprout.”

They are also available in the colored pencil variety, which makes me oh-so-happy! 

source / credits