My Little People Things

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For as long as I've been thinking, I've loved cartoons and cartoon characters. Its one (or part of one) of my two loves. (more on that in a future post?) I love a wide variety of animation and character styles, (but not all) and I remember at a very young age saying that I wanted to be an animator... Well, through the years, that desire kind of grew and faded at different times, and I pondered different formats and styles that I might be interested in.

Disgusted with my general lack of talent, and having zero production worth looking at, in November 2004 (and some later?) I began testing out my rusty old childhood drawing skills. The results were not impressive, but I felt they were a small step above most of my lazy, non-dimensional, childish designs of the past, and it was enough to spark further interest for... pretty much all the way up to now. Even so, something always seemed to hold me back from really diving in and pursuing animation, and drawing in general, so I don't have a portfolio to speak of. The following two characters probably represent the most solid of my designs.

The Skamp:

First up, a completely new character, I'm tentatively calling The Skamp. (I may change the spelling.) Well, technically I began work on him almost half a decade ago, but he remained a shoddy Photoshop doodle for these past five years...

To think I've hung on to that useless file all this time and actually came back to finish (more like start) drawing him. Oh right, here's the finished drawing.

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You have no idea, how much trouble I had coming up with some kind of face/head for this guy! I probably went through about ten uninspired, ugly, boring little doodles, before I finally got one that I'm somewhat satisfied with, or at least seems interesting, and matches his "body type." (I could post 'em, but I'll spare your eyes.) I also have to complain about those hands! Man, it was a pain (at my skill level) trying to make 'em look natural.

So anyway, some of the inspiration probably comes from characters like The Noid, ...maybe some vague influence from video game characters like Sonic the Hedgehog and some lesser knowns who are supposed to have a cool '90s 'tude, possibly a bit of Blockheads and Gumby, (R.I.P. Art Clokey... he passed away early this year.) :( AND last but not least, the letter "A." But mostly The Noid. Also this isn't the first time I've made a weird inhuman, or horribly warped body, with a patch of skin showing from underneath a "suit" (or more skin?) suggesting that it is indeed some kind of person, but... not really. As he needed something on his head, and also just for a good throwback, I gave him the antennae from my childhood long-stay, Termy the Termite. (If only it wasn't too late to rename him...) So that's about all I need to say about The Skamp. Here's an alternate color for kicks.

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Chick:

Originally spelling it "Chic," I got this name from the character Chick Young in Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein. It seems to be a trendy 1930s–40s nickname which somehow suits him. Chick has wormed his own special wormhole into my heart over the last few years. He's a mellow fellow, romantic, loyal to his master/friend, somewhere between a llama and a gremlin (?), stands about 3 feet, can speak English, but rarely does, and only one word at a time, or short phrases. There is some self-reflection in his personality and even his design. (messy hair, slight eye-baggage lol) Yeah, I have some other background, and a rough story or two that I've been daydreaming about over the last few years, but we won't get into that.

This is one of the first major Inkscape (vector) projects I undertook, (a few months ago) and I learned a lot along the way. Its true that I started out by clumsily trying to trace the original sketch, but making this vector image was basically like working from scratch. Here's the cruddy result of the first pass.

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Ha, I hadn't done any drawing yet other than some rectangles, (my logo) circles, (olives) and some other basic groundwork learning the program, so don't laugh! (The original sketch isn't a whole lot better.) As disappointing as it may be (to me at least) that he appears in the same pose as that old sketch, Chick has received a painstaking facelift in this drawing, with many small adjustments (in Inkscape they feel large) to make this the definitive example (or close to it) of what my imagination says he should look like. There are still some difficulties, and elusive areas, (like which direction are his ears supposed to be?) but nothing that really stands out and bothers me anymore. It feels good to get him fixed up, and looking his best, to reveal his true potential as a character. I better show you something other than that frumpy outline before I start talking about true potential!! Here's the final drawing.

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sparkling candy eyeballs...

Back to Sonic, I wouldn't say there is any Sonic influence here, but the evolution of Chick reminds me just a bit of Sonic's. (much fewer evolutions) The change is more drastic with Sonic, but both started out a bit short and squat, and then later graduated to a longer-legged, overall sleeker look. Meh, I'm not sure why Sonic keeps coming to mind, ha!

As for real influences... well, I don't know, he kind of just appeared on my paper. :) OK, to be accurate, I'll give you a bit of history. In maybe '05 I had a hazy idea of a squatty little front-butted ball of a... guy... dog thing, tried to draw it a long time later, and it ended up looking like Stimpy. (See "Larry the... *ahem* Llama" in those old sketches, 4th from the bottom.) In February '06 I tried again in an effort to both avoid a Stimpy look-alike, and capture what I had originally thought up. Larry v.2, success! Actually I deviated quite a bit, and it ended up a better, more versatile character. (later renamed "Chick") So yeah there's that, plus I've always been simultaneously creeped out, and fascinated by Bucky O' Hare, and at least his eyes may have been a contributing inspiration in both characters. (I'm sure some "anime techniques" snuck in there too.)

The background was kind of an afterthought that I kept playing with and making small improvements on, and now that its done, I'm pleased that even though its simple, and sort of... askew... its also very calming, cheerful, and fitting for the character. And yes, it has a whimsical anime vibe, but still somewhat cartoony I think. (I hope you guys don't mind me critiquing every detail of my own work... I guess that's what blogs are for... to ramble on and on about one's self.) Can anyone guess what real, yet fictionalized city this scene is set in? If you can't tell, don't worry, you'll find out later.

(In the middle of a much needed surgery after I foolishly believed I was done.) >:/

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And since I know you're so curious, here's a look at what's going on in the background with those KERRAZY VEKTORZ!!!

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Well, I've gone on quite long enough about this stuff, and I guess my final thought would be; You know... it would seem I don't care much for drawing legitimate bodies or necks... oh well! :P Ha, thanks for checkin' out mah stuff, I hope someone finds this an interesting read/view, and if not, I'm sorry you've forced yourself to read all the way to the end, you didn't have to! Later!!

Rebirth

In commemoration of my birthday, to be more in line with the theme I've had going for a while now, (olives) and to convey a less in-your-face tone, the blog has now been relaunched as "The Olive Can." What exactly that means for the future, only time will tell, but I have a feeling things will be at least moderately different around here. ;)

Birds!

I've finally "vectorized," this little cartoon. (Well, about a month ago, but I've been messing with it ever since.) This was sort of the clean-cut style I had in mind years ago when I first sketched him.

Before:

After:
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A._____________________B.

C._____________________D.

One THOUSAND points to the first person to name all four correctly! (Yeah, I got carried away with the coloring... too much fun!) Top left (A) is the ugly "original" color scheme I chose for him. Its kind of up in the air as to what kind of bird this one is. (I'm still calling him 'Joe' BTW.)

There are two weird things about this drawing. First, he sort of has thumbs on both wings and feet. His front toe thing seems to convert into a thumb at will. Second is his cute, yet impossible smile. Don't look at it too long, it doesn't make sense. ^_^

Logo, and Film Stuff

This post has been updated and revised several different times, just go with it. ;)

Here's a look at the development of my film moniker/logo, though I originally planned to just post the final image with a brief statement. As with all my vector art, I used Inkscape, plus this time elements borrowed from Sarah's Adobe Illustrator work.

First, the mock-up I made maybe in January '09 in MS Paint. :) (Maybe I'll get a better estimate on the date sometime.)

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Next came the design my friend Sarah generously made for me. I asked her to create a vector image, using my mock-up as a basic starting point, but I also encouraged her to try something different, and use her own creativity. (Skip down to the first UPDATE below.)

Around the same time, I had one of my own in the works, (but "finalized" well after Sarah's) and except for the little fruit/drop I snagged from her design, it turned out almost exactly like the mock-up, except now in a clean vector format. Wasn't satisfied. Take a look.

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Orignal post ending:

I might be a weenie and forgo the neon colors in favor of plain white lines. [EDIT: Weenity confirmed. So anyway, looked at Sarah's version again, and I just couldn't help but admit hers was a more solid design. I still wanted to try some things of my own though, so... well, read the updates.] :)

As for its purpose, it will be appearing alongside Giant House Productions in at least one upcoming "film" currently under the title "Growing Up," that I co-funded, wrote, edited, directed, etc. with my bud Steve Huset who is representing Giant House. Other than that, its future is uncertain as I don't plan on pursuing this sort of thing anymore. I may still end up making videos of another breed, so it could possibly see more use, but that might even warrant a whole new logo, who knows.

I'll be back later with some cartoons or something. Bye!

UPDATE:
Check out Sarah's version!

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Man this one is pretty cool, I'm having trouble deciding which to use. :P ...Or perhaps there could even be some sort of new amalgamation of the two if I decide its worth the time. In any case, mad props to Sarah for creating this, whatever its fate may be.

Look her up at:
www.mindelixirdesign.com
and
www.mindelixirs.blogspot.com

UPDATE 2:
OK wow, I had serious doubts when I mentioned the possibility of an amalgamation, but amazingly enough, here it is, the final version and totally reworked!

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Allow me to go over some details for posterity's sake...

As you can see, it takes more from Sarah's design, specifically her modified font, making it sort of a collaboration between us. (Of course even with the text, I couldn't help making little tweaks to it.) I was going to leave the rectangle as just one thick line, but then I looked at her's again, and kind of liked the double line, so there's that too. Its pretty ultra-simple (minus some detailing in the "r") 'cause I decided to play it safe and leave out any color, or other additions I was tempted to make. Changing the two side lines into just one joining the text, leaves it less cluttered. (Though Sarah managed to make 'em work alright in hers.)

The shallow text shadow/3D effect thing supplies a bit of needed definition or refinement, but any more looked weird. (The word "pop," comes to mind, but I refuse to use it!) The "r" has obviously been changed as well, now with a weird swirl at the the top, and a stone pillar-like base. (There really isn't any symbolism here folks, I could easily make something up, but it would just be a lie!) ;)

Overall, its not a perfect design, but I'm much happier with this than my original version, so I'm glad that I didn't leave it how it was. Thanks for checking it out, and gimme a comment! :D

I like to make you know what's going on with me.

So I've been thinking about a few different things I want to do for a quick blog update... well, actually I've been thinking about a few (hundred) different things I want to do in general. Most of it involves reading and studying, plus a few odd little boring things. (One of my goals is to update this blog at least once or twice within each month. Whew! Just made it.)

I guess I won't go into it too much for now, but its getting a bit overwhelming,* so I'm going to be carefully evaluating exactly what the most important things are.

Also, I've been having some fun playing around with vector graphics in a neat little open source (free) app called Inkscape. For those familiar with Adobe Illustrator, yeah... same deal pretty much. I'm thinking I'll probably post some of the results this week. I'm also entertaining the idea of opening up a deviantart account, and posting them there but... I'm not sure I should, or want to go that far. (Ah... the joys and pitfalls of internet communities...)

Bye for now, dear readers, (lol) and look out for some weird vector art soon, and maybe even a coherent line of thought!

*UPDATE: I don't think I was talking about having to update once a month!

Hovering Olives

Hm, I was bored waiting for a video to load, so I drew an art picture thing. Heh, actually I sort of just started trying to make a picture with as little time and effort as possible, and I ended up liking it anyway. So here's my hovering olives, each made with four ovals. I didn't even bother to shape 'em perfectly, or make a custom color in Paint. Yes, Paint.

Hovering Green Olive

Hovering Black Olive

I'm glad I skipped sleeping for this! :/

Oh, and happy twenty ten to everyone!