A Change in Plans

I had promised in my last entry that I would post the finished inked product of all three compositions from "the Cartoon Universe" panoramic drawing. Here there are:




The Looney Tunes Universe




The Disney Universe






The Hanna-Barbera Universe

 I had originally planned to take a picture of this drawing with a special panoramic feature that my camera has, and then I would upload it onto the computer and start digitally coloring it. Well...as per usual, I had to tweak that plan, and in fact, I changed it all together. I didn't keep track of how many pictures I had taken of it, but it was a lot, and I never could get it quite right. Something was always off just a little bit. It was very frustrating especially when I could take a panoramic picture of my room successfully, but not a drawing. As I continued to fail in this endeavor I started looking into other options such as finding a company that can scan a 4 ft. 3 in. long drawing, which I didn't find. It would just be so much easier if I could just put it together on the computer, but I didn't know how...until now. I've decided to dismantle the drawings into three individual compositions, scan them into the computer, and then I'll use Photoshop to put them back together the way they were meant to be seen. I don't have a 11x17 scanner either, but that doesn't matter because I will be returning to SCAD-Atlanta in a few days, and I can scan them into the computer during my long time lapse between classes. Now I just wish that I could work on digitally coloring them between classes, but the school undoubtedly has updated their Adobe to CS5, and my home computer has CS4. I'm sure that I could work on a project in the CS4 and continue working on it in a CS5, but probably not vice versa.


The Return of the Trophy


3D Design had to be one of my favorite classes that I've ever taken at SCAD-Atlanta, and in fact, I would put it in the top three best classes, right behind Intro. to Sequential and Animation I. I had created some spectacular sculptures including a wire sculpture of a Tumbleweed, which would be my first art object that was ever displayed in the hallways of SCAD-Atlanta. It was a fun class even though I had cut and burned my hands in creating each sculpture. The final sculpture in 3D Design was a Trophy Project, where we had to design a prototype of a trophy, and an organization called Big Voices was going to pick one of the trophies to mass produce. Big Voices hands out awards to people who have helped children, but they wanted a new trophy, and my class got to design a new one for them. I built a figure trophy featuring a child about to take a step out into the unknown, but then  there's an adult behind him with one hand on the child's shoulder and leaning a little to the left to protect the child from harm. It was a great idea that went so terribly wrong. On the day that I was supposed to turn it in and have Big Voices examine it, the trophy...fell apart. The hot glue wasn't strong enough to hold the figures in place. So suffice it to say, my trophy was not chosen. I did get a B out of that project, and that's great and all, but I was not aiming for a good grade, I wanted my design to be chosen. In that regard...I failed. After my failure, I placed the trophy in a box and shelved it in my closet, not to be seen again for at least a year.


After that horrible display, I didn't want to look at it because it just reminded me of how I failed, but at the same time, I am a Wright, and most Wrights are perfectionists. When the trophy fell apart it became an unfinished product, and that meant that I had to put it back together the way I had envisioned it. So as soon as I had finished inking "the Cartoon Universe" I brought the trophy back down to begin repairing, and there was a lot to do. It hadn't been pulled out of the box for a year, and so there was considerable damage to not only the figures, but also the base. Everything had to be fixed. It took a week, but the Trophy has been completely repaired and is standing proudly on the top shelf of my bookcase in my room.






Big Brother

Before I had used hot glue to get the figures to stick on the base, which didn't work out, and so this time I decided to use a much more powerful glue, Gorilla Glue. The figures are holding although every now and then I will check to make sure there aren't any problems arising. I don't want to go through the repair job again.


I've been wanting to do another sculpture for quite a while, but I didn't have a single idea, which is a definite problem. However, after repairing the trophy, I finally know what my next sculpture will be. It's going to be similar to this except it won't be a trophy. In my Survey of Western Art I class, we had to design a lost piece of art, but there couldn't be any photographs of the original piece, we had to design it purely through writings from those who had seen it in person. My lost art project was the Colossus of Rhodes, the least known of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. I had done a drawing of it based on everything that I had learned about it, but if I had known how to do a sculpture at the time, I would have done a figure sculpture of the Colossus. That's my next sculpture, the Colossus of Rhodes.


Paul


Well, it's time for my first movie review. I saw Paul yesterday, and the movie is basically about two English geeks who have come to America to attend the famous International Comic Con in San Diego, which is the biggest comic convention of them all. While they were in the United States they went on a road trip to visit well known alien sites such as Area 51 and Roswell, but along the way they encounter an alien named Paul, who had just escaped from Area 51. Paul needed their help to elude some Men in Black types who wanted to probe him to access some of his powers such as invisibility and healing, and he needed a ride to get to the spot where he would contact his home planet to be picked up. That is the plot in a nutshell, and then you add some chases and strange humor, which equals a whacked out comedy...at least according to some anyway.


The movie was sold as if it was a laugh riot, and I admit that there were some amusing elements to it, but I never once laughed. I mainly smiled. Although I don't really laugh when I am watching a movie in a theater because I do take the theater's "Silence is Golden" quote very seriously. The best parts of the film were all of the science fiction references especially those of Star Wars. There is a bar scene where the band is playing the Star Wars Cantina Theme, and I certainly did not know that that theme could be played on a guitar. One of the government agents gets frustrated with his boss and shoots the two-way radio, and he quotes Han Solo, "Boring conversion anyway." So this movie was very much a parody that was paying homage to classic science fiction movies. Since I am an animator the other best part of the film was the 3D animation of Paul, which was astounding. A lot of times mixing a 3D animated character with live action characters can look kind of fake, but the animators did a great job in making the alien look as though he belonged in the live action world. So those were the good points, but now for the bad. For most of the movie, I had no idea what the plot was about, and it wasn't until the middle of the movie when Paul finally decides to confide everything with the two geeks that I understood what was going on. I suppose now a days it's all right to make fun of a religion as long as that religion doesn't have some radical extremists who are willing to kill you for it, and I am not an extremist, but I did not find the constant attacks on God and Christianity one bit amusing. They were basically saying that Christians were naive and stupid for believing that there is a supreme being who created the universe. There was absolutely no reason for the attacks as it didn't enhance the plot any, and so it was as if they wanted an anti-God element in the film. As a storyteller, if someone wants to add an element into their story, it must enhance the plot in someway, and it shouldn't be added just for the sake of having it in there. Of course, I am speaking as a dramatic storyteller, not a comic, and so what do I know really? Still, it hurt the film, and so I have to give it just two stars, which is generous by the way, but the animators' work was enough to keep the rating from being worse.

Name That Price!

It has been a while since I've been this excited for finishing a project like I am right now with "the Cartoon Universe." I am proud of all of the work that I have put into this, and I hope that I will be able to find a way to eventually print it out. That got me to thinking that I had been told during a Q&A session at Dragon Con that sequential artists should draw characters that fans are already familiar with, which is known as fan art, and if the fans like your style then they might take a look at some of your original works. That's basically what I've been doing as of late, just a rash of fan art. There will be a day when I set up a booth at a comic convention to sell prints of my work, but that brings up a problem that I will have to face. How do I price my work? I am not good at pricing my artwork, and I am more likely to under price it than over price it. I had mentioned that my Tumbleweed sculpture was on display at SCAD-Atlanta, but it was also up for sale. When it came to pricing the sculpture the school gave me three choices, and I went with the lowest price, which was $200 although I didn't think that it was worth a triple digit figure. My mom disagrees with me, and in fact, she thinks that it is worth more than $200 because of all the time and wounds that I had to endure in making it. Well, according to my Google research on the subject of pricing one's artwork, time definitely should be a factor. Too bad I don't keep track of the time. I couldn't even tell you how many hours I've spent on the panoramic drawing, I can only tell you how many months, weeks, and days, but not hours. I probably should start keeping track of that. Another thing that artists should do according to the research is compare prices with your competitors, which is something I'll start to take more notice of now when I go to conventions, starting with the Fluke Festival in Athens, GA next month. Size is also important. I was thinking that maybe a 9x12 drawing would be $10 to $15 and a 11x17 drawing would be $20 to $25, but of course, a 4 ft. and 3 in. long drawing is in another realm entirely. I would love to sell prints of "the Cartoon Universe," but the size of it really throws my thinking out of whack on how to price it. Fortunately I am not ready to sell any prints yet, and so there's plenty of time to do more research whether it's asking my sequential friends or the sequential professors.

And the Winner is...

In my last entry I left you all hanging about who won the SCAD-Atlanta Animation Society Animation Competition, and mainly because I had no idea who had won. I suppose I could drag it out a little bit longer to keep you all in suspense, but...naw, I won't torture you all like that. I was thinking that there would be a winner in both 2D animation and 3D animation, and it sort of fell that way, but it was listed as first place and second place with the 2D animator taking the first place award. It just goes to show you that 2D is still king, and the fact that the 2D animation featured a story behind it may have helped in the voting process. Yep, that's right. Norman and the Love Triangle won the animation competition. I couldn't believe that I had won because I didn't think that I would. I definitely wanted to although I didn't think that I could win on my first shot in the Animation Society competition. It just goes to show you what can happen with a lot of hard work and a little bit of craziness.

Final Thoughts

The Spring Quarter starts on Monday, March 28, 2011 for all four campuses of the Savannah College of Art and Design, and it is with great pleasure and relief to finally say that I will be there in attendance although it won't be on Monday. My Spring Quarter doesn't begin until Tuesday. Well, I've waited this long, I can wait an extra day. I'd like to wish all of my friends the best whether they are at the Atlanta campus, Savannah, or Hong Kong-I actually know someone there now. Until next time, this is Billy Wright wishing you all a good night. So long, everybody.

Norman and the Love Triangle

It's been over a month now since I've last written anything, and I have been extremely busy with working on an animation project for the SCAD-Atlanta Animation Society animation competition. I've been a member of the club since September of 2009, but this was the first competition that I've ever participated in although I had wanted to participate in the competition during the Spring of 2010. In that competition we had to make a business card, a portfolio, and a website, and although everybody who participated in that competition would be a winner each participate would learn what they needed to improve upon. Unfortunately I was so busy with my Animation I and Materials and Techniques classes that I was never able to participate. Well, this time I didn't have a class in my way, and that allowed me to go absolutely crazy with my animation, I'm good at that.


There were two competitions this quarter: the animation competition and the character design competition. I had thought back in October of 2009 when I saw the first competition that I would enter the character design competition whenever I got the chance, but no, I entered the animation competition. The animation competition was split into two parts: 2D and 3D. 2D animation is the traditional way to animate a cartoon such as the old Disney style, and 3D animation is computer animated such as Toy Story. A friend of my mine during my first year at SCAD-Atlanta would often say that 2D animation was a dying art form, and I used to agree with her, but not anymore. It only appears to be dying because the public tends to flock to 3D animated films, but actually the public would go to a 2D film if it had a good, strong story behind it. Most of the 2D films that have been released as of late haven't been that great. So if 2D films had talented artists and a strong writer or writers behind it then 2D animation will make a huge comeback, but unfortunately not many studios have realized that. Anyway enough of my venting about 2D and 3D, I need to get back to what I was discussing, which was the competition. The participates who worked in 2D animation were given a character named Norman and the 3D participates were given Moom. We were each given an emotion for our character to display and a sound of dialogue, but the dialogue was just a bunch of blahs with a sound that no one could figure out what it was. The real point of the animation, however, was the acting. Could we successfully demonstrate our character's emotion through his eyes and body language?


I am a 2D animator...plus I don't know how to animate in 3D yet, and so my character was Norman. The emotion that I was given was anger, and that seems extremely appropriate given the title of this blog. I did not approach this animation competition like anyone else did because everybody who participated animated their character just displaying the emotion that they were given, but there was no substance behind it, no reason for the emotion. I knew early on that I wanted to give Norman a reason to get angry, and so I wrote a story about him discovering that his girlfriend, Victoria was cheating on him with a guy named Barney. Interesting fact about how I came up with the names of Barney and Victoria, I couldn't figure out what Barney should look like except I didn't want him to be confused with Norman, and so he had to be designed differently. I was watching either Season 2 or 3 of the Flintstones while I was animating, and I decided to give Barney a long, thin nose similar to Barney Rubble's, which is how he got his name. Although Victoria's nose came from Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble, her bow came from Daisy Duck, and her dress came from Minnie Mouse I gave her the name Victoria mainly because I absolutely love that name. There was a thought to naming each of them after a friend of mine, but given what happens to the characters to the animated short I didn't have the heart to do that to any friend.

We had four weeks to work on our animation, and I took up all four weeks. I know that I went way beyond the requirement, but that's just what I do. It wouldn't exactly be the Wright Animation if I didn't do that, and pretty soon everyone will probably expect me to go crazy with whatever project it is.

Norman and the Love Triangle premiered on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, and it was a pretty big hit. What was great about this animation was that it was a rather sad story if you really paid attention to it since the overall theme of it is betrayal. Strangely, that's a theme that isn't that uncommon in any of my stories. I write about betrayal a lot, and I suppose that probably says something about me. It's a sad story, but if you look at just the animation it is downright hilarious. So I guess it's a tragic comedy. There's actually a second part to this story, which wraps up Barney and Victoria's storyline. Victoria goes to see how Barney is, and he is still upset over learning that she was cheating on Norman with him. He breaks up with her and walks away, leaving her on her knees weeping. The story ends with her crying all alone. It ends unhappily like most of my stories. I considered adding this second part to the animation after the premiere, but I decided not to, and instead I decided to just let the viewers use their own imagination on what happens next.

If you look very closely at the movie posters in the background each movie is actually based on animated shorts that I've done. The majority of them were animations from my Animation I class, only the Vampire Mouse was not. So it was fun watching the other members of the Animation Society notice the posters, and they knew right away what they were based on since they've all gone through Animation I.

As of right now, the winner of the competition has not been announced for either the Animation or Character Design, and so I'll have to get back to you on that one.

The Return to SCAD

I have not taken any classes at SCAD-Atlanta for two quarters due to financial reasons, but in the Spring of 2011 I will finally be returning. It was made official when I paid the tuition as well as the commuter meal plan on Tuesday, March 8, 2011. I'll be taking two classes and both are on Tuesdays and Thursdays: Survey of Sequential Art and 20th Century Art. They're at peculiar times of the day with Survey being at 8 AM and 20th Century being at 5 PM. Not only do I have a lot of time in between the two classes, but it puts me in a slight pickle when it comes to commuting. Originally I was thinking about taking the Gwinnett bus downtown like I used to do during my Freshmen year, but the bus stops running after 6:15 PM, and I will still be in class at that time. One could say maybe I should switch class times, but there is only one Survey of Sequential offered, and the other 20th Century is an 8 PM class. So I'm kind of stuck. I suppose I could get up at 4 AM and drive in with my dad and just be at school super early or I could get up at 5 AM along with my mom, and she could drop me off at the bus stop to pick up my dad's car to drive in to school. Another possibility is if my mom doesn't mind not having her car on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Decisions, decisions, decisions, decisions. Whatever I decide it will be great to be back.

Final Thoughts

After I finished Norman and the Love Triangle, it was back to work on the panoramic drawing of the Cartoon Universe, namely inking it. I finished inking it last night, and I hope to have it posted for the next blog entry. It looks great so far. The next stage is getting it onto the computer, and originally I was hoping to use my camera's panoramic feature for that, but that is out of the question now. I'll go into more details about why I tossed it out in the next entry. In the end, my decision to do that will benefit the drawing.

I hope that all is going well with you all in whatever you are doing. Until next time, this is Billy Wright wishing you all a goodnight. So long, everybody.