Back to SCAD!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 was a day that I had been looking forward to for the longest time, but with that being said, it was also a day that I was also nervous about. It seems strange to be nervous about a day that I have looked forward to ever since the summer of 2010 began, and I didn't even know that I would be taking two quarters off, I only suspected it. However, I had been gone from SCAD-Atlanta for so long that I had no idea what to expect upon my return. Although I had looked forward to this day I didn't make a big deal over it on Facebook, and because I didn't, only a hand full of my friends knew that I was coming back. So to those who didn't know, they were surprised to see me, and the looks on their faces was absolutely priceless that I was glad that I didn't make a big deal out of my return such as doing a countdown on Facebook. It felt a little weird to be back though, and so it will take a while for me to get back into the swing of things.

Starting in the Winter of 2009, I have seen friends disappear whether it's because SCAD is too expensive or they've gone to another SCAD campus, but nothing could have prepared me for this quarter. For the first time one of my best friends, Sasha Williams was not there, she's down in the Savannah campus. She wasn't there last quarter either, but neither was I, and so this was the first time that I felt the presence of her absence. It felt very strange not to see her in the Hub or...hear her voice coming through all of the noise in the Hub. Sasha is one of those people who has a rare gift in being able to cheer you up whenever you're feeling down. She may not even know that you're depressed at that moment, but she can still cheer you up. There's absolutely no way that you won't crack a smile over something that she says. I'm definitely going to miss her.

The Excited Professor 

My first day back at SCAD-Atlanta was very exhausting even though I only had two classes, but the waiting period in between them both is what really tired me out. So by the time I got to my 20th Century Art class I was close to just collapsing at my desk and falling asleep. Of course, the professor would have marked me as absent, which is a word that I don't get along with at all, it's like the word "late" we're not best buds with each other. In fact, if the words "absent" and "late" were to disappear off of the face of the earth I wouldn't shred one tear. Anyway my class was being held in the same room that I had taken Survey of Western Art II in a year earlier, and I suppose that I could've sat down at a different desk, but no, I sat down in the exact same desk that I had back then. My professor was Keri Watson, and I was really hoping that she was a doctor like most of the art history professors because I so wanted to call her Dr. Watson, but alas, my dreams were dashed. Aw, well, these little things can't be helped I suppose. She started off 20th Century Art by talking about the Industrial Revolution and important events that came after it, and she showed us some pictures of Albert Einstein, the Wright Brothers, a faced moon with a rocket stuck in it, and a bearded individual. She asked us if we knew who the bearded individual was, and I immediately thought to myself "Freud." However, I kept silent...for a while anyway. I can't tell you how many times, because I've lost count by now, that I've known the right answer to a professor's question, but said nothing. I can't explain why, it's not like I thought that I would be teased for knowing the right answer. Though I had made a vow to myself before this quarter began that that I would not withhold answers again, but apparently old habits are definitely hard to break. Still, it felt like one could hear crickets in the room because no one was saying anything, and so I raised my hand and said, "Freud, Sigmund Freud." What happens next took me completely by surprise. Her eyes widened, and she says in an excited tone, "YES!" She was so excited by me answering it correctly that it was as if she has asked that question every quarter and no one has gotten it right until now. I pretty much came to realize that she is a very excited professor because I would see that look again in Thursday's class, but it was to someone else.

I've only had two classes with her, but I already know that I like her. Say what you want about Dr. Jasin, who I had for Survey of Western Art II, but I really enjoyed her class because of the fiery passion that she had for the subject. Her passion made me look forward to that class. Prof. Watson has the same passion although it comes out as excited instead of fiery, but it's something to look forward to throughout the quarter. 

Dodgeball

What better way to mark my return to SCAD-Atlanta than a nice game of dodgeball? Unfortunately I have never played the game before. I was home-schooled throughout my high school career, and so I was never able to play the game. I knew very little about it other than you're split into two groups, and both sides are trying to take each other out by throwing balls at each other. A very loose interpretation. Although I had decided to participate in the event that the Student Activities Council was throwing I had no idea if I would be able to actually get past that part in my brain that is against violence. It would be so much easier for me to throw balls at people if they had done something to me or to someone I care about first. Revenge can be a very big motivator. When I arrived at the Peachtree Christian Church-next door to the school-yesterday afternoon I met with Mike Bledsoe, the president of the council, and he told me that my team didn't have a name yet. Every other team had been named beforehand, but my team wasn't. When did the naming of the teams take place for me to miss it? He gave me some time to figure out a name for my team, and I wish that the rest of the team had been there that way I could've consulted with them instead of coming up with the name myself. Although it was tempting to keep us as the Team with No Name as it would be like the song, "I've been through the desert on a horse with no name, It felt good to be out of the rain. In the desert you can remember your name, for there ain't no one for to give you no pain." That would have been funny, but it wouldn't have been me either. I like team names to strike fear into the hearts of the opponent. I thought about naming the team "The Dragons" after one of my comic book characters, but then...I was hit with a huge brainstorm. I was wearing the Jaguar McGuire and His Cat T-shirt that I had gotten last year at the premiere of the animated short that was created by SCAD-Atlanta animation students, and so I named the team "The Jaguars."

What can I say about the game itself? I was terrible and it felt like deja vu. Every time I've been part of a team I've always been ignored, shoved to the side like a worthless piece of fruit. Back in the fourth grade I was part of a 3-on-3 basketball game in PE, and I was always left wide open next to the basket, but my teammates never threw the ball to me. I never touched the basketball in that game. I was part of a team that was playing a board game in the First Year Seminar class-a required class for all SCAD freshmen-and all of the questions were in the last chapter of the textbook, which I had just finished reading that morning. So the answers were fresh in my mind, but the captain of the team kept ignoring my answers, and it would turn out that my answers were always correct. This time around, it wasn't my teammates who were ignoring me, it was the opposition. In the first two games I wasn't even worth throwing at. I never got hit by the ball at all. I kept getting myself out by throwing the ball too high, and my target would catch it, knocking me out of the game. It wasn't until the third and final game for "The Jaguars" was I finally thrown at. However, first I had to come close to knocking one of "the Mario Party" players out. I threw a ball at Trevor Verges, a fellow sequential artist, and he managed to dodge it, but in the process he fell backwards, sort of like Victoria in Norman and the Love Triangle. It was the closest that I ever came in knocking someone out, but after that I became a target for the opposition. They still missed me though.

"The Mario Party" came extremely close in knocking me out with a thrown ball, but I was somehow able to dodge it. The ball was coming at my legs, and I jumped to my left to get my right foot away from the incoming ball, but I lost my balance and fell to the ground. Since my momentum was taking me to the left I not only fell to the ground, but I wound up rolling for awhile until I was out of bounds. It was quite a surreal moment, and as it was going on I could hear the crowd yell, "Whooooooooooa!" Apparently they were amazed by that stunt. I thought that the ball had hit me during the fall, and so as soon as I stopped rolling I was just going to sit there to rest after that crazy fall, but then Michael, who was on my team and had already been knocked out, yelled to me saying that the ball had missed me. Oh, slag it! I'm still in play. That was the big highlight of the day for me.

Final Thoughts

My first week back to SCAD-Atlanta has been great, and although it will take a while to get back to the swing of things I know that this quarter is going to be huge. Since I do have a lot of time between classes, both of which are lecture classes, I am continuing my work on the panoramic drawing, and I have gotten the three drawings scanned into the computer and are stitched together. One couldn't even tell that they were three individual drawings. I am aiming to finish the drawing by the summer unless something unexpected occurs. One of my assignments in Survey of Sequential is to interview a comic book artist via email, and before I came on to write this blog entry I emailed Graham Nolan, who was the penciler for the comic where Batman faces off with Bane, to ask him if I could interview him. I only have four questions at the moment, but I hope to have five by the time he responds back, if he responds at all. So until next time, this is Billy Wright wishing you all a good night. So long, everybody.
 

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.

The World of Hanna-Barbera

It feels like it has been a while since I've written anything...and technically it has since I came down with the flu shortly after my last post. I had been working on the Hanna-Barbera Universe at the time, but I had to put off the drawing for at least three weeks until I recovered. I really missed drawing, and like always, whenever I've been away from drawing for a while I speed up my drawing as if I was trying to make up for the lost time. Well, I've finally finished the penciling for the panoramic drawing.

When  I first began planning the Hanna-Barbera composition I was a little bit nervous that I wouldn't be able to fit all of the characters that I wanted, but I felt confident after drawing the thumbnail that I would be able to do it. It all hinged on making sure that Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble were in the center of the composition, and I managed to do that, but I didn't realize how important it was for Scooby-Doo's gang to be positioned in a three-quarter's view. That decision allowed for them to fit as well as allow Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey to fit. I did have to move Huckleberry Hound, who was supposed to be with Quick Draw, to be behind Boo Boo.

I think that this is my favorite of the three sections of the drawing that I've done. I managed to do in this one drawing what the entire panoramic drawing is supposed to do, which making sure that there is no central focal point. The eye should move all over the place. It's perfect. Another thing that I like about this drawing is that I included a few under appreciated characters: Hoppy from the Flintstones, Scooby-Dum from Scooby-Doo, and Orbitty from the Jetsons. 

Final Thoughts 

Now that I've finished the penciling of the Cartoon Universe, which by the way is just a fake name for the panoramic drawing because I haven't thought of a better title yet, it is time to start inking it. Although the competition is set to begin in the SCAD-Atlanta Animation Society, and I will be participating in that, so the inking may be delayed a bit. Until next time, this is Billy Wright wishing you all a good night. So long, everybody.

The Fire Within Burns Again

Hello, everybody! Today is the start of the Winter Quarter at both SCAD-Atlanta and SCAD-Savannah, and it's also the start at SCAD-Lacoste and SCAD-Hong Kong, but I don't have any friends at those two locations, so I don't really recognize them. Though it's a little strange that the quarter would begin on a Wednesday, it just seems wrong somehow. Unfortunately I am not at SCAD for the second straight quarter, and so my break will continue until the Spring Quarter when my life will return to normal. In the meantime, my thoughts are with all of my friends as they go through the stressful moments that an art school brings.

The Period of Enlightenment

When the Spring Quarter of 2010 ended I found myself pondering and questioning my major Sequential Art because I wasn't having any fun with the art that I was producing. Fun and love is what fuels the passion that artists have for their craft, but as soon as one loses that passion then it just becomes work. That's exactly what happened to me. I wasn't enjoying my sequential art anymore. I took my first animation class in the spring, and I absolutely loved it. There is nothing more enjoyable for an artist than to see their art come to life. Unfortunately I did not enjoy the last two Sequential Art classes that I've taken-Drawing for Sequential and Materials and Techniques-and there was a thought that perhaps it would be better to flip flop my major and my minor, making Animation as my primary area of study. However, I am a very stubborn individual, and I decided to give Sequential Art some more time. Now with this extended period where I am not at SCAD-Atlanta I was going to take the time to find what I had lost, and it has truly opened my eyes to what the problem really was.

I think that I may have found the passion and the fire that I had for art when I first came to SCAD-Atlanta in 2008, and it felt great. I went back to areas that I haven't touched in a long time like painting, charcoal drawing, and pastel drawing, and it was wonderful to feel the fire burning within me again. I realized that I had fallen into a trap where I was producing artwork for a grade, not for art. It is a danger for all art students. I had lost my focus, but now...it's back. When I return in the Spring of 2011 I will no longer be the same lost artist that I was when I was last seen in a classroom. I'm back to my old form.

Looney Tunes

I'm continuing my work on the panoramic drawing of the Cartoon Universe, and I've just finished the Looney Tunes penciling save for the background although I did throw in a little of it in here that I way I could show Wile E. Coyote falling off the cliff. I've drawn for over fifteen years, and I've drawn Disney and Hanna-Barbera characters before, but I've never drawn a single Looney Tunes character until this project. It seems hard to believe that I wouldn't have attempted a Bugs Bunny sketch, but I don't have any old drawing of him anywhere. It turned out pretty well although Porky Pig may be a little too short, but I don't think that I will make an effort to re-size him.
The Hanna-Barbera Universe is next, and I chose to do them last because I had no idea how I was going to set it up especially when there isn't really a clear king of that universe. Disney has Mickey Mouse, Looney Tunes has Bugs Bunny, but who is the main character in Hanna-Barbera? The main character needs to be in or near the center of their composition. I decided to have Fred Flintstone as the main character in the Hanna-Barbera Universe, and now that I know that the rest of the characters are falling into place.

Final Word

I mentioned in the last entry about me being on deviantArt, but I probably should've said where just in case any of you want to see the art that's there. I can be found at http://thevampiremouse.deviantart.com/.  To my friends, whether you're in SCAD-Atlanta or SCAD-Savannah, I hope that you all had a great start to the Winter Quarter. This is Billy Wright, wishing everybody a goodnight. So long, Everybody!

Let's Hope that 2011 Doesn't Suck, Like 2010!

Hello, everybody!  Happy New Year! I am Billy Wright, and I welcome you all to The Boiling Teapot, but before we really get started let me tell you what you can expect in reading my blog. When I began thinking about setting up a blog, which was several months ago, I wondered what exactly would I talk about that would interest anybody. Well, I am an artist, and so I decided that this blog will be about anything regarding art, which expands over a large spectrum. I'll talk about art exhibitions, SCAD-Atlanta, movie reviews, and my artwork, etc., but don't expect sports or politics unless they affect art. So if you love art then you've come to the right place, but if you hate art and wish that all artists would dry up and die then...you should probably leave unless there's a chance that I can change your opinion. The most important aspect about this blog, it's also the most important aspect in art, is to have fun. That's what I'm here for, to entertain you all.

The Panoramic Drawing

Whenever I finish a piece of artwork I always post it on my Facebook page, and I also have an account on deviantArt, which I update with new pieces every Monday, but here, you'll be able to see works before they are finished.  Right now I am working on a panoramic drawing of the Cartoon Universe, and I've cut it down to three sections: the Disney Universe, the Looney Tunes Universe, and the Hanna-Barbera Universe. Each section will feature the classic characters from those universes. I got the idea on my birthday when I got a book about how to draw Mickey Mouse and his friends, and originally it was only going to be done on one 11x17 page, which would have been perfectly fine if it was just Disney and Looney Tunes, but adding Hanna-Barbera turns it into a mess. Fortunately, however, I also got a new camera for my birthday-a much, much better one than I had before-and it supposedly can create a panoramic shot. That's pretty much how the idea came about. Each universe would be drawn on a separate 11x17 page, but then they would be put together as if they were in the same place.

I began with the Disney Universe, and it included characters that I've never done before, which wasn't that hard as long as I knew what their primary shape was (mainly circles and jelly beans). When I was trying to figure out who I wanted to include that was a little bit more difficult. Goofy, Minnie, Mickey, Daisy, Pluto, and Donald were no-brainers, but who was going to join them? My mom suggested that I include Huey, Dewy, and Louie, and that makes perfect sense since they are important characters in the Disney Universe. That led me to decide to also include Scrooge McDuck, but I still had lots of room left for a few more characters. I decided to add Minnie's cat Figaro, Chip and Dale-who are on Ludwig Von Drake's head-and Pete the cat to the composition after going through some Disney books, but that left one more spot. Ludwig Von Drake was added near the last minute although I came close to going with Gus Goose instead, but Von Drake is a much more deserving candidate. There was a thought to include Walt Disney among them, but at this moment, I am not that great at drawing real people although I have lucked out twice. If I had included Disney then I would have had to include Tex Avery for Looney Tunes and William Hanna and Joe Barbera for Hanna-Barbera. I did look into it anyway, but I chose not to do it. Tinkerbell's addition was because of how Disney animated movies used to open with Tinkerbell flying up to the top of Cinderella's castle and using her wand.

At the time this picture was taken I was thinking that Goofy would be the only character who steps out of his frame and into the next one, but Pepe Le Pew's tail stretches into the Disney frame. Now I'm thinking of having someone from the Hanna-Barbera Universe doing the same that way all three frames are connected by the characters, not just the background. Speaking of the background, I'm still not sure what it will look like. I only know about the sky at the moment with having a Mickey Mouse shaped cloud in the Disney frame, a sun that resembles the Looney Tunes' logo, and a star representing Hanna-Barbera. There will be some changes made to this frame other than adding the background, I'm not that happy with the way Dale turned out, Chip is just fine, but Dale looks weird, and so I'll probably work on him before I start inking the drawing. I look forward to finishing it and sharing it with all of you.

Happy New Year!

As my mom said so well yesterday, "2010 Sucks!" and it is quite true, it did. For it was great in the beginning, but it dropped off in a big way in the summer. Hopefully 2011 will bear more fruit. I wish you and your family a Happy New Year and all the best in 2011. 

From the edges of space, to the craters of the moon, to the solar flares of the sun, to...Oh slag it! I came up with a wacky way to sign off, but now I can't figure out how to end it. Aw, well, I guess I'll just have to end it the classic way until I think of something more original. This is Billy Wright wishing you all a goodnight. So long, everybody.