Friday, October 31, 2008

Building a Powerful Comic Book Portfolio with Alvin Lee is open for registration



NOW OPEN FOR REGISTRATION AT SCHOOLISM.COM

Course Name: Building a Powerful Comic Book Portfolio with Alvin Lee
Start Date: 02/20/2009
Seats Available: 15
Pre-Requisites: Good knowledge of perspective and human anatomy
Cost: $998

Register at SCHOOLISM.COM

Nine Lessons in Total.

Lesson 1: Introduction to Tools and Script Analysis

In this lesson I will begin by running through all the necessary tools you will need for this course. From the proper drafting pencil to use, using a french curve, down to basic photoshop skills to scan and remove non-photo blue from the penciled page. All of the different tools you will need as a professional will be covered during this lesson. After you have been familiarized with the tools I will move forward to analyzing a script with you where you will be thumb-nailing layouts of a page, providing me with several different variations of trial and error until you have the strongest layout and why. Strong storytelling will be the foundation of this assignment.

Lesson 2: The Hero
You will be introduced to the hero and his unique features. I will cover the basic anatomy of a Hero and from there you will be completing a turnaround of the Hero that I provide for you mimicking my own personal style. This will be a test of consistency and accuracy, you will learn the fundamentals of having to draw the same character repeatedly in different angles. I will teach you how to do render a proper turnaround with the usage of guidelines which will be repeated on the hero's face.

Lesson 3: The Heroine
I will introduce you to drawing the heroine and the delicacy of a woman's figure. More importantly which lines to keep, which to take away. You will be repeating the same process and completing a turnaround of a full figure drawing I provide for you. Again you will be replicating my style but doing so in different angles to test your ability to create consistently out of your own comfort zone. I will also be covering the alluring features of a woman's face.

Lesson 4: Exaggerated Proportions and Foreshortening
After you have been accustomed to penciling the fundamentals of a comic book character we will then move on to explore the excitement of exaggeration. During this lesson I will show you interesting ways to encourage your creativity with human anatomy, especially for comicbooks. I will be providing you with a drawing of a disproportionate figure and you will be analyzing that in the form of a turnaround. After that is completed we will move on to dynamic foreshortening. I will be showing you different techniques to really make something look like it is coming towards the viewer. We will be completing a study on both arms and legs and how to foreshorten them properly.

Lesson 5: Dynamic Hands
The complete penciler must know how to draw not only realistic hands but also powerful ones. In this lesson I will be showing you tricks I have learned during my career to help you understand hands, how they work and how to exaggerate them to create a desired emotional effect. During this lesson you will also be doing a study on the expressions of your own hands and using them as your own lifedrawing tool. Those principles will be applied to a set of exaggerated comic book hands, to test your understanding and consistency.

Lesson 6: Detailing and Textures
This lesson will cover everything from the basics of light and shadow to the intricacies of detailing a page using different comicbook styles. The different techniques covered will include using hard shadows to define a character, crosshatching to create shades of dark to light, minimalistic lineart and texturing for different surface materials. Those individual comic styles will be put to the test on basic shapes to demonstrate each's properties which will then be applied to the human figure.

Lesson 7: Lightboxing and Perspective Guidelines
During this class you will learn the techniques of using a lightbox when enlarging a thumbnail. I will show you how to complete an accurate perspective grid so that you characters coincide with the backgrounds properly to avoid mishaps. I will be covering the importance of using the copy, trim and bleed lines on a comicboard and lastly I will have you enlarge your own layout previously provided to me in Lesson 1 and prepare the page for the penciling phase.

Lesson 8: Backgrounds
In this lesson you will be introduced to the establishing panel. The one panel that will showcase your versatility in drawing environments that surround your characters. I will be showing you different techniques in using perspective grids and also the application of textures for different surfaces. I will be providing you with a floorplan of an environment in which I will be helping you create the elevation. I will also be showing you tricks of the trade in making backgrounds easier for you, especially when you are limited in time. Also I will be covering a brief segment on the usage of speedlines.

Lesson 9: Penciling
Everything we have covered during the previous 8 lessons will be culminated into this final lesson! Just to give you an idea, you will be applying the light and shadow techniques in lesson 6 on the layout you provided in Lesson 1 on the page you enlarged in lesson 7. The Hero and the Heroine from lessons 2 and 3 will be drawn on the final page using one of the unique comic penciling styles and the end result will be a completed penciled page, packed with everything a powerful comicbook portfolio should include!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Spotlight: Carlos Rubio




Here's a shameless plug... but it's something I wanted to share.

His name is Carlos Rubio. He's a fellow Toronto subway sketcher and a student on Schoolism.com.

Carlos took the "Art of Caricature with Jason Seiler" and in a few months his paintings and skill levels have improved dramatically! While I know he's a hard working guy, it's still very impressive.

Side note: he was one of the 50 really dedicated artists that came to the zoo last Saturday despite the rain. We're proud of you Carlos and everyone else that came!

Here's his BLOG. I hope you'll take a look.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Comic book artist Alvin Lee teaching online comic book course




Schoolism is pleased to announce that Comic Book artist Alvin Lee is going to be teaching a Comic Book Fundamentals Workshop starting February 20th, 2009.

Pre-Requisites: Good knowledge of perspective and human anatomy.

15 Spots available. Registration will start some time this week so keep checking back for updates.

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Other classes open for registration,
The Art of Caricature with Jason Seiler - starts Oct 31, 2008
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - starts Dec 08, 2008
Character Design by Silver - starts Jan 05, 2009
Storyboarding with Kris Pearn - starts Jan 26, 2009

Visit Schoolism.com to register.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Toronto Sketchcrawl at the Zoo!


What a great turn out it was! Not even the gloomy weather and rain could stop us--that's what being an artist is all about, right?! It was really great to see friends and new faces come together and sketch whatever they saw. I just wish the zoo stayed opened for a lot longer, but it just makes me want to come back more regularly.

Also check out the Sketchcrawl forum for more awesome sketches around the world!

And here's the link for the Toronto Sketchcrawl thread...so start sharing what you saw!

<3Kei

the meercats


mandrills


cute halloween kids!


.. our fine group!

Sunday, October 26, 2008





These are some sketches from the other night @ Bob Kato's Drawing Club. He does this every thursday from 7pm- 10pm it is a great time, not to mention you get to drink some nice cold beer while you draw. check out the site @ www.thedrawingclub.com

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Sketchcrawl at the Metro Toronto Zoo this Saturday


Looks like there's going to be a whole bunch of people coming to the Sketch Crawl this Saturday in Toronto!
We're meeting at 12:15pm Saturday Oct 25 at the front entrance of the Metro Toronto Zoo.
Here are directions if anyone needs them
http://www.torontozoo.com/AboutTheZoo/Directions.TTC.asp
We'll post pictures next week sometime.

Here's a little sketch of a monkey with a banana :)

Monday, October 20, 2008

Having fun with conte!

Here are more from life drawing class this past week..As I was drawing these, my main objective was to just simply have fun drawing with the conte by using different edges from really soft to hard.
I've just been so uptight with my self lately with work and other projects.I needed to get loose and draw more intuitively--I find that there's more ease and pleasure when you draw without worries :) and still keeping in mind of the fundamental structure of what you're drawing.
But really I think if its practiced more often, those fundamentals will just flow out of you more naturally, because its already embedded in your technique and methods..hope that makes sense.
These are from 1 min to 10 mins...

I've also started getting back into painting with gouaches and will post those soon :)


<3 Kei










Sunday, October 19, 2008

Podcasts

Answering Emails Part 1
Answering Emails Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 4
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 5
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Asian Woman Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Asian Woman Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Asian Woman Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Borat Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Borat Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Borat Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Borat Part 4
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Flex Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Flex Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Flex Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Flex Part 4
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Sketch Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Sketch Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Sketch Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Sketch Part 4
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Samurai Head Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Samurai Head Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Samurai Head Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Tiger Bird Mouse
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - New Year 2008 Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - New Year 2008 Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Little Creatures - Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Little Creatures Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Little Creatures - Part 3

Friday, October 17, 2008

from lifedrawing...

Hi!

Bobby's been bugging me to post some life drawings so here are some..(Thanks Bobby!)
These are actually from last year but I'll post some newer ones soon when I get the chance to scan them all :) Its just been so crazy these past weeks!

<3 Kei




Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Life drawings Part II, Schoolism and Sketchcrawl in Toronto!

Schoolism update:
Caricature with Jason Seiler - Oct 31, 2008
Storyboarding with Kris Pearn - Nov 25, 2008
Character Design by Stephen Silver - Jan 5, 2009
Digital painting with me - Full
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Kei and I are going to attend the Toronto chapter of the Sketch Crawl on Saturday Oct 25th! We're going to be meeting at the Metro Toronto Zoo for the day! Come on out if you're in the area! There's going to be a whole bunch of us going. We're meeting at 12:15pm Oct 25th.
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Here's a few more life drawings of a couple of my favorite models - Shell & Ina.
Some are good, some are not so good but I liked a part of the drawing. Today was an 'open session' which means no instruction today but if a student needed some guidance then I'm there. Otherwise, I'm just doing my own drawing and people could come and watch if they wish.













Some more links!
Alex Chechik
David Hwang
Kevin Yan
Matt Lau

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Life drawings

Here's some recent life drawings I did. My lessons for the class was it's important to be comfortable thinking and expressing what you see in different ways. Practice to think on all sorts of different levels (tones, structure, texture..etc) and you will paint/draw faster and with more ease. So these are some examples of different approaches, concentrating on different things.