#it happening to everything i draw. giving me the motivation to make yet another animatic

[braisedhoney]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

(i am the box ghost) BEWARE THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW THE READ MORE. NOT A JOKE. SO MANY SPOILERS. THE ENTIRE STORY SPOILERS.

LETS TALK ABOUT A GLITCH IN TIME. (there is going to be a lot of yelling in this shsjfnkaambd ;; ) also, as a disclaimer, this is all my opinion. i'm sure there will be people who don't enjoy it as much as others do—and that's fine. i'm just one of those who absolutely fucking loved it—even if some of my projects will probably be detached from the canon of the story. (but hey, canon divergence is kind of the whole fandom's bread and butter isn't it?)

okay. okay okay okay.

so, tl;dr? it's good. it's really, really good. you can tell (obviously) that the person who made this really loved the source material as much as the fandom does because it does SO MUCH that pretty much everyone has been clamoring about for actual years. i kept flipping back and forth through pages just to like. comprehend how well it aligned with everything.

first things first: blorbo talk.

DAN. DAN. P H A N T O M. oh my fucking god, okay? not only is his design sick (he was THREE GUYS for a minute, ba-dum-tss) when he merges with clockwork, but every scene he was in was SO badass. the art in this thing is PHENOMENAL and will probably change how i draw the characters actually??? my favorite thing about danny phantom has been the Shapes and the comic has so much of that. they read like they MOVE damn it and i loved it to death.

also, WE GOT FEELINGS CONFIRMATION??? dan isn't an unfeeling monster of a ghost, he's literally ONE HUNDRED PERCENT EMOTION. HE'S GRIEVING HE'S SAD HE'S ANGRY HE'S SCARED??? BROOOOO. you have no idea how afraid i was that they would butcher him somehow, but i honestly feel like they didn't. it's so good. this gn is so good.

and jazz? hello? jazz best sister in the entire world?? "if you think i regret it you're a fool." "then i guess i'm a fool." ?????? TEARS IN MY EYES. WE BEEN KNEW BUT IT FEELS SO GOOD TO BE RIGHT.

i actually am working on another (i know i know) animatic for those two and i legit feel like i can still finish it after reading the novel. sounds of sobbing.

and of course there's vlad. god.

as a certified vlad enjoyer i'm sure i'm preaching to the choir for a lot of people when i say we fucking riot with joy. he's been in denial for literally years and the way the realization of the source of his problems (his own greed, his own refusal to accept the truth, his own blindness to what he was really running away from in his chase for power) dawns on him during the fight... dude. and that's not even mentioning how goddamn COOL that fight looked—they did the thing!! the energy beam fight thing!!! and danny and vlad got a teamup and a semi-reconcilliation! MENTOR VLAD NATION RISE WE LIVE ANOTHER DAY!!!!

okay. blorbo screaming put to the side for a minute, because i want to talk about this.

let's talk about ghosts. let's talk about their emotions. the fact that we now know, canonically, that they are a manifestation of whatever emotions they held as a human—at least some of them are anyway—and that with time they actually DO lose their sense of human identity because the human psyche can't last for an eternity. that confirms so many incredible fan interpretations, we can run with this until the sun explodes. this is why some of them behave like caricatures of themselves, why so many of them are obsessed with/draw power from one specific thing. (hello??? semi-confirmed ghost obsessions?)

ghosts drawing their power from a sense of purpose, from their goals and their choices. feeling purposeless translating directly to fading abilities. my hands are gonna strangle me if i don't draw some of this eventually.

i'll probably have more to say about this once i calm down. i'm definitely drawing art for it. but we all knew that right?

the one and only thing i can say did make me laugh (unintentionally, i found the comedy pretty funny!) was... when danny's head was on dan's body when he was splitting apart. that threw me off a little lmao. but anyway, incredible. immaculate. i'm gonna go reread it now. <3 o7

oh. and they semi-retconned phantom planet.

life is good.

WAAAAAAAAAA THE TIME HAS COME THE TIME HAS COME!!!

all my inevitable posts about this will be tagged with the following: #agit, #a glitch in time, #agit spoilers, and #a glitch in time spoilers!

^^^ BLOCK THESE TAGS IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE SPOILERS! i’m planning on putting any of my text posts under a ‘read more’, but art will only be tagged!! ^^^

[canmom]

organising an art practice?

someone on a discord server asked me this question

I'm almost done with some examinations, which will give me time to work on myself artistically, and I've got about 50+ tutorials to help. I want to schedule my time properly for next year and really study these tutorials I've got. The thing is, it all feels overwhelming, and though I've selected a few to start with, I don't know what kind of scheduling to do. Like should it be like a school timetable? Or is there another kind of time scheduling I'm unaware of.

Could I get your thoughts on how to go about this?

Thanks!

my answer is so long that I decided to cut it here instead:

gosh, tough question, i've never designed a curriculum before!

what has worked for me is generally speaking to just throw myself into projects and when i'm finding something hard, e.g. how do i draw the muscles of the shoulder, i'll have a strong curiosity-driven motivation to look up references and learn about that thing. this means my knowledge tends to me kind of eclectic, but i really struggled with preset plans of study at university so for me the biggest thing is making sure i am motivated. so having a bunch of different projects so when I'm a little burned out on project A, I can put some time on project B is my way of wrangling the old ADHD. i find stephen zapata's framing of an 'art practice', like a set of habits around how you go about drawing, is a good angle on it.

i also think a project-based approach will train the more abstract, harder-to-teach skills, like coming up with ideas and working out the sort of subjects you personally like to draw; that passion is the foundation of whatever you ultimately end up saying with art. tutorials can be very limiting - I think it’s better to treat them as a kind of reference manual than a program of study.

that said, let's see. i think the thing about the overwhelmingness is like, there are so many different dimensions to art, and you get the impression you have to be able to do everything perfectly. you kind of get the impression that the really good artists can do everything, but that's not really true.

once, kim jung gi, who everyone tends to praise as like one of the absolute masters of classical draughtmanship, perspective, etc., tried to draw an anime girl from memory and it ended up looking very 80s-anime, rather than the modern, graphical style he wanted. that's not a failing, no question he could crack it if he wanted to - drawing anime just not relevant for the kind of art he likes to do. so the trick is to identify what's relevant to what you like doing. but it sounds like you've done that.

i’m sorry, this isn’t really very concrete, but I have never been able to keep a rigid schedule and my life is very chaotic. so for me the trick is to create a self-sustaining feedback loop that keeps me wanting to draw, whenever I happen to find the time. i think the danger of being too programmatic is burnout: you need art to be intrinsically fulfilling, not just an endless list of tasks to do. which is why i don’t personally go for the drawabox method, but i know that suits other people a lot better who really like doing exercises to hone the fundamentals.

the canmom way (don’t do this)

for my part, let me try and explain the path i've taken and maybe it will be useful for you (at least in a “don't do this” way :p )

the last year or two of trying to learn drawing seriously (instead of drawing only occasionally), i've tried a bunch of different things. when i started i believed i could make a one minute film, and started sketching some concepts and animatics, (see https://giant-head.tumblr.com/ ) but i soon realised my drawing was just not up to the task: i couldn't draw consistently or cleanly enough and my anatomy wasn't very good.

so then i started one huge project i've been working on for over a year now. it started as an attempt to teach anatomy by drawing a bunch of different angles, yet once again I tried to just, added more and more stuff I thought would be cool: extreme camera moves, character acting, action hair, explosions, fully coloured in an 80s anime style, almost all on 1s  for about ten seconds of animation. i learned a lot from that project, it really improved my anatomy for example, but it definitely feels like it's outstayed its welcome by now! but i also think i had to get that out of my system, prove that i could do something without taking shortcuts. and I am proud of the result.

idk. this is just me lol. it's kind of why i feel sympathetic to cat [another user on the discord server], we both have that perfectionist impulse.

so what's a better way? for me it was really useful to find a structure where I could do short projects.

I joined the 'speed battles' server, and participated in a few of those, where you just animate for a couple of hours on a prompt and post it with some other people. the same goes for '-tober' style prompts, and especially the Animaitsuki challenge on the Sakuga Foundry server, and no doubt the monthly challenges here. (Animaitsuki is probably most useful if you want to work in anime since the Tonari guys critique it). also things like figure drawing sessions.

all of that helped me be less perfectionist. and it also means that like, I actually finish stuff: i have two or three hours and then i have to post it no matter what. i just try and fit those in as often as possible, I don't really have a schedule.

i've never really sat down and worked through tutorials, but what I have done is written tutorials, and I actually think that's more useful because it forces you to engage with the material more accurately. with the perspective series i drew a lot of very technical perspective exercises and like, really internalised all the rules of perspective, and also worked out how to organise it in my mind and make the theoretical connections that help it all 'click'. so i think, if you really want to make absolutely sure you learn something, try teaching it, and writing some notes or a tutorial. and i think it's also really helpful to like, just pick someone who's posting on here and offering them some constructive critique, maybe even a redline if they're willing, because that will develop your critical eye at the same time it's helping them.

i also spend a lot of time watching art youtube when i'm not able to draw, e.g. over meals. for this I mostly just follow the algorithm and click on videos about whatever i happen to be thinking about at the time. but i think that can be a double edged sword, there's a lot of conflicting or bad advice, but it can help give you concepts to anchor onto if you take it critically.

it sounds like you already know what videos you want, so I guess the tl;dr of this is don’t overthink it. whatever stands out at a glance, block out two or three hours and have a go at applying it. if you find you’re hampered by some other missing ‘element’, practice that. try not to get too attached to one project, but use the projects as reasons to look up references, resources and tutorials: e.g. if you’re drawing a shoulder, watch the shoulders video. that’s the only way that’s ever worked for me.

[todokori-kun]

The

 queen is back and I’m so freaking happy <3

‘annoyed’ nothing you say is annoying ok, I’m actually just really relieved and happy that I’m helping in any way at all. Also you listen to my rambling all the time and you supported me with my anxiety (you have no idea how much our convos helped after I first saw a doctor about it and was feeling really confused about what to do) so ‘what did I do to deserve you’ is probably what I should be saying to you.

Tbh when things are as serious as you’ve described then you’re definitely not overreacting. Like I said before, I’m always ready to listen/talk when you need to. And you don’t have to stress about replies; I honestly don’t mind at all as long as you’re ok.

Thank you Queen Luna you’re the best ;-;

Also, good news and bad news:

Bad news- A bit after I sent the last message mom apparently found out about Tumblr and decided that I probably shouldn’t get an account here because of all the NSFW content. I get why she’s worried so I guess I won’t be getting an account here for a while.

Good news- HOWEVER, I was chatting with someone on ao3 and they asked if we could move our convo somewhere else. They recommended something called Discord so I got an account there. If you’ve never heard of Discord it’s basically a voice and text chat system usually used by gamers, but it seems to be pretty popular among non-gamers too. PMing is possible there :D (The only flaw is that you can’t send very long messages, so you have to send multiple short ones, which is a bit annoying…but otherwise it’s pretty neat so maybe we can try it if you’re ok with that?)

XD yeah that’s actually pretty accurate.

*reads Luna’s message*

*inhale*

UM. DO YOU HAvE ANY IDEA HOW AMAZING YOU ARE. LET ME TRY TO BE A GOOD, SUPPORTIVE FRIEND AND TELL YOU

Yep it was one of the grossest things that ever happened to me OTL I’m still swimming but I’m taking a long break right now- a break that started because my little sister broke her toe and we were basically stuck at home taking care of her (the pool is a bit far for me to go on my own so if mom’s stuck at home so am I), and then got longer because the pool’s old and some things had to be ‘fixed’, and then got even longer because my coach is getting married (just reread that and realized that I sound super annoyed, I’m actually not, I have no problem with my coach getting married XD). I’ll probably start again around next month, though :)

Thanks ^^

Oooh are you a comic fan??? I haven’t read any superhero comics because there seem to be so many AUs(?)/different timelines so trying to figure out where to start is really confusing, plus I actually sorta prefer manga/manhwa art styles (not that wester comics are bad- a lot of them have really good art too, I just personally prefer the manga/manhwa styles (especially for the panels). Also the ecchi-ish costumes/anatomy for almost every single female superhero gets a bit ridiculous sometimes lol). Some of them seem really fun, though, and I’d like to try them out someday…

It’s really cool that you’ve been a fan of T'challa for so long, it must’ve been even more exciting to see him in the movie :D

Imagine everyone watching The Winter Soldier together. Then the  'brainwashed bucky’ scenes start.

Illumi: *stares intently at the screen*

Illumi: I see no problem with this.

Watching Civil War and Leorio goes Dad Mode and covers Gon’s and Killua’s eyes when Hisoka starts making…innappropriate…noises during the fight scenes

(Hisoka low-key writing reader insert lemons about various MCU heroes. Most likely Natasha (because she’s a lot like Machi, his only female crush so far), Bruce (how Hisoka would love to unleash the beast), Thor (he’s a literal GOD imagine how badly he could mess Hisoka up *schwing*), Wanda, and Vision (he probably liked Loki too before Loki got beat up by the Hulk and Hisoka was like ‘oh I have a new senpai’)

Then Illumi gets Milluki (his tech genius little brother) to hack into Hisoka’s computer for info and is like 'what is this Hisoka I do not understand why you derive pleasure from this trash’)

Everyone thinks Gon should relate to Tony on a personal level but he doesn’t, because despite being a sunshine angel he’s also a freaking weird kid who doesn’t hate Ging. At all. (Though that might have something to do with the fact that he doesn’t even consider Ging his parent in the first place; he never even calls him 'dad’ or 'my father’)

Killua, on the other hand, relates to Bucky a bit too much and thinks HYDRA is basically the Zoldyck family.

Everybody’s Team Cap except for Illumi, who’s Team Iron Man (“Why would you want to break the rules?”), and then Hisoka randomly shows up like 'Team Hulk ;)’

Every time Howard Stark is mentioned everyone just stares at Ging, who shifts uncomfortably

(Yeah did I tell you about the time Leorio punched Ging for being a trash dad?)

OMG. Thank you for that. I’ve seen a lot of 'Hisoka as the clown from the 'It’ movie’ posts on tumblr but never any fanart for that idea. Run, Gon. Run.

I’m considering teaching myself to animate just to make those animatics XD

(Also, random thing: it’s Chuseok over here (basically like the Korean version of Thanksgiving, I guess?) and usually, people recieve money from older relatives during holidays like this in Korea. I got about 80 dollars (50 from my maternal grandparents, 10 from my paternal grandfather and 20 from my uncle) so I’m debating on what to spend it on: It’s either a tablet so I can learn how to do digital art (I’m thinking about polishing my drawing skills for a while and then making a webcomic. My parents support this so they’re willing to pay a little extra for a tablet) or a ukulele (I like the piano but I realized a while ago that it’d be great to have an instrument that I can carry around, so I did some research and the ukulele seems good. I really like the sound so I’m willing to put some effort into learning it). Idk which one I should choose, though. Technically the tablet should be my priority but I also like the ukulele…

(and idek why I mentioned this either, guess the talk about animating reminded me of the tablet lol))

I thrive on angst. Tragedy fuels me. (But tbh HxH is a LOT darker than I was prepared for. I’m currently shipping an ant king with a genius human girl and I know from spoilers that they’re both going to die)

Yeah, she’s alive :D but apparently Kaneki is now 'dead’ (though I don’t think he is really, if Ishida kills him off now (after all the stuff with Hide? All the character development Ken hasn’t gotten yet? When he still hasn’t talked about anything with Shuu or Hinami or even Akira?) and gives us a new protagonist or something I might finally rage-quit this series.

Or not, since with all the Touken stuff and Kaneki being sorta insensitive ever since he became the OEK…maybe a new protagonist is what we need?). I was liking all the parallels with Arima in the first series until this, because it was just…um. I think my main problem with the whole thing is the freakng PACING because it just feels so clunky and awkward. This is probably one of those chapters that will be really good if Ishida somehow manages to connect it with the next chapters and has everything make sense later, but if he doesn’t do it well it’s going to suck forever OTL

At least TG finally confirmed Naki’s death, though. I mean, the ideal situation for me is if he never died in the first place, but at least a confirmed death is better than Ishida suddenly bringing him back to life after that panel with Yamori. And his death scene was handled well. (Now please just tell me that he, Kanae and Hairu aren’t coming back as Kanou-Furuta zombies and I will be semi-satisfied)

Also AOT if you haven’t read the new chapter yet spoilers but

(The-Reiner-Eren reunion I HAVE WAITED SO. LONG FOR THIS

Also Eren’s grandad ;-;

And maybe we’ll finally be seeing Annie again soon since she’s been appearing in so many flashbacks and Reiner’s probably going to ask about her if he and Eren get to actually talk

Love those hints about something finally starting to change

ANOTHER PERSON FROM MIKASA’S CLAN? I hope we see this lady again, she’s lovely

I can’t believe how much the art has improved, it actually looks GOOD now 0.0)

Aw, that’s ok! I’ll be looking forward to seeing it when you get a new skirt :D

Yeah, I’m really excited for OC’s name too…must be something important if they’re keeping it hidden for this long. I guess it’s French (or a word from some other non-English language) since 'Ciel’ is French for 'Sky’…and it probably has a meaning related to the sky since they’re twins. Idk. Maybe it’s the word for 'star’ ('etoile’) since stars are also a big thing in this arc?

Looking forward to your reaction! I haven’t read the novel yet but from what I know it sounds great :D (also I cannot resist the L + Naomi duo even if they never actually interacted in manga/anime canon)

Btw, is it ok if I ask how far you’ve gotten with the DN anime?

(Also fun fact: Ryuk was originally designed to look like a handsome young man (an 'attractive rock star’, in the words of DN’s creators. You can find a pic of his original design on google). His design was changed because the creators felt like he was overshadowing Light XD

But also, I just found a post on tumblr that said Takeshi Obata (DN’s artist) mentioned that Ryuk’s face in canon could just be a mask to hide his true appearance…which means that he could technically still look like that in canon. Wow. I actually think I have the book where it says Obata mentioned that, I have to go and check it now lol)

Watch it if you dare and prepare to weep over all the wasted potential, because now that I read/watch more about it I guess the saddest thing is that it COULD have been great. I mean, like I said, the visuals are REALLY good, L’s actor could have been a good L if not for the bad script, Ryuk’s actor/design were also super great (it’s just his role in the movie and his motivations they messed up ;-;)…

I don’t watch Avatar (I’d like to when I have the time, though, because it seems like a great show) but I’ve heard of that movie and tbh I can’t even.

Ty :D (Ayy the queen said I’d make a cute Peridot *fangirls*

You’re also my closest friend right now and I love talking to you so much <3 thank you for everything Luna.)

See this is why you’re awesome. Thank you so much ;-; (and what, did Queen Luna mention me to her parents. Did I make a good impression. Omg. (jk, jk lol))

Also: I’d like to rec a song to you, it’s called 'Lovely’ by Twenty One Pilots :D

Oh look I actually replied within a week :’)

OK ILL START W DISORD BC IM EXCITE. I already have one, from a while ago, my # is 5773! So add me whenever you want ^^ ((But please just send me a short message here, cause I turned notifs off for it, so i can turn them on again ^^)) Well, uh, here’s the thing about short messages.  If a site/app has an instant message feature, you can bet I’ll be the one to split a sentence into 10 separate messages for dramatic effect… So, uh, prepare to have 42 new messages instead of like 4 waiting when you open the app ^^

I never ever ever have any problems with listening to you. I just appreciate you’re comfortable enough with me to be able to come to me. Honestly, I truly appreciate you in my life, especially considering that you can always reassure me with your words ^^ Truly a writer’s talent :p

Well, I’m going to a psychologist soon, so we’ll see what they’ll say. Idk tho, I dont think I even care anymore. I just want this stomach thing to pass as soon as possible.

Ouch, I hope your sister is better now… I’ve never broken anything so I wouldn’t know the feeling. Aww, coaches getting married is actually the cutest thing ever XD My archery coach got married a few years back and she was practically glowing.  Ah, if you don’t mind me asking, do you have a particular stroke you specialise in or do you just swim everything? 

I could say the same about comic/manga styles. Tbh, I don’t really consider myself a comic fan? When I was a kid, I used to buy the children’s comics to ward off boredom, but never really continued after I got into reading actual books. Black Panther happened to be among those comics and I remembered him when they mentioned T’Challa in CW. I wonder if i still have those old comics somewhere… But yeah, i was pretty excited when they mentioned him XD

That viewing actually sounds amazing… I get the feeling they’d all want to do an in depth analyzation of the characters? (But idk i don’t really know the characters that well) except for Hisoka, who’s probably just schwinging around being creepy per usual. I’m torn between wanting to read those lemons and just backing the fuck away…. Probably read like a paragraph and then set everything on fire. Yeah, that sounds good. 

I presume you’re not gonna watch IT? Random, but i thought of it bc of the fanart… Tbh I won’t watch it either. I’ve never watched a single horror movie in my life and i intend to keep it that way. Unless you count Coraline as horror, which I actually would in some ways? Idk tho, that movie traumatised me. Not even joking when I say I occasionally have nightmares related to it. Advice; if you haven’t, DO NOT WATCH CORALINE. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s a cartoon. I mean 9 is a cartoon, but it’s also freaking dark. HAPPY TREE FRIENDS IS A CARTOON AND I WOULDNT TOUCH THE VIDEOS WITH A 9 FOOT POLE.  Long story short, cartoons are not a joke.

For some reason I confused the Ukulele with a Lute and was like ‘I’m not gonna judge, but… why?’ then i actually googled it and realised I’m an idiot.  But, um, I can’t say anything other than it’s your choice and you should do whatever would make you happier? There’s that trick of throwing a penny in the air and if you’re disappointed when it lands heads/tails, you know you want the other one. Idk, tho, both options sound equally nice!

… HxH gets weirder every time you tell me about it

KANEKI IS WHAT NOW Um, okay then.... alrighty...

guess who dropped TG again

WELL FUCK IM SCREAMING ABOUT THE NEW CHAPTER WHOAH EREN’T GRAMPA WHOAH THE REUNION However, the best part is Reiner acting like a dad during the festival

Oooh Etoile would be interesting!

I’m still at the ep where L dies ;-; I haven’t had the time to move forward, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to watch some during this weekend

Well, uh. My mom came into my room while I was writing this and had to ask me why i was crying (I’m pretty sure she thought I was having one of my all-time-lows again). The reason why I was actually crying? The song. Words can’t express my gratitude. I’d download it, but tbh I feel like I’ll start ugly sobbing again every time I listen to it...

random note, i started going to school by train! It’s actually a lot nicer than the bus and cheaper XD Idk why i put this here but yay

[writtengiru]

How I Learned to Storyboard in 2 Weeks

Disclaimer: I'm in no way a professional. This is based on my own personal experiences. Storyboarding is used in the context of animation, not live action, even though both may overlap.Step 1: Find Motivation

To learn anything in life, you must have motivation. Simple right?

Nope. It seems so obvious, yet I've seen many people in my life, including myself, fail to do this. Professionals, hobbyists, students, my own teachers, parents...no one is excluded from failing to find real motivation. Why? It's hard. It requires deep self-reflection and brutal honesty. Depending on what you're finding motivation for, may it be a hobby or the purpose of your life, it may take several hours to several years to find meaning behind what you do.

[caption id="attachment_45" align="aligncenter" width="282"]

finding your life purpose is hard[/caption]

There's a reason why people don't stick with diets, get that good grade in Calculus, or achieve any (lofty) goals really. People set goals that they think they want to achieve, but in reality, they don't really want to. They don't actually want to become skinnier--they just want more confidence. They don't want that good grade--they just want to succeed in life. Thus, people eat comfort food and do other things that they deem would help them in life, like spending too much time on a blog.

So how does anyone achieve anything if their goals were never really their goals in the first place? I believe that the most successful people frame their motivations around their goal to begin with (or is it the other way around? Either way, the end results are the same). To continue the analogy, that would mean dieting for your health, something that would last you for life, not something superficial and temporal. That would mean learning Calculus to understand and enjoy the reasoning process of mathematics, not the end result of grades. Finding deeper meaning behind what you do will always make you feel fulfilled in whatever you do and go beyond the protocol.

So the question is, do I really want to learn to storyboard?

I believe in the power of storytelling. Throughout my life, I've been touched by the cinematics at a deep level. Truth be told, I cried during My Little Pony: The Movie that came out this year, and I feel chills whenever I see beautiful art. My parents were always at work, I'm the middle child, and films--especially the animated ones--made my childhood less bleak and more vibrant. Long story short, I've been making comics of my own to copy the magic in my childhood for the past two years. Now, I create to make memes for money have my own voice be heard since I'm not a very vocal person outside the internet. I've worked obsessively to create a style and aesthetic for my comics (I'm a sucker for pretty art), but I feel that they're empty husks if my storytelling isn't very hot.

[caption id="attachment_48" align="alignnone" width="1007"]

A Pixar storyboard for Brave, the movie[/caption]

After these two weeks, I want to be able to make animatics. My dream job is to be an independent webcomist or a storyboard artist of a TV series or feature film. I like having the power to control a story and how it's told rather than simply executing it, and hence why I want to be in preproduction. Right now, I'm in the process of applying to art schools for 2D animation. This took me some years to reconcile with myself that I love art and that I have a passion for cartoons. Through being honest with myself and clearing away other's opinions about my future, I came to this conclusion. I will never give up on art.

Even if I won't make it into an art school or even make it into the industry, I still plan on creating throughout my life no matter what. Storyboarding is unquestionably something I want to learn.

[caption id="attachment_49" align="aligncenter" width="249"]

A comic strip from my webcomic, Toothpaste and People[/caption]

Now, if I weren't this motivated, can I still learn to storyboard? Yes, but it will be a struggle. Can I learn how to make delicious barbeque? Yes, but it will be a struggle because I'm pescatarian.

As Ulrich Boser once said in Learn Better," Meaning is learning."

Step 2: Know What You Know

Alright, I'm ready to become a storyboarding master! Where do I start?

First, I wrote everything that I think I know for storyboarding:

Conversely, I wrote everything that I think I didn't know:

The first approach was inspired by a piece of advice given by Ulrich Boser. In Learn Better, Boser states: "according to experts like Robert Marzano, the benefits of this approach is that it helps people focus on linkages rather than isolated facts. By writing down what we know, we're preparing our minds to make more connections within the body of expertise, creating a more systematized form of thinking--and understanding."

In hindsight, this list was pretty ineffective because I listed things too broadly like "I don't know how to storyboard." It still provided a good starting point for learning how to storyboard, however.

From there, I was able to conclude that my drawing skills are decent enough for me or anyone to know what's happening in shots. I can stop searching up tutorials on anatomy, perspective, backgrounds, and basically all the mechanics of drawing. I can now start on searching up on tutorials about gesturing, expressions, composition, and most importantly, how to storyboard. By doing this, I cut time learning things I already know (sort of) and start learning at a level where I need to be to reach my goal in these two short weeks.

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Some life drawings I did. I think I can draw people well enough that others can identify that they are human, their limbs, and their heads.[/caption]

Here are some of the tutorials I used to learn art when I first started out (there are much more but I don't remember them all right now...):

Color Schemes

Andrew Loomis Books

a lot of deviantART tutorials

Here are the tutorials I used for these two weeks for storyboarding:

Storyboard Secrets

How to Draw for Storyboarding

How to Storyboard an Animation by Howard Wimhurst

The 7 Hidden Patterns of Successful Storyboards

Notice the difference between the two. The former focuses on the fundamentals while the latter focuses on using those fundamentals. Once again, as Ulrich Boser said, writing down what we know would "make more connections within the body of expertise, creating a more systematized form of thinking--and understanding." In my case, it would be using my preexisting knowledge on form and light to apply it and specify it for a shot in storyboarding.

The same would apply to starting artists as well. Do you know how to draw a square? Great, now turn it into a box! Do you know how to draw a box? Great, now turn it into a head! And so on...

Step 3: Eliminate Obstacles

To make this blunt: this is the step where you know you screwed up step 1 (finding motivation).

Don't get me wrong: it's okay to make mistakes. Finding obstacles as you learn is natural and means that you're truly pushing yourself, but to get past them and continue to move forward requires motivation.

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art by my sort-of-art buddy, who's super skilled, The Kao[/caption]

Here are some things that I found I needed to conquer (and how I conquered them...somewhat) before putting my pencil on paper, in no particular order:

Self-doubt

Am I good enough? Will I ever be good enough? Will anyone ever listen to my stories? What if my stories suck? What if people don't like it?

Well, I'll never know if I never try. Besides, creating should be something to be self-fulfilling, not to satisfy others.

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Impostor syndrome is common among artists. Don't let it get to you and just fake it till you make it.[/caption]

Time Management

I'm taking 5 AP classes and only get 6 hours of sleep. From the time I get home from school (4:30) to the time I go to sleep (12:00), how much time do I actually spend on homework/ other club activities? The better question would be: how much time do I spend on Twitter and Discord?

Mmmmm yeah, I thought so. Sayanora, internet. I found the best way to not lollygag around is to set timers. Spend one hour on work, another 10 minutes on leisure (or whatever amount you feel is just enough to satisfy you). I usually opt out for the do-all-your-work-in-one-sitting then spend-the-whole-night-on-leisure, which is surprisingly fine for me. That is until I find tiring work, then I switch to the former schedule. It really depends on my mood and what I'm dealing with.

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Studying and doing art at the same time is hard and cuts my sleep (not if I managed my time well though).[/caption]

I wish I figured this out earlier because sometimes I would spend hours on leisure first before really diving into my (usually last minute) homework. At the end of the day, I have no time to learn more about storyboarding (or do my comics...), and I feel like a failure as an artist. I'm getting better though through tagging my emotions.

According to Boser, "people have far more resilience if they identify their feelings...After people tag a certain feeling, they can begin to think that feeling through."

For example, when I'm on social media, I'm usually tired and need to start on homework.

Great, so I'm tired. I should probably get ready for bed or do some homework to wake me up (yes, that is a thing for me).

Then I  proceed to do either of those options. For the former, I wake up super early to do my homework, so all is good. I also use "if-then" plans, another idea by Boser.

I love his example. He states "so instead of thinking, Maybe I'll study later, people should think, If I study now, then I can go out later...clear rules make it simpler for people to manage their emotions because there' less emotion to manage. Instead of feeling or even thinking, people are relying on a type of habit, and that takes less emotional energy...the goal is 'taking the effort out of effortful control.'"

When I first read this, I thought this was so obvious--who wouldn't think this way? Turns out, a lot of people don't...and so do I. This advice was a game changer for me. Call me silly or stupid, but this method snaps me out of my trance, as in my procrastination mode when I don't want to do anything but lay down and do nothing. Time managing is significantly easier to do with this technique.

Pushing Limits

Remember how I said that I'm a sucker for pretty art? In storyboarding, there's less emphasis on art but rather on clarity. I know that I don't need to learn how to anatomically accurately draw EVERYTHING and how clothing flows. I just need to know enough to get my point across; however, I made"Twitter studies" (looking at other people's art on Twitter and trying to copy and incorporate their pretty aspects into my own art)

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I wasted my time on "Twitter Studies."[/caption]

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...from my insecurity from my own style--or is it because I find comfort in doing things I already know?

I've been too comfortable with creating cute anime girls. The only thing I'm doing is repeating my past actions, things that I'm already decent at, and not contributing to my future pursuit of storyboarding.

To overcome this obstacle, I look at other artists who I think are amazing storytellers like Z-Toon and Leonology to remind myself why I'm learning to storyboard.

I've never had a "Twitter study" since except to brush up my skills of course (I also highly recommend this "Twitter study" method to aspiring beginner artists-- that's basically how I got my art to where it is today. Tracing is good as long as you don't try to pass it off as your own or sell it...more on that perhaps in a future post).

Please keep in mind that it is normal to run into obstacles every so often. Trust me, once you're done with them, they will always come back. In a sense, this is not a step to be done once it's done; learning is a continuous cycle. This step will never be finished, but it is crucial to continue on anyways. Those who continue on will develop their skills more, and that's how you can tell who are the most motivated and who are not.

Step 4: Learn Smarter, not Harder

Now with the motivation, the materials on hand, and the distractions (somewhat) minimized, we can finally start learning!

To ensure that I got the most learning from the short time I had, I always tried to learn something new each time I watched or read a tutorial. Once I felt comfortable with an idea, I would move onto the next. Like I said previously, staying on one topic for too long is not only stagnating but detrimental as well because then you cut off other things you need to learn. Especially if you're stuck on one topic because you have a problem with it, staying with it is just plain stupid.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen artists draw the same thing every day: three-quarters view of the same face each day. And they expect to magically be able to draw bodies? Either that or they whine about how they can't draw some body part.

As a proverb from unknown source states,"insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

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Work hard and learn from life, but don't keep drawing the same things![/caption]

My plan was to go through each tutorial from beginning to finish. As a self-taught artist, I do not have the luxury of having a mentor pointing me to the right places, and sadly I found tutorials that were for the more advanced to the more artistically challenged, ones not quite in my skill range. I eventually found one that I understood and had a grasp on  but only after an hour of Googling.

Don't get me wrong: tutorials online are great (and they're free)! It's just the matter of finding a good one. Even though they are good and show examples of good storyboarding, I realized that what I was doing, simply reading the text and looking at the pictures, was passive learning. I believe that in order to learn a skill deeply, one should learn it actively. As you can see, I tried to recreate storyboarding sequences from this tutorial but with my own story in mind. In this way, I wasn't simply copying the source but using the information from the source to create my own scenes.

Most importantly, it's good to cut up study sessions because, yes, I did get tired after 3 hours of drawing. By cutting it up into pieces too, the material becomes less overwhelming and your brain retains the information better. Also, it's short and sweet--you'll actually have fun learning. If you think about it, would you rather have a 5 hour study session with 3 hours of you being tired and not retaining that much information? Or would you have 5 different study sessions 1 hour each and get a kick and a lot of information out of each session?

Step 5: Reflect, Rinse, and Repeat

If you noticed from the drawings above, they're not very clear are they? Yeah, it turned out that I know how to draw people...in 5 minutes, not the quick 30 seconds that storyboards demand. I went back to finally establish a quick figure to do more work for the rest of my storyboards.

Then I would go back to storyboarding, find more faults in my art, and then go back to storyboarding. It's a cycle and one where I am still trying to work a style to storyboard quickly and with more expression.

So yeah, don't be afraid to call yourself out on missing out the essentials you thought you had. According to Boser,"to develop a skill, people need to be fluent in the essentials." Not admitting your mistakes or not touching up on the fundamentals will really impede your learning and development as an artist.

Yes, I know that making and recognizing mistakes is painful, but it's all a  part of growth. "Mistakes make us rethink who we are, they're a threat to our being" as Boser once said; however, "metacognition [is] just as important as raw intelligence." Even if you don't have "talent" (which I believe is nonexistent by the way), you can still learn to be amazing as "talented" artists if you target your mistakes and learn from them.

I've seen instances where artists critique each other and one party would get totally defensive. There are such things as unconstructive criticism, but sometimes there are constructive ones and people should listen to them without being so offended by it (once again, might make another post about this separately in the future). Through allowing oneself to maker errors and recognize them, then one can learn to fix them and become a better artist and person.

Sadly, I did not reach my original goal of creating animatics. I guess you could say that I was learning the fundamentals of storyboarding before I would storyboard. As previously stated, it's essential to be fluent in fundamentals before diving into anything anyways.

Luckily, learning how to storyboard is like how I learned how to draw in the first place (and basically everything I've learned in life thus far). I imagine that once I get to making animatics, this step would include people critiquing my work (as per usual in art and life) and see problem areas where I need to fix. From there, I would continue to make works and get feedback. It's a continual loop of learning. I'm still expanding on my drawing abilities today as well. Hopefully, I can update you guys on my progress during this winter break.

Till next time!

En