Ratatouille is Amazing!


I just saw Pixar's new movie "Ratatouille" and loved it loved it loved it! Aside from being a great story about knowing and honouring your self and your gifts, it's an amazingly well told story and, if your an illustration geek like me, the character designs, set designs, prop designs, and animation simply blew me away.

You know what I love about Pixar? They are a huge business that create real soulful meaningful art... consistently. Every movie they've ever made has been in the range of really good to truely amazingly wonderfully incredible... in my humble opinion.

So I came home and really wanted to doodle rats inspired by the characters of Ratatouille, and these are what I came up with. Think I could get a job with Pixar? ;-)

Head Transplant

This is a new head for a head transplant on a corporate communcations comic I've been working on. I thought this ink drawing looked really pretty, want to share it with y'all.

I needed to change the identity of one character in this comic. In my illustration vernacular a head transplant is what happens when, for whatever reason, I need to change the face of a character in an illustration. I draw a new head and lay it over the old one. "Never draw anything twice if you can aviod it" was some early illustration advice from my mentor when I was just starting out. Saves a lot of redrawing! The same advice can apply to a lot of things in life!

Cheers!
Scott

Blotter Doodle


It's been a while! Here's a blotter doodle from today's inking session. Gave her a bit of an oversized hand... and I guess her head is a bit too big too, but that's what you get with these things. No pencil under-drawing. Just ink laid down on white paper, one stroke every minute or two whenever it's time to test the brush charge again.

Cheers!
Scott

Phone Doodle


Trina Thinks I'm rude for doodling while holding a conversation, but beleive it or not it actually helps me focus on what the other person is saying. I honestly don't know why. I actually can follow the thread of what the person is saying better. Maybe it's because my mind can't sit still very long, but drawing is a non interruptive, non verbal thing I can focus the other part of my brain on so it doesn't start pulling me out of the conversation with entertaining inner dialogue.

I watched Pixar's superhero film "The Incredibles" twice in the last two days and the cool caricatured fantastic shapes and costumes are constantly dancing in my head. As you can see it's influenced my phone doodle here.

Cheers!
Scott Mooney

PS. Check out my new EFT blog site. If you need a web presence in a hurry, Blogger is an amazing resource! I started my EFT business almost instantly by building a Blogger blog in about 15 minutes (content was pre existing on my http://ArtofSelfDev.com blog), buying the domain name http://EFT-in-Guelph.com and pointing it to the blog. Presto! Instant web presence!

Rope Skipping Babe, and EFT


This was a test illustration for a job that would have been on TV. Sadly, it's not going to happen this time. The good news is that I got to draw this sexy retro girl-next-door doing her calisthenics! I figure she deserves her time in the spotlight anyway, so here she is.



On a completely different subject, if you are at all interested in self development stuff, I just wrote an article on EFT on my other blog at www.artofselfdev.com. EFT is an amazingly effective and easy to learn energy psychology technique that combines tapping on certain acupressure points with key statements in order to clear emotional disruptions, such as phobias, aversions to things you'd rather not be averse to, stuck emotions (anger, frustration, resentment) and the like. This can be really handy when you're trying to accomplish something but can't because of these distracting and detracting emotions. Amazingly, the stress relief people experience from this technique often has powerful effects on physical ailments too. Anyway, you can read all about it in my article, which is about how to do EFT, called "Be Free with EFT" by clicking here.

Earl's My New Favorite Show


Jason Lee, who you've probably seen in a bunch of Kevin Smith movies, is in an amazing show with amazing writing, great comedic acting, and a good positive message in a dirtbag context. The show's called My Name is Earl. Season one is out on DVD and I'm totally addicted. It's HBO show quality, only it's not HBO. Politically incorrect with a heart of gold. It's right up there with Malcolm in the Middle, Sex and the City, Futurama, and Northern Exposure.

Hold Doodle


Operator put me on hold, doodled this on the corner of my to-do list while I waited. Funny thing about the creative process, your best work happens by accident when you're not trying to make it good, you're just playing around. That's why I have a hard time drawing on expensive paper... my expectations are too high.

Drawing Tip:
If you're creatively stuck, draw on cheap paper that you won't mind throwing in the garbage. Just doodle, don't try to make it good. Let go of the result. If you want to do the same on good paper, buy the paper with the intent to throw it all in the garbage. Don't get attached to the paper, or the resulting image. Think of it more as an experiment to see what emerges as you play.

Lessons anyone? Half price offer for E-Lessons.
I've updated my workshops page at http://www.moon-man.com/workshops.htm. It's got pricing and descriptions of what you can learn in private lessons with me. I'd also like to experiment with distance teaching over email and/or telephone. If anyone wants to be my guinea pig I'll give the first three people who sign up for distance learning 4 one-hour lessons at half price. Just put "Drawing lessons distance ed at half price?" in the subject line when you email me at scott@moon-man.com.

Jabberwocks

The 8 page full colour, multi-medium Sci-Fi comic story called "Jabberwocks" I co-created years ago with writer Robyn Harrington and then-editor of Remote Veiws (an anthology of short stories) Andrew Foley, is now live on my site, available in it's entirety to the public for the first time! Go to the comics section at www.moon-man.com to check it out.


Robyn passed away without ever seeing the story published. She was so excited about it, being her first comic story ever produced. She really enjoyed showing it around to her friends. It's been on the shelf for a long time, so it feels really good to have it available to the public now. I'd love to hear your feedback if you read it.

More Blotter Doodles


Every time I recharge my brush (that is, dip it in ink) I test it with a few strokes on a scrap of paper before I risk it on my artwork. I decided to try and make drawings with those test strokes. It was a cool experience, like what I imagine the Japanese art of Sumi-i must feel like. I just look at the paper and intuitively make one or two strokes that feel like they'll add to the drawing. Then I go back to inking my comics untill the brush needs more ink and I do a few more intuitive strokes. The ensuing image tends to be a neat surprise. If I wasn't inking something else at the same time, I'd never have the patience to make this kind of drawing. I'd rush it and over work it and it wouldn't have the same simplicity and clarity.






Learning to Paint





I'm falling back in love with drawing. You know how sometimes you develop a skill and you go through periods where you're kind of used to it, you approach it the same way for a while and as good as it is, you don't get that excited, compelled feeling any more. Then you discover a new medium, or a new approach, or a new purpose for that skill and it becomes really exciting again.

This time around the floodgates were opened for me by learning one very simple trick in Photoshop that allows me to paint over my pencil drawings yet allows the pencil lines show right through the colour. Somehow this has brought out a whole new painterly obsession alive. Not only has it changed the way I colour my images, but also the things I want to explore in my drawings. I find myself staring at stuff, trying to figure out how to render the light, what colours would I pick to paint it. I'm all psyched about making pictures now! Here are some of the results of that.

Catching Up On June 2006

Wow! It's been over a month since my last blog entry. Time flies when you're completely slammed! My wife Trina and I have a photography business and we're in the process of switching from film to digital. There's a lot more to that task than I thought. Researching and buying new gear, learning new software, catching up on orders that fell behind in the process. Big job! I'll be posting some commentary on the things I've learned onto Trina's workshops blog (http://tkpworkshops.blogspot.com/). Stuff about image rescue, a review of Mac's Aperture program, and already you will find some of Trina's amazing digital photography.

I've also got an exciting graphic Novel job in the negotiation stage. I'll post more details once the contract is signed. For now I'll just say it's an amazing opportunity, it's going to give me a good excuse to buy some equipment I've been coveting. And it's going to be a creative stretch, I'll be drawing it in a new, looser style to suit the story, and the budget, and the deadline.

Here are some Spot illustrations I did for the amazing new Oakville Organic grocery store, Organic Garage. www.organicgarage.ca/

Michael Cho Makes me Drool...

...over his artwork, of course! Dang this guy's great.


I met Michael at the Toronto Comicon... or rather, after the comicon at dinner. He gave me some great tips for colourizing linework in photoshop. Anyway, his work is gorgeous! Here's a few from his blog, which I suggest you check out at http://chodrawings.blogspot.com/.


Ain't it sweet! Wow! Thanks for the inspiration, Michael! From the looks of these, they're old school analog art... on real paper with real inks. Designing like this for two colours is a neat trick that I'd really like to learn. Somehow it seems way harder than full colour. Michael makes it so the two colours are interdependent. The image would be incomplete without one or the other. Takes more planning, I would think. I make my drawings as black and white images and then the colours are usually an afterthought. Minimizes the amount of thinking I have to do, which is usually a good strategy for me. ;)

I think it's like black and white photography, which removes the distraction of piles of colours all over the place and lets you pay more attention to the character of the subject... and the composition becomes more apparent. Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?

Paul McCusker in Paradise



One of my favorite things about exhibiting at the Toronto Paradise Comicon is meeting and learning from all the amazing artists you find there. Last year I met Paul McCusker, a bearded comics and illustration veteran and really neat guy. I absolutely love his work. He's incredibly talented with a variety of mediums and styles. I bought this book called Rodent Noir, and it is jam packed full of art lessons. Paul, thanks a bunch. Of all the incredible artists that were there, you left the biggest impression on me. Looking forward to meeting you again!

I wish I had a website address to refer you to Paul's other work but you can come to the Paradise comicon next year and you'll see his work and be duly awed. (If anyone out there has a link to Paul's site please send it to me and I'll post it here.)

Comicon This Weekend in T.O.



Oh yeah, and I'll be at the Paradise Comicon in Toronto (http://torontocomicon.com/) this weekend promoting our book, Parting Ways, which I illustrated with the help of the amazing Nick Craine (http://www.nickcraine.com/). The book was written by the equally amazing Andrew Foley. You can find me and Nick, and Northwest Passage creator Scott Chantler (http://www.scottchantler.com/) (collectively forming the Safety First comics crew) at Artist's Alley near the back of the room. This is a great place to go comics shopping because the dealers and artists always give great discounts at these shows, and the artists will sign your book if you buy it from them... maybe even draw you a picture in there!

Cheers!
Scott Mooney
www.moon-man.com

Juggle the Piercing Fearless

Just a medley of neat stuff that has found it's way to my attention in the last couple of hours.

1. Chris Bliss is a juggler. Not just any old juggler. Imagine juggling as a medium for musical interpretation, insert an awesome Beatles song (Golden Slumbers) and see what happens. Here's the link to watch the video. http://tinyurl.com/gcupv (Special thanks to Paul Cutright for forwarding it to me).

2. Gareth Lind, who I've been interviewing gradually on this blog, sent me this link to a beautifully crafted comic story called "Piercing" created by artist David Gaddis. It's also a great example of "silent" or wordless comics, a particular interest of mine. http://www.davidgaddis.com/piercing.html

3. I just watched the movie "Fearless" for probably the fourth time. (Not the new Jet Li kung fu movie... which looks like it's going to be totally awesome!) The one I'm talking about was made in 1993 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106881/) directed by Peter Weir (director of The Dead Poets Society, and the Truman show, and a large number of other excellent films). I watch it every couple of years, and each time it's a new movie. I get something different from it every time. It's got a great cast, all working in the top of their form in this one. Jeff Bridges, Isabella Rosalini, Rosie Perez (who I think steals the show, her acting is so good in this movie... I never realized that she's so good before tonight) and Benicio Del Torro. What do you mean you've never heard of it?!;) This is a movie about faith... not religion. What is faith? Is it the choice to not be afraid... or to not allow fear to dissuade you from the path you want to take? Maybe fear plays an important role in our lives, if we indulge in it wisely.