Category Archive: tools

Oct
01
2010

Random Ideas generators again

Here is a repeat, some good random idea generators that might be a help for a project, like 24 Hour Comic Book Day. Great for practice exercises.

Lee’s Useless Random Superhero Generator: http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/comics/herogen/
Log-Line generator: http://www.lifeformz.com/cgi-bin/idea/idea.fcgi
Seventh Sanctum: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/
(Anime/Manga, Character,Humor, Names, Superheroes/Sentai, Writing, etc.)
50 Random Superhero Names: http://www.hoboes.com/RPG/BrandX/Gallery/names/
Random Writing Prompts: http://www.gkbledsoe.com/articles/process/writing_prompt_generator.html
Ultimate Random Generator: http://translunarwagontrain.com/

May
21
2010

Reminder: Cartoon Boot Camp starts on June 7, 2010 at the Cartoon Art Museum!

I just confirmed that there are still spaces available in the Cartoon Boot Camp Classes at the Cartoon Art Museum this Summer in which I will be the teacher.

The classes are aimed at students ages 10-14 who are looking for something that goes beyond the basics. The classes move fast and they are designed for kids who are all ready working on their craft to start with (i.e. intermediate)

The classes are going to be lots of fun and really exciting I think.

June 7 – 11: Character Creation and Design

Learn the engineering of character design: Construction, Costume, Store, and more! This class will focus on learning the structure so that you can draw what you imagine.

June 14 – 18: From Storyboard to Animatics

Students learn to draw storyboards that will be ‘filmed’ into a animatic with sound and posted on the web. Here is the one we did last year…

June 21 – 25: Fantasy Creatures and Mythical Beasts

Gryphons, unicorns, and dragons, oh my! Students learn to draw mythical beasties from around the world and even make up their own. Some of the highlights will be: drawing creatures on all fours, drawing simplified fur and scales, and setting the scene and mood.


June 28 – July 2: Animation and Motion Comics

Thanks to modern technology we have seen a new art form, the motion comics. This class will allow students to learn how to take their own comics and artwork and animate them in both traditional and digital methods. The final video will be available for the world to see on the internet.

CAM Cartoon Boot Camp 2010

Mar
29
2009

June 15-19 and 22-26, July 13-17, August 3-7;Cartoon Boot Camp 2009 at the Cartoon Art Museum

Hey all, I will be teaching some of the Cartoon Boot Camp at the Cartoon Art Museum this summer. So if you are an intermediate artist between the ages of 10 and 14 this camp might be right for you. I am teaching all the classes except for the week of July 6-10.

Cartoon Boot Camp
Summer Session 2009

with Brian Kolm and Daniel Salcido

Learn to draw comic strips, cartoon characters, super heroes and more!

For ages 10 to 14 years old:

June 15 through 19
June 22 through 26
July 6 through 10
July 13 through 17

For ages 7 to 14:

August 3 through 7

All sessions run Monday through Friday from 12 noon to 2:00 pm at the Cartoon Art Museum.

$125 per week for non-members / $100 per week for members

To register please call 415-227-8666 x303 or email education@cartoonart.org.

All participants must be pre-paid prior to the first day of each session. Full refunds given with 2 weeks cancellation notice prior to the first day of the session. 50% refund given within 7 to 13 days of the first day of the session. No refunds given within 6 days prior to the first day of the session.

Summer Boot Camp 2009 Curriculum

Intermediate ages 10-14:

June 15-19: Designing Superheroes

Superheroes are a big part of American pop culture with characters as diverse as Batman, Wonder Woman, Mr. Incredible and Diaperman. Students will learn to draw these and their own brightly colored lads and ladies who fight crime. The class will teach the students how to draw humanoid heroes in pose, physique, personality, costume and presentation.

June 22-26: From Storyboard to Animatic

In this class students learn to draw storyboards just like the ones used in movies and television shows. Once the storyboards are created students will develop them into an animated piece. The class will explore drawing, camera moves and lighting, timing and communication, and applying simple animation and camera moves to give a simulation of what a final film would look like.

July 6-11: Rendering Techniques for Comics

(taught by the awsome Daniel Salcido ) This class will focus on illustration techniques including the use of pencil, charcoal, and inking along with cross hatching and other rendering approaches to create shade and shadow and other dramatic effects in cartoon drawings.

July 13-17: Storytelling for Comics

Students will explore the process of creating a story including writing an outline, developing the structure of the story, creating characters, and making rough layouts.

Beginner level ages 7-14:

August 3-7: Cartoon Craft

Young students will participate in a fun week of cartoon and crafts combined, including the creation of projects that explore collage, flipbooks, zoetrope, paper dolls, puppets, and robots.

Nov
02
2008

Drawing With Water: Making the Art for ALAN’S WAR

First:Second has a great making of video from their book Alan’s War. I think I am going to give it a try.

Aug
15
2007

My new computer…

I just got a new iMac this week and I am loving it. I bought it through MacConnection in NH (no Tax, free Shipping). I could have gotten a snazzier model, but this one will last me quite a while. The screen in 20″ and it is no longer the white plastic style, but brushed metal with a screen inset with a black frame (sexy). The cool part is that is will also serve for an entertainment center since it’s big enough to watch a DVD or play my music through iTunes all by remote control (don’t even have to get out of bed). The new keyboard, which features slimmer keys, is taking a bit to get used too, but I am loving the two button mouse. I am glad APPLE finally switched over to it.

It took me many hours to copy over all my iTunes and iPhoto files, but with a 360 GB HD I can store them with out even a hic-up.

Now to happy dance…..whooooo hoooooooo.

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Jul
24
2007

Wausau paper test with Watercolors


click to enlarge

I am trying out a new paper to draw and paint on. It’s Wausau Exact Ice 80lb and it comes highly recommended by a friend of mine. This artist paints on it in both watercolors and acrylics and also does most of his rough and final comic art on it. One of the things that attracted me to it, is that it can be xeroxed on so you can reproduce your line work multiple times in case you mess up coloring and rendering on it. The paper handles the watercolor like a hot press surface (drys fast, shows more texture) and it did buckle a bit when I had a lot of water on it, but it seems like it’s a good material to work on still, plus if you buy it from a store like Kelly Paper it cost about $.10 for a 11″x17″ sheet. Can’t go wrong with that price. Of course you have to by a half ream to start with.

I will be taking the paper down with me to San Diego to do some color sketches and experiments, so I will have some stuff to show next week here on the blog. If you are a fellow artist who is going to SDCC I would be happy share a piece with you if you want to give it a try.

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Jun
17
2007

Expanding menus thanks to Flooble.com

Thanks to Flooble.com I have cool expanding sidebars to keep everything clean. You just click on the + and the content expands, click the – close it back up. (you might have to scroll down a bit to see them, but there so Cool, Very Cool. It was fairly easy to add the Javascript to a blog, except if you have more then one, the number for each section has to be changed.

They also make a cool sticky note script.
Like this= ?

Secret Note (hide)

You clicked on the secret note. SURPRISE you lucky bugger! Maybe I will start hiding little message for you folks to find.

add popup notes to your pageRead freelogic puzzles

May
15
2007

Tools: Random Names from behindthename.com

This site, behindthename.com will take a data-base of real names and randomize it either generally, or with specific ethnic backgrounds.

It definitely can be a great way to come up with character names for any type of storytelling. The only down size is that it can only generate one name at a time and you have to pick a specific gender.

For more Random Name fun, check out http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

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