Look mum I doodled

Yeeeaaaaaaah...I still draw, which is good that I have kept the equipment and kept practicing. Soon I have to decide what I really want to draw.

When I have time for that I mean. One thing I need to do soon is to give this blog a proper design. It's kinda embarrassing for a "world renowned graphic designer" to go on with the default template. I won't even mention my "portfolio" site...it's purely utilitarian at the moment and even sucks at that kkrrhhm! Have I mentioned User Interface design as my competence at some point? But of course for REAL jobs it's a different game and yes let's face it, motivation. Oh no not motivation I have that but concentration..

That part is rarely lying on the home desk. Where could I buy some?

Sooo yes about this post? Well you know it already, random stuff. Doodles schmoodels in all shapes and sizes and styles I strive to vary. I think I'm just not fit for picking one style and sticking with it. No matter what the "How to be an illustrator" -books say. Of course now some friends will say "I can identify your drawings!" Yes granted, it's impossible to completely escape your "line" (and mannerisms!) but still I beg to differ that there ain't one style or characters that I would have polished to my kind of diamond.

I just have a bunch of dirty cole pieces lying around! But I really am a firm believer what the good ol' John K. has said that once you get the basics good in your drawing and design sensibilities, there's nothing you can't do.

Rusty and dusty

I know I've posted quite some life drawings on this blog. I'd like to see some advancement in them..but yesterday when I drew these, it felt like I was drawing such for the first time. Maybe 'cause there had been some pause but rather..it someties is just about the day. The level of concentration varies and hand sometimes feels like it made of metal.

So not my favorites and but maybe I learned something while trying.

Dr. Doodle's orders

As Dr. Doodle orders, keep the pencil moving, yes...I try to do that.

This is a good ol' doodle post with some Dr. Skethy's lifedrawings drawn at the Animatricks festival club.

When there has been time from day work and other happenings I've lately done again some freelancing. Actually I thought I should post soon some sketches from that or those projects here.

Overdue post number x

It's been a while. I've been busy at work, then traveling, Animatricks and then doing some freelance work on the side...so sorry for the lack of updates :/

This one is a quick fun logo my friends asked for their band Serial Humpers aka Vakavat Humppaajat :)

(It's an accordion aka hanuri...)

Those damned croquis again!

Oh yes, want it or not I've got some croquis for you. I tried to find balance with anatomic accuracy and exaggeration. Some work but many don't so I have to try not to try harder next time :)

The pencil ones are 10min and the ones on brown paper 5min poses.

Oldies Goldies time! Scifi-fantasy from a highschooler

Ran into a magazine from high school and in that there was also some drawings of mine. They werent' related to any article. So in that way these continue the tradition of the blog, random doodles and scribbles ;)

Also there was a polaroid photo(!) of another Alien -influenced painting I was working on. You can see from the signature that it's from the productive year of 1992...so that would be my last year of upper elementary. Original painting is somewhere...

Other Alien -influenced posts here and here (the 1st one actually shows some kind of premilinary of the large painting). I could have tried to switch the view though...

Sketchy at best

Another mindboggling collection of those ever so lovable random doodlings from sketchbooks, various napkins and bar receipts with no idea of whatsoever.

Cheers!

Squeeky lifedrawings

The life drawing sessions at Taidehalli started again. Was it the beer in my belly or the sunshine crusted arms of mine after the summer but drawing seemed a bit clunky...

Anyway I was trying to "switch my mental gears" several times during the session. That resulted in quite different looking drawings of the same model (of course the emount of time/pose affects too).

Sometimes I took the more stylized or trying to instill more interpretation. Sometimes I just wanted to take the essential pose and exaggerate that, not worrying about anatomy too much ad even cheating a bit on the direction of the pose.

I feel this kind of switching of "mental gears" is kinda refreshing, a learning curve and hopefully helpful in improving my craft.

Gobelins Summer School doodles

Hey, it's been almost 2 months since my last post...shame on me! I've been on my summer vacation but on the summer vacation I attended the Gobelins character animation summer school in Paris.
To put it simply: it was great! Met a bunch of wonderful people whom I'm missing already. It was an intense 2 weeks. Information overload and huge inspiration at the same time. Not to mention..it was all in Paris. Doesn't every artist want to do something there at some point :)?

I was one of the few there who didn't have a background of an actual animator but as those few who follow by blog know, I'm an animation buff and have been that since I was a kid.

So this was my 1st and possibly last actual or formal training in animation. But from now on I hope to start implementing what I learned in the summer school and on my own in the many years that have passed.

This post has doodles from my sketch/notebook. So they are again reaaally random doodles from the pages of extensive notes made during the school. Also one image is a collection of some jolly doodles guys and gals did while we were enjoying the cheapest beer in Paris..I think the place was called appropriately Bistro Des Artistes :D

The short animation exercises done at the summer school I still have to finish and then I can post them here..At some point :P

Doodle Gaboodle

Collected, random visual ramblings of a demented mind.

And you were again who?

Yes, I've been reminded that it's been 2 months since last post! I know, I plead guilty, I've been busy and all that jazz...

You've probably noticed from your friends that keep a sketchbook that they're really reluctant to show it to anyone. Well, that's all I have in this blog anyway.

So I give it all again, all the fabulous crap from the sketchbooks and random scrap papers in glorious collected deluxe volumes.

Enjoy.

Back to the Dark Ages

I hope the picture speaks for itself 'cause it's about the only inspiration or support that the future parliament of Finland is gonna give to us.

Fumetti! Il Incontro Con Dei Carabinieri!

Ciao a tutti! I meant to post this already a while back. It's a comic exercise drawn (fast - on the previous night) for the script class I attended some time ago. The idea of this exercise was to take some real-life memory or incident, take it to a certain point where the real life story ends and there happens a "what if" moment. That means that I continued the story from that point how it could have gone - exaggerating slightly :P

You can guess where that point is. Click the images bigger. The translations for the few finnish texts are:
Panel 1: It was year 2002. I was doing a student exchange in Turin...
Panel 2: One night, we were returning from a proper bar night with my finnish friend (Kai=maybe)
Then some sound effects here and there: kick! Slap! Swipe..

Green croquis

Another batch of lifedrawings. I used a different kind of medium again, this water-soluble green pencil. I did find out pretty soon that there wasn't much time do the wash part for the color. The faster ones are green green felt pen with black brushpen.

And yes..the head is quite big in that one in the middle :)

Crawling Doodles

Obviously sketchbook stuff, no need to elaborate more. Some older and some more recent. One note though about these: the page with the man waving a knife and the "cowboy" in rain is all digital.

The medium does dictate some of the look&feel even though I can't escape my "house" style ;)

Winter's Croquis

Haven't felt this good with life drawing in a while. Usually the last 20min is a bit of a struggle but today I felt like I managed to get something done.

I switched in the halftime from graphite to good old ink and at the same time it's always a bit difficult to switch your mind too. The graphite ones are obviously longer poses from 15 (the left-most) to 10 minutes (the rest). These longer poses serve as a warm-up for the fast 5min ones done in ink.

Still I have to keep reminding myself on not to get caught up in details. So on many of these I left from the thought that I'd do the pose in one single line. That didn't happen with these yet so I've got plenty of drawing ahead ;D

Click for a closer look.

Scraping the doodle barrel part III

These doodles are some of the same miscellanious stuff I scanned in and collected a while ago. The sketches include some from the aforementioned character design -course I attended.

Then there is a doodle of an elder man in a bed that I sketched for a comics assignment in the script course. It's unrealized still though.

The other's are just the usual doodling...sometimes with a concious effort in drawing with the different style. I like to try that out often. That's why I feel I haven't still found "my thing" properly. In a way I hesitate to get stuck to something particular.

Animation Classics from upper elementary

Now this is a special post. At least for me. As those who know me and those who've been checking my blog, probably know that I'm an animation buff. I've always been.

I practically took posession of the Illusion Of Life -book from my local library.

I was also a fan of The Simpsons which had recently started on tv. So was my friend Tuomo Kokkonen. We especially were fans of that lovable comical duo, Itchy&Scratchy. So we decided to do some animation. Pretty soon we realized the obvious fact that how much labor it is and we had no idea of practical technique (like keeping things in register..).

We had a very original story idea but ended up drawing only fragments of it. We also never saw if me had actually achieved any illusion of life...So with great anticipation after almost 20 years I opened some archives and with the aid of modern tech (if only we'd had Flash&After Effects back then..) I scanned in the drawings. There wasn't much to see and pretty hard to tell what's going on but still I was quite proud what we kids had tried to do :)

I'm not quite sure which "scene" was drawn by me or Tuomo but it was supposed to be seamless story in the end anyway.

There's also, which really must be my first drawn paper animation (flipbook or two maybe before), a test with half-filled flour sack. It was inspired by the Disney-book but the animation looks more like the sack has a fit mid-air...Click the images if they don't play.

Rusty Nudes

It's of course obvious that when you stop doing something for a long while, it becomes more difficult. That's how I felt yesterday when I went to do lifedrawing after a long pause.

I had to concentrate to get anything proper on the paper. Next time I hope it 'll go smoother 'cause I want to try again something different in terms approach or style.

The ones in ink are 5min poses and the ones in graphite are longer.

Oh and the funny thing was also that feet got cut from many of these. Whether it was the rusty drawing hand or the fact that I drew an a smaller pad than usually (just A5 which is maybe a bit too small). Although I do feel that the emphasis on fitting the whole pose on the page is sooo old school...

Scraping the doodle barrel part II

Scavenged the sketchbooks, various bits of scrap paper and collected some doodle posts. After all that's why I originally set up this blog. I have to keep the initial step for a post relativily low to get something done around here ;D

Here's also some life drawings from a while back.