Tricking My Eyes

A week or so ago my computer got infected by a trojan and I couldn't rescue all the data on my laptop. I ended up losing a lot of work on all my current projects and so I don't think there will be too many updates in December. I also can't keep on the story topic for the moment with Won Long Leg for the same reason.

Here's something interesting though. Everyone holds a pen their very own way and looks at their paper in a certain way. Some keep their face close to the paper while drawing, and some turn the page at 45 degrees while drawing. There's no wrong in any of this in my opinion. Every now and then though, it's good to see things straight.

Maybe it's a problem with my vision but I know that I can't always see if curves are good or not. I've noticed also that some drawings of mine tend to lean a bit on one side if I don't pay too much attention. So I came up with a trick to verify if my curves are ok. I rotate 90 degrees in all directions and correct on the way. Like in the picture above.

I'll be coloring that one. It's me waiting for the bus stop at -40 back in the day. It's 10 degrees still here in Berlin and there's no snow. I miss the cold. (:

Making Up Stories

I wrote another story for Won Long Leg, my very own legend of Kung-fu and I'm in the process of making a short animated film from all these ideas. This is really not something I have extensively done before. I learned that about 10 years ago so I thought I might want to refresh what I've learned.

The story itself;
     Just like the comic, I write a basic story line first. It needs to be very basic, not much more than a page. It should answer the questions you might want to have answered before buying a book for example.
                  - What kind of story is that? (horror, comedy, etc)
                  - What is the main quest? (true love, ruling the world, paint bird cages, etc)
                  - Who are the character and can I relate to them?
                  - Some hints on where the story is going

      However, that isn't clear enough for me when drawing a comic or planning an animation. I take this story and start slicing the story in single sentences. Each sentences can translate to about one panel in cartoon term and about one action in the animated version. From doing this exercise I also get a more detailed view of the story and can see if the timing of each element is good or not.

     While doing that, I often stop and think about my characters and take a lot of notes for the next step; Character design and description. I'm currently looking into that topic and I have found quite a few interesting things so far. I'll post again once I'm a bit further along that project.

     On another note, I'll be participating in a 10k race soon and need to train a bit more... I'll try and post again soon! Have a super week!

A Lot of Rocks

I was hiking for four days in Saxon Switzerland and it was brilliant. Just in time to get the last few nice days of autumn it seems. I won't go into a detailed description of the whole thing but the trip included amazing landscapes, climbing a lot of stairs and going through a bridge and burg from the middle age. All of it was impressive!

You can see my photo album here: Malerweg