These are logos for a a fictional animation studio in one of my stories, drawn, as you can see, on archive quality Canadian Revenue Agency envelopes.
Tell me which you like, or even better, tell me if you can think up a better name or image or logo. Like most animation studios, it probably should have "toon" or something in the name to suggest animation. Some (already used) names are "Neptoon Studios" and "Adam-ation".
The dinosaur/gator on the right - "Spoon Toons" - is a reach I know, but on the other hand, just a goofy character would do.
C'mon, let me hear your ideas, and yes... I might steal the best one!
When you were a kid, at the end of the day, did anyone ever ask "What you learned in school today?" I'll tell you what I learned by doing this one, but first, see all that distracting stuff behind drawings 1 & 2? Try to ignore it - it was on the reverse side of the paper I was using. Not important!
You can see I had the concept pretty well mapped out right from drawing 1. I did drawing 2 because I wasn't happy with the left character's right hand. I thought he needed to be indicating the plant and I also thought he should be moved a bit to the left. Turns out that hand was more challenging than expected - tough angle and I didn't know what I wanted. When I got to inking, I tried to draw it a few times over but honestly, I wasn't happy with any of them including the one you see. I did consider doing another rough but I felt I couldn't waste any more time on it so I just went with what was finished last.
The nurse has pretty funny hands and the shapes are nice. There probably should have been more medical type stuff around, an IV drip, perhaps a defibrillator, a bag of fertilizer, but again, time was an issue. Too bad, 'cause those elements would be funny.
But back to the first question. What did I learn?
Look at the difference between drawing 3 and 4. I should have been working and inking within a frame because as you can see some stuff got left out. Well, yes, only the medical chart got left out, but really, I think that detail is gold. Also, the whole thing feels a bit cramped. If I'd had a slightly larger frame, I could have pushed the man's word bubble up which would make it all less cramped.
Here's another stab at the Robot Lord character design. I did a drawing somewhat like the one on the right and thought it was pretty funny, which gave me the idea that perhaps this character can extend his limbs so that he can be tall or short depending on his mood, inclination or what he needs to do.
One challenge with this idea is how do I shape his torso and hips so that it can be lean like a hero or rounded and pudgy like a toddler? I might do a CG mock up to see if it would work.
You can see I kept the cuboid head with the face circle. Not sure if his limbs should be more boxy to reflect his head shape. Perhaps I'll try that next.
But as usual, let me know what you think!
Do you know the experience of hearing a musician's latest album and you think to yourself, "Buddy, you gotta get a new sound or something, 'cause this is TIRED!"
Well, I've been saying to that to myself lately. I've been wanting to see something new, something different so I figured I'd try to draw some place different, to draw a little escapist place for your eye, a place to imagine oneself into, and voila! The Temple of the Monkey Cult is born.
I've done this subject matter before - the priest at the weird alter etc. I've not had the temple look like a baboon's head, nor has that baboon's head been carved into a hill top, nor have I drawn it in such a way that invites the viewer in to walk the paths with one's eye. I think the angle, the view helps one do that and the shading helps guide one around also.
I like how the baboon's eyes are suggested with the carved rock and the building at the back has a nice, warm feeling with the light beaming out of it. The prayer flags flapping on the line are nice and add some needed dynamism. This is one drawing that would really be improved with some colour, to help show how lush and verdant the place is. Perhaps a deep red paint on the buildings and bright warm pumpkin orange glow coming from the main building and from the torches down at the alter.
This is not a test.
If I said "Robot Lord" to you and the only other things you know about him/her/it is that this character is mean, probably evil and they have and use a sword. So based on that information, which design shown below do you like best, or if none appeal to you, which comes closest and what parts of any one of them do you like?
Can you suggest something more apt? Anything you HAAAATE?!
