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All responses Most smiled responses
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Thanks so much! I do use photo reference occasionally, but I don't copy it as much as use it to see details that I can incorporate into a background. I usually start with a very specific image in my mind then look for photos to help me flesh out the details.
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I'm always happy to talk about drawing technique — fire away!
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I have amazing artists like John Hurst to inspire me! Thanks John! :)
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It's a decision the artist makes whether he is aware of it or not. The four finger hand was developed in the early days of animation because it was easier and faster to draw. But as soon as Disney and Fleischer ventured into feature films with more naturalistic characters (like Snow White and Gulliver), the fifth finger was added. In both animation and comic strips, the more stylistic and caricatured a character is, the more likely we are to see four fingers; the more realistic: five fingers.
Today, it's certainly just a choice and not a hard and fast rule. For some cartoonist, it's just their style (or crutch, depending on your point of view) for others it's an aesthetic decision. -
I don't think it's necessary to obtain a degree to become a professional artist and, for the sake of disclosure, I myself don't have a degree in art. However, not everyone is capable of blazing their own path and becoming a competent artist with out some kind of training and there are benefits to attending an art school or university. I will give you three:
1: School helps to widen your base knowledge and influence. Discovering artists, techniques and styes that you have never heard of can be a life changing event.
2: There is no substitute to having teachers and mentors who have worked in the professional world. School is usually the first place you meet people like this. Not to mention the amazing visiting illustrators, painters, animators, filmmakers, etc.
3. Community. School is where the friendships that will last your lifetime are forged. As an artist, those friendships lead to work down the road. When a director says "Does anyone know who can do this job?", it's nice to have a friend on the inside who knows YOU can and will put in a good word for you. -
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The question is pretty broad, so let me give you an equally broad (yet truthful) answer:
Seek a good education and/or apprenticeship. Set your goals high and work hard. Very hard. Always strive to be the best you can be. Be realistic about your abilities, but continue to strengthen areas you are weak in. Don't be stagnant. Push yourself beyond what you believe are your creative limits. Recognize there will always be someone better than you, but that it is your experiences as a person and an artist that will make your work unique. Develop a caffeine addiction. -
Most of my mentoring through the years has been to students and up and coming artists. I really like showing them how to focus in on areas that can improve their work and eventually bring it up to professional standards. I'm not so confident that I have any insight that could help any of my colleagues.
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I often catch myself saying that I'm self taught, but that actually implies that I new what I was doing instinctively. Maybe it's better to say that I discovered much of what I know on my own by studying great masters — whether they were fine artists such as Victor Ambrus, Glenn Vilppu and Harry Carmean or cartoonists like Walt Kelly, Milt Kahl and E.C. Segar.
There were a couple of teachers in my life who helped to point the way to that discovery, but the journey has been primarily a lone trek. Getting into animation (specifically Disney) was a direct result of learning to draw from life and pushing myself to be the best I could possibly be. -
I am not currently teaching art classes due to my busy freelance schedule. I am working on drawing tutorials for the Red's Planet blog and perhaps some videos as well.
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Yeah, uh...about those...well, they're not that good. But I guess it wouldn't hurt me any more than that thing I did in Vegas. Aw, what the heck,look for them soon on the redsplanet.com blog.
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I have been influenced by so many artists through the years from cartoonists to filmmakers; animators to actors (and many more) it's way to difficult to name them all. But here's a start: Walt Disney, Walt Kelly, Bill Watterson, John Romita, Peirre Alarry, Glenn Keane, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng. E.C. Segar, Winsor Mccay, Heinrich Kley, Norman Rockwell, Douglas Adams, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Scott McCloud, Jim Davis, Charles Schulz, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, Paul Coker, Eric Goldberg, Tom Richmond, Bruce Timm, Berke Breathed, Robin Williams, Chad Thompson, Milt Kahl, Neal Adams, Wallace Tripp and many, many, more....
I am also very inspired by film with the most influential films in my life being (in chronological order): The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Little Mermaid and Toy Story 2. -
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Currently I'm not making any money from Red's Planet and it is indeed a labor of love (stressing the labor part). But I am blessed to be able to make my living as a freelance artist working on storyboards and concept design. One day I hope to pour all of that time into my own projects.
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Wow, that's tough because we've exhausted most of the better known European classics.There are so many around the world that I'm not familiar with that could be great films, but I think if I had my choice I would use something from Arthurian lore, perhaps the story of Percival.
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Really all my life. It's something I have always loved and I still have the first drawing I ever made at the age of 3.
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Eddie Pittman’s Bio
I was born in Atlanta, Ga where I learned how to draw in the back row of math class. I now create character designs and storyboards for film and television while also working on the popular online graphic novel, Red’s Planet.
