First, one must embrace the spirit of the robot. Some find this through transcendental meditation, years of self imposed seclusion or a meaningful bout of combat with a meta self from the dark dimension. As for myself I traversed the land until I found a sagacious android hermit in the outer reaches of East Finchley. I had to best him in a round of radioactive salmon fencing before he would revel his secrets to me. It took the best part of three weeks but it was worth it, plus he made really good sandwiches.
Once you have procured the essence of robothood you simply have to recite the incantation, remove your spleen, engrave it with the sacred oath then repeat ‘eki eki ftang whoo PING allahoo’ whilst dancing around a recently discarded set of polkadot underwear before throwing it at the nearest available walrus.
It’s really very simple.
Well, I’ll actually go at this one backwards- because trying to increase your skill level is much harder than being inspired… but of course, being inspired makes it much easier to increase your skill level, so… I’ll shut up and just answer the questions.
Looking at things and drawing them is one of the best ways to get better- but looking at something and figuring out how it works is a much better way to get better. When you know why something looks the way it does; when you really know how something works, not just looks, but works, you’ll be able to draw it from the inside out. That makes an enormous difference, and then afterwards, when you imagine it, and when you imagine new, crazy, impossible things, you can take those things you know about real things and make your impossible things much more real.
Draw the things that you find hard to draw- I used to find drawing hands and feet really annoying, because I wanted to draw them well, but I couldn’t. I can’t say that I draw them well now, but I enjoy drawing them because I understand them- I basically spent a solid two weeks of summer just drawing hands and feet, from the inside out, bones and muscles and gloves and socks and shoes, and eventually I’ve got to the stage where I can do it and enjoy it. I’m not great at it yet, maybe not even good- but that’s the fun thing about learning, you never stop, and you can always improve. Some people seem to find that discouraging but I find that terribly exciting :D
As for what inspired my style, I still don’t know that I have one, and if I do I have a few different styles, but some of my biggest artistic influences are Hergé, Eiichiro Oda, Dali, Hogarth, Steve Bell, Robert Valley, Albert Uderzo, David Sutherland, Brad Bird, Tove Jansson, Spike Milligan, Milt Kahl, Dave McKean, Al Hirschfeld, Carl Barks and about a million more who I will kick myself for not being able to think of immediately later.
Basically the best advice I can give you is to keep trying, keep learning, and keep asking questions. Never think that you know something; that’s a very dangerous trap to fall into because then you’ll stop trying to learn, and that’s just about the worst thing you can do to yourself, as an artist and as a human being.
My opinion on opinions is that they are opinions, which does not mean they are not important, but it doesn’t mean that they are right. Then again, what is right very often depends on your opinion, but then that’s a matter of opinion.
Anyway, that’s just my opinion.
Did some baking tonight, resulting in this almond cherry cake with a cinnamon glaze! I also made dark chocolate cherry banana bread. Yay productivity! (Taken with Instagram)
HNNNGGG.
LOOK AT WHAT MY ROOMIE MADE
I SWEAR IT’S LIKE BEING MARRIED TO CANADIAN AMAZON VERSION OF MARY POPPINS SOMETIMES
(via butttsoup)
Don’t try this at home. Ever.
SAM WHAT
ARE
YOU
DOING
I’ve had various people asking for a character sheet of M.O.D. (my fanbot self) but I’ve been all aaaa about doing it because it was basically drawing myself and that’s just kind of weird and I’m boring so I’ve thought about her a lot more and she’s more herself than me now SO THAT MAKES DRAWING HER OKAY. This is still horribly rough but it’s twenty past ten and I’ve been drawing all daaaaaaay ;A;
M.O.D. was informed that she was created in 1928 and that her name stands for Mechanical Oration and Design, because she was designed for illustration, entertainment and recitals etc. She doesn’t quite understand why but sometimes it doesn’t feel like that is why she was made, and she seems to have a few… unnecessary functions in that regard, but she wasn’t told otherwise, and as she can no longer talk it’s not like she can ask.
She’s closely related to silent movies, hence the whole black and white motif, as well as being mute and having the film-strip suspender things :) She’s also a little bit, er, slapstick in how she behaves aka clumsy as a walrus in a bucket of butter.
Now if I can only summon the courage to introduce her to the SPG forums…
Given up
FINISHED this, finally. I’m generally happy with it. Oh Ringo.
A redrawn scene from Yellow Submarine.
Yes. Good. On my dash. Now.
For those of you who’ve been asking; yes, there will eventually be a ‘the Jon’s horse’ comic
but it won’t be for quite a while because dude those things are emotionally draining like woah
so in the meantime there’s this;
( he’s sulking because it isn’t a quesadilla :T )