NEW WEBSITE!!

I won't be posting on here for awhile now because I recently created a new website with a blog built in! Please come check it out at: www.johntmcgowan.wordpress.com

Another Kentridge-Style Animation

This time it's of my feet!
35 photos. Roughly 5 hours.

(For some reason the sides of this video are cut off unless you view it in full screen, or on the youtube website)

Copying Kentridge

In my Figure Drawing class last week, we were assigned four hours of figurative drawing based on the subject of our choice. I choose to practice drawing my hands, as they are a body part I always find challenging. Realizing that four hours is a rather large amount of time, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to experiment with a process made popular by artist William Kentridge. Kentridge creates thought-provoking animations using still images, drawn with traditional media (Automatic Writing) .

To create his stop-motion animated films Kentridge starts by making a single charcoal drawing on a piece of paper, and then photographs it with a camera. After that he will alter part of the drawing by adding to, erasing, or redrawing. Then he will take another picture. He repeats this process over and over until he has hundreds or thousands of photographs. When the photographs are compiled (using some sort of movie-editing software such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro) it will create the illusion of movement.

Here is a great interview with Kentridge where he explains his unique process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_UphwAfjhk

This is a wonderful way to animate because anyone can try it. You do not need any expensive software, as it only requires a digital camera, and drawing utensils. I found it helpful to video myself performing my action and projecting it onto a wall to use as reference material.

While my first attempt is far from perfect it was a fun experiment, and allowed me to practice drawing hands in positions that I wouldn't typically study.

(To view the non-cropped version please double click on the video below to watch in full screen)

A Work In Progress: "King Louie"

Here's a pencil drawing I did for fun last week. He's a cross between Louis the Fourteenth and King Louie from The Jungle Book. (Trust me he looks a lot cooler with a touch of Photoshop paint). Hopefully I'll have a more polished version to show in a few weeks!

What I've Been Doing In My "Spare" Time

"You ARE What You Wear"



"THOR-MOS" (for Threadless' Thermos design contest)

Hooray for Blogger!!

So for the past couple of weeks I haven't been able to post any pictures here but today the problem has been miraculously solved! Good timing too because I was wondering if I would have to switch to Wordpress or something, gross.

So in the spirit of happy things, I had to draw something happy. Here is the happiest thing that popped into my head... getting a snow day, on your birthday, while eating ice cream... for breakfast!!

In other news.... a little birdie recently shared this blog with me. Despite their simplicity the illustrations are amazingly expressive (and hilarious). Here's one for example:


http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/10/god-of-cake.html

Moostache - A Tale of Revenge

Another threadless submission...

Smart Phone

I have had some free time lately and decided to come up with a design to submit to threadless.com. This website allows members to submit artwork that will be critiqued and then potentially used on t-shirts. It is all based on how others rank your design. So here is my creation 'Smart Phone'.

(oh... and if your design is chosen you win $2,500!!)

The Doctors Are In

We decided to make Dr. Alright a little more professional, so we lost the shades. We also added a diverse cast of characters to round out his all-star team.

Dr. Alright

It's been awhile since my last post. I've been a little busy with graduation and work, but I haven't stopped doodling! Here is a character I created for a potential project at work, "Dr. Alright". This groovy doc will provide employees with useful tips to better their health and work relationships, with a "Dear Abby" like approach. Here's one of the many poses I've rendered of him, for the pitch.