Going back to basics...

I feel like I've been hitting wall after wall with drawing and it's been frustrating the mother out of me.  Today I tried doing a character design challenge for our Animation Workshop, but my stuff just wasn't coming out right at all.  I mean, it got to the point where I can see a flicker of what I want to accomplish, but the drawing collapsed because of all of its other shortcomings.  It wasn't until I watched this video on character design that things started to fall into place.

The instructor makes an analogy, comparing his techniques on character design to flying airplane tricks at arial shows.  Sure, you can try to learn a spin, but how can you really learn that trick before learning how to fly?  Long story short, the reason why I'm getting so frustrated is that I haven't spent enough time practicing my fundamentals to the point where they can come more subconsciously while I'm performing the creative aspects.  Some stuff I want to really revisit include...

•                            perspective
•                   anatomy
•                   value/light sources
•                   color
•                   composition
•                   use of media
•                   etc

The instructor also says that these sorts of things are difficult to really execute via video tutorials because they require a lot more discipline and are more suited for a classroom environment since they are more dry in subject material.  I think this is why I'm craving Ringling so badly... just a little more linearity & guidance on where my focus should be.  I'm so tired of running into these fucking walls and my attention being split to job hunting isn't helping much either...


But enough whining, Kyle.  I might post my progress, I don't know since I think I'll be doing value charts, shapes, and more of the sort.  As I said, bit more dry in terms of material to post up, but we will see how this goes.