Blender - Beginner Tutorial

 Since using 3D models when boarding is becoming more standard (especially when boarding on 3d series), it really pays to learn the tools. Since Blender is free, that's my go to option. And for anybody starting out, I would recommend this tutorial by Grant Abbitt:

(I am putting this on my blog so I can myself find it in case I need a refresher :P)

I work on my iMac, so it's essential to enable the Emulate Numpad and Emulate 3 Button Mouse

Then navigation on the Mac mouse:

Option + LEFT CLICK = Rotate

Option + SHIFT + LEFT CLICK: Move

Option + control + LEFT CLICK : Zoom in/out

I also had to enable a secondary (right) click option on my mouse, which you will need. I had to go into system settings on my Mac to enable that.

SHORTCUTS to move objects:

G = move object around

(while in G, press X for X-axis restricted movement, Y for Y-Axis and Z,... you get it).

option + G: reset movement of object

R= rotate

S=scale

X= delete object

N= side panel menu

Personally though, I prefer using the Gizmo, which you can activate in the sidebar menu:

SHIFT +S : Bring up pie menu which allows to reset the Cursor to origin.

Another set of preferences to change (from another source)

TIME LINE NAVIGTAION (MAC)

option+ drag mouse = move timeline

option + control + drag mouse left/right = zoom in/out

0 while in timeline = reset!

FINDING THINGS IN OUTLINER WINDOW:

select object in scene, when in the outliner window, press "." (dot) and it will jump to it in the list!

GENERAL

CTRL + OPTION + SPACEBAR is make window FULL SCREEN!

TMNT Storyboard Study

I like studying story artist who are working efficiently, we need to pump out the drawings at a high pace, so it's worth your while looking at how other artists create shorthands. It's also just a cool sequence, very animation friendly. I love this kind of stuff.

The animatic I studied is on the Nickelodeon YouTube channel HERE.

BIXIE (BEATRIX) CHARACTER DESIGN

 I did this sheet on Bristol A4 with a pen nib and filled in the blacks with a brush.

Shading with PROMARKER:

I already had this character and I felt it fitted with the script I whipped together yesterday. 

Armed with those sketches I sketched out some poses in red pencil and cleaned up with a HB pencil.

I then did the linear with a pen nib:

Then did the blacks with a brush..this is an area I'm really not good at, it'll be something I hope to get better at:

Erased the pencils for clean linear:

And the Pro Markers pass (I used 2 shades)

ROADTRIP : SIXPACK SCRIPT

 So spent all of yesterday writing a full script for a comic book idea. I have a lot of story ideas lying around, but because I just want to do this for fun. I worked from a new idea, something light and crazy, so there's not much weight on it. I can just focus on "learning" instead of trying to get things right and thinking about a final product.

The IDEA (The spark) : "What if you saw a Sixpack of beer lying in the middle of nowhere in the desert.?"

So that was my starting point, that simple.

- There's a mystery: what is it doing in the middle of the desert? Is it an illusion, a trap to lure them, somebody drop it?

- It gives my characters a goal! And it's silly :D. What does anybody usually look for in the desert? HYDRATION (WATER). But not my characters, they want BEER! 

So I just walked the path of the story in my head to see where it would end out, I thumbnail out some pages, brainstormed different scenarios and turns. Some potentially funny gags. Until I connected the dots from A (set up) -> B (the journey) -> C (resolution). 

I actually often think of how things will end these days, and that helps me then to fill in what happens. In this case I woke up with an image in my head of a tourist bus full of old people that were diving off a cliff.  Completely unconnected to the story, but it somehow gave me the idea for the ending. 

I didn't actually intend to write a script, but I quickly realised I wouldn't be able to thumbnail out my pages, if I didn't have all the beats laid out first. And it's much faster to type some words than redrawing pages of thumbnails. I guess a different approach could've been to use David Lynch's technique, where you write down a scene on a cue card, and another on another card, etc... and then you can rearrange these card into a story.  

But I decided to type out my story! Of course I have no experience writing scripts and especially my dialogue makes me cringe myself. But we all have to start somewhere right, in the name of fun! :D It ended up being an 18 page script, so hopefully it will translate to a 22 ish page comic.  (below just a random segment that doesn't reveal too much :P). 

Although I later noticed I kept mixing up my character names.. calling BIXIE (short for Beatrix) TRIX.  Anyway on to the next phase! Which is the hard work :P

Return to Purgatory

 I am kind of developing ideas for 3 different stories at the same time...not smart, but they all call to me, what can you do!

Crocodile Head

 Since I've never drawn a Crocodile before, it's important to try and figure out the head from all different angles before launching into the boarding. Oddly enough often in the professional world, I've had character turnaround but hardly ever any poses or angles. Like the character designers are not asked to experiment and figure out where the issues/potential with a design might be...

Because just look...a crocodile from the front looks...silly. So you either need to cheat it to look cool, or whatever you do, never draw it from a front angle ..unless of course you're going for silly. In my case I figured out that if you draw it with its' head down, so it looks like a topdown shot, you can work with it.