About

This blog was originally set up to play host to my Preston Blair-led construction drawing practice. As I’ve expanded my learning to include other techniques, including the gesture drawing of Glenn Vilppu and Walt Stanchfield, I have adapted this blog to suit.

– Trevor.

My original introduction:

You can go to animation school, spend a $100,000 and not learn a damn thing about the basics of good animation drawing- OR you can buy a Preston Blair book for $8 and learn it all in a couple months. You pick.

If you learn the principles correctly, you will be able to draw in any style today. You’ll be miserable having to dumb down your abilities- but you will be in demand.

–John Kricfalusi

In March 2006, John K, the creator and director of Ren & Stimpy, announced on his blog that, for the sake of the future of cartoons, he’s going to teach anyone who cared how to learn the basics. The stuff that’s, apparently, missed out of modern schooling.

The price of admission? One copy of Preston Blair’s “Animation 1″. A book you can pick up for less than a tenner! I already had a copy of the book (two, actually, for some reason!) so I saw no excuse not to give it a go!

Steve Worth, at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, will be helping folks along. Be sure to pay them a visit and check out all the hard work they’ve been doing with collecting not only information about shorts, features and animators, but hosting a whole load of sound, pictures and video too!

I’ll scan and post my efforts as I go. I’ll no doubt lag behind in completing these lessons as I’m pretty rusty with a pencil, but I’ll try my best at keeping up. This is far too good an opportunity to miss!

If you want to join me, click on The Lessons. I’ll add links to new ones as they appear!

All the best!

– Trevor May