Top 10 Blender Interface Elements You Should Know

Blender 2.92 Grease Pencil New Features

A look at the new features in the 2D and 3D animation Blender 2.92 for the Grease Pencil. We have two new tools; Curve Editing Tool, Flat Caps and Trace Image Sequences. Along with the Improved Join Operator.

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Remember… Just Create!

Scooby-Doo Animation Work

Scooby-Doo! Flashback Friday

I did prop design work on these two direct-to-videos cartoons.

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Do You Want to Get Into Animation Industry?

Attend This Animation Portfolio Review

This is not a review to get a job. These are professionals who are taking their time to give you feedback on your portfolio.

If you want to get your portfolio in shape then attend

Show 'em What You Got! - Portfolio Critique and Brunch

Take charge of your own future by putting yourself in the room with some of the best professional talent in this industry to dig deeper and get a critique on your art.

Showem What You Got is held on the second sunday of every month. This month it is held on October 13th at the Center Stage Gallery (Presented by CTN) in Burbank CA.

First come first served is FREE.

Connect with the pros, get feedback and enjoy brunch @CSG.

Center Stage Gallery @CSG

847 North Hollywood Way

Burbank, CA 91505

818 259 1598

#centerstagegallery

R´ha [short movie]

Another amazing animation created by ONE person.

Written - directed - animated by Kaleb Lechowski

http://vimeo.com/57148705

Keep reading and  +1 me. Share with your friends. Please comment. Just create!

copyright 2012 H. Simpson.

Urbance Trailer

Check out this animation from Steambot Studios.

This is really well done. Would you like to see this on TV?

http://vimeo.com/56339105

Keep reading and  +1 me. Share with your friends. Please comment. Just create!

copyright 2012 H. Simpson.

Fleischer’s Superman Cartoons 1941-1942

Happy Thanksgiving!

Warners Bros. has given us a real treat!

This week Warner Bros. posted most of the Fleischer Superman cartoons to their You Tube channel.

Warner Bros. has restored them for our viewing pleasure. No more bootleg grainy videos. Even after all these years they are still fun to watch again and again.

I really love these and enjoy the imagination, talent, energy and excitement shown and generated in these cartoons.

Superman

Mechanical Monsters

Terror On The Midway

Read about the history and DVD review of the Warner Bros. release

Here's direct links to all of them.

Superman

Mechanical Monsters 

Billion Dollar Limited 

The Arctic Giant 

The Bulleteers 

The Magnetic Telecope 

Electric Earthquake 

Volcano 

Terror On The Midway

Enjoy!

Keep reading and  +1 me. Share with your friends. Please comment. Just create!

copyright 2012 H. Simpson.

Check out this very cool creation of Rene Rawls.

Sule and The Case of the Tiny Sparks

I always appreciate when someone goes and creates their own thing rather waiting for somebody to ask them to create.

Please use the hidden dock (I don't know why Blogger hides it, thus forcing me to beg. Sheeesh!) on the right to follow and subscribe to me. I also would like to see your comments. Is this helpful to you? Are the explanations clear and complete?

Keep reading and  +1 me. Share with your friends. Please comment. Just create!

copyright 2012 H. Simpson

Photocopy Your Bum

How to Become a Comic Strip, Comic Book and Graphic Novel Artist

Tools of the Trade

49. PHOTOCOPY MACHINE - This is a tool you don't have to own, yet comes in very handy. You always want to make copies of your work at the pencil stage and inked stage to document it for yourself. It is also good if work has gotten lost in the mail so you don't have to redraw it. Inkers can lightbox the pencil copy and ink on a board. A good clean copy of inks and lettering can be used for reproduction.

You can use it in the production process. Your thumbnails can be enlarged to print size. Tighten up your drawings and then print size can be enlarged to original art size. Finalize the art and original art size can be reduced to print size to get a sense of how screens and other things will reproduce.

Create montages, duplicate backgrounds, figures and many other uses.

Now because of advances in technology, you can own a portable photocopier, scanner and fax machine, sometimes all-in-one. I advise against the all-in-one machines as when one function is broken, the you lose the use of the other functions.

This leads me nicely to the digital tool set. So next time we will begin looking at the software and hardware available to use for cartooning and drawing.

Next... Digital Tools

read next  - Ghost in the Machine

previous - When does an inker use a trigger instead of a brush?

Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful, please let me know and share with other creators. Feel free to ask me questions.

Remember… Just Create!

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

When you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.

copyright 2012 H. Simpson

Don't Fight the Feeling

Life is a Work of Art

If you are around 12 years old and reading this blog, this will be very helpful to you. I'm catching you at just the right time. Now is when the world tries to beat you down and tear away your dreams. This blog will be especially beneficial to you. If you are a teenager or in college, then you can still benefit from this.

If you're reading this and you're 40 years old… well this might not be of help to you if you want to make a living at drawing. At least this is what people who try to deter you from your goals will say. You are part of the rat race now. You're trying to survive doing whatever job you're doing now. You have responsibilities and so on and so forth. You can probably quote the excuses better than anyone else can about not having time to draw. You may have to face certain realities if you had the opportunity and it hasn't taken off… yet. 

You have to ask yourself some questions. Have I missed my chance? Is this just going to be a hobby? Do I have the talent? (Some people can't be truthful to themselves with this answer.) Did I never get the support I needed in the past? Is now the time to follow my heart and my passion, in spite of all the reasons not to do it? Is it time for me to take control of my life and do what I've always wanted to do and NOT what other people said I should do?

Because at 40 or any age you can still become successful. Plenty of people have start successful careers late in life. Rodney Dangerfield start doing comedy in his 50s. Grandma Moses became a painter in her 70s after having 10 kids! Both were very good and became quite successful.

The important thing is at any age, don't give up on your dream!

Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful please let me know and share with other creators. Feel free to ask me questions.

Remember… Just Create!

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

When you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.

next - That's the Way Love Goes
previous - Mothers. You Gotta Love Them

copyright 2012 H. Simpson

Mothers. You gotta love them.

Pat Parker War Nurse commission

I am an Artist

Talent is good to have  You can have talent without passion. You can become a great draftsman and have all the technical skills, but if it has no soul or passion behind it, it's not going to appeal to a lot of people. No one is going to care about the story you want to share.

And you must have an intense desire to share. Everyday you must feel the need to create without being called upon to do so by anyone. Nowadays I get paid to draw. I yearn to be that little boy again who drew in the margins of his test papers. I would draw whenever I could in school and come home and draw some more. 

I would show my drawings to my mom, who was my best critic oddly. She couldn't tell me what was wrong with my drawings. She was no artist. I don't know of any of my family line who could draw. She would tell me simply it doesn't look right. After a silence that passed with an unspoken solution, I figured it was my job to figure out why it was not right. I grew fast as an artist because of her. I would rework the drawing and keep showing it to her until she said I got it.

I still have the drive of that little boy. All creative people need that internal drive and passion to keep them going in the face of disappointments. Something to keep them going in the face of NO!. Because there will be plenty of people to line up to knock you down. You should not be the first person in line to keep yourself from achieving your dream. There will be plenty of obstacles that will pop up and you have to be able to keep going in the face of all of these obstacles.

Don't be so negative to yourself. Don't be so easily discouraged.

Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful please let me know and share with other creators. Feel free to ask me questions.

Remember… Just Create!

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

When you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.

next - Don't Fight the Feeling

previous - The Journey to Become an Artist.

copyright 2012 H. Simpson

The journey to become an artist.

Professional Comic Book Artist and Cartoonist

I'm going to continue to write about how to become a professional comic book artist/cartoonist, which henceforth I'll refer to as cartoonist so I don't have to keep hyphenating and/or slashing. I'm so lazy in that respect. 

By professional, I mean you can make a good chunk of your income from this endeavor.

My work has been published by a few companies. I like to think of myself as a storyteller following a grand tradition that started with our ancestors drawing on the cave walls to tell about the hunt and kills of the tribe.

What I will be writing about for the next few days will apply to all creative arts specifically and to life in general in some respects. Your life experience will allow you to take away what you will from my musings.

So stick with me as I'm not going to follow the stale linear path some people take when they tackle this subject. Boy, do they tackle it! I want to start by slowly caressing your mind. I may digress as my own mind gets inspired. Don't fret, I'll get back on track.

Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful please let me know and share with other creators. Feel free to ask me questions.

Remember… Just Create!

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

When you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.

next - Mothers. You gotta love them.
previous - What Do You Need to Become and Artist?


copyright 2012 H. Simpson

What do you need to be an artist?

How to Become a Comic Book, Comic Strip and Graphic Novel Artist

Let's start at the beginning. What do you need to become a comic book artist/ cartoonist etc? This question usually starts with answers about things you need to learn, the tools to draw with, etc.

My answer applies to every field… mostly. It's what you can't control. You are born with this or it's instilled in you at an early age. Or maybe something happens that creates a spark inside you.

Talent and passion.

These are the things you can't fake. There is no app for this. You can learn to become better with your gift if the talent is there. The passion is what keeps you going. The passion makes this something you would do whether you are paid to do it or not.

What's the difference between a job and a career? A job is something you do to pay the bills. A career is something you would do without pay for the rest of your life. No one can stop you from doing it. You draw whether anyone will see it or not. You draw to satisfy your own burning desire. No one can discourage you. You're not a crybaby. Well at least not a lot. We can all use a good cry and it's healthy to vent.

Is this you?

Good then you're my type of people and we're going to get along well.

read next - The journey to become an artist

Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful please let me know and share with other creators. Feel free to ask me questions.

Remember… Just Create!

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

When you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.

copyright 2012 H. Simpson

Welcome to my blog

art © 2016 H. Simpson

How to create Comic Books, Comic Strips and Graphic Novels Blog

My name is Howard and I am a cartoonist and have drawn some comics and started working in the animation industry recently. I will be talking about things related to the entertainment industry and it will mostly focus on comic books, graphic novels and animation.

I will discuss the craft and art of storytelling and drawing. Mostly.

Keep reading. Share with your friends. Please comment. 

Remember… Just create!

copyright 2016 H. Simpson

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

When you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.