Andy's Online Scrapbook

Riff - The Full Mash - Cast & Crew Interviews (Part 1)

2023-08-17T19:31:00.002+01:00

Just thought I share these interviews, taken during my most recent film project.

Review: Peril at End House

2023-04-19T17:48:00.001+01:00

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Animator's Sketchclub Entry- Aquarious Character Design

2023-02-25T21:05:00.001+00:00

I'll be honest, I've had a lot of computer trouble the past few weeks I'm glad I managed to produce just this turnaround for Raquel Eras ( get it?)

How I got here was a pleasant journey, from pencilling some initial designs to trying out a few things before finalising the final touches.

Review: Klara and the Sun

2023-02-01T11:55:00.001+00:00

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Review: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

2022-12-02T13:11:00.001+00:00

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Script Out Loud Session- Doonamoan and The Eight Warbler Designs

2022-10-03T21:52:00.000+01:00

Whoops! I didn't realise it was that long since I last posted here. Remind me to showcase all of my Sparkstember pieces when I get a moment. For now, enjoy this evening pieces done during tonight's Scirpts Out Loud session.

I drew the first designs for Doonamoan, written by Fintan O'Higgins. I think I tried too hard with the pirate cliches to signfy them as a pirate family, rather than the fairy world that the main focus was going to be.

The following designs were more successful, being for The Eight Warbler, written by Hannah Rose Smith. I felt comfortable sharing those drawings with the rest of the pros this evening, and the director even liked my approach to those bus passengers.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Baby Yoda

2022-07-27T20:58:00.001+01:00

Seen The Mandolorian? Neither have I! Well, here's Baby Yoda for you, courtesy of the 90 Minute Art Challenge Study Group over on the Lightbox Discord. As it was on Magma, I save the progression of this piece.

I should've noticed that the head was too small to begin with, but I think I did well on this piece. I think I got a mention from someone during the Discord chat, which was a pleasant surprise.

Narrow Vs Wide

2022-07-26T19:28:00.000+01:00

Narrow Vs Wide is the first film project I have been involved in to be released this year. And with two other films in the pipeline for release this year, it has been rather busy for me regarding screen acting.

This one marked the return of a good filmmaking friend back in the director’s chair, and they were excellent. They were very knowledgeable about the subject of darts, as I only really knew as much as an episode of the game show Bullseye, which came in handy for handling all those props.

I hope to work with this director again in the future like I have with other friends from that circle of friends around Oxfordshire.

Script Out Loud Session- Squawk Walk and The King and The Monkey

2022-07-11T21:37:00.002+01:00

Well, that was fun! Doing drawings whilst actors read out these scripts reminded me of when I used to draw whilst watching telly. I'm quite pleased with the results in developing these characters. The first batch was for Laura Dodd's Squawk Walk.

The next batch was for Ioan Morris' The King and The Monkey. I showed off the bottom picture during their live stream, and they liked it- shame I was a bit shy to have my mike on for them.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Umbrella Academy (via LightBox Discord)

2022-07-09T17:09:00.003+01:00

I wanted to try something different whilst showing off this week's 90 Minute Art Challenge, which is already different enough because I had to use Discord rather than YouTube to get my fix via the Light Box Discord server. I would've prefer not hearing the pings I get from all the other servers, but at least it was another painting done via Magma.
I thought I share how I got to here, but showing this painting through its many stages as I have to download it each time I made progress (just in case!) So here you go...

Well, I found it interesting. Until next time.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Number 52 (Our Planet Study)

2022-06-23T19:26:00.003+01:00

I'll be honest, I wanted to try out Magma Studio again to make sure my tablet was working. Turns out a lot has changed since I last used it, and now goes by the name of just Magma, and stills remember my log-in credentials alongside past works, which is interesting (but I won't go Pro to look at those, just yet.)
So this one aired back in 2021, and it's quite a poignant video to watch now as it was back then (minus the lockdown references. As for focusing my energy on painting a study from the Netflix show, Our Planet, it was a pleasant challenge. It took me a while to work out how I was going to tackle this complex scene, but once I got the basics down, I just went with the flow... and this is what happened.

Danny Phantom Style Faces Attempt

2022-06-21T21:17:00.000+01:00

Well, this is something different. Just received an email from Stephen Silver's Drawing Academy, and they plugged in a recent video about Silver's approach to designing characters from the TV show, Danny Phantom. I watched it and decided to give this approach to faces a go. As I'm not really part of the 'phandom', I can see more 'Ed, Edd, and Eddy' than that show in my attempt. I was also trying some new art pens. The colours aren't that varied for skin tones, but I can see myself toying with them on and off, rather than for 'professional use'. That and the bleed with my black Copic markers isn't too good, but at least it doesn't bleed to other pages in this 160 gsm pad.

I also quite like the colours when they bled on the other side of the pages. I might ink these just to see if they make better faces that way around.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Fashion Life Drawing Session

2022-06-15T21:36:00.000+01:00

Yeah, this week's session was interesting. I think I focused on drawing the figures than the actual clothing, but they did say that clothing was just "another layer of skin" or words to that effect.

I finished an A3 sketchbook a few months back, so I might get another one to keep me going. This one was alright, but I kept tearing the paper with sharp force with my sharp pencil in a few spaces. So maybe going for a better one might do the trick for now, as my others are now in storage until I move out.

Anyway, it was a thorough and intense experience for me doing this; but that might be because of the warm weather this afternoon.

Review: The Thursday Murder Club

2022-06-12T15:14:00.001+01:00

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

90 Minute Art Challenge- Roger Deakins Movie Still Studies

2022-06-09T17:54:00.000+01:00

If you like cinema, then cinematographer Roger Deakins should be on your mind when you discuss cinematography from the past several decades. So this movie still study was right up my street, probably for guessing where the film stills came from rather than drawing them live.

In saying that, I quite like the sequential nature of doing 1-minute, 2-minute, and 5-minute studies. Some of those pages, without the film quizzing context, look like pages from a graphic novel. And, of course, I learnt a few more Deakins films at the end of the process and even reminded me of certain movie memories, such as watching Dead Man Walking whilst doing Religious Studies at school.

It is going to be hard to choose one image for my general social media post. I like what I've learnt doing this being aired live, even if it's just finding a few more films to watch- let's see what's on Netflix of late.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Bear Studies

2022-06-08T21:47:00.002+01:00

Well, this was fun to do. I think I'm getting used to drawing these animals. In saying, some of my bear reassemble a bit of dog in some aspects. It was good to get back into drawing after my birthday/Jubilee Bank Holiday hiatus'.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Mermaid Life Drawing Session

2022-05-25T21:00:00.002+01:00

I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting as much depth and scope when it came to drawing mermaids. But there were plenty of different models to tackle, of all shapes and sizes and genders. It was a pleasant challenge. That's all I got to say about this week's challenge.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Big Cats Life Drawing Session

2022-05-18T20:50:00.003+01:00

I managed to do this during this live stream once again, and this time it was on the theme of big cats. I'm not confident on depicting the anatomy of these animals, but I love trying to emulate the tonal effects that their furs and manes were doing in these studies. This was a good one to do... and now I got to do mermaids next week - well, it is MerMay, right?

90 Minute Art Challenge- Mr Global Life Drawing Session

2022-05-15T21:50:00.000+01:00

Well, that's one A3 sketchbook filled. I finally finished it by doing last week's challenge. I'm using an old A4 sketchbook I found when sorting out my shelves the other day. I might use the scanner on my printer, as I'm not sure about scanning the fold like that for these studies. This Mr Global theme was very good for tackling costume, as we were drawing male models in different costumes representing different countries - I think I had just as much fun guessing which country they were from as just drawing these studies!

So, this is well worth doing if you want to challenge yourself in drawing more costumes.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Star Wars Movie Stills Study

2022-05-10T19:54:00.001+01:00

Life kind of got in the way of getting around to scanning these studies from the Star Wars films, which I did actually did live on May the Fourth. I wasn't 100% confident drawing these iconic characters, but I think I learnt a thing or two whilst doing them. Anyways, I am about to completely fill up this old A3 pad with all of these recent challenges, dating back to last December (I thought I was doing this latest batch of challenges for much longer!) So I'll be saving those last pages to do this next's week batch of 5 and 10-minute challenges. I might treat myself to a new A3 pad (or two!) before I move out of here later in the year.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Toy Dogs Life Drawing Session

2022-04-30T21:41:00.000+01:00

I finally got around to doing this week's 90 Minute Art Challenge, which was on the theme of toy dogs - and not the ones that are actually toys to my disappointment. Anyway, this was interesting and pretty straightforward as I was trying to understand the form of these animals. I was also using some recently discovered stationary that has been on a shelf for years, so I was just as much playing with these tools more than anything else.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Vikings Life Drawing Session

2022-04-21T19:46:00.002+01:00

After attempting to draw vehicles, getting back to drawing figures again, like this week's 90 Minute Art Challenge about Vikings, was rather refreshing. I'm gradually using up these pencils that I have been using for weeks, which is good as I don't want to take lots of stubby pencils when I do move out of the county. So I like the experimentation of coloured and lead pencils, as it gives some rather dynamic effects, such as some of the latter 10-minute pieces.

I'm a bit uncertain about next week's topic... but that might be because I think 'toy dogs' as toys rather than actual dogs. But next week's topic on animals will be an interesting challenge for me to do.

90 Minuter Art Challenge- Vehicles Life Drawing Session

2022-04-20T20:31:00.002+01:00

Yeah, this was a challenge, as I haven't done vehicles since doing an art jam for a university society. I think I need more practice in getting some of these vehicles to look more convincing, but it was a little bit different from just figures all the time with these challenges.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Lizards Life Drawing Session

2022-03-30T20:43:00.006+01:00

This week's session was interesting to listen to rather than for me to try. I've never really drawn lizards before, so it was a bit of a learning curve for me. At least I did what I did (before the stream got cut off!) so I just take this as experience. Now for next week's session... because I am not a fan of drawing vehicles.

90 Minute Art Challenge- Yoga Life Drawing Session

2022-03-23T20:16:00.001+00:00

Yeah, this was interesting, especially as I haven't drawn the human form in a while. I wanted to toy with these Copic pens. because my Pitt brush pens are starting to run out, and I don't want to get some more as I'll be moving out soon. Oh well, I might toy with other mediums such as charcoal pencils during next week's session.