Animation Illustration Art

Book Review : Asterix and the Picts

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 05:58:00 +0000

Asterix and the Picts : by Jean-Yves Ferri (Author) and Didier Conrad (Illustrator)

Its been a while since we got a well rounded adventure from the Asterix canon. With that master tale spinner Goscinny not around, Uderzo did a fabulous job at the art but not at the script. With that becoming the trend, this legendary world appeared to be doomed to be frozen.

Jean-Yves Ferri, the new story teller, has resurrected this celebrated village in style. It has all the magic of the olden times, the action, adventure, and at times predictable lines, yet with enough happening. The story is also refreshing and reminds of several past adventures. there is a lot happening, and is busy just as the Gaulish village is known to be. Its comical, funny and very colorful.

Didier Conrad, who has taken the mantle from Albert Uderzo, has brought the story to life faithfully in the Marcinelle style, that Uderzo popularized. and his style fits right in with so many things in each frame that came to define this adventure series.

I enjoyed reading an Asterix after a long time, and certainly recommend this for the fans of Asterix, and also to a new generation who can get started on this and go back to the original series.

This is an extract from my review at Amazon.com, You can find more of my reviews here.

Book Review : Treasures of South India - தென்னாட்டு செல்வங்கள்

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:18:00 +0000

Art of India, particularly the ancient South Indian Art, is synonymous with sculpture. Gods, Goddesses, Temples, Dancers, Door guardians, Commoners, Horses, Elephants and several mythical Animals, and others talk to us directly in the beautiful medium of Stone as well as metal.

Hundreds of years have passed, in fact more than a thousand years have passed, since these wonders were made by master sculptors. The sculptors have gone, their Kings vanished, their homes, palaces, and even their cities exist no more, yet this magical essays and poems cast in stone have lived long enough to tell us the tales.

In the 40s and 50s, the most popular weekly magazine in the South, the Anadha Vikatan, began a fantastic series on the sculptures of the South. The mammoth task was taken up by the brilliant Pen and Ink artist P. M. Sreenivasan, rightly known as Silpi (Sculptor). For the next decade he traveled the breadth and width of the land of Temples, and made 1000s of sketches in indelible Indian ink, on location!

Silpi was an inspiration for me decades ago, when I was a kid, and had taken a liking to drawing. every little picture that would appear here and there would become a treasure, and I would keep them very safely. His drawings had a magical appeal, they reflected the realistic dimensions of the sculptures, with full of vigor and life produced by his brisk strokes which today reminds me of likes of Charles Dana Gibson, and Heinrich Kley.

After years of waiting, there is a fabulous treat for this New Year. Vikatan Media has published a massive two volume collection of the entire series titled தென்னாட்டு செல்வங்கள் (Treasures of South India) in a beautiful Hardbound format. Apart from the fine pen and ink work, this series included some of the best paintings of the Gods, which adore almost every house hold. The book contains this collection as well!

One can see the mastery of the art, be it the form or the gesture, there is grace that goes beyond realism, and connects the viewer in a mystical manner.

The series takes us on a visual tour of several ancient cities that has very rich history that goes back thousands of years.

Beginning at Madurai, some of the several places that are covered include Darasuram, Kanchipuram, Tanjavur, Chidambaram, Srirangam, as well as Belur and Halebid. We get to see the grandeur of the Big Temple, The Gangai Konda Cholapuram in all its glory.

This book is a treasure. contains thousands of sculptures in 900 pages that form the two volume set. One is spellbound at the masterly strokes of Silpi, capturing the essence, elegance, grace and the spirit of the ancient works , further making it available for millions to enjoy.

Hope you got a glimpse of it by clicking on the images to view in a fuller size, I could not scan it due to the copyrighted material. Hope you get your hands on this soon before it gets sold out!

Chitrasutra : Treatise on The Art of Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:26:00 +0000

Chitrasutra is an ancient Indian treatise on painting, forming part of the larger encyclopedic text The Vishnudharmottara. It is dated around 7th Century AD. This text collected the theory and practise of the art of painting and covered several advanced concepts for the painter.

A few quotes from the text ..

The masters praise the rekha's –lines (delineation and articulation of form); the connoisseurs praise the display of light and shade; women like the display of ornaments; and , the richness of colors appeals to common folks. The artists, therefore, should take great care to ensure that the painting is appreciated by every one.

The six limbs (anga) of painting as: rupa-bheda (variety of form); pramana (proportion); Bhava (infusion of emotions); lavanya-yojanam (creation of luster and having rainbow colors that appear to move and change as the angle at which they are seen change); sadreya (portrayal of likeness); and varnika-bhanga (color mixing and brushwork to produce the desired effect).

The concern of the artist should not be to just faithfully reproduce the forms around him. The artist should try to look beyond the tangible world, the beauty of form that meets the eye. He should lift that veil and look within. Look beyond “The phenomenal world of separated beings and objects that blind the reality beyond”.

Shri Sreenivasarao Subbanna has written a scholarly series of wonderful articles elucidating its contents and followed up with a beautiful research of the application of the theory in subsequent centuries. I am providing a little index of sorts to his wonderful set of articles.

The Art of Painting

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Annexure to Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Annexure to Chapter 5

Image Courtesy Shri S Rajam

The Legacy of Chitrasutra

Chapter 1
Chapter 2 - Pitalkhora
Chapter 3 - Badami
Chapter 4 - Sittannavasal
Chapter 5 - Panamalai
Chapter 6 - Kailasanatha of Kanchi
Chapter 7 - Brihadishvara
Appendix to Chapter 7 - The Maratha Nayak Paintings
Chapter 8 - Sri Pampa Virupaksha Temple Hampi
Chapter 9 - Lepakshi
Chapter 10 - Jaina Kanchi
Chapter 11 - Murals of Kerala
Chapter 12 - Murals of Kerala Mattanchery and Padmanabhapuram
Chapter 13 - Shri S Rajam Part I
Chapter 14 - Shri S Rajam Part II

This series of articles throws light on the rich tradition of the schools of painting in India from antiquity, and helps understand the evolution of style and methods, which fall highly on the Abstract and Symbolic side.

A 1928 translation of the original text can be found at the Archive.Org.

The Gift

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:55:00 +0000

Another gem from the world of Russian children books , this one is my favorite.

This was perhaps the first of a series of such books that my mother had bought us, and it remained so fresh in my mind. She got us two versions one in English and one in Tamil (பரிசு ). It was a uniquely interactive book.

There were cutout elements, that when turned from one side would reveal a gift inside! and best part is, we have to do all the cutting out!

There were some beautiful stories, as always. such as the one here..

what beautiful and simple illustrations!

The illustrator V. Stuteyev was no doubt brilliant. using such simple lines, what a drama he has created!

This story was etched in my mind. and I could never let it go!

Among the other interesting parts, was this stunningly novel idea of using a 'film strip' to have your own show! Sequential pictures were printed on a sheet, that needs to be cut out as strips.

And then there were two activities. one was a trip on a train and have these beautiful scenes go past us..

Or have your very own TV show in your home..

Simply cut the slits at the places indicated, and slide the strips through them! I recollect having hours and hours of fun, both preparing the cutouts, as well as playing it out!

I have been scouting for this book for ages, to eventually find out a copy lying in a stash in my very own house!

Sketch Talk

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Here is a summary of a mini talk presented at Chennai Weekend Artists gathering at Chemmozhi Poonga.

Thanks Balaji for the image.

This introductory discussion explored the use of Gesture and Thumbnail as essential tools for Sketching. The ideas are largely based on the great art instructors Kimon Nicholaides and Glenn Vilppu, among others.

Gesture

When we begin drawing, we begin to look at the subject in 'total'. and try to capture the very essential, by ignoring elements such as form, proportions, anatomical details, etc.

Using a scribbling approach , beginning at whichever part of the subject one wants to, the overall appearance, or 'feel' of the subject is captured.

The 'method' is to look at the subject and 'feel' like the subject. feel the tension, twist and turn of the subject, in yourself, and let the pen scribble its way.

Remember, what we are trying to capture is the 'total'. and the 'feel'.

Some examples..

What this does is, it helps us see only the bare essential. One should keep practicing this from observation. This not only loosens up the hand, but aids us see just enough so that we can re create it at will later.

This approach is an essential part of drawing by analysis and synthesis. (as opposed to 'copying' the model)

Some examples from imagination...

Eventually we will include subsequent steps that will take us from point A to point B in a systematic and natural manner.

Thumbnail

When we begin to sketch on location, here is a general approach.

(1) Identify your frame

First step is to Identify a subject, or view of interest.
Fine tune the view by visualizing the frame. If needed using a view finder. (Make a simple view finder)

Now draw a few thumbnails each should not take you more than 10-25 seconds.

(2) Thumbnail

Draw 3-4 gestural lines exploring the frame.
Identify major forms, 3-4 maximum.
Identify the tones, using 2 tones and the white of the paper.

Here is an example (Let me add that step (1) is already taken care of well in these examples through the eyes and lens of Murali)

Another example..

These simple preliminary steps aid in a better picture subsequently. Next steps include how we organize the space into foreground, middle ground and background, and how we use techniques such as linear and atmospheric perspective as well as textures to define the three planes, etc.

Equipped with this simple yet effective tools, we can create more effective sketches, in an enjoyable manner.

Thumbnail Sketching

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 22:54:00 +0000

As I have recently discovered, Sketching on Location, is an exciting activity. It takes creativity and connecting with the subject to a new level. Most important aspect of sketching on location, is finding the right 'frame'.

While sketching from references, these reference images already come with frames, with a bounded rectangle. One can still do some cropping. But a lot of it is already fixed. On location, one must find the nice view, with the good balance. Typically, something interesting strikes you, and you start looking at the subject, and spontaneously begin sketching. This spontaneity is the fun of sketching.

At times, you might look for not only the subject, but the proper context too. Thumbnails are a great way to explore a scene.

As Glenn Vilppu the master, elaborates, in his classic manual, Sketching on Location, these are tools of importance. The idea is to abstract the scene, and create highly simplified views in very small size.

Here are some tools that you can make that can come handy.

A viewfinder

Take the heavy backside of a used sketchbook
Draw a rectangle about 2.5" by 3.5" (choose what works for you)
Leave 1/2 inch on three sides, and an inch on the left side(to make it easy to hold)
Cut these lines with a craft knife.
Don't throw away the piece in the middle yet! You can use it to vary the ratio of the view!

A Mini Sketch book
Unless we are making a series of sketches with some sequence, it helps to focus on one picture at a time.

Take a bunch of copy papers
Cut each into 8 small pieces
Take the heavy backside of a used sketchbook
A slightly thick sheet for a cover
cut these to the size of the small pieces of paper.
Punch 4 to 5 holes on one side
Take some spiral wire, cut it to size, and bind this into a book!

Sanguine

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 19:19:00 +0000

I was always intrigued by the strange combination of red color particularly reddish browns, with a dash of black and white, found in the drawings of the Masters. These were drawings, either exploratory sketches or detailed studies, for a more grand painting that would follow. But these in themselves are works of art.

Leonardo's study for The Last Supper - Sanguine

The material used was Sanguine. Its a red chalk naturally available in Italy, and the name means its the color of blood. Sometimes just the red chalk was used and sometimes along with black, to create accents, and a bit of a tonal range.

Leonardo's Roaring Horse - Sanguine and Black

and sometimes with black and white (known as Trois Crayon technique - Three crayons!), for a still wider range to define form.

Watteau Jeune - Sanguine, Black and White

While in a pursuit for a drawing pencil that would neither smudge like charcoal, nor be shiny like graphite, yet produce pitch black, and with a smooth traction on a nicely toothed paper, I recently discovered some amazing materials, thanks to my friends at The Sketching Forum.

All of them were available from the amazing Austrian company Cretacolor. (There is similar set of products from possibly its parent(?) Koh-I-Noor)

A beautiful black oil based carbon pencil, the Nero that comes in several hardness. I got the Soft and Extrasoft and am amazed.

A dark and light Sepia set, again oil based, which produces a rich deep brown in two tones.

And then, this amazing Sanguine! this is the pencil that I have fallen in love with. amazing consistency, and color.

One must note that these also come in dry chalk version, its a personal choice, and I prefer the oil.

To top this all, these pencils, also come as leads with a whopping 5.6 mm diameter (yes, you heard it right, its not .56 mm) !

..and.. there comes a solid metallic holder which is the magic wand. There is one particular version , the Classic, which is triangular, and has a solid grip, the whole holder is so comfortable and gives such a great feel, it changes the whole approach to drawing. The weight of the holder allows for some amazing use.

So .... here is my drawing rig.. (1) Sanguine oil lead in the Classic holder, this is used for building forms primarily with a tonal application and (2) the Nero pencils for accentuating... and a paper with teeth! (occasionally I use the Sepias and the white).

This setup has literally put me back on the "drawing" board. Of all the mediums and materials, this basic setup has brought drawing back into focus, and I am loving it!.

Paper Model, Development of Surfaces and UV unwrap

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 03:30:00 +0000

As a kid I remember my father presenting to me a small kit, which just had sheets of thick paper, with patterns printed on one side. Once I followed the printed instructions and kept folding at the places marked, I ended up with a beautiful little House. A solid 3D house out of a thin sheet of paper! I was fascinated by it. I unfolded the box house and kept looking at the patterns. Thinking about how they might have arrived at this pattern in order to get the house as the outcome.

courtesy http://tektonten.blogspot.com

Years later when I went to do engineering, among the first things I learnt was Engineering drawing. I loved it. One of the things that we learnt there was very special to me, because it answered the question that I have had. Known as the 'Development of Surfaces', the problem was, given a solid object, we need to arrive at a two dimensional representation of it, in such a manner that one can assemble the solid object using these parts.

courtesy http://tmsjce.com/

I simply loved this aspect. one can create a sphere, a cylinder, or quite a complex model using sheets of paper, in a very precise manner. This is the process that is used all the time for fabricating complex structures, such as a funnel in a furnace, or a fuselage of an aircraft. You come up with the patterns, and cut large pieces of metal, and then weld them together. Actually quite simple.

Now almost two decades later, as I began learning 3D modeling for the purposes of animation, I was intrigued by a process that is known as UV unwrap.

courtesy http://en.9jcg.com

This is part of the creation of a 3D model, particularly the surface texture. The process involves marking seams at the edges of a 3D object, and unwrapping it into a 2D surface.

Guess what...this precisely is development of surfaces. Once I figured this, I was hooked. The beauty is, once we identify the edges that should be cut, the software does the hard part of projecting these parts on paper, unwrapping it for you to apply any pattern.

Oh! The Joy of finding things out!

Inside Studio Ghibli

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 08:26:00 +0000

Studio Ghibli is a landmark in Animation production history.

The genius of the acclaimed Japanese animator-director, Hayo Miyazaki has produced such awe inspiring films such as Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and several others in this most respected Studio.

One such movie was the hugely successful Princess Mononoke, released in 1997. One often highlighted aspect of Miyasaki is the grandeur and scale that he brings to the movies, with lavish backgrounds, with breath taking details, be it the vast green foliage, or the detailed accessories of the characters, or the personality of the individuals, each one was taken to new heights. One can feel and indulge in the art and style of Japanese water colorists and print makers, brought to life in this 20th century medium.

This master animation film maker has worked across generations of Japanese animators, his early works include the hugely successful series Heidi, Girl of the Alps.

For those of us who badly wanted to know the life inside this genius's studio, and his working methods, there is a special treat.

The Backstage of Princess Mononoke consists of 3 documentary series directed by Toshio URATANI, who rolled a small VCR for overall of 300 hours (before editing of course!) during his 2-year reporting of Studio Ghibli and its struggles in making the phenomenal animation film Princess Mononoke.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

So you want to become an Animator : A Book List

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 02:47:00 +0000

Animation is an Art as well as a Craft. The beginner should approach it more as a Craft and focus on the skills which have to be (1) Learnt and (2) Practiced, and then look at it as an Art form.

After sifting through 100s of books on the subject, here is a distilled list.

The Bare Necessities

If you are beginning, this is all you really need for quite a long time(there can be other such sets, but this one *will work*). Resisting to get more books would well serve the purpose at this stage.

Read every single page of these books, study every single drawing of the book, re-read, copy the drawings, draw several times, workout the exercises. This will provide hundreds of hours of engaging learning, and help grow as an animator. No matter what people might say, an ability to draw is a bare necessity for an animator. And contrary to popular belief, it is not that hard to draw.

Animation: Prestain Blair Cartoon Animation / Tony White The Animator's Workbook

Drawing: Vilppu Drawing manual

Drawing: Natural way to Draw : (Focus on Gesture, Modeled Drawing)

Software: Digicel Flip Book

An Expanded Collection

*After* exhausting all that is there in the essential books, one can expand on the learning and understanding, by this set of fine books. Again, there are more, but this should be a very complete collection, for quite a long while, as an intermediate to advanced learner of animation.

Animation
Prestain Blair Cartoon Animation*
Tony White The Animator's Workbook*
Richard Williams Animators Survival Toolkit
Timing for Animation
Tezuka School of Animation Vol1 and Vol2
Eric Goldberg Character Animation

Drawing
Vilppu Drawing manual*
Natural way to Draw : Gesture, Modeled Drawing*
Walt Reed The Figure: The Classic Approach to Drawing & Construction
Jack Hamm Cartooning the Head and Figure
Vilppu Animal Drawing
Vilppu Sketching on Location
Jack Hamm Drawing Animals
Jack Hamm Landscape

Reference
Illusion of Life
Burne Hogarth
Famous Artists Course : Lessons on Human Figure & Animals
Elemental Magic Vol1 & Vol2
Facial Expression Faigin
Drawn to Life : Stanchfield

Software
Digicel Flip Book*
Blender (3D)
ToonBoom (2D)
Maya (3D)

Ponniyin Selvan : Illustrated edition with Maniam's art

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 13:41:00 +0000

Once in a long while there occurs a rare combination of great writing and art. One such amazing creation happened in the 50s in South India.

Southern India, like most other parts of India, is known for Art, Architecture, Science and Engineering that dates back to the very beginnings of time.

Grand Anicut, 1st Century AD, among the oldest water regulatory structures in the world in use,
(the bridge is a later day construction)
image courtesy Niranjan

The splendor and glory of the art of the bygone eras are just beginning to be rediscovered after being buried in time over centuries of Mughal and European invasion, which resulted in plundering and annihilation of both the culture and the creations of this uniquely original civilization .

The Big Temple, 10th Century AD, Among the Tallest structures in the world when built.
image courtesy Pandiyan

In the 50s, there appeared in the Magazine Kalki, a historical Novel by 'Kalki' Krishnamurthi. Ponniyin Selvan, was spun around very well researched history of the Chola dynasty, and placed in time around 1000AD. Ponni is the name of the life giving river of South India, now called Cauvery, the title of the story refers to its son, the mighty Emperor, Raja Raja Chola I.

Kalki and the First appearance of Ponniyin Selvan
image courtesy : The Hindu

The great story, with extraordinary use of the beautiful Tamil language in the most simple and elegant form, and the intriguing combination of romance, valor, trickery, conspiracy, suspense, drama , adventure and more, made this serial story into an immortal literary treasure.

Running continuously between 1950 and 1954, it captivated the imagination of millions of readers, taking them back in time and space.

The uniqueness of this novel was the great level of research and detail , which were presented to the readers in the form of various events , places and personalities, which can be traced back and experienced to this day.

The places that are described here forms a backbone of any historical travel around southern India, much of the great monumental structures intact for ones delight.

While such is the grandeur of the written word, what accompanied this, chapter after chapter was the masterful art of Maniam.

The man.. Maniam!
Note the absence of monitors and tablets!

Hundreds upon hundreds of illustrations, took the reader so vividly into the ancient time period. the great detail on costume, ornamentation, the settings, the compositions, the style, and the experimentation of several methods and media, makes this collection a grand reference for anyone wanting to learn illustration, not to mention the treat for any reader.

During the span of the publication of this five part serial, Maniam employed all possible techniques and mediums, A pure pen and Ink illustration, Black and white wash, Ink and brush, pen Ink and brush, Wood cut style, fresco style, gauche, watercolor.. you name it, you find it. Also he had employed very complex compositions, great action, expression, and techniques such as bleeding out of the page margins (that Scott McCloud talks about), which makes the reader feel as if one is 'inside' the story and experiencing it from within the scene!

There is a blog that is dedicated to the artist, Artist Maniam which is authored by his grand daughter, an artist, who is also the daughter of the contemporary master illustrator Maniam Selvan.

Vikatan, the house of the favorite South Indian magazine, has come out with a fantastic edition of Ponniyin Selvan, with all the illustrations of Maniam, in a hardbound 5 volume set. What a treat!!

The Vikatan Edition
image courtesy; Vikatan Media

Having been force fed with Shakespeare, Dickens and the likes during the days at school, discovering the genius of Kalki today was a pleasant treat, and with the original illustrations of Maniam, I cannot ask for more!

Jon Gnagy : America's Original TV Art Instructor

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:57:00 +0000

A few years back, a good friend of mine presented me with a Learn to Draw kit. Unlike such regular sets, where you have an assortment of materials, this kit, called the Master Art Set, had a very professional looking material set. It had three chalks of different grays, it had a sand paper set for flat-sharpening a pencil, it had oil pastels of a very good quality, sheets of paper of different kinds, Brushes, watercolor and so on.

But what stuck me the most were the set of books that came with it! Each one of them was packed with information of the first quality. Drawing forms, Landscapes, Human Figures, Watercolors, Oil pastels and so on. These were not some stuff that was put together for creating a 'package'. But very high quality lessons, that would actually work.

All these had the picture of a person, whom I thought must be an instructor.

After several years, I happened to look at one of the booklets on watercolor, and was so impressed by its standard, I wanted to know more, and was delighted to know the history.

The person responsible for the Kit and materials was the Art instructor Jon Gnagy. He started to give instruction on TV as early as 1946! Jon, was a self taught artist, who went on to become a successful instructor, and pioneering the concept of TV art instruction. As you could see, his lessons were no nonsense , up-to-the point instructions of the highest standards.

Here is one from several such wonderful episodes.

He also came up with this idea of Art kits, and wrote those wonderful books that came along.

You can find more about this wonderful instructor and his works at this website maintained by his daughter Polly Seymour. Jon Gnagy Website.

What is interesting is that these instructional books along with the materials are still available in a variety of combinations, and are available at various places such as Amazon.

Book Review : Mail-Order Mysteries by Kirk Demarais

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:28:00 +0000

Good Old Times

This is a fascinating book that collects mail order advertisements that appeared in between the stories in popular comic books during the 60s and the 70s.

The advertisements reflects a time when there was a charm for simple things, yet mysterious and fun. The products included anything and everything that would kindle the wild imagination of the mostly young adolescent readers, and wanting them to order them right away.

Be it a larger-than-life monster, or an army of toy soldiers, spy pens, gags, magic tricks or an instant money maker(!) or the ultimate gadget the X-ray specs, these ads had everything a kid ever wanted.

This book collects almost all of such ads, in a rock solid hardbound cover. The pages inside are very thick and this book is made to last. The style brings back the pulp comic book look and feel, yet in a rugged fashion. Very well made.

The author classifies the ads nicely into a few interesting categories..

Super powers

War Zone

House of Horrors

High Finance

Better Living

Top Secret

Trickery

Oddities

Each ad is presented with the picture of the ad along with following nice and hilarious analysis,

'We Imagined'

'They Sent'

'Behind the Mystery' (for some items)

'Customer Satisfaction'

This is an awesome recollection of the days gone by, for those who read those books and were part of the pulp comic book era, and a fascinating read for those who came in late.

This is an extract from my review at Amazon.com, You can find more of my reviews here.

Ну, погоди! - Just You Wait! : Russian Cartoon You cannot forget

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:23:00 +0000

Back in the days of Black and White Television (That would be late 70s in India) the State run TV channel Doordarshan would telecast some very funny 'foreign' programs. It included Around the World in Eighty Days, Charlie Chaplin and among other such things, a very funny Russian cartoon, where a Wolf would perpetually try to catch a Rabbit.

And there would be this catch phrase that symbolizes the pursuit of the wolf..Just You wait!

Thanks to the Omniscient Net, I figured it was the program called Nu Pogodi in Russian, this was a very popular cartoon made in Russia during late 60s, 70s. I was surprised to know they were in full color glory.

There were 20 episodes made in all, majority of them in the seventies, and then episodes continued to be made at irregular intervals up until 2006!

One particular episode the, 3rd in the series, "Road" May 29, 1971, was repeatedly broadcast, that I could remember every single movement in the episode. I used to wonder as a kid, how all the various details were taken care of, all by drawing, one frame at a time.

Its almost like yesterday that I was watching this scene where the rabbit appears almost caught, and the wolf stands precariously on a pile of drums.

It was this particular shot of the road roller monstrously running towards the camera, and how the action lines made it appear it to move so dynamically, that drew me into the magic of animation. I cannot believe I am looking at this after nearly 35 years, and it appears as if it happened moments ago.

The magic of memory, the Illusion of Life :)

And finally the wolf running .... "Just You Wait".

Watch it in all its glory now ...

Book Review : Pen & Ink with Watercolor by George Olson

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:14:00 +0000

Simple, Concise and Packed with information

Pen, Ink and Watercolor is a very interesting medium. It fuses the bright and brilliant watercolors with the direct and detail oriented pen and ink, to create some of the stunning illustrations.

This book provides all the information, tools and methods to get one started on a wonderful journey of exploring this medium.

The author is obviously an accomplished artist, showcasing elegant art work, at the same time maintaining a certain simplicity, that is essential to follow the book.

5 stars simply for sticking with Crow quill through out. Nothing can come close to this versatile tool, which is more like a feather made out of metal.

Book deals systematically with drawing, pen and ink and color.

For pen and ink, it talks about the various nibs, holders, practical tips, warm up exercises, strokes, building tones etc. Though these are specialized topics more extensive covered in few other books, this is very nicely presented in a crisp and essential manner.

Drawing is a vast subject, but well covered composition, proportions, perspective etc. along with capturing the detailed textures.etc.

Colored inks and watercolor wash are taken up next, presented with a lot of variety and application.

Plenty of examples, all made using the tools and methods mentioned in this book, and a very systematic concise approach makes this a great book!

This is an extract from my review at Amazon.com, You can find more of my reviews here.

India's first Open Source Film

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 17:23:00 +0000

Open source content development is increasingly seeing traction in creative areas such as films. The availability of software tools that are comparable to Hollywood Studio class, has created a new possibility for creative content creation.

Blender is a 3d sophisticated 3D software platform that is capable of and has proven to be able to produce 3d Animation films end to end.

The Blender institute's open movie project has seen the coming together of some brilliant minds, from across the globe and create 3d films and a highly interactive 3D game with stunning quality both in artistic content as well as technical.

The stunningly spectacular movie the Sintel, is hard to believe to have been shot entirely using open source software, and primarily using Blender.

Chamba Swathanthra Cinema Project is the first such initiative from India aimed at creating an animated short using open source tools, and social networking and license it according to Open source Initiative.

The project is currently in pre-production, with the script completed. Its a great script well suited for some amazing animation and special effects.

Folks from all corners of the world are welcome to contribute and participate in the various departments and creative areas, such as Character design, Environment design, Story boarding, Modelling, Texturing, Rigging, Animation, Sound and Music, Editing etc.. to name a few.

This would offer a great platform to learn the exciting process of animation film making , and the use of sophisticated software such as Blender. Experts in any of these departments can contribute to make this project a success and a showpiece of collaborative creativity.

Blender Introductory Workshop in India

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:30:00 +0000

ICFOSS (International Center for Free and Open Source Software) is conducting a Two-day introductory workshop on Blender.

This is a great opportunity for folks to get introduced to the Blender interface , and get to model, create and render a scene completely hands-on.

Date and Venue
16-17 September 2011
Travancore Hall,
Technopark,Trivandrum

About the Workshop

This introductory workshop is meant for professional animation artistes, digital media professionals, students, and teachers. As a hands-on workshop, participants are expected to bring their own laptops.
A fee of Rs. 1,000 per participant will be charged for the two-day session (Rs. 500 for students). Working lunch and tea will be provided for participants.

About Blender

Blender is a FOSS-based 3D graphics application, available for multiple Operating Systems.Blender's features include 3D modeling, texturing, rigging, skinning, animating, rendering, particle, water, smoke & other simulations, video compositing, and the ability to create interactive 3D applications, video games, animated film, or visual effects. It can be downloaded free of cost for any of the supported platforms. Blender has been used in numerous
applications including full-length movies. It provides an extremely cost-effective, efficient and complete solution to most common 3D animation requirements.

Attending
Seats will be allocated on a
first-come-first- served basis. Kindly
contact ICFOSS for more details.

International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS)
VII Floor, Tejaswini, Technopark
Trivandrum - 695 581, Kerala, India
Tel: +91 471 2700013
Email: info@icfoss.in

Book Review : Chandamama Art Book

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 23:10:00 +0000

Chandamama is a classic children magazine from India known not only for its unique story telling, but also for the stunning art work. The magazine has been engaging and captivating the imagination of the young and the old for over six decades in thirteen languages.

Recently the folks at Chandamama have done great justice to artists by bring out a two volume book , Chandamama Art Book, containing their art work , in a large (9.5 x 12.5 ) hard bound format, reproduced in great detail and quality, on very high quality art paper.

Each volume contains about 200 pages of the finest illustrations from India. A page is dedicated for each illustration, and on the left side a brief synopsis of the story is give to set the context.

Volume 1 has art work from Sankar, Chitra and MTV Acharya.
Volume 2 covers Vapa's art, and an interesting section that compares art work of these artists, for the same story. (In six decades I guess you do repeat stories in different contexts, and interesting to note how they recreated them rather than reprinted them)

Sankar's iconic rendering of the Vikram and Vetal... there were 700 stories in all that he illustrated for.

Chitra's own style and palette... Story of Troy

Another from Sankar's beautiful works ...

Here's one of MTV Acharya's masterstrokes..

And the uniqueness of Vapa ..

I have never seen most of these illustrations in such splendor, since when they published it, they were either cropped, or were in pulp paper and never in such original form.

Here are the interesting illustrations comparing the different takes ...

This is not only a feast for the eyes, but great reference for artists.

For me the relationship with the magazine ever since a kid was Summer and the four names that get attached to each one of those gorgeous drawings. Sankar, Chitra, MTV and Vapa. Each artist had his unique style as well as a palette, which one can identify instantly.

They were equivalents if not more of the Alex Raymonds, Norman Rockwells, Hogarths, and Al Dornes and the likes.

The magazine itself was on par with the mighty Classics Illustrated, though it was not in a comic book format.

Most of the pictures would be in monochrome wash with pen drawings, the covers however would be done in full color. Combined withe these beautiful drawings capturing the olden days and the folk tales that were spun in a simple yet enchanting manner, Chandamama would offer hours of entertainment, in a world that had no TV or internet.

For those who want to relish the golden age of Indian illustration, Chandamama has an Archives site. Check it out to read in full the magazines all the way back to the 50s !

Myers School pen, a Gillott 404 Clone

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:05:00 +0000

Bob Hurford has an excellent set of articles on dip pens at IAMPETH. He begins a tour of flex pens with the Gillott series of nibs as a bench mark and how all manufacturers had similar series of pens.

For example Gillott's 404, 303, 290, 170 had equivalents in Esterbrook 358,357,356, and 355 , Similarly Hunt had the 56, 22, 99 and 100 and so on..

These are a rarity these days., and Joseph Gillott being the pioneer of steel pens in the early 19th century, has a special place for collectors. A full box of Gillott 303 would typically go for $300 if one can be found. Esterbrooks are relatively inexpensive.

In his article Bob mentions how these pens were copied and imitated by several manufacturers. Recently I chanced upon a box of nibs in Ebay, curiously titled 'OLD ENGLAND SCHOOL PEN 404 '. I took a chance and got the box containing a full gross.

...and bingo ! They were as expected, clones of the 404 ! They are of great quality made of bronze and came from none other than Myers and Sons, another famous pen maker from Birmingham.

Here are the 404, 358 and Hunt 56(also curiously called a School pen) ... amazingly similar.

Needless to say this is one of the best class of dip pens, with solid construction, a reasonably good flex, and the interesting ridge allows more ink to be picked up during the dip. The Gillott though has considerably more flex than the others. With the right ink and a good solid wood holder these are a pleasure to write or draw.

Of these the Speedball Hunt 56 is the only pen manufactured to this day.

The Virtual Paintout : Google Street View

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 05:27:00 +0000

The Internet is providing avenues for creativity in remarkably new ways. One that is recent and relevant to artists and connoisseurs as well as anyone who likes to do art travel (without the hassles) is The Virtual Paint out.

The self taught American painter Bill Guffy's innovation is based on Google's Street View. The idea is simple. Each month Bill identifies a location in Google maps. A location reasonably large and interesting enough to explore. He provides the details on the website on the 1st of every month.

Artists around the world can log in, get the details, and go explore the location using Street view walk through. Then choose a location that they like, and make a painting/drawing/sketch of it and submit to Bill.

What a way to explore a new place, and create new art.Here are the past locations explored by the Virtual Paint out artists.

Bill mentions that only photos from Google Street view are to be used, and confirms that these are officially usable for art creation, that can be commercially sold. :)

So far some amazing locations have be explored and its a treat to look at all the wonderful art that has been produced. Its a great new way to do virtual travel. One can pick a painting that is posted , look up the location and start exploring.

Here is my attempt of a beautiful beach front in Jersey, using a vintage Hunt 512 and Pebeo Incre De Chine.

This is a great and zero cost way of exploring the world in a new way, with the camaraderie of fellow artists.

Hope you check out the site, and start travelling, painting and exploring.

Thanks Bill for this lovely idea!

Macniven and Cameron Waverley Pen

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:14:00 +0000

As I explore the exotic world of dip pens, each day I discover something amazing. One such gem of a pen is the Waverley from Macniven and Cameron.

As part of an assorted set of nibs that I got on Ebay, this nib has a very unique design. The plume of the nib is bent in an interesting manner, perhaps to hold that extra bit of ink, and also a very smooth point that prevents paper from catching the nib.

Dipping it into a bottle of dense black Pebeos Incre De Chine, which also happens to have a nice sheen, the pen produces very thin strokes smoothly. There isn't a great amount of flex, though I could get a good bit of variation in width. The pen is very feathery and felt like I was drawing with a metal brush, having a nice bit of springy-ness.

An interesting story related to this specific nib is that, Sir Walter scott, used this pen for a series of novels, known as the Waverley novels. They were named after this pen, since he used them to write the stories!

I was so attracted to this Waverley, I went ahead scouted for more and got lucky. I found an awesome seller in France who sold them by the gross, in its original tin box ! How much better can that get?!

The slight upturned point that resulted in a smoother pen tip, has resulted in the name Waverley being associated with any nib that is of such design. There are fountain pen nibs that have the same design and are known as Waverly pens!

For me though, I would like to stick with these lovelies!

Noodler's Flex Nib Pen

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:26:00 +0000

I finally got it! After a long wait for the pens to be available and placing my order at two different sources, I finally got hold of the much talked about pen.

I filled it up with my brand new bottle of Rotring brilliant blue, and started to put ink to paper. This is quite an amazing pen. has a great range of line width, writes absolutely smooth, and it is pretty small, and compact and is very comfortable to use.

I have been using dip pen nibs to get the feel of what flex nibs are all about, and the difficulty with dip pens being they run out of ink so often. The Noodlers flex is a delight. Fill up using the in built filler, with your favorite ink, and then you keep going on and on...

I have seen folks use indelible black inks such as the Noodler's Bulletproof Black, and Platinum Carbon Ink. I will probably hold off till the newness of the pen goes away before attempting to do such a thing.

To get this flex from a fountain pen was something very different to experience. The Rotring ink is a very beautiful blue, didn't come out well in the mobile shot above. Its a Violet-ty brilliant blue.

Folks with experience using vintage flex fountain pens must be able to critic the Noodler better. My comparison is based on dip nibs, which are quite a different thing. What I love about dip pens, are the really super thin points they can have, and the high amount of flex.

For instance an Hunt 100 nib, can produce an almost invisible line, that can flourish into a very thick swell, and back to the hairline again, without dragging along from the swell. That adaptability, is missing, partly due to the ink. The India ink has a certain density, that allows the flexibility of line width, which goes from hairline to a swell and back to the super thin immediately. fountain pen inks are generally more fluid, and hence cannot swing back to the thinness without dragging out a little from the thick stroke.

What is amazing about the pen is that , this time around all the pens got sold in first few days. and the clear demonstrator version sold out at Gouletpens in like three minutes !! I can believe it. The other source for my Noodler's flex is good old Greenman508 who by the way seems to have couple colors left at the time of this writing, and so does ISellPens.

It was almost like First Day First Show. Great to see a fountain pen creating such as flutter.

I think this is a great pen, to create some amazing writing and drawing. And if anything it can serve as a great means of practicing penmanship, before graduating to dip pens and India Ink if needed.

Dip Pens

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:24:00 +0000

I had briefly written about how great dip pens are. I am just now beginning to discover how amazingly superior the dip pens are.

I was introduced to dip pens through a Gillott 303 when I was a kid and learning art as part of a mail based art study program. The dense black India ink and the simple yet super fine nib was very intriguing. Time went by, I forgot all about it.

Following my recent exploration of pens, I got hold of a few fabulous sets of nibs thanks to Ebay and dedicated forums such as the Fountain Pen Network and Stutler's Sketching Forum.

We have come a long way from the quills of birds, to bamboos, to dip pens, to fountain pens, and on to ball point, Gel, Felt tips and so on. While there is an apparent progression in terms of more ease of use, portability etc, the flexibility and amazing line quality of the dip pen eludes all modern day pens.

Due to the simplicity of the mechanism, and the absence of any restriction whatsoever on the shape and form of the nib, they came in a wide variety of shapes.

Dip pens were primarily made in Birmingham, beginning the early 1800, which was also known as the first manufacturing town. In its hay days, each pen factory in Birmingham seems to have produced around 30,000 pens(these nibs were called as pens in those days), and it employed women and simple hand press tools. This resulted in a amazing drop in price leading to the access to writing tools for the masses which some attribute to the increased literacy and literature.

Though the days of dip pens are long gone, there does seem to be available a limited supply of the nibs.

Though these nibs were primarily made for writing, pretty soon the drawing community began making use of it. Engineering drafting as well as pen and ink artists began to make use of it increasingly.

The dip pens also came in great flex, which aided in ornamental writing, which had great variation in line width. there were business pens that were pretty stiff with uniform lines. There was also a variety called the Manifold nib which was hard enough and used to produce as many as five carbon copies.

Then there were the so called School pens. Which were generally medium point, and for the beginner.

Joseph Gillott and Esterbrook were two companies that produced some great pens for drawing. Gillot's # EF, 303 , 170 and #1 Principality offered a complete solution for the artist. they together offered very fine, very flex to medium fine and medium flex. Esterbrook had equivalents 356, 357, 358 and so on.

Gillot was the pioneer in mass production of steel nibs, and Esterbrook brought that to the United States. Carl Barks the famous Donald Duck cartoonist used an Esterbrook 356 for his inking.

In the hay days, the dip pen nibs were made in several countries, beginning in England, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Russia, United States and all the way to India, Japan, China and more. Today one can still obtain nibs made from a variety of countries. Outside of the famous name brands there are plenty of interesting nibs.

Nibs generally came in a gross. 12 dozen per box. The reason being these were more commonly used in public places such as the Bank, Post office etc., and an average consumption would be about a gross a year. Some say, due to the fact that these nibs corrode easily if not maintained, even an individual needed more than a handful over a period of time.

While the Gillot and Esterbrook nibs for art work were of a certain size, there was a much larger Falcon variety. This had the shape of the beak of a falcon, came in large size and could hold tons of ink. Esterbrook, Perry & Co and almost every manufacturer made them, and they are such a delight.Today dip pens are still manufactured primarily in the Manga world. Companies such as the Tachikawa, Nikko and Zebra makes clones of the most popular art nibs of the yesteryear. These are made of stainless steel and most likely last longer. The most popular being the G-pen.

Best source for these nibs is Ebay, while there are also several specialized stores such as Pendemonium. If you are lucky you might pickup a gross for under 5 dollars!

My favorites so far are Perry & Co Falcon, MacNiven & Cameron Waverly, Zebra G, Gillott 403/303 and Brause 230EF -- And this list keeps changing :)

This is just the tip of the iceberg. As more NOS nibs from around the world arrive, I shall report my findings more.

For learning more in depth about dip pens one should take visit to IAMPETH.

Beautiful Handwriting and the Secret of the Flex Nib

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:13:00 +0000

Ever wondered how those beautiful written texts of the past were written? There is a certain charm in the manner in which these were written, there was a rhythm, there was a graceful flow, a very expressive tone, and when looking at them now, produces almost a mystical look.

Often time we wonder , maybe it was the talent of the writers, with such gifted handwriting, which probably is too difficult to acquire. No question about the talent of the hand that wrote those beautiful texts, but no matter how hard one tries, unless the tool is right it will never be as good.

Apart from the style and grace of the hand, the variation in the width of the strokes is the key ingredient and the secret behind the expressive variable width is the Flexible nib of the pens that was used to write them.

Of course these were not written with modern ball point pens or roller gel pens. Even the flat edges Calligraphy pens can only come close. In olden times pens were in the form of nibs set in a holder and dipped in bottles(ink wells) of ink and used. The simplicity of the mechanism also meant a flexibility in the kind of ink one can use. The ink can be pigment based (opposed to modern dye-based inks) and hence can be very dense and non-feathering, waterproof and indelible.

Apart from that advantage, the nibs can be of varying types. very thin to thick, and from very stiff to very very flexible. The Flexible nibs again varied from Flex, to semi flex and no flex and everything in between.

These flexible nibs were capable of producing lines of varying thickness based on the amount of pressure exerted on them. some nibs such as the Hunt 100 is so thin, yet totally flexible that it can produce very huge swells if pressed even slightly. Some such as Gillott 404 and Gillott 303 had manageable amount of flex.

Using these a very interesting and varied types of text can be produced. The style and grammar of such handwriting evolved and one can see styles such as Spencerian or Copperplate as being more popular.

As dip pens gave way to fountain pens (we are still talking of 'ancient' times), the flexible nibs became a speciality. It was a challenge to produce flexible nibs that can work inside a fountain pen's feed mechanism. Gold was the most suitable since it can flex without breaking, and also at the same time resistant to corrosion, since fountain pens stayed wet even when not in use. Hence it became expensive to have flexible nib fountain pens, and slowly the flex nib along with the fountain pens faded away from public memory.

Of course it did not fade away from everyone, and there always existed a set of individuals passionate about handwriting, flexible nibs, and what not, and they continued the tradition, however with limited supply of vintage flex nib fountain pens, which became more and more expensive and certainly into the hundreds of dollars.

One always had the choice of using a dip pen. but it always comes with its own disadvantages, such as lack of portability and increased maintenance. The increased interest in Manga, has re infused the enthusiasm in dip pens , and there is a specialized set of nibs from Nikko, Tachikawa and Zebra such as the G-Pen, which offer great flex capabilities. One can still get Gillott, and from other manufacturers such as Leonardt, and Brause.

Most recently the intriguing company called the Noodler's Ink company has introduced a beautiful flex nib fountain pen that has satisfied the cravings of a flex nib enthusiast, at a price that won't pinch the pocket.

All of these is recent knowledge to me, and it was a great liberating experience to take a flexible dip pen, dense India ink, and produce some very interesting vintage style text with expressive strokes.

Some of the resources that helped are the Fountain Pen Network, Russ Stutler's Sketching Forum and countless blogs from great folks.

If you want to know all about Penmenship, the only place you ever want to go is IAMPETH. And of course you need your choice of dip pen, or fountain pen with a good flex nib and a bottle of beautiful ink, and endless supply of paper.

Next time you want to send a handwritten note, or a little note on the tiny little card on the gift, you are better equipped.

Made in India : Wality Airmail pens

noreply@blogger.com (Ganapathy Subramaniam) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 06:33:00 +0000

While in pursuit of fountain pens that I can use for drawing and sketching, I got myself what looked like an ordinary pen in an artstore. My primary (rather only) use of a fountain pen is for sketching and drawing... having used the Rotring Artpen, Lamy safari, etc, this did not look slick. But it had its own old world charm.

The pen is a simple eyedropper clear demonstrator. Meaning.. no cartridges to fill, no piston convertors to use. simply open up the barrel and fill it up by pouring from your bottle :)

When I filled it up with a black ink from Camlin called the Permanent black, and put pen to paper, I was blown away. Its a fine tipped (Japanese-Fine) nib, and was wet. It drew beautiful precise lines. flowed as smooth as silk. The ink though not that dense, came out dense because of the F nib.

This is now my daily sketch pen. I can fill up the huge barel with almost 3 cc (maybe more) of ink, and keep going for ever.

After doing some research I found that this pen is made by a company called the Airmail pen co. in Mumbai and they have been at it for more than 50 years! They have quite a range. The one I had purchased in known as Wality 70 JT and it is Huge! it also has a variant where the barell is covered except for a window to show the ink. Though I love the fully transparent version, where I could see the ink swishing and splashing around likes the waves on the beach.

Now comes the sweet part. This pen cost me Rs. 100 ( $2) and a bottle of black ink that cost me Rs. 12 (30 cents). My best buy in Fountain pens.