It takes restraint not to re-post everything Jillian writes on her blog over here. But take a moment to check out her advice on drawing animals in this post – “There is no formula to trick to drawing animals, or anything else for that matter. Only observation (ideally from life) and practice will give you a fundamental understanding of structure and form.”

Check Jillian’s illustration gallery here to see how uses animals in her illustrations regularly to evoke motion and emotion to great effect.

Posted by Matt Forsythe on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | No comments
Tags: advice, animals, drawing tips, how to draw, How-To, Jillian Tamaki, tricks

I enjoyed this dreamlike animated video for Hat by Max and Laura Braun, directed by Michael Fragstein.

Posted by John Martz on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | No comments
Tags: Animation, Michael Fragstein, video

Congratulations to our John Martz, for getting nominated March 12 for “Best Emerging Talent” in the annual Doug Wright Awards! His short “It’s Snowing Outside, We Should Go For A Walk” is the reason. Got a link to it, John?

Edit: Here’s the link — It’s Snowing Outside. We Should Go For a Walk.

Posted by Jaleen Grove on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | 5 comments
Tags: Animation, Doug Wright Awards, johnmartz

Mike Lynch shares some real gems from his cartooning classes in a recent blog post:

How do you get to be a better cartoonist?

There is the old piece of advice: take a stack of paper the same height that you are. Draw on every one. When you get to the bottom, you’ve gotten a lot of the bad drawings out of your system and you’re a better artist.

Mike had his class of ten students draw 160 images in about 5 minutes. He prepared ten sheets of paper, each comprising a pre-labelled 4×4 grid. The students took turns passing the paper around and filling in a square of their choice.

A brilliant exercise. The results are fun and, though obviously childlike, say a lot about visual thinking and how little detail is truly needed to get an idea across.

In Ivan Brunetti’s Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice, a fifteen-week classroom in a book, his first week assignments include just such activities:

…Spend 3-4 minutes drawing a car. Then, start over and draw it in 2 minutes. Then 1 minute. Then 30 seconds. Then 15 seconds. And then 5 seconds. Draw faster at each step, that is, draw the entire car within the time limit. Repeat this same process for four other subjects: a cat, a castle, a telephone, and a self-portrait.

Posted by John Martz on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | 3 comments
Tags: Comics, drawings, Mike Lynch

In the spirit of our recent post about Harmony – the beautiful html5 drawing tool – comes flame. Another online drawing toy that lets you draw with a brush of flames. You pick the colour and brush size.

Posted by Matt Forsythe on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | 4 comments
Tags: Drawing, flames, How-To, online toys, websites

Australian cartoonist Andrew Fulton would really like an iPad. And he wants you to pay for it.

Okay, not really. But, as a way to fund his technolust he’s selling custom tablet-themed drawings and comic strips: I’d really like to get an iPad, guys.

All that aside, Andrew’s comics are definitely worth your time, if you aren’t familiar with them. Since I last linked to him here a few years ago, Andrew’s comics have evolved into lovely, poetic things. His simple style has allowed him to play with panels, moods, and time in very interesting ways. His comics are among my favourite things on the Internet.

Some examples:

Posted by John Martz on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | 5 comments
Tags: Andrew Fulton, Comics, iPad

Harmony is an interesting online drawing tool made in HTML5 (Not Flash, I was surprised to learn). The samples here (and the link itself) are from Anthony “Nedroid” Clark on Twitter.

Here’s a video of the app being demoed:

Posted by John Martz on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | 11 comments
Tags: Anthony Clark, Drawing, Software, tools

Asaf Hanuka has been serializing his weekly comic, The Realist, about his family’s search for a new home. Originally serialized in an Israeli newspaper, Asaf presents the web version in both English and Hebrew.

(via Meathaus)

Posted by John Martz on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | 3 comments
Tags: Asaf Hanuka, Comics, Webcomics

In honour of MAR10 Day, here’s a link to some wonderful Nintendo-inspired comics by Corey Godbey: Bit and Run.

Be sure to also check out Cory’s Nintendo-themed desktop wallpapers:

Posted by John Martz on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | 2 comments
Tags: Comics, Cory Godbey, gaming, nintendo, Webcomics

I know I’m preaching to the converted here, but this is a funny take on what freelance illustrators (and freelance everythings) go through on a daily basis.

via Francis Vallejo, (Art Contests: Unethical?)

Posted by Matt Forsythe on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | 12 comments
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