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RicePirate
thanks to Ninjoco for the awesome avatar!!!!

Mick Lauer @RicePirate

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Why so Series?

Posted by RicePirate - February 6th, 2011


Here's the deal. I need to learn a fucking style.

I need to nail down some kind of drawing/animating style, so I can actually get good at something, explore it, and hone it. If you've seen my work, you can easily tell that I've been struggling to nail down anything remotely consistent.

I feel like a series could help. I'd be doing it for both creative exploration and technical mastery. And by 'mastery', I mean my own personal never-gone-to-art school kind of in-my-spare-time type mastery.

---

Do the write thing?
I've got a number of projects I need to finish up, but that's not going to stop me from my greater goal: learning a style. That said, if there are any great writers out there ... I have ideas, but I think it may be time to explore beyond my own limits. Plus, considering I don't have all the time in the world, having a spot-on script would cut the creation process in half.

I'm just putting feelers out there. I'd appreciate artistic advice... honestly, I just wanna get good at something... rather than starting from scratch every time.

thanks NG,

RicePirate (M!ck Lauer)

(below are screens from the Prism music video and my upcoming Inception parody)

Why so Series?


Comments

Haha I know what you're talking about. Nailing a specific style down forcefully may not be the optimal way though. Just explore at your own pace.

I agree, which is why I'm trying to figure out a way to optimize the "creative setting" for my work, to hopefully emerge with a style... but maybe that's contradictory.

btw. your art is awesome ;) ... nice style :P

FUUUUUUUUUU-
Inception parody.....
Reminds me of that asshole who had me record a bunch of stuff for various projects, including an inception parody, but ended up bailing on every single one >:(

Well, mine is fairly short... and it's getting finished. :)

Though, I know what you mean about recording stuff that never gets finished... I've done my fair share.

I don't really have a specific style either. Although mastering one style is great, I think it's cool that an artist can switch styles up, especially if they work on many different projects. For a longer term project, keeping a consistent style helps, but I don't see a huge reason to keep the same style across completely different projects.

I feel like when you really explore a style, you can begin to flush out ideas, effects, movement. I agree that having a range is great. But I don't feel like I'm learning the nuance of anything by skipping around from style to style.

Maybe that's just my bad.

Well good of luck to you then.
PS: Got anything to say about that Inception thing, sounds pretty damn fun.

It has nothing to do with sleep :)

PS - I'd love to do voice work with you man. I know you do most recordings yourself, but if you ever want anyone's help, just let me know.

YAR

want some cheese and crackers with all that WHINE?!?!?!?

I'm lactose and gluten intolerant. Also, I hate you.

Sent you a PM homie

sent you one back

I think something worth considering could be moving away from using the pencil tool. Dunno if you use a tablet or not, but if you do, you might find that the pressure sensitivity options can add more personal style and flair to your strokes. Like mindchamber's 'sloppy' line work is actually quite expressive and you can like recognize a mc piece from anywhere.

Also, for the sake of playing my own devils advocate, i think style is just something that comes naturally from working with the product for a long time. Like theres no real timetable or process to it. It just kinda happens, like puberty!

Luis, when will my balls drop?

But seriously, thanks for the advice. I actually began gravitating towards the line tool cuz I was hating the inconsistency of my brush strokes... but i suppose, rather than running from it, tackling it would be more ... manly.

GET SERIAHSS.

It's like Arnold Schwarzenegger commented on my page :)

Y'know, I still feel like I could watch ten animations (one being yours) and pick the one that you did out of the mix. Not that I've necessarily analyzed your style and could tell you what it was, but it's pretty easy for me to recognize your work without looking in the name corner of a collab you've participated in. I think your characters' wide, half-open eyes in addition to a constantly motion-filled or motionless (nothing in between!) tendency for each animation are among a few of the things I've noticed. I guess try messing with a color palette or a specific background style, too; those're some of the more enjoyable, subliminal visual choices you can make, I feel (like you can really really delineate old Egoraptor from new Egoraptor by comparing the old, faded, washed-out colors with very strict, vibrant color palettes). I agree with Luis especially, though. I think the solution to your anxiety will come when you limit your collab participation and start whippin' out some solo projects in general, which I can't wait to see!

And I like your user thumbnail much better now. A lot of people have a black and white line drawing, but a very select few sport that whole "purple shadowy poomphy-lipped pirate with glowing eyes and something worth reading after clicking it" look.

lol hugs bro.

Don't go with lines.

You suck at them.

After this inception thing, I'll probably move away from it.

RicePirate has no Hope with lines... :'(

I agree with Luis, not like my style is anything to write home about, but pressure sensitivity is orgasmic.

I dunno if it's CS3 or my Intuos 3 (which is like 6 years old) ... but I have a bitch of a time getting smooth lines. I've tried all the "smoothing adjustments" ... I dunno, I'll dig more into it.

uhh you're thinking about the whole style thing too much. You don't develop a style and draw with that, you draw and develop a style that goes along with it. Don't try to force yourself to draw in a certain style, that will come all by itself.

Beginning to look that way. I thought this was a more common plight...

Thanks but what do you mean with nice style? The red-haired girl who is most prominent in my works looks entirely different in every picture!

Can only agree with what Luis said. There was a time where I used illustrator and the consistent lines just made it look horribly constructed. It felt like my fingerprint was missing.

I meant the general grittiness and colors. Also, I was just being facetious.

The sterile line look isn't something I want to consider my staple... that said, it's allowed me to get some simple ideas across. So, yeah, I also agree.

Berkeley Breathed said something interesting at Comic Con last year. He basically said, "Steal other people's styles, and eventually you'll find your own." It's a statement that was true for him and probably true for me, so maybe it applies to you, too. Experimentation through making a series is also a great plan.

Good luck to you.

That is great advice :) ... now, who to "copy" >:D

j/k

I devote some time pretty much everyday to draw without aim. Not doodling, but just drawing what comes to mind, and finding better and more practical ways to draw it.

Maybe drawing one character different ways will help you nail down a style or something. I'm not as experienced as you so I can't really give you advice you haven't heard or already thought of, but keep that in mind I guess.

Yeah, I think part of the problem is that I'm holding back on the complexity based on my fear of not being able to animate it.

Bah, just have to man up.

Good luck with your change in style Rice! I'm also changing my style this year so I can grow into a more beautiful person, and I wish you the same. :3

You're already beautiful... i mean that in the straightest way possible. Also,

I'm gay for you.

I can only say that you probably should go for something simplistic, but go not so much so that you can't go over Board with a scene or two. Think up characters, settings, and a story, Than proceed to just draw up those ideas. Draw, draw, draw,draw,draw(get my point?) :D.

Bro.

I will help you write things, if that's what you're looking for.

I love collaborating with scripts 'n' shit.

Shoot me a PM if you're interested.

You could always do a dramatic comedy about rival groups of thieves who are for the most part slaughtered and must work together and LEARN THE VALUES OF FRIENDSHIP to get their revenge on whatever or something. I dunno. But don't do that, that's my idea. Do something else.

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