Inking for John K.

As I said in my last post I have contacted John Kricfalusi to see if I was able to do any ink work for him. I was lucky enough to get a reply from him. He said he would be happy to give me some frames from his new storyboard to ink. He would then give me a critique to help me understand how to better my new skill.

Here are the first attempts I did for him. These images are from the storyboard of a new commercial he is doing staring his own characters. This image features 'Donald Bastard' the duck beating up 'Slab'.

These are the first inked versions I sent to him. John said in his e-mail

hi Chloe, the lines are nice and clean

you could work on the thick and thins

the hierarchy

and making the forms more distinct-like Slab's squinty eyes in the first drawing

It was great to get some feedback off him, he recommended that I look at the 'inking' section of his blog to help me understand what he wanted changing. I redid the eyes squinting from the first image to try and give it more weight and form.

He has told me to practice with his characters and read through the construction of some of the characters. I realise that inking is not just about tracing an image, but rather about being able to select the right lines and emphasise what is already there. The pencil image acts as a guide.

Here are the before and afters

Johns sketch before

My attempts after.

I was nervous of contacting John but he was really friendly and I really enjoyed doing this for him. It was a good experience and I shall hopefully continue improving.

External Brief...Many many jobs done

It has been a while since I have posted anything, but I have been so busy with animation work. I have been pushing myself to work even harder this semester as it won't be long until my time at Staffordshire University comes to an end. I am well on with my 2d animation now, if you want to see the new updates for 'Feebles attempt animation, please have a look at the blog.  http://www.feeblesattempt.blogspot.co.uk/

This week I have taught myself at last how to digitally ink line art. I was happy to assist with the 'Don't do the Dodo project'. Fellow animation student Lauren Dorling was kind enough to let me exercise my new skill and gave me some animation frames to ink.

Strange to see me happy on a computer isn't it?

I have been working on other external briefs, though I don't think I am allowed to blog about them just yet.

I have also been very fortunate to do some digital inking for Ren and Stimpy Creator John Kricfalusi... I was brave enough to bother him with an e-mail asking if there was any ink work I could do for him.

He has agreed to critique some of the shots I have inked from his storyboard for his new commercial.

I shall put up a new post on how that is going.