Extra Credits ep. 99 - Video

Yay, I was very lucky to work on another episode of Extra Credits. Visit it over at the Penny Arcade TV:

Visit this Blog Entry for notes on the references and a collection of some of the drawings from the episode. The Hero's Journey (pt 2) was a great topic to pop-culture-reference my brains onto the canvas. Thank you : )

Extra Credits episode 99 chatter

I had the great pleasure of working for the Web Series Extra Credits again. This is so much joy, because it is more about the concepts and fitting imagery than about elaborate drawing. I like jobs, where I have to think. I figured out that my style is not working as well for this as the general style developed by the series makers Dan and Allison. Also its waaaaaay too slow to draw anatomically somewhat probable figurines.

My full pop culture nerd senses tingled, when the topic was announced: The Heros Journey and illustrated by the beautiful Game Journey by thatgamecompany. I obsessively watched playthroughs, especially enjoying this one: Video Part 1. That narrator sounds so awed and sympathetic : )

The Hero's Journey explores the stages a hero walks through in the straightforward “epic” path in many hero-centered narrations. Therefore I had an excuse to single out tons of great epic stories and use them to illustrate James’ text and Dan’s narration thereof. Watch the Video here.

Let my start with an assemblage from some drawings from the Episode. Be very invited to read the more obscure reference links below.

I started out by planning the episode. This way i have an overview on how many images are needed, the pacing and how much non-drawn material and how much dan-standing-and-talking is involved. I strive for balance:

Public Diploma Presentation

Greetings!

I am Jack's calm little center of jo... ARRRGHGG! Finally, my diploma presentation is drawing near.

I will present my findings on research about interactive music videos and the very practical approach on a project by the band Van Canto next week on:

Tue, 10th of July, 13:00h 
University of Applied Sciences Potsdam
Pappelallee 8–9 
Building 5, Room 3.16

This is a public presentation. I hereby want to extend my invitations to you. You will get to see: 5 Minutes of an upcoming Van Canto Music Video, 30 Minutes of me babbling and shaking and being supremely nice and witty....... and a presentation of an interactive prototype. I will talk about interactive music videos and the factors that seem to be motivating for an audiences. If anybody makes his way to Potsdam - i would be very happy, if you say hi! after the presentation.

A first trailer was already announced:

I am so excited!
gab

practice

greetings, wanderers!

today i want to share with you some sketches and practice-drawings i did over the last weeks. Major failing happened as well - but the Anatomy Sketchbook of Doom will be scanned in its finished glory, with all its failures for you to see. Would be a waste of time to actually sit down and scan this atrocity several times. bah!

On the back of an old drawing board i found the little prince. My favorite book of them all. I mindlessly doodled this to do a watercolor test. It's probably from Spring 2011.


Portrait + fantasy time. It is a long-term goal to be able to draw anything i can imagine. These come pretty close to what I had in mind. Reference used for every one.
Watercolor, digitally cleaned up and highlighted.

ink and watercolor review

Ola! Every time I pretend to do something with analogue media, I start to get really scientific about it. I love doing color-charts and tests and most of the time get lost in the colors instead of doing actual drawing. This time I finally did all the color-charts (except for black inks. I need a special system for this).

monster monster on the wall

Hey folks,

a bit more than 2 month to go on the diploma. The main project is almost done, the documentation slowly drags along. I wish I just could hand in a ring book folder... or something. But noooo.
I will post a full review of the exhibition (which has ended) soon, I am still waiting for the permissions to post the photos.

In the meantime, whenever I hit a minor... very minor... mile... okay, centimeterstone in my work I scribble around on monsterstuff. I need the distraction to keep my lines in order for the diploma. So, among some "this is what i am wearing today" and gadgets for the monsterbook, here are the rough drawings of some monsters - all pages from my current sketchbooks.

Thank you for stopping by : )
At my tumblr I keep explaining some of the designs (also showing the slightly more polished, sometimes colored versions)

Here they are implemented in the still in progress monsterbook: http://www.gabrielsmonsterook.net . Soon the Submission Form is bug free, then I await YOUR take on everyday or neverday fears and annoyances.

Monsterbook and Font!

Hey!

Woah, i have more material to do just one blog entry. For my diploma I created a Font I want to share with you today.

So, here it is - free for commercial and non-commercial use. Be aware that the kerning is off, though - you have to adjust it by hand. Designed for Headlines.

(part of the drawing used to create the font)

Download Here.

In 2004 I closed down a page - a collection of monsters. This font made me want to do the redesign. And while I read up tons of stuff for my diploma, I treated myself to drawing little monsters and redesigning that page, whenever I hit a minor milestone... well, they're more milepebbles...

It is not fully functional yet, but the monster entries work. I will post more sketches and stuff when i come around to make it presentable.

Later, there will be an entry form for your own monsters as in the good old days!

Have a look and laugh about my programming mistakes. Everything that is really good is done by my husband, though ; )

Check it out:

Thank you for your time!

gab.