The Oatley Academy

"Painting Drama" is a course I'll be taking for the next 3 months through Oatley Academy run by Chris Oatley. Chris is a Disney Character Designer and web comic creator who puts out interesting podcasts and blog posts which I've been following for quite a while. This is a 12-week online course that will teach "a deep understanding of the most essential, foundational concepts for visual storytelling in still-based media." I think it will be a lot of fun! The class of 15 students will meet live each week for 3 hours and we will work on a couple projects based on a story of our choosing throughout the 12 weeks. I really want to put more storytelling into my illustrations and work more on the fundamentals. Since I never went to full-time art school, it's up to me to get the fundamentals down. I can do this quicker by taking online courses and workshops - plus they are loads of fun!

I REALLY want to update my portfolio. After IMC, I see how much I need to either update the current work or just completely replace it. But on top of my full-time job, I'm doing a couple concept art projects as well so there's just no time left to work on personal stuff.

 I can't post any of the art I'm working on now, so here are some totally random sketches. I'm trying to follow Iain McCaig's advice and draw at least an hour a day. Some days are easier than others to get the full hour in.

Remember it's ok to draw "stoopid" drawings in your sketchbook. No one has to see them. Don't be so precious about it. I used to be precious about my sketches and it would cause me to not draw as much because I pressured myself to not mess up. Now I just draw all kinds of dumb things but at least I'm drawing more. And the more you draw the better you get! Also, Pixelovely is a great site if you want to do some figure drawing practice when there is no live model available.