In my first artist gig in Animation, my Art Director affectionately told me:

"You're not a painter, but you can paint!"

I wasn't trained as a painter, most of my decisions were by feel...it was tough.

▶️ Here are 10 FREE Resources that can help you learn to paint on purpose: Getting Started with Digital Painting

Chances are if you wanna work in an animation studio you'll be working digitally and Matt Kohr's got some great stuff over at CtrlPaint that gives you a great foundation to begin with!

youtube.com/playlist?list=…

Here's another throwback to some prints/buttons I made years ago of the OG Pokemon starters + everyone's fav electric rodent.

(Pokemon Blue Cartridge ftw)

Some behind the scenes below 👇 Here are the rough sketches I started out with.

First up was Squirtle and that one set the tone for the rest of them.

When I was 16, I was dizzy running around in circles trying to learn how to draw.

Here are 10 videos I wish I had seen so I could stop the spinning 😵

#CONSUME2CREATE How drawing helps you think | Ralph Ammer | TEDxTUM

This one could have saved me from always trying to make something nice to look at. Drawing isn't just about pretty pictures, it's bigger than that. It can help you think!

#CONSUME2CREATE

Here's a 🧵of art food to chew on:

This one's about legendary production designer Maurice Noble whose style became synonymous with some of Looney Tunes' most memorable works:

- Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
- What's Opera Doc
- Road Runner Shorts Here's a great video discussing why the backgrounds were so intriguing.

Key Points:

- BGs as liminal spaces
- Influenced by art history
- Distilled, pushed, wonky vs realistic
- Story and Character shaping the art
- The ARTISTS!

I borrowed over 60k in student loans for Art School pre-YouTube 💸

If I were starting today at 16 to prep for life in Animation Design, I'd tell myself to binge these channels for FREE high-quality art education: Marc Brunet (Art School)
youtube.com/@YTartschool

The Futur Academy (Design)
youtube.com/@TheFuturAcade…

Trojan Horse Was a Unicorn (Insight)
youtube.com/@TrojanHorseWa…

Gobelins (Animation School)
youtube.com/@gobelins

BaM Animation (Industry Pros)
youtube.com/@BaMAnimation

Changin it up today with a visdev 🧵 thread with keyframes I helped paint for #TransformersEarthspark

First up is the contact sheet with some of the first pieces of artwork done for the show, close ups below: These were the first paintings I did of the Malto Compound at different times of day.

We were aiming for Amblin/Spielberg aesthetic, especially during nighttime.

Fun Fact: I based the color of the house from my childhood home 👶

Here's another background art 🧵 thread from the #RiseoftheTMNTMovie archives 🧵:

Starting off with the color key I did for the Central Room of the new Turtle’s Lair.

Fun Fact: We wanted the color Green to represent safety and protection Here are some hookup shots:

There's one shot where Raph/Donnie/Mikey are shrouded in the light, and Leo walks off alone outside of their 'cone of safety'.

Designing color themes was always funner when we could pinpoint the story elements to represent throughout the show.