Sheridan College Open House 2010 (Part 3)

Here is the third and final batch of caricatures I drew during Sheridan's Open House a couple weeks ago. These first two ladies pictured are Sheridan office staff, Susan Anderson-Wilcox and Paulette Geffros:These last three are Sheridan students, Leisha-Marie Riddel, Omar Noori, and Hai Wei Hou:

Sheridan College Open House 2010 (Part 2)

Here are another bunch of caricatures from the Sheridan Open House held a couple weeks ago. Mostly young kids in this batch, including these first two little cuties who are the daughters of one of the Sheridan staff. I've still got more to post but I'll do them later.

Happy Birthday, Audrey Hepburn!

I believe that Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe may be the two most iconic figures who have represented female beauty in the movies. But, while Marilyn was blonde, voluptuous and an image of pure sexuality, Audrey was the more fragile, doe-eyed waif who really captured our hearts. Certainly Audrey Hepburn has always been my favourite actress, and much of her appeal is in that pixieish figure

Sheridan College Open House 2010 (Part 1)

A week after classes have officially ended, there's still two events that wrap up the school year at Sheridan College. There is the annual Industry Day, where representatives from various animation studios, both local and from the U.S. come to view the films created by the graduating 4th Year students. I'll defer to my colleague, Mark Mayerson to describe that event in greater detail on his

Sheridan Animation Year End

Yes, as April draws to a close, so too does this year of the Sheridan College Animation program. The last few weeks are always pretty crazy, with students trying to stay on top of last assignment deadlines and we in the faculty going bug-eyed from all of the final grading! But now it's done and everybody can breathe a collective sigh of relief and start enjoying the spring and summer weather to

Some Cute (And Not So Cute) Doodles!

I make no bones about the fact that I love to draw cute characters. Cartoons that are cute and appealing are what I grew up with, and I still far prefer that over the ugly schlock of today, therefore that is what I gravitate towards in my own cartooning. Here are some more examples of recent doodles that explore that theme. In the one above, I decided to scribble out several animated poses of the

Fan Expo 2010 (pt.2)

Even more than the exhibits and stuff for sale, I think the real fun of Fan Expo is seeing all of the fans who turn up in costume. Here's a sampling of what we saw at this year's event: Here's Sheridan instructor Apollo Okamura with students, Vanessa Stefaniuk and Nicole Gagnon, as well as Vanessa's brother Robert. Vanessa strikes an action pose.Iain Lew Kee as She-Ra poses with He-Man.Just what

Fan Expo 2010 (pt. 1)

On Saturday, August 28th I went to Toronto's Fan Expo at the Toronto Convention Centre down on Front St. Here's the first selection of pics I took that day at the event. I'll post up all of the costumed fans in a second installment."Welcome to Fan Expo 2010, foolish mortals".Some neat Batman sculpts.More DC Comics figurines.Holy Dynamic Duo! It's Adam West and Burt Ward from TV's Batman!Here's

More Character Types

Here are a bunch more sketches drawn from video, like the ones I showcased on my Oct. 4th entry. The ones pictured above are all of guests who have appeared on the Charlie Rose interview show seen on PBS. The show's website features numerous archived clips that are just great to sketch from, since the interviews allow you to study the subject in medium close-up, moving just enough that you can

Drawing Cartoon Eyes

I came across this film still from Disney's The Princess and the Frog by way of John Kricfalusi's blog. John has been pointing out (quite correctly in my opinion) how badly designed and drawn the TV shows from the 80's were. Furthermore, he contends that those bland and soulless 80's character designs live on to this day, not only on TV but also in feature film animation. Though I might be rather

Sketching Character Reference

I put this post together to tie in with what I'll be starting to cover in my Character Design classes at Sheridan College this week. The topic is "Character Types", and these are a few samples I just sketched yesterday to illustrate what I'll be stressing in this subject. I'm a firm believer that an animated or illustrated character should aspire to be distinct as an individual - the visual

Amir Avni

This morning's Globe and Mail held a pleasant surprise for me in the form of this feature article in the Life section on one of my former Sheridan Animation students, Amir Avni. Amir is currently in his 4th and final year at Sheridan - I had him in my 2nd Year Character Design class two years ago and he was always keen to improve his ability. Best of all, Amir LOVES CARTOONS! :)In the Globe

Fundraiser For Dexter

Last night there was a fundraiser held for Dexter, a sweet little tyke who has been battling cancer and other major health problems. No little two year old should have to go through what he has, yet through it all he is a happy baby who is adored by family and all who meet him. Dexter is the nephew of Derek Spencer, one of my former students, now in his graduating year at Sheridan College