INSPIRATION: Letters From Creative Minds

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Leonid Afremov - 'Winter Park' (A painting that inspires me)

      A new year equals new beginnings and with new beginnings one usually needs new inspiration. I'm going to share that with you today something I found while ago that I found very inspiring.

      Sometimes we get inspired from other peoples work, and sometimes we get inspired by how they think! When you learn how a professional looks at a problem or thinks about life's obstacles, it can be educational as well as inspiring. Here I have 8 artists and their letters. Their letters are from two websites called 'Animator Letters Project' and 'Letters of Note'. Both of these sites have an awesome collection of letters are worth reading! Do a quick search and check them out.

DISREGARDING THE ODDS
Aaron Hartline - Animator The full letter can be found here
"When I took a tour of Disney right out of high school, I showed the guide/animator my work. She said, "It's easier to get a job as a professional basketball player than getting an animator position at Walt Disney Studios... I knew if I worked hard then one day... some day.. I could do it! I took me 14 years of trying but it happened."

DO WHAT YOU FEEL YOU WHERE BORN TO DO
Steve Vai - Professional Guitarist The full letter can be found here
"The desire to play an instrument must come from with in you. You should not waitr a letter or an approval from anyone else to decide that you should play. Either you don't want to or you have no choice because your heart compels you to."

STAY FOCUSED AND BE YOURSELF
Ray Bradburry - Author (Fahrenheit 251) The full letter can be found here
"Fall in love with the future! I did just that. And after that never listened to one damn fool idiot who doubted me! what did I learn? To be myself and to never let others, prejudiced, interfere with my life. Kids do the same. Be your own self. Love what YOU love."

PERSISTENCE
Austin Madison - Animator the full letter can be found here
"Work through the 97% of murky abysmal mediocrity to get to that 3% which everyone will remember you for!"

DETERMINATION 
Christopher Reeve - Actor (Superman) The full letter can be found here
" I am not going to preach to you that you should stay in school. I do want to tell you that you can do ANYTHING you want in this life if you have the determination and drive to make it happen."

CREATE FOR YOURSELF
(me!) -Animator The full letter can be found here
"As long as you take your desire and never stop improving your technique, you will never be less than what you want. It's not about where you end up, what studio you work at, how much money you make. It's whether or not you are happy with what you are creating." 

HOW TO BE AN ARTIST AND A PERSON
      The best letters I have ever read are by Rainer Maria Rilke. If you ever need to be inspired sit down under a tree or lie on your bed and take your time through her 10 letters. I read them once a year just to never forget them. she wrote these letters to a young man who was 27 who wanted guidance and a critique of some of his poems.
read all ten letters here

ARTIST ARE PEOPLE :)

      I read an article today about a boy named Zach Sobiech. He has cancer and only has a few weeks left to live. When he first found out about his cancer he made this song:
 




       And that was that, until a few artist saw it and told a few more artist and so the snowball continued. They all made a video for Zach singing his song! Its such a heart touching story that these people, who are actors, singers, musicians, dancers, and more, are just like you and me. They often get put up on pedestals and sometimes could come off as cold just bc they dont want the paparazzi in their face 24/7, but they aren't gods or robots, they are people. So check out these two videos and enjoy. Artist who helped out are well known, such as Jason Marz, Sarah Silverman and more. See how many you can recognize!





      Always remember, if you get famous or if your ego gets very inflated, to come back down to earth sometime.

-Danny

Drawing in Public: Europe

      So I'm back from Europe. I was busy soaking up the sights, people and parties, BUT, I did manage to squeeze in some drawing time. Mostly I drew at airports and train stations and along at a few parks. The subject: people
      Drawing people is a bit tricky, bc once they find out you are drawing them, they stiffen up, or try to get in a better "artificial pose". Or they.. (my favorite) they grab their shit and leave. There's an art to pretending you are not drawing some one. It on par with training to become a ninja...

Here are a few drawings from my sketch book. Nothing grand, just figure drawings from europe. As you might observe, people on the the other side of the globe sit and wait just like we do in America.. fascinating...

At the Airport, Flights are DELAYED... I used a blue animation drafting pencil.. WHY? because it just happened to be the one my hand grabbed from my pocket. I don't think when sketching.. I just sketch.

On a Subway tram, I knew that SHE knew I was drawing her.. 

I wonder what people did at the Airport before the Iphone was invented...

So here is an example when I ADD a little ME to the drawing. The guy with his dog moved around way too much while he was reading his book, and you would think an old lady would hold still for more than 2 seconds! So I said FML and gave up drawing people for a minute. I let my mind wander  and I ended up drawing some weird Hippie Space Age stuff on the top of the page. (FYI the 'special' brownies in Amsterdam are called 'SPACE AGE BROWNIES' lol)  And for the lady, I drew her looking through a door with some fire on the other side.. Reflective of my feelings? Perhaps..  ..Sue me.

I like draw 'till the whole page is filled. They tend to come out like this, with no up or down orientation. Very annoying to who ever looks through my sketch books. I like to fill the whole page bc I am forced to vary the size of my figures. 

When I see an interesting face I try to capture it fast instead of wasting time on the body or clothes.  

It's ok to be messy when you sketch. As long as you capture the pose and the person, that is what counts. 

I like this small section because I have a very detailed face next to a very simplified drawing. both show a type of personality and are clearly different people. Like I mentioned earlier, it doesn't matter HOW you draw you figures, as long as you get the specifics of WHAT MAKES THEM UNIQUE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb80qq4JUpE   ...LOL sorry but I had to..

Pencil over Blue Drafting Pencil.. not as fancy as it sounds...

On thing I like doing is drawing the environments I am in and then Filling them with people. People you can find ANYWHERE. but places.. there can be only place for every place. You can not have two places of the same place.. (if that even makes sense..) This is another airport.

Another collage of drawings. The background is the street map of berlin. The page looked dull with a white background so I spiced it up a bit. There was nothing interesting on the train I was on, so I took the map out of my pocket and made some magic.

This would be the city of Ghent.  I didn't get a chance to draw, my brother wanted to keep moving. But this drawing captured the edge of a canal. I think drawing places is worth your time bc it makes you work on perspective and proportions.  

people dancing..

This one.. When we missed our train. (that's why I wrote, "I hate fuk'n trains.." in the bottom right corner) So at 3 A.M. I drew this train station. No matter how complicated your view is before your eyes, always try to capture as much as you can on the page. Draw every pipe, every line, every bench, no matter how far or irrelevant it is. I didn't get to finish bc our train came. So after one painstaking hour this is all I could sketch down. There were tons of beams and wires in this station but I tried any way. Don't always go for the easy landscapes and the easy environments, CHALLENGE YOURSELF!!!

I sat in a park and drew a Museum...

More people posing and climbing a statue. The lady in the bottom right is on a bicycle taking a picture..,just in case you were wondering.

At another park in Europe... or outside my apartment in California.. hmm. now I got you wondering... goes to show that people no matter how different we perceive ourselves to be from one another, we are more a like than we would like to admit.  

Looking outside my Hostel window out onto an Amsterdam street. Yes that a canal in there too, hence the boat. 

A lot of live music over there in Germany, and what did they play? BOB MARLEY :) 

He gave an hour long show for some coins, turned out he plays at the local bar and just decides to play in the plaza once in a while.

So sorry for not being around to post something in so long, but I'm back now, so expect some awesomeness on this blog soon. Remember to draw draw draw. You don't need to put aside 3 hours to draw. All you need is 30 seconds. Just do it.

-Danny

Noticing Something Different

"Danny! Where have you been?"

    Animating. Yes Cars 2 is done, but I am currently animating for the California College of the Arts Animation Show. They asked me to do the Opening Title Card of this years show in May. MAY!? Wait, that's like.. Tomorrow! I know. That's why I have been busy animating like a beast. I'll be sure to post it once my animation is done.

_______________________________________________________

   --In the mean while I want to touch upon  a little rant on work flow and on how to make your work a little unique.

    You can ask a thousand times for the best tips and what do the Pro's do to stay focused but it all that doesn't really help when YOU are in YOUR work flow. But maybe my way of staying focused when I'm in the middle of doing a marathon of animation (like I am now) and the finish line seems so far away.

    I need something thought provoking, something to makes me think. What makes me think? Great art makes me think. But hanging pictures and stuff on my walls doesn't cut it all the time. I need the ear phones on full blast. But there's a lot of crap out there that tries to call it's self music. A lot of music I like for two reasons, 1) either I like HOW IT SOUNDS, or 2) I like WHAT IT SAYS. and when I come across something combining both elements.. well that's rare. (Like The Beatles)

    This is a recent song I found that has both elements for me. And the best part is that it makes me think, and when I think: I animate faster (I don't know why) I seem to solve problems faster and everything flows smoothly. (Holy crap! Is this what A BRAIN IS FOR?????)

Lupe Fiasco - 'Words I Never Said"


      I like it. Not because what he says is controversial and true, no I like it because HE is putting his thoughts on the forefront of his work. He is not  talking about b*tches and getting those Dolla Dolla Bills. You feel like you know him after you listen to the album. And I love when people put themselves into their art to make it specific. If you cannot tell nothing about a person after seeing a chunk of their art then it most likely there was a very good chance the work was dull, superficial or flat. It's not wrong if it is flat or superficial, it just is what it is.
      I try to inject my thoughts into my art when ever I can. Most noticeably in my roughly put together piece for my schools animation show in 2010 "A Comment on Animation" You see little things on how I like things outside the box, thoughts about the animation business, my like for science fiction zombie flicks, me being an atheist, how I like nature (otherwise I wouldn't of spent two weeks animating that damn seedling growing) etc etc...   You cannot be timid to say what you want to say. Even if it's political or personal, just say it.  



    If you ever want to stick out of a crowd, STOP wasting time looking for unique ideas when The most unique thing in the world is RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.

    Nobody is like you. NOBODY IS EXACTLY LIKE YOU. So you want your demo reel to stick out from the rest? Inject some personality in it, your personality. Say what you want to say and make do you best work on it, make it GOOD.


-Daniel Gonzales

A Thinking Mind pt 3/3

So this is the 3 part of 3 in my rant about art. enjoy...

-Concepts In Art

        So in the last posts I spoke of how (fine) art cannot just look good but also needs have a thought behind it. You cannot just make pretty muffins as an artist. There is no message or thought in your product. The same goes with concept making, you cannot have only strong concepts and not be able to communicate that through your art. If a fine Art piece requires an artist statement in order to understand it, then the aesthetics are off thus failing as art.. Remember your work must be able to please the sences and at the same time make the audience think specifically what you intend them to think.
       You can't just be making concept after concept as if you were a philosopher then try to make art by slapping some dog shit on a canvas and then say, "This represents how the industry treats real artists..." That, I hope everyone would agree, is just a pile of crap on a canvass....  literally.

You must be both, the philosopher and the muffin maker to make a working aesthetic piece and have a concept.

summery- if the concept is strong- but it is presented badly... then FAIL. If it looks good but has no concept. .. why do you even bother creating things??

-More than a Concept
        It is not that simple just apply a concept and be done with your pretty piece.. Here's where I going to get a little dense. Regarding concepts and ideas pertaining to one's piece of art:
 -A piece of fine art induces much thought. BUT does not yield to the possibility of a definite thought, if it's just one idea then it's just a concept.

         Meaning, if your art piece says what it is meant to say right off the bat then the art piece is weak as a whole. The piece of art must invoke images and themes in your mind which surpass the ordinary experience. Remember a good piece of art you find yourself thinking about for a while. One doesn't need to be blunt and have that shock value in order to get one's thought across to his or her's audience. One doesn't need to spoonfeed their audience ideas, you let the art do the talking indirectly.

-You as an Artist
        As artists you might of notice sometimes we don't think the same as the general public does. In our minds there is cognition and imagination. In normal people cognition is the the regular, but not so in us, imagination is dominant. So think about what that allows you to do...

      -As Animators can create an emotion and a thought by just using body language. WALL-E did this for the whole first half an hour flawlessly.
      -As painter can make a composition and with a few colors you can set the whole mood of the painting.. Look at Van Goughs last painting he made before he committed suicide and I dare you to tell me there was no forshadowing...


'Wheatfield with Crows' - by Van Gogh, 1890: last weeks of his life

      -As a musician you can create great wonderful pieces with only six strings. You can create so much emotion with just sound...
And all the other artists out there are capable of so much as well. It is our imagination that allows us to do that. We can recompose the things around us, this allows artist to change the world around them. This is how humans surpass nature. With science, nature is never surprised by what we discover, but with Art nature is dumbfounded in our ability to create wholly never before seen things.

      Not only do we make concepts but we make them into experiences for others to feel. Thats what Art is. All together it becomes more than a concept, it becomes an aesthetic idea.

      A culture is only as great as it's artist and a civilization lives on through it's ideas and art. That's right. Feel that pressure. There are a lot of bad artist out there but nonetheless they are trying. It is up to you to bear humanities future in your creativity with simplicity and elegance.
     One last note before I end this, do not undervalue your personal tastes. 'Taste clips the wings of geniuses' Kant said this and rightly so. You can't just make pure imaginational nonsense. Your taste needs to be the deciding factor when trying to decide when a piece of work is done. When you are judging what stays and what goes, that's is your taste at work. The ability to stand back and evaluate your own art to your liking and from others perspective is crucial. Because it's useless if you have a million ideas but can not reflect on them, if that was the case you would forever combine all ideas all the time and make pure nonsense as long as you live.
So there.
     I hope I gave you enough to THINK about and that it helps you develop your own understanding about what it means to be an artist, to create art, and the idea of beauty.

     Now you should have a good understanding why 'Avatar' was beaten by 'The Hurt Locker' for last year's Best Picture Award at the Oscars. Avatar was about concepts, (the movie told us 'this is good, this is bad' etc etc) as good as the film was made, it had bad aesthetics when compared to the Hurt Locker. It was all on the surface.. Hurt Locker on the other hand went MUCH deeper than Avatar. It showed you a character and gave you the experience and emotion he went through. How he thought, what he felt, all the grey areas with all of life's complications. It made one think about what we value in life. Hurt locker deserved to win and the Academy members saw that as well. So kudo's to Cameran's ex wife for making The Hurt Locker. I bet that stung him a little...

-Daniel Gonzales

PS. I should be responding very soon to your emails if you have sent me one. And if you had given me a business card I going to give priority to the ones who have emailed me first (because their work is usually linked in the email.) So if you gave me a business card I would advise to email me if you want a speedier response. Other wise I will get to you eventually. As for what I will speak of next? Leave a Comment about what you would like to hear. From Blocking in animation, to a little rant on composition. What ever you would like to see. If you want me to publicly critique something for all to see or watch a step by step progress of how I do my work. The sky is the limit. Thanks.