Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Hotel Transylvania Concept Art

I know that these concept art sheets from HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA are already all over the internet but I just wanted to share them here in case anyone missed them. I love these all, they are such an inspiration!
 
 
 
 









Monday, September 14, 2015

Every Damn Day

There is an old maxim that goes behind the philosophy of any art form and that is important for any one trying to do anything in life really. That is the old adage; practice, practice, practice. Not that I am anywhere in life as it is right now but I know this one all too well. It is important to make sure that everyday you do something toward your art form (writing, illustration, photography, acting, etc.,) in order to actually further yourself.

You can all you want to, do one thing of your art and then try to promote the Hell out of it as you can, and then if you get somewhere with that awesome, but more often then not I have learned myself from doing such a thing that you end up just being disappointed. Instead of focusing on promoting one thing and putting all of your energy into that (which can work of course), I would say that while your putting the right amount of energy into it you also keep yourself moving and working on your next project and just plain old doing little exercises to keep your skills tight and ever evolving.

The mass amount of artists out there (in any form or shape) is amazing and great, especially now in this age of digital media and social media. It is a wonderful thing that there are so many different outlets out there for anyone to try out to get their story and their art out in the world. The world is diverse and huge and everyone has something to say.

This does however also make it harder for everyone to discern what artist is actually worth the time of any major company right now. Which ones are truly ready for their shot.

None the less it is great that so many people are waking up everyday now and focusing their energy on creating art.

The bottom line is that everyday you must do something to better your art and yourself! Something small to the start of something huge! Keep your goals in mind at all time!

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

My Top Five Books on Writing

Here it is a list of the top five books on writing in my opinion. These are the books I have read and often look back to understand the nature of the beast of what I am attempting to do each time I set pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Get them any where books are sold!

1. STORY by Robert McKee
2. SCREENWRITING FOR DUMMIES
3. HOW TO WRITE WHAT YOU WANT AND SELL WHAT YOU WRITE by Skip Press
4. WRITERS ON COMIC SCRIPTWRITING by Mark Salisbury
5. THE DC COMICS GUIDE TO WRITING by Dennis O'Neil

These books are chalk full of great tips and tricks and craftwork all told by master craftsman themselves. STORY teaches you practically everything you need to know to what makes a story work with plenty of examples from popular films and television shows. The second book teaches the same thing practically just more so about the business side to it. The third book by Skip Press is a great tool for quick tips on formatting and the business side as well. Mark Salisbury interviews various notable writers of comics in this great book, some authors are Neil Garman, Grant Morrison and Kurt Busik, among many others. The last one is a quick read with many examples from the various great comics by DC Comics with examples on how it is they have developed stories as a company.

I can't tell you how these books will help you in your process to writing your masterpiece, only you can figure that out. What I can tell you, is that you will enjoy reading and learning from these books immensely and think of them often. Get on it!