Video To Iphone: March 2015

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Im Now an Intern!

I have great news to share! Today I accepted a remote 3D animation internship position at Kashmir World Foundation! Ill be working with a team of animators to animate characters in videos promoting the foundations various projects. The ideas for the videos sound very interesting, so I cant wait to start working with everybody!

If you havent heard of the foundation, you should stop by their website. KwF is doing some great things, especially with 3D printed drones. Take a look!

I dont know when our first animation project will be finished, but I cant wait to show it to you guys when we release it to the public!

Until next time!

- Savanna

The Souffle Girl! Its a Who ednesday !

Doctor Whos (Oswin) Oswald/Clara/SouffleGirl

Slight spoilers from the last season and 2012 Doctor Who Christmas Special ahead...

Well in the last Doctor Who Christmas Special, we got a good introduction to Clara (Oswin) Oswald (played by Jenna Louise Coleman) whos a mysterious girl with a way of seemingly dying but showing up elsewhere in time with a different life, but still herself - not completely unlike the Doctor himself. Interesting.

Anyway, more versions of Clara-Oswin-Oswald-Souffle-Girl-Whoever-She-Is coming soon!

For some reader submitted art today, heres Joes take on some Punx drawings. Looks like he had fun! Thanks Joe!

Are you ready to fail

Do you ever feel that feeling of resistance to start something new or difficult? Do you ever fear failure? And more importantly: do you let the fear stop you doing it anyway?

Heres something I learned in the past years: if youre not failing every once in a while, youre not trying hard enough.

This works on many levels. But Im not here to give you life lessons, and I certainly dont feel experienced enough to do so. But I do know this:

You like drawing and sketching? But maybe you feel intimidated by other peoples art, or even by a blank page on which you dont know how to start. You feel fear. Fear that the drawing you make will come out wonky. Fear that you will be unhappy with the result of your efforts. Fear of disappointing yourself.

Do you let the fear hold you back from doing it anyway?
What is worse: 1)feeling frustrated because youre not trying, or 2)making a drawing that doesnt turn out as quite the masterpiece you want it to be?

Heres one of my favorite quotes, by Victor Kiam:

"Even if you fall on your face, youre still moving forward".
I think that hits the nail right on its head.

If I would have followed my fears instead of following my heart, I would never have started my first online drawing course, Just Draw It. or any of the online classes that followed. Yes, I encountered quite some failures along the way, but I learned from my mistakes and moved on. And then, the stumbling forward became a confident walk. Or at least, I feel proud every time when participants tell me about their aha-moments and when I see their progress during the 5 weeks of the course.

This is what Christel says about Just Draw It: "These five last weeks, I have tried several techniques that I would not have tried on my own. I like the way you approach each new subject, building up our skills step by step. You make complicated subjects simple and fun! And I loved the atmosphere in the class. "

Barbaras exercise page during the lesson Colours in Just Draw It.

This is what Barbara says: "I expected to gain some fundamental drawing techniques. I did, but I gained so much more! Your lessons were clear and well-structured, and included just enough difficulty to stretch my drawing "muscles". But your greatest strength is in the conscientious way you followed up with every posting and every question, guiding each student to develop his/her understanding, and individual style. In addition, you facilitated the camaraderie of a lovely, supportive group of classmates which made the experience even more rewarding. This combination of teacher and classmates has enabled confidence in my abilities, a confidence that had previously eluded me. I am now finally using those art materials Id stockpiled, and Im no longer afraid to practice, practice, practice (with patience and perseverance, of course)"

When youre developing a (new) skill, you make mistakes. Or, as Bob Ross used to call them: Happy accidents. Then you look at them, and learn from them. Next time, instead of fearing that failure, you tackle it and go forward. You make it a failure-feast and in the end, you gained lots of new skills and experience. Not to mention, the whole adventure you went through.

So, heres a question for you: Are you ready to go and fail at something?

Check out my online course Just Draw It by clicking here. It starts August 4 and runs for five weeks. You can join and Ill be guiding you through those weeks for just $99.
I hope to see you in class!

Selfie in graphite

I realize I posted quite a few grumpy selfies lately. To make up for it, heres one with some more effort and time - I totally enjoyed doing this.

Marvel Comics The Avengers Hawkeye

Hawkeye

With the Avengers movie coming up real soon, and the Avengers vs X-men event going on at Marvel, I wanted to concentrate on another oft-requested Avenger - Hawkeye! Stay tuned, movie version coming up here as well very soon.

And while youre here, check out this great Punx inspired Frodo sent in by Jordan!

And check out this great one by Sam - based on the acclaimed Sherlock TV show! Click to embiggen!

By The Power Of Grayskull

He-man, Skeletor, He-man (Cartoon version)

Man I loved these guys.

I loved raising a stick over my head and yelling "I HAVE THE POOOWWWERRRR!

I loved seeing a young man surge with energy and become a legendary warrior.

I loved the feeling I got just by holding the chunky toys in my hand.

I loved the mountain of Masters of the Universe weapons lying on the floor.

I loved the bold image of He-Man mounted upon the faithful Battle-Cat.

I loved that Castle!

I loved being a kid.

Month of MARVEL Day 10

She-Hulk

Shes not just the "girl version" of the Hulk. Jennifer Walters is the green-skinned lawyer-by-day who, unlike her unruly cousin, can kick butt and still keep herself under control.

I dont expect to see her grace the silver screen anytime soon, but hey, who knows?

Illustration Friday Energy

This weeks topic for Illustration Friday is Energy

Well, I do punch bag training twice a week and the workout gives me so much energy. Sometimes after the training I feel absolutely knocked out (by the punch bag? really?) but my head is empty from thoughts and I will feel almost high on endorphines. Its a great training, a lot of fun, and I have to admit I think its kind of cool too. I love putting on my boxing gloves and forget about everything for that hour of training.
More energy? Yes! I recently found out that the shop around the corner sells coconut water, and I absolutely love the taste of it! It reminds me of hot afternoons in Thailand, where you can buy fresh coconuts, they cut the top right off, and put a straw in it. The best drink ever! And healthy too (yay!).

Blueberries for breakfast

This morning I had Blueberries for Breakfast. I love summer! Of course I needed to draw them.

I will post a nice scan of the finished sketchbook page later.

On my Facebook page I got some questions about the color pencils I use and I thought it would be interesting to share here too:
These are Staedler, Ergosoft. The white rim is the so called abs system - its supposed to prevent the core to break and it seems to work. The pencils each have their own compartment in their box, so that also helps preventing damage. I bought a small set of 12 on an impulse (didnt need them, just because I am addicted to drawing materials) and Im happily surprised about how they feel in my hand (triangle shaped) and how great they are to work with.
Price/quality proportion = very good!

Introducing Bobby the Bobcat

Well, the model is actually very gender neutral, so it could be a girl, too. But I started calling it Bobby a while ago, so now its just a habit.

Originally, I was just going to post some stills of the model once I got his textures back on him, but instead Ive got something better: a turnaround video. I found it when digging through my old files. It was made a little over two years ago, on February 15, 2010. Here it is:

Ive got to make some tweaks to the model (some areas look too square), and then Im going to get to rigging. The whole experience should be pretty interesting, since the last time I used Blender it was just 2.49b. Now it looks completely different. On top of that, Ive been using Maya for months. Im setting all my Blender presets to Maya, but that makes it a little difficult to follow some tutorials. Oh, well. Ill figure it all out.

Until next time!

Draw Tip Tuesday watercolor values

Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!
Last week I drew lemons, lets paint a lime today!
Like drawing values by hatching and cross hatching, you can paint gradations when using watercolors too. im showing you how in todays video.

Would you like to learn more about drawing values and colours? Hop into my online drawing course Just Draw It!: 5 weeks of drawing fun for only $99.

It started just yesterday so youre right in time to join now.

Ben 10

Ben Tennyson

Heres another request I thought might be fun to do.
You might not know anything about Ben 10 (I dont know much myself) but your kid brother or sister might...

You can see how much I love drawing people. I am challenging myself to draw a building every now and than. Great advantage: they dont move around like people do.

The drawings in grey are all done with my Pentel Sign pen ST150. The three drawings in the bottom are also done with a pentel pen - the Tradio Stylo TRJ50.

5 Tips to expand your illustration skills and style:

1. Use a few simple shapes to create a new one!

2. You dont need fancy and expensive art supplies to make art.
Use simple tools, like a ballpoint pen, to draw with.

3. Choose a simple recipe that you love, and try drawing it.

4.Use your imagination to bring character to your art. Simply stack it all together.

5. Are you a so-called foodie, like me? Do you like making stuff? Why dont you join me in my upcoming online class Draw It Like Its Hot!

Well be drawing food and illustrating recipes and its going to be a lot of fun!
Enroll today, go to: www.koosjekoene.nl

Illustration Friday Storm

This weeks topic on Illustration Friday is Storm. Heres my submission:

For this drawing, I first had an idea of hair, waving by the wind, which I drew quickly in the corner of a page on which I was writing down the transcript for one of my videos, in my online drawing course JustDrawIt!. I used two Conte-pencils for it: brown and orange.

Then I made a second drawing, using brown ink and the brown Conte-pencil. Didnt like it.

I just let it rest for a while and finally made my stormy drawing in my drawing journal. In the morning, I had an art date with my friend Yvonne. After that, I had dinner with my dad and sat down drawing with him as well.

Would you like to improve your drawing skills? JustDrawIt!, starting March 11, might be just the thing for you! Have a look here.

Journal Pages

Phew, theres so much awesomeness going on.
The very first semester of Sketchbook Skool has just finished and it was a tremendous succes. We are now working on all the good stuff coming up in the second kourse, which has the theme Seeing.
Just last weekend, Andrea Joseph (I know, she is an amazing illustrator!!) came over to Amsterdam, and she and I spent the weekend, filming the videos for her klass in the upcoming kourse. I got to see some (no, a lot) of her magic and I hope it rubbed off just a little on me.

It was hard work, but we also had a lot of fun, and I was glad that she enjoyed it after all, even though she was very hesitant towards the whole filming bit of the klass. It was great to spend the weekend with her. We had fun, and she really is a lovely person.
I have a huge pile of editing work to do now, but the things she showed in front of the camera are very inspiring and I know the whole skool is gonna love it. So... if you havent signed up for Sketchbook Skool yet: make sure to get yourself a seat in klass! The kourse starts July 4 and you can click here to find out more and enroll right away.

In the meantime, Spring is here, and I am teaching a fun workshop to start (and keep) art journaling:

Awesome Art Journaling.

The workshop starts May 26, and will be running for 4 weeks. After that, I will give you a workbook to take home and keep going on your new daily drawing habit.

So what are you waiting for? For only $69, you will get 4 weeks of fun, full of drawing tips, motivation and a kick-in-the butt for those procrastinators out there.

Click here to enroll today.

Does this post look like an advertisement? Sorry about that, if you dont like it. Its just that I am just so excited about the online classes, and I want to share it with everyone!

Draw Tip Tuesday Drawing Trash

Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!
This drawing is trash. And by that, I dont mean I dont like the result. No, I drew a piece of trash. Who says theres nothing to draw? Theres beauty in everything around us!

Do you need more art prompts or ideas to fill your journal pages? Join me in my online workshop Awesome Art Journaling. It started just yesterday, and for $69 you can still join the 4 weeks of drawing fun, and get an extra push to get you going in the new creative year. To sign up, click here.

Zen circles ensos

When people think about Zen and drawing, Zen circles (Ensos) and drawings in ink are usually the first things that come to mind. But there are many ways to draw the Zen way. The word Zen refers to the state of mind during the drawing process, and not necessarily to a drawing method as such.

There is however a difference between drawing a Zen circle and Zen drawing. When drawing a Zen circle you do not have an example of a circle in front of you, You are asked to draw a circle from memory. If you draw a circle you have to enter your inner world for inspiration. The best way to achieve this is by concentrating and trying to be still. When you feel that the time is right, and your concentration is high, you draw the circle in one single movement. The circle will reflect your concentration and by looking at it, you will probably remember at what point you were ín the moment and at what point you lost concentration because you got distracted.

Take a look at this video and you will see how it works. I love this lady, she is very honest and open about her Zen circle. It looks perfect, but in het openess she tells us wehere she went wrong because she got distracted by her thoughts. It is this openess towards yourself is so important for your own personal growth.

In realistic Zen drawing your drawing can also be seen as a reflection of your concentration. The difference is, that you focus on a object and by focussing and concentrating on that object you will connect with it. Realistic Zen drawing will help you to look at the world without any projections.

Sadly, there are very few videos on the internet about realistic Zen drawing. Maybe one day I will make my own, so keep posted! But when you look at the videos on this blog, you will have a clear idea of the essence of realistic Zen drawing: finding focus and concentration, a still mind and total committment to the moment.

Take a look at this video about making Zen circles with a broom (!!) and you will see, that you can make extraordinay things just by concentrating and focussing. Have fun watching and trying!

Journal Urban sketches 2

Last week I shared a few of my urban sketches. Heres a few more:

This is the square around the corner. There was a fun festival going on that week, so a few caravans were parked in there (at night they were used for selling drinks and snacks). With the planted palm trees on the square, and the morning sun, I almost felt like I wasnt in Amsterdam when I sat down to draw this morning sketch, but somewhere on a southern vacation!

I got a bit frustrated by not being able to draw the palm trees the right way in the first drawing, so I focused on the building on the other side of the street and drew this.

This was a very relaxing sketch, done in the Jordaan in Amsterdam

Video To Iphone

Pages

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Im Now an Intern!

Saturday, March 28, 2015

The Souffle Girl! Its a Who ednesday !

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Are you ready to fail

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Selfie in graphite

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Marvel Comics The Avengers Hawkeye

Monday, March 16, 2015

By The Power Of Grayskull

Friday, March 13, 2015

Month of MARVEL Day 10

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Illustration Friday Energy

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Blueberries for breakfast

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Introducing Bobby the Bobcat

Draw Tip Tuesday watercolor values

Ben 10

Illustrated life quote

Sketching on location

5 Tips to grow your illustration skills