Tutorial: How to Draw a Manga Face

Graphic novel writer and artist, Mark Crilley, has posted a fantastic video tutorial on the general principles of drawing a realistic female manga face. He goes over the basic geometry and rule of thirds in making the structure of the skull, placement of the eyes, nose, mouth and chin. Crilley also gives clues on the staying within the artistic style of manga, such as the small nose and big eyes but still give a realistic portrait. Check out his fine tutorial HERE.

Inspirational: The Unexpected Creates Big Impact

One of the biggest thrills I get is seeing art and animation used in unexpected ways. MUSE Amsterdam and Starcom did just that for client Samsung in a cutting edge marketing campaign last month. The ad campaign has two elements to it, a live event and recorded but interactive replay of the event.

First, they created a live event in front of an eager crowded street watching an overlaid projection of 3D artwork onto a historic building. The animation shows the building cracking and bursting open with butterflies, water and vines. It's a beautiful example of their client's new 3D-Outdoor projection system. Also at the live event, representatives showcase the new 3D LED TV for visitors and they have a drawing for visitors to win one of their own.

Second, for the vast audience unable to attend the live event in Amsterdam, they posted the video on YouTube. The video looks just like what you would expect from a normal YouTube page but then as the video shows the animation of the building cracking, the page suddenly cracks open with it revealing vines and water. The top YouTube banner falls to the bottom on the page and butterflies are flying out on the comments sections and thumbnail previews. A pop up informs the user to click on as many butterflies as possible for a chance to win their own Samsung 3D LED TV and the game begins! The final reveal has the building completely destroyed and showing the client's product.

It is a great balance of beautiful artwork, unexpected elements and interactivity. Have a look at the live event HERE and the interactive ad HERE.

Inspiration: Art Nouveau

I love the style of art called Art Nouveau ever since my eyes first saw it. One of the most important artists to popularize this style was the great illustrator, Alphonse Mucha, who designed many Paris posters in the late 1800s. The style spread quickly and into other fields of art like furniture, decor, architecture, jewelry and even can be seen in the stained glass style of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Common traits of Art Nouveau is symmetry,  ornate organic elements, mythology content, elaborate framing of the main subject, and a muted color palate. While browsing though the internet for inspiration, I found a collection of new artists with a new take on this classic style. Have a look HERE. I really like the Iron Man Art Nouveau piece HERE as well.

Software Review: Google Sketchup

Google has come out with a pretty impressive free 3D CAD program called Sketchup. I gave it a try and really like what I see. Most of the tools are intuitive and with a little practice, this could be a very useful tool for 3D models and animation in presentations, digital art and more. It is able to import existing CAD designs as well as having an extensive model library, called 3D Warehouse, to place objects and buildings into to your design.The Layers feature does work differently than most programs. Be sure to watch the useful tutorial on that HERE. Most of the other tools have modifier keys like CONTROL and SHIFT so play around to get the feel for it or watch other useful tutorial videos HERE.There is also a growing community for Google Sketchup with an online forum, contests and a gallery. Check it out!

Inspiration: Illustrations by Daniel Conway

The incredible digital illustrations of Daniel Conway are featured on Abduzeedo's graphic design blog. Check out the featured list of illustrations HERE. For more of Conway's artwork, check out his Deviant Art page HERE.

Software Review: Kdenlive

The open source community has released a  free video editing program called Kdenlive. This great program can do all the basic multi-track video editing you would expect plus comes with some preset effects and title animations. It is available for download on the Mac, a wide variety of open source operating systems (i.e. Ubuntu) and can be run on a live DVD or live USB stick for Windows users (boots into Linux). I recommend taking a look at NixelPixie's tutorial which gives a great walk through of the software and can be seen HERE.

Tutorial: UsabilityPrinciples

Last weekend, I went to a technology show and tell called BarCamp. It had three venues and there were half an hour presentations all day long. One of the most impressive presentations I saw was by a Full Sail University professor, Chris Burke, on usability principles. He was nice enough to share his presentation online and I encourage you to have a look at it HERE. BarCamp exists in many cities, so if you don't live in Orlando, please check locally to see if there is one by you. It is a free event.