HAT LIEBERMAN

OH, THAT'S HOW IT WORK...

2012-02-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Nate V. for pointing out how it's done. All my panels are gonna have monsters in them.

-Hat

AHHHHHHH

2012-02-13T06:57:00.000-08:00

So busy, haven't had time to post. I need to do a proper update post, but essentially this is what has happened:

-moved to NY
-work for Blue Sky

It's been crazy and fun. Up until now my whole feature career had been with Dreamworks, and although a lot of things are the same, some things are different... very different... see below.

BRODENTS

2012-01-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

Just a random doodle

POKEMONS

2011-12-21T15:21:00.001-08:00

I was drawin some pokemons when my friend said I should post them online, so I posted them for my friend :)

I drew them without looking at any reference just to see what would happen. What I learnt; I have no idea what Bulbasaur actually looks like.

-Hat

HAIR HAIR

2011-12-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

I've felt particularly motivated of late, it's nice. Life is better when you choose to view it in a positive light. Good things will happen accordingly, and good things are happening.

At the moment my hair is as long as it's ever been.

I also doodled;

-Happy Hat

BEWARE...

2011-12-05T15:45:00.000-08:00

Random studio drawing of the day;

-Hat

WHY SO SERIOUS

2011-11-29T13:45:00.001-08:00

Random studio drawing of the day;

-Hat

JUST DRAWING

2011-11-23T15:49:00.001-08:00

Decided to just draw...
Will do a CTN post soon.

-Hat

SCRATCH

2011-11-09T10:42:00.000-08:00

Warm up dudes;

-Hat

THE RETURN OF GHOST BEAVER

2011-11-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

A day after Halloween, I figured this was as good a time as any to post something Ghost Beaver related (groundhogs day would have been good too). I was originally saving this whole little visual anthology as a back-up plan in case I didn't finish my comic in time for CTN. But I did finish my comic, so figured I'd just post it;

Maybe I'll have a few prints made for CTN, not sure yet.

-Hat

CTN READY

2011-10-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

Finally finished my comic and got all the files off to the printer... Now just waiting on the books. Another preview;

I will be at CTNx this year selling the comic, along with my friend/big brother/cubie/relationship coach/the toothless wonder Jeff Biancalana who has a killer comic of his own. See below images for CTN details;

Hope to see you there.

HAT-SCRATCH SNEAK PEEK

2011-09-07T01:23:00.000-07:00

To make up for the lack of posts I decided to put up a preview-panel from the comic I'm working on... so without further a-jew;

For the record this panel has absolutely nothing to do with what the comic is about.

-Hat

ASDHSDSKJDLFS

2011-08-14T15:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in for ages... I'm trying to finish a comic I've been working on. It is taking long time. Anyways, here are some random scratch doodles;

I will probably be handing these little pieces of paper out to passerbyers at CTNX

-Hat

Oh and I did a little guest contribution for my friendses Lindsey and Stevie's new blog about what their dogs do when they ain't home. Check it out for maximum chuckles.

DEMO BOARD

2011-08-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

This is a quick little demo I did for a friend of mine, showing him what a storyboard artist does, and what storyboards look like. I asked him for a topic, he said 'an apple falls from a tree'. Below is a gif of the resulting boards. These took about about 20-25 minutes;

Click on thumbnail for full size or click here

-Hat

MORE SCRATCHES

2011-07-12T11:40:00.001-07:00

I copied drawings from Pat Ventura's blog. If you havn't seen it, you should.

MAD

2011-07-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

quick warm up doodles. These are the guys I've been drawing for the last two years of my life... and I still can't get them right.

Sorry for lack of posts, quite busy. Lots of things going on.

-Hat Lemurman

Eh.

2011-06-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

stuff.

HOT

2011-06-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

It's crazy hot in Redwood today... Here are some random doodles from the day.

Also, apparently my blog counter started recording where specifically each hit is coming from... this made me mega-LOL;

I want to live there.

-Mayor of Hatfield

GETTING WARMER

2011-06-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

More warm up;

WARMING UP

2011-06-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

Warm up doodles

-Hat

UNOVA STARTERS

2011-06-09T09:26:00.001-07:00

CHINA TRIP

2011-06-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a while, been in China.

It definitely opened my eyes to new design possibilities. Their stylistic sensibilities are fun and different and I like them.

A few quick doodles done from memory;

-Mao zi

GHOST BEAVER PRINT

2011-05-24T15:52:00.001-07:00

Hi.

Question for you.

I recently completed a small visual anthology of Ghost Beaver. It is a handful of small vignettes strung together into a little story. Below is a preview.

Except the final piece has color and junk.

I was thinking about having prints made and selling it as a kind of poster (I am going to be at CTN Expo at the end of this year). Would you buy one? Be honest.

PS they'd probably be pretty cheap.

HONEY-BALL

2011-05-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

Random studio drawing of the day;

-Honey-Hat

GHOST BEAVER 2

2011-05-16T11:14:00.001-07:00

Ghost and Beaver are best friends. They hang out and do ghost/beaver things.

GHOST BEAVER

2011-05-13T10:09:00.001-07:00

Some random doodles I did yesterday. I drew a ghost, then I drew a beaver, then I drew a ghost beaver, but then I drew a ghost and a beaver together.

RANDOM BOBBAK DRAWING

2011-05-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

This is our story coordinator Bobbak. I draws him a lot.

A NOT-SO-EPIC SATURDAY NIGHT

2011-05-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

I love the little stories Megan Nicole Dong and Rad, among others, have been posting. I wanted to join in on the fun, except nothing exciting happens in my life. Here is proof;

MORE STUFF I'VE LEARNED ABOUT STORYBOARD

2011-04-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

I posted this on the art center blog a few days ago, forgot to put it up here.

These next few tip sheets examine the elements of design; line, shape, space and value, and how to incorporate them into your storyboards to help direct the eye and clarify information. The focus here is not the cinematics of stroyboarding but the execution of idea to paper and ultimately how to utilize design principles to achieve desired results in an efficient way within a given panel or shot. Storyboarding is not necessarily about drawing 'good' but drawing effective.

NOTE:  There are two other elements of design, texture and color. However they  would only be used in rare cases with storyboards and when employed  probably wouldn't be for design purposes but most likely for  clarification (I.e. using colors to keep track of specific objects of  similar size and shape in a given sequence, such as stones or gems, that  each have varying story-specific trajectories). 

Below  are a few examples of how incorporating varying line thickness into a  panel can help clarify not only the information presented, but the depth  of the shot. There  are many things you can do within a given panel to help focus or direct  the eye to the important information. A simple way to achieve this is  through contrast. Contrast can exist in many forms, and below we look at  how contrast within a specific design element (shape, space, value) can  create a focal point.
 
Now we can take these principles and incorporate them into storyboard panels.
I  got a bit 'wordy' on the tip sheet above. I think the most important  thing to take away from the sewer-rat example above is realizing that  even though panel 1 and 3 are the exact same compositions, the shading  can either greatly enhance (1) or greatly distract (3) from the  important information. This holds true of the other design principles as  well. Thinking about these principles while you are boarding can help  in creating clear and easy to read compositions. 

Storyboards,  by nature, are disposable. They are not finished pieces of artwork. The  main goal is to present ideas on paper quickly and clearly. Design  principles can help sell ideas very effectively in storyboards. Below  are a few more examples;

There  is no single 'right' way to present an idea visually. The 'blimp' idea,  for instance, could easily be boarded successfully in a variety of  different ways. Ways that would vary in stylistic choices based on the artist, but that could all achieve the same goal of focusing the  attention on the blimp. In fact there are probably compositions that  could be more successful than the one presented.

So start experimenting with design principles and find ways to incorporate them into your boards that work for you.

As  per my previous posts, I reserve the right to be wrong. These are  simply tricks and tips I've picked up along the way that I've found to  be successful in my own work.

-Hat

MORE SCRATCH

2011-03-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

Sum more Scratch doodles. This time I copied a lot of David Gemmill's stuff. He's awesome, you should check out his stuff.

_Hat

DESK CLEAN UP: MEETING DOODLES

2011-03-28T11:05:00.001-07:00

Cleaned up my desk at the studio today, I'm really bad about keeping my workspace tidy. There were piles of paper everywhere, but I did find lots of doodles from meetings/cereal breaks of past. Here is a compilation of desk cluster;

Am I the only one who's desk gets out of control? Nevertheless, when I do finally get around to straightening things up, I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside, perhaps one of those precious little parts of life that is often over-looked.

-Hat

SCRATCH DOODLES

2011-03-25T02:38:00.000-07:00

I stole most of the poses from Rex Hackelberg.

-Hat

BI-DAILY: RAIN

2011-03-22T23:24:00.001-07:00

BI DAILY: BEAR

2011-03-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

I call this one 'Bare Bear Underwear'

After drawing it, I realized I really want that hat.

-Hat

BI DAILY: COLD FEET & EARTHY

2011-03-09T16:37:00.001-08:00

Cold feet;
Earthy;

-Hat

HAN DRAWN STORYBOARDS

2011-03-07T23:12:00.000-08:00

I recently struck up an online conversation with Han, an aspiring animator/artist. She just posted her first pass at storyboarding on her blog, which I was thoroughly impressed with (without question better than any of my first few attempts).

I had some advice for her, primarily some principles she could look to incorporate into her boards as she moves forward, that I think will really help take her sequences to the next level. She was kind enough to allow me to post my notes here, so that others could benefit and learn from her work!

To illustrate the principles and techniques, I took a single panel from her sequence and drew over it. I gradually built up a new panel using hers as a starting point.
(The entire sequence can be seen on her blog, however for the sake of clarity I chose to focus on one panel.)

1. ORIGINAL PANEL FROM HAN'S SEQUENCE:

Conceptually, it is a good.
-She has clearly established a screen relationship between two characters (left and right).
-Indicated an envirment (the mountain range in the background)
-Suggested a certain degree of depth.
My main note, push it! push it good! Push the depth! Push the background! Take the concept of this shot and push it to find a more interesting and compelling compostition.

2. DRAW YOUR GRIDS!

I started my redraw with a horizon line and laying down a grid.

Laying down your grid is something that's been pounded into my head by almost every feature board artist I've ever worked with. It'll help clarify your depth, and can be used as a guide for incorporating mid/forground elements (illustrated in Step 5.)

Trust me, lay down your grids, it'll help!

3. PUSH THE DEPTH

In her original panel, there is a lot of empty space around the characters, not particularly interesting visually. I drew over the characters, using my grid as a guide, and tried to push the depth.

By pushing the depth, bringing one character closer and pushing one further away, you can create a much more engaging composition, as well as utlizing the real estate of the panel more effectively.

4. USE THE BACKGROUND TO ENHANCE THE COMPOSITION

You can use background elements to enhance a composition and direct the eye.
The important information in the above panel is the charatcers, so everything else in the composition should support that. Keeping that in mind, we can use mountain ranges in the background to help lead the eye to the character.

5. POPULATE THE MID-GROUND

Put some junk in the mid-ground.

Populating the mid-ground can help in a few ways:
-Further help define the enviroment
-Help push the depth by incorporating over-lapping elements as well as visual depth cues (things getting smaller as they recede)

6. A LITTLE SHADING GOES A LONG WAY

In the original panel the shading was a bit too detailed yet oddly unspecific. You can simplify the shading by thinking about it in terms of foreground, midground and background.

I did a quick shade pass over the panel using each object's relative position in the composition, how close/far away it is from us, and shaded accordingly.
We can also use shadows to help direct the eye (just like the background) by having them point towards other important information.

Below is a gif of the progression so you can see how being concious of these principles while your boarding can really help enhance your work. UPDATE:(You may need to click on it to see it animate)

With storyboarding it is just a matter of getting sequences under your belt, the more you board, the better you get, plain and simple. Don't be discouraged if you don't see immediate improvement. It takes time for these principles to become second nature, the most important thing is that you are aware of them and how they can affect your work.

Han is off to an amazing start, I can't wait to see where she goes from here!

A big thanks to Han for allowing me to post this here. If you've taken anything away from this little break down, please visit Han's blog and thank her! It wouldn't have been possible without her hard work and generosity.

-Hat

BI DAILY: WATER PRESSURE

2011-03-04T19:08:00.001-08:00

I was honored when Jeff Snow asked me to come up with today's Bi-Daily theme. I felt pressured to come up with an awesome theme, and then it hit me in the shower... "water pressure".

Below is my submission.

Perhaps one of my more cerebral contributions.

check out;
Dave P
Jeff Snow

Also a whole slew of Bi-Dailies from Steve Macleod.

-Hat

BI DAILY: SOUR

2011-03-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

See other sour drawings;
Dave P
Jeff Snow

BI-DAILY DRAWING: PAMPER

2011-03-02T03:08:00.000-08:00

Today's theme (technically yesterday's): Pamper

Check out all the others yo;
Dave P
Jenny Lerew
Jeff Snow

Normally I try and spend a little extra time on these bi-daily drawlings, to make em look nice, because quite frankly everyone else doing them is super awesome and their drawings are amazing, but I cranked this one out pretty quickly.

Dig in.

-Hat

BI DAILY: BATTERED COD

2011-02-22T15:18:00.001-08:00

This was the first thing that came to mind;

Be sure to check out all the other guys' drawings, they are all awesome and hilarious, some of my favorites out of all the Bi-Daily batches so far... and who would have thought with a theme like 'battered cod'.

Jeff Snow
Dave P
Dave Derrik

-Hat

LINE UP

2011-02-19T23:59:00.001-08:00

I was going through one of my older sketch books (from back before I knew anything about drawing), and came across a bunch of crude characters that made me laugh. So I thought I'd take a stab at updating their designs;

-Hat

BACK IN BUISNESS; BI-DAILY DRAWING: TRESPASSING

2011-02-18T02:33:00.001-08:00

So according to Dave Pimentel, the Bi-Daily drawing challenge is back on! Every other day, new theme, new drawing.
Today's word was 'Trespassing'

As always, anyone interested in participating is welcome to join.

-Hat

WARM UP DOODLES

2011-02-15T01:51:00.001-08:00

Some warm up doodles done recently prior to getting down and dirty on a comic I'm working on.

-Warm Hat

OTTERS IN ACTION

2011-02-11T01:05:00.001-08:00

Another Pokemon piece. It was actually inspired by Rad Sechrist and the stuff he posts on his blog. He is crazy good, his compositions are so dynamic and interesting. I've been trying to get better at those kinds of things, so this was an attempt at that.

-Hat

OTTERS IN THE HOOD

2011-02-02T23:28:00.000-08:00

I go through phases where all I want to draw is pokemon... I am currently in one of said phases. If I had my own pokemon, after he battled this is how I'd let him relax and regain his strength. Pokeballs are animal torture.

-Hood Hat

PS- Just noticed this is my 200th blog post... and I posted a drawing of myself, barefoot, carrying a pocket monster in my hood...kind of a waste of a landmark post. Oh well, I'll try again at 300.

RUNNING WITH OTTERS

2011-01-31T16:48:00.000-08:00

Realized I hadn't posted anything in a while so did this little drawing.

-Hat

POKEMON INSPIRED PIECE

2011-01-23T00:25:00.000-08:00

Following up on the last post, here's a little piece I did inspired by Ken Sugimori.

I did a version that I had shaded, but liked this one with the flat color better.

-Hat-Man-Do

KEN SUGIMORI; POKEMON PERFECTION

2011-01-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

When I heard they were making a whole new generation of Pokemon I was pretty excited. I've been a fan of the franchise for a long time due in most part to the artwork and character design of lead Pokemon artist Ken Sugimori.

This guys is amazing. The amount of character he can convey in a single pose is mind-boggling. There are certain Pokemon he has designed and posed to an extent such that you know all you need know about that particular character from one drawing.

He has crafted, with Pokemon in particular, a style that is beautifully minimalistic yet complex at the same time, specifically in the anatomy, which contains brilliant subtleties all while maintaining the overall appeal. The hierarchy of details in his designs is unmatched. He has an uncanny ability in understanding where high volume areas of detail, as well as low volume areas, need to be in order to suggest types of fabric/skin/fur all without drawing attention to itself and distracting from the overall harmony of the design.

When I saw the 5th generation of pokemon I was, to say the least, underwhelmed with most of the designs. It's not that they were bad per say, it had more to do with the concepts behind a majority of them which seemed somewhat questionable for what I knew as 'Pokemon'. However, I got over my initial uncertainties about them, and at this time most of them have grown on me. So I decided to draw a few.

-PokeHat

NEIGHBORS FROM HELL BOARDS

2011-01-17T10:48:00.001-08:00

About a year ago I had the chance to board a sequence for 'Neighbors from Hell'. I recently found the clip I boarded online and figured it'd be ok to post the work I did. The show was awesome to work on. I like the designs a lot and I had a lot of fun drawing and posing the characters.

I think I've gotten better at drawing since having done this sequence and I can see things that I would have drawn differently, but I'm pretty happy with the shots and the flow of the sequence.

Below is the clip, the first 35 seconds is the stuff I boarded. The animation team did an amazing job matching and enhancing the poses and shots I boarded.

I'm not sure what happened to the show... I think it got canceled? I don't have a TV so I never saw it, did anyone see it?

-Hat

PIMENTELL ME TO DRAW

2011-01-13T19:13:00.000-08:00

I recently had the pleasure of catching up with my good friend, mentor and all-around awesome guy Dave Pimentel. This past year has been quite a challenge for me artistically. As I began storyboarding on my first animated feature I came to realize very quickly how far I needed to go in terms of drawing ability in order to get my sequences up to par with the other incredible story artists at the studio.

Reconnecting with Dave and listening to him talk made me realize how much fun drawing can be... and should be! He has reinvigorated my passion for drawing and inspired me to strive to get better. Dave is one of the main reasons I am where I am today and I owe much of my success to him.

I've taken Dave's words to heart and been drawing at every chance I get, even going as far as sketching during cereal break at the studio. Below are some doodles from said break;

Some 1 and 2 minute gesture drawings;

Random sketch book page;

A couple caricatures I did for and of some dudes at the studio;

If any of you ever get the chance to attend a Dave Pimentel talk or class DO IT! You will not be sorry.

-Hat

SCREAMING CONTEST

2011-01-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

They are having a screaming contest, for keeps!

-Hat

20!! THE INAUGURAL BLOG-URL

2011-01-03T14:25:00.000-08:00

Hi

Happy new year!

Thanks to all the peoples who stopped by my blog this past year, you are awesome. I hope this year I get a chance to meet some of you that I only know by artwork.

May all your dreams come true, and all that is true become a dream... not sure what that means but it sounded good.

-Hat

MONOCHRO-MANNY'S

2010-12-21T16:45:00.001-08:00

Random Manny's

MONO-KHAN-MATIC

2010-12-20T18:21:00.001-08:00

Just a buncha random Khan doodles.

MANNY AND KHAN DOODLES

2010-12-14T10:25:00.000-08:00

I been drawins Manny and Khan quite a bit lately, as me and Joe-dawg are working on some new Chronicle comics. These are some warm up doodles I did. Hopefully we'll have something to post soon.

-Hat-Man

OOGELY BOOGELY

2010-12-13T18:27:00.001-08:00

Just a random little doodle I did during the day.

BIANCA-LLAMA AND BEAVER BOY 2

2010-12-08T13:01:00.001-08:00

The new adventures of Bianca-Llama and Beaver Boy

(Add your own sound effects, it makes the drawing better).

-Hat

BIANCA-LLAMA AND BEAVER BOY!

2010-12-07T11:10:00.001-08:00

The residents of super-cube as animal themed super heroes. This is just one of those drawings that gets made after I say something stupid at the studio.
Note: The Bobcat is a super-villain

_Hat a.k.a Beaver Boy

MANNY AND KHAN COMIC STRIPS- VOL. 2

2010-12-05T23:15:00.001-08:00

A few more M&K strips. We actually made these about a year ago with the intentions of creating a weekly comic, lest me and Joey got busy with other shtuff... But Joey did such a kick-ass job inking and coloring these, I feel obligated to post them. And with the impending end of the calendar year it feels like a good time seeing as how the first two strips deal with Manny and Khan's new years resolutions;

Hope you enjoyed the antics of these idiots.

_Hat

KHAN POSE

2010-12-03T18:32:00.001-08:00

Found this old doodle I did of Khan that made me laugh, so I cleaned it up real quick...

_Hat

MANNY AND KHAN COMIC STRIPS

2010-12-01T22:37:00.000-08:00

A couple a' Manny and Khan comic strips me and Joey made;

-Hat

DOODLE DUMP

2010-11-27T00:54:00.000-08:00

I was talkin to Joey about a little project he's workin on, when I realized I hadn't really sat down and just 'drawn' in a long while. Doin boards for a studio takes up most of my time, but I was inspired by Joey to sit down and draw. Eventually I ended up with these three characters below.

There was something about rich pets that I thought was funny.

I Made a comic strip with a couple of them.

Below are some yeti doodles I did for Joey... you can never have too many yetis. You should check out his blog to see some of the awesome stuff he's doing.

Lasty, a caricature I did of our Head-of-Story of Mad3, Rob Koo. He has a blog, but it's mostly just pictures of his plants and fish.

Peace

-Hat

Oh yeah, my old high school did an interview with me recently, and posted it on their website. If anyone is interested in hearing me talk about my life's journey thus far check out the video below. If not, DO NOT WATCH THE VIDEO, you have been warned.

STUFF I'VE LEARNED ABOUT STORYBOARDING: EPISODE #5

2010-11-18T00:35:00.001-08:00

Motivating the Camera: Part 2.

Continuing with the previous post, these examples revolve too around motivating the camera, however explores more "what they are saying visually".

The next three examples are all slight variations of the same scene, each exploring a different approach in regards to the progression of information that is revealed to the audience, and consequently the effect it has on them. Please note that none of these examples are any more "right" than any other. They are merely different takes on the same scene. Their purpose is to show how slight variations in storyboards (and ultimately film) can produce vastly differing ideas/moods. Ultimately, it would all depend on what the script calls for or what is necessary of the scene to determine which of the following (if any) would be suitable.

I think the most important thing to take away from this concept of 'motivating the camera', is just to try and be conscious of the decisions you are making in your storyboards. Try to understand what you are actually saying visually, what information you are revealing to the audience (and when) and what effect it will have on them. Thinking about these things as you board can really help enhance a sequence and 'sell' an idea in the storyboard stage.

On a side note: None of these tips/theories/methods I've discussed are "rules". They are by no means absolute. There are no 'right' or 'wrongs' with storyboarding, as I've stated before, simply ways that work better than others at achieving desired responses. As much as I use these principles and incorporate them into my own sequences, I find myself quite frequently deviating, or cheating, or bending these ideas. I rely much more on the 'feeling' of a sequence as I board. Boarding panels and flipping through them to see how I 'feel' watching it, to see if the cuts are smooth, or if something doesn't 'feel' right. So take these tips for what they are worth, simply tips, tricks and principles I have found to be sucessful.

-Hat

STUFF I'VE LEARNED ABOUT STORYBOARDING: EPISODE #4

2010-11-09T01:48:00.000-08:00

The next couple posts revolve around 'motivating the camera'. What is motivating the camera you might ask? Good question, you get a gold star.*

Motivating the camera is a simple technique of using visual cues to set up a cut or camera-move and in doing so, ease the audience into a new shot or new information.

Below is a simple example of how utilizing the above theory can have a huge influence on the overall feel/continuity of a sequence.

I think I made it a bit overly-complicated. Just look through each of the examples and feel the difference.

Basically: Use a character's eye line to motivate a cut. It helps ease the audience through the cut and into new information. (While also putting us directly in the character's shoes)

There are many other ways to motivate the camera. Below is a short sequence I've boarded out with various examples all strung together. The idea is to create as much continuity within the sequence as possible, making everything clear and easy to follow.

Below I have pointed out the specific methods used to motivate the camera.

So as per the above sequence, ways to motivate the camera;
- Using a Character's eyeline/P.O.V.
- Having a character move on screen and adjusting the camera accordingly.
- Having a character exit frame.

There are other ways not represented in the above example, for instance;
- Having a character enter frame. (This will be illustrated in a future tip sheet.)

I think ultimately what it comes down to, specifically for 'cutting', is the fact that a 'cut' is not natural, it doesn't happen in real life (unless you take really long blinks). Obviously we have seen enough film/television that we are accustomed to 'cutting', nevertheless, anything you can do to smooth out the transition will only help create and maintain the continuity of your sequence.

To be continued shortly...

* Gold stars are neither gold nor stars and consist almost entirely of your imagination.

THE STORY OF SUPER-CUBE

2010-11-05T17:11:00.001-07:00

This is a quick little comic retelling I did of a recent monumental event to transpire at the studio.

As mayor of super-cube my responsibilities include:
- making of the mayoral crown
- wearing of the mayoral crown

Super-cube is the greatest idea I've ever had.

-Mayor McJewburger

I MISS HIM

2010-10-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

My Cubie was having technical difficulties with his computer today and had to move to a different cube to work...

I hope he comes back soon...

STUFF I'VE LEARNED ABOUT STORYBOARDING: EPISODE #3

2010-10-13T09:28:00.001-07:00

More storyboarding cheat sheets. This breakdown has to deal with screen direction, specifically characters moving in and out of frame.

The folks over at The Art Center blog were nice enough to feature these little breakdowns I've been doing. Check out the blog if you've got time, there is a lot of great information there from a lot of incredibly talented industry professionals.

-Hat

STUFF I'VE LEARNED ABOUT STORYBOARDING: EPISODE #2

2010-10-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

Because of some nice comments on the previous post, I thought I would squeeze out number 2: Maintaining Screen Side

Note: there would obviously be more panels if this was flushed out, to play up the acting and also hook up the action. And on the last panel, I would probably frame it more centered while the female is farther away and then adjust right as she walks towards camera.

This is a simple theory of cutting that can easily help create a sense of continuity within a sequence and or exchange. The idea is not exclusive to 1 character interacting with another. The same principle can be used between 2 different groups of characters, or even a character and an object (Ie. A telephone. A man waits anxiously for a very important phone call).

The example above is a bit rudimentary for the sake of demonstrating the concept. More realistically, you will have characters moving around as they interact. In this case what we can do is create multiple patterns to track the exchange. The important thing to focus on when trying to handle multiple staging set ups is making sure the audience clearly sees our new staging occur. The simplest way to achieve that is by having characters physically cross paths on screen;

As long as you continue to establish any new screen spacing, the sequence should maintain a certain level of continuity that will allow the audience to follow along quite easily.

-Hat

STUFF I'VE LEARNED ABOUT STORYBOARDING: EPISODE #1

2010-10-06T21:58:00.001-07:00

Here are a few quick little tip sheets I put together for some of my friends who are currently doing storyboard tests and looking to get into boarding. I thought they might be worth posting here.

I think the most important thing to remember with storyboarding is that; anything and everything we can do visually will invoke a specific response from the audience. The key is to determine what exactly you want the audience to feel and then find the best way visually to achieve that reaction.

I hear a lot of people say "You can't do that cut" or "You are breaking the 180 line, you can't do that".... well obviously you can do it, because if you can draw it, you can do it. It's not that you "Can't" do something, it's that that "something" is confusing the audience, or isn't visually pleasing. Which are both appropriate critiques of a jump-cut or breaking the line, however not so much if that is the desired effect you hope to have on your audience.

There are no "right" or "wrongs" with storyboarding, only ways that work better than others. Figure out what you want to convey in a scene, and find the best way to present those ideas to your audience.

MANNY AND KHAN DANCE BREAK/UPDATE!

2010-09-22T11:08:00.001-07:00

So a quick little Manny and Khan update;

There was an awesome article written about Joey and his experience in the animation industry, spotlighting his involvement in co-creating Manny and Khan. Check it out yo;
http://www.buffalorising.com/2010/09/buffalo-cartoonists-project-is-on-the-rise.html

Some awesome fan also went and made a facebook page for Manny and Khan.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Make-The-Awesome-Chronicles-of-Manny-and-Khan-A-Series-On-Cartoon-Network/149585578397870?ref=ts

Thanks to whoever it was who created the page, you're awesome. Manny and Khan could have never made their own page on facebook because they don't know what facebook is. And when they heard about it, they figured the way to join was by slathering their heads with paint and slamming their faces into a book. But they don't own books, so they used rocks instead. Needless to say, they have some interesting new artwork hanging up in the tree-fort. They're great conversation pieces. So if you like the short, you can join the facebook page and tell your friends about it. If you don't like the short, don't join the group and tell your friends you didn't join the group.

Umm what else.... the short is still up on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlvIB4jGpLo

That's all I can think of at the moment. Thanks to everyone who's shown interest in the short! You guys are AWESOME!

Well, that's all for now, as Manny and Khan say, "Awesome and out"

-Hat

I LIKE YOU

2010-09-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

I made these little cards for my Cube-mate. He likes to complain a lot. I call him Nega-mind. I hoped these would cheer him up. They did... for a few minutes.

FOX POSES

2010-08-30T01:12:00.001-07:00

Just exploring an older character of mine.

I've never settled on a specific design for him, and continue to explore his construction and proportions, especially within his head. Trying to figure out some of these shapes in 3 dimensional space is challenging for me, construction has never been a strong point of mine, so it's something I've been trying to build on.

I did these after copying a whole bunch of Freddie Moore Mickey model sheets.

-Hat

COLORED THREE EYE MOOSE

2010-08-23T02:02:00.000-07:00

This is a quick little color/pose study I did for this moose I've been drawing. Nothings really final, color or design, but I'm kinda digging him. He is more fun to draw than a barrel of monkeys, because I suck at drawing barrels and monkeys.

I wasn't sure if the color of his feet are drawing too much attention away from the rest of the pose? I had them gray, but that was even worse... What do YOU think? Any thoughts? Suggestions? Good recipes?

-Hat

THREE EYED MOOSE

2010-08-22T16:12:00.001-07:00

This is a three eyed moose I started drawing.

I like drawing him.

-Hat

BI-DAILY: FIRST DATE

2010-08-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

RANDOM SHTUFF

2010-08-18T21:44:00.001-07:00

Just some random drawing I did at the studio.

I've been trying to do a little more life/gesture drawing of late and figured I'd post some of the stuff seeing as how I don't typically post these kinda drawlings.

NEGAMIND AND LIEBERMINION

2010-08-12T17:21:00.001-07:00

Myself and my cubie Jeff B. as Megamind characters.

-Hat

RANDOM POKEMON TEAM

2010-08-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

Took a page out of Ian Andersen's blog and used a random number generator to come up with 6 numbers. Then I drew them;

-Hat

NOT POKEMON

2010-08-06T11:41:00.001-07:00

OH MY GOSH CAN YOU BELIEVE IT MORE POKEMON

2010-08-05T18:14:00.001-07:00

What more need be said? Boobs? Maybe... But it's probably not an appropriate time for that.

-Hatzilla (Courtesy of Joey G.)

S'MORES POKEMON

2010-08-05T00:51:00.000-07:00

Sum more pokemon doodles I did. I threw the color on rather quickly, as it's quite late, so not sure if it's working;

Perhaps more later.

-Hatthew

MORE POKEMON

2010-08-02T17:02:00.001-07:00

I am having too much fun drawing these. I don't know what it is...

-Hat

POKEMON GENERATION 2

2010-07-28T01:01:00.000-07:00

Here's another batch of Pokemon drawlings I did. And look at that, two posts in one day!

Oh wait... it's 1:01 AM. Damn... so close.

- Hat

POKEMON

2010-07-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

Some poke-doodles inspired by Ian Andersen's pokemon drawings.

-Hat

QUICK!...

2010-07-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

We have a little bit of down time at the studio, so I did this.

OODLES OF DOODLES

2010-07-25T19:47:00.001-07:00

Just a few random desk doodles. I will probably end up handing these out on the street to random people...

And below are some notes I took during a meeting at the studio;

-Hat

BI-DAILY: CONDUCTOR

2010-07-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

Kids used to make fun of me for wearing a conductor cap... but I love that hat. And oddly enough I almost wore it today.

Be sure to check out Dave and Jeffs and other Daves.

-Cap

BI-DAILY: OTHERWORDLY

2010-07-12T19:38:00.001-07:00

Been crazy busy boarding lately, gettin ready for a big screening. I did however take a short break from storyboards to do this little diddy below.

Today's theme was suggested by Dave Derrick, be sure to check out his killer drawing.

-Hat

Attachee BriefPack

2010-07-05T01:16:00.001-07:00

Attachee (pronounced Attach-he) is a line of Briefcase backpacks which are painted and customized, a little side project I've been working on for the past few weeks.
Below are some mock ads I created for the line;

About Attache BriefPacks;
I've always thought briefcases were cool but was never too keen on the idea of carrying one. In my eyes It conjures up too much an image of your traditional businessman which, my lack of a college degree should tell you, I am not. Seeing as how I make a somewhat unconventional living, drawing cartoons, I thought it fitting to flip it and wear it like a backpack. So I put a strap on it. And if there's one thing I did learn from college it's that everything is better with a strap-on!

For me it was a way of saying 'I don't take myself or what I do too seriously'. I guess I probably could have just printed that on a shirt... shoot.

Almost the entire product is made of recycled and reused materials. Both the briefcases and straps were purchased from thrift stores. The screws which are used to secure the strap to the case are all found. And the paint... well that was all left over from school.

Some of the advantages to wearing an Attachee BriefPack include (and are not limited to);
-Protection from bullets to the back (this has not been tested but the logic seems sound).
-Comfortably creates better posture while sitting.
-Feels like a hug.

If anyone is interested in purchasing one let me know. You can leave me a comment here or email me; Hat.lieberman@gmail.com

There is no fixed price yet, however I am looking to sell them somewhere in the range of $35-50 (or the highest offer depending on the amount of interest). So if you'd like, make an offer and if it sounds right, I'll send one your way.

Below are just a few quick tag-lines I came up with for the company, nothing final yet.I think they echo the theme of 'not taking yourself to seriously' quite well.

Special thanks go out to Lindsey Olivares and Andy Heitz for helping me model and snap the BriefPacks. There are more pics from the shoot (and other awesome photos) on Andy's blog, and better artwork than here on Lindsey's blog.

-Hat

MORE BLUE

2010-06-22T01:14:00.000-07:00

Sum more blue guys to add to the ones below;

-Hat

BLUE GUY

2010-06-21T00:24:00.001-07:00

Just some poses;
I normally like writing a little blurb to accompany a post, although lately that hasn't been the case. So I thought I might write a short bit concerning the blue guy above.

The blue dude is based on a character I used to draw when I was younger, who was inspired by the show Digimon. Basically this guy was my own digimon (the champion level of my own digimon to get nerd-technical). The overall character was based on my dog, an Akita, who was huge and looked like a bear, hence the design having (at least originally) some bear characterisitics. His original head shape was based on a key... a house hold key (to be more precise, 2 keys facing opposite direction) which is the reason for the feather like appendages on his cheeks (although the row on top of his head are new because I thought it looked cool). So there you have it, the character above is a design inspired by digimon who's based on a dog who looks like a bear who's shaped like a key.

-Hat

BI-BI-DAILY

2010-06-16T19:03:00.001-07:00

2 Bi-Daily drawings because I fell behind.

Sticks and stones:

Jazz:
-Hat

BI-DAILY: CREATURE

2010-06-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

RANDOM DRAWING DUMP

2010-06-06T02:28:00.000-07:00

Just some random drawings.

Oh, my friend Lindsey Olivares posted a whole bunch of drawlings she's done of me, check em outs.

BI-DAILY: COWBOY

2010-06-03T01:05:00.000-07:00

Today's theme was Cowboys. Did this rather quick, again, don't really like it, but just wanted to get something up.

BI-DAILY DRAWING: BUFFALO CHICKEN

2010-05-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

Todays Bi-daily drawing topic; Buffalo Chicken.

I had to do this rather quick as I'm quite busy today, but I missed Monday's drawing, so really just wanted to make sure I got one in today. Not sure if this is what Jeff Snow had intended for today's theme, but it'll have to do.

-Hat

BI-DAILY DRAWING; BABOONS ON VACATION

2010-05-22T01:36:00.000-07:00

Today's theme was thought up by the incredibly talented Dave Derrick. My submission; Baboon vacation of the family variety

I didn't have as much time as I'd like to finish rendering the drawing. I wanted to do it in color, but lest, I must get sleep. I couldn't tell which version was funnier, with the words or without... The dialogue was funny in my head, but when I put it down on paper/cintiq screen, it became a bit pretentious. And I don't exclude myself from the portrayal of humans above... although I don't own a TV, so take that Mankind!

Wow it's late.

Oh yeah, some quick Baboon doodles I did;

-hat.

BIRDS OF PREY

2010-05-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

Today's theme was 'Birds of Prey'... but I'm awful at drawing birds so I chose to feature a cute little mouse instead. A cute little mouse who's about to have his intestines ripped to shreds. See below;

Hopefully this still counts?

-Hat

UPDATE: Have added a link list in the side bar with all participating bi-daily drawing artists, check em out, they all have some amazing artwork up.

CINTIQIN'

2010-05-18T00:46:00.000-07:00

So my good friend/mentor/one-of-the-sickest-artists-i-know Dave Pimentel was kind enough to sell me his old Cintiq. I've been thinkin bout gettin one for a while now, and glad I finally got around to buying one (not to mention the fact that since Dave used it, it comes with magical powers that make me draw better... at least that's what he told me when he sold it to me. I paid extra for the magic but it's totally worth it).

Just been messin around tryin to get it set up;

This here is another 'assignment' from Dave and Jeff Snow's drawing initiative; Baseball Player.

They are encouraging anyone interested in drawing along to join in and post your artwork.

Oh and also, the short I made for Cartoon Network with my good buddy Joey G has officially been released online, and is currently up on Cartoon Networks website;

Manny and Khan on CartoonNetwork.com

All the other shorts from the Cartoonstitute program are up too, check em out if you didn't have to chance to see them back when they were leaked, they are all pretty rad;

-Hat

BUDWEISER CENTAUR

2010-05-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

So some of the other board artists at Dreamworks decided to give themselves little assignments in an attempt to update their blogs more frequently with artwork. Dave Pimentel invited me to join in, so here's my contribution to the first theme 'Centaurs'.

Check out Dave's blog to see some of the amazing drawings he did, as well as links to the other artists involved.

-Hat