Bloodwing Angel Chronicles Book 2

If you've read many of my posts, you'll know that I pour all that I know about drawing and storytelling into my work. Check out my Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.

BLOODWING ANGEL CHRONICLES: Book 2

52 pages of the continuing adventures of Mychal, an angel who is unjustly banished to the mortal realm and struggles to survive amongst demons and living dead! Along the way, Mychal becomes the guardian angel to a neighborhood filled with killers and sinners!

• Episodes 3 & 4: "FLY or DIE!" and "ALTAR of DEATH!";
• and a special seven page 1717 CLUB standalone story "MIDNIGHT SPECIAL!”

Mychal must learn how to use her now limited angelic powers of flight and flaming fist while defending herself against demons! She, Josh Combs and his family, along with the dangerous Boys of the 1717 Club are the pawns in the opening play of a Cosmic Chess Match between the gods of Light and Darkness.

Bloodwing Angel Chronicles Book 2 is a full color mature action/adventure comic. Set in an altered universe, this series will appeal to you if you like the following: 

• Heavy Metal Magazine 
• Supernatural Heroes 
• Mature Stories 
• Fantasy/Horror

 

Snuffy & Zoey ToyBox Adventures Book 1: The Dragon and the Cupcake

At long last, Snuffy and Zoey in their first book! You can order copies from my publisher Fair Spark Books. https://fairsparkbooks.co.uk/snuffy-and-zoey

Check out this sample page:

 

Using the Animation Principles of Squash and Stretch In Drawing Webcomics

Using the animation principles of squash and stretch when drawing character poses in my webcomic "Bloodwing Angel Chronicles" gives them a subtle feeling of dynamic plasticity and action. Check out this page from this week's Sunday update. Also, note the use of "Anticipation, Action, and Reaction" in this sequential art depiction of tossing a rock with force and anger.

 

Updates on "Bloodwing Angel Chronicles"

New pages have been uploaded to "Bloodwing Angel Chronicles". The character Mychal breaks new ground in comics.

How To Draw Animation-Squash and Stretch More Than Bouncing A Ball (Part 2)

My latest video. If you like it, please leave a comment on YouTube!

How To Draw Like An Animator

My latest YouTube video is now published! Hope you like it, and if you do, please leave a comment on YouTube!

Squash and Stretch More Than Bouncing A Ball (Part One)

The first full episode of my YouTube series is now live!
If you enjoy it, please subscribe and leave a comment on my YouTube channel.
I'm now editing the next video, and as I plan on maintaining a weekly schedule, it will be posted on my channel Saturday, October 28.

My YouTube Channel

 

I'm prepping my first animation video to launch my "John Celestri" YouTube channel in a month's time. It'll be a mix of information and new personal animation projects I'm creating... I hope you will visit me weekly at my old school 2D animation desk.


I'll make a formal announcement here when I'm ready to launch!

Old School Field Guide Area & Basic Scanner

Old School 12Field Guide scanned on basic home scanner

As part of my mission to keep old school animation alive, I want to point out inexpensive ways to create it.

One of the biggest expenses in creating animation electronically is buying a Cintiq or some such tablet. The mistake is to think that having the latest equipment will make your art better.

Getting the largest Cintiq to draw on doesn't mean you'll be able to draw better, it just means you'll have the ability to draw more complex designs. But since most modern day animation is being watched on small devices like iPhone, iPads and computer screens, I suggest character designs should be simple in order for facial expressions to be legible.

And if you want to draw those simple characters on paper, you can use 8.5 x 11 inch paper, scan it on a basic home scanner/printer, and import those JPEG files into a basic animation/coloring program.

Let me point out to you that all those classic Warner Brothers, Disney, Max Fleischer, MGM, and Terrytoons theatrical short cartoons were drawn on a maximum 12 field area...and projected onto screens at least 15 feet  high and 45 feet wide.

My 16-year-old Epson scanner

One of my rough poses scanned on my old scanner

The following three Popeye animation poses appear to be drawn on 8.5 x 11 inch paper.

Here's a scan of some Batman and The Joker animation poses I drew on 8.5 x 11 inch paper for that series of Zeller's Batman TV commercials run in Canada back in 1988.

I want to encourage you to think simple...you can get great results with basic tools!

Cleaning Up Drawings & Spacing Charts

This is a cleaned up animation key pose using buffed down blue pencil for underdrawing, tied down with a combination of Blackwing 602 and Mitsubishi 9850 HB for the black line...Blackwing 602 for thicker lines and Mitsubishi 9850 HB for more delicate line work!

It's second nature for me to describe on my spacing charts what I plan to do on particular drawings.

Rock & Rule - Cindy and Angel escape

 

This is my favorite sequence I animated on. Basically, I directed myself and was allowed complete freedom...as long as I followed the basics of the script and the recorded dialog.

Below is the thumbnail analysis I did for one of Cindy's early scenes. I animated this particular scene 35 years ago, but I don't think I could do a better job today...the result might be different but not technically any better.

2D Animation Work In Progress

I've been working on this two and a half minute short web cartoon on and off for the past year. It's my way of keeping my hand in traditional 2D animation, using pencil drawings scanned into ToonBoom Studio software. This file shows the various stages I go through to produce my final color...there are completed color scenes, cleaned up animation, rough inbetweened animation, and basic key poses.

For those viewers who can't see the below embedded file, please go to Vimeo at:
https://vimeo.com/152711633

A frustrating aspect of Blogger is how it messes with the quality of the uploaded HD video clips. But this gives you an idea of how my characters' relationships are developing.

Sketchbook Doodles

I'm working on ideas for my web cartoon short. I like whimsy...

Old School Pencil + New School Tools

I've been working on simple action cycles that are entertaining to watch and play with...as in a mobile video game. I created this clip of simulated game play, using a combination of old school and digital methods...animating with pencil on paper, then scanning the drawings into ToonBoom Studio for color and assembly.

Click on the video below to watch it. 

Brad Bird and Jerry Rees Letter

One of my mementos I picked up along the road to developing as an animator is this letter I received from Brad Bird and Jerry Rees.

Notice the lack of a formal letterhead on this letter from Brad and Jerry. They definitely weren't wasting any of the budget on non-essentials.

Several months after receiving Brad and Jerry's response to my portfolio and sample animation scene of The Spirit, I visited with them at their KINETOGRAPHICS office in San Rafael, California and showed them my animation reel from "Rock & Rule," which consisted of my characters Cindy Schlepper, Officer Quadhole, and Mylar the Club Owner. At that meeting, I was offered a spot as an animator on their Spirit crew once they got the project off the ground...which unfortunately never happened. A few years later, Brad tracked me down and asked me to animate on his "Family Dog" episode of Steven Spielberg's TV series "Amazing Stories." However, my plate was extremely full at the time and I had to decline his offer.

The following is my interpretation of The Spirit for animation. It would have been fun to do.

John Celestri's interpretation of Will Eisner's Denny Colt aka The Spirit.

My Disney Letter And The Road It Set Me On

I had finished my summer school animation night class at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and decided to apply to Disney. For my portfolio, I sent in my one-minute-long silent pencil test I'd completed as my class assignment...which was the very first (and only) animation I'd ever done. This is the response I received.

Below is the one surviving animation drawing from my very first piece of animation (a rabbit character boxing with his own shadow), which is the film the above letter refers to.

 
Six months after I received the Disney letter of rejection, I was hired in 1975 at New York Institute of Technology as an inbetweener to work on "Tubby the Tuba"...where I met and worked under the master Popeye and TerryToon animators Johnny Gentilella and Marty Taras. During the 14 months I worked on that feature, I developed into a Cleanup Assistant Animator...which led me to getting hired in 1976 for "Raggedy Ann & Andy", directed by Richard Williams...which led me to getting hired by Friz Freleng as an animator in 1977.

But when I tried to reapply to Disney in that summer of 1977 (less than three years from my initial submission), I was told that I'd had TOO much experience and they preferred to start with younger art school students...they were clean slates that could be "molded to the house style."

The influences of working daily on those rare non-Disney features for almost two years led me on a path that enabled me to develop my own style of animation. I have NO regrets!

Animation Studio Setup

This is my animation work area. It's a combination of traditional animation board and computers for scanning my pencil art and importing into Toon Boom Studio. It's not glamorous, but it gets the job done.

Seen below is my animation drafting with my old Filmation disc. This can handle both 12 field and 16 field paper.

I've had this Acme Peg registration punch since 1987. I use it to punch cheap paper for my rough animation. I save the pre-punched Ingram Bond for my clean-ups.

Here are my 3 Computers: Moe, Larry, and Curly! Moe (on the left) is a Mac G3 I've had since 2001 (along with an Epson Scanner); Larry is a Mac Quadcore Tower (on the right) I've had since 2008; and Curly (in the center) is my iMac I bought in 2009.

My 15 year-old Epson Scanner...I call it Shemp (for those of you who know the Three Stooges and understand the inside gag)