Process: Using References for your drawings

Below is Seal's animation layout drawing of a surfer's beach hut in Hawaii. She didn't know how to draw a beach hut or what specific shape made a beach hut different than any other dwelling. As an artist, Seal uses a lot of references to give her drawings believability. There is a delicate balance between being too reliant and copying a reference to being inspired and studying a reference while finding your own unique visual language.

Below is an example of a reference sheet that Seal used for the shape of the beach hut rooftop. Notice that Seal took on a similar shape, but not exactly. It is in the spirit of a beach hut. She simplified the hut so it would resemble more of an everyday average person's surfer hut and hangout, not necessarily to live in it. She also used references to get basic feel of the tiki and foliages that can be found in Hawaii.

Even Monkey, who is a lot more loose in his artwork, still uses reference. Even something as loose as his Panda Rage print was still based on photo reference.
Even though he had seen many pandas, Monkey wanted to make sure that he put the fur coloring in all the right places. Yes, pandas have a very distinctive color pattern on their fur, and if you don't follow that, you'll end up with something that may or may not read as a panda. However, the claws are exaggerated, but part of making art is experimenting on what features you can and cannot push and exaggerate or modify and have your visual message still come across.

Both Seal and Monkey use fun google image searches in order to find reference, but because they are usually copyrighted images, they only use them to get basic ideas of shapes, design patterns, and compositions. However, nothing beats taking your own photos, as then you can use the photos however you please, as you the photographer own the images. We highly encourage doing this as much as possible, and we often find that when drawing certain poses or angles, it's much faster to take a photo ourselves than it is to try and find that perfect photo on the web.

Have fun, and go get inspired (but don't copy!)

Upcoming Projects for Monkey and Seal

Seal is currently working on more paintings for the Tyger Tyger series. Here is a sneak peek at some of the in-progress works. These paintings will debut at their next event: Artist's Alley at the Animation on Display convention in San Francisco's Japantown!

Meanwhile, Monkey just finished his screen printed book which he will talk more about in a different post. He is also working on their hand-pulled screen printed holiday cards for friends and family. 2010 will be a very exciting year for both Monkey and Seal. Monkey is working on the March secret event which will be disclosed once contracts are finalized. And Seal has just been recruited to be an art director for an upcoming independent revolutionary film project. Please be on the lookout for more updates. And thank you, everyone, for your support of our art!

Woo, more press!

So while running around at the Handmade Ho Down, Monkey got flagged down by Sean of Ashcan magazine for a quick interview. You can read the mini-interview here! There is also a charming little photo (if we do say so ourselves) of Monkey and Seal at our booth where we are showing off our ties and prints.

We also got a review of the Bad Date Zine Issue 2 at Razorcake, which is basically THE underground punk rock fanzine! Sweet. You can read what they thought over here.

Thanks to Sean and the Ashcan crew and Andrew over at Razorcake!

Other news: Mark your calendars for January 30 + 31, 2010, when Monkey + Seal will be in the Artist's Alley at the Animation on Display convention in San Francisco's Japantown! Woo!

Featured Design: On Za Line

Recently, Monkey and Seal found On Za Line: an awesome design team featuring natured-inspired art and goods.

Each item is carefully hand-made requiring a lengthy process which makes all of the products unique pieces of art. They make them without having an end product in mind. The team just enjoys the reactions that people have to their work. With each piece, they try to instill what they see as the true essences of life, moods, sentiments, passion, atmosphere and time.

One of Seal's favorite is this moss ring. It's real living moss; it's self-sustaining by gathering the moisture particles from our everyday air. Not sure if she wants to wear moss, but thought it was an awesome concept.

Another of Seal's favorite is this leaf cast dish. The shapes found in nature are always inspiring to an artist. These "natural" modern looks make Seal wants to eat more salad.

You can check out their official website for more information.

Process Post: Skyace Wasteland and Thank you Plus Secret Event

Thank you everyone for supporting us at the Center for the Book's Holiday Craft Fair. It was cold and rainy, but still a fair good showing. Monkey sold some ties and met some awesome people while Seal was madly working on some tight deadlines for the painting below.

MonkeyandSeal are cooking up a soon-to-be announced secret event so please be on the lookout and keep your March open! Thank you.

----

Seal's Process: Part II of the Tyger Tyger paintings

This illustration was painted in acrylics. I had in mind an old rundown power plant wasteland with a wooden railroad going through the mountain passage. I wanted to get the feel of "after a rain" so I tried to paint cool lighting without any direct sunshine. Below is the in-progress step-by-step painting process.


The relatively finished piece above. The thumbnail below. In the thumbnail, I mainly wanted to design the shapes and rhythm of the piece before any details. The plane wings point downward, with the vertical power plant columns on the right holding the main mass of the painting, and the railroad points upwards back towards the plane.
So below is my initial setup. I have my thumbnail on the corner of my in progress painting. A book of clouds above so I can reference color and shape. Each different storm cloud have different shapes. I still struggle with painting clouds, but they're fun.
I generally try to paint from background to foreground, meaning sky, ground, then whatever is in front. I do the biggest shapes first, the plane being the smallest is last. Although I broke my own rule by painting the hazmat sign first before the shape on the left. It was just too tempting. I like how old signs have rust color and peeling paint job. I actually lost the original shape of the mountain behind the powerplant. Something I am still trying to fix. Thank you for visiting!

Center for the Book's Holiday Craft Fair today!

Come check out Center for the Book's Holiday Craft Fair later this afternoon starting at 5:30pm-8:30pm at 300 De Haro St. (between 16th St. + 17th St.). Monkey+Seal have a booth showcasing and selling some of their newest prints and ties. Along with Panda Rage and Pandamonium, Monkey has a new limited edition serigraph of Sad Panda, featuring this sad panda in the rain with the text *sniff* It is handpulled on toned paper, and will never be printed again.

Ridiculously amazing mashup:Book arts and animation

In the spirit of us vending at the San Francisco Center for the Book's Holiday Fair (this Friday from 5:30-8:30pm), here is a pretty awesome book arts video. Check out this amazing mix of paper crafting, book arts, and animation. It's completely amazing (it is amazing whether or not you have the sound turned on, but we recommend the sound on).