So, people have asked me to draw more and to show how I draw my art.
This isn't a great picture, but it's pretty decent on how I do color and sketch.
I usually create a sketch then create my nicer outline on top. This particular artwork I didn't spend much time with the outline. I just roughly created the outline and continued to coloring. I colored the background and added the color on the character. After finishing that I added highlights, shadows, and effects.
I hope you enjoy.

Figure Time - Lamp and Ball, Prep and Landing

 If you guys don't know I'm a huge figure fan. I usually buy Anime figures. I own quite a lot... But I'm actually going to talk about the 2 newest to my collection that you can buy right here in the US! Of course they aren't Anime but Disney/Pixar.

Both can be bought at Hallmark. The first is a 2011 Limited Quantity Keepsake Ornament.  This isn't exactly a figure... but it's probably the only Lamp and Ball "figure" available that I've seen. When I toured Pixar with my mentor Anthony Wong, I got some nice pictures of me with the Lamp and Ball. So this is a little keepsake for me because I get to remember that trip every time I look at this.

Anyways, it cost $12.95 (+tax) but I went back 2 days latter and they were sold out. The story only got 6 and they flew off the shelves. So now they are hard to find. You can probably find them on e-bay for a reasonable price, but soon the price will sky rocket.

This figure is actually a count down to Christmas from the shorts of Prep and Landing, but it goes with the characters. This is also from Hallmark, not limited and you can probably by one into November... however when the shorts are shown on ABC again they will probably be gone.

This is actually reasonably priced. $16.95. The numbers are on cubes and take be taken out and flipped around. If the figure isn't your thing and toys are... they also sell the glowing goggles, hats, and the gingerbread decoder something or other... I'm not sure what it's called. Some new stuff if you likes characters or have kids that like them.

This one also is a little special to me because a different mentor, Marlon Nowe, worked on these guys.  But I've always loved the shorts. They became one of my favorite Christmas specials.

By the way... Oct 21 - 64 days left til Christmas... Did you start shopping yet?

So much planning... But so worth it! I learned a lot from this!

As you can see these are my sketches for week 3 at Animation Mentor - Animals and Creatures class. It's the planning for the advance walk. I'm starting off from a stopped pose and going into a walk.

I actually am really excited about this because I can probably add some personality. In the video reference I found there is tail swishing/flicks, tongue licking it's lips, open jaw and breathing.

I'm really hopping this will push me more then before. I studied this reference video a lot. Link to the Video on BBC Motion Gallery It's supper cool.

You can see the way he uses his neck and head to push and lean his weight into the walk. It's great.

I hope you guys enjoy my planning as much as I did. Enjoy! :D

This was my animation for Week 2 at Animation Mentor.  I'll add the edited version in another post.

AM AC Week 2 - sketches

These sketches I did over 2 days, for my class at Animation Mentor - Animals and Creatures Class 1.

My mentor Brian Mendenhall worked on Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. In class he went in depth on how the structure of a cat is and how we should understand where the body structure is under the fur.

I really went in depth on the differences between a lynx walk and tiger walk.

• Lynx like to move with their paws facing down all the time. I assume this is because of the terrain you find them in. Heavily wooded areas, with hills and lots of rocks. I assume that's also why they don't typically rotate their paws inward while walking, making sure their footing is alright before continuing forward.
• The Tiger likes to throw it's weight around.  They put all the pressure on the paw they they just land on. They also rotate their paws inward while walking, even the back feet slightly move inward when walking forward. Unlike the Lynx the Tiger has a large tail. I studied the differences between this tail and a Lion's tail. The differences between those are mainly how they pose the base of the tail that's at it's rear. The tiger likes to keep it slight up, while the Lion usually has it resting on it's rear.

After class I was inspired to really figure out the body structure of 3 cats I thought could pass off as the Animation Mentor Cat. Tiger, Lynx, and Lion. I drew a house cat's structure for kicks.  After figuring out those structures I applied what I thought could be the structure for the Animation Mentor Cat. I figured the front legs were more like a Lion, back legs more like a tiger, and the body structure (stoutness) of a Lynx.

This might be complicated while animating... but I'm up for the challenge.  For the most part I think I'll be looking at Tigers for reference because of how much they throw their weight around. You can see I also drew poses for the cat walk in detail too.  I'm going to start animating now that I understand all this.

Little Hero Sketch

Sketch Time! I drew these 2 little characters a while ago.  I love them though. I just love the dynamics of them. I figured you guys wanted to see some sketches. I’ll try to upload more when I make them.

Lets Start Things Off

Hello everyone! I’m starting things off with this picture. I took it earlier in the week when I was setting up my webcam for class. My Appa Plushie is eating my Wii and my Minion is staring at me!

This is my first thing I’ve uploaded so I’m going to explain why I started this.

Some of my friends from Animation Mentor saw my Live Stream and loved seeing me work.  They mentioned to me how they wanted to see more of my sketches, drawns, animation work, and what not so I took their advice! This is for the people who are wondering... what the heck is going through this girl's head. n_n

My Live Stream

If you want to see my Live Stream please go here. http://www.livestream.com/allyssahoward/

There are a couple of videos already recorded there.  If you want to know when I’ll be live I’ll post it on facebook! :D

Watch live streaming video from allyssahoward at livestream.com