in studio work...

More Sketches

Sketchbook

I have been drawing quite a bit lately but just haven't been posting the work. Here are some sketches from my sketchbook. You're going to see a lot of people's backs because people get a little antsy when they think they're being watched. Which they are.

This American Life

"This American Life" is a radio show that I've rediscovered in podcast format. It's a 50 minute broadcast of a particular theme delivered through three 'chapters' or individual stories. Once you subscribe to the podcast you get the currently released podcast for free but the archived episodes are sold separately via Audible.com.

It is an outstanding piece of storytelling week after week. At worst it's reliably entertaining, at its best it is moving, heart-wrenching, marvelous and hilarious. And now they're producing a brand new television show debuting on Showtime on March 22nd. Should be interesting, will DVR that baby.

One of my favorite pieces is the one titled/themed "Babysitting". Does anybody have an episode they would like to recommend? I wouldn't mind buying them off of Audible but would rather not pick blindly.

Impro

Last semester I took my very first acting class, "Acting for Animators". Why is an acting class in the curriculum of an animation program? In an animated feature film, there are voice actors such as Mike Myers providing the voice for Shrek or Tom Hanks providing the voice for Woody. But they only provide half the performance. The physical performance, what you actually see on the screen, is not the work of the Hanks or Myers but of the animator. Therefore in production, the animator is considered the actor and often times will study acting to reference physicalities they can incorporate into the animation.

I really enjoyed the class. It really pushed us to act physically: touch, push, pull, punch, shove, grab. Reactions then come more naturally and spontaneously. One handout reading assignment was a chapter from a book called "Impro - Improvisation and the Theatre" by Keith Johnstone. The book was mainly about improvisation acting but had a lot to say about storytelling and learning. The handout was the chapter on Status and it was fascinating. Many comedy routines that improv actors can utilitize are about shifts in high and low status between the characters. I liked reading this chapter so much I checked the book out of the school library. It's an excellent read. If you're an actor, it's a must read, but it's also essential for storytellers.