VENT

Thank you very much for your support on my first mini-comic,...

Thu, 02 May 2013 17:30:28 -0400

Thank you very much for your support on my first mini-comic, Sonic the Actual Hedgehog!

It’s a little something from one Sonic fan and hedgehog enthusiast to another. I’ve always wanted to do a little something with Sonic, as I’ve been a Sega kid pretty much forever.

I’m very thankful that you all have been downloading it! I am making this post to let you know I am considering making an animated version of it (with some new bits) if it gets enough purchases. I have also realized that gumroad does not have any Paypal options, so if you want to send donation that way, send it to my Paypal account, ventastic@live.ca. So please, share, read, and have fun!

My first mini-comic is out, and you can pay what you...

Wed, 01 May 2013 22:06:36 -0400

My first mini-comic is out, and you can pay what you want!

Things have been pretty rough with work right now, and a lot of people have shown interest in commissions but don’t have the funds to do it. So I decided to whip up a small mini about some sorta famous hedgehog dude and share it with the world!

mikejwitz: Molly and the Monster is available from May 1st to...

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:00:44 -0400

mikejwitz:

Molly and the Monster is available from May 1st to June 1st as a Pay-What-You-Want PDF!

You can also buy the book, if you’re so inclined ($20 for US/Canada, shipping and doodle included). And it’s all accessible from this handy splash page I made, too: http://mikejwitz.com/molly.html

I put a lot of heart into this, and hope you enjoy reading it as much as I had making it. Feedback is always appreciated! I’ll keep an eye on the #Molly and the Monster tag for any comments, critiques, fan art, or shout outs!

Remember, the pay-what-you-want deal ends at the end of this month. Help spread the word. If anything, it’s a free comic! How awesome is that?

Molly and the Monster might be one of the best comics I’ve read this year, and I’m not just saying that because Mike is a good friend of mine (also there might be some fanart by myself in this book). It is one of the sweetest stories out there, acceptable for any age group! Please consider getting this book, I’d hate for anyone to miss out on it. Mike will also be at TCAF this year, so if you’re going you could also consider getting it there! Even I might have a little something ready…

On top of commissions, here’s a big list of things I want...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:07:00 -0400

On top of commissions, here’s a big list of things I want to do this summer in bingo format. A big mix of fun, work, and relaxation, and a fun way to keep track of it all!

Hey guys, just a quick announcement that I’m doing...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:00:51 -0400

sketch for Olive-Owl

Reinterpretation of John Kleckner's characters from 5th grade

sketch for Adamska

w.i.p. sketch for Steph Farrow

w.i.p. sketch for Fabrice

Hey guys, just a quick announcement that I’m doing commissions all summer long! I’m fresh out of school and I don’t have any work right now, and I’m trying to make ends meet and hopefully save for next year. Here’s a bunch of recent sketch examples. If you want to commission me I’ve got my F.A.Q. over here.

A bunch of miscellaneous stuff for some homework assignments, a...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:13:29 -0400

A bunch of miscellaneous stuff for some homework assignments, a rough turnaround for a 3D corgi (which ended up looking pretty bad, not great at Maya), and some thumbnails for some layout assignments.

School is officially wrapped up this week. I’ve got a lot of plans this summer, but first and foremost is my giant commission list. Thanks for being patient and here’s hoping y’all are excited as I am!

An extremely early and rougher version to the finished tv boards...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:20:20 -0400

An extremely early and rougher version to the finished tv boards from my last assignment. Some poses are still in the final version, but I really half assed it some places- I didn’t understand the mechanics of tv boards (pans, truck ins/outs), and I suggested like in early feature boards when with tv you have to know EXACTLY where they are (as when you ship them out to animators you have to be as precise as possible), and the fact that I did almost no research in terms of backgrounds hit me harder.

You can see the finished (and better looking) version here!

Announcing that I now have a facebook page dedicated to sharing...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:40:46 -0400

Announcing that I now have a facebook page dedicated to sharing my art!

This may not be of big news to you guys, as most of the stuff you see there will be a lot of the things I post here. I’m making this mostly because I have a lot of family and friends on facebook who don’t see my art regularly enough to know what’s going on, and I figure sharing on another platform won’t hurt. If you want to hit like yourself, feel free to go ahead!

Cave Love boards for our last storyboard assignment! Gosh were...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:20:00 -0400

Cave Love boards for our last storyboard assignment! Gosh were these tough. Boards for tv are so different than feature boards. It’s almost… mathematical in how you have to plan everything out, and you can’t get too crazy with poses. It’s all about conveying information so the people who get the package don’t mess up. Glad these are done with, though!

I answered a question the other day, only to notice I had a bunch more. Let’s see if I can...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 22:26:00 -0400

I answered a question the other day, only to notice I had a bunch more. Let’s see if I can tackle them all!

naurcalad-art asked you:

I’m actually applying to study animation there as well. Do you recommend the program there? And what’s it like living in Oakville? I’ve never been to Canada, I’m kinda used to living in a big city and I’m nervous about this new experience. Sorry for asking so many questions at once!

I recommend the program fullheartedly, as long as you’re not afraid to get your butt kicked. The honest critique you get is fantastic, and you have so many resources available if you want to better yourself in whatever department.

Living in Oakville is fun, pretty similar town to where I used to live. The only downside is there’s not a lot to do outside of pubbing, so we usually go to Toronto to have fun. There’s lots of student housing and apartments around. Currently I live with my girlfriend and two roommates, so we get a decent deal on the apartment.

mysterycreator asked you:

I was just wondering if you could give me some tips on how to keep characters looking consistant, i’ve tried studying faces but nothing seems to stick. Everytime I draw my character on the same page over and over their face will slowly become warped or look completely different than before, if you could give me any tips or advice it would be greatly appreciated

Honestly there’s not much more I can tell you than “practice makes perfect”. The easiest way for consistency in drawing is breaking things down to simple shapes. This is called construction, or underdrawing. Breaking it down to easy shapes that are easy to remember help. I usually start with a shorthand or thumbnail drawing, move on to construction and then the final drawing. For example, here’s Scotty’s construction.

dabathhouse asked you:

Hey, I found your Game Grumps doodles leading me to your stuff. I found that “Afterbath” storyboard and animatic from DA the other day I saw it. I really love it! :3 Anyway, I just to ask you some questions: 1) How did you pick the school you went to? 2) What should I do if I want to pursue a career in animation, doing things like storyboarding and such? 3) Did you have a gap between finishing high school and going to school? 4) What about your parents? What’d they think of your career decision? Thank u.

As this is a multilayered question I’ve gone through the trouble of numbering the questions so my train of thought remains in tact.

I picked Sheridan at first because it was the only school I knew of that would teach animation. It was close to home (without having to move to a new province/country), and the fact they offer a co-op placement program drew me in immediately. I didn’t get in on my first try, but I’ll relate back to it in your fourth question.
If you want to pursue animation, either consider getting an education at a school, or begin to educate yourself. Practice makes perfect. Good reads are the oft-recommended Richard Williams The Animator’s Survival Kit, available in book form or dvd. Other good books for animation are the Drawn to Life series and The Illusion of Life. As for storyboarding, I recommend Nancy Beiman’s Prepare to Board. She’s our storyboard teacher for second year, and is notorious for harsh but fair constructive criticism. This translates into her readings, and you can learn everything you need to know about storyboarding from this book. Other good books for boarding and understanding film staging in general is Shot by Shot.
To answer this honestly- yes. The root cause of all this was until 12th grade I wanted to be a teacher and set up my courses in highschool because of that. I had been drawing since a child and didn’t think of it as a serious career choice until we were picking colleges to apply to. When I finally decided I wanted to be an animator, I hadn’t taken any higher level art courses available by the school, so I wanted to take an extra lap just to beef up my portfolio. My Dad was really adamant about me attending a school directly out of highschool and not repeating anything. I tried to get into Sheridan then, but my skill level wasn’t even remotely good enough to get in. I was a little heartbroken, but my parents pushed me forward into a program that sort of offered a one year crash course. It was the Canadian equivalent of those Art Institutes you always hear people complaining about getting ripped off of. There was almost no moderation by teachers, no real lesson plans and they didn’t care whether or not you handed stuff in, and it was expensive. Looking back however I don’t really consider it a waste of time (although it was an expensive one) as I tried to take advantage of the resources in front of me. After this, I made several attempts to get my name out there but without any idea of what a deadline was I really faltered. Eventually I decided that the only thing that would make me even better was going back to school, and bettering myself. I know this is a really long answer, but it has to be for something that happened over the course of two years, haha. And to reiterate, I don’t hate my parents for pushing me to go to school immediately or anything. I don’t know if I would have even made a decision either way, as I was a young kid and I didn’t get that I had to grow up.
As for what my parents actually thought about it at first, my mom pretty much understood immediately but my dad was pretty hesitant towards it. I thank my step mom greatly for convincing him otherwise though- she’s been in my life since I was a kid and even she knew I’ve been drawing my entire life. It took a while, but he got it, and he’s really proud of me now. They all are, and I’m really close to my family. LONG ANSWER!

Anonymous asked you:

So I see lots of scottie doodles. Most of them obviously involve referencing zelda. What’s the deal with this Scottie project you keep working on? I hope this hasn’t been answered. Sorry if it has! I’m just curious!

Scotty is an idea that I’ve been butting around in my head for a few years now, at first it was going to be a comic, then a short web-cartoon series, and now I just have it sated to be a one-off animated short. I can’t really say anything of the story because it gets rewritten again and again but the general ideas are there.

It’s an amalgamation of a few of my favourite things. It’s mostly a tribute to my younger brother Scotty than it is to Zelda, as he is honestly my best friend and has supported me through everything I do, and for some reason thinks I’m cool even though I’m probably not that cool.

Zelda comes into play only secondary to this idea, as it’s something I feel everyone or a lot of people can relate to, and it’s only there in the first place because Scotty has been crazy into it his entire life. I discovered Zelda through him, and though I haven’t played most of the games I’m in love with the lore, the world, the motifs and designs. So Scotty is a love letter to all these many things, but with Zelda as a catalyst so other people can get in on the fun.

Right now I don’t have much to report on where Scotty is as a product, I’ve been through various revisions and rewrites as of lately. I also have a butt-tonne of stuff I want to get done this summer besides Scotty, so it isn’t number one on my list right now. But expect some fun stuff soon.

vegacorn asked you:

Oh my god, you are a sheridan student who loves game grumps? Thats awesome. :D

Yes I do! I mean, I certainly did when I watched it a lot more frequently, I’ve had a hard time catching up with all these assignments and I feel like I’ve missed some in jokes or conversations Arin and Jon usually go back to. I’m sure I’ll watch some more when school is over, but right now I have a hard time getting back into it.

apbajs asked you:

Just a small fact about the cavemen characters, and I have no idea if you already knew this when you made them but; Did you know that ‘Grotta’ actually means ‘cave’ in swedish? If you didn’t know this, HOW ABOUT THAT HUH?

I didn’t know that, but that’s cool! It actually makes sense when you think about it, because it’s similar to the word grotto. But what I can tell you what I knew is that I did name all those characters from that assignment (minus Ug the Pug) after sites that fossils were found. I don’t have the exact names of those sites, but they’re on a wikipedia article somewhere!

lpeng asked you:

hey dude, you have some pretty rad character designs, where do you go to school?

As mentioned above, I’m at Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada, currently just finished my second year for my Bachelor’s in Animation.

ocelotbutts asked you:

This may or may not sound dumb, but you really draw like an animator. Your drawings are so confident and are filled with so much energy @x@ I don’t really know what to say other than thank you for sharing your art with us all, I super dig it

Thank you, and I’m glad you’ve noticed it! I’ve been trying to incorporate what I’ve learned from life drawing and observing good animation into my own work. I’m trying to get more gestural with my work as I feel it has more of an impact, and I’m glad it’s getting noticed.

ameart asked you:

Hi! I just found your blog just a moment go and I’ve been looking through it! Your stuff is beautiful and fluent and I love it! I almost wish I could afford a commission at the moment cause I’d love to get some art from you! I hope to see more of your stuff soon!

I know this isn’t so much of a question as a compliment but thank you so much! And thank you to everyone who has asked me a question. I usually bulk them all up instead of answering them one at a time, so if I get enough for next time I’ll answer again.

What program to you use to do your animations?

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:15:46 -0400

Almost every animation assignment I’ve done this year has been completed using Flash. However I’m coming to terms with that I could be producing better work in programs like Flipbook, TV Paint, or Toon Boom. I’m going to try to get used to one of those programs this summer.

been a while since I’ve posted any animation. Technically...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:05:11 -0400

been a while since I’ve posted any animation. Technically this is two assignments, lipsync with a character who has a muzzle and another with a beak.

I think it turned out okay, it’s obviously not finished but I think I want to clean it up over the summer.

Muckin’ around with an old idea. Her name is Pepper Roni....

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 23:55:00 -0400

Muckin’ around with an old idea. Her name is Pepper Roni. Might be more in the future??

EDIT: built on the idea a bit when I should be doing actual work haha

Summer goal: make a pitch bible out of this and think about pitching it to studios for when school is over?

Also have a caricature I did for an in-class assignment I guess!

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:28:09 -0400

Also have a caricature I did for an in-class assignment I guess!

Character sequence assignment. Kinda rushed this one, but still...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:35:12 -0400

Character sequence assignment. Kinda rushed this one, but still fun. You can kinda tell where I gave up, haha.

getvent: Thinkin’ a lot about my papa lately. This April it’ll...

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 23:50:20 -0400

getvent:

Thinkin’ a lot about my papa lately. This April it’ll be ten years since his passing. He was a bench jeweler and told the best stories. This is what I remember him looking like.

Mucking around with the idea of having my thesis film be about him, but I guess we’ll see.

EDIT: added another picture, fooled around with him some more after I got some more reference. Really sentimental right now ahh

An idea I’ve been messing around with for a while, doodled...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:07:00 -0400

An idea I’ve been messing around with for a while, doodled out of spite for homework.

I think it’s a passage of right for every “sonic kid” to take their own spin on Sonic’s design at least once. Based him mostly off of my grumpy ass hedgehog Pogo.

ventvents: vent reblogs things Hey y’all! I forgot...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 00:21:00 -0400

ventvents:

vent reblogs things

Hey y’all! I forgot about this, but if you guys are interested in the stuff I’m interested in, I recently made a reblog-only blog. Check it out!

Characters for an assignment!

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:49:00 -0400

Characters for an assignment!

Been in a bad place lately, think I’m finally starting to...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 03:13:04 -0400

Been in a bad place lately, think I’m finally starting to snap out of it. Thanks to my girlfriend for actually sitting me down in front of my computer (with unplugged internet) to finally get the bad stuff out.

Pixar movies usually do it for me when I’m in a grump mood. Expect good stuff soon!