ChrisOatley.com

Disney Character Designer answers your questions about Concept Art, Character Design for Animation, Digital Painting & Illustration.

Visual Development

Character Design and The Illusion Of Life: With James Woods :: VSP #2

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A pair of James Woods Character Designs. A dark-haired woman in white, minimalist-diva attire snuggles up to the shoulder of a huge jaguar with pastel-blue fur. The two are drawn with undulating "S" curves so complementary, they almost merge together.

Is there more to you than what other people see?

Character Design is a fundamental aspect of Visual Storytelling.

…but there’s much more to Character Design than the visual aspects.

Disney Visual Development Artist James Woods – best known for his Animation Character Design work on Mary Poppins Returns – joins me for today’s lesson:

Character Design And The Illusion Of Life.

Click through to start the lesson…

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The Power Of Pictures: 4 Ways To Make Your Stories More Emotional :: VSP #1

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The Tin Man, resting in a serene forest clearing, opens his heart hatch to admire the emerald heart from The Wizard Of Oz. Illustration by Chris Oatley.“Show, don’t tell.”

It’s every Visual Storyteller’s mantra.

…but it’s easier said than done.

In today’s lesson, you’ll learn four ways to write – with pictures!

…a practice that will help you solve existing Story problems, make a Story more powerful or get started on a new project!

Brian McDonald – Visual Storytelling consultant for Pixar, Disney, Sony and ILM – one of my closest friends and my most trusted mentor – joins me for:

The Power Of Pictures: 4 Ways To Make Your Stories More Emotional.

Click through to start the lesson…

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[Announcement] The Future Of The ArtCast, Artistacon & Dream Machine!

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The Album Art for 'The Visual Storytelling Podcast.' An elegantly designed, abstraction of an orange tree. Art by Maike Venhofen.

Hello, my friends!

Chris Oatley here with a few time-sensitive ArtCast Announcements!

In this recording, I’ll provide updates on:

  • Dream Machine my new Social Media course for Artists.
  • My upcoming presentation at Artistacon 2019 (plus a discount code).
  • …and what to expect as we begin re-branding The ArtCast!

Here we go!

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4 Keys To A Long and Healthy Illustration Career :: ArtCast #114

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Cartoony illustration of an eccentric butterfly with floral print wings, wearing a pink speedo and sunglasses, relaxing while drinking a pina colada. Two regular butterflies admire from across the swimming pool. Artist: Chris Oatley

How long did it take you to learn the “Happy Birthday” song?

…and how long would it take you to learn to sing a pitch-perfect, note-for-note, Broadway power ballad?

Years, right?

Because style takes time.

…and how many wrong notes would you produce in private before you gained the confidence to perform live?

Millions.

Process and performance are different things.

Let’s pretend you have some real potential. Would you start chain smoking and take a day job in a coal mine to pay the bills?

Of course not.

You gotta take care of your moneymaker.

And when you’re a big hit on Broadway with crossover success in movies and pop music…

…did you make it without a mentor?

Probably not.

A good mentor is essential.

We can easily see the absurdity in the image of an aspiring Broadway star who expects instant results, performs without practice, neglects their throat and lungs and thinks they’ll somehow succeed without expert perspectives.

But it’s a lot harder to see – in ourselves – the illustrator who expects instant results, publishes without practice, neglects their body and brain and thinks they’ll somehow succeed without expert perspectives.

Today, Lauren Panepinto (Creative Director for the Sci-Fi/ Fantasy publisher Orbit Books) and Marc Scheff (Games-Illustrator-turned-Fine-Artist) join me to share 4 Keys To A Long And Healthy Illustration Career…

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The Lost HERstory Of Disney Animation :: ArtCast #113

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When author Mindy Johnson set out to write a book about of the history (or as Mindy says, the “HERstory”) of Walt Disney‘s definitively female “Ink & Paint” Department, she began her research in the most obvious place: The Disney Archives.

I’ve been to the Disney Archives several times. It’s the epicenter of animation history – an enormous, state-of-the-art research library and storage facility filled, wall-to-wall with art from the past century of Disney animated productions.

Mindy visited, requested everything they had on Ink & Paint, and they brought her a folder holding five pieces of paper.

That’s all they had.

Composing the comprehensive history of any Disney division would be difficult even with the help of the Disney Archives.

Mindy had to start from scratch.

Today, she’ll share stories from the creation of her epic work Ink & Paint: The Women Of Walt Disney’s Animation and introduce us to inspiring artists from Animation HERstory…

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