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WELCOME TO OUR MONTHLY DRAWING/ANIMATION CHALLENGE PAGE!

Welcome to new monthly drawing or animation 'Challenges' that we establish for all members of the Animator's Sketchclub .

Each new challenge will be announced at the beginning of each month, with the winner or winners announced at the end of that month.

The winners of each monthly challenge will receive a personalize digital certificate and the most successful contributor over the year will with a cherished "Golden Pencil Award" at the 2D ANIMAKERS network own "DRAWTASTIC Animation Festival".



JUNE 2022: CHARACTER EXPRESSION SHEET "DRAWING" CHALLENGE

This month we're going to test your character design and expressive posing skills.

Using the layout guide below, first draw a symmetrical front view of any character of your own choosing. Then in the 4 regions to the right, draw that character in separate emotive poses . . . i.e, in "Happy", "Sad", "Excited" and "Fearful" poses.

Draw everything on one sheet of paper, as positioned here . . .


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Deadline: Entries must be submitted by midnight (Pacific time) on Thursday, June 30th.
 
And go as wild as you like with your character poses everyone - the more expressive the better!  :)


#animatorssketchclub   #monthlydrawingchallenge
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MAY 2022 "DRAWING" CHALLENGE:

In the golden days of the Disney internship training program (which sadly no lon­ger exists - just like their 2D animation studio!) students were required to create a “flour sack” animated sequence as a test of their animation capabilities.

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A flour sack is quite literally a floppy-looking canvas sack that’s filled with ground flour. The student was required to animate the sack walking or jumping - giving it a believable quality of “weight”, “flex­ibility”, and “mass”. Great consideration was not only given to movement, but an actual sense of the mass of flour inside the sack, which should shift around as the sack moved and deformed.
 
Therefore, the Challenge this month is for you to animate a flour sack in any way or action you choose - although the winning entry must illustrate the 3 qualities mentioned above, as it moves!
 
REMINDER:  However you animate your flour sack - the “POSE” is everything! Get those right and the rest will fall into place.
 
Entries must be submitted by midnight (Pacific time) on Monday, May 30th. (“Memorial Day” in the USA.)
 
Have fun with your entries everyone!  :)

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APRIL 2022 "DRAWING" CHALLENGE:
For this month's DRAWING challenge I've decided we should get right to the heart of the matter - i.e. improving your animation skills through observational gesture drawing.

I recently published and extensive on-demand video course - suitably entitled "DRAWING FOR ANIMATION" - for which the video below is the very first introductory exercise. So, I decided that this would make a great challenge for all Animator's Sketchclub members who are serious about learning to improve their animation skills - specifically their animation "KEY POSE" skills.

So, watch the following video and follow the instructions it gives.

Essentially, the course sets 29 unique observation gesture drawing exercises and explains - at the beginning and end of the video - just WHY students are doing them and WHAT benefit doing so will bring to them if they follow through on everything.

This video course is based on my "Animator's Sketchbook" publication, which has over 60 exercises that you can actually draw into the book. (Which makes it a great supplementary sketchbook when anyone submits their animation showreel for college or industry job applications!)

Take especial note of the "Relaxation Zone" comments that start at around the 15min 47sec mark of the video, after the drawing exercises are presented . . .

Please be honest when drawing these 4 x 3-minute exercises - in the sense that I am trusting that you will stick strictly to the time limits set and not take longer when you draw your 4 gesture drawing poses.

Please also draw them all on one sheet of paper, so that everything can be submitted by you as one image file before the deadline below.

If you do like this exercise and recognize the benefit that this kind of drawing process can have on your animation skills, then you might like to check out the other 29 animation-specific exercises contained on the "DRAWING FOR ANIMATION" course. I really think you will all benefit from this course - that is, if you're serious about developing your character animation skillset.

Also, to see what one of my most talented students did with the exercises in the past, you might want to check out her drawings on the video course page too, whether or not the course is for you.

YOUR DEADLINE:

Video entries
need to be submitted on the Sketchclub's Facebook page, or on the Sketchclub section of the 2D ANIMAKERS network (it's FREE TO JOIN - but offers you so much more than this challenge each moth) by midnight (Pacific Time) on Friday, April 29th.

"Good luck" everyone! I look forward to seeing your gesture drawings later this month!

Tony.  :)




MARCH 2022 "ANIMATION" CHALLENGE:


THE BACKSTORY: This month, I will be launching my new "Walking the Walk" with TONY WHITE on-demand animation course. In the almost 6-hours of video teaching content I show (in an apprentice format - i.e. you are effectively looking over my shoulder as I share my thinking with you) students how to animate 6 essential walking actions that every animator should know. The walking actions are - i) Generic Walk, ii) Double Bounce Walk, iii) Sneak Walk, iv) Sad Walk, v) Limp Walk and vi) Front Walk.

The course is taught using the Moho digital 2D animation software, although the lessons can be attempted using any traditional or digital animation tools, techniques or technology of your own chosing. The course does NOT teach Moho software. Instead, it teaches the core principles of movement that lie behind the walking actions. The material is taught in such a foundational way that you should be able to develop your own animation actions beyond what it taught, effectively creating any hybrid walk of your own from all the material you will learn.

THE CHALLENGE: Look at the basic actions of the 6 feature walks above and animate a walk cycle of one of them, using your own design and techniques in the process. (You animation doesn't have to be colored - pencil tests are acceptable too!) Your objective is to not literally copy the walk action indicated above - and certainly NOT trace it out and re-draw it - but to capture the spirit of one of the actions in your own way.

WINNING PRIZE: The winner of this month's challenge will not only get our usual digital certificate of achievement, but they will also get a FREE COPY of the course! (Value: $49.95.)

THE DEADLINE: Video entries need to be submitted on the Sketchclub's Facebook page, or on the Sketchclub section of the ANIMAKERS network (FREE TO JOIN - but offering so much more than this challenge) by midnight (Pacific Time) on Wednesday, March 30th.

So, "happy animating" everyone! I look forward to seeing your animated walks!

Tony.  :)




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FEBRUARY 2022 DRAWING CHALLENGE:

As many of you know, my new book - "ANIMATION MASTERCLASSES ~ from Pencils to Pixels" - is coming out this August. The material I have submitted to the publisher (Taylor & Francis) included 600 text pages and almost 1,200 illustrations & photographs. Essentially the book contains 4 sections containing 12 extensive classes each. It teachers all the core principles of movement using traditional hand-drawn and digital 2D techniques. The book also goes through the entire Pre-production and Production processes required to make an animated film too. Therefore, in theory, students can pick up the book knowing nothing about animation and finish, as well as the exercises in it, having made their own film.

I believe this will be seen as my best book on animation ever and I can't wait for people to see it!

I thought it would therefore be a very cool challenge for Sketchclub members if they can have a say in how the cover of the book is designed. So, I'm asking for drawn ideas on how the book's cover will look.

As long as the cover design embraces the notion of hand-drawn animation, - traditional and digital - as well as the opportunity of making your own film by following the instructions within the book - then anything goes. I cannot of course guarantee that the winning design will be the cover design I will ultimately choose - or indeed, if the publisher will approve it, even if I do want it. However, IF that does happen and the Sketchclub winner's design is selected, then they will definitely get a credit in the book, as well as a small fee for the publisher using their design.

Entries do not need to be finished, polished artwork. Clear colored sketches that communicate the design or idea will be sufficient at this stage. As long as your design sells me on the idea that this will be a great cover design for the book, then you will certainly be in with a chance.

DEADLINE: Entries need to be submitted on the Sketchclub's Facebook page, or on the Sketchclub section of the ANIMAKERS network by midnight (Pacific Time) on Sunday, February 27th. More than one entry from members is welcome, with the winning entry being announced on Tuesday, March 1st.

So, "good luck" everyone! I look forward to seeing what you come up with for the cover of my book.

Tony.  :)



PREVIOUS CHALLENGES

JAN. CHALLENGE 2021
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Drawing the way of the Masters before us!