Visual Storyteller

storyshots:

I tweeted these forever ago, but the internet just noticed and I figure I should probably at least put them on my blog. I’m glad people are finding them useful.

Here they are, a mix of things learned from directors & coworkers at Pixar, listening to writers & directors talk about their craft, and via trial and error in the making of my own films.

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

#2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.

#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.

#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.

#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.

#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later.

#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d'you rearrange them into what you DO like?

#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?

#22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

You can find more stuff I talk about on twitter as @lawnrocket - film and storytelling mostly. I try to keep the what-I-ate-for-lunch posts to a minimum.

(via bendiswordsforpictures)

bonzly-says:

geibuchan:

stardrunk:

nightmaze:

beerfridgeaesthetic:

sidneyia:

charlieslowartsies:

timelord-named-the-artist:

charlieslowartsies:

when you don’t do a warm up and go straight into lineart and your hand does the thing

Thats a sign of inflammation of the wrist called carpel tunnel . I had surgery because it got so bad I couldn’t draw anymore.

Yikes D8.

That’s why it’s so important to do stretches and draw with your whole arm (ok, arguably hard with a tablet versus a big gorgeous easel) and etc but I forgot today bc I am a moron and it was great

?????

people warm up to draw? like… how?

not an artists but climbing hand and lower arm exercises;

trying to find more and better diagrams for other stretches but yeah it’s super important if your gonna be using your arms a lot.

Adding this important video for all the artists out there, take care of your hands ♥

I’ve been dealing with CTS for over a decade (and drawing for over 2 decades), here are some tips I’ve picked-up on over the years to help relieve pain and decrease risk of making your CTS symptoms worse:

1) Support your arm, do not rest your arm weight on your hand/wrist. Use a pillow for your elbow if need be.

2) Avoid putting pressure on your hand/wrist, this includes while drawing. Pushing on the wrist can cause symptoms to flare-up. Don’t push on anything if you can avoid it.

2.5)  If you like to press-down hard on your drawing utensils, train yourself to be more light-handed, or try different methods that require less pressure on your hand. For example: a digital artist can adjust the pressure sensitivity on their tablet so that it requires less pressure to create a thicker brush stroke; a traditional artist can work more with markers instead of colored pencils; etc.

3) Wear a wrist brace while you sleep if symptoms are present. This can often relieve pain overnight.

4) Take frequent breaks while working to avoid a build-up of stress on the wrist.

5) Avoid keeping your wrist bent for prolonged periods of time. This includes while you sleep- a reason why wearing a brace at night can help relieve pain and symptoms.

In short, be kind to your wrists. If you can afford the surgery, go for it. CTS sucks and there’s no real cure for it. It’s far more common in women than in men, and there are a few factors that can increase your risk. I hope this helps!

Reblogging cuz my older brother has wrist problems,

Also we do the first two steps at work every day

Remembering to take frequent breaks can be tough, especially if you’re feeling inspired. Literally just standing up and sitting back down every 20 minutes or so helps (stretching the muscles helps more). A great tip an animation teacher gave me once is “always work with a small glass of water neer by, and the refill bottle far away.” why?

1) it keeps you hydrated (good for the body and mind).

2) every time you run out of water, get up and walk to fill it up again. This gets them muscles moving. Maybe do a few stretches on the way.

3) Reminds you to take a break also every time you need to pee. Not to mention, it helps clear out some of those toxins. Do a few stretches furing these short breaks.

(via anatomicalart)

eymbeeart:

enecola:

If you’re like me, then you guys love shading your sketches or lineart. Like this:

But if you erase a bit and shade more with black on low opacity it’ll look all wonky so you use the color picker. Or hell you scan or take a photo of a drawing you made on paper. But then this happens if you wanna put color under it!

Oh no! Now I have to set it to multiply to color it in! And then I can’t color in the lineart! :(

Fret not, my dear friends! I found the solution! Go to [Edit] > [Convert brightness to opacity]

And suddenly you have this:

This way you don’t need to set the lineart to multiply and can color it in! It also works perfectly, if you use this nifty little trick on traditional drawings that you scanned.

I hope this helped you guys, because I sure as hell didn’t know about this until yesterday! ♥

HOLY CRAP!this will be so helpful

(via art-and-sterf)