Lion King Pencil Test

You know that feeling when everything starts to make sense? Yeah, neither did I...until today. I caught this video of a Lion King pencil test, and I saw what our teachers have been trying to drill into our vacant brains! In this clip I found the expected, pretty cleaned up animation, but I also saw storyboards in the reel which are in the exact format that Nancy Beiman has been trying to teach us and the pre-paint, toned layouts that Scott Caple has been demonstrating all year.

Nancy has been teaching us that it is the acting, action, and staging that happens in the boards, not necessarily the cinematography. Scott has been showing us that it is the layout man who decides which type of fancy camera angle and/or move is used and how to execute it. It all comes back to Disney, and I think it's clear from this clip that our teachers know what the heck they're talking about.

Check it out...

Jürgen Görg

(Not my work, by the way...)


I experienced spring skiing in December yesterday! Drove all the way to the mountain to find it raining and slushy, so after two runs down the hill I threw my gear back in the car and pulled out my backpack of books and pencils.

Little mountain towns are perfect sketching locations, so I wasn't too upset about the lack of boarding. While looking for a comfy café I stumbled across an art gallery. They had the usual mass-audience style of work for sale, bar one artist: Jürgen Görg.


Görg is a German artist who uses inspiration from lovers, dancers, musicians, and masked personages to create loose and free graphite/oil figures. These pictures can hardly do the paintings justice, as it seems he has created a new medium. His oil work is so thin it could be confused with watercolour, and he isn't afraid to show his searching line in the rough stages. He is showcased in galleries internationally, so hopefully you'll get a chance to see his work in person.

keepin' positive

So, even though WestJet has lost my luggage with many great books inside, I managed to bring "The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook: Landscapes" by Gordon MacKenzie here to Nelson. Thanks again, San, for being the authority on good art books.

It has very clear, no-nonsense information, and MacKenzie has also written some comforting words of wisdom. Here's a passage I believe we can all relate to in all aspects of our art and lives:


"You have always known how to compose pictures.
You did it as a child and you never forgot.
What you have lost is the memory and nerve to follow your instincts when making a picture.
What you have temporarily forgotten is how to play.
What you grew instead was an ego that demanded protection from embarrassment at all costs.
But it is time to take back command, responsibility and freedom for your compositions
-- because no one else will."


This type of advice is given in many books on art and self-discovery. Little tips like this always inspire me to let go, take risks, and remember that it's good to make mistakes.


"Lake Spirits"
by Gordon MacKenzie









Hey, if you've got the spare cash and time, he's holding a five day workshop in September in northern Ontario. It's on my to-do list now.


for further reading on inspiring yourself and getting out of an artist's block start by checking out "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.