Anne Bush the blog

I made it move!

2012-01-25T18:18:00.001-08:00

Kinda same old stuff but I tinkered around with it in toonboom

I shocked myself!

2011-09-21T17:56:00.001-07:00

I've actually been working my butt off on a small personal project! I've been trying to put together a super short lil animation, mostly to try to force myself to draw BGs that actually have to be applied to an animated project and not just for funs. I've been putting it all together in toonboom which is a new program to me, but it's always very rewarding to feel yourself learning something new. I'm going to try to have this thing done in the next few weeks, everyone wish me luck.

Something that I really like

2011-08-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

I love it when someone takes a real photo of an animal and for whatever reason there's a really anthropomorphic quality to it. A lot of them look like they're making a real human expression, it's hilarious and it makes me want to really try to capture their expression.

Ok, I'm back now

2011-08-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry I was gone for so long, I had work to do, we're weekends only now so I have more time to work on my backgrounds. I'm trying to work with brighter colors and more detail, just trying to figure out what the right amount of texture should be to make something interesting without looking overly rendered or a godforsaken textured mess.

A study of my view from a coffee shop

2011-01-28T11:00:00.000-08:00

Here's my study from a view from outside a coffee shop. Different colors than what I normally work with, but they're still still cool. I live in Indianapolis btw.

I don't really know what I'm doing

2011-01-07T15:12:00.001-08:00

I'm not really too sure what I'm doing here, but I figured any start is better than no start. I won a copy of Painter 11 at ctn-x (thanks Wacom booth) and decided that I was gonna work on trying to do some of them detailed painterly backgrounds that I see people doing. I figured it wouldn't hurt me to learn something new. I swear this thing took forever, but I learned a couple of new things. One of the things I learned was that you actually have to have stronger composition in these because it gets lost in the details. I'll just keep on trucking, I assume that they will progressively get better. If I can finish one more by cripplecon I'm allowed to buy myself a burberry scarf.

I went to the bathroom

2010-09-21T11:26:00.001-07:00

Once up a time, I went to the bathroom
then I took a trip to the desert
then, I came home and had dinner in my really small cramped dining room.

I sat on this idea forever

2010-05-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

and then I finally drew it. I really didn't concentrate hard enough on the part I really was excited about challenging myself on though. I wanted to do a better job of composing the animal heads and using good hierarchy, but I got lazy and kinda just drew them there.

I try to draw characters also, drawings of characters I'd actually want to see.

HELL!!

2010-03-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

standard fire/cave hell. don't go there ok.

Digital Background Tutorial

2010-02-04T10:54:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of months I've been asked by a few people how I do my digital backgrounds. I always reply with the same answer, "oh it's super easy". So I've decided to put together a quick tutorial on how I do my backgrounds.

Materials: Nothing too fancy, Photoshop CS3, Wacom tablet Intuos 2 (old I know), and a scanner to scan my initial sketch.

I'm going to start off by sketching my background on paper, it always feels a lot more natural to me and I can work a lot faster that way. For those who feel just as comfortable drawing in a tablet or have a cintiq, go for it, good for you.

My focus is going to be on the actual technique I use to render the BGs, but I want to briefly go over the sketch that I'm going to paint. My objective is to draw attention to the main character (marked in red), so I'm going to keep that area clear. The eye is also drawn toward harsh contrast, to I also have a bold horizon line bisecting the main character (marked in green). I make sure that any rocks or trees in the back create a line that draws you to the main character (marked in purple). Lastly my two secondary characters are contained within the shape of the rock as to unify them with the background and not draw attention from the main focus (marked in yellow). I've also noticed from my studies, that the horizon line is always right about in the middle.

Here are two important brushes that I use for my textures. They are literally bathroom sponges that I dipped in paint and scanned. You can make any texture into a brush easily by going to Edit-Define Brush Preset. I can send you hi-res versions of these textures if you like.

I've adjusted my sketch to be 8.5X11 and 300 dpi. I've the set the layer with the sketch on it to "Multiply" to make it transparent and put it at the very top so that I can see anything that I draw below it.

Now I'm going to start coloring it from the very back, which would be the sky. Before I put down the color of the sky, I make a layer then color it a solid light cream or grayish color using the bucket tool. Then I've created a layer of pink for the actual BG color also using the bucket tool. NOW, I set my eraser tool to one of my large sponge texture brushes, and lightly (20% or 10% opacity) go over the entire pink layer. This is what I'm going to be doing with every single layer I paint hereafter, this will give it that nice texture as well as unify the colors by making them slightly transparent (therefore allowing the colors beneath to show through and blend together).

Now I've gone and colored in all of the major elements in the picture. I did this mostly by filling in lassoed areas, I used a solid brush on the smaller trees and rocks. I've also erased over each layer with a textured brush like I did with they sky. Note that each element is on it's own layer. I like going back and being able to adjust my colors and fix things as I go along, so I keep every little thing on it's own layer.

Now I'm going to go back and add texture and details to each of those major elements. I like to do this mostly by going over large areas with a big brush set at about 40% opacity. I make sure to set the shape dynamics on them so I can get good varying line widths. Then afterwards I go back and use my textured erasers on them as usual. I will usually have 2 or 3 layers of texture for each element. One for dark, one for light, and one for small details like linework or spots.

These stones for example are one of the places where I DO actually paint on the texture. Generally I only add texture by erasing, but I paint it on in areas where I need it to look very deliberate. Some observations that I've made when studying old HB BGs were that spots or bark tends to be grouped into threes.

Now that I've finished adding texture and details to the individual components, I'm going to make one last layer over all of them, and add the last final details, such as tiny flowers and grass. (note that I've changed the color of the sky, I'm constantly changing my colors until I find something I like)

Lastly, apply hastily drawn characters, voila! finished.

I'd like to add that pretty much everything I learned about doing these BGs I learned by directly copying old Hannah Barbera (mostly Art Lozzi) BGs, and reading stuff on the John K blog. If you have any additional questions please feel ultra free to ask me. My hope is that someone out there remotely benefits from this tutorial. Thanks for your support.

Dogs I drew from a book and short animation

2009-12-25T14:38:00.000-08:00

I got a book on dogs from a used book store and drew some of them. The foxes I actually saw in a park (not wild, in a cage). I also did a quick animation, I was originally going to make it longer, but then I saw a crazy squirrel digging a hole and decided I'd rather animate that instead so I cut it short (you'll notice the music ends kind of abruptly).

ok um, scraping for things to update with

2009-12-07T09:19:00.001-08:00

Hi, here is one of my favorite video game characters from one of the greatest video games of all time. I plan on drawing the other characters too, but I just been having trouble drawing lately.

OK, i did NOT draw these, Rex did, that's why they're good. but I DID color them. I been trying to come up with a way to color stuff looking old fashioned like a bazooka joe comic. I think that style works more better for his drawings than mine.

Here's a pic of my wall from the caricature convention. I had a lot of fun hanging out and partying with my friends. This photo is courtesy of Emily.

HAHA ok, this is a secret preview of my "animation" for cripplecon. OMG i will see you there!!

ok, btw, I am working on a BG tutorial. I just got to draw a good BG first.

Making sure I still knew how to draw.

2009-09-23T12:58:00.000-07:00

Just some doodles to see if I'm applying anything I've learned from all the practice I've been doing. Ideally the practice lessons will strengthen my art in the direction I wanted to go in the first place. I think it's working.

In case anyone has been wondering what I have been doing

2009-09-10T19:12:00.001-07:00

I've been drawing a lot. I have been mostly practicing how to draw backgrounds and other stuff it's all here on this blog. it's mostly copies of other people's work, but i've learned a lot so far.

But here is a couple of drawings.

I have been sitting on these doodles for a week now trying to think of how to render and finish them up, but I figured I'd just post them the way they are for now. They are the contestants in an animals battle of the bands.

Also a digital background of an island.

Cookies

2009-07-28T22:39:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I really haven't been drawing that much, mostly because of work and whatever. After Dr.Sketchy's Marie Antoinette themed life drawing, I had been trying to develop a good marie antoinette character face. I think there's a lot of different directions I could go with something like that. Any resemblance to Leslie is purely coincidental.

ALSO, I totally made those cookies, Aren't they cute. They're totally for Marie Antoinette. I want to make more now, and make them progressively more ornate.

Also, I wish I coulda gone to comicon, but oh well, there's always next year.

life drawing from dr.sketchy's

2009-05-20T19:52:00.001-07:00

this is like the only thing of substance that i've drawn for a month now. omg you would die if you saw the crap that i have been drawing recently. i will try harder, i promise. ooh, next month dr.sketchy's theme is marie antoinette, that is exciting to me.

backgrounds for nothing

2009-04-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

sorry havn't been drawing much

2009-04-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

rather all my drawings have been studies and experiments and or crappy.
but here is a crappy 1 panel comic i did, i made some more, i should try to finish them.

Also featuring, drawing i did at dr.sketchy's, some doodles of myself, brian as a dog nose person(which totally works btw), and george liquor

HAHA a crap animation by me

2009-03-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

OH YEA GOBELINS HERE I COME ( I am somewhat inebriated, I may regret this)

It's always sunny in Philadelphia

2009-03-17T17:54:00.001-07:00

I don't usually do caricatures unless I have to at work. I also don't ever draw no fanart, but I really like this show. I'll probably go back and tweak a couple of likenesses, right now my eyes are burnt out on looking at it. I figure it would help if I actually had human beings in my portfolio. I might paint them a lil scene too.

Ok, so I've been working on making a portfolio

2009-02-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

So I'm trying to draw stuff that would be real and not just random dumb stuff. This is a character lineup of the staff of Dogsville high school and also the many colors of space cat. wow, this looked good when I drew it last week, now it already looks like crap. P.S Jason I will fix the stuff you told me about, I just didn't do it yet.
P.S Dave or Tawnya, the first cat is Franklin colored.

also, the thing on the top is a background for a short i'm working on "Mink and Roob sell funnel cakes at the fair"

Kitty City

2009-02-18T20:24:00.000-08:00

These are the two smartest cats in Kitty City elementary school.

This is a dog that has been hit hard by the recession and has turned to alcohol.

Pedodog gets his just desserts...prison style.

Coming up next week...A kid looks at a lunch ladies moles and barfs forever. stay tuned

A couple dogs I saw

2009-02-10T16:38:00.000-08:00

This is Tawnya's dog Bridget. When she gets happy she shakes her butt so hard she can hardly walk straight (Bridget, not Tawnya)

THIS is some freakishly cute dog I saw at this thing called First Friday. First Friday is this thing where a bunch of art galleries stay open at night and give you free wine (kind of like Ray at Night). ANYWAYS, I don't think my drawing does this dog justice because I kind of made it look freaky instead of cute, but it had this otherworldly anthropomorphic quality to it. It's owner said it was a pomeranian, but it had to have been mixed with something else. It had these heavily lidded eyes and a really high forehead ,and it was wearing a brown vest that made it look like teddy ruxpin.

Bettie Page

2009-01-24T15:56:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posting them, but lately I have been drawing a million Betty Pages. She has the perfect cartoon sexy lady body, and the photos of her are all old so they aren't all airbrushed and fake looking. I think drawing a Bettie a day will improve me. Also, she makes me want to have boobs.

animals, dr.sketchy's , cripplecon

2009-01-21T10:00:00.001-08:00

Hi guys, in case you didn't know I moved to Richmond Virginia. It's been cool so far, I dig the downtown area. I finally got a chance to throw together some stuff I did on a sketchcrawl in San Diego a couple weeks ago. I usually don't like to use sketchbooks because I normally can't get past the 3rd page without drawing a poop or a dick in it, I didn't even make it past the first page this time. Also, I already have planned out how I'm going to look when I'm old.

Last week I got a chance to go to a Dr. Sketchy's here in Richmond with Tod and Corey, it was a really cool time. I think I can definetly handle going to life drawing once a month, especially if there's drinks. I think I saw the model the next day working at sephora, but I didn't wanna ask.

Lastly, this is Patrick Swayze's reaction to the last night of Cripplecon

Rabbits

2008-11-29T23:49:00.001-08:00

I had spent the last two weeks concentrating on artwork for my secret project, and it drained all my draw power. So today I drew some easy stuff.

my new secret project

2008-11-14T20:02:00.000-08:00

Here is a peak at my new secret project.

HINT: it is not about things that I find hot or sexy.

super small update

2008-08-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone, I haven't updated in a million billion years. I've been busy with the season and whatnot. Our park is going into weekends in only two weeks so I'll probably be doing a lot more drawing after then. This sketch is part of a little freelance gig that I got, so it isn't going to break any new boundaries in the field of illustration or anything, but I thought it was cute.

P.S. I wasn't trying to give this drawing a pretentious background or anything, I was actually trying to prep it for digitally inking and I thought it came out cool that way.

BEHOLD

2008-05-08T18:40:00.001-07:00

A big ass dandelion.

comic page

2008-05-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys I haven't posted in a while, I've been really busy with work and the only drawings that I have been doing are crummy ol' in parks. The past couple of weeks though, I had been working on a second Mink and Roob comic for Beau and Brian to take to a minicon in Texas. Unfortunately I was pressed for time and it looked like ass, so I didn't finish it. This is the only page from the comic that I think looks half decent, the rest of the pages I will redo later.
P.S the second Mink and Roob comic Brian did is really funny, so you should buy it.

girls

2008-02-28T00:44:00.001-08:00

I need more ladies for my portfolio. I can't really get into the pinup stuff (probably because I'd rather be looking at guys). Also it's kind of hard to think of an appealing sexy lady body that doesn't look generic, you stretch it too far and it doesn't look hot any more. Also, i better start running again and working on my own body.

Lil kids again

2008-02-20T08:13:00.000-08:00

I hope these lil kids look like kids you've really seen, because that's kinda what I'm going for. Also I'm going to wondercon, so let me know if your going, and I'll see you there.

more asians

2008-02-13T22:38:00.000-08:00

Ok, I drew some more people for my portfolio, I drew them a old dad too, but I didn't finish it. Also the dog I originally drew a while back, but I re-looked at it and it was all wrong so I tired to fix it. Last picture is famous lolcat Serious Cat (this is a serious thread).

Oh glorious cripplecon, oh wonderful day

2008-01-28T01:10:00.000-08:00

Sunday, Brian and I stayed in and watched the football game most of the day, like a couple of degenerates. He slept in the degenerate bed because I barfed in the real bed.

Plus also photo of me and Sam that Brian took.

the motorcyle maniac

2008-01-27T14:19:00.000-08:00

The motorcycle maniac, is coming to Craptown to whack a mole. Idea kinda based off the guy on Raising Arizona or old Honeycomb cereal commerical.

Also, go look at Brian's better motorcycle maniac.

Children

2008-01-22T23:29:00.001-08:00

Azn children

Here is more ferret

2008-01-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

I had drawn these guys a while back but I redrew them to make them more structurally sound and also added a turnaround. If you guys see any big structural flaws let me know. Also, I have also been drawing at Coffee Society at the Pruneyard recently. I am always there, and I'm sure the regulars and the workers all think I'm some kind of jobless weirdo (which is sort of true). So if anyone wants to come draw with me, let me know.

I drew some stuff

2008-01-12T21:27:00.001-08:00

Things I drew instead of working on my comic

2008-01-11T20:14:00.000-08:00

McDinos

2008-01-10T00:41:00.001-08:00

McDonald's Food?

or Dinosaurs?

Jealous?

i drew some lil kids

2008-01-02T09:51:00.001-08:00

Design woes

2007-12-31T21:07:00.001-08:00

OK guys, today I have a couple of questions. Earlier today I was working on a couple of designs, a "Lab" assistant and a meerkat butler. I was happy with the way the designs were looking when I was sketching them out, but when I finished doing the cleaned up versions, I was disappointed by the way they looked. The finished versions look really unoriginal to me. I don't hate them, but I'm not very happy with them.

I know a lot of times a sketch doesn't look as good, when it's cleaned up because it loses the character in the original linework, but I've never had it where the entire design looked less original. Blah, I should have just inked the original sketches!

Grandma and baby tiger

2007-12-26T21:11:00.001-08:00

The baby tiger is kinda an elaboration of the fathead tiger design, but i kinda lost it's crispness as I was drawing it, so I'll probably have to go back and revisit it. Also neither tigers are wearing clothes, it's supposed to be their fur, so I think I should go back and draw stripes on the grandma's coat.

Oh Mrs.Hoitytoit, I will never give up on drawing your head

2007-12-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

These hoitytoits took me an eon to draw

2007-12-19T22:46:00.001-08:00

The one on the right is aghast at the sight of a disgusting mole. and yes, they are headed to Tangent city.

more stuff

2007-12-17T20:32:00.000-08:00

Hotfrog is out of your league , so please don't waste her time.

Here are the gothic lolicats!

2007-12-13T22:53:00.001-08:00

No, i have not gone off the deep end, the gothic lolicats were inspired by kittywigs.com.

Hello my name is Stinky the musk ox

2007-12-11T23:41:00.000-08:00

and i smell like caca

Elemad

2007-12-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

Is mad.

some fathead tiger

2007-12-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

Here's Christmas Fox

2007-12-06T13:01:00.000-08:00

Dear Brian, PROJECT X has now begun.

I drew some animals

2007-12-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

Making a horse

2007-11-25T21:13:00.000-08:00

A Hummingbird

2007-11-10T17:46:00.000-08:00

A hummingbird flew into the office last night, and this morning I found it perched on our computer mouse in a vegetative state. I warmed it in the palm of my hand and fed it sugar water from a henna bottle. After a few minutes its eyes became open and alert, then the bird regained its vigor and flew away.

I won something

2007-10-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

I'm still not too sure how I won, but I really appreciate the support from my friends. I think I'll make next year a real drawing year. BTW if anyone has good pics of my wall let me know, I'd like to keep the Brian and the George for my portfolio.

attractions! coming soon!

2007-09-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

I apologize for this dumbest post ever

2007-09-12T13:27:00.001-07:00

Phew, I was seriously afraid it was going to contain men or Donatella Versace.

hi guys, new post

2007-08-23T12:13:00.001-07:00

Hi, I'm back on the web, here are some pages from my most recent portfolio. The last pic is of a no haired freak.

reptiles

2007-05-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

I went to Borders and I bought a book on reptiles for $5.99, and I drew those reptiles. The page with all the four animals on them, I did not make up those expressions, they really had those faces in the reference photo. That weird fat turtle really looked like that guy from office space.

sketch dump

2007-04-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

I finished a sketchbook, most of the drawings were me copying a "how to draw lion king" book and other unpresentables, but here are some drawings from it. You can say that I am a crap artist because i did not draw the life model's foot, but i did, i just erased it because it sucked.

Who the hell wants to see boring ass life drawings

2007-03-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

But that's what your gonna git. BTW the model was not actually punching her own ass.

take my friend test!

2007-03-07T22:13:00.000-08:00

Create your own Friend Test here

more stuff i drew

2007-02-28T22:23:00.000-08:00

i drew some stuff

2007-02-25T22:38:00.000-08:00

I drew this a couple months ago

2007-02-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

I drew this a couple months ago, I was going to do it over better but I didn't really have the time. It's supposed to be of Dejon and I as Japanese RPG characters. Our powers our based on my Kaman's RPG system of Art=MP(cute sketches are healing magic, jack ups are magical attacks) Sales=Physical Attacks, I'm not too sure what HP can be, I'm open to any suggestions, the analogies are truly endless.

Dr Anne

2007-02-06T20:20:00.000-08:00

some more stuff

2007-01-21T20:12:00.000-08:00

I can never have too many snailshells.

It's too bad thinkfingers are worthless in SPACE.

I put the pencils up too, because I always feel like I lose something in the inks.

cleaner moles

2007-01-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

more squirrels more moles

2007-01-18T03:58:00.000-08:00

i was supposed to work on more backgrounds

2006-12-29T23:33:00.000-08:00

but instead i drew some more bs

i'm learning how to color

2006-12-29T23:32:00.000-08:00

these are trees

I told myself that I wasn't going to post these on my blog

2006-12-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

I did not want anyone to know I would draw something so panderous and maudlin. I was going to create an elaborate online persona using the nom de plume Antoinette Mentaiko Bourbon, but I failed. I'm only good at hatching plots, not following through with them.

I need to direct more traffic to my blog

2006-12-09T00:33:00.000-08:00

I heard that sex sells, so I'm spicing up my blog with sexier drawings.

Dejon said this, not me

2006-12-07T01:39:00.000-08:00

We were having a discussion about anthropology and boobs and Dejon says, "People like you and I have small boobs because we were built for hot, humid climates", or something like that. so here you have it.

Yes, it is colored like ass.

ok so I asked Dejon

2006-12-07T01:35:00.000-08:00

So, I asked Dejon, if she met the perfect guy, would she still love him even if he only wore Mc Hammer pants.

I actually drew a good one for her based off of what she liked and didn't like about the other ones. I would date his older brother.

bum nerd bum nerd bum...

2006-12-07T01:34:00.000-08:00

no pants party

2006-12-06T01:16:00.000-08:00

Brian and I are Parisian spies, we are spying on Gabe's no pants party.

movie stars

2006-12-06T00:15:00.000-08:00

We're movie stars in feature animation. or how Dejon sees us.

more pen and ink stuff

2006-12-04T20:30:00.000-08:00

Aaron vs the Lion. Aaron actually thought he could beat the lion. "why is the lion winning?" he says.

This is the gator farm father and daughter that I was talking about with Stephanie, I finally got around to drawing it

the annetown follies

2006-12-03T20:10:00.000-08:00

Today on the Annetown follies...

An English village makes Dejon ride through town backwards on a donkey.

I wipe Dejon's Paychecks on Chris' ass.

and Jessica Alba tricks Brian into kissing the Reyes fish.

more con pics

2006-10-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

con pics

2006-10-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

I was evil and took home all of the drawings I did at the convention. Since I've got them, I figured I might as well scan and post them.