worldisart323 asked: Your work is amazing.... I draw myself I have to admit I'm not confident in my work . How did you begin to draw the way you do?

Thanks, when I first visualized that I wanted to work at Disney I did a lot of research in trying to find out what I needed to do in order  to qualify, and once I found out I knew I had to be even better than that.  I would peruse through my favorite blogs.  I remember the first blog I saw was “The Art of Glen Keane” then I saw in the sidebar links that lead to other blogs. And that cycle went on and on. 

I would find art that turned me on, I like graphic and subtle drawings. I would frequent the library often and find a book on line drawing and so I would apply whatever I learned into my art.  I was really molding myself into that artist mentality, I would try and emulate artists that I liked and I would find patterns or sensibilities that made each of them stand out.  I would also research a particular era and I would listen to the music of that time to get a sense of what type of music that particular artist may have been listening to at that time.  I tried to envision myself trying to get back into the animation business but back in the old days when animation first started.  Which meant learning how artists back then learned their trade on their own, and they were really fine artists instead of cartoonists. That’s what I found the most interesting, was that all the greats are artists, they put that first. The artist within them informs the “cartoonists” not the other way around. Meaning that they would take what they observe from life and inject that into there work.  Instead of drawing a “rubber hose” body on everyone they sketched from life. 

I found out early that there is a huge difference between knowing how to draw something and drawing from memory.  For example its like having a blueprint of a house than not having a blueprint at all.  Like if you know how an arm moves and what its limitations,proportions, and how it would move/look in perspective you will be able to manipulate it as you see fit.  But if all you do is just copy a drawing of a really nice arm from your favorite drawing and use that in all your drawings then it kinda tightens you up. If anything I would say loosen it up and add more variety. I learned by copying my favorite artists, but at some point I knew I had break away from them and go out and observe life and get my own work flow going.  If I was sketching I wouldn’t want to draw everyone I saw with the same expression or pose that I really liked in a Glen Keane drawing.  Instead I would draw using whatever knowledge I obtained, for example I would look for squash and stretch, overlap, perspective, personality, angles etc.  I don’t want to get caught up with the details. I know I’m probably going all over the place, but I hoped that helped inform you. :)