Top 5 Documentaries on Netflix for Creative Type

Inspiration can be hard to come by when you’re a creative type of person. Everyone has their own way of getting inspired.  Every creative is familiar with their own version of writers block. It doesn’t matter what media or expression your art manifests itself in, you know what its like to experience a blockage in your creative arteries.  Whenever I get a creative block I turn to 2 places I like to go and they are Netflix and Youtube.  Youtube is good but quality can be low and you never really know what you’re going to get. On the other hand Netflix has a library of awesome material with a star rating system that lets you know basically what level of content you’re going to get.  The problem with Netflix is sifting through their entire library to find what it is you don’t know you’re looking for.  It makes it that much sweeter when you find something that you can go to your friends with and you know they will enjoy it too.  You are my friends and here is my list.

#5 Stripped

Stripped is a documentary about Comic Strips and their creators.  They interview and talk about the top comic strip creators of comics like Penny Arcade, Calvin and Hobbes, Luann, Foxtrot, Peanuts, Garfield, Pogo, and many more. It’s a perfect documentary for anyone looking for a little comedy writing, drawing, self publishing type of inspiration.  This documentary not only talks about comics with comic creators they also delve into the future of comics as print media is fading out.

#4 Comedians of Comedy

Comedians of Comedy follows comedians Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford, and Zach Galifianakis on a comedy tour called The Comedians of Comedy.  The Documentary follows these leading alternative comedians as they talk about comedy and live day to day on the road.  There are clips of each of their comedy and how the push the boundries of whats known at conventional stand up comedy.  They tell old comedy stories and talk about thing they have been through while they create new memories.

#3 Dear Mr. Watterson

Dear Mr. Watterson is basically a love letter to arguably one of the greatest comic creators to ever live.  The documentary explores the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes and its creator.  The doc interviews people from all walks of life and they discuss how Calvin and Hobbes has impacted their life. They also delve into how Calvin and Hobbes changed and continues to influence comics today.

#2 I Know That Voice

This is one of those documentaries that gives you a peek into something you always wished you could find out more about. Featuring voice actor such as John Dimaggio (Bender from Futurama), Kevin Conroy (Batman), Mark Hamill (The Joker), and many more.  They discuss the process of being a voice actor and making a career with their voices. Some of cartoons more recognizable voices are in it and it’s a lot of fun to see the people behind your favorite characters like SpoungeBob, Tommy Pickles, Bender, and many many more.

#1 Tig

This one holds a special place in my heart because it chronicles the journey of stand up comedian Tig Notaro to notoriety.  This is the documentary that should be called “A Series of Unfortunate events” because it talks about the horrible trials she had to endure that eventually led up to what would be the stand up performance of a lifetime.  Its sound like a bit much but even one of the things she endured would have been overwhelming but she endured.  It also covers her journey afterwards and all the things that came from the bad and are still in development.  On a personal note, the reason this one sticks hard with me is because I was just getting out of the hospital wondering how I was going to deal with the pain and trials I was going through so I was in bed and I turned on Netflix and there it was being promoted in the big window like it was calling to me.  It helped me so much.

This is my list of the best documentaries on Netflix. Enjoy and your welcome.

How To Draw Cartoons- Drawing Cartoon Hands Made Simple

 Everybody can learn to draw.  I believe that because I believe there is nothing special to anything that I know.  We all know the old say about “practice, practice, practice” but that advice is useless if you have no knowledge of the some basics. Without anything to practice there is no way you can get better, most people don’t know where to start and that’s why people always say I cant draw anything.  All it takes is a little resolve and some practice and you could learn to draw anything. But today I’m gonna show you my hands.

Some of the hardest things to draw are always the hands.  If you’re anything like me this is going to be a difficult area for you all your life.  Sometimes you even end up with the choice between dealing with hands or drawing nothing but shy characters with their hands always behind their backs. But that gets old.  I thought hands were difficult until I learned the secret to drawing cartoon hands… you ready for the secret… don’t get ahead of me. Here it is, the secret is the O and the J.  Does that seem too simple, I’m over simplifying but the basic building blocks to the cartoon hand are the O and the J.  I will show you now with a basic rock, paper, scissors of hand movements.

 O and J.  Simple enough!

 Paper

Rock

 Scissors

Two Movies You Gotta See On Netflix If You Love Cartoons- I Know That Voice, In A World

If you’re anything like me the world of voice over is fascinating in its mystery.  I know almost nothing about it but I do know that I love cartoons and one of my dreams is being a cartoon.  On top of that I think everyone at some point has been told “you should do cartoons because that’s a really funny voice you do.”   That is one of the most infuriating things to be told because that’s what I would love to do and if it was that easy I would already be doing it.  But thanks to these movies there has been a tiny light shone on this industry so at least if you’re looking to get in you’re not just bumping around in the dark.

In my opinion you should watch “I know that voice” first because it gets you familiar with the business of voice over.  This movie brings out some of the (in my opinion) coolest of the cool in the voice over industry.  The only way it could have been cooler is of Mel Blanc (you know the voice of bugs bunny) himself would have been in it. I Know That Voice takes you thru the process of recording a voice and shows you the hidden art of coming up with a voice. I really thought that part was cool because in real life the voice you have is just the voice you have but when creating a character you have to take into account the type of person they are the things that they like to do and their personality (its too cool finding out how John Dimaggio came up with the voice of Bender from Futurama). 

Once you’ve watched this movie you can now comfortably watch “In A World” because you are no longer in the dark.  This movie follows the lead character struggle in the voice over world as a woman.  The movie takes place in the voice over world but the premise of the movie indicated by the title is the movie makers want to revive the trailer “In a world” voice over thing.  The usual guys throw their hats in the ring for it but now there is this woman that has a shot at it and it infuriates the contenders.  It’s a very interesting view of the voice over world and a very awesome movie.

Michael Bay Is Raping My Childhood Again

Just heard some news, Megan Fox is going to be playing the role of April O’neil in the Michael Bay abortion of your childhood called Ninja Turtles. That is right folks, Megan Fox, the slow motion queen of the Transformer movies. Can I be the first to say that if Michael Bay remakes an X-Men movie I call for REVOLUTION!!!

What the hell!! First you kill Jazz in Transformers, then you destroy the awesomeness that is Devastator in the second and the last movie was so lack luster it was amazing. Now your going to go after the Ninja Turtles. I challenge you Michael Bay, make a better movie than the original. With all its flaws the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie was way better than any of the Transformers movies.

I think at this point Michael Bay should be brought up on charges for being a pedophile because he’s raping all of our childhoods. I don’t understand what is so hard about keeping to the original storyline. Is it because you didn’t come up with it? I’ve got news for you Mr. Bay, your imagination sucks! The transformation in Transformers was cool but that movie seems like it was made by somebody that hated all of the characters. Let me tell you something Mr. Bay, the Ninja Turtles were born in the time of the self published comic book, the originals were black and white but the characters were so great that they just struck a chord with the children and the child inside of us and you, Mr. Bay, smeared your mind feces all over all of my favorite childhood heroes. Now you want to taint this one.

To be fair I’m gonna watch this movie and more than likely really enjoy it because I’m not one of those people that are critical of every little thing in a movie. I even like movies that suck (that might be why I own the first 2 Transformers movies). As a fan I would just like a little respect, like with Batman or the first few Superman movies (not the last one, I tried to like it but not so much). Or hey maybe even the X-men movies, the third was good but not as great. There are a ton of movies that were treated with respect but if you want another example of a movie that can be destroyed by the lead female, Green Lantern. Jessica Alba almost destroyed Fantastic Four, whats her face from the Spider-Man movies….. Kristen Dunst (I had to look it up). Watchmen was almost perfect (I can do without the cock and balls next time), Rebecca Romijn was perfect as Mystique, Halle Berry was awesome as Storm.

I could go on and on but the point is that it can be done right…… SO DO IT RIGHT MICHAEL BAY!!!!!

Cartooning 101- Emotion Is All In The Eyes

 

In this lesson we are going to learn how to give your simple cartoon just a little bit of emotion. I was heard a professional cartoonist say “If you’re going to mess up on anything make sure its not the eyes.” When it comes to drawing everything is important but the eyes by themselves can destroy and entire piece of art. You’ve heard that the eyes are the window to the soul, I bet it was an artist that originally said it first. All expression begins with the eyes and communicates through body language and then finally spoken word.

So lets get to it. These eyes were easily drawn in inkscape (If you don’t know by now I really love Inkscape, its vector based software and best of all its free) using simple circles. The eyebrows are just curved lines but when put in different arrangements they convey different emotions(you‘ll notice that most of it is just the eyebrows doing most of the work). I’ll explain each number.

1. This is just the run of the mill happy expression. Eyebrows slightly raised and open. When added to a face it makes it look happy.

2. Basically the same as the first with one difference, the eyebrows are raised way higher. This helps convey surprise or a more extreme joy.

3. This brings in the eyebrows and eyelids in the opposite way as the two previous. By flipping the eyebrow the other way it helps show a bit of concern when added to the eyes it shows worry.

4. If the eyebrows on the outside show worry when on the inside it totally changes from worry to anger. Everybody is familiar with the anger face because everything around the inside of the eyes bunches together.

5. When the eyebrows are even and more than halfway down the face it presents more of a mellow or sleepy feeling. This one is less about eyebrows and more about eyelids.

6. The classic confused face. It is the only one that is classically asymmetric. By adding one eye of happy and the other of worry they combine to create a bit of worry.

7. Closed eyes with the same angle as the happy eyebrows creates a laughter or another extreme joy emotion. When added to a smile it looks like the face is laughing.

I used the same basic face to show that the eyes are the main source of emotion. I hope you enjoy this one, more to come in the future. If you have any suggestion be sure to leave them in the comments.

Single People Hate Your Kids- My First Animation

This is my first animation called Single People Hate Your Kids.   I used Anime Studio Debut 6 and it took me about 1 month to make this.  It took that long because I only worked on it in my spare time between writting a blog, drawing practice, making t-shirts, working on a podcast, and working on new designs for shirts.  It was a lot of fun to make but it takes way longer than you think it would take.  I'm hoping the next one will have audio.  There will be a post in the future to help anyone that would like to play around with Anime Studio Debut 6 (because its the only one I have).

Just so you know I dont hate kids but I cant stand those brat kids at the store that need to get jumpkicked. I dont think you should ever beat a kid but sometimes you cant help but fantasize about it while that dirty kid stares at you while he's throwing a fit on the dirty floor.