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By Timothy Piotrowski, March 7, 2010 8:43 pm

I have just uploaded the PDF files for Kool Aid Gets Fired to the printer. Included in it is a short story called Son of Kool Aid. It’s a 9 page story, done like a children book, each page having a full page color illustration to go with the text. The image to the left is the fake book cover I came up with to separate the two stories.

I added this, since this is my first book I’ve done that I’m sending to a professional printer, rather then printing it off myself. I felt that I should do something special for that, to mark this step forward in my work. Also, the printer said if I could up the page rate to 40, it would make it cheaper. So more pages, better per unit price, fin with me.

I had the idea for Son of Kool Aid when I was writing KAGF, and last year ran out of copies of it. So I began working on the story in full. I spent the last few days (7) doing all the illustrations. It was very intense, and wonderful. I would wake up, sit down, and get to work.

While I had written out the text many months ago, it wasn’t sold on every word that I had used, and the ideas for each page. And honestly I didn’t have the final page written or even what it would be. So I started with the pages I knew were right. As I worked, I kept thinking about the pages that weren’t quite right, and the final page.

I rewrote a couple of pages, and finally came up with the ending. This was how I worked for KAGF. I outlined the pages, then  write the page, then plan it out, then draw it. Generally I would be planning out the next few pages while working on the current page. Since I had a roadmap of where I needed to end up, this method worked.

I find that I can have some really good inspirations when working under a deadline. I also think these inspirations happen because my mind is so active during this time.

The book arrives around April 2nd, a week before MoCCA, the following weekend. The book will be available to order here, with payments acceptable via paypal, or checks send to me. The price will be $5.oo  plus shipping and will come signed and a drawing of Kool Aid (Not for retail orders, unless asked).

A special thanks and love to the following people, Tim Howard, Tim Fish, Monica Gallagher and Marc Scheff.

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By Timothy Piotrowski, March 1, 2010 7:07 am

“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.”

- Chuck Close

Someone quoted that this weekend, I had never heard it before, but it’s something I believe in, and have for years. It’s not good enough to just sit around waiting for a good idea. In fact, I tend to have more inspirations when I am doing something, over doing nothing. Being active makes the brain active, which causes ideas. Just like anything in this world, use it or loose it.

Inspiration can come in many forms. Secret confession, I watch Project Runway. Not for the fashion so much, but because I like Tim Gunn. I see him as a very positive, problem solving, encouraging person, who is genuine. He goes with his gut feelings, but channels that into thoughtful questions and is very open to a wide range of ideas.

So, I enjoy watching someone like that, because I work towards being like that in who I am.

I find inspiration in Sarah Palin, in how not to be as a person. She is a horrible person, because she is a hypocrite. She talks about how society needs a strong roll model and leadership. And yet every time someone says some thing insulting or degrading about her, what comes back is on the same level, insulting and degrading.

In short, she has never shown me that she can rise above, and be better. Which, to me takes her lower then the person who originally insulted her. Because she knows she’s doing it, and goes ahead and acts that way on purpose. Maybe not, which is sad, because that means she has no self awareness.

I’m only mentioning these public figures as examples of how inspiration can come from anywhere. Currently I’m working on 10 full page color illustrations for Son of Kool Aid, need to be done by March 9th. I’m doing good on getting them done.

There are lots of things motivating me, but one thing in particular, are people that always complain about not being able to ever get work done. But they never just sit down and do it. There is always something in the way. Tired from work, which I would accept, if they were lumberjacks. They have boring jobs, that dull their minds. I’ve been there.

I write these blog entries for myself, really. Why? To remain positive. To motivate myself to looking at things in a forward way. There is no room in these entries for complaining and bitching. I may talk about a bad experience, but it would be about how I learned from it. There isn’t any reason to come here and vent.

As I work on these illustrations, I find inspiration comes naturally. But it’s also because my mind is very active. It’s like working out. Keep doing it, and you will see results.

So don’t wait till you have the inspiration to do something. Do something and the inspiration will come. Not only that, your skills to execute the inspiration will be sharp, making it easier.

Here are some sections of the illustrations I’m working on. Enjoy.

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By Timothy Piotrowski, February 16, 2010 2:51 pm

Picasso was in a park when a women approached him and asked him to draw her portrait.

Picasso agrees and quickly sketches her.

After handing the sketch to her, she is pleased with the likeness and asked how much she owed to him.

Picasso replied, $5,000.

The women screamed, “But it only took you five minutes!”

“No madam, it took me all my life.” Replied Picasso.

Recently my idea of what it means to be an artist/writer/dancer/actor/musician has changed. To be an artist/writer/dancer/actor/musician you must always practice your passion. Only the rare prodigy comes forth as a fully functional artist. The rest of us talented folk have to sharpen our skills. For me being a cartoonist means drawing all the time, and not just comics. Drawing sharpens my eye and hand. Much how you learned to write your letters, drawing them over and over, till now it’s so built into you, you don’t even realize it.

I’ve mentioned that I attend a weekly figure drawing session. (if you live in or near Brooklyn, I suggest checking it out.) It’s been about a year, and I’ve definitely noticed improvements in my figure drawing. Other benefits I’ve seen is I’m able to sketch out a layout or a thumbnail for an illustration idea quicker and cleaner. That kind of benefits comes over time, and is some what passive, it just happens.

I’m in the middle of a project (which I got with the help of my good friend, Marc, an amazing artist), working on the pencils. I’ve got a lot of reference material on the human figure, which I refer to, when doing action poses. But one panel, I really didn’t need to refer to anything, because I knew how the figure was going to look. It was a straight forward shot of the character busting out of the ropes holding him. I knew how the shoulders connected into the pecs, where the line between them and the biceps would be, how the arm would connect to the chest.

I’ve drawn similar poses in the course of the drawing session. What I had been practicing, I was putting into action, in an active way. It was very clear that what I was doing in the drawing sessions was having a direct impact on what I was doing, both passively and actively. It was pretty cool to have a moment where I could see both happening.

Some one once asked me, “Does anyone ever get good enough to not have to use references?” I seriously doubt it, save for the prodigy mentioned earlier, or people who draw the same thing over and over. And even then, all that happens is that you probably rely less and less on reference material for what you know. But if you have to draw something such as Washington Square Park, wouldn’t you look at a picture?

Also, this project has been a good one for re-evaluating my composition. Take the above image again. That is not how I originally drew the inset panel. This is how I drew it:

How boring. Very boring. The same idea is in both, that hasn’t changed, but how I executed the idea has changed. This in fact happened several times. One panel in particular, I redrew about 5 times, over the course of many hours. I had a lot of trouble finding a pose to reference* that I really liked. Eventually I found something that lead me to the final solution.

For me, being a cartoonist and illustrator doesn’t mean that I make money doing that. It means the way I think about it, the way I approach it. I need to always look for ways to expand my talents, what I know, and the information I can bring to each project. Being an illustrator/cartoonist is more then a full time job, since all the work I do to be a better illustrator isn’t done for direct pay, and comes on my own time, after the time spent on paying work.

*When I reference an image, for me that doesn’t mean copying it, but using it for a guide on how things line up on the body. Especially for hands and feet.

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By Timothy Piotrowski, January 21, 2010 10:19 am

Here are some drawings from last night’s drawing group. The group is taking off it seems. Others are stepping up and offering to help run sessions, and start sessions of different days once a month. It’s great.

Part of learning is observation of what you are doing. In the drawing below, I was going along, somewhat pleased at what I was getting. Then I got to the area circled in red. I realized that the negative space outside the body in my drawing was at least twice as big as what I was actually seeing (The yellow area).

What it comes down to, my proportions for most of the drawing were way off. It happens. It’s why good artists draw all the time. You aren’t always going to be perfect, you don’t always get it right. Heck even the two drawings above are 100% correct. Maybe 80%. Models shift, you make one area a little to big, you forget to have some outside reference point.

It’s the ability to look and evaluate your work, that helps someone improve.

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By Timothy Piotrowski, December 10, 2009 11:00 am

After a two week break, we got our figure drawing back on last night. At first, I just wasn’t hitting it. It was a new model, so I wasn’t as familiar with her body as I was with past models. It might have been that it’s been two weeks since the last session, even though I’ve been doing drawing and such at home. But the final pose, which we gave a hour for, I felt I really got the form down, though I wish I had paid more attention to the stairs and surroundings in my drawing, I feel I crapped them out.

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By Timothy Piotrowski, November 25, 2009 6:38 am

Take a look at this segment of an illustration I did:

I love the texture I got on the wainscoating. It looks like painted wood, where the wood wasn’t treated, and the paint is peeling off, following the grain of the wood, and that the paint has become discolored in spots. There’s something splattered on the baseboard.

Um, I can’t remember how I did it. I hate when I do that. It was one of those moments where, trying new things, clicking here and there, using new brushes and just going to town, and when it was done, I was asking myself “How exactly did I do that?”

I need to get into the habit of taking a few notes while I work and figure/find a way of doing something. I have the original art, still broken down in layers, so I can go back and look at  stuff, and maybe figure a few things out.

I guess it’s the nature of the beast, when you are in the zone, and things are flying fast and furious.

NOTE: There won’t be any figure drawing this week, as it’s a Holiday week.