Daniel Tynan

pollywog sketches

2009-11-27T17:55:00.000-08:00

sketches before the painting.

Pollywogs

2009-11-27T17:42:00.001-08:00

pollywog type creature: this was result of a brainstorming session with some other folks. Believe me there is a backstory behind this guy.

asian babes and guns

2009-11-14T10:25:00.000-08:00

asian babes and guns = instant hit with young guys

My friend who likes leather

2009-11-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

caricature for a friend.. this and the previous drawing both have heads turned a bit too extreme. . I gotta pay more attention to that!

The Fur Coat

2009-11-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

The future of the animator in a global market

2009-11-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

Hey folks..
I haven't posted on here in a long. . long time. One of the reasons being that I was in Beijing for almost 2 years and Blogspot is one of the websites that get blacklisted and blocked in China.

Working in animation in China gave me a good understanding of what happens when animation work gets sent to the mysterious "overseas". Animators (including all the creative positions in animation industry) in China are every bit as keen on learning and improving their art as are young animators in North America. And from what I've seen of their artistic ability, China has no shortage of well schooled and talented visual artists, who are quite comfortable with the pencil and brush. China has many very good "old school" art schools where you learn the hands on skills thoroughly. Present day China has tons of animation studios and schools popping up all over the place with the government very much interested in funding and developing Chinese animation content . . which was destroyed by the Cultural Revolution (think "Dark Ages"). They had to start from "zero" but are quickly catching up. Most of the animation schools mainly focus on the technical and are purely for profit. Almost every animation company in China also has their own training centre or school. Often the profit they get from their school is equal or greater to the profit they make from production.

In my experience they have a lot to learn still about managing an animation studio and running things efficiently. Often in China the way to solve a problem is to throw more people at it. . rather than spend more money or try to solve it with the existing people involved. For animation this does not help improve quality or the bottom line. Chinese animators do work longer hours and Canadian animators and they do of course get much lower pay. . but they can pretty much afford the same lifestyle a Canadian animator can because of the lower cost of living in China. Probably the biggest obstacle to the evolution of animation in China is something that is linked directly with her Communist past and Confucian culture. There is very little creativity or innovation. . only an exceedingly good ability to copy and reverse engineer. This can be attributed to an education system that rewards compliance and discourages and even punishes dissent and cynical or critical thought. "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" is from a Chinese proverb. Also the government that so wants Chinese to stop consuming Japanese, Korean and American animation and comic books. . . is shooting itself in the foot with all of its censorship, overviews, interference and other draconian measures. All of which stifle creativity, but which are necessary to preserving "harmony". Many Chinese have said " We should have been the ones to make "Kung Fu Panda" which was of course wildly successful in China. But no director would have gotten funding for a film that portrays China's national symbol as anything less than perfect. However an infallible hero is a boring hero that nobody can relate to.

These are my criticisms, but all in all the quality of animation in CHina is rapidly improving. The bulk of work that gets sent overseas is production work for TV and games, where the quality does not have to be too high and the cost needs to be low and output fast. It should be fairly easy for a good animation studio manager in China to make profit. They have the unfair advantage of not needing to follow copyright laws.. so they can saves hundreds of thousands of dollars by using all pirated software (which ALL the studios in CHina do). Labor is cheap, though training people takes time. Government is very supportive of studios in CHina. . often providing them rent free state of the art buildings for several years! Most Chinese focus on 3D, so 2D and Flash animation are not very good quality in most studios.

So what is the future going to be for us North American animators? Well we better get back to the basics because probably more production work will get done overseas, but highly creative and culture-centric pre-production will not and can not be exported. I'm thinking I had better hone up my drawing and design skills! Astro Boy is an example of an American movie that did not employ Americans. It was animated entirely in Hong Kong. .. something that most reviews of the movie do not mention. .

We animators are experiencing the evolution of Global Capitalism. The end result is that it will probably be a great equalizer for countries. . Places like CHina will and are getting richer. THere will be more competition for jobs. .not just with your own countrymen. .but with everyone around the world! USA and Canada will probably get a bit poorer. Soon you won't so much have very poor countries beside very rich countries. . but you will have very rich people living just down the block from very poor people in ALL countries around the world that have embraced global capitalism. This is all already happening. . not some prediction about a distant future. So if you are used to living very cheaply, and continue to work hard.. you'll do alright. But if you have been riding on the first wave or second wave of CG animation boom.. and making a 6 figure salary. .you will be in for a shock.. because nobody is going to pay you that much anymore when they have other options. And they have plenty of options now! Even Los Angelos won't be sheltered from this reality much longer. Right now there are more animation professionals than ever before. . thanks to the highrolling and fun lifestyle depicted by the media of those who were lucky enough to ride the first and 2nd waves of CG animation craze. .. but in time I think only those who truly love animation and couldn't be happy doing anything else, or those who have a very understanding spouse.. are going to stay in this industry.

Black & White Oil painting

2006-12-13T21:42:00.000-08:00

Black and White oil on cardboard canvas. It isn't finished, because we are done with the model. Isn't quite dry yet either, thus the blotchy areas in the background.

a portrait

2006-11-08T22:48:00.000-08:00

portrait (live model). It took way too long.
Next thing will be to attempt a B& W oil painting.

caricature and sketch

2006-09-09T03:06:00.000-07:00

Guys, never draw a caricature of a girl you know and show it to them. Self image is BIG for them. be warned ;)

Sketched this from the window of a cottage in Muskoka. There wasn't actually a coyote out there, but we did have a very sickly looking fox visit us regularily. We gave him lots of chicken to eat.

2006-08-02T22:26:00.000-07:00

These are the odd-couple parents of one of my childhood best friends. He took after his father and was skinny with red hair. We became friends because I was one of hte few who didn't call him carrot head, and I sometimes defended him. ANyhow his mother was HUGE and his grandma and older brother where enourmous too. And his dad was this wiry chain smoking welder straight out of "King of the Hill"

His family was so different from mine and so wacky that I loved to hang out there. what 12 year old wouldn't want to play with a friend who had pellet guns, porno mags, bows n' arrows, crazy uncles and a huge property to wreak havoc on.

lifedrawing in the heat

2006-07-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

maybe I should photoshop out the drops of sweat on the paper.

drawings from the ROM

2006-07-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

I referenced some armour and armless sculptures for these. maybe if they had real arms I might have done a better job on the hands. Evil hands . . .. someday I will master you . . SOMEDAY!

hefty

2006-07-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

photo from the zoo. . . Or was it from my trip to India . . you'll never know . . mu ha ha ha ho!

lifedrawings

2006-07-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

Toronto's top model

2006-06-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

The organizer said we had a rare treat tonight and he wasn't kidding. This woman had a perfect body and face in every possible way AND she did excellent poses.

My drawings don't do her justice but she was by far the most beautiful model I've ever had the privilege to draw.

The Thin White Duke

2006-05-27T01:37:00.000-07:00

I watched the documentary: "Cracked Actor" on the internet on UTUBE about when Bowie came to america and started singing soul and dressing as the Thin White Duke, surviving on a diet of milk, peppers and cocaine. Also when The Man Who Fell to the Earth was filmed. I dunno I liked the whole alienation thing and the clothes and the great soul songs from that part of his career.

a proud King

2006-05-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

Pride of Royal proportions. Luckily he has servants who support him.

I think the idea for this one came up through one of Lubomir Arsov's musings.

The Stilted Ones

2006-05-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Among the trenches pace the muttering mensches;
Clack! clack! sound sound the pegs, where one would normally find legs.
Alas! It was really no secret at all. They where but two feet tall!

shock you

2006-05-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I listen to Stern a LOT when I'm at home animating or drawing. Either that or music. What can I say, he may be narcissistic but he is damn entertaining!

grumpy demon

2006-04-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

been drawing lots of horned people lately. This drawing is heavily based on a demon painting I saw on "Deviantart". I'll look for the guys link.