Longhair and Doubledome: Return to Graphite

Returning to Pencil on Animation Paper

From the dawn of time... or at least since I was a child, I have loved drawing with pencil on paper. In time, I would fall in love with pen and ink, pastel, watercolor, and other media, but graphite is where I started my journey into the world of visual art. Graphite on paper is also where I began my animation career, drawing in-betweens for Disney, and later drawing backgrounds for other animation studios.

Then came the digital age, and all animation industry drawings were to be drawn on digital devices. Resistance was futile. Every animation gig I have had since about 2012 has been drawn on a computer screen.

However, recently I had a rare opportunity to return to graphite on paper. Gavrilo Gnatovich (affectionately known as "Gav"), reached out to me about creating some art for Longhair and Doubledome - but not for another animated cartoon, this is in connection with his upcoming graphic novel (read about it on Kickstarter here). I've known Gav since about 2005 when our paths crossed at Fatcat Animation Studios. I was thrilled at the chance to work on one of Gav's projects, but even more thrilled that he has been drawing this graphic novel with pencils on animation paper. Gav gave me the option to work digitally, but I was not going to pass up the opportunity to work in pencil on animation paper and actually get paid to do it. This decision, however, would cost me time and frustration - but also teach me some valuable lessons, as chronicled below. But first, let me show you the drawings I produced.

The Final Penciled Drawings

Gav has given permission to show these in advance of publication of the graphic novel (they don't give away anything important about the story), so I am posting these now. The next three images are the final drawings, all penciled on 16 field animation paper (typically about 17x12”).

Challenges of Graphite

Since I had not actually drawn a background with pencil on animation paper in years, I had to reacquaint myself with the techniques of graphite rendering - a process which taught me just how much digital media makes us lazy. First, pencil on paper has no “undo” function - you can erase but it's not as clean as Photoshop's "CMD/CTRL-Z". You cannot save your drawing at various stages and revert back to an earlier stage at any time. There are no "layers" that let you resize/move things around, or experiment without ruining the drawing. Basically, you have to live with your mistakes. Probably this is a good thing, as traditional media forces us to take more risks and be decisive - at the risk of ruining a drawing or two (or three, or…). It's like drawing without a safety net. By contrast, digital media, with its endless undo's and layers, creates "safe" solutions that don’t really tax our drawing skills quite as much. Hence our skills atrophy.

Other challenges included having a flying insect land on my drawing paper as I was trying to concentrate. Working on a Wacom screen, I haven’t had to deal with insect guts staining my drawing paper in quite some time (don't worry - this happened to one of the early versions, the final drawings are free of insect guts). Also, I had to take extra care not to accidentally crease or fold or otherwise damage the paper. I try to be careful, but accidents happen; with too much vigorous erasing, I almost tore one paper.

Finally, I completely forgot about peg reinforcements! As I worked on these drawings, the paper began to stretch or tear around the peg holes - then I remembered these reinforcements from my days at Disney and DreamWorks. I've rarely used these for the last decade+ but digging them out of an old drawer brought back memories!

Peg hole reinforcements used at Disney and DreamWorks

Alternate Versions and Work-In-Progress

The following images are either work-in-progress or early alternate versions of what would become the final drawings. For the first background, I started in blue pencil. The landscape was maybe a bit too "cartoony" in this version.   

First version - plants are maybe too cartoony

Here is where I hit my first real snag: my first attempts at rendering were disappointing. I didn’t fully appreciate how out-of-practice I was with graphite rendering. So, I decided to completely redraw the scene on a fresh sheet of animation paper. On the bright side, this gave me an opportunity to rework the design of the plants and trees. The line drawing below eventually became the final rendered version. 

Revised version - more interesting plant designs

2nd Background

The second background changed a lot from initial concept to final composition. This early version showcases a variety of plants, but it misses an opportunity to create stronger depth while improving the composition (compare to the revised version below).  

Early version - limited depth, lacking strong focal point 

In this line drawing for the revised version, the plants are more varied in design, and shapes are overlapped to create stronger layers of foreground, middle ground, and background. The "Dutch angle" (tilting the horizon) adds dynamism to the composition.

Revised version - stronger depth, better overlapping shapes

During the rendering of this scene, I became discouraged by my lack of practice in graphite. This drawing really needed more contrast, but I was afraid to ruin it with over-rendering. So, I scanned my drawing and continued working in Photoshop. I digitally darkened the foreground, adding more shadows which help to emphasize the focal point in the distance. This is a more cinematic lighting which I was hoping to achieve in the final drawing - but this is what I mean by digital media making us lazy: I have done this type of lighting so many times in Photoshop that it seems easy to me, but on actual paper, I lost my nerve and became afraid to finish. I am disappointed that I resorted to Photoshop to solve a problem which I should be able to solve directly in graphite. Alas, digital methods have dulled my skills and made me timid. 

Photoshop edited version - foreground shadow helps emphasize distant focal point.

3rd Background

The third background may have changed the most from early layout to final version. This early line version worked fine as a showcase of plant varieties, but it lacks a strong focal point or feeling of depth. As I looked over my drawing, I felt there was an opportunity to create a stronger composition. 

Early version lacks depth or strong focal point

For the revision, I decided to try a different approach. I don't have a line drawing of this one because I jumped directly into tone, employing an age-old drawing technique where you smear graphite across the paper with a chamois cloth, laying out the big masses. Then you work into the masses with kneaded eraser, blending stumps and pencil, to "sculpt" the big shapes - with smaller shapes and details only emerging later out of the bigger shapes. This technique really took me back to my art student days, when drawing was exhilarating and fun. I lost myself in the process, unaware of the passing of time, as the pencil seemed to move of its own volition and plant shapes emerged spontaneously from the graphite void. The next image is from a couple hours into that process, but hopefully you can still get a sense of how plant shapes were formed out of masses of tone.

Plant shapes emerging from the graphite void

Here is another shot from later in the process as I tightened down the rendering and hammered out many of the smaller shapes, sometimes changing my mind about the design of a plant or two.

A few more hours of rendering - heading towards the finish

The final version is up at the top of this post, where perhaps you can see that the composition has a better arrangement of shapes and the plant designs are more satisfying. Below are a couple of closeups where you might see the time I put into details. I think that by the 3rd background, I was beginning to feel comfortable rendering in graphite again. 

Closeup details of the final rendering

Looking back now, I could have done this job entirely in Photoshop and finished much more quickly, while avoiding the frustrations, but I would have missed an opportunity to challenge myself and realize where my skills need work. Also, this job really took me back to my childhood love for pencil on paper, as well as my early days in the animation industry. Thanks Gav, for giving me this opportunity to play with graphite and relive old memories!

As the age of pencil-on-paper animation was winding to a close, I remember spending a good deal of time studying and admiring the fine pencil renderings produced by the layout departments at Walt Disney Feature Animation, DreamWorks, and other animation studios. I expended considerable effort to absorb those techniques as best I could. Sadly, I haven’t had many opportunities to continue honing those skills in recent years - at least not within the animation industry, since the industry no longer values pencil on paper skills the way it once did.