The Bookshelf Academy: Part II

In a previous entry, I realized that I have an incredible resource under my nose- my own personal library of books I’ve bought over the years. My art books, in particular, are my most valued. This will be an ongoing, intermittent series of my personal favorite books culled from my personal library. Books that actually TAUGHT me something. Each upcoming entry will briefly highlight three books.

However, before we get into it, I want to outline my approach to actually USING these books. I could drone on in an intense article- but I'm doing us both a favor by simply outlining the facts.

How I self-teach using an art instruction book

• Get to know the book:
• Go through it, cover-to-cover.
• Don’t be afraid to jump ahead if you feel inspired.
• Make a concerted effort to start at the beginning and do the exercises within:
• LABEL each art with the book and the exercise/page number! This will give you a reference as you go through your sketchbook notes.
• If there are no exercises, try your own drawing using the presented technique.
• Keep these in your main sketchbook- write notes on what you like and don’t like about your own work.
• Don’t be afraid to mess up your drawings with notes- these are exercises not works of art!
• While doing the learning exercises, if you create a sketchbook drawing that you find you really like, then it’s okay to save it—but that can be counter-productive.
• Fear in destroying/writing over an exercise drawing drowns your confidence. Be confident-simply recreate. Use emotion to draw, but don’t become sentimental of your past sketchbook/learning work.
• Improvement comes by pushing forward, not by resting on lucky laurels.
• All that said, if you want to preserve a drawing but want to draw over it with notes or corrections, tape tracing paper over the work to draw on. It’s also a great way to protect your work from smearing on the opposite page.
• Posting on Social Media:
• This one is tricky… IF you decide to post your exercise- make sure you post credit to the book and artist you are working from. Plagiarism is a fine line, don’t cross it!
• An old professor of mine once said, “To design is to give up a pound of flesh.” It’s blood, sweat and tears. You are allowing yourself to be vulnerable and art is subjective. Ask for friendly critique and blow off harsh or rude reviews… develop that tough skin- it will DEFINITELY help you later in your career!
• Art is subjective. Post attention is a great way to measure your artwork's appeal. Keep in mind of the size of your audience, though.

Do you have anything to add? How do you use your Art Instruction books?

Leaving The Nest

Test Shots and Location Scouting

A few days ago, I went to old Midvale with my friend Joey Sanchez to do some location scouting and video tests my next film TOE TAG. The Vincent’s Pharmacy, featured in these shots, was in The Sandlot.

Joey Sanchez sneaking around back alleys in old Midvale.

Yesterday, my friend Geoff Richards and I used our lunch to get some more test shots in and around the business complex we work at. This test was primarily more for me to get used to the Chung Dha-style monopod rig (which I’ll get to further down).

Geoff Richards lurking around in underground tunnels and parking garages in Salt Lake City.

These shots aren’t bad considering I shot them on an iPhone 6. I’ll likely be using this old phone for TOE TAG and possibly the 48 Hour Film Project unless I can manage an upgrade to the 7 before then… though unlikely.

Chung Dha-style Monopod Rig

I don’t have much money to spend on equipment, so I often try to figure out the best way to get the most out of what I have by using technique to steady and light my shots. I’ve adopted a modified Cinema Verite method- using available lighting and augmenting it with inexpensive portable lights. I also try to figure out the best way to grip my camera with what I already own using very unconventional means.

I like DIY, but there are too many things- like making stuff out of pvc pipe, is just a waste of time and looks ghetto trashy. I mean, come on, use your time to plan movies, not making shitty gear.

I had come up with this method on my own, but it turns out I wasn’t the first to think of using a monopod this way. In 2010, Chung Dha came up with a fantastic method and setup using a collapsed monopod with a ballhead camera mount as a shoulder rig.

Chung Dha’s 2010 demo of his monopod shoulder rig.

Using a speedlight extension bar to extend handling is clever, though I am using an ALM mCAMLITE iPhone case, which has a similar set up on the bottom. I also use the small handle from my Zoom H4N kit for additional handling.

Photos coming soon!

My ALM mCAMLITE Quick Rig: transforms from a shoulder-rig to a monopod set up in 5 seconds.

I already owned the monopod, but I decided to take some birthday money to buy a better support for the heavy mCAMLITE case, for which I bought a fluid-filled tripod head from Anovor, using a Desmond 1/4” to 3/8” adapter.

It works pretty good, though it will take practice to get more fluid shots.

To be honest, I like the challenge of using an iPhone. It limits me in many ways, forcing me to become creative with my shots.