Patriotic Project August, 2023

Hello everyone! Much has changed in my life since I last posted. My wife Angela and I gathered up our family and all our belongings and have moved to the midwest, specifically Winfield, Kansas. It has been quite a journey, with many unexpected challenges, and many blessings along the way. Today I have drawings from a freelance job I was blessed with last month (when our family most needed it).

I was asked to create some illustrations with a patriotic theme, to be eye catching and brightly colored. For this project I was sending my client original artwork, instead of the usual digital files. So I set to work trying to figure out what images would convey patriotism. As you can see from these roughs I started out illustrating the song America the Beautiful. Then I tried charicatures of founding fathers, and great presidents. Abe was a winner, but I couldn't capture George quickly, so I gave up on that concept (I've never been great at charicatures). I also tried an Uncle Sam whom I have tried to draw before but never done a good drawing of, and of course a bald eagle.

America the Beautiful was just a little too ambitious, in the space I had to work with. I never progressed beyond thumbnail sketches with it. If I could have done each section and put them together digitally that probably would have worked, but it still would have taken too long to produce.

The Liberty Bell and the waving flag elements worked and were an easy choice. All those stars on the flag proved a big challenge at the size I was working at. So I switched to waving stripes.

Patriots, a minute man, another tighter, more refined eagle, and a colonial flag round out the group of final elements that I roughed out. I ended up using all of these as guides for my final drawings. Below is a draft of the Liberty Bell. I've never drawn it before, and I wanted it to be accurate. I think it came out pretty good. I looked at these tighter drawings in my sketchbook, using them as reference for the final drawings.

And here we have scans of the final artwork for the project. The client was happy with how it came out, and so was I. I hadn't used colored pencils for a piece of finished art in quite some time. It was fun to do something different for a change. I hope that you have enjoyed this break down of the process, seeing the rough work, and my final illustrations. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan

Ordinary Day

I was stuck on the phone earlier this week with Centurylink, a telecommunications company that routinely disrupts our family life out here on the edge of the wilderness. They are a frustrating company to deal with at best.

As I spoke with their representatives, waited on hold, explained again, waited on hold held again, waited, explained, etc. etc. I doodled the happy/adorable (hopefully I pulled that off) hearts and clouds and rainbow you see here, as a way to keep myself from falling into the sin of anger.

Don't get me wrong. Jesus is much more than a smiley face I focus on in frustrating times. God is there in good times, terrible times, and all of the run of the mill, mundane times I face from day to day. Allistair Begg said in a sermon (The Mystery of History at Truth for Life) on the book of Ruth, that God is still at work in the ordinary things of life. The series of sermons he did on the book of Ruth (God of the Ordinary) are excellent by the way, you should give all nine of them a listen.

And that put me in mind of something we discussed in Sunday School recently about keeping our focus on God. Not as a lucky charm, or mental diversion. I keep my focus on God because that is how I should live every minute of my life, because Jesus is the example of how I am to live(Ephesians 5:1). Because if I am doing that then I will remember that the person on the other end of the line is a person that Jesus loves just as much as He loves me. And I can remember that even if it takes them 25 minutes just to pull up my account, that I should treat them just the same as I would like to be treated, kindly. With respect. Love one another baby.

So as I waded through the customer service call I doodled and thought about that sermon, and the lesson from Sunday School, and about Jesus, I rested in the truth that Jesus walks with me through every kind of day. I kept my temper. I spoke pleasantly (but sternly) with the Centurylink representatives. I didn't do it through gritted teeth, I did it sincerely. Not through my power, but through His.

As a bonus I now have this little animation to share with you. May it bring a smile to your face. More importantly may the words I have written here encourage and or challenge you. God bless, and have a great day! --Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series: Colossians 1:15-23

Good morning everyone, I hope you are well. Today I have an illustration for you from a sermon by Pastor Shaun Hart two weeks ago(to listen to that sermon click here). This illustration became so complicated that it took me longer than usual to assemble all the pieces.

The main point I took from this sermon and scripture is: Jesus in all things is first and foremost. Through Him all things were created. He is one with the Father, and through Jesus I am saved. Keeping my focus on Him both helps me through times of trouble, and keeps me from other troubles.

One illustration Shaun used to drive this point home was the story of Odysseus and the sirens from Greek mythology. The sirens if you recall were half bird, half fish creatures who would beguile or lure the sailors who were passing by. The sirens sang a song that was so beautiful the sailors would either sail right into the rocks, be shipwrecked and die, or they would jump overboard and try to swim to the rocks and be killed that way. When Odysseus heard of this he decided he could fix this problem. So he stopped up his ears with wax and tied himself to the mast so that he could not be seduced. In the Argonauts Orpheus tells Jason he has a different plan. Orpheus played on his harp a greater song, so great that the sailors never even heard the sirens.

A greater song. Such is the song that Jesus sings. His song is so much better on so many different levels that the songs we hear in this world. So much so that when we listen to Jesus, the songs of this world have no appeal to us. When Jesus is at the helm, the wind at my sails, and the very ship I sail only then can I manage this world.

As I worked on this illustration (which I would dearly love to have time to animate!) I listened as I often do to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. Through no coincidence I am sure, I was surprised to hear Alistair relating the same story to illustrate the exact same message. Here is the link to that sermon: Truth for Life. I had to go through quite a bit to find that link for you, apparently the archives for listening through your phone are completely different than those on the web here. Thankfully on the mobile app you can share a link to a sermon, so I shared it with myself and got you the link. Ovey. The whole sermon is great, the part I reference specifically is about 17 minutes in. You should give it a listen.

This pencil sketch was done with a Pentel .7mm P207 mechanical pencil in a Pentalic Sketchbook on 70lb paper. It was scanned and then colorized in PhotoShop. I hope you enjoyed this post, and that it encouraged you or challenged you. God bless, and have a great day! --Ryan

Chicken Running

Hey-howdy-hey friends and neighbors! Today I have an animated gif for your viewing pleasure.

Earlier this week I was working on my next Sunday Sermon Series illustration. I realized yesterday that I wasn't going to finish any time so soon I switched to working on the concept you see here which was mentioned by Pastor Shaun. He mentioned in passing (I don't remember it as one of his main sermon points, but it stuck with me as you can see) that the church without Jesus is like a chicken with it's head cut off. There is simply no point to Christianity without Jesus.

So of course I quickly drew a chicken with it's head cut off, spastically running along, dead as a mackerel even though the chicken doesn't know it. The chicken is supposed to be moving in a hurky-jerky manner. I couldn't tell if the shadow on the ground was distracting or not. Without it I thought it looked a bit like the chicken was just floating. Either way, this short animated loop serves as a nice interim post while I finish off the more involved illustration which includes sirens, the singing mythical half bird/half fish creatures. Ooooo! Look for it next week sometime.

This pencil sketch was done with a Pentel .7mm P207 mechanical pencil in a Pentalic Sketchbook on 70lbs. paper. It was scanned and then colorized in PhotoShop. The animation was also done in PhotoShop. I use Photoshop for straight forward frame by frame animation quite often. As always I hope you enjoyed this post. God bless, and have a great day! --Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series: April 24, 2017 - Colossians

Hello friends, I hope you are all well! Today I have another sketch in my Sunday Sermon Series. I drew this while listening to Pastor Shaun's sermon yesterday. We began a new study in Colossians.

This is my cartoon version of the apostle Paul. Here we see Paul writing to the Christians in Colossae, people he had never met before. He introduces himself as an apostle (not a disciple) "by the will of God," meaning he was chosen by Jesus (see Acts 9 for the story of his conversion on the road to Damascus). This established his authority to speak into their lives. He told them he was thankful for them, and the faith and hope that lived within them. He encouraged them to live a life worthy of the Lord (that showed the character of Christ). He reminded them to give thanks to the Father that they were delivered (rescued from the darkness Col. 1:13), qualified by the Father to share in the kingdom of light (Col 1:12), and redeemed by the Son, forgiven of sins (Col 1:14).

I drew Paul with a serious expression, rather than putting a thoughtful "searching for the right word" expression on his mug. Maybe it is his pre-conversion life, seeking out and having Christians put to death that makes me think of him that way. Maybe it's that in so much of his writing he talks about the law, and that he was so very good at a legalistic lifestyle before Jesus stepped in to his life and changed his direction. These things dominate my thoughts when I picture Paul. I just don't picture him the same way I do the apostles who were fishermen, a tax collector, or a doctor. It's hard for me to imagine/draw him not being serious. And yet surely at some point he must have smiled and laughed. He did know joy and peace in the midst of his trials and suffering.

I realize this drawing doesn't have a lot of action in it. I usually try to draw an exciting or compelling verb. Here Paul is sitting and writing. But Paul's writings have affected the lives of so very many people in the best way possible. So perhaps his writing has had more action in it than most things I've drawn so far.

This is just the beginning of this study, I hope to post more from it in the next 10 weeks. Let me know what you think about this drawing or my commentary here. Any mistakes are mine, and should not reflect poorly on Pastor Shaun or Harley (who taught in Sunday School this week). This pencil sketch was done with a Pentel .7mm P207 mechanical pencil in a Pentalic Sketchbook on 70lb paper. It was scanned and then colorized in PhotoShop. The color layer in PS has only 35% opacity. I feel this lets the pencil work show through, yet gives the appearance of a light wash of color. I hope you enjoyed this post, and that it encouraged you or challenged you. God bless, and have a great day! --Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series March 5th, 2017

Hello everyone! Last Sunday I listened to Pastor Dennis Fuqua preach on Jesus' last big prayer(John 17). While the main topic of the sermon was how Jesus prayed, the concept I focused on is visualized in the illustration below. I think a lot of us spend too much time thinking of what we can ask God for (myself included here), and not enough time recognizing God's grace, and God's glory. God's glory is revealed in His creation. What does that have to do with a giraffe you ask? Well, let's see.

We all know giraffes are tall. Did you know that the giraffe's heart is approximately 18 inches long? It has to be huge in order to supply the pressure needed to push blood all the way up that long neck to the giraffe's brain. If that pressure was kept the same for a giraffe who is standing upright as it is for when it bends over (to say drink some water) the giraffe's head would explode.

So God designed the giraffe with a system of blood vessels like sponges and tiny spigots in the arteries which close when the head is lowered to keep the giraffe from suffering from a hemorrhagic aneurysm (yes, I had to look that up to spell it right), or as I call it: Explosive Head Syndrome. Then, when the giraffe stands back up the blood is released back into the system at pressure so that the giraffe doesn't pass out from lack of blood to the brain.

The giraffe is an amazing example of the beauty in God's design, and God's glory is revealed in the creation of the giraffe.

This pencil sketch was done with a Pentel .7mm P207 mechanical pencil in a Pentalic Sketchbook on 70lbs. paper. It was scanned and then colorized in PhotoShop. I use the brushes created by Kyle T. Webster, and highly recommend them. I hope you are encouraged by this post. God bless, and have a great day! --Ryan

April 28th Walk This Way...

Howdy friends. Today I give you three more characters strutting their stuff. We have Mort Felinestien, Hank Tembo, and Mrs. Topeka. I trimmed the sections that you have already seen, so that it doesn't get monotonous. As I have stated in previous posts the first section contains the rough pencil animation I have used as the basis for all the other walk cycles. When I drop these characters into scenes in the final animation I'll stagger their walk cycles. In English that means they won't all walk in unison in the final. ; )

As you can see to the left here, Mrs. Topeka doesn't have much up and down in her walk cycle. I tried to match the suggestion of girth/weight (no offense Mrs. Topeka!) that I had in Mr. Topeka's walk a few weeks back. I have a feeling that as they approach you on the sidewalk you can feel these two characters before you see them. The concrete would tremble.

Speaking of trembling concrete, Hank Tembo (Swahili for elephant, according to Google) is sporting a stylish plaid Irish cap (which can be purchased in the gift shop on your way out). His toy/gift bag originally had the name Finnegan's on it, but it was too hard to read so I took that out.

And then of course there is Mort Felinestien looking oh so sharp in a grey suit which matches his bowler, the band of which matches his tie and socks! Mort is carrying a rolled up newspaper, which he plans to attack and shred once he gets back to the office.

One again that's the Marine Corps belting out "Up In The Morning". It seems very fitting with all the exercising going on around here. It's also one of my favorite cadences, and one I loved to run and ride to back in the day.

Next time I will try and drop a city sidewalk scene scrolling by in the background for next time. Something that loops, like the old Flintstone's backgrounds did. Something simple though. I want it to be interesting, but I don't want it to detract from the main purpose which is just showing off the walk cycles.

Walking Characters from ryanloghry on Vimeo.

As I have stated before my work flow is pretty basic. I draw the characters in my sketchbook. I scan the drawings and "cut them out" in PhotoShop so I can move the pieces. Then I pose them on each frame of the walk cycle (still in PhotoShop). Then I render it out as a Quicktime movie. I use After Effects and Premiere to composite everything together. As always I hope you have enjoyed my drawings and this animation. Thank you for stopping by, God bless, and have a great day.

More Walk Cycles

Hello everyone! I've added two more animated characters to the mix this week. an alligator, and a buffalo. I also added some Miles Davis for them to walk to. Five points if you can name the song and album(that's what we called a collection of songs before cds came along, for all you kiddos out there).

More Walking Animals from ryanloghry on Vimeo.

Darkest Hour

UPDATE:

Hello again, this evening I'm posting the animated gif version of this illustration I created. This animation is meant to illustrate how in Jesus darkest hour, he shined brightest. I don't mean to imply it literally of course, but figuratively. He calls us to let our light shine too, not to hide it, so that others may see it, and give glory to God in Heaven. That doesn't mean you advertise every little thing you do to make yourself look good. It means do good, and give God the glory, do it because you love God. Why we do good things is just as important as doing good things. Attitude is very important to God.

For the animation I painted several frames of white and yellow light, streaks emanating outward, and rings emanating outward. Then I turned them on and off on different frames, and viola! I like the way it came out, and the hand drawn look it has, rather than a processed uniform software look. As always, thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed this piece. Below begins my original post, take care, and God bless!

Good morning everybody. Today's drawing is the latest in my Sunday Sermon Series. This week Pastor Mike talked about the crucifixion. It was a dark hour, but in that darkness Jesus shined.

Jesus prayed for another way, but accepted his father's will. Since the beginning of time he was meant to be the great rescue plan for us, and he did it. For me, and for you. He wants a relationship with me, and with you.

Here are some verses that Mike used: 1 Corinthians 4:6-9 In dark places God reveals His Son in and through us. John 12:23-28 When the hour turns dark stay focused on the goal. John 12:32-36 When our hearts harden we stumble in unbelief. John 13:23-28 Serving those who misunderstand or even betray us. John 13:12-17 Serving with a right heart dispels darkness in my heart.

The text at the bottom of the illustration is something new I learned from the sermon. I had always thought that when Jesus said "It is finished." he just meant that he was dying, that the crucifixion was over. Before this sermon I had never heard about the "Paid in Full" phrase/definition from Jesus' time. It's always important to keep in mind the culture of the times you are reading/studying about. Otherwise you can completely miss an important point. I am so thankful that my debt is paid in full.

As always this drawing was done with pencil in my sketchbook, then I scanned it, and used several layers in PhotoShop to paint the color, and lighting effect. As always I used muted colors, a very ingrained part of my style. This drawing has little detail though, because I wanted to focus on the light in the darkness. None of us like to go through hard times, times that test our faith. But it is in those times that we mature in our faith. Those times show the people around you who Jesus is. Who he can be to them.

I hope you enjoyed this drawing, feel free to leave a comment, or ask me a question. Thank you again for stopping by. Have a great day, and God bless. --Ryan

Celtic Cross Autumn

Good morning everyone,

Here is the latest in my Celtic cross series. This one is a bit more involved, not in the intricate design on the cross itself but in the background, as you can see.

As usual I created this with a pencil and paper. The color is all done by painting on a single color layer in PhotoShop. I originally sketched the concept out last year, and spent a few evenings last week working out. The last time I spent this much time drawing leaves was when I illustrated Jairo Penaranda's book "The Little Leaf" which is available here. Like most people I enjoy fall, the bright colors in the trees. I'm especially enjoying it this year as we had such a hot dry summer here. I'm very thankful for the cooler temperatures, and the rain.

I chose simple colors, and gradations of a single color for each leaf, instead of multiple colors for the leaves. After spending a few days on the drawing I don't have the time to spend making a photo realistic painting (I've never enjoyed that style myself, why not just take a picture, and save the wear and tear on your hand and wrist?). I like to keep it simple too, it appeals to me.

This is a close-up of a portion of the pencil drawing before I colorized it in PhotoShop.

Thank you again for stopping by my blog. I hope that you enjoyed what I have shared with you here, and that you have a terrific day today, God bless. --Ryan

Snowy City Scene Animation

Good morning everyone!

Today I am sharing a rough animation I have created. I created this scene for my annual Christmas card and animation.

First I drew all the buildings and the train in pencil, scanned them, and colorized & knocked them out in PhotoShop. Next I rendered an animation(quicktime movie) of each one, then I took all those quicktime movies into After Effects and rendered each one with snow falling. On each piece of my "set", as they go further back into my scene I added a little camera lens blur, I did all of this to add to the depth of the scene.

I'm really disappointed with the compression on this. It looks SO much better on my computer here at home. Maybe some day I will find the right settings, that will make a clean and clear video that is small enough to upload from my connection here at home. I will try to replace this video at some point with a version that has better compression settings. Also, I'm not sure why but the animation is cropped. I created a 16x9 animation and this is not as wide as it should be. If you want to see it un-cropped go to my Vimeo page and view it there.

Next I will add riders on the train, and people in some of the windows in the apartments. Some of them will be animated, just a little. I'm only one person and I only have until the end of November. This animation was a huge first step though, proving I could create the look I wanted.

One thing that I needed to learn how to do again (because it had been two years since I did it last) was how to create a snow effect in After Effects. I watched this tutorial by Carlo (sorry if I spelled that wrong) on YouTube. The best thing about the internet is people sharing knowledge, helping each other out. His turorial was quick, concise, and he showed and described everything he did. Very helpful. Thank you to Carlo.

I hope you enjoyed this project, I hope to post a couple updates as I work on this over the next couple months. As always feel free to leave a comment, and to share this post with others. I hope you all have a terrific day, and thank you for stopping by.

Sunday Sermon Series: Prodigal Son July 26, 2015

Update!

Hey-howdy-hey, I made time to do a color version! Well, I needed a break from the chickens I had been drawing for weeks(and will be drawing for weeks to come, but more on that later...), so I spent the last four mornings colorizing the prodigal son and the pigs. this time I made extensive use of underpainting, which I don't normally do. I think it adds richness, and depth to the color. anyway... I hope you all enjoy it, and that you are staying cool.--Ryan

Howdy folks. Today's illustration is another in my Sunday Sermon Series, from this week's sermon at Hockinson Community Church. The sermon was about the prodigal son parable Jesus told and is found in Luke 15:11-32.

I have read this piece of scripture many times, and have heard at least two sermons that I recall on it. Pastor Andy's sermon had a little bit different take(as usual) than the other sermons I had heard. Andy has a terrific knowledge of life/society during Jesus times. I always knew that when the prodigal son asked for his inheritance and the freedom to leave that it was a slap in the face to his father. What I hadn't ever heard before was that it was so much more than that. In those times, and that society it would have been perfectly acceptable for the father to kill his son for the disgrace he had heaped upon him. So the prodigal son's sin could have, should have, cost him his life. But the father saw him coming and ran to him, forgave him, sacrificed the fatted calf for him, welcomed him back with open arms with no questions asked. "For this son of mine was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found." (Luke 15:24)

We suffer the same when we try to shake God off, and live for this world. But if we seek repentance God is always there, running towards us. The tag line sums up what I took from this sermon. I think we should routinely stop and look up from our busy, hectic routine. We should assess our lives, our direction, what we are doing and saying(and why we are doing and saying it), and see if it aligns with God's will(and please know that when I say we, I am most definitely including myself). It's easy to get off track in life, but it's also easy to get back on track. Just turn towards Him.

I did not have time to colorize the drawing this time. With the temperature back in the 90's this week I can spend very little time in my office. Also I have little time these days for work what with Angela, Stella and the boys and the house/chores needing my attention. I like the drawing itself, but am not one hundred percent happy with it. I was going for a more subtle expression of self realization/shock at his predicament for the prodigal son there. More of a "the fog is lifting "What the..." moment. As it is, he looks suspiciously like Marty Feldman if he stuck his finger in a light socket. That's fine because I always liked Mr. Feldman, but it wasn't what I was going for originally. But, with little to no time to rework things what you see is what you get around here these days.

As always I hope you enjoyed this drawing. I hope this post was informative to you and helps you in some way in your walk. Thank you for stopping by. God bless.--Ryan

Chip On A Bus

Today I'm sharing with you a sketch of Chip riding a bus. I'm working on a new story. Unlike the previous two picture books starring Chip this one is a middle grade book with illustrations. Probably a lot of illustrations, since I'm an illustrator/writer.

I have a lot of experience with buses. I used to ride an express to and from work in Portland each day for several years. I did a lot of sketching on those 40 minute rides.

Here we see Chip, and to a lesser extent his pal Fred who is sitting next to him. I have been drawing Chip for about 11 years now. One of the many things I like about writing a different kind of book like this (middle grade as opposed to picture book) is that I can be much more subtle. In a picture book you can't get away with the main character facing away from "the camera", in a big crowd. In a picture book your hero should be easy for the little kids to spot.

The guy coming up the stairs is a minor character, whose only job was to start the story off. But then I changed the whole beginning of the story, and this scene doesn't exist anymore. I won't tell you his name, because it was so good I'm recycling it and using it as the name of the antagonist in the new version of the story. Ha! Cliff hanger there.

As usual this drawing was done in a sketchbook, with pencil. No color on this because I don't have time to colorize a drawing I'm not going to use these days.

I hope you all are having a terrific day, take care, and God bless. --Ry

Sunday Sermon Series

Last Sunday our sermon was about the story of Ruth. Ruth is a story about how God redeems broken lives, brings light to the darkness.

One of the points Pastor Mike touched on was how Naomi's faith was highly visible to those around her. Naomi's faith made a big impact on her daughters-in-law, both of whom refused to leave her side even though their husbands (her sons) had died. Ruth went so far as to return to Naomi's homeland with her (a land that was a bitter enemy of Ruth's birthplace, Moab), and help provide for Naomi. Picture giving up your life here, moving to Iraq, or Iran for good to help your mother-in-law after your spouse has just died.

Rather than do what was easy or comfortable for herself, Ruth did what was best for Naomi. Ruth had seen something in Naomi that convinced her to do this. She had seen Jesus, she had seen "love one another" worked out day after day in Naomi's words and actions. It led me to think about how hard I try to "love one another", and how much harder I should be trying.

So as I listened to the sermon I drew this sketch. Jesus is seen directing Naomi. She is providing for a man, maybe a homeless man, I don't know, but a person in need. He definitely suffers from cartoony giant feet.

I hope you enjoyed this drawing, and thank you for stopping by.

Looping Seaside Animation

Hi everyone!

I spent the last few days creating this animation for the About/Contact page on my website. I asked a pal of mine(David Walters) how to avoid collecting spam through my contact page and he suggested CAPTCHA, which is great, but it would have taken me at least a couple weeks to dope it out and get it running right. I never have that kind of time. So instead I decided that it would be really hard for bots to scan and scrape an email address from a moving image, and since I love to draw and animate I went to work.

Ryan's Boats from ryanloghry.

I used muted colors, and pencil texture (in the pier, and the gull on the piling) to help this piece blend with my illustration style. I should have some artsy-fartsy, fancy pants reason, but I don't. I just really like the look of washed out color, translucent, so you can see the pencil work through it.

I was kind of bummed that the tops of all the buildings on the pier got cropped, but in order to get them close enough to see them, they were too tall for the frame. So Here is a small version of that drawing.

I also sketched some gulls sitting on top of the buildings, but they would have been so small, they would have been confusing. I might go back and add a couple 3D ones in though, so I can move them a little. We'll see.

Here is my original pencil sketch, all I had at first was the idea about the boats. When I put that scene together it looked so sparse, I knew I needed to add some more elements. So I drew the pier, and then built the clouds and the seagulls in 3D. The gulls were fun to animate. I still might add something in the foreground on the right hand side, to give the scene more depth.

I hope you enjoyed this peak behind the scenes. I sure enjoyed creating it. --Ryan

Celtic Cross

Hi everyone! Here is my latest drawing. As you can see I really enjoy drawing these Celtic crosses.

This particular drawing has significantly more detail than any other cross I have drawn so far. I added more Christian symbolism this time; the alpha and omega on either side of the globe, and the seven roses. The gears represent the intricate workings of God's creation. The distressed quality on the gears is meant to reflect the fallen nature of our world.

As usual this drawing was done with a mechanical pencil. This time I used a paper with a much smoother tooth, which allowed for more detail. I hope you enjoy it, as always feel free to leave a comment.

Pitching Sequence Third Pass

So here is the last pencil test version of this animation. I've roughed out all the frames I need to create a compelling and convincing animation. It will take me a couple weeks at least to produce the 34 final drawings of the main character, and then I still have to put a little action in the crowd in the background.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about and watching this process, and the end result when I get it posted. Have fun and God bless. -- Ryan

Secondary Pass

As promised here is the second pass of the pitching sequence animation. With my schedule the way it is anymore it took me a few days.

When I was finally able to view what I have here I realized that his back leg lands right next to his front leg, and if he were really throwing a pitch the follow through would carry his back foot way out in front of his front foot. Also, I need to speed up the second half of his motion, to give his pitch some ZIP. SO... I'll need to re-animate the last few frames, and add some more. Then I can get back to the crowd in the background. Once I get that doped out I can start on the final drawings. Easy Peazy.

Pitching Sequence

Here is a pencil test for a new project I'm working on. I threw the background in to make it a bit more interesting for you the viewer. I'll do finished drawings for the pitcher next, maybe add a little more exaggeration, and then I'll draw the crowd a couple times over, to give them a little movement, not much but just enough so that they aren't frozen. That crowd part will probably be take the longest.

I'm going to add a few in between frames to this, but I like the flow of his pitching action, so I don't think I'll make any big changes.

This is a small part of a bigger project I'm working on, a children's book and animation. With digital books/apps being what they are these days I'm excited about adding little clips of animation that the reader/viewer can activate within the story. I'm hoping it will add to the experience.

Speaking of children's books, remember you can still get "The Little Leaf" (written by Jairo Penaranda Illustrated by yours truly) at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. If you have an iPad you can get an interactive version of my book "The Searcher" (written and illustrated by yours truly) via iBooks. As always thank you for stopping by, and have a terrific day.

New Animation Tools = New Animation!

Ice Skating Test Animation from ryanloghry

Hi everyone! Merry Christmas! I've been saving up for almost a year now, and last week for my birthday/early Christmas present I got the rest of the funds needed to get the Production Premium Adobe package I've been needing for a few years. Adobe has finally added inverse kinematics, and what they are calling 3D options, and I'm am very excited about the special effects possible in After Effects(like the snow you see in this animation). So I sat down over the weekend and put this little loop together. I only had a couple of hours to devote to it, but I learned SO MUCH. My hope is to continue to add to this piece, to make it more interesting. Here is the original Christmas card from last year, so you can see the starting point for this animation:

I just had to share the fun and excitement I feel. Enjoy! (P.S. I set the animation up to loop, so don't wait for it to end, cause it won't.