Tim Biskup is one of my favourite modern-day artists, and there’s a new article on him over at Helio: 7 things you should know about Tim Biskup. (via Drawn!)

Following his lessons on cartoon colour theory John has started a series on composition. I’ll readily admit that I don’t always agree with every word the guy says on his blog but, once again, these lessons are a treat. Again, many of these lessons can easily be applied to other mediums, such as film, television and illustration.

1. Composition for layout and background artists
2. Intersection
3. Clear staging
4. Staging groups of characters
5. Negative vs positive space
6. Avoid The Middle, Asymmetry is more natural and interesting
7. Compose your poses together
8. For Layout and BG artists – Form over detail, lettering, study other artists

Steve Worth is also adding some more valuable stuff on compostion at the Hollywood Animation Archive blog; including the 1960’s Famous Artists lesson: 3. Composition – How to make pictures.

They also have a couple of other Famous Artists lessons on their site, including: 24. Television Art and 16. Animals

Enjoy!

John K, of Ren and Stimpy and Spumco fame, is currently doing a very interesting series on his colours theories on his blog. Although he’s talking about colour in cartoons, the information could easily be applied to most artistic mediums.

UPDATE: He’s also now posting some great stuff from early Hanna Barbera colour stylist and background painter, Art Lozzi.

Colour Theories for Cartoons

1. Garish versus Warm
2. Pee and Poo colors versus Colorful Greys
3. Look at the sky before you paint a sunset
4. What’s wrong with these pictures?
5. Good color without a lot of money – Art Lozzi at Hanna Barbera
6. Does cost equal quality?
7. Will It Ever End?
8. Eye relief
9. Steal from anime if you can’t think of anything yourself
10. Neutral or natural colours
11. Art Lozzi: Early days at Hanna Barbera
12. Colour and Background painting reference: Old Golden Books
13. Art Lozzi: Bob Gentle and Skeeter Trouble
14. Art Lozzi: Scooter Looter, Paint Technique, BG Painting
15. Art Lozzi explains some technique
16. Color isolated from detailed technique: Yogi Bear ‘High Fly Guy’
17. Art Lozzi: Hanna Barbera starts to standardise

How to draw really well: I can’t draw really well, but there’s one way to try to remedy that… by drawing!