

Ren & Stimpy animator John K. sends fan illustrated how-to letter - adamhowell
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/01/your-pal-john-k.html

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alexgartrell
I know folks around here sometimes like to rag on Joel Spolsky (the popularity
of the jumping the shark article comes immediately to mind), but when I was a
junior in high school, I had a very similar experience to the one mentioned
here.

The computer science culture in central Ohio is kind of less than amazing
(especially for a varsity athlete type), and I didn't really have any idea of
what the good computer science schools were. When I googled around for it, I
came across the Perils of Java Schools
([http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ThePerilsofJavaSchool...](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ThePerilsofJavaSchools.html)).

At that point, it struck me that Joel knew a lot more than I did, so I decided
to send him an email asking what schools were best. Not only did he answer,
but there was actually some correspondence that led to a good short list for
me. After being accepted to Carnegie Mellon, MORE correspondence helped me
avoid Information Systems (an easier track that the football coach at CMU was
trying to get me to pursue). For lack of a better description, Joel Spolsky
was the best college guidance counselor I had.

I think it's important to keep in mind that, when I asked him for help, I was
a slightly above average public high school student in Hilliard, Ohio, so he
was just being a really nice guy.

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bitwize
John K. is a genius but he's not as "nice" as this article paints him. He has
a blog:

<http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com>

He's basically a cynical old bastard who hates just about everything about the
way cartoons are produced today. (Arrogance in cartooning is measured in
nanokricfalusis.) He's also right about most of it: if you've ever seen the
garbage produced today like _Fairly OddParents_ or _Total Drama Island_ you'll
know what I mean.

More likely than not, his outreach toward Amir Avni was more about
intervention than fan-friendliness: he wanted to get to a young, promising
cartoonist before the Evil Network Execs filled his head with bad ideas.

~~~
j_baker
Regardless of his motivations, I appreciate it when someone famous responds to
one of their fans with a thoughtful response. I like it when someone is famous
_and_ approachable. For instance, I've always appreciated that pg will almost
always reply to my emails even if it is just a couple of sentences.

~~~
abstractbill
Couldn't agree more. I admire people who have succeeded in the goals they set
themselves, but nowhere near as much as I admire people who do that _and_ then
work just as hard to help other people do the same.

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thomaspaine
Just FYI, it looks like John K is doing an IAMA on reddit:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/aocjg/iamajohnk_ren_an...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/aocjg/iamajohnk_ren_and_stimpy_creator/)

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chipsy
I have to credit John K. and his blog for giving me good ideas about drawing.
My experiences seem to correlate with his opinion; the bulk of the learning is
in making good use of measurement - measurement and references. If I don't do
those things, I will get distorted construction, every time. (But I have also
no doubt that practice eventually embeds the necessary information in your
soul so that you can be "fast/sloppy" and still do OK.)

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smcnally
the newish cartoon The Mighty B draws heavily on the John K style. Not as
continuously rich as R&S, but decently-drawn.

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sabat
I'm wondering if we have any other illustration / animation types lurking here
at HN and whether they have other suggestions about what to read, watch, etc.,
if we may want to get a little better at illustration. Any suggestions, guys?

~~~
gnosis
#1 on my list would be getting yourself a sketchbook and drawing in it ALL THE
TIME.

Draw everything you can. Figure out what, of all the things you'd like to be
able to draw, you're worst at drawing, and draw lots and lots of those until
you're not as bad at it as you were. Then move on to the new "worst thing".

Also, I would differ with the Ren & Stimpy guy in advising you not to trace
stuff. Copying master art is good practice, but do it with your own eye rather
than by tracing. You'll learn a lot more that way.

When drawing, look a lot more than you draw.. look really carefully and try to
make each stroke as accurate as possible.

Experiment with lots of different media, tools, and materials.

Meet up with and hang out with other art students and artists. Doing so can
provide a lot of inspiration and motivation.

Staying motivated and fighting past self-criticism are probably the hardest
parts of being a serious artist. Which reminds me of this story, told by
Lawrence Block:

A young man once cornered a world-famous violinist and begged to be allowed to
play for him. If the master offered him encouragement, he would devote his
life to music. But if his talent was not equal to his calling, he wanted to
know ahead of time so he could avoid wasting his life. He played, and the
great violinist shook his head. "You lack the fire," he said.

Decades later the two met again, and the would-be violinist, now a prosperous
businessman, recalled their previous meeting. "You changed my entire life," he
explained. "It was a bitter disappointment, giving up music, but I forced
myself to accept your judgement. Thus, instead of becoming a fourth-rate
musician, I've had a good life in the world of commerce. But tell me, how
could you tell so readily that I lacked the fire?"

"Oh, I hardly listened when you played," the old master said. "That's what I
tell everyone who plays for me -- that they lack the fire."

"But that's unforgivable!" the businessman cried. "How could you do that? You
altered the entire course of my life. Perhaps I could have been another
Kreisler, another Heifetz--"

The old man shook his head again. "You don't understand," he said. "If you had
had the fire, you would have paid no attention to me."

~~~
pbhjpbhj
_Also, I would differ with the Ren & Stimpy guy in advising you not to trace
stuff. Copying master art is good practice, but do it with your own eye rather
than by tracing._

Unless it was mentioned twice, he said to _draw_ your copy by eye on tracing
paper, then if you compare it by laying over the original you should mark the
differences (eg eyes too large, whatever) then redraw and check again.

~~~
gnosis
Oh, I must have misinterpreted what he said, then. My mistake.

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sree_nair
Wow !. Just wonderful Reply.

