How To Make A Mythical Monday
![Loose thumbnail sketch of a satyr character holding a glass of wine and touching his nipple](https://assets-global.website-files.com/5c1418637b45f564e46156cc/61e36b8946fc7c851f5f7720_greg-gunn-make-a-mythical-monday-satyr-header.jpg)
I’m starting to really examine my process—especially in terms of making a Mythical Monday gif every week—and wanted to share a bit of it.
Usually, I start the ideation process with a sense of panic: WHAT DO I DO. Once that subsides (and it always does) I just start drawing. And while I’m sketching I’m thinking “does this make sense, will someone understand what’s going on?” It looks a lot like this:
![Photo of a page from a ringed sketchbook of rough drawings of a satyr](https://assets-global.website-files.com/5c1418637b45f564e46156cc/5dbaf5a6285ec2a37556c91a_greg-gunn-illustration-mythical-monday-process-sketch.jpg)
I’ll continue to draw out ideas, poses, and notes to myself until something sticks. Sometimes it doesn’t – so I’ll pause and try again later. But most of the time I’ll fill up a page in my sketchbook and find something that makes me laugh that I think would work. In this case it was seeing the Satyr in a sultry pose.
From there, I take a photo with my phone—quicker than scanning—and get it into Photoshop. I know I have to clean it up, but I want to capture the essence of the original sketch as closely as possible. Once I figure out the basic shapes I begin to explore animation ideas and things I can loop that will activate the character.
For this one, I thought he had to rub his nipple and swoosh a glass of wine. Here’s the rough animation from Photoshop—
![Rough animated line sketch of a satyr laying down rubbing his nipple and holding a glass of wine](https://assets-global.website-files.com/5c1418637b45f564e46156cc/5dbaf5de6fb3db52f400e38b_greg-gunn-illustration-mythical-monday-process-rough-animation.gif)
And here’s the finished animation—
![Animated gif of a red-bearded satyr laying down rubbing his nipple and holding a glass of wine](https://assets-global.website-files.com/5c1418637b45f564e46156cc/5dbaf5f1be2d939dbd11b9a0_greg-gunn-illustration-mythical-monday-process-satyr-animation.gif)