The final turn around came out great. Like mentioned before , details within each part of the body , mainly the patterns in the apron and hat, has to be omitted as animating them in a way that make sense would be to time-consuming and un practical , as the plain character still delivers all the important details. However, as said before , there is still some shakiness within the turn around, especially in the area of the neck and goggles. This is due to the angle it is place at, and also , some lack of understanding in its volume. Also the base of the heel should remain in position as it is suppose to be where the axis of the spin is, but it is actually moving. However, I don't think it is a big problem , as the overall shape of the spin is good, especially in the hat which I think I nailed perfectly !!
After coming across this video on the steps to building gesture for life drawing , I realised now that I've been to stiff in my shape building , still relying mostly on squares and straight line for construction , as opposed to using the natural curves of the human body. It also, like the title suggested , is a great tip on the steps of getting poses in quick and effective, which interestingly enough ,part of it was not trying to be to real, meaning , yes you still stick to the line of the model, but with added personality and dynamism into. This is a very interesting point, as my old fine art teacher would say :" draw what you see, not what you think" , this case being an extension upon it " draw on what you think you see". Again , the point of this is to capture the pose as quickly AND effectively as possible, and is one of the key features that separate life drawing for animation and for fineart
the shape is hard and stiff , unlike the ones below
Doing the more detailed drawing was definitely interesting . Having the longer time to take in details , I constantly fought the urge take my time on a particular area to get it as detailed as possible. However , my decision of choosing charcoal as a medium really help combat that urge and force me to use more quick lines and shape , which I think correspond with the point of the task more, plus , 30 minutes go by faster than you think ! Among these , I think the last one was the most successful , as it replicated the model well and the sketchy style looks really good. The 3rd one though is the most unsuccessful , as it came out looking so weird in proportion and the pose seemed very stiff. If there's anything I'd to improve on is that , also , a more dynamism in the poses wouldn't hurt , but alas we have to hold it for 30 mins, so it wouldn't be logical to do hard and unbalanced poses.
Presenting my environmental drawings to the tutors and piers, I received very positive comments, particularly from Martin. My drawings are complimented on detailed pencil and ink work, good observation on scenes that is "busy" without people and vice versa and nice choice of palette in coloured images, also good composition and consideration for the subjects. His suggestion was to take it further and experiments more , especially with the Copic markers that had been very successful in one of my drawing, and also other media if possible , which is what I'd like very much so when I can get my hands on more varied supplies. Overall, I think a pretty good job on this task. If there is one thing to considered is that I could add more colours into my drawings, as I tend to stick to what I'm most comfortable with , that is the pencil and lining pen.
Anatomny has always been a integral part of traditional life-drawing , and it is no exception in the case of animation life-drawing. However, there is a slight difference in purpose of analysing anatomy in each cases. In fine art per say , it is more of a method to capture the body as accurate and realistic as possible. In animation however , it is to understand it thoroughly enough to the point of know how the muscles bends , twists and changes in each poses/ movement, which unsurprisingly involve much more thinking and the ability to visualise. This then serves as a base where the animator can break down and simplified the body into different simplistic shapes, catering the principles of capturing movement in as few strokes as possible while still is a decent representative of the human form ( of course that is not always the case if the animator chose then to alter and exaggerate each shapes , creating more "cartoony-looking" bodies).
exaggerations based on facts
By that point , the analysis of anatomy for animation doesn't need to be as in dept as in fine art. It'd be nice if one can learn the bone structures and underlying muscle positions in order to fully and completely comprehend the structure of the body , but in the case of animation, a focused study on the shape defining muscles like biceps , abs, triceps ,... would be sufficient enough. The most important thing is to approach it with the mindset that im not only drawing this for the sake of drawing it but as an animator , I need to understand it and how it changes in different contexts.
The life-drawing sessions really highlighted the difference between life-drawing for traditional art and life-drawing for animation. Where as , in fine art , a light drawing session would focus on capture the models realistically, capturing details , composition, lighting ,anatomy , at the expense of emotions, personality and unsurprisingly action ( with the model having a dead-pan emotion most of the time ), life drawing in animation would be the opposite , choosing to focus on capturing dynamism and movements of characters that has a distinct personality, in order to transfer that knowledge on screen. By this fact then , poses in animation life drawing would be more dynamic , and often follows the same principles as animation itself- that is a presence of exaggeration. ( just like when animation uses exaggeration to efficiently communicate a character's personality in a limited screen time, life-drawing in animation focuses on those kind of poses in order for the artist to understand the underlying principles through drawing and analysis ).
Again drawing from the session in the morning , since we want to capture movement more than anything else, each poses should not be overly long ( something that is very characteristic of traditional life-drawing . Instead , it emphasises kinetic and loose sketching , that capture the essence of the posture , movement and attitude of the character, all the while keeping true to and understanding volume and anatomy in order to study weight shift, balance, breaking of joints, anticipation and follow-through actions, as well as finding the pose that deliver the most story and visual interest.
This is actually my first time ever doing a life-drawing session , and I have to say It was a very interesting experience. We really just headed straight into it and start posing and counting. It is very different from what I imagined of the classic life drawing session , where the model would sit for hours and everyone would stay quite quiet , eyes fixated on the body to try to capture it as best as possible. In this case , since we have only 10 seconds for each pose , it really forces you to be extremely free-handed with your lines, alongside the fact that it really create a dynamism where you eyes are working between the paper and the model constantly , almost to a point that your hand would go on auto-pilot while your eyes look at the model. I guess since it is focusing on capturing movement , realistic shape is not really necessary, instead , using shapes and lines to indicate a clear action is better. With that said though , for the longer poses ,more details are always nice
pulling on door
Squash and stretch
However , there is definitely something I'd like to improve about my life-drawing skill , that is I still tend to draw what I think instead of what I see. So therefore, some of the details can be exaggerated as opposed to being "life-drawn", especially for the more detailed one where I want to capture the body more realistically. But again , movement comes first , therefore If I can capture it , it shouldn't be that big of a problem.
Test turn-around animation for character. The challenge was definitely finding the central point for her body to rotate around, especially with her hair and face cause the shape is not very traditional.However this rough job looks pretty good. There is of course major "shakiness" present around the area of the bow knot behind her hip and in her hair. but that could be fixed in digital. Also I'll probably need to keep her hat at a level height since it is as bit wobbly at this stage.
First steps were to start laying out the directions each pose will be facing . The fact that it is laid out together like above really helps in comparing and maintaining shape. Some of the key elements that I considered was to first, keep the height of the head and hip constant through out the poses , with movements focusing on the heels and foot mostly ( as was the tip from the tutors ). The heel position was to remain at the same height at all time , while the directions of the feet was the key element to base the rest of the body on, which was helped along (very much so ) by the dial that is displayed in the digital version below.
Speaking of which , the first idea was to used the poses I already have as the key positions for my final animation , but a problem came to light , that is the character design being a bit too detailed , especially regarding the patterns in the apron and hat , therefore , it needed to be simplified , else I risk extremely time-consuming work load.
keeping only the essential details like the hat , the goggles apron (with bow on back ) and the mechanic pants and t-shirt
One of the most difficult thing to draw was the 2 hair pigtails behind her head , as its place at an odd angle makes it really hard to imagine the shape at a specific camera angle, along with the fact that it is different from everything else on her body (direction-wise)
Absolutely love the final design I came up with. The balance of colour distribution works very well with the more striking colour being at the top and below. As for the colour choice itself, I definitely used some of my trivial anime logic about the meaning of hair colours ( red here is typical of the tsundere-type character , one who seems brass, passionate and sometime hostile towards other but more than often would show their soft sides) . The Bumblebee combination of black and yellow really gives a 50s like diner vibe, which contrast very well to the blue pants , plus the added oil marks really give personality to the character. I also quite enjoy the pattern design on the hat and apron , but to be honest , it seems like if we are to animate it , it would be very difficult to replicate. About the process itself, drawing and colouring really came off as a natural instinct for me thanks to my digital art back ground, and the early sketches of the design in the sketch book really helps identify the volume of each accessories on the character. Overall , a very satisfying work , if I do say so myself.
Poses :
Notes*: Really tried to create pose that gives of that sense of activeness, lightness and care-free attitude that is crucial to her personality
For the hairstyle , keeping the same style as the body shape ( angular and pointy ) , I lean toward the more funky and messy hairstyles, some even boyish-looking to really indicate her hyperactive and bash attitude. Among them , I like the one with the beanie hat thing the best , as its inspired from a kitchen cap , combined with a regular beanie to create something that seems normal to be a every-day accessory but also identify what her position is ( a kitchen staff and waitress ) . The fact that even though a cap is supposed to covered your entire hair (so it won start falling off all over ) , yet her hair still pops out reinforce the idea of her being a slob at times.
*Insert CAP-tion*
the many examples of waitress outfit , I definitely preferred the more tomboy-ish and casual look of the far left , as in this context , Marie is working at a family-run chip shop , so there is no need for proper uniform , and that is not mentioning her personality yet. However , the appeal of a dress plus apron is very alluring indeed !
The mechanic suit idea is actually pretty straight forward ,as it is such a recognisable image. On top of that , I didn't to over-sexualised the character by doing short shorts or rolled and tied shirt cow-girl style , so I tried with a very typical mechanic out fit , with the added goggles for the extra flair
The outfit design follow the general principles above. I tried to combine the "apron" ( waitress ) with a mechanic suit , as portraying her hobby of being in the garage constantly , and coming in the shop straight from it ( the oil marks really help with that !) . I think that would create a very unique look that identify with her personalities well . Preference is leaning for the first outfit ( middle page , far-left design)
digital combination concepts !
On the side note , really love working digitally like this . It's probably because I'm so use to doing thing digitally that I found the concepts here seems much more appealing than the one in the sketchbook
My character is Marie , a waitress at a chip shop , set in a cyberpunk-like future where aliens live among us. She also has a major interest in mechanic and building thing, which would make her go into the workshop every free chance she gets , even during break hours. She's energetic, and fun-loving , but also a bit of a slob , and can have a feisty attitude , even towards customers ( who deserves it to be fair ).
Since that is her character , I build up her design to resembled a very teenage-like girl , with the shape consisting of mostly triangles , since from what I have learned, in character design, triangles can often represent speed and agility ( like sonic the hedgehog perhaps ) , and in turn a personality that is close to what I have in mind.
examples of using shapes in character construction
Up
The shape is very in line with the character's personality , Carl being defined by squares for his stubborn and conservative nature , while Russell being cute ,huggable and out there , is define by soft rounded shapes
Most of the element in my character design choices has heavy influenced from anime design , that being the slender figure and large head with a v-line face . With in the 2 designs above , I'd prefer the left in terms of the leg shape , as the more slender leg and small feet give more of a sense of lightness for the character , and had a more stream-line look to it . Moreover , the leading factor in the character would be her hip , with her back arched back and chest puffed out in most case , again , to portray that level of confidence
For her head however , I wanted a bit of softness, just to increase that level of cuteness and adorability to make her more appealing , hence learning the classic anime tropes of big eyes , big heads and small nose and mouth ( eyes are the window to the soul, so it definitely would also help with portraying emotions later on
I tried playing around with a large dress idea and the dynamics of it in simple shapes. However , the dress probably wouldn't fit her personality that well. On the side note , anime influence is demonstrated clearly in eye shapes. The strong thick eyebrows is really calling out to me , as it seems much more expressive .
alot of inspiration were taken form trainer designs from Pokemon , which utilise anime elements
