But before that, I started with faces as I knew that my trapeze artist would feature in my film as a thin and fat version and needed some distinguishing features.
Jakie showed me this book on the internet which had a lot of hero/villain characters.
This face (far upper right) was copied directly from the book as practice.
These faces probably have the most shape so far. Although Im not sure that these are the right faces for my character. At the moment, I feel like I can only draw what I can draw, and not what I want to draw.
I carried on concentrating on faces, but decided that I needed to work on the body shape too. (and this was particularly where I needed some help from Alan.)
Alan suggested that I look at super heroes like Spiderman and Robin and imagine them if they had gotten fat. I have practiced drawing human figures like that, and then adding the fat. He advised that I get the basic structure of the character done first before going into details, such as the face. (which was what I was focusing on before)
These where my initial sketches, based on what Alan had drawn.
The one on the left is very exaggerated and perhaps has a the back is slightly too deformed.
I have know come to a point where I'm drawing the same basic shape and am not quite sure where to go next. I also need to try some different poses; I have got some books out of the library for just that.
Id like my character to become more cartoon like by the end of this.
Ethan, they are looking good,indeed
ReplyDeletejust one small, when doing a stylized character or cartoony like you need to "forget" the human proportions, but keeping the shapes right,
e.g. a head has to be oval or round but not necessarily needs to be smaller than the rest of the body. or the stomach can be just as big as the whole body, they are the main keys to achieve a cartoon look, and is a lot of fun.
As an example the film Up by Pixar, the character's mainly are just basic shapes as a whole.
or in the case of many cartoons a happy marriage of shapes.
Yes, when doing a character try to marry the shapes well, so they can be appealing as well as communicative.
any help you need, just ask. Any way have a look on cartoon Animation by Preston Blair, it has a lot of helpful tips relating to characters.
Hey Ethan,
ReplyDeleteGood to see you bouncing back after your 'tongue-lashing' from 'tutor Phil'... you know, it really is worth working beyond your usual habits and routine; what's the point of putting yourself through a three year degree if you don't push yourself somewhere new? Ruben has given you some sound advice above... you should drop him a line on his blog...