Character and Object Design for Animation: Backgrounds, Adding Characters, and Creating Motion (Plus a character redraw)

Hey all! Sorry for the long wait. Got a few drawings to make up for it, so hopefully you'll enjoy!

After creating our superheroes and supervillains, it was time to delve into creating environments for our characters to inhabit. Picking two of our characters, we created two sets of backgrounds, one indoor and one outdoor, with the intention of eventually grafting our characters into them. I decided to create backgrounds for my granny character from a few weeks prior, as well as Vanessa, my female scientist.

While I was initially pleased with my resulting backgrounds, several students commented that the interiors were drawn in a one-point perspective, causing the view to be somewhat uninteresting. I redid my interiors so they would be more interesting.

The next step was to redraw our characters in different poses, and graft them into the scene using any method of our choosing.

After we became used to creating static characters, the next step was to create the illusion of movement by drawing our characters in key points of a motion. Choosing any of our previous characters (or creating new ones), we were to depict our characters lifting something heavy, running, and jumping over a box.

Our final assignment for the class was to take one of our characters that we felt was our worst and redraw them. I chose Sandra, my policewoman character from a few weeks ago. I didn't like any drawing I did of her, so I was happy to try and redraw her.

I'm much more pleased by how these turned out, although she's STILL not consistent from drawing to drawing. I suppose that's something that will come with practice, but I'll gladly give it a rest for now and move on to something else. Next on the agenda: Visual Indication, aka creating texture via marker and pencil!

Until next time.

Character and Object Design for Animation: Animal studies, Heroes, and Villains

Hello all! It's been a while since I last posted; my apologies. Got pretty swamped with work and the large workload we had this past week. However, I did a lot, and while I'm not proud of all of it, I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of drawing in an animation style. Let's get into it, shall we?

After we did our Realistic vs. Cartoon character drawings, the next step was to do Realistic vs. Cartoon animals. Luckily, this one was much less work than the last one...only 12 drawings (6 animals, 1 realistic and 1 cartoon). I decided to do a turtle, a bear, a fox, a fly, a gecko, and an elephant. The final products are below.

Next, we started getting into the more complicated part: Creating characters that personified "Good" and "Evil," and giving them moods and trying to show body language. Unfortunately, this was a time where my brain had an idea that my hands couldn't duplicate. My villain and hero are as follows:

Villain name: Mnemesis, Dr. Hugo Victor

Powers: Low-level telepathy, teleportation

Hero name: Psyclone, Jordan Roberts

Powers: Psychic conjuring (can create shields, projectiles, etc. with mind), can create "Zero Fields" for up to 15 minutes (though the time is lessened when he uses his conjuring powers concurrently)

Next, we had to create characters of opposite gender as our main heroes, for contrast. Both luckily and unluckily, we didn't have to draw model sheets for these characters. Instead, we were asked to draw each character in 5 action poses, for a total of 10 drawings. The female hero ended up really bad, though I like her backstory, but the female villain turned out almost exactly how I wanted her to.

Name: Sandra
Female police officer

Name: Vanessa
Lab technician

I really enjoyed coming up with these characters. There's a lot of potential there, and I'd love to explore that in the future. 

Thanks for looking at this week's blog! Next week we start creating environments for our characters to inhabit. I can't wait!

Until next time.

Character and Object Design for Animation: Realistic VS. Cartoon characters

Hey all! Man, it's been a really busy 5 or so days. The last assignment for this class was really involved. 44 drawings, in total. So how about I show you the fruits of my labor?

The first part of this assignment was to draw 4 realistic characters (2 men, 2 women) displaying 4 emotions via body language and facial expression. Then, we had to copy that pose with a cartoon character who had completely different proportions than its realistic counterpart. Here's what I came up with.

Male 1 - Emotions shown: Sadness,  Jealousy, Anger, Confusion

Male 2 - Emotions shown: Jealousy, Anger, Confusion, Happiness

Female 1 - Emotions shown: Anger, Happiness, Exhaustion, Sadness

Female 2 - Emotions shown: Exhaustion, Sadness, Confusion, Happiness.

The second part of the assignment was much less complicated, but no less time-consuming. This time, we were to take 1 male, 1 female, and 1 cartoon that we'd drawn for part 1 and create a model sheet, showing them in front, 3/4, profile, and rear views. I picked my three favorite characters, and I am extremely pleased by how they came out.

And there you have it. 44 drawings, several of which I am extremely happy with and will be keeping for potential portfolios. I'll be posting again soon; got another assignment due later today, so hopefully I'll be able to get that done in time!

Until next time.

Character and Object Design for Animation: Head Rotations and Hands

Hello again everyone! Man, today was a whirlwind day! Had quite a doozy for an assignment today; not only did I have to take 2 of the heads I'd drawn previously and draw them from 3 different angles (straight on, 3/4, and profile view), I also had to draw 10 realistic hands in different poses, each with a cartoon hand mimicking the pose. For those doing the math, that's 26 drawings that I had to do. Luckily, I got it all done, and I feel pretty good about it! Let's take a look at them.

Lateral head rotations - Here is my submission for lateral head rotations. I particularly like the cartoon-y version, because I think it works well and is pretty consistent. The realistic one needs work (though I really enjoy the profile; I think it's the strongest of the three).

Hands - Here are my hand drawings! I'm not sure what it is, but when I'm drawing hands by themselves I have no problem whatsoever. Try to draw them on a person, though, and look out! My particular favorites here are C, D, H, and I.

So there you go. That's the fruit of my labors today. I hope you enjoy looking at them! I certainly had fun drawing them (well, most of them, anyway).

Until next time.

Character and Object Design for Animation: Head Studies

Hello again everyone! I'm back, and posting some of the new schoolwork I've done! It's starting to get tougher, and I'm having a bit more trouble with my confidence, but hopefully I'll be able to persevere and improve on my character design abilities!

Head studies, realistic versus cartoonish - For this assignment, we were required to  draw 6 human heads, 3 of which needed to be realistic and 3 of which were supposed to be more "cartoony," all with different expressions. While I was initially pleased with my submission, the instructor said that I needed to redraw the realistic faces so that they were more...well, realistic.

Realistic redo - Here is my second attempt at drawing realistic human faces. These turned out much better, though I think the middle one needs more work.

That's all for today! Stick around, though...tomorrow's assignment is a doozy!

Until next time.

Back To School! Character and Object Design for Animation: Self-portraits

Hellooooo everyone! So good to be back! I started my new class today, and MAN does it feel good to be drawing again! Let's get right to it, shall we?

My new class is Character and Object Design for Animation, which is going to teach how to draw unique characters and objects for animation consistently. This is going to prove very useful if I ever want to pitch a story, so I can't wait to learn more.

A Dog and His Boy - This drawing is part of my first assignment for  my class. In this assignment, we were asked to draw a realistically-proportioned image of ourselves with a pet, real or imagined. The dog pictured is my Jack Russell, Max.

Self-Caricature - This drawing is the second half of our first assignment. Where the first drawing was meant to be realistic, this drawing was to be done in a cartoon-y style. To accomplish this, I played around with the proportions of my face, stomach, and arms/hands.

I'll freely admit, I am stoked about how these turned out. Not only do they look good (considering I haven't been drawing consistently for the past 3 months), but I felt comfortable, even happy drawing these. That's something I haven't felt before now, so let's hope it continues! I'll post more drawings for this class as they happen, so stay tuned!

Until next time.