Week 1: Form

In week 1 we explored one of the fundamentals of art and animation, form! As an exercise I studied the forms of simple to complex, and old to new character designs;

The purpose of exploring new and old designs was to see how animation changes through the years, the 90’s TV show ‘The Moomins’ is much more simple than that of 2014’s ‘Over The Garden Wall’, which using digital programs can much more efficiently keep consistent, complex character designs. While the silhouette may be simple, the design of Wirt’s clothing and hair is more difficult to keep consistent than that of the Moomin’s ovular, rounded body.

As further research on the characters’ forms I repositioned and redrew the skeleton and sketch using the guide I created beside the character, although I only redrew the top halves for the most part which is not as helpful in my study as a full body redraw may have been. I also digitally painted one of these sketches to investigate the shapes and 3D form, and to see how shadows could be created to fit the form.

Furthermore, using the video tutorials provided by Alec I recreated and studied simple techniques regarding form and shape;

These were also incredibly helpful, and I will be using the techniques learned from this experience in my own animation, class and personal work. The twisting form was especially helpful as I often struggle with creating human figures and keeping bodies, limbs and features propotionate.