WARM UP EXERCISES ON BLACKBOARD.

I wanted to try the small warmup exercises on blackboard to build confidence in my line work. I have a sketchy style however learning line density and control would help benefit me in the long run, so I thought this exercise to be helpful. I tried this also on Clip Studio Paint with my old wacom tablet which, admittedly, I’m out of practise with. My eye – pen coordination isn’t the greatest and it’s definitely something to get use to if I want to use certain programs in the future. I have 2 monitors so the sensitivity was out of whack, however I adjusted this to fit the one monitor and it was easier to use from there.

Doing this exercise helped in my confidence in using my tablet again. As I was so used to drawing what I was seeing on screen from my Ipad I forgot the basics when it comes to drawing with a wacom tablet. I was able to doodle a small character and, although it was a small sketch, I typically get frustrated when drawing with my wacom and was happy to finally gain back a little bit of my drawing control. I naturally add contour lines to my drawings to help establish character profile, so it’ll be nice to delve deeper into the technique.

Small exercise: breaking down shapes with contour lines. One thing I’m terrible at is perspective, especially 3D perspective in 2D. I hope to gain a lot more practise on this to improve.

 

HOMEWORK TASK:

For our first homework task regarding 2D we were to take 3 of our favourite animated characters and study their “underlying forms.”  Further practise was regarding re-posing characters in different poses based on breaking their forms down to simple shapes.

I have a lot of favourite characters, however I wanted to try and diversify my choices to benefit me in drawing different body shapes, everyone is unique in their own build.

I quickly watched the video recommended for this homework activity.

“Execution is built on foundation drawing.” “Miyazaki’s design sense is round and appealing, his execution is realistic and traditional.” Base forms allow us to break down a characters base formation and then later add unique detail to the character. This is a good process for design – what do you want the character to come across as? Weak, frail, dangerous? Basic shapes help also formulate what our intent for the character is regarding story and who they are/these geometric shapes help break a character down. It also helps replicating and breaking down an art style, which is expected in animation portfolios (diversity and replicating art style to fit the visual themes of the show/movie.)

My program of choice is Procreate. Using my ipad is a simple means for me to draw on the go and quickly produce sketches. I also like going for a sketchy style regarding my artwork as I don’t get too bogged down on detail, I have better focus on energy and line flow!

Victor – Arcane. Skinny/weak frame.

 

Bee from Bee and Puppcat, Lazy in Space. Round, short frame.

Lettuce from Tokyo Mew Mew New. Feminine/round frame.

I liked this exercise as it made me think of the direction of limbs and body parts and simplified them to ensure the proportions of said characters was correct. This helps with animation and character consistency and it’s a good technique to pick up on when moving forward in creating our own characters later down the line.

Thinking about breaking 2D forms into 3D forms helps establish physical traits of a character. One animation principle: animation design in solid forms/3D design. After performing this exercise I found the importance of identifying these forms and adding construction to gain a good grasp on character shapes.