The past two semesters have slowly brought a whole new light onto my way of drawing and how I incorporate techniques into my art. From semester one my understanding of the figure drawing was very limited but throughout the year I have learnt and picked up on numerous methods which have helped me improve. Learning the basics of perspective, structure, balance and form have also helped in how I approach other animation projects, especially for designing characters. Being aware of these factors and being able to apply them to my designs has, in my opinion, added more appeal to what I draw. It has allowed me to be able to think more about the space a character takes up when drawing out storyboards or shots for an animatic, or how a character should be positioned in a certain shot- being able to draw them from perspective and all angles while keeping the design consistent and believable. Looking back, I think the assignments we were given as homework really helped to drill this way of thinking into my head. It gave me an opportunity to experiment with information given in class as well as my own findings, through research I also learnt additional terms such as Chiaroscuro which is the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting- an effect of contrasted light and shadow and Contrapposto which is an Italian term that means counterpose. It is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs. This gives the figure a more dynamic, or alternatively relaxed appearance. Both being something I am still eager to improve on. For our final assignment, we were tasked with designing a character using what we have learnt from Life Drawing (showing form, structure, surfaces, balance) and applying four of the twelve principles of animation, mainly focusing on appeal. I started by looking at other character designs for inspiration which lead me to start sketching out some random ideas I had. A first I drew out some different characters using a variety of different shapes, 2D and 3D. The initial designs didn’t feel right to me and felt extremely forced no matter how many times I tried to improve the designs so I came up with a character with portions based off Pretty Madam Mim from Disney's Sword in the Stone. Initial designs and concepts I was able to visual this design a lot better in my head and draw the character in a range of different poses using life drawing techniques as well as the principles Solid Drawing, Squash and Stretch, Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose and of course Appeal. The style I went for with my character is based off manga and the ‘cutesy’ appeal it has. Of course, whether someone likes the design of a character is all down to personal preference but with this style I am able to redefine the norms (for example with the exaggerated curves, the eyes and face). In terms on animating a character like this, the style of manga (or anime for animating) allows you to have an engaging story and despite some characters looking a bit crazy they are relatable, the style can also be a visual spectacle. With this style, I can also execute all twelve principles of animation because the design allows me to flexible with it. I chose to design this character this way because I thought it would be an interesting character to look at but also fun for me to practice drawing techniques on. Character Design I decided to go with.
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From 20/10/2016- 08/12/2016 our class has had the opportunity to part take in a life drawing class once a week, taught by Michael Bass. I have never taken part in a life drawing class before hence it was a completely new experience for me. My technique for drawing in general is to draw a copy of exactly what I see rather that put in any form or proper structure. This would usually result in "wooden manikin" drawings. However this section of the course aims to teach me the fundamentals of human anatomy and basic body proportions by studying form, shape, perspective and structure, which will allow me to develop my own style and technical drawing skills.
The third session focused on looking at perspective. In this class I undertook the usual one minute studies but this time the model posed with a chair. For part of the class we spent five minutes sketching out the chair alone and then another five minutes with the model sitting on it (Figure 8). By doing this I could see the relationship between the perspectives of the chair and model, because when the model returned, I realized that the scale of the drawing I did of the chair was slightly off with the position the model. I’ve always really struggled with perspective. Therefore I studied ‘Ernest R. Norling Perspective Made Easy’ for some guidance as it takes you through a step by step process. I found page 79-89 quite useful as this section looks at ‘Placing Figures and Objects in a drawing’ which I found helpful for the homework that we were tasked with (Figure 9). For the next few classes I looked more at the shapes of characters. I would draw out the models pose, then using that pose I would draw the character on top. One week I looked at drawing ‘Dirk’ from ‘Dragons Liar’ (Figure 10) and the following week I looked at drawing ‘Madam Mim’ from ‘Sword in The Stone’ (Figure 11). This exercise gave me a better insight of how to structure a character and create the shape of them much like in the first homework we were given of Winnie the Pooh. Additional things I looked at were shading shapes in different lighting, for this section I studied a book called ‘How to Render, The Fundamentals of Light, Shadow and Reflectivity’ which goes into a lot of detail about the subject; something I am keen to improve on (Figure 14). I also looked more at perspective drawings along with the positioning of heads and hats on heads (Figure 13, 15). Overall I am able to see an improvement in my work since starting this part of the course. (Figure 16, 17, 18) By implementing the techniques that Michael has taught to our class I have gained an understanding of how to create form when drawing the human body. This is by allowing my line work to be expressive and show the type of energy the model is giving through their poses. By applying structure to my drawings I have been able to develop a better awareness of proportion and shape. I personally consider that I am starting to create my own technique using the additional skills that I have now learned. References
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