Wednesday 22 February 2012

046 - Character Design: Cowboys and Sci-fi Soldiers

Here are two weeks of design class.  More of the original design in a certain style, and pose a character from the previous week format.

Here's my elderly cowboy in a Bruce Timm style.  I like a lot of the design, but might have actually made it too simple.  At least he would be reasonable to animate.   I tried playing around with the proportions, but might have ended up with tiny legs that should either be bigger or tinier.  Like the silhouette though.  Probably should have hiked those legs and pants up - he is pretty old after all.

Here is a pose of someone else's design.  Tried for a more subtle pose that still had some life to it.

Like this one a lot.  This was my take on a Sci-fi soldier in a Kenny Park style.  Getting that arm with the gun to feel right took a few tries.  Picking a direction for the gun and arm (instead of a profile view) was more work, but helps the pose.

And here is my pose of someone else's Bruce Timm style elderly cowboy.  Those boots...those boots...urg...Went a bit overboard on the background, but his boots needed to be resting on something, and his rear, and his back too.  Subtle poses can be just as tricky as big action poses.

Thanks for having a look!

Sunday 19 February 2012

045 - Layouts: One and Two Point Perspective

Here are two layouts.  The first had to use one point perspective.  The second had to be an interior using two point perspective.


I did this one all digitally.  I sketched it from a thumbnail and then cleaned it up and added some grey (assignment had to be colourless).  It came out alright.  Kind of a Popeye era NY meets a western sort of background.  I'm happy that it still feels organic.  I used some grids for the perspective, but drew all the lines by hand.



Interior two point perspective.  Blue pencil sketch.  Digital is okay for some things, but I have better control with pencil and paper.



Added some value digitally.  This method of colouring worked better than the last one.
It's the interior of a pirate type room by the water.  I like the clutter of this one.  Feels lived in.


Saturday 11 February 2012

044 - Life Drawing

Here are some drawings from the first week or two after Christmas break.  Lot of drawings so I'll try to stay light on the talking.





X-Ray glasses, or trying to draw the skeleton based on the model's pose.  Definitely still learning about all those crazy bones.








I felt like I got a few of these poses pretty well.  Subtle stuff like a head tilt, hip twist, foot position that show what's going on, even if it's "just" bones.


And from longer X-ray spec drawings to some 30 second gestures.








This one and the next few were a pretty good run of 1 min gestures.





Like this one.  Drawing big.




Meh...These 7 mins are a a tad stiff.

Like this one though.  Thanks for having a look.


Monday 6 February 2012

043 - Animation Stuff

Here's the animation from this semester so far.

This one was a group animation to practice the animation pipeline.  We each did each part, but then passed it on to another person.  So I did the poses on one, the keys and timing on another, the clean-up on one, and then the in-betweening on another.  A good warm-up assignment after the break :)

We've been doing special effects the last couple weeks.  Here are a few examples.  This one is a flag.  It's a cycle if repeat works.

Splash!


I thought the smoke and sparkle of a magic lamp would be cool to try.  It was fun doing the last two directly on the computer - well interesting and sometimes fun.  Some things are definitely easier on the computer, while other things will take a little practice.

Friday 3 February 2012

042 - Character Design Stuff

Here's two weeks worth of character design.  Each week we design a character with a certain characteristics in a certain style, and pose someone else's character from the previous week.

This pose came out alright.  Fun style to draw in.


My timid henchman in a sort of Disney style.

I even tried colouring it!  Ya, colouring isn't really my thing...yet!

Pose from the next week.  Reminded me a bit of Stich.  I think I kept this pretty close to the model I was going from.  I realized that both my poses are in mid jump, so next pose...on the ground.


This one was supposed to be a teenage Victorian era, poor girl, in a Stephen Silver style.  A few things I'd like to change...but...maybe later.  And she's supposed to be holding one of those chimney sweep dealies...not a mace.