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A-k-a, my public learning diary for my 3D animation degree and since graduating, my free-time independent 3D studies and personal projects

Saturday, 11 February 2017

@Phil Mother Thumbnails

Trying not to be generic, I've tried to develop a style when drawing characters and being more into shapes than just drawing people... When doing my concept art I'm gonna do it in illustrator like the images below, if anyone knows if this particular style has a name comment please.  Below that are my mother thumbnails.




The mother is supposed to be a mid thirties steampunk, roboticist/steam engineer.
I am going with thumbnails 3 and 1.

Ignore the left one



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8 comments:

  1. tutorphil11 February 2017 at 19:13

    vector-style?
    Cel-shaded?

    How about starting with 'basic shapes' as in...?

    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3d/3d/30/3d3d30f64ede22d755c59ee82831b5b4.jpg
    http://orig03.deviantart.net/1102/f/2010/224/f/b/shape_challenge_by_sabrane.jpg
    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/20/9d/ec/209dec91756a79f0c08d4ca090af004c.jpg

    I think you're trying to draw your character 'all at once'... consider building-up to it - from basic shapes to details etc?

    Also - I want you to situate your story within a specific time/place/region/ethnicity... because it will prevent you just drawing generic 'nowheresville' type responses... Is this story set in 1930s Britain...

    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e6/34/34/e6343457a602c409b5f5a46a372c9679.jpg

    1970s America?

    https://www.minnpost.com/sites/default/files/asset/7/7qs6m2/7qs6m2.jpg

    In design terms, it's REALLY important that you understand where/when you're story is taking place, because in so doing, you'll know much more about everything in your world - colour palette, tech references, domestic interiors, fashion, hair... and so on. You need to stop drawing from your imagination alone - you need to feed your imagination with context. In the end, it will make you life easier and your story world more credible and convincing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. tutorphil11 February 2017 at 19:22

    oh - I just saw 'Steampunk' - so that means this is set in Victorian times then - or rather an alternate Victorian era? Just be aware that 'steampunk' can be as cliched and 'seen it, done it' as 'Tim Burton Gothic' or 'Big Manga Eyes'...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Paris11 February 2017 at 20:01

    I have though, I did a post just trying to figure things out, http://parisucayr1.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/rdmd-story-world-thinking-out-loud.html

    It's set in present time, England, the house the mother and daughter live in is a victorian one modernly decorated, the mother is a roboticist who has an obsession for robots and steam engineering, I have made a few influence maps with cellars, steampunk, characters and their shapeology, one of the images you gave me in the last comment was in there, I've been working from shapes, the left body was one from circles the middle square and the right triangles, Simon went through it with me friday again.

    http://parisucayr1.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/simons-class-1002.html

    The faces were trying out different styles, I didn't look at any manga drawing books when drawing them, I took out a book called art of disney princesses which is just the classic disney princesses changed into concept art in different styles which is where I found the Snow White and Sleeping Beauty image, I found existing characters and tried to my own thing with their style so I wasn't copying or style creeping. I don't understand why I can't do this well when I'm listening and trying what everyone is telling me, even when reading a book I took out on character design, I did some activities that the fun with the pencil thing on my uca and that gave me horrible looking things. Steampunk I've not long discovered was a thing, I only heard about a steampunk animation the other day called Hullabaloo, it may be a cliche but I've not long discovered it. Steampunk is a subculture mix of victorian and the wild west and steam engineering, I've taken out a book called "How to draw steampunk".

    http://parisucayr1.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/phil-story-world-infleunce.html
    http://parisucayr1.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/production-design-influence-map-cellar.html

    I'll keep trying the shapes thing I've got to understand it at some point, just something has got to click and go right???

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  4. tutorphil11 February 2017 at 20:34

    Hey Paris - don't panic - character design is really hard and you're finding it hard, which makes you normal and not stupid :) I still don't get why, if it's in the modern day, why you're going for steampunk, as steampunk, by its very nature, is a 'period aesthetic' - it's about an imagined past or rather a futuristic past. If you're going to go steampunk, then go full-tilt steampunk - it's not just a costume, it's a story logic, you see - it's about everything - for example:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vORsKyopHyM

    When I talk about 'shapes' - it's an issue of anatomy isn't it? Getting the structures right that sit under the flesh - I think you're still drawing faces, not 'structures' or objects - look at this work-up:

    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6c/4c/fe/6c4cfea162026a266ca222ec281e4add.jpg

    http://66.media.tumblr.com/747f9244761d1a41c78e3f9385717dbd/tumblr_o1qapyaYJ11uo4yrqo2_400.jpg

    http://www.brownbagfilms.com/images/blog/legacy-files/2010/06/heads.jpg

    The head of a character is 'a 3D thing' - it is an *object*, not a drawing of a face - you need to think about what is 'under' what your drawing - work it out from the inside... Try forgetting about your specific characters for a bit and just try working out some 3D heads in alternate views as outlined in the examples above... let's not run before we can walk, right? :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Paris11 February 2017 at 20:57

    It's set in present time because the mother has her own world in that cellar of both alternative/futuristic past, it's not normal building robots to replace your dead daughter but maybe having her stuck in the wrong time period mentally to the one she's living might suggest her mental state and reflect that distance between her and her daughter, not only is she always in a different room to the daughter but mind set and time period too. It's a costume to us but not to the mother. Or is that too much of an ask?

    I have been making shapes as a base and rubbing them out - I'll leave them and draw them next time round in a different colour that I can channel out on photoshop just to show I am using shapes and which ones.

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    Replies
    1. tutorphil11 February 2017 at 23:31

      You'll never communicate all of that to an audience in two minutes. My main point is simply this: there should be a clear relationship between the characters and the world they live in; if it's 'SteamPunk', then this should be reflected in the design of the house/laboratory - 'steampunk' is a very strong flavour because it belongs to a set of ideas - it isn't just an aesthetic or a costume. Personally, I think you could drop steampunk and go for something more subtle in terms of world-building - steampunk is 'high fantasy' - and you're telling a small, intimate story. Ultimately it's up to you - but I'm not sure steampunk is what this story needs...

      Delete
    2. Paris12 February 2017 at 09:56

      If not steampunk then what do you suggest? I dont want Victorian era that seems like the cliche to me, robots being futurealistic seems like another cliche so I'm going to go with now, America's Wild West - 1865 - 1895.

      Delete
  6. Paris11 February 2017 at 21:03

    If that's too much of an ask I can always just put it to Victorian England... :)

    ReplyDelete

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