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Hello goons! So I'm an aspiring animator who's currently practicing art related poo poo over the summer. As of late, I've been dabbling with designing characters that I've mostly drawn free hand for some time now. Basically, I want to make them more "structured," or "designed," if that makes sense. Problem is, I don't know jack poo poo about character design on a technical level So I thought I'd come here for advice on what I've got Here are some of the characters I've been designing, with the basic lines and some references for the shoe the dude on the right has. And for shits and giggles, here are the two dudes with both the basic lines and references lines. As well as the reference lines alone. Keep in mind, I'm focusing on the actual design of the characters and not so much their actual heights compared to one another. The nerd guy is meant to be MUCH shorter than the dudebro, but I'm mainly focusing on anatomy and basic looks. That being said, there are some parts of these two that I'm not *huge* fans of. For example THE HANDS OH gently caress ME I DON'T KNOW WHY BUT I HATE WHAT I HAVE FOR HANDS LIKE THIS WHAT IS THIS poo poo I HATE IT IT'S LIKE A BABY HAND JESUS CHRIST This one I don't hate as much but I don't think it looks all that great. I'm obviously going for a sort of "Ren and Stimpy" like cartoony look but I think this hand (among other things) looks a bit lumpy. And speaking of lumps, I'm not a big fan of the nerd's legs. They seem a bit "plump" to me. Finally, I've had a dickens of a time trying to get the dudebro's shoes right. This isn't super bad IMO, but I do think it could use improvement somehow. Thankfully I'm taking a class about animation design in the fall, but seeing as I'm trying to practice this poo poo over the summer, any and all advice and critiques would help. At the risk of sounding like an edgy teen, I can take any and all criticism, no matter how harsh it may be, just as long as it's honest and constructive. So tell me what you think with 100% honesty and I'm all ears. PortalFreak fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Jun 30, 2017 |
# ¿ Jun 30, 2017 04:54 |
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# ¿ May 21, 2024 04:52 |
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Bumping this thread shamelessly
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# ¿ Jun 30, 2017 19:22 |
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Theokotos posted:My recommendation is the same as it is for all novice animators: do life drawing, a lot of it. Even if your aim is to do highly stylized characters, life drawing will give you a better looking end product both in terms of character design and in convincing movements. This is all really good, thanks! On a side note, I'm obviously keeping up with life drawing as well as designing characters, not to ignore your advice there, tho. Also, not to make this the only thing I take away from what you say, but I agree the hoodie guy's a little generic. Although I do plan to sort of go all out with poses and such. Like going off of model (not to the point where you couldn't recognize him ofc, just sort of on a similar level to what 'toons such as Ren and Stimpy did/do), make his movements and poses exaggerated when needed, etc. I do want to do that with other characters I'll design (i.e. make it part of my overall style), but I definitely think it'd add a LOT to the hoodie guy, and by extension it'd be needed if that makes sense. Besides, I could also make his body less rectangular as well
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# ¿ Jul 1, 2017 20:49 |
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Theokotos posted:Also I just noticed-is the nerd wearing a hat, or is that nub his ear? If it's an ear the glasses arm should go over it not under it, if it's a hat, it should more obviously be a hat. It's his ear but that's intentional. Not to be butthurt about what you said obviously, but I just thought it'd be funny to have his ear like that. Funnily enough, I posted this pic on another site for advice and someone said the same thing
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# ¿ Jul 1, 2017 22:27 |
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Theokotos posted:It can work with the glasses arm below the ear; the ear just has to be recognizable as an ear-in the current iteration it isn't, and next to the hoodie guy the shape strongly resembles his hat, so it's a bit confusing. Fair point. Upon reflection, actually I would usually put a sort of squiggle shape to show the inside of a cartoon ear (e.g., the "G" shape in the hoodie guy's ear), and I simply forgot to do that for the nerd's ear.
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# ¿ Jul 2, 2017 00:00 |
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Also, not to only focus on one thing and ignore everything else, but other than life drawing (again, not to ignore that bit of advice), what would you suggest for stuff like hands? I figure one way would obviously to practice real hands but also to stylize the studies, as seen here: But I'm also curious as to what else I could do, I suppose.
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# ¿ Jul 2, 2017 01:42 |
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Theokotos posted:Hands are actually my favorite thing to draw; the hands you're currently doing (the backwards hook) are reminiscent of a lot or recent kids cartoons, particularly on nickelodeon . If you want to learn how to articulate that shape I'd recommend looking jhonen Vasquez's art, as he favors that shape in his comics and cartoons, and uses it effectively. This is honestly the most helpful wall of text I've ever read honestly. And I agree! Hands are really fun to draw.....Not to mention one of the hardest things to draw as well
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# ¿ Jul 2, 2017 22:52 |
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HOLY HELL AN UPDATE So I've been working on the design of the hoodie guy, based on the suggestion made by Theokotos, with some artistic liberties of course. And here's the dude with just the main lines and the reference lines: I think his pants/legs and shoes are a LOT better, plus he's more curved than he was in the pic of him in my OP. Having a dickens of a time trying to get the hands right (basically I'm trying to copy his hands from the first design), but other than that, I think he's shaping up rather well, all things considered. At any rate, I just decided to show this for kicks and giggles, as well as more potential advice (not that the advice I've gotten thus far is bad or anything).
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# ¿ Jul 8, 2017 00:49 |
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readingatwork posted:Adding this since you were asking for advice on hands earlier and no one posted it (for shame!): Funnily enough, these characters' personalities have been established in my head, so I do have ideas as to who they "are," so to speak. I just never brought it up cus I was focusing on anatomy and the such I've used them in a couple of animations in the past tho, both of which were done without proper knowledge of anatomy, structure, etc. They don't look *********terrible********* , but there a LOT of anatomical errors (among other things, heh). That being said, their personalities do show in both projects https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHxDgGFTv_0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG1HjztWUxQ So, as you'd imagine, the nerd is Albert, and Ian is the dudebro. Albert is supposed to be the brains (obviously) of the duo, but at the same time, I see him as a sort of socially awkward and nervous, yet kind-hearted guy overall. Ian, on the other hand, is the kinda guy you'd likely see at a frat house more than a college classroom, being the dudebro that he is. I want to make the chaotic over-the-top nature of stuff like the animation/poses/movements in general a staple in my style, but I definitely think that it would help with Ian A LOT as well. Not just because his design (as of now at least) isn't anything to write home about (thus making any and all "off model"-ness of him adding more to him), but also because I imagine him to be quite an outrageous personality/guy overall. Not trying to undermine what you said, of course. All the advice in the thread in general is great (I know I keep saying that, heh), but I just thought it'd be interesting to give a little insight about how I see my characters.
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# ¿ Jul 10, 2017 01:25 |
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# ¿ May 21, 2024 04:52 |
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gmc9987 posted:I think it's really cool that you've completed a couple of shorts already. Lots of people who want to study animation never even do that, and it shows a lot of effort on your part to take something like that and get it done, and post it out there for everyone to see. Late rear end reply, had RL stuff to deal with. One thing I should've noted: the two shorts are REALLY old. Conundrum's from 2013, when I barely had any artistic skill and before I got into college, and the second one was when I was in college and my artistic skills were "better," but not as """good""" as they are now. As of late, however (as well as in general) I have been keeping up with practicing drawing and art related stuff overall. As for Ian and Albert's personalities, I do agree. As of now they really are stereotypes. When I made those two shorts, I feel like I could've done a lot more with their characters, especially since I have a few ideas for what to do with them. Granted, it's not enough to make them fully fledged out, but it's something. With Albert, I see him as an intelligent kinda guy, obviously, but also the type of person that tries to be "safe" a lot of the times. This might play into the nerd stereotype a little bit, but I see Albert as a sort of altruist that constantly tries to be nice and polite all the time, despite his social awkwardness. Again, really pertains to the nerd stereotype, but the great Christian Weston Chandler once said, "I'm workin' on it!" As for Ian, I obviously made him into a dudebro kinda thing, yes. He's not the brightest lightbulb in the shack, and he likes to party and slack off in general. That being said, however, I see him as the kinda guy that thinks outside of the box in a lot of ways. He might see a trend or a popular belief that he's skeptical about and see it in a different, more rational way. I almost want to call him "rebellious," but he's not really "rebelling" anything or has any kind of agenda (that and it just sounds kinda cringey). He just sees how things are and says how he sees them, if that makes sense. He might be crude sometimes, but at the same time, he likely has a point not a lot of people think about. I intend Albert, on the other hand, to be sort of the opposite of Ian. I have this idea that they both got out of the same college early (Albert graduates early being the genius he is, while Ian gets kicked out for being the n'er do well he is), and end up moving into the same apartment room together. Yes I know this has been done to death, and it needs tweaking in a lot of places, but I like to imagine the dynamic between Ian and Albert being a good outlet of sorts for social commentary/not specifically social commentary (if that last one makes sense), because I see Ian and Albert's dynamic being something like "an outside thinker meets a normie." Obviously, I'm not saying this cus I'm butthurt about what you said or that I'm trying to be "NO gently caress YOU MY OC IS THE BEST," I just felt like sharing how I see my characters thus far and giving a little more insight.
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# ¿ Jul 12, 2017 23:35 |