A drawing I did

[Jane]

nope

Edited January 22, 2016 by Teamwork

[Jane]

Just realized I drew Squidward's mouth weird.

[illiniguy34]

Nice! I love it!

[Nosferatu!]

This is really cute! I like it a lot.  Great job!

[WhoBibbles]

Excellent job

[Jane]

I'm working on a drawing of Snoopy. It's a lot of work so far, so it probably won't be done for another day or two.

[Jane]

nope

Edited January 22, 2016 by Teamwork

[Jane]

nope

Edited January 22, 2016 by Teamwork

[Cha]

dang you're skilled

[Jane]

25 minutes ago, Cha said:

dang you're skilled

Thanks. I don't think I'm quite there yet but I appreciate it. :)

[Jane]

nope

Edited January 22, 2016 by Teamwork

[Jane]

Getting back into the grind.

 

Edited July 13, 2016 by Teamwork

[Jane]

Yo has anyone seen my recent drawings??? ^^ 

[Jane]

some unfinished sketches

[terminoob]

On 7/13/2016 at 6:05 PM, Teamwork said:

Getting back into the grind.

 

I like both expressions a lot, and in general you're on the right track because I think both of the drawings convey some sense of personality and that's big.

Give him a neck, man. He's not shape-based enough for him to not have a neck, it just makes it look like you're trying to ape a style or you just didn't want to give him a neck. If you didn't want to give him one, then that's fine - just really push his design to the extreme so you can get away with it. Just as an example, look at Phineas and Ferb - there's a lot of really decent design work in that show that no one really appreciates, but they have so many characters that all look so different. Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, and Buford (just to name a few characters) are all neckless, but it works because their designs are really pushed. Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella are basically just modeled after the first letters of each of their names, and Buford is just a big stalky guy. Necks would've looked weird on all of them. This is gonna sound really stupid, but usually when you design a character the character will let you know how they look, so when you do something that looks wrong you'll immediately be aware that it looks wrong. Imagine Buford with a neck. Remember Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy? Imagine Mandy with a nose. Imagine Timmy Turner without buck teeth, or Cosmo and Wanda with different hair colors. Imagine the Powerpuff Girls with fingers. For whatever reason they'd all look really weird, even though no one around them really looks like they do. The majority of characters in Phineas and Ferb have necks, everyone in Billy and Mandy have noses, no one else really has buck teeth in Fairly Odd Parents and no one else has weird hair color (besides some other fairies), everyone in Powerpuff Girls have fingers.

You're doing the circles to get the body right, and that's great that you know that, but typically with cartoons it's just going to hold you back - especially when they're all the same size. You can make his design circular, but you're not going to get that when his body just looks like a tube of tennis balls. You could think of him like a snowman if you want, or you could make him one big ball, or you could make him a stretched out oval. If you add in other shapes it works even better. Circles with squares, triangles, trapezoids, rectangles. Another reason why it'll hold you back with cartoons is because cartoons are exaggerated. The designs are based in reality, so you generally need to know how bodies actually look (which is where the circles come in handy), but think of literally any cartoon and you'll realize that all of the designs aren't anywhere near what real people look like, even when they're cartoons about humans. Don't just like, unlearn it, or whatever, because it's good to know, but don't consciously try to constrict yourself to that.

The proportions on the bottom image are off in, unfortunately, not a good way. The legs are way too short and the arms are way too long. Again, this goes back to designs being based in reality. This guy isn't a big hulk of a guy, or a fat slob, or a caveman, or anything like that - he looks relatively normal. You can stretch the body and add whatever kind of shapes you want, but when his arms are by his sides they shouldn't be touching the ground. If it's your intention to have that happen, then that's fine but you have to retool the design to fit that element. What kind of personality would the person with long arms need to have? How could you convey that personality through design? Because that's the crux of character design that a lot of people don't understand. Your design has to immediately express what that character is about without that character telling the audience anything. You need to look at the character and get all the information you need. This guy looks normal. With the expression you gave him, he's maybe skittish. Insecure. Wary of the people around him. If that's what you're going for, then convey that with everything else about him. Expressions are good, but they're more deceptive than body types. If he's scared, then either make him small or tall - if you make him tall, make him skinny and hunched over, if you make him small, make him blocky. If he's tall, give him extended proportions. Long arms, long legs. If he's small, shrink his proportions. Small arms, small legs.

As my own personal opinion, I think four fingers is usually a cop-out because people hate drawing five fingers, but that's just me. I know a lot of cartoons do four fingers, but I think knowing how to fit five fingers on a hand is just good to know.

Look at model sheets for Looney Tune characters. Read Tom Bancroft's book "Creating Characters with Personality". Draw a lot, try a lot, fail a lot, draw more.

[Jane]

4 hours ago, terminoob said:

I like both expressions a lot, and in general you're on the right track because I think both of the drawings convey some sense of personality and that's big.

Give him a neck, man. He's not shape-based enough for him to not have a neck, it just makes it look like you're trying to ape a style or you just didn't want to give him a neck. If you didn't want to give him one, then that's fine - just really push his design to the extreme so you can get away with it. Just as an example, look at Phineas and Ferb - there's a lot of really decent design work in that show that no one really appreciates, but they have so many characters that all look so different. Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, and Buford (just to name a few characters) are all neckless, but it works because their designs are really pushed. Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella are basically just modeled after the first letters of each of their names, and Buford is just a big stalky guy. Necks would've looked weird on all of them. This is gonna sound really stupid, but usually when you design a character the character will let you know how they look, so when you do something that looks wrong you'll immediately be aware that it looks wrong. Imagine Buford with a neck. Remember Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy? Imagine Mandy with a nose. Imagine Timmy Turner without buck teeth, or Cosmo and Wanda with different hair colors. Imagine the Powerpuff Girls with fingers. For whatever reason they'd all look really weird, even though no one around them really looks like they do. The majority of characters in Phineas and Ferb have necks, everyone in Billy and Mandy have noses, no one else really has buck teeth in Fairly Odd Parents and no one else has weird hair color (besides some other fairies), everyone in Powerpuff Girls have fingers.

You're doing the circles to get the body right, and that's great that you know that, but typically with cartoons it's just going to hold you back - especially when they're all the same size. You can make his design circular, but you're not going to get that when his body just looks like a tube of tennis balls. You could think of him like a snowman if you want, or you could make him one big ball, or you could make him a stretched out oval. If you add in other shapes it works even better. Circles with squares, triangles, trapezoids, rectangles. Another reason why it'll hold you back with cartoons is because cartoons are exaggerated. The designs are based in reality, so you generally need to know how bodies actually look (which is where the circles come in handy), but think of literally any cartoon and you'll realize that all of the designs aren't anywhere near what real people look like, even when they're cartoons about humans. Don't just like, unlearn it, or whatever, because it's good to know, but don't consciously try to constrict yourself to that.

The proportions on the bottom image are off in, unfortunately, not a good way. The legs are way too short and the arms are way too long. Again, this goes back to designs being based in reality. This guy isn't a big hulk of a guy, or a fat slob, or a caveman, or anything like that - he looks relatively normal. You can stretch the body and add whatever kind of shapes you want, but when his arms are by his sides they shouldn't be touching the ground. If it's your intention to have that happen, then that's fine but you have to retool the design to fit that element. What kind of personality would the person with long arms need to have? How could you convey that personality through design? Because that's the crux of character design that a lot of people don't understand. Your design has to immediately express what that character is about without that character telling the audience anything. You need to look at the character and get all the information you need. This guy looks normal. With the expression you gave him, he's maybe skittish. Insecure. Wary of the people around him. If that's what you're going for, then convey that with everything else about him. Expressions are good, but they're more deceptive than body types. If he's scared, then either make him small or tall - if you make him tall, make him skinny and hunched over, if you make him small, make him blocky. If he's tall, give him extended proportions. Long arms, long legs. If he's small, shrink his proportions. Small arms, small legs.

As my own personal opinion, I think four fingers is usually a cop-out because people hate drawing five fingers, but that's just me. I know a lot of cartoons do four fingers, but I think knowing how to fit five fingers on a hand is just good to know.

Look at model sheets for Looney Tune characters. Read Tom Bancroft's book "Creating Characters with Personality". Draw a lot, try a lot, fail a lot, draw more.

-Thanks for the compliment on the expressions. I really like drawing 'em.

-You're right. I think it would suit his personality more if he has a stubby neck. I think his body should be short and square-ish in a way.

-You're right about how I drew the arms too long and the legs too short. I think it suits his personality if he's shorter and more vulnerable.

-Well yeah, I do study a lot from real life and I use construction and shapes. Mostly because of the part of the Preston Blair book I studied from a few months back, (I need to get back to it, been really down lately though) and how Genndy Tartakovsky said that he improved at drawing when his teacher told him everything came from shapes. I just find it hard to draw and keep track when I'm doing these weird oblong shapes.

-Eh, it's more of a stylistic choice more than anything, and yeah I agree it's important to know how to fit five fingers onto a hand.

-I'll try to get the book you mentioned down the line.

[Jane]

Paperboxhouse likes my drawings.