Character design and digital painting for Asatira

[funshark]

Hi, here another mentoring thread for Asatira and arkos78.

Please present yourself with little biography and favorite artist ( specially in character design which is the subject here) + goal(s).

I need to know you more, so i want you to do a little chara design with the tool of your choice ( it's better to choose the one you want to work with the most... :) ).

you don't have to do something complicated here, just basic intentions and shapes. You can refine and details the rendering like you want.

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These are the guidelines for the character :
- is a musician
- love the nature
- human
- man or woman
- have a strong and big instrument which can be a weapon
- lots of hair
- doesn't like to wear shoes

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See you for the next round :)

[Asatira]

Okay, quick introductory post about me. I go by Asatira, and I'm a graduate student in technical communication. Odd background for art, I know, but I've always loved animation, various illustrators, video game art, anime, manga, and comics in general. I've been drawing off and on since junior high, but admit a little problem being consistent. I have a basic grounding on the basics like human anatomy, color theory, and a few other areas; I just need help implementing it! I am an amateur comicker(?) myself, and would like to be guided past my own art blocks so I can create unique characters for my stories and projects. I hope by working under funshack, I'll have the outside pressure to keep at it and to make improvements over time.

Fav artists would be Alphonse Mucha, Michelangelo, Leo and Dionne Dillon, Miyazaka, and Disney animation.

I work best with a deadline. When do you want it?

[funshark]

You have until next saturday.

[Azalin]

Hi there,
My name is Francisco and go by arkos78. I´m 29 years old, i´m kind of college drop out, trying to get back in an art school (Communication Design). i´m from Honduras but currently living in Germany. been drawing since i can remember but just doodling without a serious purpose, It´s been like about 1 1/2 years ago since i´ve gotten really serious about it. and i´m not stopping.
My favorite artist are: Banksy (not a char. designer but anyway i love his work), Miyazaka, The people behind Samurai Champloo, Ergo Proxy, The Iron Giant, Lilo & Stich and so on... many artists (i forget names easily)
Haven´t got a sb yet but i´m working on that.
My goals are to be able to do character design, and to learn digital painting.
Never done this before so i guess it´s going to be a fun challenge.

about the first assignment, is it ok to use references or must it all be out of imagination?

[funshark]

Since it's character design you want to achieve, you can use references.

It's better to start with references now, and maybe later try to do full imagination (to challenge yourself) . References help you to construct sort of virtual library for life.

[Azalin]

I´m too tired to find my ref photos but anyway here are 3 of my best sketches from today. at least i´ve found my character, still got to work on weapon/instrument and the rest...

g8

---
ok cool, already started gathering some and sketching some ideas, i´ll post my process once i get home if thats ok.

[Asatira]

Here're some initial sketches. I plan to make more polised versions today and tomorrow.
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/021308.jpg

Hi, arkos78. Welcome to the class!

[Azalin]

Hi there, thanx for the welcome asatrira.
Ok, so i´ve finally "finished" my Char. He is like an old hermit living in a cage, and plays the Berimbau, an instrument used for Capoeira Dance in Brazil. He uses it as well as a Bow, it´s not big nor a strong weapon but deadly ;)
It was a fun experience to do some research and work on different combinations, it truly expands your visual library. i´ve never done this before so that made it quite hard for me but anyway i liked it.
can´t wait for the crits and also the next assignment.

[funshark]

Good work, arkos78.

I'm waiting a bit more for the asatira one to give criticisms.

[Asatira]

Here's mine. Rather simple, with obvious flaws, but it gets across who I had in mind rather well. When I first read the description, I immediately thought "hippie." I was originally going for a guitar, something she could swing and meets the size requirement. Then I looked around and came up with a rainstick.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/021608.jpg

[Azalin]

Hi Asatira, nice work with your char, same as me as i read the description i thought about a hippie that played the tanpura and use it as a blunt weapon kind of like a war hammer but looked a bit ridiculous then i thought about my
Brazilian roommate and used a berimbau instead. didn´t add much nature cause visually i´m lacking in that field (something else i must practice)
What i think about your Char. is that the background is missing and that your hands need a bit of work (mine aren't any better as you can see). so i think next would be very hep full to work on hands, since we haven´t gotten any crits yet how about if we work this out together? lets just do some hand studies... lots of them, at least 3 daily (or more) and post them at saturday (12 hands or more is it ok with you?

[Asatira]

arkos78: I'm glad you posted your pic. I like that you included a background, although it is a little unclear. It looks uneven, and I couldn't tell if it was a cage or a forested background. I really like that you went with an exotic instrument, and that spurred me to reconsider my character's instrument. Thanks for that push!

Oh, I know my hands suck! :dur: Unfortunately, I didn't have reference for that particular position (I think most things are held overhanded and not underhanded). Hand studies sounds like a great idea, and I can handle at least three hands a day. Let's see how we do.:mittenbop:

I believe I was focused more on the character than the background, but I meant to. I know backgrounds are important, and that's something I hope funshark will go over with us we go along.

[Azalin]

Yeah, your right about my background, it is very unclear, it should be a cave but like i said i´m lacking in enviorment skills also, i need to go more outside and do some nature, after this winter is over. Anyhow i think more important is if we do some hands. I like your character very much, and for one done without any refs its really good. With mine i had a ref for the sitting position and another one for the hands pos. only thing invented is the head.
Cool that you like the idea about drawing some hands. I´ll try to post some at the end of the day then and if not then the next day.

[Asatira]

First night of hand studies!

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/021908.jpg

[Azalin]

Nice hands, i´m not too good either with them so its kind of hard for me to make any critics, so if anyone out there wants to give his opinion, please do.
K, here goes my crit: i like specially hand a. although i see a little problem with the side of the little finger (right side) seems kind of short don´t know for sure. Hand b. seems to have a problem with the Width of the fingers, some are thicker than the others, and this bulge formed by the muscles under the thumb aren't very pronunciated.
Hand C, its hard to analyze i see a little problem with foreshortening, but not sure either, its kind of hard to analyze for me because of the position. Perhaps it would be a good idea to post the Reference photos as well, or are you making them life drawings?
i got mines from http://div.dyndns.org/references/malehands/index.html
Anyhow nice work, mine have a lot of problem with proportions also, specially the first 3, today i made some with pen wich i kind of like better, my shadows sucks thou, it´s something else to i have to practice or take more time for it, but that´s not i wanted to concentrate on, atm for me its more important to nail the proportions.

[Asatira]

A and B from the first night are definately rough. Hands are something I don't do often (hey, that's why we're doing this!). Point out a lot of good points, especially with a. B was hardest and possible most off due to the source image.

I also can't crit all that much. I think the weakest would be the first hand from the first day. I tend to approach things from an animator's way (focus on line for creating form), so IMO the heel and palm of that hand could be more defined. The forefinger of 2 is seems short, kinda bloated, not sure if it's due to foreshortening or not. Second set is a lot better, though something seems off with the last hand. I can't put a finger on it; maybe it doesn't look like it's really wrapping around the handle?

Today's set. A little better, but inconsistent in approaches and technique.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/022008.jpg

[funshark]

Hi there,

sorry for the delay, i was very busy these last days.

I have a couple of things to say after seeing your works, so i will split up in one, two or three posts.

In the first place, good work.
I'm happy to see you've done some researches, especially arkos78. It's always a good thing to complete your visual library for future use.
It seems you give each other exercices to do : that's good :]
I will come back specifically on hands later.

Here we go, i'm starting to explain some points on line drawing with pencil.
So we speak about technique.

http://genshoku.net/conceptart/confident_line.jpg

I've done a little sketch to show you one thing.
It's something we use to do when we are not enough confident about what we draw (the left one).
I didn't see any beginner who not do this.
The idea is what i've written in the bottom right corner : Try to ask yourself why you draw a line here. If you don't really know, don't draw. If you know, draw it with accuracy and confidence.
You have to force yourself to visualize more and more what you want to draw before you draw it. It's a good exercice to train the brain.

It's not an unique way to draw something.
You can start with a loose line on little thumbs since you don't know already the shape of the final character. After that, choose one of them and start with the proper linework.

Just try.

edit : arkos78 , try to post smaller pics like asatira do. It's better to look at :)

[Asatira]

funshark: Thanks for the advice about lines. I do tend to do the little scratches. What would you advise for people like me who do construction sketches before moving on to the final linework?

I was rather busy these last few days, so I was unable to draw for a couple of nights. As always, my technique takes a hit, but here are my last hand drawings.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/022308.jpg

[funshark]

Right

About the characters

Good points are you've done some researches, especially arkos78.
Don't be afraid to come along with a ton of references pictures.

On the other side, and what we will work now, is how "common" the output character is in the two cases.
plus we will focusing on the rendering itself.

New exercise

Design a character with these characteristics :

- HE is blind
- he has some magical power ( he is magician then )
- he wears a sort of mid-dress with many "drawings" on it
- he tends to be nervous but he is not bad guy

>> 1 week and half to finish

-> 1 sketches sheet
-> 1 final render sheet ( just lineart, no colors, just the character )

How to work

I've done a little rough to show you what i mean.

1) When you design a character, we assume this character will be somewhat important. So, you have to recognize him, right? To achieve that, you have to push out the basis, what you see all days. Bring original parts, wears, accessories; exaggerate things; add significant stuffs! Go on! :)

2) People wants to look at something clean. It was not the point before but now it is. I want you to do one final , clean, drawing of the character, with interesting pose. Sketches will be on the first page.

Look below to understand the two points. ask me if something is unclear.

I've used the asatira one to show the thing. I can do more exaggerations if i want, but it was not necessary, i hope you catch the idea.
http://genshoku.net/conceptart/exercice2_cha.jpg

[Asatira]

Assignment sounds interesting.

Thanks for the example. The clearer, larger props really add a lot to the character versus what I originally put in.

[Asatira]

Question: What do you mean by mid-dress? I've been thinking about it, but I don't really know what that is and I can't figure it out.

[funshark]

yeah... i didn't find the right word to write what i had in my mind..
think about dress magician generally wear.

[Asatira]

Ah, so things like robes. I see. That helps a little with what I had in mind.

[Asatira]

This is an early rough draft. I'm looking into basing it on either medieval-Renaissance Spain or Italy. It's not truly historical, but drawing on that era. My idea is he is the royal sorcerer and very loyal to the king. Unfortunately, the king has been overthrown by a usurper, and to prevent any retaliation, the sorcerer has been blinded. He's somehow escaped. I am looking at some resources for Spanish and Italian fashion at that time, and an over-robe will be added to him.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/031208.jpg

[funshark]

Try to do more sketches.
I mean you can keep your primary idea but search for more visual concepts.
:)

If you have choice, you can keep the better one.
( you can do only thumbnails )

[Asatira]

Yes, my thumbnails are messy.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/031308a.jpg

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/031308b.jpg

[Asatira]

Hey, sorry my final is so late. I had to go out of town for a couple days and couldn't sit down to draw. Expect the final for the assignment in the next day or so.

[funshark]

It's ok.
About the thumbnails, i want you to do design tryouts, not composition ones :)
Try others paths and keep the best.


some examples of what i meant with "mid-dress"... i don't know now why i used that word :/
http://www.ds-daoc.com/modules/Upload/Files/WAR%20-%20Career%20-%20Bright%20wizard%20T4.jpg
http://www.jf-bruckner.com/images/concepts/Wizard.jpg

[Asatira]

Why didn't you say it that way!? Okay, I'll work on some more thumbnails and you better give me feedback! :tihi:

[Asatira]

Partly studies, partly concepts. Not particularly wild or stands out right now. Symbols not included

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/031908a.jpg http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/031908b.jpg