lewmans-stuff

[lewmans-stuff]

holy shit i’ve never seen the whole thing

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A little pictorial on making cartoons during the studio era. Clips date from 1935 to around 1944.

(Am I the only one who finds it extremely satisfying to watch an animation cel being painted? It’s almost like sorcery.)

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So difficulty with posing is usually a symptom of another underlying problem.

I’ll focus on poses for now, and I’ll discuss framing in another post!

Problem one:

Lack of a solid gesture.

I shan’t talk too much about this, as there’s a fantastic video series by stan prokopenko about gesture & figure drawing that you can find here! :

and you can find more on the subject in my gesture tag here:

http://helpfulharrie.tumblr.com/tagged/gesture

Problem two:

You need to reframe your thinking!

Posing is a word that brings to mind picking up a toy to arrange its limbs into a certain position, or asking a fashion model to stand in a way that shows off all their clothes, etc. Ultimately, it’s a very stiff and lifeless word about putting something into a static position, and it’s not how I’d recommend approaching your art!

Instead you want to think about how your subjects are acting - they’re living, breathing characters, and you’re just catching a snapshot of them while they are doing something. The image you’re drawing may be still, but the character inside it is not.

This is especially important in comics and sequential media, but even in a single image you want to think about what your subject is doing, how they’re feeling, and how you want to convey this.

Consider your character’s body language, and when drawing a conversation think about how your character gesticulates.

It’s not uncommon in animation to get up and physically act out what you want to animate. It’s good practice, it’s easier to understand what you’re drawing if you do it yourself!

I recommend studying films and paying close attention to how the characters are acting. try watching a single scene a few times, and watch how the characters express themselves.

For example, watch this clip from kung fu panda 3!

It’s just 12 seconds, but pay attention to how the characters act. If I were to make this into a comic page it’d probably look something like this:

Do you see how the characters’ acting informs the still poses :?

For some further reading you can find some posts about body language in this tag: http://helpfulharrie.tumblr.com/tagged/body%20language

as well as a post i wrote last year about making poses dynamic: http://helpfulharrie.tumblr.com/post/146669907351/do-you-have-any-personal-tips-for-making-and-poses

And an exercise I would highly recommend doing is this body language one: https://paraparano.deviantart.com/art/Body-Language-Meme-182498610

It’s like those expression memes, but instead you’re focusing on the whole figure!

Also, when thinking about your characters’ acting, don’t forget about how they might interact with props or things in their environment!

Part of the problem might be that they don’t feel grounded in the scene, leading you to feel like something is lacking. Roger rabbit is a fantastic example of how to ground characters in an environment:

The toons obviously aren’t real, but they feel like they’re tangible and inside the scene because they pick up props, physically interact with people, smash into tables, and just generally leave a real impact on the world around them.

Try remember to show how your characters are interacting with the things around them to really sell their acting! Best of luck, I hope this helps!!

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SAMUS ARAN (COMPLETE)

I put this one off for a few days but i have finally finished her, i might still play around with some alternative colours.

#digital art #Samus Aran #nintendo #video games #metroid #krita

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SAMUS ARAN: WIP

Decided i wanted to draw Samus, redesigned the armour a bit.

More of a lightweight plated space suit than power armour, also large poofy 80′s hair.

#video games #metroid #samus #samus aran #pencil #sketch #traditional #wip #drawing

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Sad Bear

My brother is currently writing a story called ‘Sad Bear’ and asked if i could draw a scene from it.

Here is sad bear still left on the old barn shelf, ready to be chastised by spider again.

#story #sad #bear #spider #digital art #teddy bear

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Rocket Knight - Princess Sherry Concepts

Did a couple of concept sketches for princess Sherry of the Rocket Knight Adventures games.

These will be for the fan comic i am writing, but i really can’t decide what style to go with when designing the characters.

#video games #sketch #Rocket Knight Adventures #sparkster #princess #sherry #concept #comic

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Imp Midna

Another quick sketch

#nintendo #legend of zelda #midna #traditional #pencil #sketch #imp #video games

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Mother/EarthBound Zero Doodles

Some bored doodles of Ninten and Geigue

#nes #mother #earthbound #nintendo #alien #digital #drawing #doodle

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More Sparkster Sketches

Getting my lazy butt into gear, i’m still going to work on a Rocket Knight animation however i have a few ideas for a fan comic as well.

#sega #Rocket Knight Adventures #Sparkster #digital #sketch #konami #opossum #knight

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Fantasy Drawings

First time i’ve drawn anything traditionally for a long while, trying my hand at fantasy.

Progress so far......meh...

#dragon #fairy #fantasy #traditional art #pencil #sketch #drawing

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His new book is amazing. #2dbean #art #character #design #brettbean #sketch #drawing #johncleese

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A quick guide I made for clean up artists joining Studio Yotta. So I figured: why not share this with everyone!

These are only 9 of the 20 pages, so  I put up the full PDF for free :D! Just type in “0″ here. Dropbox can be be finicky, so I looked for a different free uploading website. Anyway, enjoy! :)

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CHOCOBO SKETCH

It’s been a while since i have drawn, let alone uploaded haha.

With a random flash of motivation i have drawn and colored a chocobo from the final fantasy series.

Let me know what you think.

#sketch #drawing #digital #chocobo #bird #final fantasy #video games

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Megaman And Rush Digital Paint

Decided to have a crack at drawing megaman and rush.

#video games #megaman #rush #robots #dog #drawing #painting #digital #cartoon

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I just finished this video, and seriously, this is great stuff about pushing your craft for character design. If you want to know the tips without watching the video (for now - it’s really worth watching), here they are:

1. Know Your Subject Matter 

2. Get Through the Bad Drawings 

3. Character 

4. Getting the Personality in There 

5. Get Feedback 

6. Be Adaptable 

7. Stay Inspired 

8. Challenge Yourself

Now those are the tips, but he really goes in depth, and provides some examples too. Enjoy, and continue to create your animation characters! 

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College Animation: Breakfast

I was clearing out old stuff in the attic when i happened upon an old college project.

There was no animation course where i went so i chose media studies, this was the only time we learned about animation.

#animation #traditional #pencil #college #toast #breakfast