An oddly naturalistic sketch for me. And for some reason I decided to change it to brown tones in Photoshop... ...cause it's my blog and I'll do whatever I feel like!
I really like some of the older looking characters that you've been drawing recently (e.g. griffin, pig). I find it particularly hard to draw detailed characters that maintain the same appeal as my simpler ones but you seem to have no problem doing that. Hope to see more of these amazing 'realistic' drawings in the future.
Thanks Michael. You've probably noticed my formula when doing some of these animal characters, of doing a cute kid version and an elderly version. Both are pretty formulaic, though I think I find the elderly ones more interesting to do. I'm not sure how appealing they are, but I guess if I'm accurately depicting "old age" that might be appealing in itself. It's funny how lots of details (wrinkles, warts, loose hair, etc...) translates to "realism" in a sense. I guess since nothing in reality is ever as lily white as empty paper space, the more we fill up that space with detail, the more realistic it seems, even if proportions or other more subtle clues may be totally exagerated.
One tip I can offer you when trying to get believability (and appeal) into any character is to make sure it's got some direction and weight. This generally is shown by the overall gesture that the body is in. Sometimes when we start to focus on little details (wrinkles etc...) we forget that the whole drawing has to still exist under gravity and be "doing something". So remember that an old character doesn't bound down a street, they shuffle. Their back isn't stright, it's hunched, and the loose skin around their face and neck hangs and drags with their movement. Even in still drawings this can be conveyed, and in fact these features can help you convey the motion of your character in a way that you can't with a younger character.
...cause it's my blog and I'll do whatever I feel like!
2 comments:
I really like some of the older looking characters that you've been drawing recently (e.g. griffin, pig). I find it particularly hard to draw detailed characters that maintain the same appeal as my simpler ones but you seem to have no problem doing that. Hope to see more of these amazing 'realistic' drawings in the future.
Thanks Michael. You've probably noticed my formula when doing some of these animal characters, of doing a cute kid version and an elderly version. Both are pretty formulaic, though I think I find the elderly ones more interesting to do. I'm not sure how appealing they are, but I guess if I'm accurately depicting "old age" that might be appealing in itself. It's funny how lots of details (wrinkles, warts, loose hair, etc...) translates to "realism" in a sense. I guess since nothing in reality is ever as lily white as empty paper space, the more we fill up that space with detail, the more realistic it seems, even if proportions or other more subtle clues may be totally exagerated.
One tip I can offer you when trying to get believability (and appeal) into any character is to make sure it's got some direction and weight. This generally is shown by the overall gesture that the body is in. Sometimes when we start to focus on little details (wrinkles etc...) we forget that the whole drawing has to still exist under gravity and be "doing something". So remember that an old character doesn't bound down a street, they shuffle. Their back isn't stright, it's hunched, and the loose skin around their face and neck hangs and drags with their movement. Even in still drawings this can be conveyed, and in fact these features can help you convey the motion of your character in a way that you can't with a younger character.
Post a Comment