Practice faces

Here is a little practice, as advised by Silver. He stresses that its so important to know the structure of the face, from front and side. Only then can you create believable characters.

Defo found this exercise helped, especially in experimenting with different face sizes on the same skull.
Hoping to create more of these from from front and 3/4 views also.

Assignment 3: Caricatures

2) Draw the attached BOWLER HAT MAN as you saw in the video from class 03 zip (attached). It is labeled Untitled-01, (attach the photo to your submission next to your portrait) as realistically as possible, taking in all the info you can. Then put that away and create 3 new caricatured variations side by side on the same page.

Me: It was really interesting to see how Silver does Caricature. The way he analyses the picture and mannerisms of a person and then breaks it all down and distorts it is amazing. This exercise was great for me as I haven't done much caricature (not properly), yet it's the essence of character design! On the first realistic drawing, I really tried to focus on the features of the gentleman and understand the overall construction of his face. The I had loads of fun by exaggerating features and shapes of his face. This can always be pushed further, but so far I think I have had a good bash at it. Definitely will be doing similar exercises in the future.




Silver: This is looking really great, but be aware of the shape of the skull, especially how the bowler hat fits on to the man's head. This is the main issue in all the caricatures too, as the hat determines the shape of the skull and adds a lot more to the drawings. Good shape variations, the only thing I focus on is make sense of the bowler hat: how does it wrap around the head?

Assignment 2: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Your assignment throughout this course is design a new concept based on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They can be from any time period, past present or future. Create a new take, a new style on the characters. Are they spacemen, pirates, cowboys. You get the idea.

For this assignment:

1. Write out a description of a new Jekyll and Hyde character like the (example below) keep it short and simple
2. Draw a silhouette of the two characters you come up with.

Me: I really enjoyed this assignment as it helped me to focus purely on shape and discover how a combo of the right ones can create a very readable character. I experimented with many shape variations, and found the whole lesson invaluable in coming up with a strong silhouette and thus strong character. I engaged with Jekyll a lot more than Hyde, maybe because his traits were so clear in my head.

Silver: Awesome job, there is some great shape variation here, it has clarity and reads. Think about how you envision this, is it a 3D feature film, a TV cartoon? I see this as being a 3D feature, so when you progress with it you may want to create detail relevant to that. Hyde feels a little blobby at the moment as doesn't read as clearly as Jekyll. The next stage now is to really experiment with the chosen poses, think about features, length of clothing etc.

Assignment 1: Testing your level

(orignal image)

Hello and welcome to Arctic Bunny schoolism, an extended branch of Arctic Bunny Animations.

Recently I signed up to a character design course run by the renowned and amazingly talented Steven Silver. I wanted to better my skills in this area so thought who better to learn from the master. On this this blog I will be posting up my work for assignments and experimental pieces that accompany it. Each post will have personal comments of my assessment, as well as Silver's critiques.

Ok so lets begin with Assignment 1. This assignment was a general character design brief. I had to come up with a character concept for a fictional character named 'Walter Chipworth.'

Description :
NAME: walter chipwitther
WHO: wealthy entrepreneur
AGE: in his 60's WHERE: London, 2011 PERSONALITY: jolly, full of laughter, enthusiastic man happy to be alive and well.
CLOTHING: Wears a bow tie, smoking jacket and monocle
LOOK: Heavy set, around 5'6

(picture coming soon)

Me: I thought I did pretty well as I managed to capture a merry, aging gentleman who clearly has cash. I think I have gone too 'American' on this, using Jack Donaghy from 30 rock as a reference. I think I should have pushed the characteristics of him being British and played on some stereotypes. I had him perched on the seat rather than sitting in it, which doesn't communicate his heavy set form.

Silver:

The pose can add a lot to the personality of a character; pull out elements like the martini glass, so it breathes more. Think about FORM. For example, buttons wrapping around his body etc. By having him sitting in the chair more makes him appear more grounded and confident. It aslo brings gravity into it, which affects parts like his trousers. Keep your drawings loose, so that you can play and adjust the construction and thus avoid the ladder affect and making your character look like he's about to lose balance.