wannabeanimator:
Drawing the differences in ages
1. The size and angularity of the neck and shoulders: Babies start out with thick necks, but then by the time we’re 5 or 6 our necks seem to look pretty skinny (at least I’ve found it seems to look that way in drawings). Our shoulders, obviously, start out small and get broader and broader as we get older (this is more apparent in men than in women, of course). Also I made a conscious effort to make his shoulders start out rounded and get more angular as he ages. If I’d kept going, drawing this guy into old age, I would have made the shoulders start to shrink (and get more rounded again) as he aged.
2. The relation of the mouth to the chin: I simply made the mouth get further away from the chin as he ages, to give a feeling of a jaw that develops as he gets older. Also I made the jawline stronger and more angular with each successive age.
3. The amount of upturn in the nose: I made it turned up more in the younger drawings, and made it less so over time.
4. The size of the forehead: We have a bigger forehead when we’re young, and it diminishes proportionally over time.
5. The chubbiness of the cheeks: most of us have less fat in our cheeks as we age.
burdge:
How To Improve Your Art
wannabeanimator:
From ~Maidith on deviantART:
“How do I improve my art work?” is one of the most asked questions in art related forums, mainly regarding drawing and painting in any media. Because the question is recurring so often, I wrote the following tips that I still copy-paste in various threads.
You can apply these universal strategies not just to traditional and digital painting media, but most of them even to photography and collage.
- Look at pictures by artists you admire, and try to figure out things. How do they handle light and color? What edges are sharp, and what edges are soft? Why do they use that particular color there? What technique did they use? How did they work? The more you look at work of others, the more different kinds of styles and techniques you will see.
- Learn from the masters. Copy works you adore. Not for imitating the artist or showcasing your copy, but for the sake of learning. Don’t be shy, ask your favorite artist everything you want to know, such as “What paper do you draw on?”, or “How do you go about painting a picture, do you start with a sketch?”, etc. But be specific, don’t ask “how can I paint like that?”. And check the artist’s website, chances are they already have tutorials, a FAQ or step-by-step tutorials there.
- Challenge yourself. Never used a particular medium? Then buy it, no matter how poor you are, and try it out. Never drawn a still life? Do it. Never used that particular color scheme? Give it a try. At a certain point, when you are afraid of repeating yourself, you are on the right track to improve.
- Use reference. If you aim for realism, you can’t paint most things straight from your imagination. The old masters always made preliminary studies of life models, and did most paintings from life models too. For example, if you are unsure how to paint a head with the light source from below, look up a photo, or take it yourself, or have someone pose for it. It is worth every effort!
Stock photos from deviantartists can be a valuable resource also and provide inspiration.
- Draw from life. It’s probably the most valuable practice that there is. Sign up for a life drawing class so that you’ll be actually “forced” to do it. Believe me, it works wonders.
As for studying anatomy from books about figure drawing (Loomis, Bammes, etc.) a good exercise is to copy the body parts and figures in there and then trying to draw the same from your mind to see how much you remembered.
- Look up tutorials. Browse through the tutorial section and study the many different ways and media of the different artists. Also visit the websites of the great artists here - many have tutorials up there.
- Collect pictures. On my harddisk, I have different folders of fantastic art.
They are very inspiring to browse through and can give you new ideas in terms of technique. Whenever I feel uninspired, I look through my folders.
The images I’ve collected over time, mainly from Cgtalk.com, Deviantart, Epilogue, Artrenewal.org and many other websites.
Further Reading:
Why Reference is not a crutch
Useful resources
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Forums for those who want to learn
ConceptArt
Sijun
preservedcucumbers:
Skin tone practice using Lauren K. Cannon’s tutorials. Guys this painting stuff is really fun.
Posting this because I figure someone else might benefit from these tutorials, they’re awesome.
startrek-marysues:
that70srpc:
I find that, when writing bios, it’s really helpful to look at a list or a chart like the one above. Picking two or three traits from each chart and building a character based around them will give you a really interesting bio, because they will serve as a reminder that characters need depth and dimension.
Independent and clever.
VS.
Independent, clever, pretentious, and stubborn.
The first combination doesn’t come with any flaws, whereas the second will provide a more dynamic character.
HEY GUYS, this showed up on my dash this morning, and I thought it would be helpful if any of you are writing characters and don’t want them to come out as picture-perfect Mary Sues! :)
One thing I’d like to add, though, is that you should make sure the character traits don’t conflict in an oxymoronic way…. for example: Ambitious and lazy, or patient and impulsive. WAT. (Believe it or not, I HAVE seen it happen before! Don’t do it!!)
wannabeanimator:
Flat = Funny & Depth = Dramatic
“One of the most basic and perplexing challenges a board artist faces is how to get the desired emotional response from the audience. Many times people will board a dramatic and serious scene, only to find that when they pitch it to a room full of fellow board artists, the audience doesn’t take it as it was intended and breaks into laughs instead. Or vice versa…a board artist will pitch a scene that’s meant to be funny and the room will be totally quiet, with no laughter happening at all.
A big part of what makes us feel like we should laugh at a scene or take it seriously is the visual cues that are used within the sequence. So one of the easiest ways to ensure the audience reacts to your story in the intended way is to use the right kind of visual language.” Read more
carprediem:
abbydoodles:
Head & neck anatomy sheets by juusan13 | gallery (with larger images)
This is gonna be useful…
Art Tips - The Foot by ArandaDill
starexorcist:
Horns. HORNS. hoooorns.
joesecondopinionson:
ok so im A Big Gay and
my boyfriend moved into a new apartment and i want to buy him a few little housewarming gifts but
im broke!!! so i’m gonna
take some commissions
examples under the cut.
Read More
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