Here are some character sketches I've been working on for this week's prompt. I agree with Angelic in that, I'd would love some honest critique of these. While receiving negative feedback stings a little, I think you really grow as an artist when you are able to hear honest opinions. So, bring 'em on!! :-) Have a great weekend ya'll!! (I hope I didn't post too many).
ps - sorry for the color of the scans, we're having some technical difficulties. Hopefully, will be resolved soon.
8 comments:
I'm not sure what kind of specific feedback you wanted. I think you've got some great sketches here. It seems like the ones that have the best consistency don't show a range of expression. The top one has great motion but all the poses are emotionally the same. There is a middle one that shows several profiles that are all pretty similar. The one with the girl wearing the headband shows great emotional range, but her head shape/size isn't consistent. It think you did a great job showing a variety of characters over all. Hope that helps.
Thanks Heather, that is helpful feedback. Now I can work on combining a range of motion, with a variety of expression AND keep them consistent... Yikes!!
michelle
Yeah. Didn't say I could DO it myself, just that I SAW it... :)
Hey Girly,
You have developed some really great characters. Consistency is key as heather said. How to do it? One way is to take each one and with tracing paper do an overlay of the character. This will at least help with consistency of shape and proportion. Keep drawing the one character by tracing different facial expressions. You will start to see a flow in shape as you do it. If you have a light box it's even better! If you don't have a light box take it to your sunniest place in the house and put the first illustration against the window and then place the tracing paper on top and go for it! You may want to take time and do one really good illustration of each character and then do your overlays and develop them. If you need some help let me know.
Thanks V, I'll try that. I've never done tracings before, so I'm sure that will be very helpful. One of things I have trouble with is how to be consistent when changing views - ie. profile, vs. straight on, vs. looking down, or up. Do you know what I mean? For instance, is the first drawing of the little girl consistent? Specifically the first image of her with her arms spread wide, and the second with her in 3/4 view. When you draw your illos, are you measuring and adjusting proportions or do you just "get a feel" for what is right?
I think you're on to a great start, Michelle! Your characters seem like a lot of fun. I feel the same as Heather in not knowing exactly what kind of critique you're looking for. What kind of style are you aiming towards? Do you prefer things to be tighter or looser?
Someone reminded me on one of my comments that it helps when you really know your character. When I seriously think about how my character will express their thought through expression and body language, things are SO MUCH EASIER than when I just start drawing a face and body. So my suggestion would be to choose one of these characters and think of a scene to act in. Think first what you'd like their expression to be and then what their body will look like, and THEN start drawing.
I also agree with Vanessa that tracing paper or light boxes can do wonders in making characters consistent. Also, I'm not sure if you've ever picked up "Bruce Blitz's Big Book of Cartooning" (I think that's the title). He does an AMAZING job with the book. It revolutionized my way of doing things. Before I read it, I tried to do things from my head and failed miserably.
I said a ton and I hope it was helpful. I really think you've done a great job so far and some tweaking will help it to become spectacular!
Michelle--it's great to see so many! As a whole, they look great. 1st group: girl from side doesn't quite look like same girl (side views are hard for some reason);
2nd group: boy's neck gets a little stretchy; 3rd group is very good & 4th group is excellent! 5th group has wonderful body language...you're doing a great job!
You gave us a lot to look at and got some terrific feedback. There's a great variety of characters and the first one especially has a lot of motion. I struggle with the same issues of consistency (proportion, profiles, movement, etc.
What a great suggestion by Vanessa, to use a light box! And also tracing paper. What you said about knowing your character is very true, and it's something I'm realizing I really need to work on.
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