TOPIC: What makes a character come to life for you visually?
TAKEAWAYS
Details that help set a character:
facial expression
body language/posture
hair
distinctive item of clothing
hands and feet
eyes
quirky touches/flaws
How to achieve:
Draw characters over & over until you "know" them
Draw in many different poses, fram all angles
@wardomatic shared a sketch sheet from his book on Michael Phelps:
http://www.wardjenkins.com/Drawing_Michael_Phelps
Practice gesture drawing; animators' "line of action" to set gesture for entire body
Play with shapes: sharp angles for harsh characters, rounded shapes for soft characters
Reference:
Google images
@KatGirl_Studio shared this transition from Google image to illustration:
http://www.exoticleatherrugs.com/images/tigrillo.jpg to http://fav.me/d1xds10
kids' catalogs
old yearbooks
hanging out with real kids
How to Draw Animated Cartoons, by Preston Blair (Walt Foster books)
Scott McCloud's books on comics
Tweet of the night (a twofer):
@CaseyGirard:
"A character comes to life when you can see them breathing on the page. There is almost an aura around well drawn characters."
@kellylight:
"I don't think in advance what a character should look like. I let them tell me."
Full transcript below:
#kidlitart 5-20-10
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