these are brilliant! if you don't mind and have some spare time, could you please give a keen student some pointers in how to improve his gesture drawings and animation?? if not its cool, ill just keep on studying your blog intensely.
lol I've been asking people to help me with MY animation and gesture drawing :) I guess we are all keen students!
But if I've learnt anything about gesture drawing it's that the more you do, the more likely you will get something good out of it. I know it sounds obvious, but if you do 10 drawings you might not get any you like.... but do 50 and you might get 10. And you will find because you're doing so many, the percentage of good'ns will rise - I guess that's practice.
I also find certain mediums suit different people. I prefer using a pen - like a fineliner type thing that moves across the page quickly with a thin solid line. When I use Pencil I try to over think it and scribble too much. So find what works for you.
And on a similar note to the first point, don't get precious with a drawing. If it works, it works, if not, move on.
If you keep small, you'll capture the gesture quicker and can do more in less amount of time :)
Spend more time looking at the subject than the page!!
As for animation, I really don't feel i'm in a position to be giving advice (not that I'm saying i'm GDLK at gesture drawing!) As I said, I feel there is so much I don't know....
But something that I think is helpful to always think about (whether it shows in my work or not :/) Is the bouncing ball. Again, simple and obvious, but there are 3 main things - timing (at what frame the ball makes the contacts), the spacing (how the drawings are spread between those contacts) and the arcs or paths the ball takes.
If you were doing a person getting up, you could think about how far the drawings between the keys are spread apart - are they even or slow in/out. Then see the paths the different parts of the body move along - does the head follow a nice arc like it should or is it popping in and out. Perhaps the spacing is different for different body parts, which will make it look less robotic....
So that's what I always think about anyway - the ball bounce :) (Wes enlightened me with that!)
Oh and 'Rhythms' for Gesture Drawing!! A good thing to think about! Apposing curves that run through the body - I think there's some stuff on the net :)
wow thank you so so much for taking the time to give such a clear and enlightening explanation, ill print this out to keep for reference. And thank you for your feedback as well! suddenly things are alot less dark and i can see the light leading toward improvement :)! considering the quality of your work and the explanation you have just given id say you are in prime position to be giving advice. i will try my upmost to keep on improving. hope you can stop by my blog and help me out agian many many many thanks frankie
Thanks to both of you! I'm in the same boat. Reading explanations like Rossi's really open the mind and breathe a breath of fresh air into the otherwise "I'll never do it" thought pattern.
@Frankie & Kristian Now worries - i'm glad I could be of some help :D
@Sarah Thanks Sarah! I'm glad you stopped by - you're work is pretty awesome!
@Geoff Thanks Geoff, it means a lot! I was going to post my shots on the AIB animation page but thought I'd wait 'till I cut a reel together and put it all in one post! Hope all is well with you!
8 comments:
these are brilliant!
if you don't mind and have some spare time, could you please give a keen student some pointers in how to improve his gesture drawings and animation?? if not its cool, ill just keep on studying your blog intensely.
lol I've been asking people to help me with MY animation and gesture drawing :) I guess we are all keen students!
But if I've learnt anything about gesture drawing it's that the more you do, the more likely you will get something good out of it. I know it sounds obvious, but if you do 10 drawings you might not get any you like.... but do 50 and you might get 10. And you will find because you're doing so many, the percentage of good'ns will rise - I guess that's practice.
I also find certain mediums suit different people. I prefer using a pen - like a fineliner type thing that moves across the page quickly with a thin solid line. When I use Pencil I try to over think it and scribble too much. So find what works for you.
And on a similar note to the first point, don't get precious with a drawing. If it works, it works, if not, move on.
If you keep small, you'll capture the gesture quicker and can do more in less amount of time :)
Spend more time looking at the subject than the page!!
As for animation, I really don't feel i'm in a position to be giving advice (not that I'm saying i'm GDLK at gesture drawing!) As I said, I feel there is so much I don't know....
But something that I think is helpful to always think about (whether it shows in my work or not :/) Is the bouncing ball. Again, simple and obvious, but there are 3 main things - timing (at what frame the ball makes the contacts), the spacing (how the drawings are spread between those contacts) and the arcs or paths the ball takes.
If you were doing a person getting up, you could think about how far the drawings between the keys are spread apart - are they even or slow in/out. Then see the paths the different parts of the body move along - does the head follow a nice arc like it should or is it popping in and out. Perhaps the spacing is different for different body parts, which will make it look less robotic....
So that's what I always think about anyway - the ball bounce :) (Wes enlightened me with that!)
Hope it helps! And thanks for the kind words,
L
Oh and 'Rhythms' for Gesture Drawing!! A good thing to think about! Apposing curves that run through the body - I think there's some stuff on the net :)
wow thank you so so much for taking the time to give such a clear and enlightening explanation, ill print this out to keep for reference. And thank you for your feedback as well! suddenly things are alot less dark and i can see the light leading toward improvement :)!
considering the quality of your work and the explanation you have just given id say you are in prime position to be giving advice.
i will try my upmost to keep on improving.
hope you can stop by my blog and help me out agian
many many many thanks
frankie
Thanks to both of you! I'm in the same boat. Reading explanations like Rossi's really open the mind and breathe a breath of fresh air into the otherwise "I'll never do it" thought pattern.
Thanks!
Lovely gestures and site! Nice pencil test too and I found your above explanation really interesting. :)
Great posts Laurent!
I really like the last few especially. The fridge raid looks lovely! :D
And as always I really enjoy seeing your out and about sketches.
Geoff
@Frankie & Kristian
Now worries - i'm glad I could be of some help :D
@Sarah
Thanks Sarah! I'm glad you stopped by - you're work is pretty awesome!
@Geoff
Thanks Geoff, it means a lot! I was going to post my shots on the AIB animation page but thought I'd wait 'till I cut a reel together and put it all in one post!
Hope all is well with you!
Post a Comment