Bulldogs and Bears

Sorry for my absence, I've been working on a gallery show and commissions.

Here is the bulldog exercise, I first copied the orginal Tom and Jerry bulldog then I exaggerated that one, making his chest, front paws and collar larger as well as fangs and muzzle and then I made his hind quaters smaller. I then exaggerated that sketch even further.







Here are some more Kaspars, at this point I'm just trying to get the character design down pat.



The original (sorry it is a scan of a black and white print out)







I realized this time that Kaspar's head is made up of three shapes, Sort of like three tires stacked, each one getting smaller. His muzzle isn't fully drawn here (in the first image), it is just suggested by one small line. The peach on his face moves with his eyebrows and changes during expressions. There are only some areas of fur texture folllowed by periods of rest. And the hair on his head follows his line of action. His toenails are in all different shapes and sizes and are at different angles. The outer parts of his ears are thicker towards the inside and thinner on the outside. His eyes are asymmetrical and so are his pupils.

I think that is everything that I noticed this time, more soon!

Also anyone who likes drawing toys, this is a ceramic squirrel, cat,dinosaur from my grandma's basement and it might be fun for someone to draw!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckydreistadt/4162096117/

PS: I REALLY want to draw these Goofy's and horses, does anyone know or have the a larger image of this? I find it really hard to work from. Thank you!

http://www.galerielaqua.de/galerielaqua/IMAGES/Original/original%20art/disney/CARSTE102.gif


~Becky

Kaspar Studies with BG

Hi everybody,

I am back from Portugal and now I will start to do more cartoon studies.
I began drawing these poses below. I started with the ones that had the explanation about the construction, than I jumped for the ones that you had already drawn (so I could read the critiques that mr. John K gave) and at last I drew the ones that nobody had tried. It was preatty hard and I think that it still have a lot of the same problems that mr. John K pointed already... but I also think that I am improving little by little... I will keep practicing.
After I finished the constructions I applied them in the background as you can see in the next image.
I use the photoshop to apply the images and also to make some small corrections on the proportions so it would fit in the BG... I don't know if it is the right way... but it kind of worked.

I can tell that it is not perfect and the drawings could be funnier (SHAME again)... but I really think that the next ones are going to came better... I will try not to take very long until the next post.

abraço

davi

another attempt at Kaspar

I think the expression has been tone down.

kaspar

Using the same background setup for multiple poses and scenes

Here are a bunch of drawings of Kaspar doing things next to the dresser. When you are doing layouts, it makes sense to find all the scenes that look like they use the same setup (background and camera angle) - and draw just 1 background that will work for all the poses.
This complicates your thinking because now, not only do you have to do a good drawing, you have to make sure all the drawings work together and in the exact same setting.The reason to do all this planning and to just use one background if you can for multiple scenes - is to save work for the next guy: the background painter. If you draw a brand new BG for each scene that looks like a similar camera angle, then the poor painter has to do all this extra work painting multiple shots that are hardly different.

This unfortunately happens in animation quite a bit - in every department. If an artist doesn't plan his work to help the next guy or gal in the production line, he will cause problems and extra work for others. Those others will hate you for doing it, just like you would hate the person before you if he caused you extra needless work.


(ignore the top closeup below, it's a different angle and camera distance;it needs its own setup. Just draw the pose below that)
As an exercise, try taking 2 or 3 consecutive poses from this post and draw them so they all use the same BG setup. This one:

You have to now flip each drawing against the others so that they move smoothly between poses.

How to make one good pose and setup

READ MORE ABOUT SCENE PLANNING AND SETUPS

Yes and No Kaspar Translations

This is NO. The drawing has been completely, arbitrarily changed. It looks like a phone doodle done straight ahead just for fun. Too wobbly.


This is almost a YES, except that it's cluttered with other doodles so is not a layout.
But the Kaspar about to bite the undies has retained the guts of my story sketch. It's a bit on the wobbly side but has more control than the first copy above.
The index fingers should be more pronounced as in my sketch. Read the story in context and you'll see that is in most of my drawings.
The underpants waistband is too wobbly. He hasn't torn it yet.
Always read the story so you know what's happening.
You need more silhouette. See the hand on left-compare to mine.






Expression is hard to read. His eyes are too small in copy. Always make sure eye expressions are clear and direct.

Again - just one drawing per page. You're doing a layout, not doodles. The point of the exercise is self-control which is the opposite of free doodling. Everyone here is good at doodling. But doodles can't make a cartoon.


The undies on the right stretch are too wobbly. They are being stretched, remember, so they would be tight. They should be longer and silhouetted against the right side of his face-as in my SB sketch.

Very good feeling of flesh overall.

Chloe Kaspar Kalamities

Many doodles and drawings have gone down, some better than others.







I like the top one (reproduced above) better.. it felt more dynamic, then again, maybe the other one has a more focused expression. Then again again, maybe I'm committing the cardinal sin of changing them arbitrarily.





I studied these Tom Oreb rabbits alongside Kaspar because they seemed to have a good balance of angles, relatively straighter lines, and curves, whilst still feeling organic. I find keeping my hand in studying something good helps me be less spazzy when I draw 'my own' things. I naturally tend toward abundant curves and waves, so I was just making an effort to be more balanced.





Hand probably not far apart enough, stretch not tense enough:





The arm probably could have been more solid and manly, and it's gone off the edge of the page too. (My scanner's not quite big enough for this animation paper)





I preferred the way the nose nestled in the central one of these: (By the way I work from right to left, I'm left handed, so often the worst and more primitive ones will be on the far right)





And I did find the arms on this one tricky to interpret





These were a bit poor, the middle one looks like a monkey, too symmetrical and boring. Also, the tug has become a bit slack:















Liberties taken, and failiure in the middle. Left one less even out, prob a step too wrong though:





And with bunnies:





I seem to be spreading him out and making him wider than he is tall. I guess this is me tending to slightly caricature his girth in an effort to avoid toning him down.





More shite, messy and doodly:





I did more perhaps too pointless to post.

Correcting Kaspar Leaning back

The idea of layout is not to change the SB drawings

it's to preserve them

and not distract from the main action

in this case

everything should be aimed at the foot that is sliding the drawer closed

Don't Copy Mistakes. Copy the good stuff

I notice that people are having trouble deciding what is a mistake in the rough, and what is worth preserving.Extra floating lines are mistakes. When I sketch out a rough, there are sometimes extra lines that I just put down to get the drawing started, but then as I add more form, I realise I need to make the character bigger or wider, so then draw another line around the border of the character. That's the one that's right.

Any lines that are floating around in the middle of the character that don't describe anything are mistakes. Don't copy those.
Your goal:

To preserve the life and design of the rough.

To fix the mistakes. (to see what is obviously a mistake, and what is on purpose)

To make the drawing solid, but to preserve interesting angles and subtleties of design.

Your NOT goal:

To completely change the drawing. ( I see a couple people doing this and I can't figure out why.)

To add lumps and wrinkles

To turn curves into straight or mechanical lines

To make the negative shapes smaller or thinner

to tone down the life of the original

MORE KASPAR STUDIES + CORRECTIONS

I have drawn the same poses again to try to fix the mistakes.

I hope it had improved. I will draw more Kaspars tomorrow.

thanks for the advices Professor.

More Kaspar studies.

I don't feel that I am getting it right.. it seems to me that is better than the first ones that I made.. but still is not as funny as the original layouts..

I analyzed the emotinal statement and read the story a couple of times in the "JK STUFF" blog to see if I get what is going on in the drawing.

my self critiques are:

first one - there is a weird angle in the chest (I just saw it now) that goes in the oposite direction of the original drawing, the eyes are too separeted, and the hands are too high, the underware needs to be more organic.

second one - I think he has too many circle shapes in my drawing, maybe it would look better it he had more straight lines, specially from the chin to the belly. The hands are very diferent from the original, I don't know if is out of his model.

I will keep drawing.

abç
davi