Oh hello again
I was starting to miss you tumblr.
Also for the nice people who’ve been asking if I have a blog for actual arty type stuff- http://callmealbion.blogspot.com/
Honestly most of the stuff on there has been on this tumblr at some point but there’s occasional hand studies or bigger versions of things so w/e.
*insert random gif here*
Okay so I went out to return our old router and failed miserably- couldn’t find the building to save my life despite instructions but big surprise there I have the orientation skills of a dead badger- but fortunately I remembered to take my camera out with me and god damn what a lovely day.
Vancouver is just one of those places that makes you happy to be alive.
Had some people asking me for tips about posing and composition, so here’s three basic tests that I run my pictures through which I find helpful.
1) Silhouette; Can you tell what is happening in the picture? Can you tell what the characters are like, what they’re doing? If you cannot ‘read’ a character’s pose as a simple blacked out shape, then the pose probably isn’t working. There are some exceptions, like foreshortening, but your picture will always benefit from a strong silhouette, and it makes you push your poses to the extreme.
2) De-saturate; I have a huge fondness for black and white films, but one of the strongest lessons they’ve taught me is that if an image doesn’t work without colour, it usually doesn’t work at all. Always think about the tonal values; if you de-saturate the image, does it still look good? Is there enough contrast between the characters and the background? What about shadows- are you using them to help the picture? Are they in the right place? Where is the light coming from? How solid is an object? This is a good test to make sure the lighting is working as a whole.
3) Atmosphere; What do you want the picture to convey? Do you want it to be stark and dynamic, or soft and dreamlike? Having a set colour palette is a good way to strike a particular mood, and don’t worry if your character has a set colour scheme of their own; colour is contextual. No skin tone is the same in two different settings. Even putting the same colour against two different backgrounds makes it look like a completely different colour. Don’t restrict yourself to one scheme and remember that the environment will always affect the object- don’t let your character’s colour dictate the world around them!
Generic WIP blah
Had quite a few people asking me whether I draw clean from the off and whether I actually design the outfits I draw or just reference it all.
First off, I don’t think the finished line is even that clean! But no; I am a horribly messy, scribbly artist and everything looks like a pile of spaghetti while I’m working. Secondly, I loooove designing outfits, so of course I do the whole thing. I do use reference, always- it’s important in any piece of art and you learn how things work- but usually it’s only for structure ideas and getting information on how the materials react, the poses and patterns I do from scratch. The exceptions are specific outfits (like the Royal Guard uniform) but even then I usually cheat them to fit my style.
As an example here’s some scribbled notes for the DJ outfit for Mod’s dubstep post that prove how needlessly finicky I get with these things; you don’t even see Mod’s legs, but I planned out the shoes and trousers all the same, even how the belt and waistline sit. In animation you have to think about everything, even the stuff you don’t see, because you never know what the character is going to be doing and it all affects what’s on top of it anyway.
If you end up with a character turning in a way that shows their waistline, and you don’t know what it looks like, you have to go running about to ask someone to design it for you so it’s continuous for the next person who animates the same character. Same with socks, sleeves and cuffs, earrings… it’s endless. How a person dresses also says a lot about the character too, so it’s all there for a purpose.
Plus, it’s hella fun to do. :D
Should I livestream some colouring?
Idk, last time the computer sounded like it was going to rip a hole in the ceiling :/