Fun stuff Malcom. The top 3 are especially good. You might want to play a bit more with the volumes of some of your forms, specifically with making sure your forms have a greater difference in the thick and thin areas. I notice that many of the body parts and stuff are, shall I say "Medium". The wrist isn't much thinner than the bulk of the forearm, which isn't much thicker than the elbow, which isn't much different than the the shoulder. The overall effect is an arm that's basically one long tube. If you're like me, you have to consciously fight your instincts on this; there's a fine line between the perfect ratio of thick to thin and silly looking, and as you experiment you'll probably cross the line several times. But eventually you'll find a good ratio to use. That variety of thick and thin really communicates to the viewer- the bony parts become clearly thinner, and the meaty parts much thicker, then there's no confusion about your looking at. It instantly communicates, this is bone, this is an knee or this is fleash, this is a stomach. It applies to everything, not just arms. In faces, if you make everything "medium" the eyes end up on that center line, and the negative space between everything is kind of evenly distributed. However if you push those eyes way up, or way down on the face, and then force everything else to redistribute as well, you'll start getting a lot of variety in your personalities.
You may have already been introduced to this concept, and in some ways you already know a lot about exaggeration, but it's helpful to get a reminder every once in a while. I tend to fall into habits where I'm not experimenting with this sort of thing and don't even notice it. I don't know how much of a fan of Glen Keane's stuff you are but I love how well his drawings of Ariel and Aladdin communicate. Ariel mostly because so much of her skin is shown and it's easy to see the things I've mentioned above. Plus the proportions of her face, while greatly exaggerated, communicate really well and don't end up feeling cartoony.
Fun stuff Malcom. The top 3 are especially good. You might want to play a bit more with the volumes of some of your forms, specifically with making sure your forms have a greater difference in the thick and thin areas. I notice that many of the body parts and stuff are, shall I say "Medium". The wrist isn't much thinner than the bulk of the forearm, which isn't much thicker than the elbow, which isn't much different than the the shoulder. The overall effect is an arm that's basically one long tube. If you're like me, you have to consciously fight your instincts on this; there's a fine line between the perfect ratio of thick to thin and silly looking, and as you experiment you'll probably cross the line several times. But eventually you'll find a good ratio to use. That variety of thick and thin really communicates to the viewer- the bony parts become clearly thinner, and the meaty parts much thicker, then there's no confusion about your looking at. It instantly communicates, this is bone, this is an knee or this is fleash, this is a stomach. It applies to everything, not just arms. In faces, if you make everything "medium" the eyes end up on that center line, and the negative space between everything is kind of evenly distributed. However if you push those eyes way up, or way down on the face, and then force everything else to redistribute as well, you'll start getting a lot of variety in your personalities.
ReplyDeleteYou may have already been introduced to this concept, and in some ways you already know a lot about exaggeration, but it's helpful to get a reminder every once in a while. I tend to fall into habits where I'm not experimenting with this sort of thing and don't even notice it. I don't know how much of a fan of Glen Keane's stuff you are but I love how well his drawings of Ariel and Aladdin communicate. Ariel mostly because so much of her skin is shown and it's easy to see the things I've mentioned above. Plus the proportions of her face, while greatly exaggerated, communicate really well and don't end up feeling cartoony.
Keep up the good work!