HELP! (Please 😫)

[Jules]

So this a school project for AP Art. Here’s a little background on it:
My project is... an “Art of...” book based off my own short film.
My short film in one sentence: Man has fallen out of love with his art until it (his art) reminds him who he is and the progress he’s made.

The plot in a short paragraph: he draws lots of traditional art, sends his portfolio into a traditional Art academy, is rejected. He breaks down and has a flash back of when he was a little boy drawing creative things and feeling very happy. He comes back to himself and begins to draw furiously. After time has obviously passed he has created many inspiring illustrations and heads off to a publishing company with them. They accept his work!

Help: so I definitely don’t have everything figured out, but right now I am specifically working on my main character. There is the version of him before he changes, the one after he changes, and the one of him as a little boy. Characters are a very weak point for me in illustration. All of the sketches I have are super, SUPER rough and they don’t have the feeling I want so I am just looking for any tips: anything you like, hate, hate, love, what you want to see, what could be improved, etc. I have a list of the character traits for each “version” of my character.
Thank you!!!!

[Lovsey]

@Jules said in HELP! (Please ):

My project is... an “Art of...” book based off my own short film.
My short film in one sentence: Man has fallen out of love with his art until it (his art) reminds him who he is and the progress he’s made.

Sounds like a fun project Are you also making the animated short or is the entire focus creating art for the Art of book of the ‘would be’ film?

they don’t have the feeling I want so I am just looking for any tips: anything you like, hate, hate, love, what you want to see, what could be improved, etc. I have a list of the character traits for each “version” of my character.

Well my question is - what feeling do you want? You’ve created a character, now you have to fill him up with all the feelings so we can ‘read’ them in his features, expressions, gait, posture, costume. You might need to experiment with pushing and pulling of his features to create some very different versions so that you can form your idea of how you want him to appear because every design decision you make is going to lead us to think a certain way about him.

When I look at your character he reminds me of a cross between Roger from 101 Dalmations and Alfredo Linguini from Ratatouille (it’s the slim face and larger nose combo), which is a fitting association because they are both creative types. He seems sensitive, introverted, a thinker, hard-working/studious type.

Your expressions are reading well, keep going with them to add more variety (show the really extreme versions of the emotions you’re depicting). I would do some tracing of male character expression sheets (Pinterest) and then warp them to fit my own character’s features. Perhaps also make a 3D model (I like using plastacine over aluminium foil) to give you a better perspective of his head from all angles in space. Draw turnarounds.

My suggestion is to really flesh out the character as if he were a person who actually lived. Give him a backstory that goes deeper and wider than the single story you’re thinking of for your short because it will inform so much about why he had his creative meltdown and help the audience connect and care about him.
What is his personality type?
What are his relationships like?
What does he do to socialise (he looks like a wine connoisseur to me, like he would host small dinner parties and impress his friends with the skill of perfectly pairing wines to fine food to treat them )
What is his favourite.. [fill in the blank].
What clothes does he wear, why does he gravitate towards that style?
What are his pet peeves?
What is he absent-minded about?
How does he walk/move? I haven’t seen his body type yet but he seems like he would be tall and lanky with big hands and feet and a loping walk..but maybe I’m wrong. On that point, I don’t think the child version really looks like him, he needs a more oval face - can still have chubby cheeks and longer/skinnier legs (although this is all based on my assumption of his body type).

I recommend the Introduction to Gesture SVS classes as a springboard to practise showing emotion and expression and probably the Character Design one too (which I haven’t done yet but I presume it would help a lot!) And obviously, look at the character design in the Art of books.

I think you’ve made a really strong start and I can see you have a lot of potential! Keep drawing and looking at character design inspiration everywhere. Personally, I also have a lot of work to do on my own character design skills so my advise comes from what I have found useful in my own study.. and from my experience in character building for theatre Hopefully some of it helps you too!

.

[Jules]

@Lovsey I am going to make a storyboard of the whole thing (I think) and turn it into a really rough animatic. But I do mainly want to focus on the art. Im taking an animation class too, so I might use for my 2-D animation project but it might be a little too ambitious with my artistic vision for it

[Lovsey]

@Jules said in HELP! (Please ):

I might use for my 2-D animation project but it might be a little too ambitious with my artistic vision for it

And also very ambitious for the limited timeframe you will have as a student But it sounds like a smart plan to develop on two projects from one workload especially when your ‘Art of book’ project will come a lot more organically if you are actually thinking of and preparing a short film.

I attended LightBox Expo last week and John Nevarez had some very interesting presentations on storyboards which are still up on YouTube (for a limited time) if you wanted to check them out:

Story Moments and Story Beats: https://youtu.be/RrJF0D1mi-Y
Watch Me Mess Up: https://youtu.be/62ccKgNK13M

Stephen Silver’s character posing presentation could also be useful - https://youtu.be/V3YmL3EotHo

Edit: Also Normand Lemay’s Drawing from Imagination in Procreate - https://youtu.be/Us4ei14XNHY

[Jules]

@Lovsey Wow these look great!Thanks! I’ve been searching YouTube for storyboarding videos all week!

[Jules]

@Lovsey oh my goodness the rest of your text just popped up and I didn’t see until now I’m gonna go read it

[Jules]

@Lovsey Wow that was amazing!! You are very spot on so far about my character. I imagine him tall and lanky and maybe a little bit clumsy until he learns to let go of his fears. I want him to have big hands because I think hands are such an important part of an artist and I want that to be a big focus.
I have been thinking a lot about going crazy on the SVS classes for character. I could use a little more help to boost my confidence.
I love all of these questions you have asked about my character! I am definitely going to work on answering them; I think they will help me understand him a little better too.
I chose a big nose because I think big noses are endearing and he starts out so serious that he needs to have some sort of emotional appeal to the audience. I’m trying to make his first hair do look more businesslike and stiff too and then have it transition to kind of messy and curly.
As for my drawings of him as a child, I don’t really like those ones but they are all that I have. I made him super round because I wanted the whole cute, happy feel that more circular characters provide, but it doesn’t really fit with him as an adult... so I’m going to keep workshopping that.
Thank you so much for all you said! It’s given me a lot of really good things to think about, and a lot more of a direction to go in then the one I had before :). This is so awesome!!! Thanks
(Also sorry for so many replies! And scattered thoughts )

[Lovsey]

@Jules haha really? There must have been a glitch on the forum

I have been thinking a lot about going crazy on the SVS classes for character. I could use a little more help to boost my confidence.

Me too, I’ve been concerned it might distract me from my current projects but I think I might just alter the assignments so that they’re helping me with them by putting all the knowledge straight into practical use (then I’ll go back and do the proper curriculum later when I need a project!)

big noses are endearing and he starts out so serious that he needs to have some sort of emotional appeal to the audience. I’m trying to make his first hair do look more businesslike and stiff too and then have it transition to kind of messy and curly.

Good points! His costume and posture would change a lot in that transition too. That will be fun to play with!

I made him super round because I wanted the whole cute, happy feel that more circular characters provide, but it doesn’t really fit with him as an adult... so I’m going to keep workshopping that.

It’s exactly where I would have started too. I think bring in the roundness in his eyes and cheeks, happiness in the gesture, expression and gleam in his eye. His eyes/nose/mouth are recognisable between boy and man. It could still make sense if he had a little rounded belly as long as the legs and face are longer to match his adult self. How long they are will depend on the age you’re flashing back to.

Thank you so much for all you said! It’s given me a lot of really good things to think about, and a lot more of a direction to go in then the one I had before

Yay! I’m glad I was able to offer up had something useful for you. I’m interested to see how your project develops.

Also, if you search ‘LightBox 2020 Storyboarding‘ in YouTube you will find more useful sessions, I’m still watching the parts I missed!

[Jules]

@Lovsey said in HELP! (Please ):

Yay! I’m glad I was able to offer up had something useful for you. I’m interested to see how your project develops.

Thanks! I will certainly post more as it progresses, and as I have more things I need help on

[Lovsey]

@Jules haha good that’s what the forum is here for and it’s a pretty big project.. I say take all the help and encouragement you can get!