Animation Lesson 4—Two Legged Full Bodied Characters
May 17th, 2006Animation Lesson 4—Two Legged Full Bodied Characters has to be the most difficult lesson so far. I created what I thought was a pretty good rabbit, but upon comparison there were a lot of inconsistencies between mine and the original.
I redrew the whole thing and then made new comparisons. Not much better so it’s rinse and repeat, and again and again and again.
What I find hard about my correction method, (perhaps some of the other students or even John K (the instructor) have some advice for me) is that when I start to look for inconsistencies, I begin to draw without using “construction” (ie. turning basic shapes into more detailed shapes) but in more of a straight ahead method (ie. Just moving lines to look more like the finished product). Am I tackling the problem correctly, or should I also go back to construction method again when making corrections?
Anyway through trial and error I’ve got something that almost matches up but of course it certainly won’t win any awards:
I don’t even want to show you the duck, but at least I can say this was only the first attempt:
And here is the latest version of the duck:
May 18th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
I always go back to the construction method — to not much avail. My theory is that some folks just have a better eye for construction and are able to correct their mistakes that way. All you can do I guess is keep copying!
June 10th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
I wish I had some good advice about correction methods. The most effective method for me in getting the end result close, is to make my drawing the same size as the original copy. Then, at each stage, I check proportions against the original. So that means the initial construction stage is very close before I begin to add details. It is a very tedious and time consuming process and I’m not even sure it’s an approved method… but it’s what I’m doing. *shrug*
I think you’re making wonderful progress!
January 17th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
if you’re trying to make a perfect replica of what preston blair has drawn, the only way is to put a sheet of animation paper overtop of his drawing and use flipping to maintain the volumes. I don’t understand why you want a perfect replica of preston blair’s drawings… i’m in an animation course, and they teach us to draw it as close as you can get it, then use methods you’ve learned to push the pose further. and you really need to loosen up, draw from the shoulder and fill an entire 11X14 page with circles as a warm up before you start drawing. you also don’t draw through. bugs’ sweater is wrong on your drawing because it doesn’t wrap around his body. draw an elipse for every stripe or cuff on the sweater but draw it on the construction shape! then it will wrap around correctly. I would really recommend taking a “pre-animation” course, there are a lot of schools that offer it. it’s just one year and even if you don’t apply to animation afterwards you will learn so much simply because you can go to an actual animator and he’ll tell you one on one what you need to do to improve.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:38 am
don’t listen to that comment at all.
May 31st, 2008 at 5:38 am
this is very bad OK