Foundations of Drawing Cartoon Characters for Animation 5h 22m Updated
8/31/2015 Released
8/31/2015 Learn to draw cartoon characters for classical cel animation, digital animation, comic books, or just for fun. n this course, !ermot "# $onnor re%iews the basics of character drawing and the &rinci&als that underlie effecti%e characters' silhouette, e(aggeration, s)uash and stretch, as*mmetr*, te(ture, line weight, and more. +hen he focuses on drawing indi%idual bod* &artse*es, mouths, hands, and hair as well as different t*&es of animals, creatures, and objects. -inall*, watch !ermot take a drawing from start to finish, creating a memorable character read* for handoff to animators. -ollow along with *our fa%orite illustration &rogram, *our acom tablet, or &a&er and &en. +o&ics include' •
!rawing gesture and attitude drawings
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$reating thumbnail drawings
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nderstanding line of action, negati%e s&ace, e(aggeration, and more
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!rawing e*es and mouths
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!rawing feet and hands
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!rawing animals
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oing from rough sketch to fullcolor drawing
elcome 5s i, #m !ermot "#$onnor, and welcome to -oundations of !rawing $artoon $haracters for 4nimation. +his course is an o%er%iew of the basic &rinci&les that *ou need to start drawing cartoon characters. ou don#t need to know an* com&uter &rograms to follow this course, *ou can follow along with &a&er and &encil. 4lternati%el*, if *ou ha%e a $inti), or a acom or a tablet, *ou can draw on those. -irst, we#re going to go o%er the basic rules of thumb, the sim&le &rinci&les and guidelines that underla* all good cartoon characters. +hen, we#re going to talk about the best wa* to draw bod* &arts like the e*es, the mouth, hair, hands, e%en clothing, and natural effects like water, fire and smoke. -inall*, we#ll take a look at how to bring all these &rinci&les and techni)ues together to create a finished, memorable character that we can draw. 6ow let#s get started with the -oundations of !rawing $artoon $haracters for 4nimation.
elcome 5s i, #m !ermot "#$onnor, and welcome to -oundations of !rawing $artoon $haracters for 4nimation. +his course is an o%er%iew of the basic &rinci&les that *ou need to start drawing cartoon characters. ou don#t need to know an* com&uter &rograms to follow this course, *ou can follow along with &a&er and &encil. 4lternati%el*, if *ou ha%e a $inti), or a acom or a tablet, *ou can draw on those. -irst, we#re going to go o%er the basic rules of thumb, the sim&le &rinci&les and guidelines that underla* all good cartoon characters. +hen, we#re going to talk about the best wa* to draw bod* &arts like the e*es, the mouth, hair, hands, e%en clothing, and natural effects like water, fire and smoke. -inall*, we#ll take a look at how to bring all these &rinci&les and techni)ues together to create a finished, memorable character that we can draw. 6ow let#s get started with the -oundations of !rawing $artoon $haracters for 4nimation.
Understanding the exercise handout: Print it out! 7o that *ou know how made this course, drew it on &a&er and &encil. took m* sketch book u& to m* fa%orite coffeesho& and &lanted m*self down on m* fa%orite seat for two, three hours e%er* da* and just drew. 4 nice cu& of coffee, rela(ed, drew. 4nd recommend when *ou draw, when *ou follow this course, *ou#d ma*be tr* something similar. et some &a&er and &encil, e%en if *ou do follow along with the com&uter. 7o let me walk *ou through some of these &ages. 7o these are from the handout and reall* recommend that the first thing that *ou do, if *ou want to do this course, is to &rint these out. +he* are basicall* a book and the*#ll be *our own &ersonal co&* of this course. +he beaut* of ha%ing them in this format is that *ou can see at a glance the content of the course and how im&ortant the reference illustrations are. 7o we will go through this material in the course but ha%ing it all right in front of *ou on &a&er is %ital. 7o, #m just gonna show *ou some more of these slides so that *ou ha%e an idea for the amount of material that just dum&ed out of m* head on to the &a&er, and then #%e took it all into hotosho&, beautified it, cleaned it u&, darkened the lines, so this is reall* going to look gorgeous. 4nd if *ou do &rint it out, tr* to &rint it out nice and big too. 7o, #%e tried to s)uee9e out e%er*thing could remember o%er the last 25 to 28 *ears of m* time in animation, that#s been )uite a time, so &rinci&les of design, how to draw animals, how to draw &rett* much e%er* bod* or &roduct could think of, strange creatures, and then, e%en taking the final ste& of the course to co%ering how to clean u& these characters, how to a&&l* color to them, and how to create model sheets that are fit for a &roduction course or a &roduction en%ironment. 7o that#s the course that *ou ha%e in front of *ou. +hese &re%iew &ages #%e shown *ou are just a few, the sheer %olume of work, think *ou ha%e an idea, if we see this folder. 7o this is how man* &ages there are in the course, it#s a book. +his is free to all members so &rint it out, ha%e fun with it, and let#s get started.
1. Basics Overview - !m Body types, proportions, and construction Let#s get started b* taking a look at the basic character t*&es that *ou#ll encounter a lot in animation, and these are general t*&es that occur o%er and o%er again. 7o, for e(am&le, the little gu* on the left holding his hand u&, *ou#ll recogni9e that basic bod* t*&e as :icke* :ouse, or !onald !uck, ;ugs ;unn*, !aff* !uck,
is *our first introduction to it, but it becomes im&ortant %er* )uickl*. ere *ou can see how we construct our characters out of a librar* of these basic three dimensional sha&es. 4 c*linder, a bean sha&e, a s&here, and a cube. 4nd on the to& right *ou can see how we#%e taken the cube or the bo( and s)uished it and then twisted it around, to gi%e *ou a feel that these are )uite dimensional and e(tremel* fle(ible objects *ou can &la* with. 4nd on the bottom half of the &age are our first introduction to how *ou begin to assemble a character out of this basic librar* of forms. 4nd finall* before we go to the ne(t ste&, just a reminder that these characters ha%e an anatom*, a basic relationshi& between each bod* &art to each other bod* &art. 7o, like to use the head as a loose wa* of establishing the height and the &ro&ortions of the character. 7o, the cha& on the left is four and a half heads tall, and *ou can see his bod* is two heads tall, his legs are one and a half heads tall. +he one on the right is four heads tall. 4nd don#t recommend *ou go measuring *our characters with rulers. #%e had clients who do that. t#s not a good a&&roach because these cha&s are going to s)uash and stretch and be seen in different dimensions. ;ut this is a loose guideline for *ou to make sure that *ou don#t get com&letel* off model. 7o, now what want to do is show *ou how would just draw one of these more or less from scratch so let#s begin. :* &rocess would be to ha%e an idea about the to& of the bod* and where #m going to begin and end. 7o, let#s sa* he#s going to be standing roughl* around here. +o& of the bod* around there. 4nd #m going to ha%e him standing in more or less a little cur%ed &ose. 7o, let#s sa* we#re going to gi%e him fi%e heads tall, so roughl* that#s one, two, three, four, a&&ro(imatel*. 4gain, #m not getting out a ruler. 4nd #m going to just e*eball in the ball area for the head. 4nd #m going to kee& this gu* fairl* sim&le, so let#s just &ick the e%er*man t*&e character, the sim&lest, think, of the ones to begin with. 4nd #m gi%ing him a ball for his head, a bean sha&e for his torso, and let#s ha%e the foot as a continuous c*lindrical sha&e to the ground, and let#s see if we can just &ut another bean sha&e for the foot here. 4nd similar &rocess on this one. #m going to tilt it off just to one side just to gi%e a little bit of an angle or a twist. 4nd let#s see if we can ha%e a hand on a hi& or something interesting. 6ow, let#s imagine this arm as a c*linder. 4nd *ou can imagine the*#re bolted on to the bod* around there. 4nd another c*linder here. 4nd #m going to &ut a little bend on it. t doesn#t ha%e to be a &erfect tube or an*thing. 4nd #m not going to worr* about. an* great details on the hand. t#s far too earl* to worr* about that. 7o, let#s just &ut another bean sha&e there. 4nd #m going to ha%e him do a little tada. 7o, at this &oint for a long, straight held out hand, think one long tube might suffice. 4nd then another little mitten for the hand. e#ll deal with hands in far more detail later on, but something like that is fine. 4nd the neck will be another little c*lindrical sha&e in there. 7o, that gi%es *ou an idea as to the first ste& of setting down the character. 4nd now to do things like get inner details like the e*e line, same &rocess, we want to align on the s&here for the e*e line. 4nd if he#s going to be looking u& in this direction, for e(am&le, then we#ll draw the central line here. 4nd don#t forget these wra& around these forms, so *ou can imagine them going all the wa* through. magine that the head is made of glass and
*ou can see all the wa* through it. -or man* *ears would actuall* draw a little bit through to the other side just to remind m*self in case forgot that this was su&&osedl* a three dimensional object. 4nd same thing for the torso, we can begin to &ut, like, the middle line here. f *ou want to designate a line for the waist, this would be a good time to do it. 4nd for a more muscular character, let#s sa* *ou want to do a more s)uare sha&ed character, the &rocess is much the same. would use a bo( rather than a bean. ou can still ha%e a c*lindrical sha&e designating the neck. +here#s no reason wh* the head has to be drawn as a ball. ou could use a more bo(* sha&e for that. 4nd can still go back to c*linder for the u&&er arm if want that. 7&here here that might suggest the shoulder socket. 4nd just kee& a&&l*ing these sha&es as need. 7o, this might seem a little formulaic. 4nd know when began doing drawing in this st*le, this is the classic animation techni)ue, thought ma*be this is a little limited. 4ctuall*, it#s %er* liberating because it gi%es *ou a basis and a structure that *ou can then use to figure out if this drawing is going to work for *ou or not. 4nd certainl* at this stage it looks %er* crude, %er* &rimiti%e almost. +he so&histication will come later on when *ou learn how to a&&l* &ro&er lines o%er these basic sha&es to create nice looking designs. 7o, let#s take a look at a more finished %ersion of one these drawings to see what it looks like. 7o, s&ent a little more time, not a lot more time, just enough to gi%e *ou an idea about what *ou can reall* do with this techni)ue. 4nd as *ou can see, scul&ted the arms a little bit just to show that it doesn#t ha%e to be )uite so brutall* geometrical, but as *ou can see from the red chest area, the blue midsection, and the green waist area, there#s fundamentall* %er*, %er* sim&le sha&es beneath this a&&arentl* com&licated design. 4nd that#s how we use these tools, this sim&le librar* of basic sha&es, sim&le sha&es, to create drawings and designs that look like the*#re not sim&le, that con%ince the %iewer that the*#re looking at something %er*, %er* com&le(.
Gesture and attitude drawings esture drawings are sketches that are done %er* )uickl* with the &rimar* aim of con%e*ing the emotional or the intellectual acti%it* of the character> are the* ha&&*, sad angr*. 4nd then below that with the action what are the* doing? 7o here we ha%e an e(am&le of some gesture drawings. 4nd as *ou can see the*#re %er* scratch*, done %er* )uickl*. didn#t dwell on an* of the inner details. ou#re not going to see an* hair on these characters or an*thing that isn#t *our mean to getting inside their head. 4nd some of them, more successful than others. mean *ou can sa* this one#s ok, it con%e*s anger. ;ut this one much better, look at this gu* down here. +hat#s a reall* strong &ose, it like we took this one here and just went wa* further with it. 7o the whole &oint of doing these )uick gesture drawings is that *ou get this big librar* of &oses that *ou can then draw on. 7o if gi%e *ou a scene to animate, that in%ol%es the character frustrated or o%erjo*ed with ha&&iness. ou can sketch out a whole bunch of ideas, before *ou begin to animate an*thing. 4nd *ou can do them )uickl*. 7o let#s see how. 7o to begin with like to use this character to do just generic &oses, as we#re doing here. take the dough bo* and we#re going to draw him in this le%el of roughness. 7o as *ou can see it#s so rough and sketch* and )uick *ou reall* don#t ha%e time to get to &recious or worried about oh is this e(actl* the right si9e. ou shouldn#t reall* be concerned with that le%el of accurac* at this &oint. +he whole &oint about this &art of the e(ercise is to be fast and loose and free. 4nd this illustrates m* general a&&roach not alwa*s but a lot of the time to do a gesture drawing. like to start with a line of action that describes the cur%e of the bod* from the to& of the head to the feet. 4nd then #ll block in the bod* or the head, de&ending on which think is the most im&ortant. 4nd then will finall* add in secondar* legs not su&&orting the weight but just to balance it. 4nd then the arms, in this case the arms are secondar* cause the*#re not actuall* no weightbearing, so their &osition is de&endent on the rest of the bod*. ;ut as *ou can see this arm here is more significant than this one, which is just hiding in the background. 7o let#s take a )uick look at some of these gesture drawings. 7o as *ou can see close u& the* each make &rett* good transitions from one into the other. 4nd the* do con%e* a lot of what#s going on. 6ot so much this one, don#t know what this gu* is thinking. ha%en#t succeeded in this &ose in getting inside his head. ;ut at least we can see that he#s walking in a slightl* laid back manner. 4s *ou sa* earlier, that#s a %er* strong &ose of rage. ere#s another one. ere#s one that#s clearl* thinking and &u99led. 7o with that let me show *ou how would go about doing a gesture drawing. 4nd #ll show *ou how )uickl* the* can be done. 7o for this gesture drawing what want is a big theatrical tada &ose. 7o let#s set our range of motion, so the to& of the head there the feet be roughl* about there. 4nd he#ll be ob%iousl* arched back a little bit. 7o heads going to be about one )uarter of the total bod* height. !on#t ha%e to measure this with a rule or an*thing. @ust kee& it nice and loose. +he legs will be about there. ou ha%e the general idea about the &osition of all this, so that will be
good enough. 4nd that will be the main energ* of this action will be going u& this line here. 4nd let#s do the background leg. 4s *ou can see #m drawing fast and fluid #m barel* taking the &en off the &age. 7o let#s make sure that we continue this line so we ha%e a nice d*namic &ose. 4nd what *ou#re not seeing me doing is *ou#re not seeing me doing lots of little scratch* lines. #m working fast and )uick. 4nd let#s &ush that arm back in the de&th into the background so we get a bit of dimension to it. 4nd &ut in a e*e line if *ou want. :a*be a little hint of a neck. 4nd think we#re &rett* good. 7o that#s about it. 7o that#s the le%el of s&eed that *ou should be as&iring to reach when *ou do *our gesture drawings. 6ow if *ou want to take a gesture drawing and reall* tie it down and show the full attitude of the character. Let#s see some e(am&les of that. 7o what ha%e done here is #%e taken some &re%iousl* done gesture drawings and #%e just made a beaut* &ass o%er them to tie them down. e call these attitude drawings or attitude &oses. 4nd these are drawings where *ou get a good sense for the emotion of the character and like said before their thinking &rocess. 7o just to gi%e *ou a feel of this slightl* more detailed %ersion of a gesture drawing. 4s *ou can see as we look at each of these get some %er* nice sense of the characters interior life. 4nd this is the whole &oint of this craft, it#s to trick the %iewer into thinking that the*#re looking are something that#s actuall* ali%e and that#s not just lines on the screen. 4nd as *ou can see this cha& has fallen madl* in lo%e. 7o that#s the &rocess of a gesture drawing all the wa* through to the finished attitude &ose.
Thumbnails 6ow it#s time to look at thumbnails. +humbnailing is the art of &lanning out *our scene on a sheet of &a&er, so *ou can see all the different ke* &oses at one time. f *ou#re working in a different st*le of animation, like 3!, $, -lash, or an* other st*le *ou reall* can#t get awa* from this. 6ot thumbnailing is think unthinkable and #m going to show *ou wh*. 7o let#s sa* want to animate a scene where the character stands on the ground and does something sim&le, the* scrunch down and jum& u& into the air with a big wahoo gesture. e can just start drawing it, animating it, but the &roblem is where do *ou e%en begin? 7o like to begin with thumbnails. 4nd the first thing we#ll do is just on a sheet of &a&er, note&ad, doesn#t matter what, draw *our ground &lane. 4nd then #m going to %er* )uickl* just sketch in our starting &osition. 4nd let#s sa* he#s looking u& in this direction. ou will notice am not being &recious about these drawings, these drawings are reall* just here as rough guides for the &oses and the timing. +he bare skeleton of the scene. +his is going to be our first frame, call it one. 6ow at the ne(t frame, well, we can also actuall* start with the end frame, which will be somewhere o%er here. 4nd know #m going to ha%e about si( or se%en &oses, so don#t mind doing this right now. can also go straight ahead if want, but let#s just do it this wa*. f *ou#re unsure how man* ke*s *ou#re going to ha%e then *ou might not want to tie down an end &ose o%er here. 7o let#s sa* he#s going to end u& in this &osition and he#s going to end u& looking o%er here. 7o the ne(t &ose will be an antici&ation, he#s going to go from this &ose into an antic. 7o he#s down like this. "ka*, that#s the second one. 6ow think from here to here ma*be half a second, and if we#re on 2A frames a second or 30 it will be something like frame number 13. #m going to write that and circle it to show it to ke*. 6e(t frame was the &ush off, so this is this leg here that #m drawing. 4nd let#s sa* this will be a fast jum&, so let#s make that frame 1B. f *ou want *ou can e%en add in little time charts. 7o if *ou think the halfwa* &oint on this will ha&&en on frame se%en let#s sa* *ou could do that. f *ou want to slow out it#s a nice wa* sa*ing, oka*, want to ease out or slow out of that frame and ma*be ease into this one. +hat#ll be number nine and 11. 4nd if *ou#re on one, *ou know *ou can two, three, four, fi%e, si(. t#s a traditional animation techni)ue to animate on odd numbers, that#s wh* *ou#ll see me doing it here. f *ou were animating on &a&er traditionall* then that#s a good habit to ha%e. 7o that#s essentiall* how *ou do it. ou can add notes in for things like arches, this will be the antici&ation, so #ll call that the antic. 4nd he#ll be ma*be jum&ing u& this wa*, that#s our &ush drawing. 4nd ma*be *ou want to hold that for longer, if *ou wanted to hold that frame *ou might sa* hold that for si( frames and change *our numbers down here. +hat is the &rocess of making a thumbnail. "b%iousl* it will take me too long to do the remaining &oses, so here#s one #%e done earlier. ere *ou see m* com&leted thumbnail and #%e gone in a little tighter on this, but not so that s&ent an* huge amount of time on it. mean, ma* ha%e s&ent two minutes ma*be tightening down each of these drawings, just so could see a little more
detail on them. ;ut m* first &ass through this was %er* fast. 4nd like said, what *ou saw me doing in the &re%ious section was about as fast as will do these thumbnails. 4nd if don#t like a series of thumbnails, well, that was onl* fi%e minutes, si( minutes, ma*be 10 at most, #ll just tr* another one. 4nd the beaut* of it is when *ou get it working like this it#s reall* gone a long wa* towards animating the scene for *ou. $om&licated actions are fantastic in this st*le for the sim&le reason that *ou can see them all right in front of *ou. 4nd if *ou get lost inside a scene *ou can look at it from here, it#s like looking down from outer s&ace, and *ou can see the whole thing in front of *ou in one sheet of &a&er. 7o let#s look at a more com&le( action. 4nd in this case *ou can see that we ha%e a character going from the standing &osition, which *ou can see here. +his ghosted image here is the antici&ation, which #%e drawn directl* o%er him, so it might look a little confusing, but essentiall* just didn#t want to draw another &ose floating o%er here. 4nd then he goes down into this antici&ation scene, again, leading with the elbow. 4nd then we work him into these series of contact &ositions. 4nd these are the walk c*cle &ositions. 6ow this course doesn#t co%er animation as such, but still want *ou to see how *ou will a&&l* these drawing methods into the animation &i&eline. 4nd here *ou can see we ha%e his leading right foot, which is on the ne(t frame trailing, and now the left foot is leading, and so forth, until we get into the end &osition where he comes into a full sto& and he#s read* to o&en the door, or whate%er it is he#s about to do o%er here. ou might find that this is a little bit confusing to look at. -ortunatel* there#s a great techni)ue that use, which is to color code the left and the right leg, es&eciall* on thumbnail sketches like this, so that *ou don#t accidentall* turn, animate, or draw, or thumbnail *our right leg into *our left leg, *ou can waste a lot of time doing that. 7o let me show *ou what that looks like. 7o here #%e taken the libert* of making the right leg blue and the left leg red. 4nd as *ou can see it makes the action a little easier to follow. 7o just focus for e(am&le on the blue, or the right leg, and then let *our e*e mo%e from &ose to &ose. 4nd as *ou follow the screen think *ou#ll be able to see, oh m* god, that blue leg almost begins to mo%e. 4nd the same thing with the red one. ou can see that leading leg here, if *ou follow through *our brain suddenl* can &rocess it. Let me go back to the &roceeding image. hat #%e done here is to take this section of the thumbnail and #%e e(&anded it and gone in in much greater detail, because reall* wanted to look at it and to tighten it down a little bit further. 4nd sometimes *ou might find, and again, let me go back in the &re%ious one, that this is getting too bus* here. Look at this &osition on this leg here. +here#s reall* no room to &ut an* more drawings, because the*#re just too tight on to& of one another. 4nd so what we#%e done is broken them out. 4nd here is that &ose. 4nd #%e added one, two, three between it. 7o enables *ou to control this little down mo%ement and also these hori9ontal lines, that#s because do a lot of m* thumbnailing on lined note&a&er. t is fantastic to draw *our thumbnails on lined note&a&er because *ou can reall* control *our %olumes, *ou can see that the head is two line widths tall and it#s not 100C, but it gets me &rett* close. f *ou tra%el from skull to skull this one#s getting a little smaller, but no big deal. 4nd m* bod* as well.
ou can see it enables me to sto& the %olumes from becoming com&letel* inconsistent from one to the another. 7o that#s how do thumbnails and it#s m* &ersonal method. !ifferent &eo&le ha%e different st*les, so don#t feel like this doesn#t work for *ou, *ou can#t in%ent *our own. +he im&ortant thing is that *ou do thumbnails and *ou#ll find that it takes a lot of the effort out of the back end of the animation &rocess and &uts it at the front end of &rocess where it#s a lot more fun.
omposition and camera angles +his course deals s&ecificall* with drawing animated characters and it isn#t reall* so much about doing animation or com&le( field, like stor*boarding. ;ut don#t want to send *ou off into the world of drawing this stuff without at least gi%ing *ou at least inkling about some of the issues that *ou#ll encounter that might in%alidate some of the work that *ou#re s&ending so much time on. 7o, at the to& #%e made two sim&le se)uences of stor*boards of the same scene and on the to& row it works. e ha%e our three characters. +he gu* on the left is sa*ing something and then we ha%e a sim&le reaction shot. t#s &rett* dull an*wa* but at least *ou can see what#s going on. +he &roblem is that this is what would call 9ero&ose staging where *ou ha%e a default &ose and this often ha&&ens in +D &roduction now with $ or -lash where the rig is &ut onto the stage and we just animate from this basic, %er* dull &ose. 4nd the &roblem with that is, well, it#s faster but it#s not better. 4nd, if *ou look at the bottom row, what we#%e done immediatel* is we#%e restaged it slightl*. 6othing major in that first &anel but we#%e mo%ed each character into more of an attitude &ose where we#re seeing some kind of emotional content. 7econdl*, we#%e o&ened the s&acing between the three characters so that now we ha%e the gu* on the right leaning on the big fellow and we ha%e also a diagonal com&osition. 7o *ou can imagine a triangle going from here, to there, to that a&e( and down to this side. 7o this is alread* if *ou com&are the to& and the bottom images, it#s a much more interesting angle and, of course, we could e%en &ush it further if we wanted to. ;ut this is just to show *ou what a small change can make. 6ow, if *ou look at the second image on the bottom row, now we#%e created something that#s far more interesting. 4nd again, we ha%e a %er* similar triangular com&osition from these characters but we#re also seeing the back of this gu* which focuses our attention on the reaction of the &eo&le that are hearing him and not liking what the*#re hearing. 4nd then the final &ose we ha%e, again, rather than a 9ero&ose as we ha%e in the original column and the original row, we ha%e a snigger. hich is much more difficult to do but it#s also much more interesting to look at. 7o what we ha%e here is a case of the &rinci&le of faster, better, chea&er. 4nd as most engineers will tell *ou, *ou ha%e to &ick two because it#s %er*, %er* unusual that *ou get to &ick all three of those o&tions. 7o it can be faster and better but not chea&er and so forth. 7o when *ou start doing *our drawings alwa*s take a moment to sto& and think, am drawing the scene from the correct %iew&oint? "r ma*be the camera angle is com&letel* wrong. 4nd if the camera angle is wrong, it doesn#t matter how beautiful *our drawing is. 4ll that work is wasted.
. Understanding Drawing for Animation 1hr 1"m ine o" action#re$ersals n this cha&ter, #m going to show *ou heuristics. +hat#s a %er* fanc* word for a sim&le idea, rules of thumb, lots and lots of little, %er* sim&le ideas that all ha%e to work together so that the drawing looks good and it isn#t let down in some wa*. 4nd the first of these rules of thumb is at the line of action. 4nd here #%e sketched the line of action in red. ou can see it on the left, and basicall* it#s an imaginar* line from the to& of the head to the base of the feet. 4nd it shows the o%erall &ose and attitude and the ma(imum fle( of the character. 4nd a strong line of action can reall* hel& *ou make a strong &ose. 4nd a weak line of action ma* often lead to a weak &ose. 6ot alwa*s, but it#s one of these things that *ou ha%e to watch out for. 7o let#s take a look at the ne(t one. 7o this line of action, as *ou can see, isn#t as dramatic as the &re%ious one. t#s much more %ertical, much more subdued. ;ut we#%e still got a good, strong &ose around it. 4nd it#s the loadbearing that goes right down to the base of that foot. f *ou look at the foot, this one here, *ou#ll see that *ou can feel the mass of the bod* &lanted right on to& of it. 4nd we do get a nice secondar* line reall* going u& this other foot here. 4nd this isn#t bearing an* weight, but *ou do certainl* feel a motion u& through that arc. 4nd so let me show *ou some alternati%es that we can do with this. sing the same line of action, we could ha%e the foot in this &osition. e could ha%e the foot in this &osition. 7o this isn#t a robotic tool that sa*s must &ut the foot here because the line of action commands me to. e could e%en %ar* the &lanted foot. e could bend that leg a little bit it we wanted. +here#s all kinds of things we can do. +his is just one of those guides that it#s a %er* good idea to ha%e so that *our &ose has d*namism to it. 7o let#s mo%e forward. 4nd here#s a reall* dramatic e(am&le, an 7 cur%e. like to use 7 or $ sha&ed lines and not go too much be*ond that because that can get a little fiddl*. 4 good d*namic &ose should be like a blanket fla&&ing. t#ll go from a $ sha&e to an 7 sha&e and re%erse back again. 4nd what *ou see here, this &rocession, oftentimes will draw the line of action first and then build the entire character#s bod* around it. 4nd here we ha%e an e(am&le of this &rocess in animation. 4nd what we can see here in the to& right are these two contrasting cur%es going from one $ sha&e to the o&&osite, and this is called a re%ersal. 4nd when *ou re%erse the line of action, *ou get a %er* strong transition from one &ose into another. Let#s see what this looks like. 7o that#s our first &ose and our second &ose. 7o as *ou can see, going from one to the other, *ou feel that fle(ibilit* of the s&ine. Let#s look at another e(am&le, and this will be a classic e(am&le where we ha%e an 7 cur%e. +he bo(er is all crouched u&, and then on the second &ose he gets hit. 4nd again, notice the re%ersal
from the 7 to the o&&osite $ sha&e. 4nd here#s what he looks like in one, the other. 4nd if *ou were to animate that and not ha%e an* drawings between these two, that would be an e(tremel* &owerful im&act. ou would reall* feel that. 7o now let#s do a drawing of our own built around a line of action. 7o imagine a character who has had the worst da* of his life. e has had a terrible time. 7o what want to do is let#s establish where he#s going to stand first, so the ground &lane will be somewhere around here. 4nd we want to draw him reasonabl* big, so ma*be the head will be somewhere u& in this area. 4nd don#t want him to be tilting off too far in this direction, so the line of action should be something like this. 7o let#s dro& in the head. Let#s establish the o%erall bod* si9e. 4nd the line of action, *ou can imagine it if *ou want continuing down here. 4nd if he has hair, the hair could droo&. f he has clothing, the clothing will droo&. e reall* want to &antomime the emotional state of the character. 7o if he has e%en something like a hat with a feather in it, would e%en droo& the feather, for e(am&le, just to reall* la* it on. 7o let#s draw in the bod*. +he bod* will be just the, #ll do a sim&le one here, just a little &eanut sha&e or a little bean. 4nd then #ll do the leg. oing to make our brush just a little bit bigger so see it better. 4nd this is fairl* fast. #m not being too &recious about this. =%en though the line of action#s going here, we don#t ha%e to build e%er*thing around it. e can ha%e hands that are on a slightl* different cur%e, but the*#re still droo&*. +he*#re still telling us sad, bad da*. 4nd we might imagine he#s walking or in some other &osition. ;ut the main line that m* brain is following is cur%ing roughl* around here. +he other thing want to focus on when #m drawing this is just getting into a flow, so #m starting to loosen u& now, *ou can see. 4nd might e%en just rub out that back hand for a second. think it#s feeling a little clutter* or weird. 7o let#s just ma*be ha%e it on the far side of the bod*. 4nd if he has a nose, oh dear, oh, sad. 7o that#s the &rocess that would use to build u& a &ose like this. 4nd let me just dro& in that line of action in red so *ou can reall* see it. 7o that#s how *ou would use this line of action to gi%e *ou a skeleton or a structure, a form that *ou can build *our character around.
%ilhouette and negati$e space t#s %er* im&ortant to think about *our character#s silhouette. hat does the character look like if *ou don#t see or &ercei%e an* internal detail? s it &ossible to understand in general what the character is doing and thinking &urel* based on their outline? 4nd the stronger *our silhouette, the better. 7o this has got a good, strong line of action but it also has a %er* strong silhouette. 7o again here, eas* to see. f *ou just look at the gu* on the right, *ou can see that#s a droo&*, sad walk and cha& on the left, ob%iousl* the same thing. ;ut e%en if all we saw was the black area, *ou ha%e no &roblem knowing e(actl* what#s going on and e(actl* how he feels. +he classic baseball &ose. 4nd again, e%en this broad action is com&letel* readable, and that#s largel* achie%ed because we ha%e a good, strong s&ace here that#s left o&en. 4nd if the arm was cluttered and we fore shortened that bat a bit, it might be %er* difficult to read that action. 7o that kee&s it nice and clean. e also ha%e an o&en s&ace here between the legs. 6ow this is an e(am&le of a kind of &ose that can be %er* difficult 4nd freel* admit this silhouette on the right here is %er* hard to read. ou can sense in general that he#s not a ha&&* &erson, but the cra%en kind of &osition on the left, it#s definitel* readable, but what this area is, couldn#t tell *ou from looking at the black. t#s a bit of a &u99le. 7o if a &erson is clenching their arms close into their bod* like this, *ou ma* not be able to get a strong readable silhouette for some of these. ;ut it still behoo%es *ou to tr* to get the strongest one that *ou can regardless. 6ow another issue to watch out for is negati%e s&ace, and the negati%e s&ace is the area that isn#t the bod*, the area that#s around the bod*. 4nd here#s a good e(am&le. e ha%e the 4 describes the o&en area and the sha&es. @ust look at the white s&ace that#s around here. 4nd is this an interesting s&ace? s the area around the bod*, the s&ace that isn#t drawn, is it interesting? 4nd it#s created of course b* the bod*, and that#s wh* we call it a negati%e s&ace. t#s what it isn#t. our negati%e s&ace also has to be strong. 4nd we ha%e the ; area here, or the enclosed s&aces that occur when *ou ha%e hands on waist or ma*be the leg crosses the other leg. 4nd *ou ha%e o&en s&ace as described b* the letter $, and *ou want to watch these to make sure that the*#re not boring. 6ow these are designs almost in their own right. 4nd here we ha%e an e(am&le of what consider to be something to watch out for. t#s when *our negati%e s&ace, and that#s this white area here, becomes so tin* that it becomes e*e catching. 4nd if *ou mo%e further awa* from the screen, *ou#ll reall* see what mean b* that. +he danger will be that that becomes so small, it becomes just one or two or three &i(els. 4nd at that &oint, find it anno*ing. 7o the solution to that, there are two. +he first solution is just nudge the offending limb in just a little bit so that that s&ace just disa&&ears com&letel*. "r &ull it out so that the s&ace becomes decent. 7o this is an interesting s&ace, this little triangle. t#s nice to look at. +his isn#t, so if *ou look at these in motion, there#s the anno*ing one, here#s the nudged in, and here#s the nudged out. 4nd go back again. 7o that#s the one would like to fi(. 4nd that#s
solution one, or if *ou &refer, solution two. 7o *ou ha%e two wa*s to go with it. 4s long as *ou make a strong statement, not a weak one. 4nd another techni)ue that we use when closing off these areas, and this reall* goes back to the good old da*s of handdrawn animation, when we would be &ainting these on sheets of cel. 7ome of these negati%e s&aces will become troublesome, so *ou make a little E to designate the fact that these areas are o&en s&ace. !o not &aint that with a color, in other words. +his is meant to be trans&arent. 7o if *ou#re working on a drawing or a character that#s going to be cleaned u& or &ainted on the com&uter, this is still a %er* useful trick to use. 4nd flagged, these Es can then be &ainted out when the rest of the image has been colored. 4nd here we ha%e an e(am&le of a final work where *ou see all of the &receding &rinci&les being a&&lied. 4nd as *ou can see, &urel* b* looking at the cha& on the right, he is running in absolute terror, frightened for his life. 4nd without a single interior detail, *ou know e(actl* what#s ha&&ening. 7o let#s do one of these and see what#s the &rocess. 7o first thing, let#s &ut the ground &lane in. 4nd want to ha%e a character who#s kneeling down on his front leg and scratching his head. 7o it sounds like a bit of a &u99le, so let#s break it down so it#s not so much of a difficult*. 7o want to ha%e the leading foot &lanted about here. 4nd we know he#s going to be kneeling forward, so we can use this. +his is the &rimar* &oint that reall* can#t do much about. e know he#s kneeling, so that#s going to be to there. 6ow the line of action will be something like this. Let#s work with single strokes for now. 4nd think the head will be somewhere around here. 6ot too far forward or he#ll look reall* off balance and out of &ro&ortion. +hat#s about right. 4nd think, let#s ha%e the leading arm resting on his knee right here. 4nd if *ou#%e seen these co& shows where the detecti%e is kneeling o%er the cor&se, and what ha&&ened here, this is the kind of scene we#re looking at. ;efore do another stroke, let#s fli& this image hori9ontall*. 6ow if *ou#re following along on &a&er and &encil, just do what did when was building this course, hold the &a&er u& to the light so that *ou look through it and see it from the other side. hat ha&&ens when *ou do this is *ou get an instant of being able to see the drawing with a fresh e*e. 4nd what ha&&ens when *ou do a drawing for a certain amount of time, *ou go blind to it. ou get so used to *our initial design that *ou lose the abilit* to see it fresh. 4nd when *ou do this, *ou get this reall* ama9ing instant where *ou can just see it almost for the first time. 4nd then all the mistakes can jum& out at *ou. 4nd #%e sa%ed man* drawings and m*self from embarrassment b* doing this. 4nd it#s a longtime trick that we used to do in the old da*s. ou would turn the &a&er o%er on the drawing board, &ut on *our back light, see all *our mistakes, correct *our mistakes on the re%erse side of the drawing and fli& it back o%er, and then *ou had *our drawing sol%ed. 7o add this little trick to *our tool kit. 7o all #m going to do now is just flesh him out a little bit. 4nd what *ou can see now, we ha%e nice enclosed s&aces here and here. 4nd those are strong areas. 4nd we ha%e another o&en s&ace here that#s also %er* strong. 7o let#s take a look at this gu* &urel* in silhouette, see what he looks like. 7o this is e(tremel* )uickl*. #%e just gone in and inked in the interior of the character. 4nd the im&ortant thing to ask *ourself when *ou look at
this is, is this &ose readable? !o know what#s going on? 4nd in this case, *es. 7o although the &ose could be stronger, like could arch the back a bit more and &ut a little more drama into it, it works. +his is a functional silhouette, good, strong negati%e s&aces. 4nd &lease do kee& this in mind when *ou are doing *our drawings so that *ou don#t do drawings that are too closed in and m*sterious. +he action should be clear at a distance.
ounterpose#tor&ue "ur ne(t rule of thumb is the idea of counter&ose or tor)ue. 7o here#s a character with none at all. e#s just standing there front on. +here#s nothing reall* interesting ha&&ening here. +his is *our classic model sheet &ose where, if *ou#re building *our character, this is usuall* the kind of &ose *ou want. ;ut if *ou#re doing something that#s d*namic in action, *ou don#t want this. 7o let#s see first of all what#s going on under the skin. 7o here we can see the hi&s and the waist as imagine them as two little cardboard tubes and the*#re connected b* the %ertical s&ine. 7o in this e(am&le, as alread* said, there#s nothing interesting going on. +he* are &arallel to one another. f *ou could rotate these around in s&ace, *ou would see the*#re &erfectl* aligned on e%er* a(is. 4nd here the* are side b* side. 7o if we do a &ose that#s a little more d*namic than that, then what we ha%e is the tor)ue or the counter&ose. e#re beginning to twist these tubes out of alignment, and here#s what the*#re doing under the skin. 4nd what *ou#ll notice is that each tube is mo%ing, in this case, in a %er* different direction and, it#s also note, creating a little 7 cur%e on the s&inal column. ou ha%e this tube facing out in this direction. +his tube is facing out in that direction. 4nd this is the bod*#s wa* of maintaining balance or e)uilibrium. +hings tend to counter&ose each other so that if one &art of the bod* is out of alignment or shifting its weight, the other &art will twist to com&ensate for that, and this is how we can walk without falling o%er. +he other &rinci&le that this creates a sensation of mo%ement, e%en in a static image. f *ou look at :ichelangelo#s scul&tures, for e(am&le, *ou#ll see in these figures that the*#%e twisted the hi&s and the shoulders and *ou get this s&iral effect. t seems like there#s motion that#s twisting u& and around and coiling around the bod*. 6ow this &rinci&le is reall* im&ortant in walks and runs, and if *ou don#t a&&l* it to *our walks and runs, there#s a %er* good chance that the*#ll look %er* limited and stiff. 4nd here *ou can see #%e colored the left side of the bod* red and the right side blue so that it#s more eas* to read the action. 4nd essentiall* the* counter&ose on e%er* a(is so as this &art is down, this &art is u&. f this &art is u&, this &art is down. 4s this hi& is forward, this shoulder is forward. 4nd as this hi& is forward, the same shoulder is backwards. 7o the*#re o&&osing and countering each other through the major &oses or the contact &oses of the walk c*cle. Let#s see how that looks when we o%erla* them. 7o e%en with these two &oses, *ou can see how we can create a %er* d*namic and belie%able walk c*cle. 4nd here we ha%e a standing &ose %er* similar to the %er* first standing &ose showed *ou but the difference is with this one, we#%e a&&lied some %er* subtle counter&ose or tor)ue to the armature, to the skeleton and that#s enough to break us out of that dead model sheet &ose. 7o now let#s see how we a&&l* this idea of tor)ue or counter&ose to a big action scene. n this case want a character who#s, sa*, throwing a ball. 7o first things first, want to know where he#s standing so let#s get a ground &lane. 4nd we#ll &ut his foot somewhere around here so he#s &lanted that on the ground. 4nd want him to throw the ball and ha%e his arm somewhere around this &oint of the screen and the ball will be lea%ing his hand around there. 7o that gi%es us something like a line of action like
that and now we can begin to build the rest of the figure around that. 6ow remember this is his hand so his shoulders are going to be around here, hi&s are going to be around there, and head will be somewhere around here. 7o let#s draw in the shoulders and the right arm will be throwing the ball. 7o #m just going to block in. 6othing more than that, just a glorified mitten. 4nd the hi&s #m actuall* going to ha%e them more or less rotating the same wa* though the hi&s will be tilting towards us and the shoulder actuall* just a little bit more. 7o the*#re still twist. +he*#re both facing out in the same direction and the* don#t ha%e to alwa*s be in o&&osition to one another. n this case, we ha%e a rotation on the hi&s and an e%en bigger one in the same a(is on the shoulders and that#s because we#re getting this one huge big throwing motion towards us. +his leg here, let#s ha%e that trailing back because that#s kicked off the ground further awa* in s&ace o%er here. 7o let#s draw in that foot. 4nd his left arm isn#t doing an*thing e(ce&t counterbalancing, so let#s just gi%e it like a little &osition there. 4nd #ll draw an e*e line just to ha%e an idea of the tilt of the head but don#t go drawing in e*es. +hat#s a com&lete waste of *our time. +he whole &oint of this le%el of drawing, this &hase of the &rocess, is to just get the essence of the action in, do a little bit of cleanu&. 7o now that we ha%e that done, let#s use our fli& hori9ontal trick and #m just going to look at it hori9ontall*. 4nd this gi%es me an instant of freshness to see if this is reall* what want. 4nd what#s throwing me about this is this cur%ature. e feels a little too far forward, not a lot, just a little. 7o what want to do is &ut a slight bend in his knee. +hat looks much better alread*. 7o this fli& hori9ontal trick is reall* a great tool and use it an awful lot. 4nd it reall* hel&s *ou from those &oints in the drawing when *ou just go blind to *our own mistakes. 7o if *ou ha%e a digital &rogram, *ou can set *our shortcuts u& to do that. hotosho&, :, Freta, all these different &rograms ha%e their fli& hori9ontal tools built in. f *ou#re drawing on &a&er, do what did when was doing this course. drew it on &a&er. would hold m* drawing u& in the coffee sho& u& to the sunlight, and ha%e &eo&le think was a cra9* &erson, but then would see the mistakes coming through the re%erse side of the &a&er, and if *ou ha%e a mirror, same thing. 7o that#s how would do that. 6ow let#s a little red line o%er this so can show *ou what#s reall* ha&&ening with the tor)ue on these hi&s. 7o there#s our tube. f was looking down that would be tilting towards us about this much. 4nd this tube here is coming forward a little more. e#re seeing a twist on the s&ine. 4nd if was looking straight down on that, it#s just e%en just a little bit further towards us. 7o that#s our twist, and that#s our down shot on the bod*. 7o again there#s no reason wh* these ha%e to be in o&&osition to each other. "ne is mo%ing towards us and the other is mo%ing e%en more towards us but that#s what#s gi%ing this great feeling of energ* in this throwing &ose. 7o remember counter&ose tor)ue will be a huge assistance in kee&ing *our drawings ali%e.
'xaggeration 4n im&ortant &rinci&le in animation is the art of e(aggeration, and that#s taking *our e(isting &ose and &ushing it a little further to see what *ou can get awa* with. =%en if *ou work in a %er* realistic st*le, it#s still im&ortant to be able to do this. f *ou#%e seen %er* naturalistic mo%ies, *ou might notice some of them look a little cree&*, and that#s because the*#%e been traced too closel* o%er li%e action reference, and the* ha%en#t been e(aggerated enough b* the animator. =(aggeration can be trick*. Let#s see how we do it. ere we ha%e a nice &ose. #m sure a lot of &eo&le would sa*, G+hat looks reall* great.G Let#s see, if we &ush this thing a little bit. +hat#s an initial e(aggeration &ass. hat #%e done is, #%e taken it from the original &ose and forced out the line of action. #m &robabl* gaining a little bit of %olume on the bod*. #m not terribl* worried about that at this stage. +his is reall* to show the &rinci&al of just &ushing a &ose. e can alwa*s fi( these little things later. -rom here to here. ;ut here#s the )uestion' can we go an* further than that? Let#s see if we can. #%e taken m* drawing into hotosho&, and if *ou#re following along on &a&er, *ou can &ut a clean sheet of &a&er down o%er *our original drawing. hate%er drawing *ou#re using, as long as *ou can use the &receeding drawing as a reference image. hat want to do is see if can &ush this thing a little bit further. Let#s kee& this foot &lanted here, but will lift this foot here a little bit off the ground. 6ow #ll start loosening u& a little bit. Let#s see if we can &ush the line of action. ull the head back. ;ring that forward a bit. ;ecause ha%e the underline drawing, can be a little cleaner than ha%e been u& until now. e#re lifting that foot off the ground %ia shadow there. !rawn arr* will be a little taller. @ust slightl*. 7tretching that leg a little bit. #m going to bring that shoulder u&. +his is a good thing to remember. 7ee what #m doing with the shoulder? #m taking this underline shoulder here, and reall* &ushing the bone out a little bit. #m going to &ull the arm forward, just slightl*, so we o&en this negati%e s&ace. #m not going to be drawing fingers just *et. want to be able to see this. f *ou find that the underline la*er is cluttering *ou a little bit, #m working in hotosho&, so what #m going to do is reduce the o&acit* a little bit, making it harder to see, rather. ou can see more of our drawing than this other reference drawing. +his time, on this hand here, #m reall* going to &ull that thing back, all the wa*. 4gain, just draw the hand as a glorified mitten. #m not going to worr* about fingers just *et. +he )uestion is, do we tilt the head back this wa*, or this wa*? think we can get awa* with something reall* e(aggerated, and kee& it s)uished in. 6ow, let#s switch off the la*er beneath, the reference la*er, so we can see this b* itself. +o me, that looks like a reall* e(aggerated &ose. Let#s see the finished %ersion. #ll s&end a little more time cleaning this u&, and let#s take a look at what that looks like. +his was our first &ose, and this was our second &ose that showed *ou, and the one that #%e just com&leted and cleaned u& is this one. 4s *ou can see, #%e continued to &ush the arc of the s&ine to o&en u& this s&ace. Let#s toggle back and forth so we can see these. -irst. 7econd.
+hird. +he* e%en animate them. ou could almost use the three together if *ou wanted to. +he* mo%e together &rett* smoothl*. ou#ll also notice #%e added in a little bulge here around the bum, and reall* &ushed the arch of the back. n this case, #%e &ulled the head forward. +he whole bod* #%e e%en &ushed further forward than in the sketch did for *ou. "f course, as *ou can see, #%e added a few more details on it, so that we can see the o%erall action, but again, at this &oint, feel totall* free to work with a %er* lose gesture line. e#re gaining a little bit of si9e on the head, but this is a %er* rough &hase of the &rocess, and this is reall* about communicating &ose, attitude, and silhouette, and all the rules of thumb #%e been showing *ou. ere#s an e(am&le of the &ose that#s gone too far. ow far can *ou &ush an e(aggeration? ell, *ou can#t &ush it this far. +his kind of &ose might work in a %er* fast animation, if it was a frame running &ast *our e*e at 2A frames a second, but ob%iousl* *ou couldn#t do something as e(treme as this. =(aggeration has it#s limits, and here is the limit. ere we ha%e the four &oses together, so *ou can com&are. 6ow we#ll take a look at a face. +he same &rinci&le a&&lies to facial acting. e#ll be getting into this much later on, but just want to raise it right now to remind *ou that this is a uni%ersal &rinci&le. ere#s our angr* animator, and here he is a little angrier. ow far can we go? e can go )uite far indeed. +here are %er* rough and crude, but basicall* to show that the &rinci&le of e(aggeration has to be remembered at all times.
%&uash and stretch: Understanding $olume hen *ou animate a character, when *ou draw the character, e%en if *ou#re drawing a stor*board &anel, it doesn#t ha%e to be mo%ing, there#s going to be times when *ou want this gu* to s)uash and stretch or deform in %arious wa*s. hen *ou do that, *ou ha%e to be %er* careful that *ou maintain the %olumes, that the mass of the character isn#t gaining or losing weight, or %olume, as we call it in animation. Let#s take a look at these. #m going to show *ou what these look like when we go through them in animation mode. ere#s the first drawing, so let#s go through and see what this looks like. 4s *ou can see, it#s a &rett* sim&le action. #m going to go back through it again, in re%erse now. 7o, that#s our first. 7)uashed into the antici&ation. +hat feels like a &rett* good transition. e might be gaining a little bit of %olume, but so much of it is hidden behind the head. +his is the kind of thing that#s )uite, think, cheatable. "n the ne(t drawing, here#s where ha%e a &roblem. think on this one, on this stretch, he#s losing a little bit. 4nd if we go from the s)uash to the &ush to the gather at the to&, it does reall* feel like he#s losing a bit of weight there, and that shouldn#t be ha&&ening. t might be an illusion, because of the e(tent of the stretch, but reall* we#re talking about &erce&tion, here. 7o it#s %er* im&ortant that we &at him out a little bit. Let#s kee& going. :ight be losing a little %olume on that one as well. 6ot much. would also flag that for closer ins&ection. think he#s solid here. +hat seems consistent with what we had. 4gain, the head co%ers so much of that red area, that e%en if there is a slight %olume gain, don#t see how an*bod* would notice it. +here are no inbetweens between these ke* frames. ere there a lot of inbetweens added, then these %olume shifts might start to become reall* noticeable. Let#s go and fi( this gu*, this troublemaker. 6ormall* if were animating this on &a&er, if had a stack of &a&er in front of me, would do this correction on this &articular drawing, not on a single sheet of &a&er with se%en drawings on it. ;ut think it will be clearer to demonstrate it here, e(actl* what we#re doing. #m going to go into this drawing here and gi%e him just a little bit of e(tra %olume. 4lso, this has the ad%antage of gi%ing him a little more structure as well. think we were losing a little bit of this bulge of the lower &ear sha&e, or this bean sha&e, whate%er *ou want to call it. think something as small as that, belie%e it or not, think that will be enough. 4nd, likewise, on this one here, #d like to &ull out his s&ine just a little bit. ou could also e%en change that line so he would change that &ose, but think we#ll go with what#s here. +hat ma* be enough. Let#s smudge that red, so it looks a little cleaner. "k. t#s looking better alread*. still think this gu* looks a little thin, so will continue with him, and just add a little bit of a bell* on him. don#t like how it#s hitting that knee and all these lines are congealing together, and that looks unsightl*, so the solution to that would be to change the knee, just &ull it out a little bit. 7omething like that. would still target that, and tighten that u& a little bit. #m not ha&&* with it. ;ut that#s just a %er* )uick demonstration for how we can watch %olumes, control them, and &re%ent *our character from looking like he#s magicall* losing weight or gaining weight.
Let#s look at some more e(am&les of this. ere we ha%e the same &rinci&le, and as *ou can see, #%e just &ushed it wa* be*ond what we saw on the &re%ious jum& scene. +his would be ideal for something like a Loone* +unes, arner ;rothers, classic 1HA0#s +om and @err*, where the character has stars coming out of their head when the* get whacked, or whate%er. ere is a more t*&ical, standard animation look, and the same &rinci&le can be a&&lied to the face. n this case, we ha%e a broad dialogue scene. e#re going from a closed mouth to a wide o&en mouth, and taking great care that we#re not gaining or losing %olume on that stretch. ere we ha%e them side b* side. 4nd the final e(am&le of s)uash and stretch would be on the bone of the skull. ;ecause the skull is bone, it#s a much harder material than the flesh* mass of the jaw, so it doesn#t deform as easil*. t takes far greater force for *our skull, in animation, an*wa*, to change its sha&e. would actuall* ne%er e%en draw an image like this. would lea%e this out and draw the frame after the im&act. ;ut this it to illustrate the &oint that if *ou want to s)uash the bon* mass of the skull, it#s reall* good if *ou ha%e a much stronger kinetic im&act to justif* that. "therwise *our character might look a little bit wobbl*, like some of the stuff *ou saw from the 1H20#s, when e%er*thing was flo&&ing around, and didn#t seem to ha%e an* &h*sical realit* to it at all. 7o, that#s the &rinci&le of s)uash and stretch and %olume, and how it &ertains to controlling *our drawing.
%traight $s( cur$es and parallels "ne of the &rinci&les we take for granted toda* in animation design and cartoon design is the &rinci&le of straights against cur%es, and when the* began to animate in the 20s, because their skills were so weak, there was a tendenc* to a%oid &oint* edges, so the* made e%er*thing rubber hose, e%er*thing was round. 4nd this is a %er* cute and endearing st*le but it can be %er* difficult to get nice designs out of it, so animators, as their skills grew, the* became more bolder b* adding straight lines, and their designs became stronger so let#s take a look at some of these. ere#s a slightl* more modern st*le and as *ou can see, we ha%e a %er* different wa* now of drawing something like an arm, and the &rinci&al change is the a&&lication of straights against cur%es, and here we see cur%ed lines at the u&&er side of the arm and much more straight lines, and when sa* straight, don#t mean ruler straight, mean much more relati%el* straight lines than what *ou see on to&, and these will often corres&ond to the anatom*, the bone structure and muscle structure beneath. n general but not alwa*s, would tend to &ut a straight line closer to where the bone is. f *ou hold out *our arm, for e(am&le, and &ush *our fingers against the underside of *our arm, *ou#ll feel it contacting bone much more )uickl* than if *ou contact the to& where most of *our muscles are, so this one, therefore, tend to corres&ond with bone structure and this will tend to corres&ond with the softer, fattier or more muscular areas. "f course, there are times when a muscular area can be taut, in which case, it#ll be straight, but this is m* general default setting unless something else changes. 4nd *ou#ll e%en see like a straight line here. #m going to just &ut some marks o%er it to corres&ond with this bon* cheekbone, and then the back of the neck is bonier so we ha%e a straighter line there, and the beaut* of this is, notice the arrows, these signif* that the %ariations that *ou will find, therefore, in the internal s&ace of the design going from wider to thinner, back to slightl* larger again to thinner again, and this also a&&lies right down to the fingers. ou see straights and cur%* lines. f was to draw a finger u& closer, for e(am&le, we#ll see cur%es on the inside where it#s s)uish* and straights on the outside where it#s not s)uish*. +hat#s the &rinci&le. 4nd here see the librar* of basic combinations. e ha%e straights against straights. 6e(t to that, cur%es working &arallel with cur%es, this is *our classic rubber hoset*&e leg. e ha%e a cur%e against straight, we ha%e a conca%e cur%e against a straight, and we ha%e two cur%es against each other and on the bottom right, we ha%e offset them slightl* so *ou get a %er* branch*looking sha&e. must stress that this isn#t a case of right or wrong. 4ll of these combinations are a&&ro&riate in different circumstances, so don#t feel that can#t use this because it#s straight against straight or it#s &arallel. +here are times like to use &arallel lines if #m es&eciall* on something st*li9ed or gra&hic, it can be %er* useful, or something mechanical, %er* useful. 7o the im&ortant thing to remember is to use these combinations where the*#re a&&ro&riate. 4nd once again, here#s another case where we ha%e straights against cur%es, and here we ha%e the underside which #m imagining will be &ulled taut. e ha%e all of his muscles on to&. e ha%e a nice contrast here between straight against cur%e. +he
knee joint will be bon*, and would think, straighter. e ha%e all the nice flesh* muscle and all that juic* stuff on the back of the leg, the front of the leg, the shin bone, that should be straight. can#t see that being rounded. 7o, the im&ortant thing to remember here is that we#re not using these straights against cur%es as #%e seen them used sometimes as mannerisms where &eo&le just start throwing down things, but the*#re &utting them in a &lace where the* reall* don#t belong based on the object that the*#re drawing. t can be bit of a mannerism, a st*le, affectation. like to use them where think the object justifies &lacing them, and so therefore, the s&ine is here. think we#ll &robabl* ha%e a s&inierlooking line there, a straighter line, and if get it wrong sometimes, well, it#s a wrong guess, it#s a wrong decision but it#s not an arbitrar* one that just made because thought, G"h, think #ll just Gbolt down a straight line in that &oint Gbecause it looks cool.G 7o do tr* to think about the anatomical structure that#s under&inning *our card or design. ands are a beautiful e(am&le of how *ou can use cur%es against cur%es, not just straights against cur%es, but two cur%ed lines countering one another and here on the fingers, for e(am&le, we ha%e the inner line of the finger doing this and the outer line of the finger doing that counteracting cur%e, and *ou could e%en &ut a little straight in there if *ou want to signif* that the knuckle joint, and then another straight on the fingernail area, and then another cur%e there. 7o as *ou can see, we#re alread* getting that ancient and %enerable classic look that *ou saw in the old !isne* cartoons like @ungle ;ook and 101 !almatians, and a lot of the !on ;luth mo%ies, the earl* ones. +he* had this %er* strong %isual st*le and a lot of &eo&le wonder, Gow#d the* do that?G 4 lot of it was an understanding of the anatom* beneath the lines that the* were making. ere#s another )uick e(am&le and this time #%e colorcoded all of the straights as red, and all the cur%es as blue, and so it#s this contrast and want to be cra9* with this one. thought, Gow far can &ush it?G and he certainl* looks kind of st*li9ed, so *ou can alwa*s go in if *ou want it more straight lines, for e(am&le, or GstraighterG, *ou might add a few more for %ariet* and it#s this transition of cur%es from one to the other that can reall* create some interesting sha&es. $ur%es against cur%es, we saw them earlier used in fingers. +he*#re also fantastic for natural objects like branches. 7ome kind of natural forms like water where *ou#re dealing entirel* with cur%ed areas, and in this case, #m imagining this as a water form, but a tree branch is ideal. t#s a cur%e and then we offset the cur%e so we would tr* to a%oid drawing them like this, for e(am&le, unless there was a s&ecific need. t#s reall* nice if *ou can offset these joints a little bit and that creates an ama9ingl* %aried sha&e and now we ha%e this inner s&ace that#s going from fat to thin and back to fat again, and then *ou can sim&l* %ar* these sha&es, one against the other to get a %er* illustratorlike look. #m just %er* )uickl* sketching that just to gi%e *ou an idea of the negati%e sha&e. 4s *ou can see, we#re alread* getting some %er* interesting %isuals from a %er* sim&le a&&lication of cur%e against cur%e. 6ow how this a&&lies to character design. +hese are just sim&l* three e(am&les from a continuum of a&&roaches going from cur%ed designs to straight designs to a combination of both. Look at the gu* on the left and *ou#ll see almost no straight lines, and his teeth are fairl* straight but for the most &art, all of the lines constructing that character are cur%es, and this can create kind of a bubbl* effect.
e seems to be a little blobb*. 4nd, don#t get more wrong, there are times when *ou want that, when *ou might want somebod* that#s %er* round, doesn#t ha%e a lot of hard edges sticking out of them. +he gu* in the middle, he looks like something that we saw animated in =astern =uro&e during the 1H80s. +here#s a lot of %er* su&erst*li9ed animation that came out of the studios there, and it#s a st*le and it has the look to it, and this is, ob%iousl*, #%e made a &articularl* austere e(am&le where didn#t use an* cur%es at all, and on the right, there#s a combination of both of these, and *ou#ll see in here, for e(am&le, a straight line here, cur%e for the butt area, #%e got a straighter line here, cur%e on the outside, and *ou can go through the entire thing and see e%er*thing #%e shown *ou before, straights against cur%es, and a GstraighterG line here at the back, and a slightl* cur%ier one there, and this gi%es *ou the classic animation look. 7o, where *ou design *our character along the s&ectrum is entirel* u& to *ou. !on#t feel like, G ha%e to use Gthis &articular st*le,G or Gt doesn#t look good.G !ifferent as&ects of cur%* design and straight design ma* be a&&ro&riate for the &roject that *ou#re working on so be fle(ible with how far *ou take them. 7o %er* )uickl* #m just going to show *ou some e(am&les of each of these, so we ha%e our cur%ed line, and if was making one from scratch, *ou could, ob%iousl*, draw *our other cur%e beneath that. t gets a little teardro&* but *ou can get some reall* beautiful sha&es b* crossing these o%er in slightl* different &atterns. Let me do another one of them. #ll just fatten that line a little bit so *ou can see this better. 4nd now look at this sha&e area that#s been created. t#s %er* interesting, it#s going from thick to thin, and so *ou can continue this &rocess in all kinds of wa*s. ou#re creating cur%es all o%er the &lace but the internal sha&e is not &arallel. +he internal sha&e is %ar*ing from thick to thin. t#s a %er* nice look. 7o *ou can use this to create ro&e and hair %olumes and an* kind of flowing object. 7team, use *our imagination, go wild. ou can a&&l* this &rinci&le of these ta&ering cur%es, and if *ou#re limited to straights, let#s imagine that *ou#re drawing a straight arm. 4gain, m* ad%ice would be, if &ossible, if it#s a&&ro&riate, there#s no reason wh* *ou ha%e to ha%e &arallel lines between them all. ou can make interesting sha&es b* %ar*ing the width of the internal s&aces, so here, we ha%e... it#s dangerousl* cur%ed there, #m tr*ing to use two straights for this gu*.
tools, so these two arms do not look like the*#re attached to the same &erson, and *ou can kee& going with this, a&&l*ing whate%er s*stem of cur%es and straights that *ou think is a&&ro&riate. 7omething a little more feminine, elegant. 7o that is the uni%erse the world of straight lines and cur%ed lines, and how *ou can use these strokes to create com&letel* different characters and looks.
Brea)s on cur$es +his techni)ue is a reall* subtle one, %er* &owerful, es&eciall* if *ou#re character is one of those %er* round*, cur%* ones. 4nd then *ou ha%e the &roblem of how do make this thing look interesting? 7o what #%e done is #%e made two &rett* crude, nothing fanc* here, but two %er* sim&le rough &encil strokes. 4nd what we want to do now is take a look at how we might make these strokes a little more interesting. 7o the main techni)ue that we use to do this is called &utting a break on that cur%e. 4nd let me show *ou before, after. ;efore, after. 4nd what #%e done is right here at this &oint and this &oint, %er* subtl* made a slight break, just an alteration on that trajector* of the arc so that it slightl* changes. 4nd here#s the difference. ou can see the original on the right side in red and then where #%e inserted the break. +hat#s it, that#s a break on the cur%e. 4nd now let#s go on to see some &ractical a&&lications of this techni)ue. 7o here we ha%e a classic round face and %er* few trul* straight lines on this. see one here for e(am&le, but other than that, &rett* much most of these strokes are, and here#s another straight one and one there. ;ut the big ones, the reall* huge ones that *ou notice, the*#re all cur%es. ;ut *et he doesn#t feel totall* like a blob, and the reason being for that is that we ha%e breaks. e ha%e one here, of course we ha%e a &rett* noticeable one there. =%en subtle ones on the e*ebrow here, and *ou#ll notice this one, of course. 4nd if *ou look carefull*, *ou#ll &robabl* find another cou&le of &oints where these arcs do not mo%e on a com&letel* &erfect cur%e. 4nd here#s another one. 4nd it#s this techni)ue that allows *ou to suggest that this object isn#t just a big blob of li)uid, that it actuall* has some &h*sicalit* or mass or muscle to it. 4nd that#s what this break suggests to me. hen *ou see that cur%e suddenl* do a slight change, it suggests structure, it suggests that there#s something more than just a big blob of something that#s all e)uall* s&aced. 6ot all the &articles are e(actl* the same densit*. +his is a far more interesting sha&e. 4nd so this techni)ue has to be a&&lied thoughtfull* so that *ou think, oka*, where would the break go? here#s the most sensible &lace for it? 4nd again, don#t a&&l* these will*nill* for the sake of doing it. +hink, what is the a&&ro&riate &osition? 7o likewise here on the brow, &erfect. 7o let#s look at some other e(am&les. 7o this kind of character is a &erfect e(am&le of a challenge because all the major features are circular, and #%e worked on &rojects that had characters like this, and belie%e me, it was a struggle to get an a&&ealing design out of it because e%er*thing that *ou had to work with was cur%*. 7o again, the breaks become crucial. 4nd let me just &oint out a few again. e ha%e this &oint, we ha%e another one here that suggests the structure on the brow. ere#s a clear one right here on the u&&er e*ebrow. +his one is %er* im&ortant here because this delineates the e*elid, the u&&er e*elid. 4nd where this works into this cur%e here is actuall* the e*eball, and we will be dealing with this in a later cha&ter. Let#s see, we ha%e the, of course, this immediate change here on the angle of the cheek. +here#s another one, of course, on the other side. Li& here, %er* subtle. 4nother one here. think those#ll be the ones that stand out definitel* the most.
+he onl* lines in here that would describe as a straight would be this one. 4nd this one is e%en a little cur%*. ou ha%e, e%en these are all cur%* sha&es. 7o the fact that *ou onl* ha%e cur%es to work with doesn#t mean that *ou can#t generate reall* interesting looking designs. 7o here#s one more e(am&le, and it#s the classic foul staff t*&e, the rotund, ha&&* character. 4nd these again are big challenges to work with. e ha%e some more straights on this one than on the &re%ious e(am&les. ;ut again, the cur%es to watch out for would be here, see another one right there. 4nd elbows, of course, the*#ll be the big &oints where *ou#ll want to ha%e changes in the cur%es because the* suggest the major anatomical functions. ere and of course the knee. 4nd there#s e%en a bend here. 7o *ou could kee& going through this drawing and finding a few more of these breaks because #m at the &oint now where #%e done this for so long, it almost comes automaticall*. ou almost sto& ha%ing to think about it because *ou#%e &ut these breaks in these kind of &laces so man* times that *ou sto& ha%ing to focus on it )uite so much, which doesn#t mean it e%er becomes com&letel* automatic, but *ou do become more comfortable with it. ou find out the hot s&ots where the breaks are going to go, and *ou alwa*s watch out when *ou ha%e a round sha&ed character to find these &oints because the* liberate *ou from that t*rann* of the 1H20s rubber hose.
*ary shapes, asymmetry, and texture "ne of the im&ortant &rinci&les about designing characters is the use of te(ture. +he fact that *our details shouldn#t be com&letel* regular in the* wa* the*#re laid out, at least if *ou want *our character to look natural. f *ou want a natural st*le, *ou want to a%oid things like this. Look at these three lines. +hese creases look like the letter or =. +he* just don#t look natural, whereas the one on the right is being s&aced a little more une%enl*, and this creates the kind of thing that *ou see in realit*.
regimented. 4nd in that case, it#s fairl* sim&le. ou take the same st*le, the same feature, this cur%ed hair ball, and *ou just %ar* it. t#s the same stroke. ;ut here, notice again, one big, one medium, one small. 4nd we just a&&l* this as *ou see fit until *ou get a model that looks a lot more interesting because we ha%e %ariet*. +his &rinci&le a&&lies all the wa* to realistic hair. 4nd here again, we ha%e areas of fairl* high detail here, and we ha%e areas of relati%el* low detail here. 4nd again, this being fractal, that#s how it o&erates. f went in closer and closer and closer, would e(&ect more detail in some areas and less detail in other areas. ere ha%e four %er* st*li9ed treatments of a mouth. 4s *ou can see on the left, we ha%e the kind of mouth *ou would imagine if *ou were working on a sim&listic st*le of a robot or something like that. $om&letel* e%en s&acing. "n the ne(t one o%er, just mo%ed it u& out a little bit. changed the %ertical stroke so that the*#re all slightl* mismatched. "ne ste& o%er we add one more la*er of %ariation b* shifting the u&&er and lower teeth. 4nd then we add a cur%ed center line between the u&&er and lower rows. 4nd *ou can alread* see how with each addition of %ariet* of te(ture to the detail how much more naturalistic it#s becoming. Let#s add one final &ass o%er this. #m just going to draw an u&&er li&. #m going to imagine that we#re looking at this at a slight angle. Let#s draw a lower li&. etting a bit of a jutting jaw, so he#s a bit of a gorilla t*&e. 4nd let#s do an u&&er le%el of teeth. 4nd again, #m just going to %ar* it with a cur%ed stroke like this. +he lower le%el of teeth will be jutting out slightl*. 4nd now if *ou reall* want to make this gu* look like he hasn#t seen a dentist in a long time, let#s %ar* the angle and the s&acing of these strokes. 4nd when we do the lower le%el of teeth, imagine also that the*#re growing u& and jutting out at all kinds of different angles. 7o like this cur%ed &oint here comes in. t doesn#t join with that, so want these to look like the* fit together at all kinds of strange angles. 4t no &oint am joining u& two of the teeth at a tangent. #m alread* beginning to s&ace e%er*thing a&art %er* irregularl*. :a*be &ut a straightin ne(t to a cur%e. 4nd if *ou reall* want to go cra9*, *ou can add the gum line in. #m just going to be a little loose with this, but *ou get the idea that this is a &rett* mess* mouth. +hat#s how we get something that looks much more naturalistic than this kind of thing. +his is the transition from %er* geometrical all the wa* through, making it more and more irregular until we get to something like this. 6ow we#ll 9oom out one more time. 7ee how this a&&lies to something like fabric to clothing. 6otice how we ha%e this enormous area here. #m just going to color it in green where nothing ha&&ens. t seems it#s just a big e(&anse of flat cloth. 4nd then on the other side, we ha%e areas of detail where all the creases ha&&en. a%e one here, one here, and one there. +his gets contrast te(ture of detail, and then somewhere for *our e*e to take a breather and rest. ou don#t want to ha%e creases e%er*where or detail e%er*where, or *our e*e will get tired. 4nd now we see how this a&&lies to an entire character. f we &aint in the areas where &rett* much nothing is going on. is big bell*, arms, big cuffs, or collars, rather.
7lee%es. 6othing interesting going on there. 4nd actuall* we ha%e good areas here where *our e*e can take a rest. +here#s no detail at these &oints. guess the &arts here on the feet. 4nd then we ha%e areas where we do ha%e interesting things ha&&ening. +here#s the e*es in this area. +he face. +he nose. +his &art. guess the beard might ha%e some detail here, but not there. nteresting ears and areas here. e ha%e e%en a little detail on the end of the staff. +he buckles of the shoe here. ;uckles of the shoe here and there. 4nd this s&ot in here is an area of interest. 4nd #%e noticed also that e%en on the walking staff, the cane, *ou#ll notice that there#s not much going on here, which contrasts with the base. +his is how *ou can structure a character so that not all of *our focus is scattered. e reall* want to see, in &articular, attention on the facial area. ou don#t want *our e*e being drawn awa* from that too much, so hence that#s wh* we ha%e more detail here. 4nd one last reminder. @ust two %er* )uick effect shots. e#ll be dealing with this later on. ;ut nature itself is fractal. t has a %ariation on the le%els of detail. ou ha%e areas of high detail and areas of low detail. +he s&acing of natural effects is not regular, which is wh* *ou see more of a focus on one side of the action, and more detail, more line weight, in one &art of a s&lash than *ou see in others. 4nd that#s wh* we ha%e more em&t* areas here, or em&t* s&ace u& here. lease remember this when *ou draw, and tr* to get into the habit of not arranging all of *our &encil detail, all of *our line detail e%enl* across a drawing.
Point o" origin 4 great method for controlling the &osition of a lot of the lines on *our drawing is the use of the &oint of origin. +hat#s most clearl* demonstrated if *ou look at creases on the character, es&eciall* under the arm&its, the knees, the joints, and, *ou can see on the right side of this image, #%e drawn in the &oints of origin with little red asterisks so *ou can see e(actl* where the*#re going to. ou can see that each line follows, e%en as *ou can#t see, to this in%isible &oint, where the* all join together. ;* using these &oints of origin, as *ou change the &osition of the character from ke* to ke*, or drawing to drawing, *ou can kee& them consistent, so *ou know e(actl* what#s going on. Let#s ha%e a look at another e(am&le. 6ow, here #%e done two drawings of an arm in different &ositions. 4gain, the &oints of origin are &ut in in little red crosses. ou can see, as we mo%e from one to the other, that the creases obedientl* follow these &oints of origin. n other words, also on the second drawing, as the arm mo%es out from the bod*, the creases decrease, and if we ke&t going to a com&letel* straight arm, the* would disa&&ear com&letel*. ere, ha%e a similar method a&&lied to this face. +his is a %er* different st*le from man* of the others #%e shown *ou. t#s much more linear and more illustrati%e, so how do *ou control all of these hundreds of little e*ebrow strokes and all of these hair strokes? 4gain, we use &oints of origin. hen drew these, sim&l* imagined the little cross, or the &oint of origin, then, all of m* drawing strokes were s&la*ed out from that imaginar* &oint. +his allows *ou to create an image on the left that a&&ears to be %er* almost ha&ha9ard, but has an in%isible structure beneath it, so if *ou want to draw this gu*, imagine him as some third centur* $eltic warrior or whate%er, that#s what he looks like, if *ou imagine tilting his head back, as long as *ou &ut the &oints of origin in the new &osition and *ou work from that, *ou ha%e a much better chance of kee&ing him looking like himself. e can a&&l* the same method to hair. Der* im&ortant that *ou a&&l* this method to hair. n this case, #%e drawn an entire head of hair from a single &oint of origin, the blue cross. 6otice how e%er* stroke, if *ou follow it back, almost e%er* stroke, this one e%en, might, if *ou had an imaginar* line, follow it back to the &oint, the* all originate from that &oint of origin, so if *ou tilt her head back, left, or right, *ou ha%e a %er* good chance of kee&ing all of these hair strokes looking like the* are correctl* attached to her head. +here#s no reason wh* *ou ha%e to ha%e onl* one. ou can ha%e a different hairst*le with two. n this case, #%e gi%en her a mo& hair. 7he has one side of her head originating from one &oint, the other from the red. ou can kee& going with this, so, man* hairst*les. ou don#t ha%e to be )uite so rigid with it, if *ou want to draw it freel*, but, at some &oint, *ou will ha%e indi%idual tufts or strokes that will ha%e a &oint of origin. ou might ha%e one &oint here, one &oint here. #m not sa*ing *ou ha%e to ha%e a &redefined network of these &oints, but the* do certainl* ha%e to ha%e, at least, a basis of this method so *ou ha%e a &rimar* &oint that most of the structure, the bod* of the hair, comes from. !on#t think of the hair as being thousands of indi%idual strands. +he*#re reall* a single bod* that *ou
can then break a&art into smaller units using this techni)ue. hat want to show *ou is how *ou can use the &oint of origin to control the features on a face. Let#s do a sim&le face, #m not going to get too fanc* with this, but we#ll just do a basic s&here, with our e*e line. i%e him a center line. hat want to do is to just, let#s &ut in some e*es. 7tart with the irises and &u&ils. e#ll just draw the basic balls around there. hat if *ou wanted to do something with a lot of creases, a lot of detail? 7omething that might e%en seem intimidating? Let#s imagine that we ha%e a &oint of origin somewhere around here, with the corner of the e*e. ou can imagine that all of the %arious lines and strokes and creases, more or less, the* don#t ha%e to be mechanical, *ou can ha%e little %ariations in this, but, more or less, the* can originate from this &oint. ou could e%en ha%e, for e(am&le, a good old Dictorianera e*ebrow, something that#s reall* bolted onto some !ickensian businessman. Let#s just radiate these out loosel*. ou can see, #m drawing &rett* freel*. #m not being too inhibited b* it, the*#re all just ha&&il* meandering out from that &oint. oing to thicken the line a little bit so we can darken it a bit, but the*#re all coming from here, and here. Let#s just gi%e him, just for some conte(t, #m not going to go too wild with this, but we#ll just gi%e him a beginning of a nose, some creases. =%en if *ou gi%e some forehead creases, de&ending on the st*le, *ou might be able to get awa* with imagining these two also originating from these &oints, or roughl* mo%ing outside of them in a series of concentric circles. 4gain, the*#re wra&&ing onto this s&here.
+pen and closed areas 6ow #m going to show *ou a %er* useful trick and it#s a %er* sim&le one and this will enable *ou to create a greater illusion of de&th and dimentionalit* and naturalism. 7o as *ou can see we#%e &rett* much closed off the jawline here, it#s a single continuous line. ;ut what if *ou want it to look a little more round, a little more realistic? 7o there#s a sim&le trick of sim&l* o&ening u& that line. 7o #m just going to erase that black line just a little bit so we gi%e the im&ression that it#s just blending seamlessl* into the neck. 4nd de&ending on how far *ou want to cut back that line *ou#%e now created the illusion of a flow. 4nd this creates the idea that there#s almost a lighting effect that#s taken out the line. t#s a much greater le%el of naturalism. 4nd if *ou want to flatten, the o&&osite is true, if *ou want *our design to look flat then close off the area. ere#s another e(am&le of where this might occur on a hand. 7o #m just going to go in and gi%e this a little more dimension. definitel* think this looks better. 4nd here#s another s&ot where *ou#d ha%e a choice of erasing a bit of a line. 4nd that#s u& here where the u&&er arm flows into the torso. 4nd again now we ha%e a smooth flow from the entire bod* area. 4nd another area where this will ha&&en a lot will be in an*thing that flows, like hair. 7o here we ha%e se%eral areas that ha%e been closed off to %ar*ing degrees. +his closing off might look good but let#s see what ha&&ens when we just o&en this out. 4nd she#s a &rett* st*li9ed figure, mean she#s alread* a &rett* gra&hical looking figure an*wa*. ;ut e%en though we do that, that looks nice think. 4nd we can e%en cut this back just a little more. 4nd let#s do the same thing here on this line. #m just going to cho& it right there, bit of a haircut. 4nd let#s take that line out com&letel* and that lea%es us the one bit at the to&. 7o we can ma*be cho& this as well, and just let that whole cur%e flow. 4nd that#s a much richer, think, hair design. 4nd of course dra&er*, an*thing that flows is going to create long lines. 7o here we ha%e a case of the ca&e. t#s become to look %er* flat, and with a st*le like this *ou reall* don#t want this to ha&&en 7o let#s o&en them out again, let some air in. 4nd this will reall* gi%e the sensation that we#re looking at an organic fabric, that it doesn#t ha%e such a stiff feeling to it. 4nd watch what ha&&ens as we get rid of all those unnecessar* lines. #m actuall* going to get rid of that one com&letel*. 4nd let#s just o&en this out as well, so one sha&e seems to flow into the other. 4nd let#s just mo%e this down a little further. 4nd look at that, such a sim&le change but a %er* &owerful alteration in the whole feeling of the drawing. 7o remember this and be conscious of when *ou might need to erase some lines to make a fluid sha&e e%en more fluid.
Tangents +he bane of most animators li%es is the tangent. +hat#s one of these things that just cro&s u& when *ou#re mo%ing so man* lines around. 6ow, when we sa* tangent, we don#t mean this kind of a tangent, we mean this kind of a tangent. +he ones in red, and that#s where there#s no reason for that hair to touch the ti& of that nose unless we#%e glued them together in the cartoon, which we ha%en#t. +he*#re in different &oints in three dimensional s&ace, and the same goes for this, that hair should be behind or in front of the shoulder. 7o let#s take a look at different methods for fi(ing this, and fortunatel*, the*#re fairl* eas*. 7o, we#ll take a look at the ne(t one. 4nd here#s another case where, oka* this isn#t a tangent either. e(&ect these lines to con%erge at that &oint because that#s a &oint of origin. 4gain, not a tangent. +his is a tangent, a headache, where the arm is bum&ing right into the belt, and *ou ha%e this little cross, and that is not a kind of sha&e that is nice to look at. t#s confusing, *our brain just focuses on it and goes, Ghat#s going on there?G 4nd it#s &ulling *our e*e awa* from the &arts of the bod* that we want to look at. 4nd the solution is to mo%e it. ou mo%e it u& or *ou mo%e it down. 4nd in this case, sol%ed the &roblem b* mo%ing the forearm down a little bit. could ha%e mo%ed the belt, could ha%e mo%ed the forearm u&. hate%er *ou do, whate%er is the &ath of least resistance that gets rid of the tangent, follow that. 7o here we ha%e another kind of tangent and that#s where a %er* eas* one to ha%e ha&&en where two cur%ed lines blend into one another, and this is a real horror show because *ou actuall* get a %er* long tangent at this &oint where these &oints just seem to be glued together. $an#t stand that. 7o again, there#s two solutions, one, *ou mo%e the head down, or *ou mo%e the head u&. could#%e also mo%ed the shoulder but in this e(am&le it was just easier to &la* with the head. 4nd so let#s 9oom in. 7o this is the tangent. 4nd that#s the mo%e the head down solution. 4nd mo%e the head u& solution. could also ha%e changed the sha&e of the mouth. 7o, an* number of &ossible &aths that would allow *ou to get rid of these things, but just watch out for them, don#t be caught off guard. 4nd the other thing that#ll cro& u& too is when the character itself has a tangent with the background. 4nd here#s a great one. s he leaning on that wall? e can#t be, because look at his feet, he#s three feet in front of it. t#s a tangent, so let#s get rid of it b* either mo%ing him to one side or mo%ing him to the other side. "r if *ou &refer, changing the design of the elbow. 7o again, whate%er works best. 7o once again, %er* )uickl* here, we ha%e, guess what this is? et another tangent. 7o m* librar* of solutions will in%ol%e mo%ing the hair there, or mo%ing it to here. f mo%e it out, then ha%e to draw through and correct the si9e of the head, ma*be change a good bit of the hair, so it might be easier to mo%e it in. 7o *ou ha%e those two o&tions, one is a little more work than the other, and *ou choose the one that looks best, and, or, the one that is the least amount of work.
aterials and drag t#s eas* to forget and it#s %er* im&ortant to remember what e(actl* are *ou animating? ;ecause its a&&earance will be determined b* its &ro&erties. s it iron, like this ball on the left? orcelain, like the one in the middle? "r is it a rubber ball, soft and s)uish* like the one on the right? 4nd the amount of s)uash or in stretch for e(am&le. 6otice how the cannonball or the iron ball is barel* stretching at all before the im&act, whereas this football, this rubber ball, whate%er bounc* object this is its stretching and it#ll actuall* s)uash after this im&act &oint and then it#ll stretch again after it bounces off the ground. 7o these are reall* im&ortant to remember and to ha%e some idea as to what the %arious objects are. 4lso don#t forget that the en%ironment can ha%e an effect on the object as well. 7o if it#s raining for e(am&le, if *ou#re drawing a character in rain their costume is going to change, their hair is going to change based on if the*#re during the da* and it#s warm. 7o do not forget that *our &h*sical en%ironment that *ou#re drawing has its own &ro&erties, its own internal life. 4nd a single character can ha%e different &arts of the bod* with different &ro&erties. 7o in this case this cuddl* bear has a big soft s)uish* bell*, his head is like most heads &rett* hard, so as he mo%es one &art has different mechanical &ro&erties than the ones around it. 7o let#s see how these feel when we actuall* do them frame b* frame. e ha%e drag on the bell*, and then it#s dragging again before it settles. Let#s go backwards again. 7o as *ou can see we ha%e two different kinds of &arts of the bod*, so remember these will draw and beha%e in different wa*s. f we were for e(am&le to draw him sitting down with his bell* flo&&ing o%er his legs understand that that will affect *our design. 4nd same thing goes if *ou ha%e a &rimar* action, like mo%ing a hand that#s holding a flag, the flag will drag, it#ll be subject to wind resistance, the air, the en%ironment. 4nd so let#s take a look at how this object mo%es. 7o we begin in our start &osition, the hand mo%es, but the ti& of the flag, this &oint here, notice how it#s remembering where it used to be. could ha%e e%en dragged it a little more or e%en mo%ed it out to this &oint. 4nd now we mo%e into this 7 sha&e. 6otice as well that #m using %er* sim&le sha&es to describe this flag. $ cur%es and 7 cur%es. :o%e again back and we ha%e an o%erla& where this &oint of the flag mo%es from right to left and the ti& is mo%ing from left to right. 4nd that#s a %er* nice trick to use in animation because this kind of thing reall* gi%es a sense of life and realism. 7till ha&&ening here. +his &oint is still mo%ing this wa*, while this &oint is still mo%ing that wa*. 4nd then we settle. 4nd ideall* we would ha%e a lot of in betweens that would go between this drawing and this drawing, but this was enough to communicate the &oint. 7o let me go back again, #ll go through them one more time. "ne, two, three, four, fi%e, si(. 7o again, this flag, de&ending on what its made of, is it a thin flag, a hea%* flag? s it made of can%as or silk? hat is it? +hese will also affect how it beha%es. 4nd finall*, don#t forget that de&ending on all of the things that #%e just said that we are also able to in%oke cartoon &h*sics. 4nd we#%e seen
the cliff and then he falls. 7o it is &ossible in certain conditions or certain circumstances to do things in animation that we can#t do reall* belie%abl* in an* other medium. 7o don#t be sh* about looking out for things that are %iolations of common sense &h*sics because there might be a great gag or a cartoon in them. 7o as a &ractical demonstration, here is our ca&ed character and he has two %ersions of the same costume. "n the left side imagine that the ca&e is made out of something like silk. am not a te(tiles e(&ert, it#s efficient for me to know, oka*, this is a %er*, %er* light material, and so it#ll be like silk or satin, something like that. "n the right side, something that#s much thicker, ma*be wool, or some hea%ier material, or could e%en be denim for all know. 7o it#s something thick enough, something with a little bit of bod*. 7o let#s see how these will beha%e differentl*. 6otice on the left there are more folds, more creases, a finer material will ha%e more and more and more of these. 4 thicker material fewer and fewer. t#ll also mo%e differentl*. 7o let#s see what the* look like if we draw them in different &ositions. 4ll want to do now is to draw a gust of wind taking the ca&e and blowing it u& and then see how differentl* each ca&e beha%es, the silk one and the hea%* one. 7o let#s imagine that we ha%e our wind coming in from this direction. "n a clean la*er #m going to begin the second &art of the ca&e. @ust take the edge, don#t worr* so much about the inner details, *ou just want to block block in the the main sha&e sha&e of this. 4nd it might blow blow u& like that, that, so it#s going going to gi%e it it some dimension. 7o as *ou can see this is getting a little bit of dimension in here, so this is the underside. 4nd we can delete that la*er there, or that line. 4nd now to kee& the character with all these folds and this detail, this sense that there#s a lot of stuff going on in there, what want to do is to just &ut some e(tra little creases, %ar* them, so that the*#re not all e)uall* s&aced. 7o now let#s darken the line, just a little bit. 7o #ll do a slightl* darker tone o%er that and want to rotate the screen as well so can 9oom in &ro&erl*. 4s being right handed it#s a %er* difficult angle to draw that. 7o let#s do this. 6ow we can reall* add a little bit of definition to these tentati%e lines, these initial e(&lorator* lines let#s call them. e don#t want to be tentati%e, want to be confident. 4nd we want to %ar* the lengths of these creases, *ou don#t want them all to be the same length or it#ll look reall* &hon*. 4nd something realistic will ha%e a little more %ariation to it. 4nd then let#s go and just delete some of the sketch* strokes. +hat looks &rett* good. 7o we ha%e a fairl* interesting design and it#s got enough of the character that we saw in the original hanging &osition. 6ow let#s do one for the thicker material. 4nd remember that with the e)ui%alent amount of wind don#t e(&ect this gu* to mo%e an*where near as far as the other one. t#s just too hea%*. 7o would imagine it to look something more like that. 7o where this gu* has one, two, three, four, fi%e, si( bum&s, this might be luck* to ha%e two or three, with shorter lines, signif*ing the %arious folds. ou want to suggest a little bit of bod* to it. ou might ha%e little cur%es around here. Let me go in and just tighten tighten this u& a little little bit. 7o *ou *ou can see alread* alread* the differe difference nce between these two forms. forms. 6ow that look at these folds here think we can gi%e them a little more life than that. +he* look )uite insi&id.
7o let me delete them and we#ll just hang them a little lower. Let#s gi%e oursel%es slightl* stronger sha&es. 4nd like fairl* confident looking cur%es going from these %arious little wa%e sha&es. 7o %er* different beha%ior based on the fact that these are different materials. 7o with that think we#%e co%ered the fact that *ou should alwa*s be conscious what are the %arious objects in m* drawing made out of? ;ecause it#s going to affect how draw them.
ine weight #%e said se%eral times alread* that we#re drawing %olumes not lines, and one wa* to make *our drawing look like it has %olume is to ha%e a ta&ered line. 6ow at the to& we can see a %er* gra&hical st*li9ed %ersion of this. t#s like something that *ou would do in 4dobe llustrator or some other %ector illustration &rogram. :an* times *our drawings will end u& cleaned u& with this kind of a tool, so this is a good thing to remember if *ou#re a digital artist, that *ou can actuall* work with this kind of st*le. 4t the bottom side of the screen, *ou can see a more &encillike stroke, and this is a like a su&er close u& %ersion of what *our &encil stroke should look like if *ou begin to a&&l* this techni)ue. 7o here *ou can see a %er* closeu& of a &encil drawing and the &encil line te(ture is ob%iousl* jagg*, and this is &rett* much what *ou would see if *ou did a drawing on &a&er and 9oomed it u& to this kind of si9e. Let#s see where the hea%* line weight comes in and *ou can &robabl* notice it that we ha%e a %er* dark line around here and here, and this suggests some de&th to the e*elid. +his is the most ob%ious &lace where *ou would use it. 4lso we ha%e a thicker stroke here around the nostril, and there#s a slightl* darker line here. t#s a little less &ronounced, but *ou can also see that it#s a little bit hea%ier there. =%en this stroke here. magine the light#s coming usuall* from the to&, so this stroke here is a little darker than the ones around it. ou could go further with this if *ou wanted to, when *ou#re reall* cleaning things u&, *ou could make the under strokes of the e*ebrows hea%ier. ou could make this stroke &art of the nose a little darker, ma*be this a little lighter. ou can see o%er here on the mouth that there#s a hea%ier stroke at this side. Let me make a new mark here. +here#s a hea%ier blackness on that side than there is here, and the line is ta&ering off to total whiteness, and that suggests that we ha%e a bigger shadow ha&&ening in the corner of the mouth than at the side of the mouth. t#s a %er* subtle techni)ue, but it#s %er* useful. ere we see it again. 4nother good use of this method would be to &ut a darker line, wouldn#t go too hea%* with this. 4 little of this goes a long wa*. +his line here, #%e e(aggerated it to reall* show *ou the &rinci&le, but this is actuall* &ushing it, this line here. f switch it off *ou#ll see what mean. think it#s standing out just a little too much, but *ou get the idea. ere as well #%e also e(aggerated this under stroke and e%en these two creases here. Let#s switch them off again. 4nd *ou#ll also notice here that the same &rinci&le is being a&&lied, much more subtl* this time on this area of the hand. 4gain we ha%e light coming form this direction, so this is how we#re signif*ing or showing that the light comes from on side and not the other. -or e(am&le, if we were going to draw some shadows on this drawing. #m drawing slowl*, carefull*, because want this line to be &rett* accurate. +hat#s all #%e done. 6ow let#s 9oom back out again. 4s *ou can see, we#%e made a %er* slight adjustment. ou might feel that e%en this adjustment is a little too much, but *ou get the basic &rinci&le that we use this method just to add a little bit of e(tra %italit* or de&th to the drawing. #m going to do one more little stroke on the face on the right, and think the
underside of the nose would be a nice area. +his time #m going to do one light stroke, just to there and ta&er it off a little bit. 6ow feel it#s a little light, so ma*be we can darken it a bit more, ma*be just gi%e a slight darker area here. 6ow let#s go back. 6ow *ou can see we ha%e a %er* nice sensation of dimension on the nose, this area right here. $ertainl* goes from looking like a flat line to looking like a much more round one. +hat#s the techni)ue. +hat#s how *ou use ta&ered lines to kee& *our drawings from looking too mechanical.
!. Drawing Bod# $arts% Detail h !&m Understanding anatomy #m not going to del%e %er* dee&l* into anatom* be*ond a %er* general and %er* )uick o%er%iew of it. 7o what #%e done for *ou is draw a turnaround of a human skeleton adult. 4nd as *ou can see, we#%e measured it b* head heights. +his is a good wa* to get *our &ro&ortion, if *ou remember from earlier, our cartoon characters, we also measured them b* head heights. +his is an ideal. t doesn#t mean e%er* bod* has to be e(actl* eight heads tall, and it#ll %ar* from male to female, but this will gi%e *ou a working idea about where the %arious bod* &arts a&&ear. 7o as *ou can see, at the halfwa* &oint, roughl* we ha%e our groin area, and a )uarter area from the to& we ha%e roughl* the line of the chest so these will gi%e *ou ball&ark areas so that *ou won#t go too wildl* off model. began working in animation, our first cou&le of mo%ies were cartoon*, and our third film had %er* humanoid characters in it, and was intimidated b* that, so went and bought a &lastic skeleton kit, and glued it together. 4 chea& one, it didn#t ha%e to be %er* e(&ensi%e. ;ut it was good. t had these basic &ro&ortions, and then found was able to look at it in real life and tumble it around and mo%e the joints and see what the range of motion was. strongl* recommend, if *ou can find one that#s not too e(&ensi%e, it#s a %er* %er* good use of *our time and mone* to do that. 4nd as *ou can see on the far right of the screen, here we ha%e our bab* character. hat he illustrates is a %er* im&ortant &rinci&le, in that, ne(t time *ou see a toddler walking around, look at the si9e of the head and com&are the si9e of the head with the rest of the bod*. +he head will be two to three times the height of the bod*, whereas with an adult human, it#s more like one eighth. 7o the head is &ro&ortionall* much larger to the bod* in a small child or a bab* than it is in an adult. 4s *ou grow older, *ou get to be more heads tall. 7o the head is the area that guess grows less fast in relation to the si9e of the bod*. +he bod* just rockets u&. 7o let#s take a look at the ne(t slide. 4nd so here #%e just done a closeu& of the skull. 6ow notice that, again, these are ideali9ed &ro&ortions. 4nd *ou#ll see a lot of ideali9ed &ro&ortions if *ou go searching online. !on#t get too tra&&ed in them. +he*#re reall* rules of thumb. see some ones that ha%e just wildl* o%ercom&licated, and are frankl* imaginar*, so as an a&&ro(imate &osition of where the %arious &arts go, the halfwa* &oint would roughl* a&&ro(imate with the e*e line, and if *ou measure, that is from the ti& of the skull to the base of the jaw. "b%iousl* if a &erson has a weak jaw or a big jaw, that#s going to change, but this is the ideal. +he other halfwa* &oint, a&&ro(imatel*, *ou#ll find the base of the nose, and another halfwa* down and *ou reall* see it if *ou look at the actual skin %ersion, another halfwa* &oint down, the lower edge of the li&. 7o use these lines again as a wa* to a&&ro(imate the &ositions that *ou choose for *our e*e line, *our nose and *our mouth. 6ow when we a&&l* this to a cartoon character, for e(am&le, some cartoon characters are so sim&le that the head is a ball.
+he whole head, *ou &ut the mouth on the ball, and #%e done this with some of the drawings in this course. "ther characters, howe%er, will ha%e a jaw area that#s se&arated from the skull. 7o de&ending on which one of these *ou#re using, *ou might want to shift the &osition of *our e*eline on the skull. ell, sometimes for a sim&le s&here character it#s great to ha%e the e*e line &urel* at the halfwa* &oint of the ball, that gi%es *ou &lent* of room then for the nose and the mouth. ;ut if #m going to draw a figure with a jawline, as &lan to do here, then it#s a reall* good idea to ma*be sometimes mo%e the e*e line down to a 2/3 or e%en lower, but as long as *ou know, Goka*, m* e*e line will be 2/3 down the s&here Gof the skullG, and on the right side here *ou can see the difference, and what it does to the sha&e. 7o on the left side we ha%e the e*e line at the halfwa* &oint, it creates a different kind of a look. 4nd on the right side ha%e mo%ed it down b* about 2/3. hate%er *ou use will be u& to *our &ersonal &reference. "r if *ou#re working in a studio, the studio will ha%e made this designation for *ou, but it#s a good idea to know where the e*e line is on the skull and what *ou think looks best.
-n introduction to drawing eyes 6ow let#s look at the e*es themsel%es. e#re going to focus on this and take a reall* close look at it. 7o as *ou can see we ha%e a wide %ariet* of treatments of where we can &ut the e*e line and how we can draw the e*e. 7o let#s mo%e through these one b* one. +his is the classic tedd* bear button e*e, and we#%e &laced the e*e line directl* at the halfwa* &oint, the e)uator. 4nd notice the %ertical center line as well. +his allows us to s&ace them left and right correctl*. t#s an e(tremel* sim&le wa* of drawing. recommend that if *ou#re starting out and *ou reall* don#t feel like too confident, this is a reall* good wa* to get used to the &osition of the e*es and the e*e direction. ou can also add a few creases if *ou want to gi%e him a little more &ersonalit*. t#s a sim&le de%ice, enormous a&&eal. 6ow we#%e gone u& in a la*er of com&le(it*. +his is looking more like a 1HA0#s st*le classic character. 4s *ou can see, these e*es suddenl* ha%e a little more anatom* going on. +he &u&ils are still &rett* much the same as the* were in the tedd* bear %ersion, but we#%e added the cur%ature of the e*eball. e ha%e the u&&er e*elid and the lower e*elid each along here. 7ame on the other side. 4nd notice the breaks. 6ow #%e color coded these so that *ou can see them. =ach line is hel&ed with its definition b* ha%ing these little breaks. 7o the blue, which is the u&&er e*elid, breaks here, %er* subtl*, and there#s a bigger break here and that#s our %isual cue that this green line here re&resents the outside edge of the e*eball itself. 4nd the *ellow is the lower e*elid. e re&eat the &rocess on the other side. 4nd we#%e e%en added a little break on the e*ebrows. 4nd let me go back one. 4nd now *ou can see that we#re not looking at just a bunch of sill* cur%es. +hese are )uite so&histicated little lines. 6ow behind these lines is the in%isible anatom* of the balls themsel%es. =ach e*e socket contains an e*eball and this line here is the %isible edge of that ball. 4nd this ball can be s)uashed and stretched. 7o on this side we ha%e a s)uash and on this side a stretch, which, of course, at least in this e(am&le, changes the %isible sha&e of the e*eball. 6otice that the %olumes are being ke&t fairl* consistent e%en though *ou#re not going to see these lines &robabl* wouldn#t notice e%en if it did %ar*, but it#s still nice to tr* to kee& it consistent. 4nd it#s also &ossible to shift the orientation of the e*e. 6ow on the &re%ious e*es, *ou#ll notice that the edge of the corner of the e*e is sitting comfortable on the e)uator, on this gra* line here. Let#s go forward, and now #%e shifted it u& just a little bit, and this is a great wa* to get the classic feminine e*e. t just mo%es *ou outside of that %er*, more &rosaic e*e line. 4nd we can also rotate these e*es u&. 6otice also that when *ou do this, it#s a good &ractice to kee& the different elli&ses different sha&es, so the e*e closest to *ou in general will look bigger than the one further awa*. 4nd often we e(aggerate this and make the further e*e ball e%en a little smaller than it might be because it just gi%es the drawing much more de&th. 7imilar &rinci&le a&&l*ing here. 4nd #m just a&&l*ing some different e*ebrow e(&ressions so *ou can see how fle(ible this drawing st*le is. 4nd b* making the &u&ils tin*, it gi%es them a frightened or a s&aced out look. 6otice as well that #%e &ushed the e*ebrow o%er the &erimeter of the s&here, of the skull. t#s a little cartoon* de%ice. 7ometimes *ou
can get awa* with it, sometimes not. 4nd now we ha%e the &osition of the e*e line itself and some %ariations that we can work with. e#d mentioned this &re%iousl*, but it#s a good idea to look at it a little more closel*. n this case we ha%e the sim&lest &ossible formula. +he e*e line is at the halfwa* &oint of the skull#s s&here. "n this one #%e ke&t it the same. ;ut what #%e done is #%e mo%ed the e*es down, and *ou#ll see on the to& one, the model design for this re)uires us to &osition the lower e*elid on the e)uator, but *ou can just as easil* decide to ha%e the e*es &ositioned at their corners, here and here, and let that be the model. 7o we can kee& going. e can mo%e the e*e line down to a two thirds, and *ou can decide to ha%e the bottom of the e*e sitting on that. f that#s *ou#re construction, it gi%es *ou a big wide bab* face. "r *ou can decide again, let#s mo%e the e*eball down again and ha%e the corners occu&* that &ri%ileged &osition on this hori9ontal line. "r *ou could e%en mo%e it u& b* a third. 7o there#s no rigid formula to this, so what #m tr*ing to communicate here is the idea that these &ositions, *ou ha%e a wide %ariet* of o&tions, things that *ou can choose from. 4nd also *ou#re not e%en limited to orienting the e*es %erticall*. ou can orient the %ertical a(is of the e*es off of truth north. n this case, ha%e mo%ed them b* a few degrees, and this gi%es *ou a com&letel* different look of the character. 7&acing the e*es a&art is also im&ortant. 7o *ou can decide to ha%e ma*be an e*eball width a&&ro(imatel* between the e*es, or *ou can make it narrower. ;ut it#s %er* im&ortant that *ou watch the consistenc* between the corner of the e*e and this &oint here, which will determine the easiest &oint of reference between the edge of the e*e and the ne(t one o%er. f this drifts too close or too far a&art, *our character will start to look %er* different. 7o let#s take a look at how we will draw some of these images. 7o here we ha%e a &redrawn s&here that re&resents the skull. 7o what #m going to do is to draw a cou&le of e*es in. Let#s &ick an unusual &osition. 7o let#s sa* we#re looking u& at this gu* like he#s standing on a &odium or a &linth or something, gi%ing a s&eech and he#s looking u& in this direction here. 7o #m going to make a slightl* thinner stroke for the center line. 4nd let#s sa* it#s %er* im&assioned. t#s good to ha%e some idea about what this cha& is doing. hat #m going to do on this one is, as *ou can see here, want to see a little less of the e*e and reall* feel the de&th. 7o in this case if we#re looking straight on, the corners of the e*e would be about here. :ost of it would be abo%e, so his e*ebrow would be there, nose here. 7o let#s get back to this. 4nd if he#s staring off this wa*, let#s draw in the &u&ils. 4nd #m conscious of the fact again that this line here re&resents an in%isible e*eball about there, and we would e(&ect that the e*ebrow itself would break on this line here, might be rubbed out. 7o what like to do when get to a &oint where #%e got m* rough, but it#s rough, and want to do a clean u& %ersion o%er that, either will rub down the drawing so that it#s faint and see a %ague outline and go o%er the same drawing on the same sheet of &a&er, or &ut a clean sheet o%er it and draw a fresh drawing on a clean sheet. 7o in this case, #m working in hotosho& so #m just reducing the o&acit* of that drawing and &utting a clean la*er on to& of it. 4gain on &a&er, would be ha&&* to get an eraser and just lightl* rub it down and then do a clean %ersion on to&.
7o now #m going to use a smaller &encil stroke. 4nd again remember as draw these lines what the* are. +his is the u&&er e*elid. t#s not a line, it#s the u&&er e*elid. 4lwa*s remember what the object is. 6ow again, #m righthanded. want to rotate this so can draw it a little more comfortabl*. 4nd now when draw these &u&ils, notice how draw the full elli&se. did not do this. +hat looks flat. draw the entire elli&se of the &u&il, the retina. might go e%en smaller with this because it#s such a fine thing, it#s %er* hard to get the subtl* of it. +hat#s oka*. 6ow let#s draw in the lower e*elid. 7ame thing o%er here. 7o ne(t thing to do is just to add a little bit of darkness for the e*elid area. knew one %er*, %er* good animator who would s&end a lot of time reall* darkening the &erimeter of the e*es because he knew the* were so im&ortant. 6ow he#s got his seams and this line here, the &erimeter of the e*e would alwa*s look like it had e*eliner on it. 7o that#s m* &rocess for drawing a fairl* decent set of cartoon e*es. 4nd this is one ste& u& from the button tedd* bear e*es, so when *ou feel a little more confident, recommend working in a medium like this. e#ll be doing more as we go along, but this is a %er* good foundation think to get *ou to gri&s with the ideas of where the cur%es go, what the* re&resent. 7o #m going to gi%e *ou a %er* )uick and close u& look on the anatom* of the e*e. 4nd this is the similar &rinci&les that we#%e alread* discussed, but the e*e is so im&ortant, reall* want *ou to gras& this and ne%er forget this mo%ie of all the mo%ies in the course. 7o as *ou can see again #%e drawn in the &h*sical cur%e of the e*e in red on this character here on the left. 4nd *ou can see the arrows re&resenting the corner of the e*e, the lower lid, the e*eball, and the e*elid, and so on. 7o these are the &oints of control of the e*e. hen we look at this in &rofile, we see much the same thing. 4nd again we ha%e the corner of this gra* line being the e*e line that we set the e*e on. 4nd note to the right of this, #%e made a %er* cartoon* st*li9ed character and the same &rinci&les a&&l*, it#s just that the strokes are much, much sim&ler, much broader and easier to see. 4nd once again, #%e illustrated how we draw the elli&se of the &u&il and the retina so these lines cur%e in, follow those red arrows. 6e%er, e%er draw an*thing that looks like that. 7ometimes this ha&&ens in flash animation and $ animation, it#s hard to a%oid, but if *ou draw, *ou don#t ha%e to do it. +hat#s the beaut* of drawing it. Darious treatments of &u&ils, if *ou want to get different kind of emotional effects, these are %er* funn*. +he gu* on the left looks like he#s seen something reall* horrendous. +he gu* in the middle, he#s tearing u&, dee&l* emotionall* mo%ed. 4nd the fellow on the right has the classic h*¬i9ed e*e s&iral. 7o these are cartoon* de%ices, but the*#re %er*, %er* useful. "ne more thing, this is about o&en s&aces and closed s&aces. 4nd this is a st*le issue de&ending on *our character design. 7ometimes the entire e*elids area will be drawn closed. 7ome st*les like to ha%e them o&en. +his isn#t a &roblem either wa*, but if *ou do want a different color for the e*elids, then this is ob%iousl* going to be %er* hard to &aint if it#s o&en like this. 7o we tend to use in traditional animation, ink lines would be drawn, and these were in red, so the* wouldn#t be &hotoco&ied onto the trans&arent cells to be &ainted, and then the* would be inked b* hand. t was %er* com&le(. "n the com&uter, the &rocess is similar but easier. ou would use an in%isible stroke to close off that s&ace, so if we#re using
-lash or armon*, that#s a s*stem that *ou would want to watch out for. 4nd all these &rinci&les a&&l* to an* st*le. +he*#re basicall* uni%ersal, so what #m going to do is )uickl* show *ou how we a&&l* some s)uash and stretch to different design st*les. 7o here we ha%e at the to& row, our realistic e*e, in normal &ose, scrunched blink, wide o&en in shock, and tired. :iddle row, the same thing for our t*&ical 1HA0#s character. ;ottom row for a %er* st*li9ed gra&hic modern one. 4nd now if we look at these u& close one b* one, this is the naturalistic e*e, scrunch, o&en, tired. o back one more time. 7o *ou can see the amount of control and fle(ibilit* we ha%e e%en with a realistic one. ere#s the cartoon* gu*, same &rocess. 4nd we ha%e the st*li9ed one. 7o *ou might be working in the gra&hic medium and that would be the method that *ou would a&&l*. 7o that#s our initial %iew of the e*e, how *ou draw it, how *ou s&ace it, how *ou control the %olumes and make it look real.
'yelids, eye blin)s, and eyebrows 6ow when *ou#re animating the e*ebrows and the e*e area, it#s a good trick to imagine an in%isible mask around the e*e. !on#t go drawing this on e%er*thing but it#s a good idea just to ha%e an idea that it#s there. ;ecause when *ou begin to mo%e the e*e, the left e*ebrow or the right e*ebrow, or distort one side or the other, it gi%es *ou a sense for the relati%e s)uishiness and how the*#re interconnected in some of the %arious creases and lines. 6ow regarding e*elids, and blinks, if *ou look at the to& row from left to right we see our classic cartoon* e*es. 4nd this the the t*&ical e*e blink &attern. e begin e*es o&en, and then two frames later we are at 1/3 closed, the ne(t image full* closed, two frames later we#re 1/3 o&en, and then wide o&en again. 4nd that#s great for a %er* nondescri&t e*e blink where *ou don#t want an*thing too dramatic to ha&&en. 4 much more e(treme %ersion of that is the full s)uint blink. 4nd if *ou look at the middle row, *ou#ll see the more st*li9ed e*ebrows the*#re coming down along with the e*elid, 4nd then we scrunch the entire area. 7o we ha%e little things ha&&en, these crease lines here are these crease lines there, and this line here is just another line for the lower e*elid that#s a&&earing from under this line. 4nd then this ends with a big scrunch, and then we re%erse, and we#re back to our wide o&en shocked look. +here#s kind of an intermediate blink that *ou can use because sometimes the to& row can be just a little bit stiff, so what *ou can do instead of going for a full s)uint effect *ou can bring the e*ebrows down just a little bit and then ha%e them resting here so that the line for the e*ebrow is now aligning with the u&&er line for the e*elids. f *ou look at the to& row, it will be as though this e*ebrow here and this line here, are combined in this stroke here. 4nd then we begin to o&en the e*es, and we#re back to wide o&en again. 4nd let#s see how these look in motion. 7o this is the sim&lest of blinks. =as*. +his is our more e(treme s)uint. 4nd here is the intermediate one. 4nd *ou#ll notice as well #%e used as co%er for a change in e*e direction. t#s a common trick to do this. 7o if *ou want *our figure to look from left to right then *ou use the e*e blink this &oint here, and transition that. 7o now #m going to look at e*ebrows and different st*les of e*ebrow. 4nd at the to& row *ou#ll see the sim&lest one, the line, the &encil stroke. hich is great for %er* sim&le characters, also if *ou want a female character that#s a t*&ical de%ice used to make somebod* look more feminine. ;ut as *ou can see it#s )uite ca&able of making somebod* look %er* angr* as well. 4nd here we ha%e the middle row, kind of roucho :ar( e*ebrows. +he third row down, #%e gi%en them like big owl, mad &rofessor, or mad scientist e*ebrows. 4nd on the bottom row, some kind of monster or dinosaur t*&e e*ebrow. 4nd each of these t*&es show different wa*s of taking the basic sha&e, so what we#%e done is taken the basic sha&e this &encil stroke e*ebrow. 4nd then just added %olume, like a second u&&er line on the second row to create the roucho e*ebrows. +he same e*ebrow basicall* was the foundation for all the lines here that follow. f *ou read the %ertical columns *ou will see how similar each one is.
+he*#re the same %ersion of the same design. 7o this is to gi%e *ou a feeling of the design fle(ibilit* that *ou ha%e. !on#t feel limited to a small librar* of basic sha&es. 7o now let#s see how these things &la* out. 7o here#s a sim&le e*ebrow. 4nd this &ushes the e*ebrow design through some fairl* good range of motion. 7o if *ou design a character, let#s sa* with these e*ebrows, it#s a good idea to test out a few of these different angles and see what will he look like in these kind of &oses. ill this be a good transition? "r this one? "r that one? 4nd if *ou can do this for half a do9en different wild e(&ressions, *our design is &robabl* &rett* good. +his was a trick* one because it has these jagg* e*ebrows. 4nd again, notice the &oint of origin, we ha%e a &oint of origin here and here, 4nd all of the strands of hair s&read out from that. 7o let#s go forward. 7o this was easil* the hardest of all of the four to do because of these different strokes. ;ut again as *ou see, it#s )uite doable. 4nd these transitions look good, the*#re fun to watch. 4nd now we ha%e our dinosaur. 4nd again, good transitions, fun to draw. +he* seem to be )uite fle(ibile. 7o what #m going to do now is do a fifth set. 7o this dinosaur, he would be great for like a reall* muscular bod* builder t*&e, but it#s a little o%er the to& for most human characters. 7o let#s see how we would do a toned down %ersion of this. 7o #m going to take the four dinosaur head sha&es and see how would modif* these. 7o let#s &ut a clean sheet o%er them and we#ll draw on that. 7o as *ou can see we ha%e the original e*ebrow line. 7o what want to do is just take these and just tone it down a little bit. 4nd when draw rough like this like to draw with a reasonabl* scratch* line. t sta*s me from taking things too seriousl* at this stage of the &rocess. 7o what want is to follow this cur%e of the skull and make it look like he#s like an angr* dad or something, rather than a t*rannosaurus re(. 7o #m not going to be using these big, hard lines but some kind of a stroke in here suggests just a little bit of brow ridge. -ollow the original brow, we like that, and take this line from the skull. 4nd think he#d ha%e a little crease in there. 7ome brow ridge again. e#ll do the same thing here. 7o now because it#s kind of hard to see what#s going on because of the original artwork. hat #m going to do is go into that la*er, and rub out all of the dinosaur si9ed e*ebrows and see what this reall* looks like. 7o now we ha%e the same &rocess, to show how *ou can create a absolute range of treatments for different e*ebrows. 7o don#t feel like the four that showed *ou are the beginning and the end of an*thing. +he*#re sim&l* stages and &rocesses and could %ar* these lines continuall* for e(am&le. t would be %er* eas* for me to go in and add a few wis&s of e*ebrows if we wanted to make it look a little more free form. 7o *ou get the idea. 4nd a lot of fun too.
.rawing realistic eyes ;efore going much further, want to take a )uick look at the female e*e because it#s %er* similar to e%er*thing #%e alread* shown *ou. +here#s some %er* slight differences. t#s )uite common to get that feminine look, to shift the corner of the e*e in %arious wa*s. 4nd the most e(treme being just mo%e the entire e*e a(is u& so that the lower e*elid follows from &oint to &oint along this cur%e. ou don#t ha%e to go that far, but *ou can see what ha&&ens when we draw her from different angles. +he e*es are definitel* feminine. e can mo%e it b* half that amount and we still get that look, but *ou can still get a feminine e*e e%en with the e*e on a flat line. t#s reall* a matter of longer e*elashes, thinner e*ebrows, and on using markers like that. 4nd *ou can see on the left, we ha%e our t*&ical leading female lad*. ;ut again, want to encourage *ou to not be beholden to that and *ou can create reall* fantastic characters that are identifiabl* female. ;ut in this case, she#s a cra9* &unk girl who#s going to get u& to mischief, don#t know what. had great fun with this &utting the buck teeth in, but clearl* still female, we do use the e(tremel* offset e*e a(is on this one. 6otice how the corner of the e*e is down here. t#s almost 20 degrees or 25 degrees to get u& to the other corner of the e*e. 7o again, encourage e(&erimentation. 4nd there are three different basic wa*s of treating e*elashes. ou can treat them all indi%iduall* and *ou can build u& man* of them. just left se%en strokes here, but *ou can do 10, 12, 13, 1A, or as man* as *ou like. 4nd *ou can do a single triangular sha&e or *ou can %ar* these so *ou can ha%e lots of little triangles and lots of strokes. +his st*le of triangle is %er* useful in -lash animation and in armon* and other digital flat tools because it#s easier to control if *ou#re mo%ing a gra&hical sha&e around. 4t the to& here, we ha%e something that#s took a bit of time rendering. "n the bottom left, there#s a line treatment in a %er* similar st*le. ;ut on the lower right, that#s also kind of realistic, but it#s beginning to use stronger strokes and more gra&hical elements. 4nd we#re getting awa* from some of this fiddl* stuff that *ou see in here, all these little lines. 4nd *ou#re getting to a much stronger statement. 4nd let#s alwa*s remember that when *ou take on a &roject that might re)uire a character to be realistic, it doesn#t mean *ou ha%e to draw something in the intense and linear st*le at the to& of the &age. 7o here are some st*li9ed %ersions of e*es, just focusing on the e*es for this mo%ie. 4nd *ou can see how strong these sha&es are. +he*#re big, bold strokes, the*#re not fiddl*, and the* reall* liberate *ou from ha%ing to do lots of little &oint* lines. 7o here #%e done a st*le that is a little more realistic, or linear. ;ut again, to show *ou that e%en within that limitation, *ou can still ha%e an incredible range of motion. 7o let#s ha%e a look at this gu* again and see, just a )uick &ass through, so we can see how we can s)uash and stretch this %er* realistic design. #ll go back through it one more time. ;ut again, these sha&es are %er* straightforward. #%e broken them down to cur%es' 7 cur%es, a $ with a little tail on the end of it, straight lines for the bridge of the nose. 7o these are strong designs e%en though the* are, at least initiall*, realistic. 7o *ou can make
strong statements and don#t get too far down the &ath of drawing e%er* little detail.
.rawing cartoony mouths ;efore *ou get too dee&l* into dialogue, it#s good to remember that the lower jaw is %er* fle(ible. t has a huge range of motion, left to right, backwards and forwards, u& and down. 4nd so these drawings are just here. 4s a reminder that *ou can reall* stretch the jaw, *ou can certainl* do the same thing with the cartoon character. 7o we ha%e side to side, backwards and forwards, and u&down. 4nd don#t forget that the tongue itself does most of the hard work when it comes to dialogue an*wa*. 7o on the to& row, we ha%e the classic +D4 2- dialogue s*stem. 4nd #m onl* showing *ou this because if *ou do end u& in the studio situation where the* wanted to design a character, *ou ma* ha%e to draw in this librar* of mouth sha&es. 4nd the 4, ;, $ doesn#t refer to &honetic sounds. +he* are sim&l* labels for the different mouth sha&es. 7o the 4 creates the closed mouth, the ;, the bah, mah and &ah sounds and so forth. 4nd on the bottom row in blue and red, ha%e a more traditional st*le series of drawings. 4nd the im&ortant thing to remember here is that if *ou do a scene of dialogue with the character, it#s good to stick in one famil* of these sha&es. 7o, for e(am&le, in this grou& we ha%e the corner of the mouth is u&, in this one the corner is down. ou wouldn#t want to swa& between these two %er* often in the dialogue scene or it might look a little fla&&*, like this series here where the mouth is down, then u&, then down, then u&, then down. 4 character might be ha&&* for fi%e seconds, sad for 10, but the* won#t go from back to forth e%er* fi%e or si( frames. 7o tr* to a%oid that. 4nd a reminder, when *ou do dialogue be fle(ible with it, don#t be &recious. t#s better to o%erdo it and then &ull that back in, than to under do it. 7o here is a %er* generic cartoon* humanoid character, and #m just %er* )uickl* going to run *ou through these mouth sha&es. +he thing to notice here, see how chew* he is, and that#s the magic word, it#s chew*. t#s the abilit* to &ull and &ull the sha&e of this face. 4gain, not to be too &recious about it> if *ou o%erdo it, *ou can alwa*s &ull it back in. 4nd also notice that the u&&er teeth, the* do actuall* mo%e. n realit* *our u&&er teeth don#t mo%e, of course, unless *ou ha%e a medical &roblem. n this case the* do because it#s a cartoon, and e%en if *ou do a natural st*le animation, it#s often common to cheat the u&&er teeth and mo%e them, but it#s the lower teeth that reall* got to ha%e fun here, the* reall* mo%e around a lot. 7o let#s mo%e through these. -irst frame, and then notice that the creases in the e*e drag and the*#ll mo%e around to follow the mass of flesh. "n this one we &ull u&. 6otice that the cheek &ulls u& with it. +hat#s great. "n this one, the both cheeks &ull u& and o%erla& or just gra9e the lower e*e. 4nd on this one we &ull the e*e down. 4nd again we see the creases &ulling out, the li&s go o%er the edge of the face. 4nd here the final face, the big smile. 4nd that e%en creates little creases in the corners of the e*e. 4nd again, remember we are drawing %olumes, not lines, so alwa*s think about the &h*sical object. ere we ha%e a &rofile %iew of one mouth sha&e, and the bad habit think a lot of us are &icking u& from working with &rograms like -lash, where there is a librar* where we use the same mouth sha&e o%er
and o%er and o%er again. !on#t forget that *ou can ha%e a closed mouth or *ou can ha%e ten closed mouths, *ou can ha%e different kinds with different kind of emotional states. 7o let#s see how these &la*. +hat#s our beginning, it looks fine. 4nd there is a %ariation, and *et another kind. 4s *ou can see, %er*, %er* different im&ression from this character. 4nd finall*, he#s had a reall* good &iece of news. 7o, again, sta* fle(ible. 4nd here, our generic gu*. 4nd again, the main focus here is chewiness. 4 good trick to use is to work with a closed mouth and o&en one, a cheese mouth where his face is wide a&art, and then an ooh sha&e, those are the four biggies, because those show *ou the main motion that these gu* is going to ha%e to do with his mouth. +hese three on the right, just had them for fun. t was just to see what other kind of mouth sha&es could get out of this character. 7o let#s see how these &la*. $losed, wide o&en, cheese, and ooh. 7o if *ou can get a good design out of an* character with those four sha&es, *ou are in good sha&e because that means that think *ou can be &rett* safe, that a good drawing in an* of these forms will get *ou through almost an* scene that *ou want to do. 7o, and then we ha%e our no%elt* sha&es at the end, the - mouth where he is biting the lower li&, the into the face and the ras&berr*. 7o this is the one reall* want to focus on. 4nd this is a much more, a h*brid guess. 7he is not a cartoon, she is not realistic, she has bits of both, and definitel* more of a challenge because of that. 7o, again, ha%e the closed mouth, the wideo&en mouth, the cheese mouth and the ooh sha&e, and then our little no%elt* ones. 4nd this was fun, actuall* on this one because got to &ut the gum line in and she reall* looks like she is u& to something in there. 4nd, again, let#s look at these in se)uence, see how the* &la*. 7o that#s our closed mouth, wide o&en. 4gain, that was a challenge, and the challenge here is how do get a nice sha&e, how far down can &ush that lower li& without this whole area becoming cluttered. 4nd this is a %er* nice solution, and there is also a nice little design on the lower teeth, and *ou see where we ha%e this little 7, this little cur%e here, and we are seeing the edge of the teeth straight on, and it works actuall*. +hat was a nice techni)ue and that worked. Let#s go to the cheese mouth. 4nd, again, notice the cheek o%erla&&ing the lower e*e, and then we ha%e the ooh mouth. 4nd could ha%e &ut more detail in and add like that line, &ull this e*e down a little bit, but reall* wanted to focus more on the mouth, on this one. 4nd notice the sim&licit* of the mouth design, straight little 7 cur%e, $ sha&e, $ sha&e, $ sha&e, straight line, $ sha&e, straight line. 7o #m not getting into an* hugel* ad%anced gra&hical sha&es here. +he mouth looks com&le(, it#s actuall* made out of small grou& of %er* sim&le forms. 4nd then we do the -, where she is &itching the lower li&. 4gain, the cheek o%erla&s the e*e. e ha%e the err, clenching her teeth, and now #ll introduce the crease line here. 4nd again, that crease line wasn#t on in an* of the other drawings, but guess what, she has a face. 7o we &ushed that face be*ond the &oint. ou#ll e(&ect to see crease lines where the* didn#t e(ist before. 4nd now we ha%e the blowing of ras&berries. 7o those are her basic se%en sha&es. 6ow what want to do is to do a drawing, see how it turns out. 7ee if we can &ush this e%en further. 7o when was doing in that librar* of mouth sha&es, did the %ariance o%er this sha&e. didn#t do a %ariant and then hide the first drawing, and then work on the %ariant because what ha&&ens is *ou drift off model.
7o #d like to work from the closest of the original, and here she is. 7o let#s do a new drawing. 7o what want to do is fade her out a little bit. 6ow when #m drawing this on &a&er, not on the com&uter, will &ut a clean sheet of &a&er o%er the to&. f ha%e a light table, #ll &ut the light on beneath, and then would see through the &a&er and drawn on to&. ere #m in hotosho&, so #m just &utting her on 50C or A0C o&acit*, and #ll do m* drawing on to& of that. 7o, it#s the same effect, and let#s see if m* line is about the right distance, more de&th, it#s good. 7o what want to do with this is to see if can reall* gi%e her like a absolutel* wild smile, like something that#s demented. 4nd so that#s going to be something that#s &ushing the face u& reall* high. 4nd before we get in%ol%ed in like drawing the mouth, feel safer if had some idea about the o%erall sha&e of the face, and then a&&l* the mouth to that. !ifferent &eo&le ma* ha%e different methods, but like to ha%e a better idea of conte(t, so know what it#s going into. 7o this is going to to &ush the cheeks u& so high, imagine that will &inch them right here at the nostril. 7o let#s draw this big &oint* tension there. 4nd ne(t #ll just &ut in the line for the u&&er li&, and now the one for the lower li&. 4nd if we reall* want to make her look slightl* cra9ed, let#s &ush the corners out, something like this. ;ut *ou might find that the o&acit* of the lower le%el is a little too much to see, so #m going to fade her out a little more, so can see what #m doing a little more clearl*, then #m going to stretch that lower li& to reall* em&hasi9e the &oint that the mouth is being &ulled so wide. "n this little line that *ou can see here on the lower le%el, what #m going to do is &ull that, and ma*be let#s add some creases as well. +hat reall* makes it look kind of frightening. "ka*. 7o now we ha%e this face, let#s switch off the la*er beneath so we can see it b* itself. 6ot looking too bad. :* old trick is to fli& these la*ers hori9ontall*, so get that instant of freshness, so don#t go totall* blind to it. 4nd that#s also looking good e%en when fli& it. Let#s go back. 4nd now want to do is tighten this u&, that#s m* rough &ass. t#s not bad for a rough &ass. 6ormall* am a little rougher than that, so #m going to fade that out *et again on a clean la*er. 4nd now #m going to go in and draw a tighter %ersion than this. +hat#s our cleaned u& mouth, #ll &ut the lower head back on. 4nd the &roblem with lower head now, of course, is that has the other mouth through it. 7o let#s hide that, we#ll actuall* just delete that. 4nd there is weirdness ha&&ening with the e*e. 7o #m just going to go in a little closer because the e*e should react to the cheek, right. 7o let#s do that. 7o &ut a little crease line in there. 4nd *ou could ma*be e%en hint that the lower e*elid starting to crease u& there. e could go further and reall* start to mess with this area, but what reall* want to con%e* here is the area around the mouth and the nose and the cheeks. 7o here we ha%e the face, don#t consider this final final, this is a semirough &ass. 7he is terrif*ing. 7o that shows *ou the sco&e of how *ou can ma*be go a little further, a little further. could &robabl* go a little further than this, but don#t know b* how much. 7o it#s good to know that *ou are at the e(tremit* of what *ou can get awa* with, with *our design. 7o now just a )uick note about things like female mouths and the sha&e librar* that *ou can use with them. 4nd this is just fi%e that did in the closed
and o&en &osition using this little : sha&e on the u&&er li&. 4nd de&ending on how *ou a&&l* these cur%es, so in this case the cur%e is cur%ing in. "n this one that#s cur%ing out. ere ta&ered right to the edge of the mouth, took out the little di%ot in the to&. 4nd as *ou can see, *ou can %ar* with this o%er and o%er and o%er again. 4nd b* changing the break of the cur%e where the breaks ha&&ened or where the line cur%es in or out, *ou get different mouth sha&es. ou can make li&stick or thinner than this. 7o, again, it isn#t the case where *ou ha%e to alwa*s use this &articular mouth sha&e because it#s a female character. 7o it#s good to break out of that constraint. 7imilarl* with teeth, *ou can do all white teeth, *ou can ha%e a single stroke, ma*be a little thicker in here and thinner there. ou can add as man* or as few of these internal lines as *ou like, or *ou can take them all the wa* and close off though sha&es. 7o different le%els of teeth also a&&lies to carni%orous mouths. n here we can get the gum line in and that reall* gi%es a good snarl* feeling, and *ou can do that on humans too, of course. 4nd here is a fantastic trick learned *ears ago, and that is to offset the teeth, so that *ou ha%e the teeth at an angle to one another. 4nd *ou can do this e%en if this breaks the anatom*. +his is a fantastic trick *ou can get awa* with. hat it does is it creates a triangular internal sha&e. f *ou follow those lines there, *ou will see a triangle. 4nd that gi%es *ou reall* good s&ace, it#s where *ou can &ut in the tongue without cluttering it u&. 7o that#s a reall* hand* de%ice to use. 4nd tongues, these are just three e(am&les, #m sure *ou could think u& more, but essentiall* *ou can make them all round and cute and soft and 1HA0s, or *ou can do the 1HB0s t*&e &otato chi&, or *ou can go a little more naturalistic route and gi%e it a realistic ti&. 7o, again, man* more %arieties in just these three, but this is just to gi%e *ou an inkling. :a*be watch mo%ies and see how other &eo&le ha%e done. 7o here we ha%e strange angles, and can#t gi%e *ou a librar* of e%er* weird angle, but this is just to gi%e *ou a suggestion that if *ou ha%e things like weird u&shots, like dramatic u&shots, this mouth is a com&lete cheat. +hat is more or less a mouth that *ou would see from a fronton &oint of %iew, but *our brain thinks it#s correct because of the conte(t. t#s within the conte(t of an u&shot. 7o it#s &rett* much an illusion. 4nd so when *ou go to these weird angles, the &roblem will be, what do lea%e out? -or e(am&le, with this one wouldn#t want to see his teeth, it would look strange. 7o *ou begin to lose teeth, *ou begin to lose other details. 4nd from this rear%iew *ou wouldn#t e%en see much inner detail at all. 7o just get used to what *ou don#t ha%e to show. 4nd with some characters like the generic cartoon mouse or an* cartoon character, some features are basicall* androg*nous. +he mouth in this character is, it could be on a male character. t#s the conte(t of her ha%ing long e*elashes that makes *ou think that that#s a female mouth. 4nd great fun can be had with reall* older or wrinkled characters where *ou can get into the bod* mass. 4nd here we ha%e old grann* with her wrinkled mouth. mean, she has one tooth, and notice too e%en had a little hint of the inner mouth there so. ou can still &ush this, because she just didn#t ha%e man* teeth, *ou can do things with these mouth sha&es that ma*be *ou can#t do with *ounger characters. 7o that was a lot of fun to work with. 7o that#s our blit9 introduction to cartoon mouths and
man* of the tricks and techni)ues that#ll think hel& *ou.
.rawing realistic and styli/ed mouths hat #m going to show *ou now is the librar* of more realistic mouth designs for a female and male character. 4gain, #m kee&ing them bald, don#t want to draw a lot of hair. don#t want *ou looking at the hair. e want to focus here on the mouth and the kind of distortions that a more realistic st*le of mouth can get awa* with. +here#s no reason to be intimidated b* the fact that this is meant to be real. t#s still a cartoon, so the big one to watch is the o&en mouth, and look at what *ou can still get awa* with. ou can do e(treme range of motions, both in the &urse sha&e, and e%en like these wide smiles, which are actuall* )uite unnatural if *ou look at them closel*. 7o, the other thing to notice about this st*le is that it#s more straight lines, and it isn#t a round round round. 6ow the trick with this st*le and &ulling it off is to be a little bolder with the line strokes and if *ou#re timid in an* wa* with this st*le, *ou#ll end u& with a timid looking drawing. 7o, let#s just go through a few of these u& closer and *ou can see what mean. 4gain we ha%e these little scallo& sha&es around here and the chin is like a little stroke and the e*ebrow is one stroke too so we#ll just mo%e through, check out a few &oses. 4gain, curling the li&, don#t be afraid of as*mmetr*. ou can twist the mouth off to one side and if e%er *ou#re in an* doubt, look in the mirror. 4ct some of this stuff out and *ou#ll see what mean. 7ame thing a&&lies more so to the three )uarters %iew, and again *ou#ll see bold single stroke on the lower e*elid. 6otice also that the e*e is oriented on a angle. 7ingle stroke for that e*ebrow, and another one for the other side, so *ou#ll find as *ou get more confident with this that *our strokes will become faster and less e(&lorator*, and with this sha&e too, that#s a single stroke right there all the wa* down. #m not breaking it u& with like a little di%ot to describe the other corner of the mouth which we should be seeing from this angle. ;ut a stronger design just makes a stronger statement. t goes one big line to that &oint there, back of the mouth, straight line. 4nd so these are the kind of tricks that *ou#ll see es&eciall* if *ou look at the !isne* animation that was done in the late 0#s and 1HB0#s or the earl* !on ;luth work like 7ecret of 6: or !ragon#s Lair and 7&ace 4ce. +his is this kind of look. t#s not eas* to come b* and am not &retending to be a master of it. +his reall* is the challenging end of the design s&ectrum but it#s fun when *ou begin to get into that territor* and *ou get to see the a&&eal of it. 4nd certainl* transitions like this are great fun to draw. ere#s a t*&ical male character. ere *ou will reall* see the straights against cur%es because, being the more angular sha&e, *ou can get awa* with it. uge cheek bones, these cur%ed lines cur%ing inwards, massi%e straight line for the chin, e%en the nose which *ou#ll see more as we go along. 7o #%e gi%en him the same librar* of mouth sha&es as the female character, just &ushed him using the male &h*si)ue, and again we ha%e the e*es slightl* offset so the*#re not flat on with the e*e line. +he*#re cur%ing u& the skull just a little bit. Look at this e*ebrow. "ne line, it#s almost &rimiti%e. 4nd *ou can reall* see it too in &rofile. -undamentall*, %er* sim&le sha&es, and as we mo%e *ou can see them s)uashing and stretching, notice the acti%it* on the e*e with the cur%es.
7o what #m going to do now is to take the male figure in three )uarters and see if we can do something new with them. 7o here is the male three )uarter head, closed mouth &osition, and this is the one that work all m* %ariations out of. hat want to do with this gu* is something that we didn#t do in that sheet that showed *ou, and that is ma*be &ut some fear into him. Let#s see what he looks like if he#s looking reall* scared. 7o let#s imagine that he has seen something terrif*ing, doesn#t like it. 7o his mouth goes GghG like down in a down &osition like he#s reall* lost his ner%e. 7o first thing that e(&ect to ha&&en will be the whole jaw mass will mo%e down a bit and if the mouth is getting &ulled down, ma*be the corners are getting &ulled down to here. 4gain, see what just did? &ull from the nose all the wa* down. t hel&s me to imagine the mass of the face, and what#s ha&&ening with it. #m going to &ull that nose down as far as think can get awa* with. 6ow it might be difficult at this &oint to see because this often ha&&ens. Lower le%el is )uite strong but that#s where we#re heading. 6ow when toggle back and forth, there should be a good hint of whether or not this will work. can alwa*s fli& this hori9ontall* if think #m going a bit blind to it, not too bad. +hese lines here make him look a little older than would like, so ma*be we can#t )uite *et use something like that. -or now think that#s &rett* decent so let#s &ut a new sheet o%er this and &ut that la*er on an o&acit*, and so now #m going to go in with a slightl* finer brush. 7o now let#s get rid of our rough la*er, and now we can toggle from here to there. e ha%e to watch things like gaining %olume. think we are gaining %olume on the e*e area. ;ut if fli& hori9ontall*, it#s not com&letel* awful. Let#s go in and draw a few more lines o%er it, and *ou#ll find when *ou draw a second line, es&eciall* if the first one is reasonabl* accurate, *ou start to get a %er* nice feeling out of it. "ka*, think #m making him look a bit old. 7o, what want to do now is co&* some of the original la*er so this area of the ear and the skull, want that to match so let#s co&* that. 7o let#s see what this looks like side b* side. 7o, as the drawing goes, for me that#s a start. will kee& working on that but that#s the general &rocess of how would &ull that face into a state that#s )uite different from the original &ose. 7o let#s take one final look at other o&tions that we ha%e when dealing with mouths. +his is a st*le that would come from a more gra&hic end of the s&ectrum, and if *ou are working on like su&er designing or reall* artificial characters, then this will be one &ossible school of design and in each case, #%e take the sim&le gra&hic sha&e like a little bow tie t*&e thing, a little .-.", a little wa%e, &eanut and a &*ramid and e(tra&olated mouth sha&es from them. ou can imagine these bolted on to little geometrical characters for some kid#s +D show so this is sim&l* to illustrate that in the world of dialog, there are so man* more o&tions o&en than sim&l* naturalistic mouth sha&es, and we do kee& in mind that *ou ma* end u& at some &oint facing the challenge of making a &*ramid talk, so with that think we#re done with mouths.
.rawing the nose hen drawing a nose, find it#s %er* useful to imagine a line going from the back of the head through the e*eline out into s&ace in front of *our head. 7o if *ou look at it from the side, *ou#ll see what mean. t follows the e*eline and out into s&ace. 6ow some noses droo&. 7o this is of limited use to them, but it still at least trains *ou to think about the drawing in three dimensions. 7o let#s see what this looks like. ere we ha%e si( heads, different noses, and as *ou can tell this gu* on the left definitel* that will hel& because this &art of his nose is almost hori9ontal. 7imilarl*, with this bold nose it#s floating bolted right in front of the face, and e%en this gu* here, it#s a &oint* nose almost like a mouse nose. "thers are less so like this fellow here goes down at an angle. +his one is ma*be able to hel& with him. +his nose is tin* so ma*be not, but it#s a good de%ice for some designs certainl* him, and this one, and that one. 7o still think it#s a good tool to ha%e. Like said, it focuses *our head onto thinking about this thing as a real s&herical object. "n to& of that, imagine that the nose is attached to the head b* a triangle, this imaginar* red triangle with the a&e( right between *our e*es sitting here at this &oint, and the two lower corner &oints attached to the head or the skull, and from here we ha%e the nostrils. 4nd then *ou can, of course, %ar* the ti& of *our nose will be the &oint of this &*ramid. 4nd this can %ar*. +he &oint can be u&, or down, or near the head, or far awa* from it. t#s an informal %er* loose wa* to train *our mind into thinking about the nose as a threedimensional object and roughl* where the major structure#d go. t#s general. t#s like this &oint here will gi%e *ou a general idea about where the nostril area should be. 4nd as *ou can see, we can attach different kinds of noses to the same triangle. 4nd this is to show again that the incredible %ariet* of treatments that *ou can ha%e for e%en something as sim&le as the nostril. ou#re not limited to doing just the basic sha&e, and that#s one &roblem #%e noticed throughout the *ears. eo&le tend to find a GgotoG nose sha&e and then the* just do that all the time when ma*be other sha&es will work better, reall* sim&le ones like this with nothing but a silhouette to one with a dot for the nostril, all the wa* to a much more realistic rendering. 7o &lease kee& that in mind so *ou don#t get tra&&ed in a single st*le. 4nd here took a realistic man and ga%e him a series of noses ranging from a reall* e(aggerated comical one, a &oint* one, to a sill* bulb, to a more realistic hooked nose. +he onl* one of these four that looks kind of out of &lace think is this one that#s a little too much for his st*le. ;ut again it goes to show *ou *ou can get awa* with an*thing from this sha&e to this sha&e and *ou#re not again stuck with just sim&le realism. 4nd for different angles, this can be troublesome. can#t ob%iousl* show *ou e%er* weird angle with e%er* nose, but here are just a few suggestions. n general, tr* to a%oid these kind of angles if *ou can draw *our character from a better direction, *ou#d do it. ;ut occasionall* *ou ha%e no choice, and in that case it#s just making the best *ou can out of a bad lot. n this case, alwa*s tr* to get an e*e in if can. t#s sad if *ou can#t get at least one e*eball
in. ;ut these are fairl* t*&ical of the more difficult angles. 6ow taking the realistic st*le, here we ha%e a %er* realistic nose, but again we can reduce this and sta* realistic. e can take it and break it down and then break it down further until we ha%e one stroke to define the %ertical, one stroke the side underneath, and this is almost one, two, just three lines here. 7o we do ha%e the abilit* to take a realistic st*le and still make it gra&hic and strong and, therefore, easier to animate. 4nd here we ha%e some e(aggeration. +he man on the left #%e gi%en a huge nose and a %er* sim&le one too. +hese are a minimum of strokes. +hat#s onl* three, four, fi%e strokes "n the underside of these large noses, *ou can still imagine the triangle, and when draw a rough, like to sketch it in because it just gi%es me a reall* solid feeling that m* drawing has some concrete weight and mass to it. 4nd then when s)uash and stretch the drawing, #m able to control the s)uash and the stretch of the design a lot more. 4nd here are a )uick %ariet* of &rofiles. 7o again the original was a straight line. +hat doesn#t mean *ou can#t add other bum&s and cur%es, scallo&s on the nose to make it more interesting if *ou want. 4nd again, back to the &*ramid. e ha%e the imaginar* red &*ramid, and if *ou look at these %er* st*li9ed drawings, *ou can almost see the &*ramid e%en though it#s not reall* drawn in. knew it was there when &ut these lines down. +here#s a &oint here, a &oint here, a &oint there, and that#s the in%isible structure. ere *ou can reall* feel it. 7o if was to draw in these shadow areas, then *ou would reall* feel that area. 4 female face, it a&&lies here too. "n the left, it#s a little more realistic. "n the right, we#%e broken it down into a su&er sim&lified sha&e. 4nd here we ha%e si( different st*les of nose and if we look in closer, *ou can see this would be a fairl* common wa* of drawing a female nose, but there are others. 7o *ou can reduce that line a little bit to break off this area here. +hat makes it look softer, a little *ounger. ou could define the nose more. like this look a lot because it gi%es *ou a reall* nice feeling of dimension and this stroke across here is like the ti& of the nose. t gi%es it a bit of definition. ou could also get the same effect b* actuall* drawing in the shadow area under the nose. ou could close this off and shade it in or &aint it a different color. ou could e%en white it out, and in this case it#s almost like we#%e blown it out with light and all we#re seeing is that faintest suggestion of the nostrils. t#s a %er* subtle effect. 4nd *ou can take the nose and &ush it out or e(trude it, do reall* e(tra%agant things with it, *ou make it longer, shorter, wider, whate%er *ou like. 7o again, don#t feel limited. 4nd once more, just some other fronton %iews of the nose and different areas. 4gain, this one is so sim&le to do. t#s reall* nice and here we#re down to just a handful of strokes. 4nd &rofiles, again, can be %aried with a female just like a male. +he* don#t all ha%e to be &i(ie noses. ou can do straight ones, bent ones, stubb* ones if *ou can get awa* with it. 7o now want to show *ou how to draw some of these. "ka*, so let#s just do a )uick circle for the head, and we#ll imagine the line going around the back of the head, and there#s our imaginar* line to the front. n this case, #ll draw like the bulbt*&e nose, tid* it u& a little bit so *ou can see it. 7o #m going to mo%e him o%er here, and now what want to do is to create a more angular nose. 7o again, we ha%e
this triangle and let#s sa* like a witch* nose something different. 7o in this case, we ha%e the triangle here so what #ll do now is #m going to &ut that on a trans&arenc* so can do a slightl* cleaner &ass o%er that and notice that the strokes are )uite straighforward. #m going to mo%e him o%er here, do a cou&le more. 7o #ll do the action hero male. 7o let#s sa* the nose is coming in this direction here, ti& will be about here. 4nd again, one, two, three strokes and we#%e got it. ou can alwa*s add more, of course, if *ou want after that as *ou begin to build u& around it, but that#s the core. 7o think we#ll do one more which will be the female nose #cause it can be the trickiest because it#s %isuall* the most subtle. 7o the &roblem is here do we draw the nostril on the other side? 4nd it#s %er* eas* for this to become cluttered. 7o i#m just going to suggest it. 7o #m going to fli& this hori9ontall* to make sure it still looks good. think it#s just going out a little, not b* much, just a little too much. 4nd the other thing that can do is &ull the nose in a little bit. "ka*, let#s fli& again. 6ot too bad. 7o that will be an eas* enough st*le of female nose, and *ou could also be more con%entional and draw something more like the male nose as well which is our usual one, two stroke, one or two for the nostril. ou won#t go far wrong with that. f *ou want *ou can add the lines for the bum&, or second nostril, but again, the more lines *ou add, the more danger *ou ha%e of making her look 25, 30, 35, so it#s alwa*s a trick* thing with *ounger characters. 7o that#s the a&&roach that use for drawing noses.
.rawing ears 4 %er* nice and sim&le techni)ue for drawing con%incing ears, is to use a straight line with a cou&le of cur%es. 4s *ou can see u& here, we ha%e our straight line, and then a cur%e, and a second cur%e, and here there#s a break. 4nd it#s reall* that sim&le. 7o, as we follow along the right side, *ou can see how with a&&l*ing some internal lines, we create this form. +he internal sha&e here is like the letter, &i. Der* sim&lified. ;ut b* %ar*ing the degree of the cur%ature of these inner strokes, breaking them down a little further, *ou can get some %er* nice looking ears. 7o, let#s do one from scratch. 7o again, we#ll draw a cur%e, a straight, and a second cur%e. 4nd we know that we ha%e our break here, but now let#s just draw through. n this case, can draw a little 7 cur%e or a $ cur%e. Let#s make an 7 cur%e and see what it looks like. ;ut like the little, whate%er this thing is, i ne%er know the name of it. +hen, whate%er internal sha&e *ou want. #m going to get fanc* with this. ou could make it like a bulge like that. Let#s undo it, let#s kee& it ma*be sim&ler. ou can &ut a stroke. t just has to indicate, suggest the structure of the ear. t doesn#t ha%e to do much more than that. rett* much that#s it. ou can %ar* it, of course. ou could do a cur%e here, *ou could ha%e the line bend this wa*, *ou could ha%e the line bend that wa*. ;asic form will be something like this. +he main thing to watch out for is that *ou a%oid &arallel lines. +he*#re just unsightl*. 6otice here, we ha%e a ta&ered sha&e. t#s not &arallel, this sha&e here is also ta&ered. 7o, it#s more triangular than &arallel. 7ame goes for here, it#s thinner to thick. 7o, that#s the basic &rocess for drawing ears. Let me show *ou a few more e(am&les. ere, we ha%e some more. 7o on the to& left, *ou can see what regard as a nono. e ha%e a &erfect cur%e with no breaks inside another cur%e with no breaks, and inside that, another cur%e with no breaks. e ha%e a big &arallel sha&e in here. t#s a lot of boring to me. ou can use the %er* same design s*stem, and just b* nudging it, b* &utting a break on here, &ulling that line out a little bit. ulling this one in a little bit here, suddenl* *ou#%e remo%ed the &arallels, and with the same basic three strokes, *ou ha%e now created a much more interesting sha&e. ou can go further and &ut breaks on this little gu* if *ou wanted, too. ere, we ha%e some %ariations. #%e just &ut in more little bulges, or bum&s just to %ar* it. ou can see these tick marks, the* flag the breaks. ou can see where the cur%e of the line %aries. ;ut, this should be a &rett* good e(am&le of a %irtue of a%oiding &arallel lines, and using cur%es correctl* and intelligentl*. 4nd just some more %ariations. f *ou ha%e a three )uarter rear %iew of the ear, then this folds, it#s bolting the ear to the side of the head comes into &la*. e lose the little gu* here, whate%er this thing is. e get this basic sha&e, and again a break, a break, and a break, or some other %ariation of that, and *ou#re good. 4n elf ear is just like a normal ear. ou add the ti&. ere are some other %ariants of the same ear &attern with slightl* more com&le(it* a&&earing. !ifferent ear sha&es, this is more like a bean, this is more like *our classic 1HB0s !isne* or ;luth ear. 7o, *ou get an ama9ing control o%er such a sim&le sha&e.
-dding details to build character in a drawing Let#s take a character and add some details' warts, brow ridges, wrinkles, tufts of hair, all that kind of stuff, we#ll reall* make him &rett*. 7o the first thing want to do is gi%e him some warts. Let#s start with that. e will just draw in a few, and remember when *ou#re doing this, these circles are attaching to a &h*sical sha&e, and tr* to follow the contours of what *ou think the area should be. 7o for e(am&le, these warts here or freckles if *ou want to think of them as flat on the surface, the*#re just going directl* o%er a cheek that#s cur%ed, so want to make them match that. +he cheek is like that, these warts should more or less follow along. "ne nice trick to use when *ou#re designing stuff like this is to remember that it#s good to be able to draw these with some kind of control. 7o imagine that there is a line going from here to the corner of the mouth, and the center of these freckles or warts will alwa*s align with that line. 4s *ou stretch and mo%e the mouth, the*#ll stretch and mo%e with it, and that wa* *ou#ll know where to &ut them. 7imilarl* here, *ou might imagine the line going from these &oints at the ti& of the nose to the corner of the e*e, and then *ou sim&l* draw them along that imaginar* line, and therefore *ou#%e got some construction control. 7o that would be the main wa* that would de&lo* warts or s&ots or mottles, objects on the surface or contour of a character. 6e(t thing we want to do is to &ut on a ridge, like a big, &rett* ugl* looking brow ridge. Let#s gi%e him something &rett* hea%*. #m imagining this as like the dinosaur, it#s the brow of a +. re( almost, it#s reall* hea%*, -rankenstein kind of object. #m going to reall* build it out. f *ou want *ou can imagine its contour lines are all like that. e don#t ha%e to com&letel* close it off. think it#ll look stronger if we feel that this is flowing out of the mass of the skull, and it#s not some totall* se&arated block. e can match these cur%es o%er here, the*#ll ha%e an e)ui%alent on that side. e can add more creases in here. 7o there#s more things we can do to make this gu* look e%en less human. e can also make his head more cone sha&ed. Let#s imagine that we ha%e the a&e( of the head around here, and let#s sa* we want to gi%e him a reall* sinister look. ull that u& to there. 7o now #m going in with a reall* dark stroke, because just want to reall* highlight the &arts that we#%e com&letel* altered out of &rett* much all recognition on this gu*. 7o, that#s the &rocess of taking somebod* who wants to look fairl* human, and turning him into something who#s fairl* inhuman. 7o as the* sa*, here#s one did earlier, and *ou can see the &rogression from left to right. 4ll of this builds character. ou can take somebod* who#s fairl* bland on the left and b* the time *ou get him to the right side, and *ou don#t ha%e to make him a goblin, *ou can do an* number of things to a character to add &ersonalit*, but this a &rett* fun e(am&le. Let#s go on to the sto& motion, there we go. 6ow want to show *ou how we add other details that are less sinister like a nice necklace. 7o if *ou add details to the character that are sa* &ro&s or noncharacter based, the*#re still subject to
the same construction laws. n this case, the necklace is going to wra& around the neck in a $ sha&e or an eight sha&e or an 7 cur%e, and *ou can see here on the right side where we#%e drawn through, same thing here on the right it#s more of a bean sha&e. +hat#s the &rocess that *ou would follow for an* kind of object that#s wra&&ing around the bod* or a contour. 4nother area that is a constant irritant for me' large e*eglasses, the* reall* &la* ha%oc with the e*ebrows. 7o if *ou do e%er ha%e a character like this, *ou ha%e to take &articular care that the e*ebrows don#t con%erge with the e*eglass. +he solution would be to mo%e the e*ebrow on a different line or a cur%e, mo%e it under or o%er, or change the orientation so that the brow no longer conflicts with that &erimeter. "f course, don#t forget this is a great sco&e for gags, where *ou can take glasses off and this entire area can be white to re%eal tin* little button e*es. :a*be it#s a one off, but the*#re fun if *ou can get awa* with them. 4nd then the other thing to remember also if *ou are working in a cartoon* medium is that the area of the e*e can be a white little o%ershoot into s&ace outside of the character. =*eglasses, jewelr*, objects that attach to a character, just remember that the* ha%e to be constructed and the* ha%e to be &h*sicall* coherent so that when *ou work them with the character that the* fit to it. +he*#re not just floating in arbitrar* s&ace or as in the case of the jewelr* *ou can feel them &h*sicall* contacting the bod*.
.rawing hands Let#s take a look at hands and these can be reall* intimidating, but reall* there#s a &rocess that we can use to sim&lif* the construction and drawing. 6ow, first of all this letter s*stem that *ou see don#t worr* about it too much if *ou#re just drawing. +his is for &eo&le who want to draw a lot of hand reference images and ma*be sa%e them on a com&uter. 4nd, if *ou want to do that it#s reall* nice if *ou ha%e all of the ones where *our &alm, for e(am&le, is facing out all together so *ou can toggle through them and find the %ariations more easil*. f *ou#re just drawing on &a&er on a notebook forget all this, but the nice thing about this is the* stack in *our folders on *our com&uter reall*, reall* elegantl*. 7o, let#s mo%e on 7o, here we ha%e the hands and #m gonna toggle through them and these are good design solutions for the major angles. "f course, the hand is facing straight on. f we tilted the hand towards *ou *ou#d ha%e to ha%e new solutions, but this will show *ou the &rimar* directions. 6ow we#re going to look at how to draw this and a good a&&roach, a &rett* standardi9ed a&&roach is to use the s*stem of the mitten, we call it. 7o, let#s take a look at how this is done. 7o, what #m going to do now is draw in the mitten on this side here, so *ou can begin with the thumb, or the actual finger area *ourself. +r* to kee& the strokes nice and broad and loose, and then a big thumb. +here#s a little break here on the cur%e, *ou can see. t suggests the joint of the thumb. +hat would be the first stage of drawing a hand. ma* ha%e gone a little &oint* at the to&, don#t worr* about that for now. Let#s just &ut in this little flesh* &ad for the little stum&* &art of the hand, and then the crease here and then *ou alread* ha%e this line for the fingers more or less suggested an*wa* b* the end of this ball area. 4nd then, *ou can add in the fingers. 6ow, *ou could do them like su&er sim&le if *ou liked. 4nd, *ou don#t ha%e to, of course, follow this e(act cur%e this just gets *ou into the rough s&acing of it. 7o, this#ll be a %er* t*&ical rough &ass. 7o, what #m going to do now is just undo some of this and do something that#s closer to the e(am&le that we see on the right o%er here because *ou know *ou#re going to break this u& an*wa* so let#s just do that in ad%ance. 7o, #m going to take that little finger and just make it do something a little more interesting. +hen, ha%e the middle finger ma*be bent slightl*, too. 4nd, *ou might want to clean this u& at this &oint getting hard to see with our outer line there. 4nd, bear in mind of course, the middle finger should be the longest, so we don#t want the longest inde( finger looking cra9* long. 7o, this is looking a little more naturalistic because the fingers are feeling a little bit thinner, but *ou get the idea. 7o, that#s the &rocess and b* using this and b* changing the width or the %olume of the fingers *ou can get hands that are )uite cartoon* or realistic. 4nd, kee& *our initial &ass rough and loose. 7o, this would be about the s&eed that would draw an actual hand out if was just going in for m* initial design &ass for the fingers and the hand. 7o, let#s mo%e on. ere we ha%e a slide that shows the same techni)ue and this time we#re just making some %ariations to the fingers, so let#s look in these in close u&. ere we ha%e the mitten, and now we#%e
added the internal finger strokes. 4nd, see how we can cur%e indi%idual fingers to get different hand &ositions. 4nd, also notice these red marks are corres&onding with the breaks. 4nd, these breaks, again, with different sha&ed line strokes so these outer stokes are more straight than the inner. +hat#s because that#s where the bone is closer to the surface of the skin, and we ha%e the s)uish* round &arts on the inside, and we ha%e the same for the middle finger and for the inde( finger. 7o, *ou can create all kinds of hand &ositions b* these sim&le %ariations. ;ring in the thumb *ou ha%e a fist and *ou can s&la* the fingers out and this s&la*ed hands shows a %er* hand* techni)ue for making a good hand design. 4nd, that is to ha%e two of the fingers closer and break one of them off. 4nd, if *ou ha%e a natural hand *ou kee& three together and break one off. 7o, let#s see another e(am&le of this. 4nd, here we ha%e four hands and again we ha%e one finger broken off, one finger broken off, one broken off, and one broken off and the other two are clum&ed together. 7o, let#s see if we can do another one of these. 7o, #m just gonna draw the ball for the hand. 4nd, let#s do ma*be a hand &ointing off into the distance o%er here. 7o, he#s going to be &ointing u& into the sk* or ma*be he#s got the other two fingers s&la*ed out. +he* could either be curled down under, or the* could be &ointing out that wa*. 4s often ha&&ens with m* rough sketches this one#s getting %er* weed* %er* )uickl*, so let#s &ut this on o&acit*. Let#s mo%e these fingers down a little bit. ut a fingernail on it, it hel&s to read the direction. 4nd again, #m building m* lines o%er this imaginar* ball. +he* don#t ha%e to e(actl* follow the contour of that mind *ou, but that#s just there as a guide just so don#t com&letel* drift off. 7o now, let#s see if this is going to look clean. :* longtime trick is to use this -li& ori9ontal, it just feels a little off balance, so #m going to use one of the rotation tools in hotosho& and just &oint it like that. 4nd now, as go back and forward it#s not too bad. might want to make some adjustments to the cur%ature of the line here. +his one#s a little harsh. +hat looks &rett* good. 7o, with a little more &olishing *ou can see could turn this hand design into something a lot more elegant looking with these beautiful strokes. ;ut, that#s alread* sol%ed the basic &roblem of where do the lines go. 4nd again, using the techni)ue of one finger, two fingers. 4lso, do remember that the hand is fle(ible. t#s not on a mechanical &i%ot. t can rotate around, it#s reall* like a ball socket. 7o, it#s e(tremel* fle(ible and when *ou#re working with cartoon characters do tr* to get this fle(ibilit* as *ou can see #m almost turning it into li)uid there on the left side hand. ou#ll ha%e, think, a much more enjo*able time if *ou can do drawings that look like this. 4lso, if *ou hold *our hand out in front of *ou as *ou see with this hand here, hold it right u&, if *ou can hold it %erticall*, and notice there#s and imaginar* line that goes right on the underside of the hand all the wa* down the forearm. 4nd, if *ou kee& this in mind when *ou draw *our hand e%en as *ou rotate it and mo%e it around this will hel& to gi%e more anatomical structure. hen we draw cartoons we e(aggerate this &rinci&le so we reall* make it e(treme so *ou get these almost right angles sometime with these hands. 4nd, that also creates a %er* strong design sha&e. 4nother common &roblem that *ou#ll face is that of
foreshortening. 6ow here, #%e a&&lied that same &rinci&le where we#%e used the hard angle on the outside of the edge of the arm and we#%e built the hand around it using the same s*stem we#%e alread* seen of the mitten techni)ue. 6ow, the &roblem becomes when we look at the elongated fingers, or when the*#re close to us, when the* begin to foreshorten. ou can ha%e some &rett* trick* design sha&es. 7o, let#s ha%e a look at how we would begin to a&&roach one of these. 7o, what want to do is a hand where we#re looking u& at it, but the fingers are coming out towards us, like he#s a magician on a stage. 7o, first #ll just sketch in the wrist. 4nd then, we draw in the &ad, or the &alm of the hand. 4gain, remembering this red line here that would be roughl* following the big shar& cur%e. 4nd, let#s draw in the thumb. e#re gonna be looking u& at the hand, so this is the underside of the thumb. 6ow, the fingers will be s&la*ed out, so it#s a good idea, think, to draw in the outer finger strokes for each and then we know that roughl* the fingers will follow a &ath like that. 7o, #m drawing the fingers as a com&lete mass. 4nd, #m remembering that the*#re coming out towards us like this. 4nd then, we can begin to flesh in lightl* again some of the inner strokes and #m breaking u& the middle finger and the little finger just a little bit. 4nd, do a little bit of clean u& because at this &oint it can be hard to make out all these o%erla&&ing lines, the construction area has done it#s &ur&ose. 4nd, *ou can add in some little suggestions of creases here if *ou want. 7o, let#s fli& this hori9ontall* and see. t#s not too bad. 7o, what #m gonna do is &ut that on an o&acit* and &ut a clean sheet o%er it with a finer stroke. 4nd again, we can reconstruct the hand but wouldn#t do it too hea%il* on the second, cleaner %ersion, no need. :a*be the thumb comes in a little bit. 4nd, if *ou reall* want to &ush the foreshortening on this just &ull that finger down so that we#re almost looking at a cur%e. 7o that if *ou want to make it more e(aggerated that would be how *ou would do it. +he more lines *ou add just the more business *ou#re creating, so sometimes less is more. 4lwa*s be conscious that ma*be *ou#d ha%e a better drawing if *ou take a line out than &utting one in. 7o now, let# get rid of the lower le%el, and that#s a &rett* good first start at a foreshortened hand. think would like to see a suggestion of some creases there, think that would also hel& sell that foreshortening. 4nd, b* fli&&ing hori9ontall* again just gi%e m* brain that little magic two seconds of looking at the drawing for a fresh %iew. t reall* works wonders if *ou ha%e a mirror, also works. +hat#s &rett* good, #m ha&&* with that. 7o, let#s mo%e on. 7o, let#s see how these &rinci&les would a&&l* to a slightl* more realistic hand. 4nd, the major difference with this is *ou#re going from a cur%ier &rocess to a straight one. 4nd, we like to use bo(ier constructions to create these. 7o again, #m gonna draw the wrist and then kind of a bo( sha&e, something along this line. 4nd, that will allow us to create the hand around that. 4nd now, let#s sa* want to ha%e slightl* curled fingers, something a little more interesting. +his time #m just gonna draw each finger one at a time. ou could as easil* draw one big arching area, some &eo&le like to do that, but when *ou know what *ou#re doing, if *ou ha%e a &rett* good idea about the kind of hand that *ou want this kind of a&&roach can also be &roducti%e. 7o, it#s reall* that )uick. 6ow, let#s go in and tighten it u& just %er* )uickl*. 7o, #m going to not bother redrawing the construction for
this one because this is more of a finished drawing. 7o, can focus more on the lines. would draw through a lot of this area here. 4nd, on this kind of hands don#t forget *ou ha%e straights on the outside and *ou#ll be more likel* to ha%e cur%ed strokes on the inside where the flesh* &ads are. 7o, now let#s hide the rough la*er so we can ha%e a closer look at this. 6ot too bad, #m going to fli& hori9ontall* again. -eeling a little fat around here, so ideall* #ll go back in and fi( that. 7o, these are the kind of corrections *ou can make when *ou begin to fine tune. #m going to go back now to the other orientation. #%e just shar&ened u& this area, tightened it a little bit, &ut some darker o%er it and that is essentiall* the &rocess. 4nd, here *ou see a three stage illustration of how *ou would do a s&la*ed hand gesture. 4gain, where we la* down the entire area like it#s a big mitten and then *ou subdi%ide it into whate%er finger sha&es *ou like. 7o, e(tremel* realistic hands can be broken down into this straight forward &rocess. -emale hands are also realistic hands, same &rinci&les a&&l* as in the &receding, but just make them slightl* thinner, more cur%*, or more elegant. 4s *ou can see from this hand here, we ha%e nice cur%es on the inside, straights on the outside. 4nd, the same &rinci&le also can be a&&lied to elongating the hand or being st*lish with it. e don#t ha%e to make them clubb* little realistic fingers. 4nd, if *ou#re going to use a hand to hold an object this is where the mitten techni)ue reall* comes in useful. 7o, let#s imagine we#re reaching down we#re going to &ick u& let#s sa* it#s a cube, little bo( on the table here. 4nd, #m drawing %er* rough now. 7o, we want the hand to come down and reach and &ick it u&. 7o, we want to do that contact image. 7o, let#s imagine where the hand will make contact with this object. 4nd, #m going to imagine the hand is big enough that it can reach com&letel* around it. 7o, the hand#s about this wide. 7o, let#s imagine the &ad, or the wrist will be about here. t#s almost like a child#s letter block or something like that. 6ow, let#s go to a new la*er just so we can show that a little more cleanl*. 7o, *ou could wra& that thumb around too, it doesn#t ha%e to be on the other side of the block like that. 4nd, that#s the &rocess of wra&&ing the hand around an object and as *ou can see in each of the e(am&le images *ou ha%e to get that sense that this is a %olume and it is cur%ed around the object in the gras&. 7o, that#s the hand, how we draw it, how we fle( it, and get nice designs, both in cartoon* and realistic st*les. 4nd, how we make it interact with the en%ironment.
.rawing hands: .etails, touching hands, and "ine points 6ow let#s take a look at some of the smaller elements that constitute a hand. 4nd here we ha%e little werewolf &aw, and we ha%e fingernails, and here we ha%e a big claw, and then a more regular looking fingernail. e ha%e the joints. e ha%e the knuckle line. 7o let#s take a closer &eek at these. 7o here we ha%e four hands, none of which has a knuckle line so let#s look at different wa*s of drawing them. 6ow the first thing to remember is the &h*sical structure. +his isn#t m* final drawing b* the wa*. +his is just to show *ou the &lanes that we#re dealing with. 7o we ha%e one &lane here for the edge of the fingers, and then this &lane here is the to& of the hand. 7o let#s undo that and we will &ut our gra&hical re&resentation in, or for that, nothing#s sto&&ing *ou from doing something sim&le like a straight line if *ou want to go with that route. ;ut the knuckle line tends to be a little more interesting than that and so one wa* of doing it is to draw in like a little straight and cur%ed line like that. 4nd these can be an* different numbers of wa%e sha&es. mean *ou can, de&ending on *our &ersonal &reference, could be that. e could break this form u&. t doesn#t ha%e to be one continuous line. ou could ha%e ma*be two or three smaller ones. 4nother wa* of doing it, a little less ob%ious, a little less cartoon*, is just to suggest a little indent there and that lets us know there#s some kind of a knuckle action going on. f *our character feels a little more bon*, *ou can go this route. 7o de&ending on the t*&e of character *ou want, how elegant *ou them to look, this might be better for a female character. +his could be better for a grum&* old !ickensian landlord. +hen that#s some of the choices that *ou ha%e at *our dis&osal. 4nother issue is the joints. ow do *ou designate the joints of the fingers? 4nd one of the more common wa*s to do it is to &ut a single stroke there if *ou like. think it#s fun to build them out a little bit more than that and to use a %ariet* of these sha&es here. #%e reall* enjo*ed drawing them. +oo man*, of course, and the thing can become a little too detailed so *ou might get awa* with a %er* light stroke, but just enough to hint that there#s a difference in the anatom* at that &ont. ou could also, if *ou &refer, do something a little cartoonier. 4 lot of characters think don#t e%en bother with it so it ma* be something *ou don#t e%en need. ;ut if *ou do need to do it in a less of a st*led form than that, then *ou could &ut like a little crease line. 7o that would be the joint s*stem. 4nd taken to e(tremes *ou get that old st*le B0s and 80s look, which think is fun too. 4 %er* subtle detail, but it#s a nice one to know, is this bum& here. old *our hand right in front of *ou, *ou#ll see it. t#s where *our forearm meets the hand. ou can use this in all kinds of character st*les and there are man* wa*s to draw fingernails, something as sim&le as a fingernail. 4nd here are just a few that threw out so just to gi%e *ou an idea. t#s nice to establish one and stick with it if *ou ha%e a character. ick *our st*le of fingernail for *our character and &rett* much tr* to be consistent. ou wouldn#t want to be going from this one, for e(am&le, to this one and back again. t would look weird. 6ow #m going to talk about the &henomenon of making one thing touch another thing. e#%e alread* discussed how to &ick u& objects in the &re%ious mo%ie, but now want to show
what ha&&ens when two &arts of the bod* touch or e%en if two figures were to touch one another, the &rinci&le is the same. +he design will get %er* confused unless *ou use the trick of ha%ing the same line function as both elements. 7o in this case, it#s like a tile or two jigsaw &ieces fit together. 7o in this case the red line designates the fact that this line works both as the underside of his &h*sical right arm, that#s this one, and also works as the outside of his &h*sical left arm, this one, and let#s see some more e(am&les of that. +hese are more sim&le e(am&les and this is just hands clas&ed together. 6ow in this case we don#t ha%e that same trick of the line working as two functions but still *ou see that this area of contact is ke&t clean and sim&le and, were that to get too line*, then it might become a little confusing. n this hand on the right, it#s getting a little bus* in here. t#s not bad. reall* like this look. ;ut it might be a good idea, for e(am&le, to eliminate that area com&letel*, ha%e that line mo%e straight u& and into there and eliminate that little tin* stroke. ;ut that#s a subtle fi( and wouldn#t call it an essential fi(, but it#s the kind of thing that *ou would watch out for when *ou#re doing these kind of drawings. 4nd here#s a reall* good e(am&le of how these lines fit together and if *ou follow this line u& around the face, notice that *our brain unconsciousl* reads it as the chin but *ou can also look at it and go, no it#s not the chin, it#s the hand line. 4nd this is a %er* clean wa* to do these drawings, a drawing that would otherwise distract *ou if *ou had se&arate lines for the hand and another line for the face, it would &ull *our e*e in like a magnet and then *ou would begin wondering what#s going on in there. 7o it#s this sim&licit* that will hel& *ou with these kind of &u99les. 7o to gi%e *ou an idea about how would a&&roach one of these, let#s imagine a drawing where a character &uts his hand on his face in a hmm kind of gesture like he#s &u99led, he#s thinking. 4nd so this is going to in%ol%e the hand &ushing into the cheeks and reall* making him look he#s confused or his brain is working. Der* )uickl* want to just la* in an area for the skull. @aw will be about here. ;ut the real business of this scene will be the hand on the face. 7o m* first &ass will be loose because again we don#t know if this is going to work at all, so want to make sure that #m not going to waste too much time on this if the fundamentals are off. 7o what #%e done is, with this stroke here, #%e created an area that now works as %isuall* as the u&&er side of his hand but *et *our brain looks at it and goes, Gait a minute, that#s his mouth.G 7o could draw the mouth in. atch what ha&&ens. mean could do that. guess it kind of works. ;ut suddenl* *our brain is tr*ing to figure out is the mouth, is that the li&? don#t know what it is an*more. 7o undo it. @ust get rid of that. 4nd if *ou wanted the mouth in that &osition, would actuall* just mo%e the hand u& into that &osition so that this little area here again does double dut*. ou could &ut a crease u& here for the edge of the mouth. ou could ma*be get awa* with doing something like this, showing the corner of it, but like to kee& this sim&le, and let *our brain do some of the work which isn#t reall* %er* much at all because it#s fooled. t#s like an illusion. 7o let#s look at the finished %ersion of this image. 7o here we see the finished %ersion. "n the right side, the area that#s using the illusion is in red. "n the left *ou can see the image,
and think the brain goes, *e&, that#s the u&&er mouth area and *et it#s also the hand. 4lso works great for interlocking fingers. +his is also a great wa* to kee& these things clean. 7o alwa*s remember this &rinci&le. t#s &rett* uni%ersal and if *ou ha%e two characters touching each other or hugging or one#s carr*ing the other on their back, tr* to a&&l* this where%er *ou can.
.rawing hand styles ere#s a )uick design idea, and this is to show *ou some st*li9ed o&tions for hands, that we#re not just restricted to strictl* anatomical ones, and in case *ou don#t see the joke, these strokes are meant to be read as fingers, and there#s the thumbs, and we ha%e our scar* gu* in the background. !on#t worr*. e#re not going to be drawing this. +his is just a demonstration that we should alwa*s be imaginati%e about things, and ma*be there#s o&tion that are going to be there for *ou to use &ro&s or other inanimate objects as hands. Let#s take a look at some other st*les. "n the left we ha%e a fairl* cartoon* %ersion of the business that we#%e alread* been dealing with. ;ut other fun wa*s that *ou can handle hands, that might make it easier for *ou if *ou#re starting out, is this kind of %er* loose, rubber* st*le. t#s a lot of fun. +here#s not that man* straights. ou can ha%e a straight in there if *ou like. reall* like doing this whene%er can get awa* with it. "n the right side we ha%e straight hands, and these, *ou#ll see this st*le of hands in two recent rish animated mo%ies, +he 7ecret of Fells and 7ong of the 7ea, and that#s a reall* fun wa* to draw fingers as well. f *ou ha%en#t seen those films, check them out, and the* were drawn on com&uter, but the* were handdrawn, so a %er* good reference for *ou as well. ere we ha%e that similar st*le. ou can see how much fun it is to work with, and it creates different kind of sha&es as well, so let me draw one of these for *ou. #ll just do a fairl* eas* &ose for this, just a hand, like he#s asking for mone*. e#s reaching his hand out. t#s &rett* much the same &rocess as for the cartoon* mitten hand. +he big difference is to reall* accentuate this st*le, just to flare out the fingerti&s, make them reall* fat at the end, so instead of going to a ta&ered &oint, as we would with man* other st*les, with this one we#re creating these big, almost sausage finger sha&es at the end of the hand. "ften, like multi&le strokes. f *ou reall* want to get this look here that *ou see on the originals, there#s two wa*s of doing. ou can do one bold stroke, and the other techni)ue is to use lots of lighter strokes, and de&ending on which techni)ue works for *ou, sometimes use one, sometimes the other, as feel it#s a&&ro&riate. 6ow we can fli& this hori9ontall* and ha%e a nice fli& and see if it#s looking good in both directions. Like said, just watch the t*&e. don#t think *ou ha%e to fatten the fingerti&s. ou could &robabl* do the st*le and, ha%e all kinds of different hand sha&es. +hroughout this course #%e been tr*ing to remind *ou that #m not tr*ing to shoehorn *ou into an* one of these st*les. +hese are just different wa*s to tr* to break *ou out of falling in to one wa* of drawing, or one wa* of thinking about these hands or these objects. Let#s take a look at the ne(t one.
to get this effect of these %er* big, bulk* hands, is to remo%e a joint, and *ou#ll see he onl* has two joints. +here should be a third, if we were to be strict about it. Let#s %er* )uickl* la* down a knuckle line, and *ou just sim&l* draw the finger so short that the* barel* break out of that hand area. "f course, tr* to &ush this a little more. f was going to do, let#s sa*, imagine he#s reaching out towards the camera or something, we could still break out the fingers as far as we could. i%e them some little bear claws. +hat#s the large, hea%*, round hand, as well as the %er* m*steriousl*, li)uid*looking &aw o%er here. Let#s mo%e on again. drew these again to show *ou that, if *ou#re gi%en a task of designing or drawing or working with something unusual, reall* set m*self a challenge with this. drew this %er* interestinglooking robot hand on the left side, but then thought, "F, it looks nice in that &osition, but would be able to do an*more with it? $ould make a fist out of it? t was a bit of a &u99le, don#t mind telling *ou. t was not eas* to draw this little fist, but thought, kee& at it, got to see if it#s &ossible. 6ow, it#s slightl* different. +his thumb looks fatter than this one, but did find that had to cheat these metal rods. ou#ll see them bending on the back of the hands there if *ou look carefull*, and *ou#ll see them bending here as well. +he*#re straight there. +hese are the kind of things that *ou ha%e to work out when *ou begin working with *our own characters, if *ou#re designing a character and tr*ing to establish the range of motion of it. s this thing &racticall* going to be able to do the kind of things that *ou want it to do? f *ou ha%e a mo%ie where, ma*be, *our two characters ha%e to hug, well, can the* do it? !o the* ha%e little tin* fins? !o the* &h*sicall* ha%e the abilit* to carr* out the actions that *ou want them to carr* out? ou might want to add, for e(am&le, another finger joint here, before *ou do half *our film or *our comic, rather than ha%e to add it halfwa* through. ;ut think this is a funlooking design. Let#s look at some others.
0eet 7o it#s time to take a look at feet, another funk* &art of the bod* because it has a lot of interesting sha&es to it. 4nd it can be %er* eas* to draw weird looking feet, and b* which mean something that just looks com&letel* e*ecatching and unnatural. 7o &eo&le usuall* wonder, how can do that? ow can draw just an oka* looking foot? 4nd if *ou start looking at the feet, *ou#%e &robabl* done it wrong because the*#re not meant to reall* catch the e*e. 7o let#s look at these turnarounds a little more closel*. 7o here we ha%e the feet facing front out. #%e gra*ed out the other side so that the ones on the to& looks closer to us. t#s easier to follow this rotation through. 7o that#s it. 7o the trick with the feet is to think about them as ha%ing, well, ob%iousl* a structure, so let#s imagine them as a &*ramid. #ll %er* lightl* sketch this in. 7omething of a triangular structure. +he a&e( here, so it#s not like the ones in =g*&t. t#s a slightl* different design. 4nd this is where we will connect with the leg. 7o there is the rounder ball at the back, round that off there. 7o that a&&ro(imatel* will be the structure of the foot. 7o what #m going to do is just tid* this image u& a little bit and then show *ou that. 7o as *ou can see, we#re looking down on the foot now. +he area of the foot that#s touching the ground is in red and then so this is the base here and this is the u&&er edge of the foot. 4nd then we ha%e the hint of the leg coming down on to& of that. 7o let#s take a look at another as&ect of this. 7o what #m going to do now is draw the side %iew. 7o we#re looking flat on. hat will this thing look like just from the &rofile %iew? 7omething like this. +his will be the a&&ro(imate sha&e that would use for this kind of design for a foot. 4nd *ou can imagine there#s a joint here. +hat#s the toe area. ou can bend the foot at this &oint. 7o let me tid* that u& just a little bit. 7o #m going to mo%e the &age u& just a little bit because want to do a few more drawings down here. 7o now let#s imagine what this foot looks like if we#re looking directl* down on it. t#ll be a little fatter at this end. +his is where this joint here is attaching, so this circle re&resents where the leg comes in contact with the foot. ou#ll see it#s slightl* off center. e ha%e our big toe o%er to this side. 4nd we#re bringing this to a &oint where as an anatomical foot would be somewhat different. +his is a figure wearing some kind of a shoe. 7o we ha%e our toes all safel* curled u& in here. !on#t worr* about them just *et. 7o let me tid* that u& just one more time. 7o let#s see what a more realistic foot would look like. here do the toes e(ist within all that? 7o again, we ha%e the area where the leg meets the foot. 4nd we ha%e a larger area here where the big toe will be. #m just going to %er* roughl* sketch in all the smaller toes. 7o as *ou can see, a &urel* naturalistic foot will ha%e a slightl* different sha&e than the st*li9ed one that we#re working with here. ;ut it#s basicall* %er* similar. t#s slightl* off center. e ha%e a &oint here, which is analogous to that &oint. Let me tid* this u& just a little bit. 7o as *ou can see now looking down at the finished foot, it#s
essentiall* the same sha&e as the st*li9ed one. t has the same &oint here that corres&onds to the &oint here. hat we#%e done is just smoothed off the cur%ature of the foot somewhat and sim&lified this indentation there. 4nd as *ou can see, this is a %er* eas* sha&e to draw. ou could add a more realistic sha&e to it, but think it would just add com&lications to a %er* efficient wa* of drawing feet in a %er* nice cartoon* st*le. 6ow #m going to mo%e these drawings o%er just a little bit so can draw an u&shot of this foot. 7o #m going to imagine that we ha%e the leg somewhere in this &osition and it#s lifting off the ground. 4nd we#re looking u& at this &*ramidal structure. 7o the trick will be just to remember our red area o%er here, and we#re looking u& at it. 7o #m going to %er* )uickl* sketch in and tone that underside. #m going to draw a more realistic foot this time so *ou can get a sense for what some of those com&le( sha&es will look like. ;ut this is how the essentiall* sim&le sha&e would look. 7o *ou ha%e, as *ou can see, the wider &oint of the base of the foot is here. 4nd then we ta&er to our joint there. 7o now let#s see what a more realistic one will look like. 7o the big thing will be to add the big toe and the joint where we ha%e a hinge on the foot here, and all the little toes are in there. 7o *ou see we#re adding on to this sim&le geometrical ideal sha&e with a more anatomical one. 7o let me clean this one u& as well. 4nd so there *ou see it. 4nd we ha%e the same shadowed underside, so he#s been walking in coal dust. 4nd the smaller toes, and notice how draw them as a grou&, so that kee&s them sim&le and sto&s them from getting too finick*. 6obod* cares about which indi%idual toe is sha&ed like what, so like to kee& them %er* basic forms. 4nd we just added that ball for the base here. ;ut essentiall*, it#s structured on the same &rinci&le as the &*ramid, so it#s this sha&e here corres&onds &rett* closel* to this, just with the e(tra joints and the realism added. "ka*, so what want to draw now is two feet standing more or less front on to us. +hat can be an eas* angle, but sur&risingl* trick*. 7o we just want sim&le feet facing out. 7o again, #m thinking about the &*ramidal structure and the ta&ering to the thinnest &oint at the to&. +he widest &oint will be about here. 7o as we#re looking at this in contour, can imagine he#s wearing sli&&ers, *ou know, the* would look like that. @ust follow these concentric rings all the wa* u& to the joint. +his is kind of the %olume of the feet. 7o #%e colored them red so *ou can see that massi%e area at the front, and that#s where *ou ha%e *our joint as *ou walk. +hat#s the &art of *our foot that fle(es. 4nd if color them red, the* look a little bit like clown shoes. 7o let#s take a look at a cou&le of other %ariations of this. 7o here we ha%e two more slight %ariations. e ha%e a linear %ersion without the color code on the to& and on the bottom %ersion, we#%e taken the shoes off to get some idea about what the toes would look like with their relati%e si9es, ob%iousl* without this structure around them. 7o let me just 9oom out one more time so *ou can see the entire image. 7o there we go, that is the e(tremel* challenging area of the foot reduced to ho&efull* a much sim&ler le%el, think, which will gi%e *ou a feeling for how to break it down into some basic forms. 6ow we#re going to look at some %ariations on this. 7o on the to& left, *ou can see how often treat the toes as &re%iousl* mentioned as one little grou&. t#s the big toe that#s the one that gi%es an* &ersonalit* that the foot has find comes
from the big toe. 4nd that#s the one *our e*e goes to. +he other four are like a little clum& there. just subdi%ide it into the smaller sha&es. 4nd whene%er get into trouble with the foot, alwa*s remember that the basic form of the foot is, as we#%e alread* said, this elegant, sim&le, triangular &*ramidal sha&e. 4nd we ha%e the fle(ing of the foot here. ;ut also when *ou ha%e a design issue sometimes with shoes, it#s good to remember that the arch will corres&ond to the natural arch of the foot, so some shoe designs will ha%e %er* stee& arches. "thers will look flat and a little more boring. 4nd some shoes will also ha%e big cartoon* clown bulges near the toes to make room for the toes, so remember that. hereas this one has a straighter, more st*lish look to it. 4nd these are just some more image e(am&les of the feet %er* roughl* drawn. ;ut as *ou can see, these arrows are sim&l* &ointing at the fact that narrowest &oint in this design s*stem is at the ankle. 4nd then we ha%e the big widening out from the ankle. 4nd let me show *ou a different wa* of doing this kind of foot. +here#s another wa* of doing it where the widest &oint is at the &oint of the toes where the toe joint is. 4nd this is hand* for reall* funk* looking characters. Like oof* would be a good e(am&le, think, of a character who would ha%e feet like this. f *ou were doing a clown, this would be a natural st*le of character for somebod* that *ou want to look slightl* funn*. 4nd it#s im&ortant that *ou tr* to maintain consistenc* so *ou don#t ha%e *our character going from one of these st*les to the other. 7o this gu*, he has a narrow &oint here, whereas the other one we were doing had the highest &oint of the &*ramid at the ankle &oint. +his man#s ankle is reall* close to the ground. t#s )uite different from the one &receding. Let#s look at that again. 7o here *ou can see we ha%e a big triangle. "n the one following, that just doesn#t e(ist. 6ow it#s the &oint of the &*ramid is actuall* ha&&ening here. 7o whiche%er s*stem *ou choose for *our characters, kee& that in mind. 4nd then *ou ha%e bubble feet, and these are also %enerable classics, and the !onald !uck, !aff* !uck kind of duck feet design, which is a modification of this and just a different st*le. 4nd again, *ou#ll notice with this &articular rendering, we ha%e the thinnest &oint at the ankle. ;ut *ou could also do something closer to the other where we ha%e the &*ramidal structures of the a&e( of this foot is at the ankle &oint. 7o these are not hard and fast formulas. ou can &la* with them, %ar* them, make *our own %ersions if *ou wish. 4nd here #%e drawn some female feet of %ar*ing ages. 4 slightl* older lad* here, a %er* elegant *oung lad* here. igh heels, of course, which reall* &ush the arch of the foot to a unhealth* degree. ;ut again, notice here we ha%e the earlier &*ramidal form, that#s all ha&&il* working awa*. 4nd from the front again the ankle is thin, e%en thinner on the feminine foot than on the male. 7o that#s *our introduction to feet.
1air and beards 6ow #m going to talk about hair. 4nd hair is best thought of as a single mass, like one continuous object. !o not think about it as being thousands and thousands of indi%idual hairs or *ou will lose *our mind. 7o in this case what ha%e is a man with a short sensible haircut on the to& and a woman with a shoulder length sensible haircut on the bottom. ;oth )uite similar &h*sicall*. 4nd as *ou can see the major sha&es and forms ha%e been dealt with like the*#re one object, so we ha%e the most of his hair is u& here in one big triangular sha&e. 4nd likewise with her we just ha%e added the sides. 7o let#s see how we would a&&l* his sha&e to this &rofile. 4nd it#s good to ha%e a three dimensional idea of the hair. 7o what #m going to do is make a clean la*er and just with a red line, so we can see &recisel* what#s going on #m going to make some strokes. is hair will look think %er* similar to hers from this angle, would think it would be &robabl* something like this. +he major difference between his hair and her hair would be that he doesn#t ha%e this area, we#ll still see his ear. 7o we ha%e the design issue of how to deal with this area and how it corres&onds with this. 7o do we do a s)uare cut like that or do we arch it through? 4nd that#s a decision that *ou will find *ourself ha%ing to make man* times. 7o the other trick we could do might be to &ut a cur%e in, like that. 7o now let#s go in with a black line so can define this a little bit more. #m not liking this for some reason, think it feels fiddl*, so ma*be we can arch it that wa* and just do a single stroke like that. 7o that#s one solution. +he other solution might be just to do a continuous stroke. 7o instead of a hard edge we#ll just do an 7 sha&e, we#re creating a &arallel here. 7o ma*be the solution then is to &la* with his hair at the front, ma*be we can mo%e that somewhere. 4nd that#s gi%ing us a little more room. +his is a nice triangular sha&e now. +his negati%e sha&e is looking a little nicer. 4nd #m watching the &oint of this hair to make sure that it matches. 4nd as *ou can see it#s drifting a little bit. !on#t forget too *ou ha%e to draw this through, the hairline has to be consistentl* across the head. ou don#t want this going at a weird angle that suggests that he has hair were his e*ebrows are. 7o again we#re thinking about these things where the* are in three dimensional s&ace and not just as flat interesting sha&es. ou could &robabl* get awa* with that if *ou were onl* e%er going to show him from one angle, but if *ou ha%e an* ambitions to show him from more than one direction then *ou ha%e to consider this. 4nother issue with &rofiles is that we often don#t dwell on &rofiles in &roduction, but the*#re still %er* useful to ha%e so that if *ou mo%e through this direction in an animation scene *ou ha%e some reference to fall back on. ;ut in general most of the work will be done in front, or most often in the 3/A %iew and from the rear %iew, which we ha%e no reference for. think that#s an eas* enough one. #m just going to %er* )uickl* suggest and it would look something like this. ou might see the ear, de&ending on the si9e of the hair, *ou might not. e might see a hint of the ear on the other side. 4nd we can &ut the central line down. 7o that gi%es us a &rett* good idea about what the hair would almost certainl* look like from that
direction. 4nd kee&ing this tuft here is a nice wa* to kee& a nice silhouette. 7o that#s how *ou take care of designing a turn around. +r* to kee& the fundamental basic sha&es sim&le, tr* to use a basic series of $ sha&es and 7 sha&es, tr* to a%oid too much of this. 4nd then we can &roceed on to looking at these hair areas in more detail. t might be useful to think of these hair masses b* themsel%es, like a wig that#s been taken off a manikin. 4nd this just a )uick and useful tool, es&eciall* for more com&le( sha&es, ma*be the* ha%e bangs, and that wa* when *ou begin to do more detail on these *ou#ll ha%e at least a basic knowledge of the structure and then what it will look like when it#s rotated into different directions. 7o for e(am&le, and this is a %er* rough sketch, if *ou take this gu* with the ina&&ro&riatel* long hair and tilt his head back this gi%es *ou a &rett* good idea what these two triangular masses are going to look. 7o let#s go and see how we take this essentiall* sim&le gra&hic form and do something with it that looks more interesting. 7o here we ha%e a generic female character and she has a %er* sim&le hair. 7o what if we want to break this u& and make it look a little more interesting? ell, m* a&&roach would be to take each of these large triangular s&aces and just break them u&. 4nd #m going to go in with a big thick red line and that is essentiall* the &rocess. want to make one %er* sim&le &ass o%er this and to do nothing too dramatic with it, but *ou begin to go in and break u& these big sha&es into slightl* smaller sha&es, more detailed ones. 7o let#s see what that looks like when it#s cleaned u& a little bit. 7o here she is and we ha%en#t done an*thing too drastic with it. 4s &ointed out in the &re%ious section all #%e done was added two areas where once there was one. Let#s go one ste& further. 7o what want to do is to get awa* from this e(tremel* gra&hical st*le and gi%e it something that looks more naturalistic, let#s sa*. 7o let#s gi%e that hair some bod* u& at the front. 4nd we can start breaking hair off here in grou&s. 4nd #m using this &oint here as a &oint of origin. 4nd so all of these strokes, if *ou follow them back the* all originate at that &oint. e can ha%e another &oint of origin o%er here if *ou want to ha%e these lines ta&ering off of that. f *ou want to make this hair look reall* loose, like ma*be it#s a wind* da*, ma*be her hair is not alwa*s this mess*, but we want to see the messiest &ossible %ersion of it. 7o #m just going to focus on this area u& here. #ll go in a darker black line now. +he good &ractice here is to tr* to kee& these strokes fairl* irregular. hat *ou don#t want is to ha%e one, two, three, four, fi%e all the same, so *ou tr* to get into the habit of %ar*ing the s&acing, the si9e, and that wa* *our hair will look a lot more natural. 7o *ou#ll see me go in here. t#s %er* eas*. our brain tends to fall into the habit of making things just mechanicall*, so it#s a good &ractice to sa*, right, let#s make this one fatter, #ll make this one shorter. 7o here for e(am&le, this one would be one single stroke, the ne(t one will be ma*be a different thickness, this one will be a different length, that one#s much longer and fatter, and so on. 7o, and again, remembering our &oints of origin. 7o that#s the &rocess of taking this and o&ening it u&. 4nd let#s see a finished %ersion of that. 7o with a little more time this is the end result. 4nd as *ou can see we#%e gone drasticall* further from the
original flat %ersion. Let#s just get that and mo%e it o%er to one side, so *ou can com&are both of these together. 4nd in the middle, if we can s)uee9e her in, we see the sim&ler one. 7o let#s mo%e them a little further a&art. 7o that#s the transformation from %er* sim&le hair to slightl* more com&le( hair, to e(tremel* feature st*le animated hairst*le here. 4nd this is just a )uick reminder of our &re%ious mo%ie where we co%ered &oints of origin. 4nd &oints of origin are critical when *ou draw hair, ne%er forget these. 7o if *ou#%e forgotten this or *ou didn#t watch that mo%ie, &lease do watch it. 7o another good e(am&le of &oint of origin would be a &on*tail or some other situation where the hair is bunched u& and flows from one &oint. 4nd another good e(am&le of that would be the to& knot or braids. 4nd let#s take another look at the braids here. 7o what #m going to do is go in a little closer on this, so we can take a reall* tight look at it. 6ow one thing that#ll reall* hel& if *ou#re going for a %er* rich features t*&e look *ou don#t want this to become flattened. hat *ou don#t want to do is just draw lines like that. ;ecause that#s going to look flat. f *ou want it to look flat, fine, but if *ou don#t, if *ou want it to look traditional, something that *ou would ha%e seen in the feature mo%ies, then this kind of line st*le is better. hen *ou go in and when *ou draw *ou#re drawing the actual %olumes of these sha&es, *ou#re not just drawing flat lines. 4nd *ou see #m drawing through, #m tr*ing to feel the cur%ature, as draw the &encil #m imagining with m* mind the cur%ature of these sha&es. !o the same thing here. 4nd #m letting m* line flow out of the central s&ine. 7o now when we &ut our final line on, #m just using a thinner &encil for this one. 7o that#s the &rocess of creating artwork that will ha%e more dimension and mass and %olume, es&eciall* for something as com&le( as hair. 7o here are some e(am&les of facial hair from the basic mustache on the fellow here to our e%il goateed %illain. 4nd here we ha%e an e(am&le of a big friendl* 7anta $laus t*&e figure and the wa* draw this kind of beard is just draw the mass. 4s *ou saw earlier we drew the basic mass of hair and then broke it u&. 7o the same thing here. +he outline, the main form of the beard is drawn first, and then it#s broken down into the constituent strokes, which *ou can then modif* or change. +hese look a little regular for m* taste, so it would be nicer if some of these were more %aried, but the rest of this looks &rett* good. 4nd on the bottom left here we ha%e a $olonel ;lim& kind of character. 4nd he#s got the enormous mustache. 4nd as *ou can see from the little red insert each of these mustaches, this is built around a skeleton or a s&ine of this little $ cur%e on one side. "n the o&&osite side there#s a 7 cur%e on this side, there#s a $ cur%e on that side. 4nd the rest of the mustache is sim&l* designed around that s&ine. 4nd *ou can do this for %er* com&le( sha&es. -or e(am&le, the old wi9ard on the right. +hese a&&arentl* incredibl* com&le( sha&es are fundamentall* sim&le. +his side of the mustache is an 7 cur%e and e%en this huge beard for the most &art is also built around an 7 cur%e. 7o let me show *ou how we#ll do that. 7o now let#s add some facial hair to our $olonel ;lim& character. 4nd #%e sha%ed his mustache off, rotated him so his face is facing in the same direction as the wi9ard, just so we can com&are them. 4nd #m going to %er* lightl* sketch in the line of action on the mustache. 7o #ll gi%e him an 7 cur%e on one side, a sim&le $ cur%e on the other. 4nd let#s see now, from the chin
we#ll bring it out like this and ta&er it down and end it in a little curl. 7o it#s basicall* an 7 sha&e, like that. +hat#s it. 4nd now we#ll just fatten it out a little bit so we get the %olume. 4nd let#s make them &rett*, &rett* health*. e want it to look interesting. 7o now on a clean la*er, so we can remo%e this if we ha%e to, #m going to draw with black line now. 4nd as *ou can see in the wi9ard he has all these little tufts and whatnot, so essentiall* let#s look at the far mustache and it#s originating from a &oint of origin around here. 4nd so all of our clean u& lines, like our rough lines, will emerge from that. 4nd it#s just a )uestion of ha%ing a nice loose treatment, so that *ou don#t ha%e e%en s&aced hairs, otherwise it#ll look artificial. 4nd this can also achie%ed b* breaking off, if *ou think there#s an area of too much regularit* *ou can break off a few stragglers. !o it on the other side now. :a*be ha%e one side of it fairl* straight, ha%e the other side mess*. 4nd this one we can actuall* ha%e the same &oint of origin for both of these. f *ou want to mo%e them *ou can ha%e a slightl* different one, but as long as *ou ha%e a consistent &oint of origin that looks good for all these different &arts. :a*be break it u& just a little bit at the end. 7o now let#s switch off the red la*er and we will go back to ;lim&. 6ow what #m going to do, because it#s kind of difficult to see &recisel* what is going on because of all the o%erla&s, #m just going to )uickl* get rid of the areas beneath and the areas that are conflicting. 4nd now we can set them to the same le%el of darkness. 4nd as *ou can see we ha%e a wi9ard on our hands. 7o ob%iousl* the line is a little hea%ier than the ;lim& line. "ne more beaut* &ass o%er that to tighten it u&, to clean it u& to something that looks more like this and then we#ll ha%e an integrated design. 7o that#s the &rocess and as *ou can see it#s )uite fluid, doesn#t re)uire man*, man* strokes. +he real challenge is getting *our s&acing of these hairs and kee&ing the sha&e sim&le. 4nd like said, an 7 cur%e here, a $ cur%e there, an 7 cur%e here, and watch *our &oint of origins.
.rawing clothes and "lowing materials 7o now a )uick note about clothing. 4nd if *ou look at the gu* on the right who#s holding out his hand and &ointing, the first thing to notice. Look at that slee%e and see how it#s hanging. t#s good to ha%e an idea about just what the material is made out of. 4nd don#t e(&ect a &erson to know &recisel* which te(tile an object is, but it would be good to know if those jeans are made of denim or silk, for e(am&le. +he*#re going to beha%e and look totall* differentl*. 7o imagine these as a &air of jeans. 4nd imagine that shirt as being, ma*be not silk, but still a &rett* soft, %er* gentle fabric. 4nd that#s wh* it hangs the wa* it does. f it was e%en lighter, it might e%en hang straighter than that. 7o, we can see, also, if we switch off this la*er, *ou#ll see that beneath this in red line, his &h*sical anatom*. 4nd *ou can#t just go drawing clothing without ha%ing some idea about what#s underneath it. 7o, at the %er* least, ha%e an outline sketch of the construction of the character beneath all these clothes lines. +he*#re there for a reason. 4nd *ou can see the same &rinci&le a&&lied also in this bent leg. ou can see the anatom* of the leg in red. 7o that#s wh* this fold ha&&ens where it is. 4lso, on the right side *ou can see, again, the &oint of origin right here where the cross is. 4nd there#s another one right here. :an* of the folds in *our clothing will follow creases that follow right back to &oints of origin. 4nd if *ou look at the collar on the neck, see the construction line. 7o it#s a good idea to draw through. hen *ou#re drawing these sha&es, don#t be sh* about drawing right through. ou can erase them later on, but it#s %er* im&ortant that *ou ha%e structure and solidit* with the clothing. 4nd remember, again, it#s a %olume, not a line. ith some characters, *ou might be able to cheat certain costume elements. f this cha& was to be in one scene, might be able to just hack out some scarf design and not worr* about it. ;ut in this case, ma*be this gu* is in se%en scenes. :a*be he#s in half of the e&isode. 7o, if *ou#re going to draw him again and again and again with the scarf. f *ou#re going to do scenes where he takes it on and takes it off, *ou#d better know how it wra&s around him. 4nd in this case, #%e shown, like, a to&down %iew where *ou can see. 4nd had to think about this. Like, Gow would he do it?G t actuall* wouldn#t be a bad idea to get a scarf if *ou ha%e one and see how *ou &ut it on. ould he &ut it on the same wa*? ould this be on to& or on bottom? 4nd so forth. 4nd to draw these materials, for e(am&le, to draw a scarf or something long and sinuous like this, *ou can draw a %er* long s&ine, like an 7cur%e like this, and then build *our structure around it as *ou see fit. 7o, in this case, would draw the different shades as #m roughing it in for one side, working into the other. 4nd draw the lines through as need to create that form. +his is fantastic for all kinds of flowing material. 7o, it might seem intimidating when *ou look at it in the finished form, but, again, the &rocess of drawing this can be fairl* straightforward. f wanted to add, like, a little fold or something, that can be added. 7o, that will be how *ou create these %er* long, fabriclike designs. Iuick note about headgear. ;e sure that it sits on the head.
*our skull masks. ou ha%e *our hats. Let#s gi%e him a little bowler hat. Laurel and ard*. f that#s going to sit on the head, this circle here is going to ha%e its resting &lace. ou want to at least ha%e a fairl* good a&&ro(imation of, a sense of the &h*sical solidit* of these objects as *ou draw them. 7o, drawing, like, long fabric with man* folds can definitel* be confusing. 7o to get something like this, let#s do this from scratch. magine this is a towel hanging from a rack. 7omething not too challenging. +here#s a little &ole there. 7o, we ha%e our fabric. 4nd what #m going to do is, not this one e(actl*. #ll do one that#s, like, a little bunched together &erha&s. ;ut it#s the same essential sha&e. 7o, let#s imagine that the base is folding out, ma*be hanging a little bit lower. 7o, this line here. Let#s mark that in red. 7o, around this line, let#s make a series of wa%es. 4nd #m going to go to a reall* dark black line so *ou can see what #m doing here. 4nd now, from these bunched areas here, this will be our &oint of origin. e can draw a series of lines that will &ull back to their res&ecti%e corners. here%er *ou think the*#re most a&&ro&riate. 4nd don#t forget to fill in the re%erse side, of course, because *ou want this to ha%e a back as well as a front. +hat#s the essential &rocess that use to create fabric and folds. ou can add e(tra little details. -urther little creases and lines if *ou want to reall* add a lot of detail to it, *ou can do that. ;ut that#s the essential wa* of doing it. 4nd we can e%en go in and tighten this u& b* e%en erasing some of the colors, and now *ou can see it more clearl*. 7o what if *ou want to do something that#s a little more d*namic? Let#s sa* there#s a bree9e or let#s sa* *ou want to work on a dress. Let#s take a sim&le enough e(am&le. 7o, #m going to draw this in red. Let#s do it o%er here where we ha%e some room. f we ha%e a female character with, like, a gown, something reall*, reall* flow*, the base of this gown won#t just be a flat line. !on#t forget it has 3dimensionalit* to it. 7o, there#s the in%isible side that we can#t see. 4nd, de&ending on how wind* it is, or how fast she#s mo%ing, this hem, this area here, could be the sha&e or a figure eight. "r we could be looking u& at it. ;ut essentiall*, it will be some rough %ariant of one of these sha&es. 7o, that gi%es *ou an inkling of the control mechanism for this. 7o, let#s draw her o%er here. 4nd imagine she#s sitting across, left to right, going in this direction. want to see this dress reall* catch some wind resistance, so it &ulls u&. 7o, again, we#re drawing a sha&e. 4 figure eight would be good for this. :a*be her foot is hitting the ground here. 7o, now on to& of that, it#s kind of hard to see because, we#re seeing through this, so what want to do is, just %er* )uickl* eradicate that rear %iew. 6ow, the ne(t ste& is to add some folds and flare outs that are secondar* to this. 7o, now #m going to go in and just do this in black. 7o, then we ha%e to ask oursel%es, Ghere would the indi%idual folds be most likel* to a&&ear?G +here#s one that #%e alread* hinted at here. 7o, it would be nice if we had some kind of a cur%ature on the line there, and that#s not bad. 7o, *ou can add more if *ou want. f *ou think, G could reall* like to see a few more.G ere#s how we would do one. Let#s sa* we want to add one reall* long one. Let#s do it the other wa* around. e could imagine the fold going the other wa*. 7o, that#s the essential wa* that *ou would a&&roach fabric, a sim&le &iece
of cloth, or a dress. #m going to show *ou the same e(am&le again, but just in a more elaborate form because this is the kind of thing that could reall* throw *ou. t#s a ballerina dress and something with as man* fold or creases as *ou could imagine. Let#s just, in red, %er* )uickl* going to draw in the sha&e. 7o, if *ou want to draw something like this, #m going to go in on black now. 4nd it#s as sim&le as this. !e&ending on how man* wa%es *ou want, *ou can make these %er* stee& or shallow. Let#s do a few of them. 4nd see what that looks like. Let#s see. e#ll imagine that the*#re emerging from this &oint. 4nd then we just draw the outer line to there. 4nd it#s a )uestion of figuring out which cur%e corres&onds with which &oint of origin. +his one doesn#t necessaril* need to ha%e a line attached to it. ;ut think here we would ha%e more. Let#s switch off the red la*er. 7ee what that looks like. 7o, *ou can see we#re getting close to something that looks like the reference art. 4nd *ou might want to &ut little secondar* lines in here. ;ut, again, kee& these sha&es %aried. Fee& the cur%es %aried. 4nd, de&ending on how detailed *ou want this thing to be, there#s nothing sto&&ing *ou from doing something reall* wild. 4nd, when the &erson looks at the finished object, the* might think, Gow would an*bod* e%er know Gwhere to &ut those lines?G ntil *ou actuall* see the trick, and it#s reall* as sim&le as that. 7o, imagine all the design sha&es that *ou can conjure u& using this kind of techni)ue. 7o, that#s &rett* much it. #ll just end with this slide with these %arious character sketches did, -or some reason, drew this 1H20s $harleston lad*. ou can see the red understructure, so knew where to hang the dress. couldn#t ha%e known e(actl* where to &ut the dress were it not for that. 4nd, also, when the dress comes to rest, #ll know where her legs are, so where the folds might go. 4nd on the second drawing, notice how all these bunched lines ha%e gone into re%erses. 7o, that#s going to be, if *ou were to animate that that would be a reall* nice looking transition. 4nd a more realistic looking treatment here. 4nd, again, we ha%e &oint of origin. "ne on this side. e ha%e one this side that onl* has a cou&le of lines coming out of it. +hat#s an o%er%iew of clothing and the general techni)ues that *ou can use to create some reall* nice looking clothes.
.rawing animals "b%iousl* e(&laining the anatomical differences of different animals is a bit be*ond the sco&e of this course, so #%e got one mo%ie to talk *ou through a general a&&roach that will kee& *ou out of trouble. ere we ha%e our classic bi&edal humanoid figure. 4nd #%e color coded his limbs' blue for the right, red for the left. 4nd #%e used a solid blue for his forearm and a light blue for his shin area on his lower leg. 7o if *ou look at how this com&ares with a dog, for e(am&le, the dog anatom* is %er* similar, it#s just all rearranged. 4nd *ou can see basicall* the same bones, the*#re just in a different la*out. 7o this area here corres&onds to the human lower arm. 4nd the hatched blue lines here corres&ond to the hatched blue lines on the hand, their fingers, and ditto with the feet, the &ads of the feet are the same here as here. +he range of motion is also %er* similar, let#s take a look at that. "n the to& left we ha%e a more anatomical rendering of a dog and *ou can see #%e used the same color &attern. +he blue re&resents the right and the red for the left. 4nd what would be on a human being, the forearm, or the lower arm, and the lower leg. 7o these would be the hands and so forth. "n this diagram here *ou can see how the shoulders, elbows, and wrists corres&ond along with the range of motion, so *ou#re going to get the same a&&ro(imate range of motion on each animal. ;ear in mind, that ob%iousl* a dog doesn#t ha%e the abilit* to s&la* its arms out awa* from its bod* like a human does. 7o it#s not a &erfect analog*, but it gets *ou into the 9one of being correct as to what *ou can do and how *ou can#t bend it. -or e(am&le how *ou wouldn#t want to bend the dog#s leg like that. nless *ou were doing this as a frame within an animation that was not reall* going to be seen for more than a fraction of a second. ou might get awa* with it, but not for a held drawing. +hat would just look reall*, reall* &ainful. "n the bottom le%el, we see two wa*s of rendering a dog. "n the left, the man in a suit. +his would ha%e been common, still is with man* studios. ;ugs ;unn* is as much of a rabbit as am. e#s reall* a man in a suit, and the* bolted on big ears and a tail. +his is fundamentall* a humanoid bi&ed. "n the other hand, this st*le of drawing a dog is an attem&t to make an anatomical dog, but sim&l* ha%e him &ose like a human. ;ut in general, *ou would tr*, if *ou were drawing in this st*le, to make this animal look more doglike. ndeed, if *ou wanted to, there would be nothing sto&&ing *ou from making this character look like a real dog. #m not beautif*ing this %er* much, this is a %er* )uick gesture sketch, but as *ou can see, this character here can %er* )uickl* become a wild animal, whereas this gu* here would look kind of sill* doing that. 6ow this general &rinci&le will a&&l* to &rett* much an* four legged animal. owe%er, the wa* the %arious joints are distributed will be different. -or e(am&le, look at how different the camel#s back leg is. ou wouldn#t want to a&&l* the dog design to that. 4lthough the basic la*out of the wa* the bones are distributed, the functions rather, the u&&er leg, the lower leg and then the foot and the toes, wouldn#t be too far dissimilar. ou do need to research these, so an*time *ou#re gi%en a &roject with an unusual
animal, strongl* recommend *ou use the nternet as a research tool to find out e(actl* what the differences are. -or e(am&le, the feet of a horse are )uite different to look at than the &aws of a dog. f *ou#%e e%er seen a horse u& close, *ou#ll ne%er mistake it for a dog. 7o be sure *ou do the research on it and notice how different the jointing &attern of the rear leg of the horse is com&ared to the camel, and the ele&hant, for e(am&le, has so much weight that it#s &rett* much %ertical all the wa* down. ;ecause, if it weren#t, if an ele&hant were to ha%e a jointed leg like this, ma*be it couldn#t su&&ort its own weight and the leg would break. +he wa* these mo%e will be different also, de&ending on these different la*outs. 7trongl* recommend *ou sim&l* don#t a&&l* a generic )uadru&edal anatom* to all these animals. owe%er, *ou can get awa* with this kind of cartoon &h*sics. ou can break all the rules. ou can turn these realisticall* drawn animals into almost su&ernatural creatures that can &ound along on two legs. don#t want *ou to think *ou ha%e to be h*&errealistic all the time. t#ll %ar* from &roject to &roject as to how *ou can treat these animals. @ungle ;ook, for e(am&le, has a %er* realistic &ortra*al animation of cartoon ele&hants. don#t recall off hand if the* did an*thing like this in @ungle ;ook. +he* ma* ha%e had a dream se)uence. think in one of the older mo%ies there was, much more cartoon* ele&hants. 7o it goes across the s&ectrum of realistic to com&lete fantas*. 4 )uick note on &rimates. +he* are bi&edal like humans, so the*#re the closest thing to us out there. +he main difference would be the wa* the bodies are hinged. +he* can#t trul* walk around bi&edal*. 7o *ou ha%e rather smaller legs relati%e to their bod*, cur%e back and arms that allow them to do a four legged walk. $him&s, belie%e, can walk for brief &eriods on two legs, but not for e(tended ones. 4gain, man* %arieties of a&es, chim&s, gorillas, orangutans, all )uite different from one another. n general, that is the &rimar* difference would see when drawing these creatures com&ared to a human, is this &osture. ;ut regarding the indi%idual details, how *ou would, for e(am&le, draw an orangutan? 4gain, the nternet, fantastic resource. et &hotogra&hs, get li%e action first, before *ou start co&*ing a &re%ious animator#s st*le, nothing beats going to the actual, real animal and using that. $reate *our own %ersion of it and then ma*be see what other artists ha%e done. ;ird wings are a great analog for the human arm. ere *ou can see we#%e arrowed in the shoulder, the elbow and the wrist. +his is how the* would be com&ared to a human if this was a human arm. +hat#s what we would be looking at. 7o the wa* the wing is drawn, as *ou can see here, we use this joint at the to& to e(tract the feathers for the fingers. +hese become the digits. 4nd then *ou can finish off the rest of the wing, just b* drawing in some large strokes like this. 4s *ou can see here, on this side, this hand is, well, it#s a hand. +hose feathers are blatantl* being used as a human hand. 6ow, down here, we see the feet. ;irds anatom*, it looks &rett* alien, like how is this joint working? ow does that ha&&en? hat#s going on back here? ell, told *ou a while back to go research it, so let#s do that. 7o here#s this website called ikimedia. 4nd it#s astonishing the le%el of detail we can find
out about things. +his is a beautiful illustration. 4s *ou can see, the joint that we were looking at, sticking out of the bod* of the bird, is the ankleJ 4nd the knee is actuall* hidden u& tucked awa*, for the most &art inside the bod* of the bird. 7o the cur%ature of the bird that we would draw, would be about here, whereas this &art, is what we#re seeing outside. 7o let#s bear that in mind when we return to that image. 4gain remember, this is the ankle and the knee will be somewhere inside here. e will rarel* draw it. ou might see a hint of it here, but it#s one of those things. t is good to know that it#s there, it#s good to know that this is the ankle and these are the toes, so, again, it#s analogous to human anatom*, but the &ro&ortions ha%e been shifted to a &oint to where, to us it looks strange. ;ut once *ou know what the* are, then *ou ha%e an idea about the range of motion. +his will be able to mo%e u& and down, just like an ankle would, and, like said, use the nternet, research this stuff. 7o here #%e drawn some beaks in a cou&le of t*&ical angles. +o gi%e *ou an idea about how these look when the* mo%e, let#s do them frame b* frame. 4nd again, #%e done these mouths in the $losed :outh, ide "&en, the $heese -ace and "o. +hese four will gi%e *ou the major design challenges that *ou would face when doing an* gi%en dialog scene. "f course there are others, but these are the four big ones. 4s *ou can see, when we go from one to the other, that#s a %er* nice chew* transition. 4s is this, he feels like he#s chewing gum. 4 nice big "o sha&e. Let#s look at the &rofile %iew of this black bird. 4 %er* strong transition, Look at how bold these sha&es are. "ne single straight line all the wa* down. 4n 7 cur%e, a $ cur%e, a $ cur%e, a $ cur%e, a little 7 line here. -undamentall* sim&le sha&es, but the* all work together to make these %er* strong, a&&ealing designs. 4 big "o? 6otice how #%e gotten rid of an* lines here. 6o reason for it. @ust &ush it right out. t#s a %er*, %er* strong transition. 4nd then back to the big $heese -ace. 4nd again we#%e &ushed the cheeks back, cou&le of crease lines in, straight line here, and a cur%e there, so these create %er* sim&le, but strong sha&es. will stress sim&licit*. t looks com&le(, but the lines &utting this together are fairl* straight forward. wanted to gi%e *ou a )uick &ass at how would do a beak. want to 9oom into this area here, and also to show *ou these four sha&es. t#s the same as the others, just with an u&shot. t gi%e *ou a feeling for the dimensionalit* of this thing. 4gain, we ha%e an object here, that if was to draw it as a sim&le geometric sha&e, *ou could model it as a diamond, reall*, these little triangular forms would go together to create one side of the beak. Let#s shade that in here. 7o kee& that in mind, that is a form that we#re drawing. e#re just tr*ing to find a nice, sim&le wa* to illustrate it. 6ow this time we#re looking down at the beak, just to gi%e *ou a different angle. hat want to do is a big smile* ide "&en, so i#m going to draw the construction line through. i%e me a feeling for the three dimensionalit* of the s&ace, and where think the lines might go. 7o there#s the lower beak. 7o as *ou can see, we ha%e the corner, the corner, the u&&er &oint, the &oint of the beak there, and then all this will be inside mouth and if we want we ma*be hint at a tongue.
7o that#s our first &ass. 6ow let me &ick a darker color. Let#s ha%e the tongue break out of the silhouette of the mouth. 7o that would be the a&&ro(imation, think. Let#s get rid of the red underla*er. 7o that gi%es *ou a rough idea of how *ou deal with this dimensional object and then tr* to get these fundamentall* sim&le drawings out of what a&&ears to be a &rett* com&le( geometr*. e can break this thing down to just a few lines. @ust a few strokes. +hat#s the bird beakJ ere we ha%e the snake and this is one of the least human animals *ou are likel* to ha%e to draw. +he secret to the snake is to ha%e areas of the drawing that are thick and thin. 7o here we ha%e a thin area and a thick area. ere#s a thin one and a thick one. +his st*le is de&lo*ed throughout the snake when &ossible. 7o *ou might notice a cou&le of s&ots that are a little bit &arallel*. Let me &oint one out to *ou. 6otice right in here, these lines are a little too &arallel for comfort. 7o how wold *ou fi( fi( that? @ust %ar* it a little bit. +hat#s the kind of thing *ou ha%e to watch out for this kind of character if *ou want to make these designs as strong as &ossible. 4s much as like this one, *ou#ll still find s&ots here and there where &arallels will cree& in. "n the right side here, *ou see the end of the snake#s tail used as a hand, as a fake hand, which is &robabl* the easiest wa* to ha%e this character interact with the en%ironment if *ou are working on a humanoid snake. f *ou want to do things like knots, then the secret to do this kind of thing is to draw through, and to think through, for that matter, as though the whole thing is a trans&arent substance. 7ame with this line. magine it flowing through. 4nd that wa* we kee& these lines continuous. 7o it#s easier if show *ou a new stroke. 6ow we can go back in and rub out. Let m* e*e follow through from here like it#s a ma9e. +hen follow through. !oes that work, does that work? es, it still works, it still works. 7o that#s solid, that is an actual dimensional form. t doesn#t ha%e an* illogical flaws in it. #m just going to mo%e the &age u& a little bit now. 4s *ou can see here, the &rocess that used to draw a snake is to draw this red s&ine, or a s&ine line and then build the snake#s bod* on to& of that. -or e(am&le, let#s kee& it reall* sim&le. will &ut a black line on to& of this. +hen if *ou want to draw the bell*, then *ou follow the se&aration, the terminator line. magine where the underside should a&&ear. 4gain tr*ing to a%oid &arallels if &ossible. hen draw these marks, these segments, almost imagine them wra&&ing around the bod*. 6e%er draw them flat. 7o that would be &rocess for a snake. +his techni)ue is %er* useful for an octo&us or an alien, an* tentacled creature. +he design issues that would arise drawing the bod* of a snake would be %er* similar with an* of those kinds of animals. 7o just a )uick note on a)uatic animals. +he* ob%iousl* no real arms or legs to worr* about, but the* do ha%e fins, that#s their nearest analog. 6othing sto&&ing *ou from using a fin like that, unless it is a su&er realistic st*le. enerall*, a fish bod* is some kind of elli&tical bean sha&e, or elli&se and then we build the construction on to& of that. Iuite sim&le, center line, most fish e*es will be on the side of the head, because most of them are &re* animals, unless the*#re a &redator. redators ha%e the e*es on the front, like sharks, as the*#re hunters. +he more harmless fish will tend to ha%e their e*es on the side of the head where the* can see the enem* coming.
+he octo&us, in this case this is an e(tremel* cartoon* one, but here *ou see the tentacles, and these tentacles ha%e the same design issues that we mentioned on the &re%ious snake section. f *ou can draw a snake, *ou can &ut 8 snakes together to get the bones of an octo&us down. +he big challenge with an animal like the octo&us is kee&ing the negati%e s&aces interesting, because *ou are going to ha%e a lot of these o%erla&&ing tentacles so *ou might find it easier to draw a skeleton, just a s&ine of each leg, to see if that works as a design before *ou start adding in all this &encil mileage. ;ig bulk* animals like the whales, e%en though their actuall* in realit* )uite cur%ed, *ou might find that using a bo(* design will gi%e *ou a greater sense of the %olume, the mass of these things, than using a strictl* cur%ed one, but again don#t feel an one wa* of doing this. +hese are just some suggestions to get *ou on the wa*, when it comes to dealing with the world of animals.
.rawing creatures :an* or most of the design &rinci&les that *ou will deal with when drawing animals will a&&l* to an* number of different creatures, from the fantastical to the e(tinct. n this section, we ha%e s&ace aliens, dinosaurs, cloud monsters or creatures, horror creatures, whate%er this walking thing is, and robots, so #%e tried to include a little bit of e%er*thing to show *ou the, kind of, challenges, and the &rinci&les that we ha%e to deal with those challenges are fairl* uni%ersal, so let#s take a closer look at some of these. hat wanted to do was to, just to &ull a bunch of t*&ical challenges that *ou will face from &roject to &roject, how to make something that doesn#t ha%e human hands at all, would it be &ossible to get a creature that has no analog to a human anatom*, and how would *ou go about drawing one of these things? n this case, think a &rett* eas* solution to this is just to regard the alien as a big teardro& or a blob, and then *ou can de&lo* as man* tentacles as *ou think he needs. +he beaut* of an alien character like this is, it gi%es *ou the o&tion to do things that *ou might feel inhibited to do with an actual known creature. ou notice when #m sketching with this, granted #m using red. just want to ha%e the new stuff stand out, but let#s &ut a little black o%er that. think that#ll be fun.
be resol%ed with large dinosaurs, like a brontosaurus and so forth. just want to show *ou this to gi%e *ou an idea of the fact that we#re not limited to &h*sical things. +his is animation. ou could make creatures out of fire, smoke, water, if *our &roject &ermits it, so kee& this in mind, and it#s great fun to draw something like this, and we#ll be dealing with effects later, so this is just out there as another funn* idea. ere we ha%e the -rankenstein monster. +here#s nothing here that we reall* ha%en#t dealt with alread* from a design &oint of %iew in dealing with humanoid anatom* and all the rest of it. +he onl* thing that would be reall* noticeabl* different on this character would be the %er* strange construction sha&e that we use for the head, which *ou would e(&ect from the -rankenstein monster. t#s a great o&&ortunit* to use something that *ou would ne%er use for a sho&kee&er or a bank manager. #%e used this reall* nicelooking s)uashed football, and then bolted him onto a big c*linder, and then the rest of the bod* looks strange, sim&l* because #%e radicall* changed the &ro&ortions. ere we ha%e a creature made entirel* out of hair, and in order to create something like this, well, he definitel* has a construction of sorts, but didn#t want them to be tied down too badl* with huge anatom*, so *ou could e%en sim&lif* him if *ou were animating him, into a, kind of, a blobb* figure. +hen the rest of the characters, we#%e alread* co%ered, all of the &re%ious cha&ters ha%e dealt with &oints of origin and hair, so the rest of his design is sim&l* de&lo*ing the correct amount of hair in the right &laces to get the look, and as *ou can see, #m drawing almost instincti%el*, &icking a &oint here, and then all the rest of the strands just break off of that. +hese a&&arentl* com&le( sha&es, the* can be &ut together %er* )uickl* once *ou#%e become familiar with the basic &rinci&les that we#%e alread* co%ered. -inall*, a robot. wanted to &ick somebod* who wasn#t entirel* s*mmetrical and who was built out of basic sha&es, so what we ha%e is a bo(, c*linder we#%e bent around, a s&here, another c*lindrical or a conical sha&e, torus for the wheel, and then just a cou&le of c*linders for the arm. +he fundamental com&onents that make this character, again, )uite basic, )uite sim&le. +he fun &art of this character would be, *ou might be able to do things with cur%ing the neck into knots. 4n*time, again, *ou ha%e a chance to do something e(otic, sa* go for it, and tr* to use *our imagination with it.
.rawing cartoon e""ects "or animation 6ow let#s look at natural effects. n animation traditionall* when we said effects, we mean natural effects> smoke, steam, water, mud, fire, an*thing that#s elemental, our shadows, e%en s&arkles, that kind of thing. 7o these three images show *ou the general drawing se)uence that *ou could follow when animating effects or just drawing e%en just drawing a single image. ou start out with the basic construction form. ou don#t go in on the right side just drawing that. Like a character, an effect has a &h*sical structure. 7o let#s take a look at this in more detail. e#ll just go in a little tighter so there#s our first, and *ou#ll notice in this case #%e drawn it with a figure eight loo&. 4nd if *ou remember from a &re%ious mo%ie we drew a dress with a similar &attern. could also ha%e made it circular or %aried this, but this is a good sha&e to use. 4nd on to& of that structure then #%e drawn %er* loosel* this s&lash &attern. 7o fa%ored more of the s&lash on the far side to this end and less on that to corres&ond roughl* with that figure eight la*out. 4nd *ou can see where the figure eight di&s here so does the s&lash, but am not committed to following e(actl* along that cur%ed line. +hat#s just a structural suggestion. 4nd then on the last &ass, *ou add smaller details, the holes and ga&s in the s&lash, and the little dro&s that break off. ou ha%e to tr* to kee& these irregular. +he worst thing that *ou can do with a natural effect is to make it a regular sha&e. 7o if had de&lo*ed these s&ots at the same inter%al it would look kind of weird. 7o what #m going to do is to 9oom in on our construction. 4nd to gi%e *ou an idea about how would begin to a&&roach this )uite loose on a la*er o%er this. +here#s no reason to change this one. mean, like ha%ing this on its own sheet so if mess u& the effect la*er can go back to that. ;ut just roughl* follow along the line, and then *ou can start adding in things like ga&s if *ou think that... ell, that#s a little ugl* sha&e, but let#s change that. 4nd when *ou add these &articles, tr* to kee& them irregularl* s&aced. ou might do a grou& of one large one, one medium, or two or three small. 7o let#s mo%e on to the ne(t one. 4nother common use for effects animation would be clouds, or smoke, steam, and there#s different st*les of dealing with this ranging from the %er* st*li9ed which *ou can see u& here where we ha%e these %er* ornate cur%ed loo&s. +his is a reall* fun wa* think to draw natural effects. 4nd we ha%e the %er* slick kind of st*li9ed %ersion here, and there#s an* number of wa*s *ou can &olish that u&. 4nd on the lower right, a more natural one, and it#s still kind of st*li9ed. t still has these %er* st*li9ed loo&s. 7o, again, *ou could go e%en more realistic than that. ;ut, again, when *ou draw these clouds remember the* ha%e a form and a %olume. 4nd if *ou just start drawing cur%es, well, *ou can &robabl* get awa* with that, but it#s a much better idea to treat the cloud as a %olume. 7o, again, this is something that#s best done, think, when *ou#re )uite rela(ed. ou don#t want to be in a hurr*. strongl* recommend that an*bod* doing a lot of effects animation has a %er* calm tem&erment, and it#s certainl* its own little mini uni%erse.
4nd there#s man* animators who don#t do character animation traditionall* an*wa*. +he* would just do effects. 7o it#s a little world all of its own, and if *ou don#t like it then strongl* suggest that *ou tr* to ada&t to it because an* good animator should able to animate or draw natural effects like these. -ire is one of those challenges and can regularl* cro& u& because *ou might ha%e a character walking through a scene with a torch and ma*be *ou want them to hold the torch and ha%e a little flame coming out of the to&. ;e nice if *ou could do that *ourself and not ha%e to hand it off to somebod* to do it for *ou. t#s )uite a trick* fire. t#s one of those weird things, but it#s like a fluid. +echnicall*, it#s a &lasma and it can tear off )uite )uickl* and change sha&e in a wa* that no character that *ou#ll e%er animate &robabl* will. t#s just a trick of when *ou come to draw it an*wa*, can#t s&eak in this course about how to animate it, but at least to draw it. ou#d kee& them %er* fluid. !on#t be afraid of breaking off sha&es and tearing it. +he* can dissi&ate into nothing %er*, %er* )uickl*. 7o that is fire, a lot of $ cur%es, 7 cur%es, %er* sinuous. don#t recall e%er reall* drawing man* straight lines in a fire. think the*#re all kind of ser&entine sha&es. 7o that#s the fire. !rawing water is not eas*. +here#s no hiding that. t#s one of the trickier things think *ou#ll &robabl* ha%e to do, or at least an ocean scene like this. 7o reall* enjo*ed this one, but it was trick*. 4nd because water flows from one form into another in a wa* that#s %er*, %er* challenging to do, %er* difficult to animate e%en for an e(&erienced effects animator. #m going to draw this in blue as well. can#t dwell on this for too long because it would sim&l* take too long, but *ou tr* to kee& these sha&es %er* gentle, %er* flowing. 4nd remember that there#s no real boundar* e%en though these wa%es are going to a&&ear and disa&&ear. +he* merge and meld one into the other so the trick will be just to make this look like it#s a continuous almost like a sheet if *our heroes are sailing o%er the hori9on, for e(am&le. 4nd again, lots of cur%es breaking one into the other. ;ut strongl* recommend when *ou do this just to draw loose and this would be one case where would also recommend hunting down scenes of water animation in animated mo%ies to see how other artists ha%e sol%ed, or tackled the challenge of this because reall* animating ocean, it#s, think, is u& there. 7o that#s the general &rocess that would use and then *ou can ob%iousl* suggest a further line of water in the distance and that doesn#t ha%e to ha%e the same le%el of detail as what#s in the foreground. 4nd as *ou can see, the ocean in the background is just a com&lete undifferentiated mass. +he la*er right beside that has a little more detail in it. e begin to see some lines. 4nd the ma(imum le%el of line weight, that#s in the foreground. 4nd also %er* useful to ha%e these white areas on the rim of a wa%e. +hat#s where *ou#d e(&ect to see something that#s a little more e*ecatching. 7o that#s oceans. 4nd finall*, effects im&acts, and like a 9an* cartoon effect when somebod* gets whammed with a hammer. 7o the first thing to do would be just to draw the im&act ring. #%e drawn it as two circles, but *ou can draw it as one &robabl* )uicker. 4nd then around that, then *ou add all of the im&act material, and radiating from the hub. 7o *ou can imagine all of these arced lines coming out of that if *ou want, or if this st*le &ermits it, then *ou can add a few energ* strokes coming out, ma*be e%en some cloud &oofs.
+here#s an* number of wa*s this can be modified. ;ut again as *ou can see, it#s constructed, e%en something as sim&le as this, is constructed and has a form beneath it. 7o that#s our introduction to effects.
.rawing obects Let#s take a look at objects. ow do *ou draw things? 7o a good e(am&le would be a book and it#s a %er* sim&le form because basicall* it#s a bo(. owe%er, *ou o&en the book and suddenl* things get a little more interesting. ou get &ages and all this. 7o what want to do is just do a )uick fl*through as to how *ou might handle an object like this. 7o let#s sa* was going to draw a book &rett* much like the ones *ou see abo%e just sitting on a table. 4nd as long as *ou ha%e a reasonabl* good gras& of &ers&ecti%e, *ou can &robabl* get something down that#s reasonabl* solid like that. 7o what ha&&ens if sa*, *ou want to o&en the book, or &ages are like that or *ou want to o&en the book this wa*? 7o again we ha%e the s&ine of the book, that#s here, that#s going to flo& to this &oint. 4nd again we ha%e the flat &ages, the rectangular s&ine, and ma*be the wind catches some of the &ages. +he &ages will ha%e an s cur%e or a c cur%e sha&e, %er* unlikel* the* would ha%e much more detail than that. 7o we can again, just draw the forms of the o%erall grou& of &ages. e don#t ha%e to draw each indi%idual &age. 6ow that #%e got the corner of this one, don#t want that to go totall* cur%ed like had on the rough.
good designers will &la* with and if *ou want to be su&er design* about it, *ou can add what#s like an offset. +hat#s what the* used to do back in the 50s, get reall* gra&hic about it. ell on the right side we ha%e a more realistic treatment and here #ll introduce the idea of dealing with a basic famil* of sha&es' c*linders, cubes, and s&heres, and cones. 7o most of the sha&es that *ou can draw will be some %ariet* of these b* e(truding them, or s)uashing them, or distorting them, but the basic fundamentals will be some %ariation of these &rimiti%e sha&es just as *ou would in 3! or $ animation if *ou model an object in that medium. 7o let#s see how that a&&lies. 7o here we ha%e a chair and what #ll do is just draw another angle. 7o let#s see, if we ha%e an u&shot, we ha%e a worm#s e*e %iew and we#re looking u& at the chair. 7o #m not going to draw the leg, #m going to draw the bo(. +hat red imaginar* bo( surrounds and defines the chair. 4nd if the seat of the chair is just below the halfwa* &oint, &ut that about here, then know that at least that#s correct. +he back area here will be somewhere similar and again, if we ha%e a &roblem finding that alignment, then let#s just do that and now we#ll just tighten it down a bit and *ou#ll be able to see how we can begin to a&&l* some of these geometrical objects to this so the seat of this thing is little more than a cube, #%e just s)uashed it. 4nd so now when hide the original construction bo(, let#s just go back to com&are, and in case #%e gone blind to the design, let#s fli& it hori9ontall*. t#s definitel* %er* foreshortened but if we had a little ad%enturer, a little mouse gu* looking u& at it, then *ou would e(&ect him to see that kind of %iew&oint. 7o that#s using this bounding bo( to at least bolt down *our construction of some of the larger areas and forms of the drawing objects. Let#s look at some more. 7o what want to do now is just o%er these drawings, draw some of the objects that are defining them. 7o we ha%e, remember, a cone, s&here, cube, and c*linder. +hat#s our famil*. 7o the to& of the baseball bat is %er* s&herical. ou can imagine the s&here in there. 4nd the bod* of it is %er* conical so that#s e(&lanator* enough. +his little stum& down here is a s&here that#s just been s)uished down. +he tea&ot, s&here. 4nd we also ha%e another object which #ll add to our little collection called the torus, that#s a donut, and that#s what we ha%e here. t#s %er* much in the famil* of the s&here, it#s a s&herical thing. ere we ha%e our cone. ere we ha%e a torus. 7&here, cone, this is a little cone. t#s just been &laced u&on a more interesting s&inal &ath. +he area here on the tea&ot, that#s conical as well, torus, another torus. 4nd the helmet, let#s see, here #%e broken it u& alread*. e ha%e a c*linder, cone, c*linder, and we ha%e a conical structure for the hat. =%en something organic like a handbag. +his was in a coffee sho& and was drawing this and one of the girls left this on the ground so was looking at it going, wonder what the forms would be if was doing that as a cartoon structure so broke it down in m* head just to a cube, just elongate it this wa*. 4nd then this sha&e here guess *ou could regard that as a cube if *ou widen the base, but it#s certainl* a %er* sim&le, &rimiti%e object, a little &*ramidal. 7o we#re dealing with these essentiall* sim&le sha&es. 7o in the case of the handbag, if wanted to change the angle that draw that at, this gi%es me a
%er* eas* wa* to re&osition it and then &ut down the natural strokes. Let me switch to black so *ou can see that. 7o that#s the essential &rocess of breaking down fairl* com&le( sha&es into sim&ler, more &ure &latonic sha&es that *ou can then control. 7o one last note, and that is to again remind *ou that *ou ma* end u& being luck* enough at some &oint to work on a &roject where *ou can use some of these tricks on objects that are *et ali%e. 4nd the famous animation test is to draw a bag of flour and then to gi%e that bag of flour &ersonalit*, to make it act and &erform. 4nd that#s reall* one of the acid tests of being a good animator, to take an inanimate object, to sa*, oh look, that bag of flour looks sad, or that one looks mean, or strong, or whate%er. 7o alwa*s look out for an o&&ortunit*, if *ou get it, to insert an emotion or a content into these objects that#s just be*ond the material. 4nd *ou won#t alwa*s ha%e that chance because man* shows, man* cartoons are fairl* sim&le but occasionall* *ou#ll get one where there#s some magical com&onent. 7o that#s the world of objects.
'. Bringing it All (ogether ) 1!m 7o it#s time to bring together all the things #%e been showing *ou. 4nd here we ha%e just a sim&le ball to designate the skull, and we#re going to draw a burnedout 1H0s flower child, and this is going to be a man with long hair, scragg*, he#s seen better da*s, but he#s got a heart of gold. 7o, let#s get going on it. 7o, first things first, we ha%e the skull so think sometimes like to just do the e*es. Let#s start with the e*es. Lines a bit dark, so #m just gonna brighten it u& a little bit. +his &articular brush in hotosho& gets a little cloud*. :* &a&er drawings are usuall* not this cloud*. t#s a little bit of a frustration #%e had with it in the booth. 7o, when *ou draw, don#t feel under an* com&ulsion to draw a blurr* line. 4nd again, when draw the iris like this, #m bringing it in all the wa* to the cur%e. 6ow reall* that#s as much detail as want to do at the moment. 6ow let#s just start doing to rest of the figure much more loosel* than that. just wanted to &ut the e*es in to gi%e us a little sense of the head direction. 7o, let#s start on the rest of the figure, but now #m going to loosen u& )uite a bit. 7o #m guessing the bod* will be kind of bent o%er. Like to see him a bit hunched u&, shoulders u& to here. 4nd let#s gi%e him a reall* long face, a scragg* chin down at this end. #m going to gi%e him higher cheekbones, and want to gi%e him a reall* shocked, s&aced out kind of e(&ression. 4nd, like reall* sunken into his chest, so the neck will be down here. +hat#ll be a bit of the jawline. +hen the* are o&en, so it seems a bit sagg*. ut the 4dam#s a&&le in. Der* likel* the center line, #m just going to lighten it u& a little bit. +hink now we can ma*be block in some of the nose, and so what #m going to do is gi%e him, like, a reall* long and gra&hic one not too realistic. 7o, now let#s do the mouth. e#%e got the range of motion on that. 4nd think big teeth, something a little unusual with this gu*. eah, he hasn#t been to a dentist in a while. e doesn#t belie%e in dentists. +ime to shade in the back of the mouth. robabl* shouldn#t redo this if was going to color in this &articular drawing, but this is a rough sketch, so it#s nice to get a little tone in there. i%e him a few e*e wrinkles. 4nd this is a good use of straights. 7o we ha%e a straight line here and break it. 7ame on this side. e doesn#t look like a hi&&ie *et, but don#t worr*, we#ll get there. 7o, let#s gi%e him some reall* big e*ebrows. 4nd let#s just block in the o%erall sha&e first before we draw an* strands. 4nd this is a rough drawing, so it#s reall* nice if *ou can be loose on this. !on#t be tr*ing to clean these u&. +his is where *ou ha%e a little bit of freedom to make some bolder sha&es. ou think *ou#%e gone a little too dark and *ou want to lighten it u& a bit, not a &roblem. =rase some of that. 4 few wrinkles would be nice. 4nd, don#t forget the ears, and this is a straight line, cur%e, and another break on the cur%e down here. i%es us a strong, not too blobb* ear sha&e. 4nd think we should gi%e him a brow because this e*ebrow is reall* flooding u& into s&ace. 7o, *ou see how the skull there is a s&here? +hat does not mean we ha%e to draw to that s&here. +hat#s our
guideline. can take this gu* and gi%e him a little brow ridge. 4nd we can ha%e another one on the other side here. ut the hairline u& &rett* high. 7tarting to recede, but finall*. 4nd let#s ha%e the hair flowing. 6ow we#re going to be adding an arm in here in a little bit, so #m not going to worr* too much about this just *et because we could be co%ering u& this s&ace %er* soon. 4dd some wrinkles on the e*es to show a little bit of aging. 4nd like all good hi&&ies, he has to ha%e big mustache. 7o, #m beginning from a &oint of origin about here. +here#s another one here, just under the nose. Let it flow from that. 4nd these sha&es are &rett* sim&le. +he*#re an 7 cur%e and a $ cur%e, and the mouth#s getting in the wa* a bit from hel&ing us to read this, so let#s fi( that. e#ll just &aint that in. 4nd #m just going to fine tune some of the area around the e*e. 6eed more white back in there. 6ow let#s go back to black. e#re darkening the e*es now just to reall* get them to read. 7o we can begin to add little details. airs on the chin. :a*be a crease on the mouth here. 4nd then want to change the line at this Dneck so it just comes down a bit lower. 4nd then just, erase back some of this stuff here. oing to &ut a few more lines. think this mustache looks a little too clean. e should make it a little rattier. 4nd let#s gi%e him some big core. 4nd big e*elids, hea%* e*elids would also be a &rett* useful signifier here. 7o, we ha%e big indention, hea%* there. +he e*elid line here, and we#ll make sure that that#s hea%il* drawn so we suggest a shadow. 7ame on this side. think #d like to cut back some of this mustache area. :a*be thin it out just a little bit. 4nd this also gi%es us a little room in here to add a jaw line back in. :a*be &ut some whiskers on it. 4nd #m going to bring in the arm, but from this &oint. @ust gi%e him a %er* droo&*, dejected lim& wrist here. 4nd #m thinking about the material that his shirt is made of. #d like it to be something %er* loose and flo&&* so we reall* get this inside line here on the cuff to hang straight. +his is our hand area, thumb. 7o, let#s ha%e him here holding u& a flower. 7o, we#ll block in the &alm of the hand here. 4nd ne(t finger. 4nd the other three fingers will just be minding their own business, not grabbing an* attention down here. 7o the &osition that#ll attach his &h*sical right hand with the flower to the bod*. e#ll ha%e another droo&* slee%e here. 4nd there#s a bit of an o%erla& here where originall* had the shoulder a little higher. 7o, either #ll erase this line here for the shoulder or will mo%e the arm u& a bit. like that taller shoulder. t gi%es him a more hunched look. 7o, #m going to go in and erase that &ro&erl*. 4nd see how #m lea%ing that s&ace o&en? #m not closing it off. 6o reason to. t#s one fluid area from one end to the other. 4nd we can do the same thing here. Let#s just clean u& as well, some of this area. t#s getting a little bit cluttered. 4nd we also ha%e an area here where we can define that hairline a little more shar&l*. 7o, there#s a cou&le of little e(tra details that we can add. 4nd that#ll be e*eglasses and a bandana. #m a bit skittish about drawing e*eglasses directl* o%er this drawing because &ut so much effort into it. 7o, what want to do is to do them on a se&arate la*er, and that wa* if mess them u& can rub them out. 7o, let#s do that. 7o, be careful not to draw these new la*ers, the e*eglasses and the bandana.
hat #m going to do is make the old la*er a little bit o&a)ue, and that wa* we can see more clearl* what we#re doing and how if affects the design of the other elements around it. 7o, let#s &ut some glasses in. like some something nice, like that. 4nd now *ou see, suddenl* this character who think at the beginning *ou were &robabl* thinking, how is this gu* looking like an old 1H0s hi&&ie t*&e? think now he#s coming in to it. 4nd a lot of it is, *ou know, things like the glasses, the hair, the mustache. +ake a few of them off and he starts looking like somebod* else. +he bandana is what #m going to wra& entirel* around the head, and this will gi%e us the o&&ortunit* to make some changes to the hair. 4nd *ou#ll see how this affects the material &ro&ert* of the hair that it comes in contact with. Let me just tighten this u& a little bit. 7o what #m going to do on this la*er is just redraw the hair, and then correct the hair on the la*er beneath. 7o, if the bandana is &inching the hair here we can e(&ect to see something ha&&en like that. 4nd this hair that currentl* was floating free, is not going to do so an*more. 4nd now it#s being &ulled in a bit so think surel* we would e(&ect to see something like this ha&&en and let the ear be com&letel* in front of that hair as well. +r*ing to a%oid tangents or an*thing like that. +hen we ha%e our &oints of origin for all these scraggl* bits. 7o, want to take care of this area here where the e*eglasses and the corner of the nose interact. e don#t want these to be fighting, 7o, the* ha%e to coe(ist &eacefull*. 7o, let#s be sure we reall* are careful around here. 4nd either ha%e the glass cleanl* in front of the nose or the corner of the nose cleanl* in front of the glass. 4nd we ma* need to mo%e one or the other, and this kind of e*eglass issue is constantl* a &roblem. #m just going to select these. #m going to cheat because #m working on a com&uter, but if this was a &h*sical drawing, we#d now ha%e to rub this out and redraw it. 7o, let#s mo%e the glasses u&. think that#s the easiest of the two o&tions. 4nd then #ll deselect them. o back to m* &encil, and let#s also clean u& the &erimeter of the glass. t#s got some wreckage on it there. 6otice now, since mo%ed the glass u&, we now ha%e a tangent with the crease line that was below the e*e. 7o, let#s mo%e that u& or down, and see which one works best. think let#s mo%e it down. t#s got cleanl* breeches there. 4nd this is, the common &roblem that *ou ha%e as *ou reall* begin to tighten a drawing, so not the kind of thing *ou want to worr* about too much at the beginning or it#ll just inhibit *ou, but as *ou begin to tighten the drawling, then these are the king of things *ou ha%e to start looking at. +hat#s looking &rett* better, so now we ha%e to go to the la*er beneath and just erase out all the &arts that are conflicting, and there#s a &art here that we need to delete. 4nd that#s where the bandana mo%es in front of the e*ebrow. Let#s get rid of that. 4nd now on the lower la*er, #m just going to go through and erase all these o%erla&&ing bits that are getting a little clutter* and then we can combine these two la*ers into one. "r, alternatel*, we could just kee& drawing and do a more cleaned u& %ersion on this u&&er le%el. "ka*, so that#s &rett* much it. e ha%e our si(ties hi&&ie flower child, and so what we#%e done is tr* to integrate as man* of the techni)ues that we#%e co%ered &re%iousl* during the course. just want to flag a cou&le of things. -irstl*, this is a rough drawing, but the focus on here was getting
the &ersonalit* of the character, not getting a reall* finessed line. +hat would re)uire one more &ass o%er this to reall* go in and &in&oint details and reall* work out stuff like the &recise &osition of these creases and where does this line reall* begin and end. Little things like that, the* add u&. 7o, here *ou see, all that doesn#t just work to create a )uote, cool, design. +he whole &oint about this drawing was to create a &ersonalit*, a character. 7o, ho&e we succeeded in doing that. 7o, tr* to incor&orate that &rocedure and that thinking &rocess when *ou do *our own characters.
*. Full Drawing% From +tart to Finish ) ''m %tarting with a rough construction 6ow what #m going to do is take this character, our little s&ace cadet fo( who #%e &redesigned, and we#re going to &ut him in an action &ose, and b* doing this #m going to show *ou m* entire work flow as it would a&&l* to a fullfigured sketch. !on#t worr* about this model sheet for now. e#ll co%er this in a later mo%ie. hat we#re going to do is to take this three)uarter &ose and make him do something interesting. hat #m going to do is to create a gesture drawing of our figure and, just roughl* matching his &ro&ortions, and sometimes when do this like to ha%e the model sheet or a reference image for the character off to one side, so *ou ma* find that hel&ful so *ou don#t drift too far off. Line of action was m* first stroke, and then began blocking in the main bod* and this is a gesture drawing, so what want to do is a %er* )uick, %er* d*namic &ose that ca&tures the essence of the action, so we ha%e his finger &ointing u&, and #m feeling like it might be time to go in a little bit darker, so let me just darken m* &en a little bit, now can just do slightl* more detailed, like one defining line out of most of that mess. ;ut as *ou can see, we still ha%e form. can see that the hi& joint is here, there other hi& is there. e can delete the line of action, it#s becoming a little bit distracting. ;lock in a slightl* larger form for the arms, and just a big mass, like a bit mitten, for the hand will be fine. +his is almost like handwriting, when *ou get fast enough at this it feels more like *ou#re signing *our name. @ust kee& going. +hat#s &rett* good. +he &ose is recogni9able. f want to be absolutel* sure, #ll fli& it hori9ontall* so ha%e m* moment of freshness so can see, *u&, it all still looks good. f it still flashes as a good solid &ose in that )uick re%erse moment then *ou know *ou#re on good territor*. 7o that#s it, that#s our gesture &ose, so let me show *ou the &rinci&les behind this &ose in a sim&le series. ere#s a slightl* more tieddown %ersion of that. #%e just done one more &ass, just so ha%e a com&letel* clean line, but it#s still &rett* rough. Look closel* and *ou can see there#s lots of scratch* little marks. ha%en#t gone too &recious with it, ha%en#t done an* interior details be*ond an e*eball just to show us that we#re looking straight u& here. 4s *ou can see, the red line is the line of action, and this is the first stroke that made when was drawing the gesture &ose, and that#s to get the energ* and the weight of the drawing down. +he second thing was worried about was the structure. +his is the &ro&ortion to make sure that he#s onmodel. +he si9e of the head is roughl* correct in relation to the bod*, and wanted to get the hi&s and the shoulder twist drawn solidl*, and *ou can feel the strong, sim&le leg &ositions, the* reall* ha%e the waist of the character taken care of, and then the other as&ect that we didn#t )uite see but it was still something was worried about was the negati%e sha&e, and here we ha%e a %er* strong silhouette and negati%e sha&e around it, and e%en in this state, *ou can see what the character is doing.
"nce *ou ha%e this kind of &ose com&lete, *ou#re read* to mo%e on to the ne(t ste&, which is tiedown.
Tie down 7o this is a slightl* tightened down gesture drawing from the &re%ious mo%ie, so what #m going to do now is show *ou the &rocess of &utting the character on to& of this, the &rocess of t*ing down the rough. 7o let#s &ut a clean sheet o%er this drawing so we can draw cleanl* on to& of it without getting all tangled u&. 7o where *ou begin on this could be largel* be a matter of what *ou think is the most im&ortant &art of the figure. hat *ou think is going to be the biggest single challenge. 4nd it might be an idea, so *ou don#t waste too much time, to target the hardest &oint because if *ou can#t crack that then the entire drawing could be moot. think that the hardest &oint will &robabl* be this area here with the character who has a snout. 7o let#s &ut the snout in, and remember that the snout will be if *ou imagine that the head, for e(am&le we ha%e our e*eline, centerline, and these go through the head. 4nd imagine the &oint the nose coming u& at that angle. +hat#s how #m &ositioning it. "f course *ou can cheat that, there#s cheats *ou can do to slide it a little bit to where it shouldn#t be ma*be, if it makes a better design, but it should be roughl* in this area. 4nd again, #m imagining this is a conical sha&e. 6ot as a series of three or four flat lines. +he cheeks will be about here. 4nd he has kind of a &oint* cheek because he#s roughl* meant to be a fo(. wanted somebod* with a bit of angularit* to him. 4nd he#s looking u&, he#s ama9ed so we#ll gi%e him a wide o&en mouth. 4nd #m using a straight line here and a cur%ed one there. t makes a nicer sha&e com&arison. :a*be ha%e his teeth bending down this wa* on the lower jaw, bending u& on the u&&er jaw. 7o one tooth is aligning that wa*, and the other is aligning this wa*. t creates a nice, triangular wedge. 4nd now we can sketch in the back of the mouth. 4nd to reall* sell the fact that the head is tilted back, it#s nice to ha%e the u&&er e*ebrow at breaking the &erimeter of the skull. 4nd &ut this line in here, *ou can notice here that #m taking care to not make a tangent with that nose, it would ha%e been %er* eas* to ha%e that line accidentall* making a tangent with that collar se&aration area on the nose, we don#t want that. 7o as *ou can see here, that#s not ha&&ening. 4nd #m just going to tr* to hint at the other e*ebrow right about there. t#s a shame that we onl* see one e*e but this is an e(treme angle so wanted to &ick one that was definitel* not going to gi%e us an o&timal. t#s ideal to ha%e both e*es showing, but sometimes *ou just can#t, and this is one of those e(am&les. +he hair is going to be a big tuft of hair will be flowing from the back of the neck if we imagine the whole structure, like this. +he ear will flow from this angle certainl* from the skull and think that it connects somewhere around here. 6ow this is getting a little fiddl*, so #m going to go in and make some commitments to one or the other. 7o #m going to ha%e this line sim&l* be the jaw area. 4nd #m going to not worr* about illustrating an* of the hair, think it#s just going to look fiddl*, so we can imagine it#s safel* hidden behind that whole line area.
6ow let#s go in and erase some of this, it#s getting a little mess* in here. 4gain, commit to one sha&e or the other. +he worse thing *ou could do is com&romise. 4nd think that *ou#ll find that a strong, bold decision will nine times out of 10 gi%e *ou a better design. 6ow a little bit of confusion#s going on here. #m tr*ing to figure out e(actl* where the, that#s the e*e mask, and want to figure out where that ear is coming in. 7o let#s tid* u& this area. 7o think we can just suggest that the ear is at the tufts of hair there. ood, want to fli& that hori9ontall*. 6ow #m actuall* tilting m* head, so that can see, think it looks all right. ou might be gaining a bit of %olume here. Let#s rotate this a little bit and ha%e a look in from a different angle. 7o ma*be that#s a little shar&, so let#s round that off just a little bit. 7o #m going to undo all of that. 4nd we#re sha%ing here #m taking off just a tin* amount of %olume. #m just gi%ing it the smallest of cur%es. 7o now let#s just mo%e on, #m just going to sim&l* mo%e the rest of the bod* and see if there#s an* &otential trouble s&ots, an*thing that#s going to cause me to lose slee&. 4nd think that#s a &rett* eas* enough sha&e for this nice little &added shoulder thing. 4nd remember that this is resting and *ou can see e%en working o%er the rough, the shoulder &ad is just resting and flowing from the hand. 4nd remember he has a glo%e. +r* to sta* loose. know went a little tight on the face, but if *ou like, *ou can make a %er* tight &ass on this if *ou ha%e the skill for it. ;ut *ou might find that it#s also &rett* good to kee& it reasonabl* loose at this &oint. ou can do a cou&le of tie down &asses as *ou get nearer and nearer to the final artwork. 4nd #m &lacing that belt buckle o%er the centerline, fa%oring this side, just a little bit because it#s got a little de&th to it. 4nd see how sim&l* drew the fingers, just a big block facing right out at us. "ne, two, three, and just follow along. +he rough is &rett* good. 7o now let#s hide that lower la*er. 4nd if we can delete out, *ou see the little s)uares, we don#t want to see them. 7o that#s our first tie down &ass. ell, what #m going to do is show *ou a ne(t la*er of tie down. 7o what if the &re%ious %ersion is a little too rough, and *ou just need to go in *et again, one more time? 4nd want to stress that there isn#t like a hard and fast series of lulls here as to how man* times *ou can tie down a drawing. 7ome drawings #%e tied down se%en, eight, or nine times, and struggled with them. "thers can go from m* %er* first gesture drawing straight to a %er* tight tie down. 4nd did work with one gu* who could go from almost nothing to a finished drawing with nothing in between. Der* few &eo&le are that good, most of us ha%e to struggle a little bit and do a series of e(&lorator* sketches. 7o it#s a good idea to get used to the &rocess of doing a drawing, &utting another la*er or a sheet o%er that and do another %ersion of it, getting closer, and closer, and closer to *our final artwork. 7o that#s what we#re going to do on this &art of the figure. +his is just a single, rough sketch as a first tie down &ass of the hand &ointing towards the sk*. 7o let#s see what it takes to go in and just get this much, much tighter now. ;ecause want this to be more of a tie down, #m not going to worr* about drawing in an* of the construction under it. want this to be a much more com&leted &iece of artwork. 7o rela(, dee& breaths, nice and still, slow, take *our time. 7ometimes when begin #ll use man* o%erla&&ing crosshatch strokes. ou#ll find as *ou go
through the da*, or the drawing, *ou#ll begin to loosen u&. 4nd see, #m &utting in a crease here. 7o it#s not a case of, #m sim&l* tracing this off, that would literall* be a disaster. #m still thinking about the drawing, the &h*sicalit* of it, what these lines re&resent. 7o for e(am&le, this area here is the flesh* underside of the finger. +his is the bon* u&&erside. 7o guess which one gets the straighter of the two strokes. 4nd similarl*, with here. 7o #m still looking out constantl* for areas that can im&ro%e. 7ee on the rough how there#s one, two, three strokes? +hat#s because it was a rough and that#s what *ou do with a rough, *ou#re rela(ed, *ou#re sketching, *ou#re making multi&le strokes. ;ut reall*, want this &articular figure onl* has three fingers and a thumb, so we onl* want one stroke. 4nd there#s no reason wh* ha%e to trace the &recise line, but where it works will tr* to match it, and where think it#s weak #ll tr* to strengthen it. 7o this cur%e here, could kee& that cur%e. or could straighten it. Let#s see what might work best. hen straightened it the sha&e became a little bit too tight. e#re getting a little &arallel* in here, see this s&ace here seems a little &arallel to me. don#t want that. 7o ma*be we can just e(tend that line down a little bit, take it in at the to&. +he other &ossible solution would be to change the cur%e of this finger. 7o *ou see how there#s still a thinking &rocess going on here. ou ne%er sto& thinking. :a*be we can add another cur%e there. +hat will hel& break u& that boring s&ace. 6ow *ou might want to shar&en this u& here, *ou see where ha%e two o%erla&&ing strokes? !e&ends on how tight *ou want *our drawing to be. 7o #m just going to re&osition the drawing now to recenter it. 4nd then we#ll just finish off the forearm. 6ow let#s hide the la*er beneath so we see the finger b* itself. 6ot too bad. #m still looking for some fine details to fi(, so there#s a little blobbiness here, #m just going to go in with a shar& eraser and fi( that. 4nd there#s a little bit of thickness here. Let#s e%en out that line. 4nd ma*be we can &ut a crease in there. f he weren#t wearing glo%es we would add fingernails, but he is wearing glo%es so we won#t but the* would be roughl* in &ositions like that. 4nd because this lower cur%e of the glo%e is, would imagine, facing awa* from the light source which would be from u& here, #m going to just darken that light a little. 4nd #m reall* thinning m* line now so can get some reall* finer strokes, es&eciall* for the creases. 6ow before *ou fall in lo%e with adding lots of e(tra lines, #ll remind *ou that sim&licit* is a %irtue, so #%e been fairl* careful about not adding lots of e(tra little creases. #m not sa*ing ne%er do it, but just be aware that e%er* time *ou add one ma*be *ou#re &utting in too much details. 7o do it under control, be conscious of what *ou#re doing and don#t just add all these e(tra lines because *ou think *ou ha%e to ha%e them. 7o that#s a &rett* decent tie down of the original. Let#s ha%e a look at the original beside it. 7o here on the left, that was our initial tie down &ass, a %er* rough tie down &ass, but still it was starting to &ut some meat on the original rough. "n the right side, a much, much closer tie down &ass. 6ow this, as *ou saw, took a lot more time to do. 4nd onl* do these if #m %er*, %er* ha&&* with this stage, because don#t like to waste m* time drawing at this le%el if the actual &ose itself is something that reali9e is wrong. 4nd alwa*s be on the lookout for these time tra&s because that will reall* take a
lot of the fun out of this &rocess. 7o now let#s take a look at the entire figure with the final tie down st*le a&&lied to it. 7o now on the left *ou see that#s our rough &ass. "n the right side, a much tighter tie down. 4nd the beaut* of the %ersion on the right side is it#s so close to final that *ou can reall* begin to see where the color#s going to go and what the final structure will be. 7o for e(am&le, were we in a animation studio and drawing a &roduction b* hand, either on &a&er or on a com&uter, then the drawing on the right could concei%abl* be used as color line artwork, whereas the figure on the left is just too loose for that.
leanup 7o now, let#s look at cleanu&. 4nd this is in case *ou need to reall* &ut a black line let#s sa* *ou want to &aint these characters with a &aint &rogram like llustrator or hotosho&, -lash, +oon ;oom armon*, +Daint, one of those gu*s. 7o let#s take a closer look at these. e ha%e four on the left, we#ll begin there. +here is a &rett* clean tie down, but let me go in close, *ou can see it#s still not )uite &erfect. t looks nice enough, but there are still ga&s here, and little holes in it. 7o let#s mo%e on to the ne(t one and see a cleanu& &ass. 6ow this, certainl* it works, it#s all black lines and it closes off the areas, but it#s just not reall* good. 4nd the reason wh* is because it#s been traced, and if *ou go back and forward, it#s as if somebod* just went in with a marker &en and just drew down a solid black line directl* o%er the original artwork and didn#t tr* %er* hard to make an*thing interesting ha&&en. 4nd that#s just not ade)uate. 7o let#s take a look at a slightl* better %ersion. 6ow, this time used a jaggier line, which still might not be &erfect for some &rojects, but it certainl* kee&s a bit of %italit* into it. 4nd when *ou toggle for now from the trace one, #m going to the trace one, back to the better one, *ou ha%e certainl* more %italit*. 4nd notice certain areas, #ll draw *our e*e down to this area in here, on the su&erior %ersion> now take a look at the traced %ersion, it#s just gone flat. 4nd *ou e%en ha%e little bum&s here. ha%e seen cleanu& drawings that look like this, #m afraid to tell *ou. 7o, on the su&erior %ersion, we#%e increased thickness and thinness on areas where%er *ou might e(&ect, a little dimension here, on the e*ebrow, there#s a thicker stroke at the end of the nose line, here. 7till, this isn#t &erfect, we ha%e a bit of &arallel s&ace here, but let that slide. +here#s an o&en ga& here, so we might want to close that off, and a few little s&ots that might need to be &olished, but it#s certainl* a lot better than what came before, which is a traced %ersion. 7o now, #m going to go forward to the com&arison screen, and in red, *ou can see the areas that were adjusted from the original drawing, and *ou can see that the red is where the e*ebrows were, for e(am&le, and look at where #%e &ushed them to. 4nd the &oint of the ear is raised u& just to gi%e it a stronger sha&e, and this area here was also &ushed out and firmed u& a little bit. +his stroke is mo%ed down slightl*, %er* subtle changes. t would be unusual to make %er* drastic changes on a cleanu& drawing, but *ou certainl* want to be looking out for the finer details that *ou can im&ro%e. ndeed, down here, look, that#s a nice one, where the original stroke was )uite flat. 7o, we#%e gi%en this a cur%e, a little bit of a wa%* bum& there. 7o let#s see if we can go in one more le%el of detail tighter. 7o, #m going to focus this time on the hand that we worked on in the last mo%ie. ou#ll remember the rough tie down and the tight tie down, and there will be some st*les, as said before, that *ou could a&&l* color, *ou could colori9e this image. Let me show *ou what mean b* that. 7o, this mo%ie isn#t s&ecificall* about color, but what want to do is to show *ou how *ou could a&&l* a color in a &rogram, for e(am&le, like hotosho& or +oon ;oom armon*, to a drawing like that, because those &rograms do ha%e %er* nice blending modes and
allow *ou to combine a rough line with a solid color area. 4nd, as *ou can see, it looks &rett* nice. 7o let me take *ou back to the original image, so, as *ou can see, the hand here in the center is certainl* clean enough to be colored in a st*le like that, but *ou will ha%e &rojects, sometimes, where *ou#ll want a reall*, reall* dark line. 4n absolutel* &ristine black line. 7o let#s create one of those. #m going to hide the rough one and &ut the final tie down on an o&acit*, so can draw on a clean la*er. 4nd #m going to go in with a %er* tight brush. 7o #m going to start here, just make a few strokes, and reall* want to 9oom in on this, so let#s go in a little tighter, so we can reall* see what#s going on. 4nd it#s nice on these lines if *ou can get a ta&ered stroke, if *our tablet has &ressure sensiti%it*. f it doesn#t, then multi&le strokes can do the same effect. 4nd because am righthanded, will ha%e to constantl* s&in this image around, and in the good old da*s, when we drew on animation desks, we had circular drawing boards, the center of the board was a metal disk and we drew on that. 4nd it had a sheet of glass so that we could &ut the backlight on behind it. 4nd the* would be s&inning around all da* long. 7o, when *ou see this ha&&ening on the com&uter, it#s &rett* much the same &rocess. ere, see we ha%e a %er* thick line, so we can &ut it in the middle, could &ut it on the lower end, could &ut it on the u&&er end. #m going to fa%or the u&&er> again, we#re ta&ering off this crease here, so thin and then thick. 6ow we#re going with the second stroke, just to firm that u& a little. "ne stroke often looks a little s&ider*, a little weak> something magical ha&&ens when *ou &ut two or three lines down together. 7o, this can be tedious Klaughs. +here#s no nice wa* to &ut it. t#s a lot of work, and if *ou ha%e a lot of drawings right now #m just drawing one little hand but imagine what it#s like and #%e seen it ha&&en when somebod* has a 20second long scene, and there are 12 drawings, or sometimes 2A drawings in one second, and the* all ha%e to be drawn like this. 7o, before *ou become too romantic about the glor* da*s of doing animation b* hand, it#s a %er* good idea to remind *ourself, and if *ou ha%e a &roject of *our own, do some mathematical calculations, and when *ou do a cou&le of these drawings, then *ou multi&l* that b* howe%er man* seconds there are in *ou &roject, and how man* characters there are in *our &roject, and *ou#ll soon know if *ou think *ou ha%e the stamina and the time and the energ* to work like this. 4nd #m not tr*ing to &ersuade *ou to not do it, #m tr*ing to &ersuade *ou to ha%e a realistic idea about what the amount of work that#s going to be in%ol%ed, in doing a lot of work like this. 6ow #m looking for a s&ot here, too, where ma*be can e(aggerate this G7G cur%e, it#s a nice cur%e, like it, but think we can just &ush it just slightl*. t#ll be a little more cur%ature. 7o when draw this one, *ou can start &rett* much where the corners are, nothing wrong with them. e can certainl*, as we draw that cleanu& line, just fa%or, e%er so slightl*, the bottom end there. 4nd fa%or the u&&er end here. 7o want to accentuate this cur%e, too, so #m going to fa%or the inside of that stroke, just a little. 7o, here we ha%e them, sideb*side, on the left, the rough tie down> in the middle, a reall* clean tie down> and on the right side, a cleanedu& drawing. 6ow the thing to remember is the amount of time it took me to do that hand. am not a nati%e cleanu& artist. think #m "F at it, and e%en so, it took me ma*be
fi%e minutes to, ma*be 10, hard to tell, to do the whole hand b* itself. was talking through it and taking m* time, but e%en so, to do a full figure, like a com&le( ke* frame, e%en a good ke* cleanu& artist might take an*thing from half an hour to an hour to clean u& one full character ke* frame. ou ha%e to remember this when it comes to these kind of &rojects. 7o, which of these two st*les *ou choose, be %er* realistic about e(actl* how much *ou can take on, and if *ou#re ha&&* with this, like, &ersonall*, &refer this look. think it#s got a reall* nice jagg* feel to it, and think if *ou look at the old classic cartoons, e%en mo%ies like G@ungle ;ookG and G101 !almatiansG, take a good look at them sometime. +ake a good long look at the line )ualit*. t#s not as &ristine as a lot of &eo&le might think, if *ou frame b*frame them, a lot of scratchiness through, occasionall* *ou#ll see construction lines e%en on the finished film. 7o that is the &rocess of going from tie down to cleanu&.
Troubleshooting and plussing "ne of the conce&ts that was used in the !isne* 4nimation 7tudio back in the good ol# da*s was the idea of &lusing a scene. +hat was taking a scene that alread* worked, alread* looks great, and can *ou &ush it an* further, can *ou just gi%e it a little bit of e(tra %im? 7o, here#s an e(am&le of a gesture drawing where we#%e done just that. think we did mention this kind of &rocess earlier in the course, but now #m just going to show a more cohesi%e wa* of dealing with it in a little more detail. ere, we#%e taken a &ose and reall* &ushed it. mean, look at e%en in the stick figure format, look at the big e*es &o&&ing out. t#s the same emotion, but it#s dialed u&. t ma* not alwa*s be a&&ro&riate, but if it is, then *ou reall* want to do this. 7o, let#s see how this is a a&&lied to a more &olished character. ere on the left, a &erfectl* ser%iceable drawing, and nobod* would be bothered if *ou &resented that drawing. ;ut if *ou look at the one on the right, *ou can see how we#%e taken the %er* same &ose, the same attitude, and just dialed it u&. Let#s see how these look when *ou &la* them in succession. ere#s the first drawing. e#s ma*be talking to his bank manager. e#s not too ha&&*, the loan has been rejected. ell, this is much better. 4s *ou can see, the state from one into the other. t#s %astl* im&ro%ed. =%en details, look at the shoulder, look at that. is u&&er arm is &ushed through his little s&ace cadet shoulder &ad. t#s reall* gi%ing him e(tra attitude. t makes him feel like a much more &h*sical entit*. =%en the crease lines in his arm&it look angr*. 7o, what #m going to do now is show *ou *et another &ose, and how would do this with another character, this time with a more human one. 7o, we used this earlier in the course to show a nice trick about using on hands touch faces, and how *ou can get a nice drawing out of that. 7o, #m going to take this drawing, and see if can e(&and u&on it and just &ush it a little bit further. 7o, let#s take the o&acit* down, so that the new drawing can go on to& of that. 7o, this is essentiall* a man drumming his fingers on the table. e#s bored, so let#s see if we can make him a little more bored. i%e this face a little more &lasticit*. 7o, we can &urse the li&s. is finger#s &ushing into his cheek here. ell, what if it actuall* &ushed some cheek out and u&? :a*be we did dig into the cheek a little bit with his little finger. f we#re &ushing the cheek u& like this, well that#ll crease the e*e. 7ince we#re &ushing the cheek u&, might e(&ect the nose just to mo%e just a hair#s breath, just that. 7o, that#s a %er* subtle e(am&le of how would take a scene with a &erfectl* good drawing, and just take it u& b* one. $ould go further than this? robabl*, but this is enough to gi%e *ou an idea about the &rocess. f *ou go too far with it, *ou ma* end u& breaking it. 7o, would ne%er go deleting *our original drawing, just in case *ou go a little too far and lose the as&ect of the original drawing that *ou liked in the first &lace. +his is definitel* a great wa* to shar&en *our drawing skills.
odel sheet and turnaround 6ow it#s time to take a look at the model sheets. 4 model sheet is as the name suggests a sheet of &a&er or an image that has the character in %arious &ositions, angles, e(&ressions. 4nd here we ha%e our s&ace fo( laid out with these lines and head heights on the left side of the screen so *ou can see he#s one, two, three, four head heights tall. -or this &ur&oses of this construction that#s been easier just to s&lit them u& this wa*. 4nother character might ha%e four heads that are in four se&arate s&heres, but it#s hand* because if *ou notice the hair more or less starts at a halfhead on to& of the full head. 4nd *ou#ll notice also #%e actuall* measured this head s&here to be the base of his neck. is skull is actuall* roughl* about to here. it doesn#t reall* go all the wa* down. t#s close enough and so b* measuring the head from here it gi%es *ou a reall* good feeling for the rest of the dimensions of the character. 7o if #m to draw the figure if #m drawing a sketch of him and want him here, know that his end of his waist would be somewhere in this region. 4t no &oint will *ou e%er see me getting out a ruler, and sa* that like it#s ridiculous, but ha%e had clients who literall* were measuring things with ta&e and &rojects that just couldn#t fathom. t#s no wa* to work. 7o unfortunatel* those clients are out there. ou#ll encounter them, but tr* not to be one of them. 4nd the whole &oint of this is this is a cartoon and nobod*, nobod* that watches a cartoon is measuring the screen with a ta&e &romise *ou. 7o the im&ortant thing about the model sheet is general &ro&ortions and general constructions. !on#t forget that during the course of animating this we will be drawing these figures in all kinds of different foreshortened directions where we#re looking u&, ma*be he#s throwing a s&ace rock into a s&ace distance, and we could ha%e his feet floating in s&ace like this. hen we do that, all of these &ro&ortions here will be still rele%ant, but the*#ll be so foreshortened nobod*#s reall* going to be able to tell. t#ll come down to *our skill as a drafts&erson to see if *ou can actuall* make that look like it#s him. t#s about feeling more than about a scientific formula. 7o these lines are *our friends, but the*#re like a rough guide. +he*#re a rule of thumb. 4lso in case *ou#re curious, name them 4, ;, $, !, and = because &refer that naming con%ention to calling things &rofile, three)uarter, three)uarter left, three)uarter right, three)uarter &rofile. t dri%es me nuts, and #m not the onl* &erson that does this. in%ented this working b* m*self and then found out that a studio in 7anta :onica uses a %er* similar s*stem. +his is a wa* of working that will hel& *ou when *ou#re cataloging *our &oses to know what angle is that? +hat#s the ; angle. "h, oka*. o to the folder called ;. f *ou want something similar, it#ll be in the folder called $. t won#t be a million miles awa*. 7o it hel&s to store things. +his is a model sheet that is s&ecificall* focusing on the head so we#%e taken some of the stuff on the &re%ious &age and just 9oomed it u& a little bit, and as *ou can see it gi%es us a little more idea about the general &osition of the e*es and the mouth. 7o just to flag a few &oints. ou can see that the ti& of the nose, for e(am&le, is on this line here. ell, let#s start at the to& first. e ha%e the to& line, the bottom line, we ha%e the halfline, and the halfline is
where the e*es sit, and *ou could ha%e &ut this line at twothirds height. +his design decided just to kee& a little sim&ler. 6otice again ha%e the base being measured a&&ro(imatel* here, and the s&here of the skull doesn#t start until this area so it#s a little bit of a cheat. +here#s no formula that sa*s we absolutel* ha%e to measure from this to this. found this area here to be a useful measuring stick. +he ne(t halfwa* &oint between the halfline and the bottom line gi%es us an a&&ro(imate &osition for the underline of the nose. e#re a little more float* when it comes to the e*ebrows, but the*#re about at halfwa* &oint again between the to& and the half line. +he* get *ou into the 9one. uess what? hen *ou#re animating, these things mo%e around. t#s just nice to know that the a&e( of the e*ebrows in their resting or neutral &osition is close enough to this &oint. 7o were to draw the head in a different &osition, let#s sa* we#re looking u& at it now, it becomes %er* hard to see well e(actl* where are these lines mo%ing? +his is wh* stress again the utilit* of being fle(ible, being more focused on what it feels like using *our good judgement to go, G+hat looks like it#s on model, or that doesn#t.G but at least it gi%es *ou an a&&ro(imation. 6otice, as well, that as this nose mo%es e%en along these lines, see how it#s no longer sitting on that line. reall* wasn#t bothered b* it for the sim&le reason that this object is mo%ing in threedimensional s&ace, and e%en though *ou might not think there#s &ers&ecti%e here, well, guess what? +here is. 4s this was mo%ing around in threedimensional s&ace it#s getting smaller, it#s mo%ing awa* from us. +his is &h*sicall* closer to us. +hat#s nearer. +his is &rett* similar, but still a little further awa*, and if we were to mo%e into a three)uarters so that we were looking awa* into the distance, and then it#s right behind him, it#s further awa*. t#s a little bit smaller. t ma* not e%er be sitting on this line at this &oint so remember that. !on#t be too geometrical about this &art of the &rocess. 6ow in some model sheets it can also be a good idea to &ro%ide the animators with another librar* of sha&es. 7o *ou ma* remember this character from earlier in the course. e kind of grew as drew the course into this little s&ace fo( gu*. 7o what #%e done is #%e just &ut in some areas, this color area here that *ou see in the original model sheet. could ha%e gone a bit further and drawn in a bunch of ears if thought it was going to hel&, but it would ha%e cluttered u& a lot of the area for adding more details here. 7o decided to lea%e them out. t was a matter of &reference. +he im&ortant thing is if were going to make a +D show or a &roject using this character, could then gi%e this sheet to the animators and sa*, G+his is a st*le of dialog want *ou to do.G 4nd not that *ou ha%e to roboticall* use these e(act sha&es. e could do that in some &rojects, but this gi%es the animator an idea that the* can reall* &ush the st*le. +he*#re not being limited to a tin* little boring librar* of si( mouth sha&es, for e(am&le. 4nd o%er here we ha%e some difficult angles and the*#re alread* &rethought out for the animator. 7o if the animator has a scene with a difficult u&shot, the* know, oka*, and that could be enough to be figuring out the rest of it. know that the little cheeks will be there, but #%e got the basic outline now of the head. 4s *ou do more of these drawings as *ou sol%e more design &roblems, *ou might make more model sheets as handouts so that as the &roject grows in si9e so does *our %isual librar* of models.
4nd *ou can do the same thing with full bod* &oses, of course, just as with different head angles. t#s great as *ou do a good scene and *ou#re reall* ha&&* with it. +hat was a reall* nice drawing. ell, if *ou ha%e an* as&iration like working on a big scale and ha%ing a team work with *ou, take that ke*frame, take that drawing, &ut it onto a model sheet, co&* it u&, &in it to the wall so e%er*bod* sees that#s the kind of &ose we want this gu* to do, and it#ll ins&ire other &eo&le to match that st*le or to match that )ualit*. 7o that#s the world of model sheets and &ose sheets and using these as a %isual reference, but not as a &ro&.
-d$ice on drawing in di""erent styles +hroughout this course, #%e stressed o%er and o%er again man* times, *ou#re &robabl* sick of hearing it, that *ou ha%e different st*le o&tions a%ailable. +he reason wh* #%e said that is because if *ou get &igeonholed into drawing just one st*le, it could reall*, reall* limit *our career o&tions. 4nd ha%e heard of &eo&le who got onto one +D show, got baked into that st*le for that show, could not draw outside of that st*le and when the show ended, so did their career. 7o *ou don#t want to be that &erson. ou need to be fle(ible. f someone sa*s we ha%e a &roject, what kind of st*le is it? "h, it#s a cartoon* st*le or it#s a realistic st*le or it#s a gra&hical st*le, *ou need to be able to migrate from one to the other and not be totall* shocked b* it. ou can still ha%e *our fa%orite. ou might ha%e a &reference for one or the other, but it should be well within *our abilit* to do one or the other or the other. +hese are sim&l* three e(am&les. 4gain, there are more than just these three st*les. +here#s man*, man* intermediate stages between them, but #%e been using these as a constant reminder to kee& *our o&tions o&en designwise. !on#t be &igeonholed, be ha&&* to work in an* of these st*les or an* other st*les that come along *our wa*. !on#t get stuck doing just one thing. f *ou find *ourself doing one thing, be it anime or !isne* st*le or flash +D st*le, *ou might want to tr* to break out of that from timetotime. think *ou#ll find that actuall* it will benefit all of *our work. 7o, for e(am&le, e%en if *ou onl* were to animate within the feature st*le like this and *ou occasionall* worked in something as flat and totall* gra&hic as this, some of the design tricks that *ou would learn, think, would benefit and make for a stronger feature st*le of animation. 7o, with that, think we#re read* to mo%e on to ne(t ste&s.
-dding color to your drawing 7o, here #%e taken the fo( s&ace cadet and gi%en him three different color treatments, and, as *ou can see, the effect on his a&&earance is &rett* enormous. 7o, do take *our time, &la* around with different color combinations. :* &ersonal color tastes, and, this is ob%iousl* a huge field, and *ou could do a whole mo%ie about color, so, this is onl* the tiniest of introductions to this, just want to show *ou some of m* &references, and methods. like a kind of subdued &alette, guess, more than a lot of &roductions seen now, which are h*&ersaturated. 7o, the beaut* of this is it#s a lot easier on the e*es, es&eciall* if *ou#re gonna be watching a feature film, that#s like an hour and a half long with these colors. +his wa* too, *ou can &ick &articular areas to be hot s&ots. 7o, if the entire figure is brightl* colored, then, essentiall*, it beats *our brain down. 7o, that#s wh* like to use desaturated areas for &ants, that wa* *ou can use a highlight, sa*, on the kneeca&, and desaturated boots, and, the color tone for his head, his hair, e%en is )uite mild, it#s not o%erl* bright. our e*e will be drawn to the hotter colors, like red, *ellow, orange, the* will jum& out at *ou most, red, the %er* most. +he blues, and the earth tones, the browns, the*#re more neutral, so the*#ll be more subtle, and definitel* easier on the e*e, like this green, this blue. 4s *ou can see, the color on this character, too, the sand* color, it#s %er* naturalistic, e%en though he#s an e(tremel* unnatural character. =%en these brightl* colored blue hair, it#s still m* usual subtle %ariant of blue. 7o, *ou ma* ha%e a brighter &alette sense, or taste, #m not sto&&ing *ou, but, just beware about using bright colors for e%er* single &art of the character. ere, #%e colored in, %er* loosel*, a figure that we saw earlier on in the course, and he#s a t*&ical 7hakes&earean -alstaff kind of character, guess. went for a %er* naturalistic color scheme on this gu*. also used warm colors, e%en though the*#re desaturated, used a fairl* warm brown, well, it#s an earth* color, but it#s still got a hint of red to it. f wanted to be a little colder with this gu*, would#%e made him gra*, or black, or, ma*be &ale green, or blue, or something like that, but he seemed like a joll* cha&, so ga%e him earth colors. 4lso, *ou#ll notice his skin tone is fairl* naturalistic, as well, and, know some &refer a hotter, brighter &ink. 4gain, a lot of this is a matter of &ersonal &reference, so, but this is just an e(am&le of how would think through a color scheme for a character. 4nother )uick and rough e(am&le of a color scheme that might cause trouble. +his is the snake that we drew earlier, and if *ou recall, we drew him with segments. 6ow, *ou could color all of these segments the same color, so, the* could all be *ellow or orange. +he &roblem with interlacing them like this, is that, it does create more work. 6ow, *ou ha%e to be %er* careful if *ou animate this character, because, if there#s an* mistake in &ainting these color areas, it#s going to jum& out at *ou. 7o, #m not sa*ing not to do this, or design like this, what am sa*ing is be %er* careful when *ou commit to it, *ou#re committing to a certain amount of work, and *ou#%e just increased the amount of time *ou, or, *our &eo&le, are going to s&end sitting at
a desk. ere#s an issue that *ou ha%e to remember with a character who is all one color. 6ow, the bird on the left, is black on the back, white in the front, so, that gi%es us a lot of &ossible solutions for an* &roblems *ou might ha%e with silhouette. ere *ou can see, look at the hand, we can easil* see what it is. ;ut, what if he#s a crow, or a blackbird? e#s com&letel* black, then what do *ou do? 6o matter how strong *our silhouette skills are, *ou will ha%e moments when the hand has to cross, or, the wing has to cross in front of the bod*, and, we will look at a big black hole in the screen. 7o, this was a &roblem on the mo%ie 7ecret of 6imh, there was a %er* memorable bird in that, it was all black, and, one solution to that is to use an ink line. #m going to 9oom in now, so we can reall* see this. +his is a %er* rough e(am&le of an ink line, this wouldn#t be final &roduction )ualit*, b* an* stretch, but this allows *ou to draw some of the lines that would, otherwise, be black inside the silhouette, as white, so that makes the inner line work %isible. +he other &ossible solution is to add a lighter la*er. 7o, *ou would close off a &art of that design, and then &aint it in a slightl* lighter color. 7o, either of these two techni)ues are a%ailable to use, if *ou do ha%e to ha%e a character who is com&letel* one color. ere, #%e taken the &age of strange creatures, and colored them all in a good %ariet*, think the*#re all nicel* contrasting each other. ith the s&ace alien, because he#s such a weird s&ace alien, that#s the kind of thing *ou reall* want to e(aggerate, and make him e%en more alien with his color scheme, so, ga%e him a &rett* nice &ur&le &ink skin. +he dinosaur was conser%ati%e with him, or her, #m not sure what gender that is, and then, just went with a neutral earth tone. +he cloud wanted to be a to(ic cloud with a heart of gold, so ga%e him a kind of a sickl* *ellow* green color. +he bottom left is m* fa%orite, that#s the -rankenstein monster. i%en the fact that this is a cartoon, we#re under no obligation to work with an* &ree(isting -rankenstein design. !o remember that the original ;oris Farloff design#s co&*righted, so, the further *ou sta* awa* from that, the better. ;ut, if *ou recall, from that mo%ie, of course, it was black and white, but the behind the scenes &hotogra&hs re%eal that Farloff was actuall* &ainted an incredibl* intense green, so, it#s shocking when *ou see those rare color &hotogra&hs of the &roduction. 7o, like to go with something that#s reall* hideous, like that, and e%en ke&t his feet green, he#s not e%en wearing socks under there. 7o, ke&t a nice tonal contrast, and, this is also good to bear in mind, because we#re not just dealing with color, we#re dealing with tone, as well. 7o, the skin is a lighter tone than the shirt, for e(am&le, and we might e%en accentuate that, make the skin a little &aler, if *ou wanted to e(aggerate that. &ut lighter areas on the toes of his feet, because, this being a horror mo%ie in the st*le of the old -rankenstein mo%ie, he ma* ha%e scenes, for e(am&le, where he#s walking through a dark en%ironment. magine if *ou#%e created color models for his feet that ha%e %er* %er* dark shoes all the wa* through. f *ou ha%e a &roject like that, then do remember that the colors that *ou select ha%e a direct im&act on the en%ironment, and often, how *ou animate them can be affected b* the en%ironment. 7o, want those shoes to at least read at some le%el, and not disa&&ear com&letel* into a gloom. 7o, the hair monster, he#s %er* sim&le to color, because he#s all one color, he does ha%e a s&ecific issue that #m going to come back to, in a moment. +he robot wanted to ha%e a color that suggested metal, the
logical colors for that would be some kind of steel* blue, and used a warmer color, the *ellow rings on all the joints, and used the same consistent &alette, just slightl* altered to get the different color areas. #m going to 9oom in on him, so *ou can see what mean. 7o, as *ou can see, this collar, and this joint, and these joints, the*#re all basicall* just tonal %ariations of the same color. decided to gi%e him a red e*e, because red is a %er* hot color, the rest of his figure is relati%el* cool, either blue, directl*, or a fairl* cool %ersion of *ellow. 7o, wanted that to ha%e the area that *our e*e is drawn to the most drasticall*, be that red, and it#s )uite shocking. 7o ke&t the rim of the glass white, as well, so it would reall* &ull *our e*e in to it. 6ow, want to talk about the hair monster, and there#s another lo%el* techni)ue that we can use that#ll reall* hel& us with him. 7o, #m going to switch off the others, and just go in and focus on this gu*. 7o, if *ou look at the hair monster, notice how we#%e done with the e*ebrows, and how cool that looks. a%ing the e*ebrows just one little tone brighter than the rest of the bod* &ushes them out at us, and creates this ama9ing illusion of de&th. 7o, what if we wanted to do the same thing with these strokes here, with these mustaches? hat if we wanted to color them? nlike the e*ebrows, the*#re not closed off, these s&aces are o&en, so let#s 9oom in a little closer. +here are man* different ink and &aint &rograms out there, so, cannot s&eak to the mechanisms of how this is done on each and e%er* one use armon* and -lash and hotosho&, so know how the* do this, and know it#s a &rett* common enough mechanism, but the solution is to &aint in this area, and not ha%e a line enclosed here. 7o, in -lash *ou#d ha%e a 7troke set to n%isible. n hotosho&, can do this on a se&arate la*er. armon* has its own wa* of doing it with an in%isible stroke, but there are man* &rograms out there. +here#s +Daint, and 4nime 7tudio ro, and wa* more than can &ossibl* ho&e to co%er, but, if *ou want to do an effect like this, the correct terminolog*, that think will be most commonl* used will be ink lines, and in%isible color se&aration. 7o, an* gi%en &rogram worth its salt, think, should be able to do some effect like this. Let me just rub these back a little bit. 6ow, #m going to do the same thing with these hands, this is another good s&ot where we can add, *et another, one of these little la*ers, and let#s take the o&acit* on that la*er down, and, that will ha%e the result of making that effect )uite a bit more subtle. 6ow, let#s 9oom out. 7o, *ou see the difference. 4lso, could add another la*er on to& of this with a darker color. ou can add as man* la*ers as *ou like, de&ending on how much time *ou ha%e, and what *our software, or *our artwork st*le will &ermit. 7o, this is how *ou will take a monochromatic character, who might look a little flat, otherwise, and gi%e him a fantastic illusion of de&th. 7o, when *ou work with color, think of the &ersonalit* of the character, what the color tells us about them, what#s a&&ro&riate for them, also some of the en%ironmental issues. :eaning, are the* in a dark en%ironment, or a bright one? !o the* ha%e other characters of a similar color around them? 4nd, don#t just fall in lo%e with the first color %ariant, as we saw alread*, doing three or four more %ersions of the character before *ou settle on one#s a reall* good idea, too. :ost
im&ortantl* of all, when *ou are &ainting the characters, enjo* it, for me, this is the fun &art.
