Monday, November 17, 2008

INKING - EMOTIONAL LINE WEIGHT

Original pencil art

The biggest communication tool humans have is our face. We pay more attention to people's faces than any other part of them. In cartoons we assign a disproportional size and emphasis to the face because of this.

Certain parts of the face are the important elements that make the expression.

Main features, eye brows, eye shapes, pupils, cheeks, nose and larger teeth shape

These essential features have thick lines to draw attention to the emotion of the character


The Mouth Shape-




the overall shape of the mouth is very important to the expression and should have a slightly thick line to draw attention to the shape - whether it is an open mouth or a closed mouth

The shape of the mouth itself tells us a lot about the character's emotion.

The Smile Line-

the lines at the edges of the mouth shape are very important. I like to make them a bit thicker in the middle-which gives the effect of a shadow
this helps solidify the expression.
Cheeks and Smile explanation

the smile lines and the cheek above together create a form - a piece of flesh that is somewhat triangular
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/05/animation-school-lesson-2-squash-and.html
this form stretches and squashes to make expressions-whatever the smile line does affects the cheek line above

that form points to the top of the nostril like an arrow

when inking a smile line or a cheek line you have to look at the other line at the same time so that the two lines together make a fleshy sensible form

The Eyebrows-

The eyebrows are also very important to the expression

Eyebrows are generally thick in the middle of the forehead, and pointy near the temples

THE EYES





Head outline and face combined

Even without the details and wrinkles, the expression should read strong and clearly

THE WHOLE TOOTH BAR

THE OUTLINE OF THE WHOLE SHAPE OF ALL THE TEETH IS THICK

then the individual teeth are thinner

Details

all details are subject to the larger features that they help define. They have to flow sensibly around the head in the same directions of the parts of the expression they help define.

None of these lines should "float" or be arbitrary. They need to help the face be fleshy

these lines are thinner

Individual teeth

Wrinkles- crow's feet, eyebrow wrinkles, bottom lip wrinkles

Tongue split

Side by side comparison