Friday, December 05, 2008

Constructing ELMER



Here's a god exercise if you wana teach yourself cartoon construction and get your own drawings more solid.


trace the frame grabs in photoshop using construction

1) draw your line of action through the figure
2) Draw your major forms around the line of action

-torso
-head
-legs
-hat
3) draw center lines through the middle of the forms first vertically, then horizontally - following the perspective of the forms
you use these to aim the details - like eyes, nose, mouth, collar, hat details etc...
I screwe mine up by drawing my construction on the same layer as the frame grab.

You should draw them on a separate layer (or layers) so you can turn off the frame grab layer and look at the construction by itself

then you can try to finish the details yourself by eye, by placing them along and beside the construction lines.

That's all I got for today. This will teach you a lot. Do lots and ots of poses and you will start to understand how to move your characters in space

when you add details like clothes wrinkles and bulges, don't bulge them too much or you will break up the forms and line of action and silhouette