Animation School Lesson 7: Combining Construction With Clear Silhouettes

Drawing principles is not easy. There are so many to balance at once. I ask students to copy good drawings from old cartoons or from good comics just to see how pro artists use principles.
The next step is for the student to try drawing those characters in their own poses to see if they can apply those principles themselves.


Here, Geneva tried her hand at doing some poses of Tom. My critique was that they were good construction but didn't have clear silhouettes.I said to use negative spaces to make the poses read better and she redid them like this:

Now they are much better because you can read them more clearly. So construction is very important, but it is just step 1 to being able to control your posing.

See how Harvey Eisenberg does it:

http://comicrazys.com/2009/08/10/red-rabbit-red-rabbit-comics-1-1947-harvey-eisenberg/
This cover is a masterfully controlled collection of drawing principles all in perfect balance and clarity. Everything is solidly constructed and there are negative spaces separating each visual element - making them all read at once.

Becky's Top Cat Studies

Becky is a very serious student of funny pictures. She knows that her ample and obvious talent can be pushed much farther by adding knowledge.

When you draw toys, the goal is to understand solidity, perspective and how cartoon shapes move in space from different angles - then to apply that knowledge to your own work.
Top Cat's Hat is cocked at an angle-lower at the left. I missed that myself at first, then corrected it.

I always write notes when I study something so that what I observe sticks with me.

I think TC's forehead is pushed out a bit too far here and the hat is too big
slightly different angle than the photo and the hat should not be wavy. Up shots are hard!

Becky's upshot is at a different angle than the photo and she wants to show you more of his upper face, even though from this angle there is less to see

Becky straightened out TC's hat and eye angle here (I did too. It's a natural assumption!)

Again, I wouldn't be afraid to push the muzzle and nose out and away from the rest of the head. Try not to flatten every feature against the head shape.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/09/top-cat-turnaround-toy-construction_19.html

Here is my conversation with her if it is helpful to anybody:


John: Becky?
Becky: Hi John! How are you?
John: good
John: I like your Top Cats
John: do you think you got anything from that?
Becky: yes! it helped me a lot with foreshortening
Becky: and thankyou

John: flip them around to check them
John: you should write down what you learned about solidity
John: and then apply it to a character of your own

Becky: could you explain solidity more?
John: well didn't you discover it drawing the toys?
John: the fact that the muzzle sticks out from the face for example
John: and the eyes are in perspective wrapping around a rounded head
John: and are different shapes from each other because of their positions in space
Becky: ohhh, ok

John: that when you look up or down at a 3/4 pose, certain things happen to the features
Becky: so solidity is basically form?

John: the point of copying is not just to copy but to understand what is happening in the things you are copying
John: and then to apply them to your own work
John: like draw your tiger using some of the things you learned from the toy
John: do a toy version of her
John: him?
Becky: ok, I see what you mean now


John: articulate what makes the toy look 3 dimensional
Becky: should I do a turnaround sheet?
John: sure

John: even put the seams in
John: seams on toys help you understand the construction

John: but remember this tip:
John: it's important to UNDERSTAND what you are studying or copying
John: not just to copy for copying sake
John: it's to figure out WHY things look the way they do


John: and then to APPLY that knowledge to what you do yourself - in your own work
John: then when you decide to break a rule - you are doing it on purpose
John: instead of by accident
John: you can control it better

the end

Becky believes (and practices) what a small handful of cartoonists still seem to today; that cartoons oughta look nice - they should appeal to our eyes, not just be gross and cluttered.

Her work is very stylized in an arresting way. It reminds me of one of my heroes: Jack Schleh

Eyes 2: Eyes, Eyelids and Eyebrow Theories

Here is Kelly's interpretation of my rough scribble. She kept the guts, but needs to make the hierarchy of details make more sense. Let's look at the eyes.

Eyelids need to wrap around the eyes from the direction we see the eyes; in this case, we are looking up at them. Kelly has drawn them as if we are looking down on them. The curve is upside down. It's a misinterpretation of my scribble that has extra rough lines that are accidents or mistakes and don't mean anything.

The trick for a layout artist to tighten up storyboard drawings is to be able to tell what is essential in the rough and reinforce that, but also be able to see what are just scribbly extra accidental lines that mean nothing.

Eyebrows should never be just single thin lines. They are shapes that border an area of hair above your eyes, so make those shapes distinct and make sure you use them to reinforce the expression.

Eyelashes. I like to take the top line of the eyes and make it thicker in the middle. This suggests eyelashes using simplified cartoon license. This is an old Disney trick that helps draw your attention to the eyes, and thus the expression. It is also appealing.

Everything to do with the eyes needs to follow the same physics of the eyes, not contradict their position. If they don't, they distract from the expression.
I'll go over the whole drawing, bit by bit in different posts. (If Kelly doesn't mind)

http://funkyhb.blogspot.com/2009/07/jetsons-stories.html

Kelly Made Construction Out Of A Scribble

Kelly sent me this tightened up drawing of one of my scribbles. She did a pretty good job too, especially without any direction from me. She used some construction and principles to try to make my scribble look more solid. I would have a couple minor changes - which have more to do with my own hasty mistakes that I would want her to catch and fix (Like George's eyelids and brows). Maybe I'll draw over it and tweak it next week. Thanks Kelly! I needed something to post about and nice job!
http://kellytoons.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-attempt-at-constructed-clean-up-of.html

Chloe does HB

Chloe is one of the most naturally talented of the young artists who frequent my blog to do exercises.She's been doing studies of WB characters and has now decided to try her hand at HB.
I sometimes think it's harder to learn the HB style than the WB style - because it is based on the WB style (so you have to know all that) yet takes some clever liberties in construction and perspective - not on every apsect of every pose, but just in limited areas to help the design. It's hard to know what's on purpose and what might be just a rushed animation drawing.
Maybe Chloe can upload the frame grabs she based these studies on and I can give a critique on some of them.
I recognize most of these poses - that Barney on the left above is from a Carlo Vinci scene.
One important aspect of the HB style is balance of negative VS positive spaces.

I'll give an in depth critique later if Chloe gives me some originals these are based on.

Clampett Studies

Here are some of Geneva's latest studies. Good stuff.





I have one criticism: The lines are too hard and clean and I don't totally feel the construction underneath. I would soften the lines and leave the construction lines to be sure I understood how the drawings are built, not just what the proportions are.


I like the finish on this older study of hers.
Remember that the goal of copying other artists' work is to eventually be able to make your own poses applying the same principles that underlie theirs. It's not to just be able to make a 2 dimensional imitation of a specific drawing.