Weekly Report 2013-12-09

To make a single image of a character in a certain pose and angle is one thing. To create the same character more than one time in a consistent manner is quite another. Even if you do not have to think about making him seem alive, every detail that is not made sure to fit with the other positions at the start come to haunt you later on. Much like the grid, Chinese Whispers tend to appear if you’re not careful at the start of the process. I made several revisions and edited the different components to match each other on the different structures in order to make it look acceptable. Due to lacking Photoshop, I was relying on SAI Paint Tool for all of the procedures which seem unable to create automatically precise measuring lines for a canvas. Good hand and eye coordination proved crucial to make sure the measuring lines were properly positioned and aligned.

This process is certainly one of the more tedious and least motivating to complete, in my case simply because instead of portraying an idea, a verb, your only concern must be the model itself and nothing more. There’s no idea, no story, no action. Yet this is undoubtedly one of the more important things to master, as you create a guiding tool for yourself and any artist that would seek to pick up on your work such as 3D artists. Of course you might be convinced that you will be able to keep every detail in your head for the rest of your life, but it’s a lot safer to have a reference sheet to look to every now and then. It also enables you to focus your attention on expressing what you want without having to worry about proportions and objects with every image that you draw. Once it becomes routine I’ll hardly think of it (I hope)!

The importance of this method is indisputable, as it allows me to establish a model with all its components and stick to it. I’ll certainly be doing more of this in the future.

Apart from 3D Rotations I’ve been doing various figures and specific body part sketches which I’ll put up later this week if not tomorrow. A lot of trial and error, but I’m getting there! Just got hold of Photoshop as well, which will prove useful for tomorrow’s lectures focusing on clean up. At least that doesn’t require any greater degree of thought!

That’s all for now, see you next week!

Björn Erik Berndtsson. Graphics and Game Design.