Week 21: Art, Anatomy and Audio...

Well, this course is definitely more than just an animation journey for me, as i've probably mentioned heaps of times, I really wanted to also use this year to drastically develop my artistic skills and mind set.

It's only been a few months an i've already noticed massive improvements as a result of drawing every day. I've always loved anatomy but i'm looking at it in different ways and understanding how/why things move like they do, and anticipating where they will go (especially if I can't see something in a reference) - rigging has also helped me visualise this so much.

I've become more relaxed in the way I create, my forms are less stiff, and it's beginning to look like my drawings are actually doing actions, they're much less static. Music has definitely become a much bigger influence as well, and the more i've researched the more useful i'm finding it. Playlists everywhere.

Before

Now

I've also developed more of a stylised style which i'm really liking thanks to my character design for my project, and feel like it's helping me lay down sketches a lot quicker. By doing quick daily studies, i'm worrying less about whether is it's 100 anatomically correct and more about the placement of limps, and forms and what they're doing.

Photoshop and I are getting on better than ever, i'm making more brushes, and using them in different ways. I'm still trying out different colouring techniques. I've found one that works for my portraits but now I want to find a style that works well for my illustrations and comics. That fact that i'm even producing more illustrative styles is good. Importantly, if I haven't been happy with something, i'm now not afraid to scrap it and start again.

But most importantly i've definitely grown in confidence when it comes to my art, not that I wasn't before, but more i'm confident to tackle things i've never really done, like designing animals, objects etc. I'm finding that i'm doing heaps more research for this kind of thing now instead of going straight to drawing and not really planning ahead. I'm doing a lot off problem solving and finding different ways to approach issues that usually would have stopped me from progressing with certain pieces.

Wolves of Slava's final project

My comic (and final project) are my priorities at the moment, especially the one for Dee, which I need to start thinking about and developing now. it's going to be tight but if I fit it in to my daily drawing then it should be fine ;)

I even got a snazzy certificate for being a nerd and doing 100 hours worth of drawing in a few weeks.

Courtesy of http://www.quickposes.com/