[stuffAEAmade] Trial 3-- 100 Heads

2006-08-28 [deeterhi]: i am glad you are sticking to what you do and are working with your own characters :) a lot of characters in manga and anime can tend to have similar bone structures, but the characters never look alike. i can tell that you are playing around with the features a bit, but also try to exaggerate not only what goes on the face or around it, but also the shape of the head. think of it in terms of having either circles, ovals, squares, polygons, etc., etc. underneath the structure. they don't even have to be typical shapes like the ones that i listed but any kind of shape you can think of.

2006-11-24 [stuffAEAmade]: This second batch was doodled mostly at work. I started to work with the shapes, like with the glasses guy, but it's kind of hard, I'm not used to drawing like that. One of these sheets, I am going to definately focus more on that.

2006-11-26 [deeterhi]: i think you are heading in the right direction. a lot of what you seem to be doing is subtle. some of them look really good and some still look similar to each other. what i think might help you to see what i'm talking about would be to draw the next couple of characters from the same angle (have them all facing the viewer, for example).

oh, and i love the animals. are there many of them in your stories?

2006-11-26 [stuffAEAmade]: Okay, yeah, I see what you mean. I've been noticing that too, and it's kind of starting to bug me a little. I try to vary my style and the way I draw for each story. That's something I can fix, though, now that I can clearly see the problem.

There are a bunch of animals in the two short stories I'm working on, but I guess I consider them more a part of the environment and the setting than characters by themselves. Or, at least, they are in those ones.

2006-11-27 [deeterhi]: i know what you mean. i sometimes find myself reverting back to similar shapes and designs because that is what i am comfortable with. these are just studies, though. they don't have to be the finished look of your characters.

what do you think will be useful to do? how can you step outside of what you normally do while still retaining your style and your own point of view?

2006-11-28 [stuffAEAmade]: That is a good question. Huh. =/.......

Doing the shapes should help me out, and maybe trying to create a certain 'look' or attitude for some of the heads. Like, instead of a blank stare, working on conveying a personality. I can try some more realistic heads, and work with exagerating features more.

I feel like I've picked up a few bad drawing habits from anime. As though I've jumped into that style of anatomy and proportion without learning the real things first. Unlearning all of that is taking a while.

2006-11-28 [deeterhi]: i completely agree with adding the personlities. by doing that, you make the character seem more real, instead of it just being a pretty picture/portrait.

you have to keep in mind that a style shouldn't be forced or created from some tutorial or mold. you can't draw a style. you already have a style and that is how you perceive real people and real life in a two-dimensional format.

2006-12-09 [stuffAEAmade]: okay, I've almost got another set done. I should have then up sometime this weekend.

2007-01-14 [Silver Wind]: Whoho! New heads I haven't seen! Hang in there, you're almost halfway!

2007-01-14 [stuffAEAmade]: Over halfway now, but this is tough!

2007-01-26 [deeterhi]: i think the heads have really come out great :)
keep up the good work :)

2007-01-27 [stuffAEAmade]: =3 thanks. _{33 left... -.o}

2007-06-07 [stuffAEAmade]: I did those, and then realized I needed more of another race. Once I do another sheet of animals, I should be finished.
Differences are still fairly subtle, but I managed to give my style a good shove towards more realistic features, which is what I have been aiming for.
So, I have 100, but only three animals so far. I WILL finish my other animal heads by next weekend, because I want to move on to something else. And not take 10 months to do it either.

2007-06-19 [stuffAEAmade]: There, a sheet of animals. I'm ready for whatever's next now. =3

2007-06-20 [deeterhi]: they look really good :)

what's next is you have to be honest with yourself and write what you still struggle with in the drawings (this will be something you will continue to work on in the next trials), what you learned from doing an exercise like this, and how you feel you have improved from drawings previous to this exercise, if at all.

aside from that, i have to say congratulations for completing this trial. it took a while to accomplish but you got it done :)

what's next is the other trials. let me know which one you want to focus on. i know you started some of the other ones a while ago, but pick one you want to tackle.

2007-06-21 [stuffAEAmade]: Okay. I'm still having troubles with really adding variation to the facial features, but I can see definite improvement with the later sets, since I did make a point of observing the anatomy of the head. There's still a lot of room to play with things like cheekbones, noses, wrinkles, and jaw shapes. It's a very good exercise, and I will continue to use it for sketch warm ups.

Computer coloring I want to eventually redo, but for now I'll start on the character design trial.