Lunatique
07-04-2005, 08:53 AM
I've been meaning to post some lessons and tutorials, but haven't had time. I'm still learning myself, and have lots of improving to do, and while I'm certainly no master like Craig Mullins, I think I can still share some of the stuff I've learned in my artistic journey thus far. I'll try to do these mini-lessons whenever I have time. I hope you guys will get something out of them.
So, here we are.
Welcome to Luna's Mini-lesson #1: The Importance of Silhouettes!
An important lesson for cartoonists, animators, and character designers to learn is silhouettes. If you can tell a story with just silhouettes, your artwork can have more impact visually. Here's a good example:
Take a look at the following two silhouettes and pick one that explains the narrative with the most clarity:
http://www.ethereality.info/ethereality_website/goodies/tutorials/mini_lessons/mine/Tutorial/silhouettes-1.jpg
Obviously, you picked the silhouette on the right, as it clearly shows that it's a man holding and pointing a gun in front of him. It even gives an indication of the man's profile, that he has short hair, that his shirt has a collar, and that it is long-sleeved. With the silhouette on the left, there is no clear indication what what he's holding--he could be holding a banana for all we know. There's also no indication whether he has long hair tied in a ponytail in the back, or whether he's wearing a short-sleeve T-shirt. We wouldn't even know if it was a woman with healthy-sized breasts and no nose.
The same concept applies to easily identifiable characters. One of the first things a character designer learns is to create easily reconizable shapes for the characters--shapes that you can identify even in silhouette. If you took a picture of Mickey Mouse or the genie from Aladin, and then blackened the whole figure, would you still be able to identify those characters? That's exactly what this lesson is all about--recognizable shapes.
That's it for mini-lesson #1. I hope you had fun!
So, here we are.
Welcome to Luna's Mini-lesson #1: The Importance of Silhouettes!
An important lesson for cartoonists, animators, and character designers to learn is silhouettes. If you can tell a story with just silhouettes, your artwork can have more impact visually. Here's a good example:
Take a look at the following two silhouettes and pick one that explains the narrative with the most clarity:
http://www.ethereality.info/ethereality_website/goodies/tutorials/mini_lessons/mine/Tutorial/silhouettes-1.jpg
Obviously, you picked the silhouette on the right, as it clearly shows that it's a man holding and pointing a gun in front of him. It even gives an indication of the man's profile, that he has short hair, that his shirt has a collar, and that it is long-sleeved. With the silhouette on the left, there is no clear indication what what he's holding--he could be holding a banana for all we know. There's also no indication whether he has long hair tied in a ponytail in the back, or whether he's wearing a short-sleeve T-shirt. We wouldn't even know if it was a woman with healthy-sized breasts and no nose.
The same concept applies to easily identifiable characters. One of the first things a character designer learns is to create easily reconizable shapes for the characters--shapes that you can identify even in silhouette. If you took a picture of Mickey Mouse or the genie from Aladin, and then blackened the whole figure, would you still be able to identify those characters? That's exactly what this lesson is all about--recognizable shapes.
That's it for mini-lesson #1. I hope you had fun!