TEN -Kids at the principal's office.

#1

I started this as a late entry for CGChallenge XXVII: TEN. I missed the deadline, but I’d like to finish up the image still.

I made a pinterest board with inspiration/reference images: http://pinterest.com/mikhailschalk/ten-principal-s-office-image-reference/

I used Blender(3D) for the perspective+lighting reference and put it on a layer in the background at 30% opacity. I’ll probably paint over it or just keep it as soft light later.
I’m trying to improve my pose rendering so that’s the main focus for me here. The poses are all blocked in with cylinders. I’ll probably tweak the expressions and hairstyles a bit. Comments and critiques are more than welcome.

Close-ups:



#2

One thing I noticed right away is the necks of the adults on the left. In both cases, their heads are tilted down a little. While it is possible to tuck the chin in like that, it’s not natural. The neck should lean forward from the shoulders so that the chin doesn’t have to tuck so much. You have it correct with the lady on the right. I’d also like to see a few more body types with the children. With this many kids in line, it’s unlikely that they’d all be tall and thin. You should have a few short ones as well as plump for a more realistic line-up. Unless, of course, this is supposed to be only a certain group. Say, the entire soccer team got in trouble–then a line-up of similar body types would be realistic. But if they’re just random kids, their body types should be equally random.

~D~

#3

This looks like it can be really interesting!

Right now, I reckon the poses of nearly everyone could be a little more dynamic. As much as you can. Not being over the top of course :stuck_out_tongue: but try to avoid everything being vertical and horizontal, (eg shoulders generally all seem perpendicular to the spine)

Good luck!

#4

Thanks for the replies. Sorry if it seems like a while getting back here. I decided to follow the principle of failing small first, since this image is pretty involved. I’m just learning figure drawing and painting so I’m going to practice and learn more about pose drawing, and faces at angles is a real bottleneck for me too. Maybe do a few simpler shading studies or speedpaints to practice on.
But I’d like to try and finish this by the end of January, so it won’t be too long before I get back to it. You can follow that progress in my sketchbook thread in the meantime if interested (should be in my signature). Thanks again for the critiques. Very helpful!

@DorothyTRose: Thanks for pointing out the chins. I’m really new to figure drawing and really can only draw heads straight on or in exact profile so far. I’m going to do some practice and read up on heads at angles, foreshortened and such. The secretary on the right is the only character I did from reference. That explains how I got the neck right with her.
The tip on different body types is a good one. That’s definitely what I’m going for. I was focused on getting them all drawn in perspective and blocking out the poses. When I do the next pass I’ll add some more variety. I’m not so happy with the 2nd and 4th from the right characters, so that’s where I might play around a bit more and I’ll think of some different body types, and maybe shrink the one curled up on the end. I was trying to make the guy in the middle (under the clock, 6th from left) look larger than the others, but I ended up scaling him down a bit because he looked like a giant. Clothing should help vary things a bit too, and I’m definitely going to change the hair on a lot of them.

@jameschoebroyo: Thanks James. I’ll try and add some more dynamism in the shoulders. A couple of the figures are supposed to be leaning forward (far left in seats, and 3rd and 5th from right) but it doesn’t read very well.

#5

You really should take your own reference photos, so you can direct the models to pose and emote exactly the way you imagined your characters would. Using pictures you found that are taken or painted/drawn by others is extremely limiting, because they were created for totally different creative visions that’s got nothing to do with yours.

My suggestions is to ask family and friends to pose for you. A camera and household lamps is all you need to take very useful reference photos that are catered directly to your needs for this visual narrative. You can direct your models the way a movie director would, to get exactly wht you want, the lighting that you need, and so on. Even if you don’t have anyone that can pose for you, you can just use yourself as the model. Add to your camera and household lights a tripod and mirror and you’re good to go. You can play the part of all the different characters, and you know exactly how to pose and emote effectively for the visual story you want to tell.

#6

Sorry for not replying and lack of updates. I’ve got notifications being filtered in my mail and haven’t been checking them.

That’s great advice. I’ve been sort of acting out the poses in a chair in my room to get a feeling for it, but taking a picture would probably be even more useful. I’m trying to improve my constructive anatomy skills, drawing from imagination vs. from observation because I want to get into concept art and storyboarding for movie projects. (I’m a writer/aspiring director) But I’m really a beginner so some reference wouldn’t hurt.
As for the timeline for this, I’m shifting gears from anatomy a bit to practice perspective drawing and do some simple still lifes. I’ll come back to this once I have a better handle on the basics.

#7

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