The tutorial session today was a quick introduction into the using Autodesk’s Maya software to create a bouncing ball. Mark covered all of the aspects of making the ball ‘rigging’ move up and down, squash and stretch and even moving the ball across the screen. In a way it seemed rather complicated but at the same time I liked some of the elements of Maya – Including the way which numerical values can control the X, Y and Z axis. This is something I had grown used to in several games map makers and it makes precise movements much easier. Overall I am looking forward to working with the software tomorrow, but I feel it will be difficult to master.
The second life drawing class was approaching the figurative drawing into a completely different direction with Will Teather, beginning with a 10 minute warm up sketch before moving into a staggering 36 quick sketches. The first sketch was really a reinforcement of what I had learnt in last week’s session. I focused on solid, singular lines which captured the outline and form well (Note: due to the size of the image it had to be photographed, but the paper had become creased in transport). One issue I found, when looking at it again to make this post was that my lines weren’t dark enough – a criticism Will has when people are working. Still the figure is captured well enough so this will be a matter of using a 2B or more pencil next week.
The series of sketches after the first was the real task. Will set out clear instructions at the start of the drawings; 36 sketches, must try to capture the whole body in the ‘frame’ given by the folds, and must retain the key detail while not dawdling on minor issues or ‘redoing’ areas of pencil work. By doing this, it was very much like working with animation key frames – which is a critical part of animation and no doubt would be beneficial to the project. Nevertheless I encountered many problems while doing this task. The first problem I had with this sketch was keeping the whole body in the frame – this took me until the end of the top line to achieve but even after this I found a strayed from those proportions and out of the frame often (with proportions and scales being another key element which Will regarded as being key to the task). I would say that there were different flaws in each of my images or reoccurring patterns of issues – normally due to straying from Will’s instructions.
The summary of that task was looking at other students work and analysing which images worked or not. My own sketches did not pick up positive or negative plaudits which in all honesty I expected. Reflecting back upon my mind-set when working I think my issue was that lack of time on each piece equalled poor sketches and thus I wasn’t giving my all. But I definitely saw the error of that view when I looked at a classmate Robert’s work. As singular drawings they were neither good nor bad, as they captured the form of the model and some of the key details. But as a collective all of his pictures followed Will’s instructions perfectly and because of it resembled an animation – the intention of the task. That revelation taught me of the importance of looking at other’s work for inspiration should I be lost with my own work.
The final sketch, like last session was a long sketch (around 40 minutes long). Unlike last time, I found I enjoyed this pose much more and because of it I could capture the form of the model really well. I focused on the torso area and did a small amount of shading.
Two sessions in and I can already see a vast improvement in my own character art. I am beginning to get used to thinking in 3D when modelling poses, considering the movement of bones, flesh and other key attributes. Also doing quick drawing makes an artist bolder, doing sketches which they would not normally. Combining that with Wills initial rule of making each line count has meant my line art is moving in the direction I want it to.
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