roogoo beginner sketchbook - drawing for animation

[roogoo]

hello !! my dream was to be a pixar animator but as time went on, i found out what i really want to do is do feature creature animation as a career and concept art for fun!!

and im currently trying to learn gesture drawing. ( i want to get as good as glen keane is at gesture drawing! )

im new to drawing in general. im trying to learn on my own so i really could use all the help i can get, everything helps since i dont have any direction

i have been practicing doing gesture drawings for awhile i think ive done like over 2000 gesture drawings so far, maybe a lot more lol.

recently i have been doing like around 100 gesture drawings everyday and ive read like so many drawing books like michael hampton, matessi , vilpuu and more but FINALLY decided to stick with nicolaides natural way to draw, this one has helped me most


i will post some pictures below of my gesture drawings, maybe everyday, tell me how i can improve, what should i do? i really appreciate any help !!!!!!



------
edit: found some old stuff i drew back when i was in "i suck at drawing nightmare land" in october.. ive improved !

[roogoo]

here are some gesture drawings i have done these past few days

[roogoo]

my gesture drawings from yesterday. i feel like i keep getting better and worse

[Rhubix]

gestures are good, they're really the backbone of animation.
The most important thing to think about as a 3D animator are silhouette and emotion. Because you don't have to re-draw the whole character, you can get away with weaker fundamental skills. but it really helps to know how the body moves, and ways you can draw emotion from the figure.
Pixar is top-notch at this, I've worked with some feature animators before, and they really have an incredible eye for subtleties.

I recommend watching your favorite movies again, and paying careful attention to the gestures and expressions in them. In school we would even use white-board markers to map out the arcs of movement.
Also, draw from life as much as you can- try to capture movement and emotion in your drawings.

Happy sketching!

[roogoo]

thanks. also i read a lot of books like drawn to life, and tons of animation books and they all say.. SKETCH 24/7 !!!!
too bad i cant really go anywhere atm.. i guess i can keep sketching my chihuahua in the backyard..
----

i havent updated in a few days because ive been doing a lot of animation research!!! i have been drawing everyday but didnt have time to upload progress. today i got a wacom and it took some getting used to.. and grr i think my gesture drawings got worse nuuuuu!!!!

[Rhubix]

Hey Roogoo,
Thanks for dropping by my sb - figured I'd give you more elaborate reply on here

how did you learn to make stuff like this? and how long have you been doing this stuff, also what would you say is the thing that contributed the most to getting so good? thanks

I drew my whole life, trying to figure it out on my own until I went to animation school 7 years ago, at age 20. (omg 7years >.<) I was there for 4 years, and continued to study once I graduated. My sketchbook starts in 4th year of college to now - so it's 3 1/2 years in the making.

I can't say that any one thing helped me more than any other but if I were to offer one suggestion it would be to draw from life, as others have suggested. I keep a sketchbook on me every where I go - work, home, bank, mall, pub, funerals, weddings. I always draw in pen- because erasing wastes valuable sketching time -- and I try to draw everything.

Characters - faces in particular, are my favorite things to draw - and I really underestimated how much I would learn by stepping back and focusing on drawing environments, and object drawing. But perspective is such a fundimental part of figure drawing -- and all the studies I did of things i find boring - cars, houses, chairs - they really pounded the perspective into my brain. Later, drawing figures again, I has much more confidence in my perspective and my posing and gestures improved dramatically.

So try to learn something from every opportunity you can. Try drawing the things you hate the most - always draw the things you have trouble with. If hands are tough - draw a few hundred. Draw cars, plants, animals, buildings, rocks, boots, bags.
If you can't get out to sketch , just grab some stuff from around your house and draw that.

When you draw- try to think about constructing what you're drawing. Do perspective studies. - if you come across something that is particularly difficult for you (mine was cars!) Draw tonnes of those- do perspective studies of them - sculpt them if that helps. Break them down into simple forms (cubes, cylinders, spheres,).
Try doing gesture drawings with different tools- chalk, water colour (cheap dollar-store stuff works great for gestures.)

I'd love to tell you there's a simple solution- but I really just learned on stubbornness. If it seems easy you're not learning anything.

Hope that helps some! If you have any other questions, don't be shy, I'm always happy to help other aspiring cartoonists
Happy sketching

[roogoo]

thank you , that is AWESOME advice i will try to do all that !!!

currently im struggling with drawing people! trying to master gesture drawing.

are there any books , websites, resources that you really like for drawing?

[Rhubix]

from my SB

ive never drawn or anything artistic at all i always hated drawing because i had no natural talent at all for it

I'm not a natural either, and where I grew up there wasn't really much in the way of art classes. I was one of the weakest in terms of fundamentals when I started college. So I can guarantee that natural ability is not a necessity to make a living as an artist -- as long as you're stubborn it's 100% doable

For creature drawing, like figure drawing - it's important to understand what it is you're drawing. A good book for animal anatomy is "an atlas of artist anatomy" and a good one for animal gestures is "the art of animal drawing"

for figure drawing- I really like Bridgeman books- With cartooning the very fine nuances of figure drawing are less important, so I feel his really chunky forms really work well for cartoonists.
I also have a bunch of other books I keep in arms reach - Hale, Joseph Shepard - and I trade or borrow books with friends occasionally - it's cheaper than buying everything out there, and having a sketching partner is lots of fun.

Books for animation I have are the Survival kit, Drawn to life , Elemental magic- because I work as an fx animator from time to time, and From script to screen - which is an overview of animation as a whole.

Websites I like are
Pixilovely - gesture drawing tool
Living lines library - a collection of assorted model sheets and art work from lots of animated features.
animation backgrounds

and animation world network - less reference and more about animation news and junk



Start by doing some simple studies of the figure's proportions, it's pretty easy to find different systems of measurement - Hale uses skull width, and more common is the 8 heads high method. You want to do these studies fairly regularly until you really get the hang of them. Like knowing the eyes are half way between the top of the head and chin - the length of your foot is about the same as the inside of your forearm.
Also- I really liked box drawings
This guy is great for practicing proportion and perspective with the human form- without getting too caught up in details.

Also, just do simple perspective studies- google 1 point perspective & 2 point perspective and you should find some simple exercises to go with.

when ever i "don't know what to draw" I go back to perspective studies and gestures. You can never do enough of either .

Happy sketching!

[roogoo]

drew a lot today and also some random non gesture drawings

[roogoo]

from my SB

I'm not a natural either, and where I grew up there wasn't really much in the way of art classes. I was one of the weakest in terms of fundamentals when I started college. So I can guarantee that natural ability is not a necessity to make a living as an artist -- as long as you're stubborn it's 100% doable

For creature drawing, like figure drawing - it's important to understand what it is you're drawing. A good book for animal anatomy is "an atlas of artist anatomy" and a good one for animal gestures is "the art of animal drawing"

for figure drawing- I really like Bridgeman books- With cartooning the very fine nuances of figure drawing are less important, so I feel his really chunky forms really work well for cartoonists.
I also have a bunch of other books I keep in arms reach - Hale, Joseph Shepard - and I trade or borrow books with friends occasionally - it's cheaper than buying everything out there, and having a sketching partner is lots of fun.

Books for animation I have are the Survival kit, Drawn to life , Elemental magic- because I work as an fx animator from time to time, and From script to screen - which is an overview of animation as a whole.

Websites I like are
Pixilovely - gesture drawing tool
Living lines library - a collection of assorted model sheets and art work from lots of animated features.
animation backgrounds

and animation world network - less reference and more about animation news and junk



Start by doing some simple studies of the figure's proportions, it's pretty easy to find different systems of measurement - Hale uses skull width, and more common is the 8 heads high method. You want to do these studies fairly regularly until you really get the hang of them. Like knowing the eyes are half way between the top of the head and chin - the length of your foot is about the same as the inside of your forearm.
Also- I really liked box drawings
This guy is great for practicing proportion and perspective with the human form- without getting too caught up in details.

Also, just do simple perspective studies- google 1 point perspective & 2 point perspective and you should find some simple exercises to go with.

when ever i "don't know what to draw" I go back to perspective studies and gestures. You can never do enough of either .

Happy sketching!

thanks for the advice and yup perspective is very hard !!!!!!

and ya i think i do need to read more for figure proportions

also when you started , were you suckier than me? lol

[Whimsnicole]

Heh, I also want to work for Pixar one day. I'll see you there!

I'd suggest using more confident lines to do your gestures instead of using multiple lines to represent what should be one fluid line.

Keep on going! You're doing great!

[roogoo]

thanks for the advice . ya i really do need to use less crazy lines. ill try that tomorrow

also i thought i wasnt gona draw anymore for today but i didd . drawing is addictive now o.o

[Artful_Stool]

i would suggest you to understand the gestures before copying it as it is, try to see wat the SPINE is doing(its movement), look how major masses are balancing out each other(head, rib cage and pelvis) draw hands and legs afterwards, if you hold on a good sense of that and keep your lines loose, u will pretty much gonna develop your your own and correct style of doing gestures.

[ColoButts]

off to a good start! for gesture drawing i would suggest starting off with 30 seconds just as you did with some of these gestures, and taper off to 1-2 minute poses, as they help ingrain it into your memory. I see as nicole said, try to keep your lines fluid and confident, i would also recommend taking a look on walt stanchfield's gesture notes Right here. I'd love to be a able to work for pixar as well but i need lots of work as well uvu best of luck to you and I hope you find this helpful

[HaoningW]

I suggest reading "Figures drawings(design and invention)", really helped me in stuff like this

[MeteorCat]

I'm sure people gave you plenty of advice already so just keep it up. Less lines more form (shape).

[roogoo]

thank u all for the advice i wrote it all down:
pay attention to spine for balance, how are major masses balancing eachother out? draw hands and legs after ward. have goodsense
LESS LINESSSSS, more fluid confident STAY LOOSE, more form shape

keep doin 30 sec

read more walt stanchfield and hampton

study proportions, perspective

but for some reason i think my drawings are getting worse again . ill keep practicing though and its hard for me to use less lines

heres yesterday gestures

[roogoo]

yesterday gestures. all 30 seconds. im struggling to draw with less lines

[nodeerskulls]

oh my, so many gestures!
i am mighty curious how these'll evolve in the future~

don't you ever get sick of them tho?

[Rhubix]

thanks for the advice and yup perspective is very hard !!!!!!

and ya i think i do need to read more for figure proportions

also when you started , were you suckier than me? lol

When I started I was about 2, so I wasn't really good at anything lol. I never stopped drawing as I got older- a lot of people put it aside when they get in their teens. I put a little montage of my progress in my SB about a year ago.

Luckily if you study efficiently you can certainly catch your fundamentals up to the best artists out there. Right now I reccomend diversifying your studies.

The reason you feel a bit lost in gesture drawing is because your eye is starting to see better than you can produce. It knows there's something missing but hasn't connected what yet.
you need to do some proportion and perspective studies to improve the solidity of your drawings. Explore the difference between form and shape. There's a big difference. circle = shape sphere = form.
Don't worry about the number of lines your using - in fact, try drawing with crayons or chalk - something fat with lots of value. Focus on getting the form now- and gradually you will need less to describe the form because you understand what your drawing. In early stages, it's more about exploring form than getting a pretty result.

once you connect the dots you'll jump up a rung. I love this diagram below- and refer to it often. The times when your most frustrated happen when your about to take a leap up.
True or not I feel better when I look at it lol.



Happy sketching

[roogoo]

rawr!! im still alive!! i have been working on learning animation but i have been drawing every night. just not as much as before. here are all the drawings from 12/29/12 till now. they are all 30 second. and yes i do get sick of drawing the same people on posemaniac over 50x. i wish i didnt live in the empty suburbs


also thank you for ur great advice rhubix. i will definately try to do all that , i know it will make me a lot better and it sounds like fun. i think learning to draw is like learning animation, or learning anything haha . i understand animation a lot better when i understand all the other little things that tie into it

btw ur attachment doesnt work.

i need to make a schedule so i have more time to draw. animation is so very time consuming

but ya im definately getting better at drawing gestures!!! before i was doing them without a time limit and now im doing them all in 30 seconds and they look the same or better than the non-30sec drawings..i must have drawn like 5000 already haha..... i must not stop

[J@n!t]

It is difficult to capture gesture of static, non-living things like Posemaniacs. Why not just hop on Google Images and search for action words like run, jump, dance, twist, ballerina, baseball player, etc? The advantage of photographs is that they can catch a split-second in time, freezing real motion and showing things our eye wouldn't pick out in real life.

[Umbravita]

You've been working hard, man, hope you're still going at it! Gestures are great for learning the essence of poses, but let's see something a little more detailed with a little more time spent on it, aye? Try finding a good stock image, if you can't draw from life, and do a good, hour-long pose.

[roogoo]

ahh i stopped drawing for a long time to study more animation , i need to make time for drawing... its really hard and hurts my hand now though. cuz i upgraded from a 13" screen to 27" imac and i have a small wacom so for each person i draw i only have 1 inch of wacom space to work on ... OWWWWW!!!!!