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At 6/15/12 10:08 PM, GoodFang wrote:

At 6/15/12 08:39 PM, JKR wrote:

At 6/15/12 08:09 PM, GoodFang wrote: I started drawing in the end of July of 2011 and my dad told me to learn how to draw real people first, so when you draw unrealistic or expressive art you know what features to exaggerate.

Your dad is a smart guy.

Was that sarcastic? or do you mean it?

I very much mean it. Man, that's pretty sad that you say a compliment in this place and people have to ASK if you're just messing with them. Geez...

That is excellent advice, to draw from life first. Most artists who are younger ignore that (as I did) and pay the price later when they have to play catch up. It all starts with life, then you add style, exaggeration, or "cartoon" on top.

At 6/15/12 08:09 PM, GoodFang wrote: I started drawing in the end of July of 2011 and my dad told me to learn how to draw real people first, so when you draw unrealistic or expressive art you know what features to exaggerate.

Your dad is a smart guy.

At 6/15/12 05:32 PM, Chrisgotjar wrote: Thanks a bunch! These flour sacks are great, i've drawn a whole load of them plus a few of my own.

I'll keep working on these over the weekend and post something up on Monday.

Sounds good! Can't wait to see it.

At 6/15/12 03:09 PM, RubberPanda wrote: how do i color and blend like that?

A ton of practice is how. That stuff takes a huge amount of effort and practice and investment of time.

Also be forewarned that it is dangerous to focus on icing the cake before you are a good baker. What I mean by that is you need to have a very good foundation of form, composition, and solid drawing before you start playing with textures, painting methods, and style choices. Otherwise you will end up with a lot of style and no substance, which is the worst kind of art.

I help write things for Animator Island, so feel free to check that out! Tips, tricks, and secrets of animation.

http://www.animatorisland.com/

Hope it's helpful to you. :)

Seems your link is broken.

Step one is going to be starting to actually practice drawing. Not "on and off doodling" but really get down to FOCUSING. Spend at least 20 minutes every day learning to draw solid, three dimensional shapes. Right now the character is very flat, and that will be much improved with hard work and actual effort.

One of the best exercises I've found is practicing the Flour Sack. It will help you draw more dimensionally and think in a 3D way. Here's a comic tutorial on it: http://www.animatorisland.com/?p=1 and then you can find many, many examples if you do a Google search. Pick out the best ones, and try to look at the differences between images you find that are solid and excellent, and the ones done by beginners that are very flat.

All in all it will take work to improve, and that's where you want to start, at the foundation. It can be a struggle at first because you won't be great at it right away, but keep it simple until you really get a good feeling for solid drawing, and then the sky will be the limit for you.

Much luck!

Looks like a good start. Did you do any under-drawing first? Simple shapes to build off of? That is a very useful thing to get in the habit of doing. Later, when a character is fully designed and you've drawn him 10,000 times you may feel comfortable skipping that step, but before then it is a good thing to do first. Here are some visual suggestions.

Above all the key is practice, practice, practice. Draw again and again and again and again. Keep trying to do better, always. Never stop trying to improve, and when you get sick of drawing do at least 5 more.

Seems like some, yes! The 2nd one is still very stiff, though. You might try loosening up a bit and really letting the body flow instead of be so rigid. Example:

At 6/12/12 05:06 PM, Blounty wrote:

At 6/12/12 04:56 PM, Doctor-Pepper wrote: Yes, i get that. But at what point is it no longer worth the price, and the quality cant justify the cost.
Also, what is a great value for the buck, without ripping off the contractor nor the artist.

10 dollars a second seems reasonable for amateur animators I'd say.

If it involved the design process as well (ie. coming up with characters, settings, etc) then I'd say much more than that.

Typically I don't do freelance animation anymore, but when I did it was about $50 an hour. Anything less and it wasn't really worth my time because I could be doing my own projects which were worth a lot more to me. But then, money is never my driving force, so it might be different for most other freelance animators.

At 6/12/12 02:31 PM, BananasFoster wrote:

At 6/12/12 02:30 PM, BananasFoster wrote:

Rereading what I wrote, I want to emphasize that I'm not saying that animation is by any means easy; I'm just saying programming is more difficult in ways that animating is a little more free or relaxed.

That's an interesting perspective. For me it's the exact opposite. Programming is more COMPLICATED, but it's much, much easier than animation. In animation there are essentially no rules. You can literally do anything. In programming there are very specific rules that must be followed, and so less possibilities. You can DO anything with programming, but you must follow rules. In animation you technically don't have to follow any.

And that's one reason I think there are more programmers than animators. Animation is DANG hard.

At 6/12/12 01:11 AM, PatBest22 wrote: Really, what I meant for failing at realism concerned the face more than anything...

I hear that. Faces and hands are the trickiest aspects of the human body to get right, because we see them so often and they are the areas that fully express what type of emotion we have at any given moment. As I said above, if you know what parts your less comfortable drawing (in this case the realistic face) that's the best place to spend your time. When you improve that, you get better at drawing 10 fold. Then you can tackle any other areas that might not be up to par with how well you now draw faces, and eventually you'll have ironed out all the difficult places you struggle with and be a complete and well rounded artist. :)

Good luck with it! I look forward to seeing more of your work posted here.

At 6/11/12 08:42 PM, ReNaeNae wrote:

At 6/11/12 08:28 PM, marth22 wrote: what doe you use for your animations?

I use Flash, but recently started playing with Animate Pro. You could try Toon Boom or one of their other products. Not sure about all of them, but the Animate trials are free... and don't expire. The drawback is that you can't add preloaders and/or actionscript directly to your movies. I haven't gotten to a point where I need that stuff though.

Agreed. Check out the Toon Boom line of software. It's specifically for animators, and though the learning curve is a little steep, it's worth the effort if you really want to do this right. Plus much of the Toon Boom software is very reasonably priced, especially compared to Flash. (Some, like the professional versions, are similar in cost, so start with the more basic line to get some practice in. Or as ReNae said above, grab the trial version. It's great for learning.)

Good luck!

At 6/5/12 10:34 PM, PatBest22 wrote: Yeah whenever I try realistic, it never ends up well. See the previous entry in my thread, I tried to give the face a more realistic look and in the end it only looked wrong.

Hey Pat!

It looks like you've clearly got some skill here, and that's great. It will give you a good boost of confidence to keep working at it. The difficulty is in your statement above. If you try realistic and it doesn't end up well, that means that's exactly where you should be focusing your attention.

In comic book art (as well as manga, or really any "style") the foundation is built in reality. The style is merely a costume that you put over reality. The better you can draw from life, "realistically," the better off you're going to be. So while it's fun to do these drawings and characters in this style you enjoy, if you really want to improve you couldn't do better than hunkering down and getting in some real life drawing. ESPECIALLY if it doesn't go well.

That's tricky because it's never much fun to draw what we aren't good at. In time it becomes more fun, as you get experience, but at first it will be very hard. The key will be not to give up, and if you don't you'll see vast improvements when you go back to whatever style you want to work in. Foundation first, though. It's your best bet for the long term.

In most of your figure drawing your proportions are off. Your torsos are too long and the legs too short. That's likely what Becky noticed above but couldn't quite put her finger on. I myself didn't know for sure so I redid the drawing and noticed my version had the hips sitting higher, and it felt better. That's exactly the sort of thing that will become second nature when you do a lot of life drawing, minus any style. You don't have to go for Photorealism, we have copy machines and cameras for that, but you want to capture life from life first, then dip into your expanded imagination to create some even better stuff than life has to offer. It's a long road, and tough, but if you stick with it you'll become greater than you ever could be without that foundation.

Much luck with it, and if you'd like to talk about it further please feel free to PM or email me. Cheers!

Seems like a terrific start! It's great you're trying to keep things visually interesting and consistent.

My biggest suggestion to all newer animators is to practice the fundamentals first, before you really move into anything as complex as characters and actual cartoons. Animation is one of those things that you learn by doing, and you can do them (and fail and learn and get better) MUCH faster if you're only drawing a sphere (bouncing ball) or Flour sack at the start. I know it isn't quite as exciting, but in the long run you'll be much, much better off.

Either way, good luck with it!

Tablet. Tablet. Always a tablet. ALWAYS.

If you want to pursue art, it is the best investment you can make (besides time and practice). Do not limit yourself with a mouse. Can it be used? Yes, but that doesn't mean it should be.

Save up and get the best tablet you can. It is worth every penny.

At 6/11/12 02:33 PM, Archxiao wrote: Okay, so for starters I'm not very good with art or animation but I am trying to make an iphone app (I know how to program well). And I'm not sure if this is good or not, a little help with some way to make this better would be nice.

Here is the link http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/f185a921e71f46ca6024a982 8bf9fc33

Well with animation the first thing you want to do is try the movement if you can. Can you do what he's doing? I stood up and tried, and my answer was no. In order to bounce like that I HAD to bend my knees or bend my back. So the first thing to do is consider that he's essentially "floating" on the non-moving legs you have here, and that isn't true to life.

From there, try to FEEL what it's like to move like the character. Feel which muscles work hardest, and where your weight is. Then do your best to make the animation FEEL like that. Animation is really all about the feeling.

Try that out and then post any revisions so we can see how it goes! Good luck.

At 6/11/12 02:37 PM, big-jonny-13 wrote: Nude Art - Female Figure Study

Looks like a good start here. One thing you might want to consider is trying to get in longer lines. It looks a little "fuzzy" which means you're probably inching your way along very carefully to try and capture what's in front of you. Instead "shadow draw" as long of a line as you can before you put your pencil down onto the paper. Then make that line in one fell swoop with confidence. Great drawing is all about having confidence in your lines, and that comes with practice. But you do have to practice it, otherwise you'll only practice timid, short lines.

Here's an example of sorts, if it's helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-RNTyMY2oU&list=UU88alnRehVT XcQ0rRReyLcw&index=1&feature=plcp

You want to first look for the big sweeping lines and then you can always go back in after and add details. Starting with the details and every little bump and curve will only slow down your progress. Good luck with it, and keep at it!

Q: When did you first become introduced to art and in what form?
A: My mother always enjoyed coloring, so I also spent time coloring. Probably around Age 1.

Q: What first inspired you to create art?
A: You're talking about 25 years ago, so I have no idea. What CONTINUES to inspire me to create art is seeing great art by others and wanting to be as good. Wanting to change the world for the better using animation.

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of art?
A: Why does art need a definition? I think it's one of those things that is defined by what it is. In the same way "peanut butter and jelly sandwich" is a sandwich made using peanut butter and jelly.

Q: When it comes to your art, where do you begin? How does the creative process start and when does the creation become finished?
A: It's never really finished. I stop when I feel the need to move on to something else. No art is truly ever complete. As for starting, I need a theme or idea to begin with. Rarely do I start from nothing.

Q: Is there any other artist or person you look to as a guide or mentor?
A: The great animators like Andreas Deja, Glen Keane, and Eric Goldberg are people I look to in order to improve, but as far as a mentor goes I don't know that I have any that I'm in regular communication with. There are some here and there who give me feedback and a kick in the pants sometimes which really helps a lot, and I hope to be that person for some other artists as well.

I used to post in the ol' Lounge a lot back in the day... How's it been?

Just thought while I was here I'd say hello. Doubt any of the old regulars I used to talk to remain, but ah well! I myself have begun the transition from Flash to Toon Boom Animate. In terms of an animation tool, Toon Boom is insanely better. Doesn't have the AS stuff, though. Which works for me, since I want to do animation and not programming.

Anyway, hi everybody. And now I suppose I'll make my exit again...

At 6/11/12 12:04 PM, TurkeyOnAStick wrote:

At 6/11/12 11:59 AM, JKR wrote: I think that's the best type of character because it fleshes things out more, akin to the article here: http://www.animatorisland.com/?p=955
Using just straight lines instead of form really limits what you can do in terms of animation...

You've bumped a thread that nobody's posted in for 4 months.
Were you hunting for stickmen threads, just so you could deliver that tit-bit of information?

Yes, I was trying to help folks who were struggling with Stickmen animations. Sorry, I didn't realize the date on it. Is 4 months too old to post in? Perhaps they should be locked after however long so people don't? I apologize, I didn't mean to upset anyone. I was just trying to be helpful. :)

Less boards would help a lot! When you spread people out over so many different boards, some of the boards suffer a lot. Of course, that's not really something we can change ourselves, but I think that has a lot to do with it.

For starters, stay away from stickmen! They won't help you learn, and there are simple ways to do something similar but actually gain a lot from it: http://www.animatorisland.com/?p=955

When you're first getting started drawing it's important that you try to focus on the real world and traditional life drawing. You don't have to be a photocopy machine, but you need to get a good grasp of proportion and solidity before you move on to adding styles and making it "Cartoony" or anything. I know that's tricky, because we want to dive right into the "fun" stuff, but it's very, very important. Skip the fundamentals and you'll be playing catch up for years and years later (trust me, I've been there).

There are some cool drawing articles here if you want to check them out. http://www.animatorisland.com/?p=591 <-- That one will probably be especially handy, as it's on Form and Solid drawing.

Above all keep at it! It won't come to you overnight, but you'll get there.

At 2/12/12 08:10 AM, adi13das wrote: what do u think about it?

I think that's the best type of character because it fleshes things out more, akin to the article here: http://www.animatorisland.com/?p=955

Using just straight lines instead of form really limits what you can do in terms of animation...

At 3/16/12 01:39 PM, raremasta wrote: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL22E2657B7FED4CFD&feat ure=plcp

Something you might consider is fleshing the characters out a bit more. You learn a lot with a little extra volume. Here's an article about it: http://www.animatorisland.com/?p=955

It's a pretty quick and easy way to improve your animation skills by at least twice as much.

True, but to be fair we're on the bus a LOT these days... Or in the car, or out and about...

At 4/22/11 01:16 PM, Magic-Mushroom wrote: A mobile phone can not produce the graphics a console or PC could, simple as that.

But if graphics sold games, we'd have more Crysis and less Words with Friends. Graphics DON'T sell games.

I was invited to join a gaming podcast recently, and my topic was Mobile Gaming vs. Traditional gaming. Because of what Iwata said at the Game Developers Conference. Anyway, if you'd like to hear it, they're looking for more listeners!

Negative World Podcast 007: Metroid, Ridge Racer, and Mobile Gaming Destruction

Apart from the podcast, though, what do you guys think? Is mobile gaming destroying gaming as we know it? After buying Angry Birds for 99 cents, it's hard to plunk down $60 for a console title... Which means less console titles being made, right?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my name box is totally blocking the subtitles to my video. I actually would rather not have my name even THERE if that's what needs to happen so they aren't blocked. That's really not so good there............... Could you please change it? It's really not okay as it is...

But otherwise, good job everybody! I think they turned out well.

Okay, so yeah, now really please move that name box.

Oh it seems like EVERYDAY there's some big thing coming out. It's best not to get too bogged down worrying about it. If people like what you post, it's all good.