Homework 1

Thumbnail 10 different possibilities of each of your characters.

Look for at least 15 reference images for each character (may include world, props, outfits, gear, etc.)

Choose your best thumbnails and develop each character.

Five Character Designs

i have another image of all five characters together i'm just finishing it up. i redesigned phillip and i have the rest of the characters in there too. will upload in a bit.

not sure if i saw everyone's posts?

i don't know if i posted on everyones blogs yet... did i post on everyones that has posted something?

still need to fix her front view hands! working on it

working on illustrating the barber shop in photoshop

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE THIS WEBSITE!

I've been sick and sleeping a lot. I've only been up for about 5 hours now myself.

I'm about to post my stuff and I want to make comments on everyones projects, but I'm having a hard time finding everyones....

Emily's comments!

For some odd reason I am unable to post comments on everyone's stuff so I'm making a new post with everything I have to say. Here we go!

Jess

bar: I like how you left the corrections over it so we can see what you are going to do. I love this scene. The only thing I have to say about it is add more elements that go with the time period where we can see them and easily identify them.

Characters: These characters are great, I love your style! I agree that the mouse, robot, and bunny need to be redone because they are a little hard to read. But the woman and the cat are easily recognizable.

Expressions: I don't believe anything needs to be done here. Color would definitely be fun! It's so easy to see every expression.

Turnaround: I love this character. The only thing that bothers me would probably be...well I understand she's a saggy old woman but maybe she's a little too saggy in this turnaround? Haha but that's just be my opinion

opposites: I agree that the second character needs to be redone. He just doesn't compare to the first character. A more active and interesting pose would definitely do the trick.

Midterm: Your character sheet looks really good. The colors look awesome and I like the layout. Maybe just blow up the action poses and expressions a little more to take up some empty space.

Kathryn

midterm: I hope you realized you spelled your own character's name wrong. That might need to be fixed lol Otherwise it looks good. I like the action poses and the colors. I would give her gun a little more detail because it doesn't really look like a gun to me right now.

Opposites: These two are super cute. All I would say is work on proportions and maybe their feet. Like maybe give them some recognizable hooves or something.

Characters: Yeah I think there is a little confusion as to how old Angella is or should be. Maybe Timmy shouldn't have a bat-a-rang for copyright reasons haha I really like the character designs overall. I don't think much needs to be fixed other than what has been said.

Alburt: The first thing I noticed was how his body shape changes a little with every angle. Make sure he stays the same round elephant shape through-out the turnaround. He's looking a little skinny at the beginning and fatter at the end. And I would say make his mustache stick out from his face in the profile view because it looks more flat right now than I think a mustache should be.

Alburt expressions: I would first of all like to see this redone in black because it's a little hard to see right now. I can see what you were going for in a couple of the faces but its harder to read some than others. They're all similar and I think his expressions could be pushed a lot more.

Restaurant: This looks like a great place to eat but wherever do we sit?! I still think this needs some tables and chairs for your customers. The stairs are a nice touch but maybe you need to lose them to be able to see some of the more important elements that would really make it a Mexican restaurant?

LadyInu

turnaround: Very cute. I think you still have some proportion issues going on and some lines going across would really help you keep the dog looking the same from every angle. Really that's all I think you need here. Follow those lines!!

super kitty: Everything you do is so cute. The idea is good but I think this could use more cat-like elements so we can easily see what's going on here. Like maybe a tail or some whiskers?

Expressions 1 and 2: I wish I could see the entire page on the second one!! I love his happy face on the first page. The sad one is a good idea but I feel like it would work better if we could see his face from the front and see the tears pouring down his face. Good job!

Bunny: Its definitely a bunny. And a butler. Good job. I think, same as super kitty, it could use some whiskers and maybe some bunny buck teeth!

Dog: This guy looks awesome! Quite the improvement from the first one. I'm loving the bubbles coming out of his pipe. I think maybe he could be redone with his body in proportion with his ginormous head. Unless that was the style you were going for?

Baby: I think the mouth around the pacifier was a good choice. I remember you didn't have that in the first one and I think it makes it easier to understand. I like the dress and hat a lot, all she's missing is some fingers and toes!

Opposites: Looking good. Again some small proportion issues and I'd like to see it inked. I think it could use more detail in her costume too. Like folds in the skirt and maybe a symbol on her chest for her superhero name. I love how she's the awesome super chick and he's the creepy stalker. Haha

bear: I love this guy. I remember he was the bear musician and he definitely looks like a bear so I think he could really use more elements that say musician. Some clothes and maybe a hat and some details on the saxophone would really help. Being a saxophonist myself I'm allowed to be picky. ;) Keep up the good work!

India

The turnaround looks great! It's very clean and the colors look awesome. Some lines might be needed going across just for us to see what you did but it really looks good from every angle. The barbershop looks so cool. Great job with all the little details! I think my favorite part is the window. I would have never thought to make the shop's sign backwards even though that seems to be the most obvious thing to do. :P

"Progress" by Emily Kettelson_Summer 2011

Alright so here is everything I could find. Obviously there is still work to be done but feel free to tell me what needs to be fixed or what I'm missing. :)

"Progress" by Jessica Chernega_Summer 2011

Bar room scene. Photographed with the corrections over it since that's how I plan on re-working it, anyway.

Character line-up. Need to change the robot, the mouse, and the bunny.

Character expressions. I might just color this one...

Old lady line-up, with corrections over it. I actually scanned everything in piece-by-piece, but piecing them together is for another day. Just need to make the corrections over it, and re-align the back pose.

Opposite characters...the thin guy I'm going to completely re-do into an action/sneak pose.

This is a different file from what I printed - you can see because parts are cut off here and there. I need to go into the print folder and get the original file, because I didn't realize illustrator lied to you when it said it was all on one background - it opened up as many different files, with all the layer orders mixed up. Anyway, gonna re-do some of the words, add the pizza pan, re-do his logo, and might color everything else.

"Progress" by Kathryn Stevens_Summer 2011

Note: For some reason whenever I bring in my images, the blog preview when editing shows it can be clicked on to see a bigger version, but when I save/post it, it doesn't allow me to do that. So in the end you're only looking at the thumbnails. They're all medium images so i don't know why it's doing that. If someone could tip me that's a tecchy of this site, I'd appreciate the thought

Obviously this is my character Lyla Granger whom you know as my mid-term personal project and as such will be the first thing you all see. I exaggerated her expressions better and made everything in typed font. Lyla's expressions/action poses and 4-point turnaround are on here also which I will enlarge them all later in each separate cluster so I can present them in the portfolio, so feel free to comment on those as wellThese two, if y'all don't remember, were my two opposite characters I decided to draw. They were the two fawn sisters, Shaunna and Faya, Shaunna being the older and Faya the younger. I haven't made any changes to them at this time because I couldn't remember any critiques -if any- that I got on them. However, I definitely plan on using this as a reference and redoing a new one from scratch. If you all could tell me some key points to make this presentable in the portfolio, that'd be great. (in other words, "What should I put exactly?" )

Now y'all can actually see the colors right! lol Yes, these are my restaurant themed characters, the five characters with personalities, thus where Alburt the Butler Elphant was born! XD; I remember you all mentioning to me that Angella looked much too older for what she's supposed to be, and I can't remember the specifics on how to fix her, could yall remind me that please? XP So that concludes my characters cause we only did the two opposite characters, the five personalities, and the mid-term XP I've decided, and hope it's okay, not to post Lyla twice in my portfolio in the "character" section since you will already see her in the front cover of the portfolio. If someone says it otherwise, I will do so.

Same thing as the expressions below but with his 4-Point Turnaround. I also edited it slightly so we can actually see the width of his ears this time. Same thing again with Lyla and her turnaround. Then the only action poses were of our mid-term character, so that's covered already unless someone wants to give me advice on that. (the action poses/expressions on lyla)

Took the sketch of Alburt's expressions and converting everything into digitial, since that is my forte. What you see right now is very basic sketchyness, the final will be linearted, colored and toned. (shaded) Any tips? After him would be Lyla's expressions which I will blown up later

Our first background, and for me, my mexican restaurant. I know I definitely need to get rid of the border, add more tables, and more mexican decorative flare to the tables, and so on, so on ... I'm really tempted to get rid of the stairs all together cause obviously that's this case's problem, what do you all think? I will also say this ahead of time, if someone could help me with perspective, that'd be great cause I didn't think none of my items would cause a problem in perspective ... but apparently my couch in the right corner did? Help? (it's one of those love seat couches) Of course I can't post Lyla's background cause I don't have it with me ... so ... I think that's everything moreorless in order for the portfolio. Cheers! :3

Character Turn around one

Hey guys, I guess I'll be the first one to post here. As you can see my scanner kind of sucks so it cut off a few of the pictures here and there as you'll notice in the pictures. On that note none of the pictures are in the appropriate format for the project, I just wanted to post what I had so far that's all. Something is better than nothing. Also I couldn't post my two background images because my scanner isn't the right size to support the images and I didn't think I would have enough time to redo them and then rescan them. So everything here is what I have so far. Also I only have the five characters and the expressions. I have to redo the character turn around on a smaller page so it can possibility fit so I can scan it in. We'll see on that anyway.



Character One- Super Kitty




Expressions one




Expressions two


Character two- Bunny Butler


Character three- Dog Detective




Character four- Human toddler maid



Opposing Characters: For some reason or another the scanner wasn't able to darken the picture when I had went over it with black marker.....its strange.


Character Five- Bear Musician

Critique Guide Lines

Hi class,

For this assignment you are required to post your progress for the final project. Make sure to fill the Post Title with your name and last name followed by current quarter and year. For example;

Title: "Progress" by Joe Smith _Summer 2011

Scan or take a picture of your work for online critique. Make sure your work is clean and easy to read. Please make sure to critique your classmate's work. Remember a minimum of 5 critiques per student work is required. You may also critique your classmate's comments and feedback. Here is a guide that might be useful.

Critique Guide Lines:

1. What I like most/least about it?
2. Is the idea clear and easy to understand?
3. Do camera angles helped enhance story telling? Why?
4. What forms and shapes can we see? Are they helping tell the story?
5. Are thumbnails there following the rule of thirds? How so?
6. What types of composition do you see?
7. How would you describe them? Do they enhance storytelling ?
8. What time of day/night is it? How can we tell?
9. What is the overall visual effect or mood? Is it helping telling the story?
10. Is there a focal point for each panel?
11. How has the artist used light to enhance focal point?
12. How can it be better? Why?
13. Does the story have some sort of internal logic and consistency?
14. Are the characters fleshed-out, convincing, three- dimensional?
15. Does the storyboard immediately engage the viewer interest? Why?
16. Are perspectives and character's size relationship correct?
17. Do characters have personality? Is it expressed through action, dialogue, attitudes, or values?
18. Were the characters sufficiently contrasted?

Remember YOU HAVE A DEADLINE to meet. Any late submitions or late feedback will count against your final grade. The sooner you post your artwork the better. If you have any questions make sure to email me. Keep in mind I will repond in 24 HOURS (don't wait until the last day).
Due Date for this assignment is Monday, September 5, 2011 at MIDNIGHT.

Welcome Letter

Welcome Letter

Welcome to the Character and Background Design Blog.

Here we'll be able to make class discussions and critiques. Keep in mind that is your responsibility to upload and comment on your classmate's artwork. Each homework will have a timed deadline. A minimum of five feedback comments are required for each student per artwork. Not participating or leaving comments on time will count against attendance and participation grade.

Please comment if you read and understood class rules. Thank you!

Cheers!
Prof. Ruiz
caruiz@aii.edu