Hi!
Ive enjoyed looking at everyones work and been in awe with so much talent. I finally thought that I would give it a go. Im really keen to create illustrations hopefully on photoshop.
The problem Im having is getting depth through shading. Im not sure what im suppose to do. Ive looked for tutorials online but can't find anything. Im not sure how to smoothly gradiate (not sure thats the word) the different tones.... In the attached image, the face.
Any help with this would be amazing. Many thanks.
My advice:
You are getting ahead of yourself here.
Work on structure first.
Focus on learning to draw the object so its volumes and shapes are clear.
Shading is just surface gloss, its just dazzle. If the underlying drawing is working, then shading it is far easier because an understanding of the basic structure provides the clues and cues on how to shade it.
What you are doing here is considered a classic beginners mistake--you are focusing on a detail before making sure the foundation drawing is solid. It never brings good results.
By working on the proportions, placement and shapes of the object first you'll gain an understanding of how its built.
"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)
Thank you Ken...
Apologies for the simple follow up question, but how do i figure out the structure of a head. Is this something I should just know?
How can you "just know" something if you've not been exposed to it before?
I suggest getting a "how-to-draw" book that breaks down the structure and proportions of the head and body into a simpler form--such as basic shapes like spheres, cones and cubes. Practise those a bit to get any idea of how those forms work on the head and then see if you can transition to some life drawing ( take classes).
Life drawing classes can help train your eyes and mind on how to "see", and therefore isolate (and then depict) the oft-hidden forms in the face and body.
You can do this with a good "how-to" book all on your own, but some instruction and feedback can help speed up the process.
"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)
I've been trying to get a good idea of shape and shading (I don't understand shading at all)
This is a new attempt at Illustrating on photoshop. I really want a wacom to get better lines instead of my mouse with dirt that stops the mouse moving!
You have to really save for a Wacom table, unless you go to the Bamboo series.
Just watching tv and sketching ideas of whats on....
Is there anything you can do with character drawings... I have no idea how to animate any of these characters but wonder if theres anything I can do?
Drawing the character or whatever idea you wont to animation, is very high on the list of to do's.
For you and everyone, start by animating a ball bounce. There are some other steps you should go through but you could jump to animating your character.
Make up your mind about the actions you wont the character to do, like walk.
You do some key frames then you do inbetweens and pretty much there.
By starting with the ball bounce you will learn about key frames, inbetween, arcs, timing, so on and on.
Keep your drawings line drawings for now.
There are online PDFs that can give you more detail instructions so you should look into reading them.
Good luck and Please show us your work, even the work in progress.
Thanks Wontobe... Good to see theres still some sound advice still around these forums. It use to be a lot busier around these parts with some big names hanging around.
Heres my take on the bouncing ball... I tried getting the stretch and squash thingy going on...
You can use the ball bounce in a lot of different way, like hitting multiple surfaces. May be change the weight or what the ball is made of, perhaps a rock or a water filled balloon.
Play around with the frames like ease-in, ease-out. Change the frame count on the path, just to see what it looks like. Do multiple balls with different characteristic and have them interact.
The ball bounce is a tool that will carry over to your next project.
Take a look at this web site.
http://www.animationphysics.com/
Thats a great little site, Thanks Wontobe. I will play around with the different aspects of the ball.
I need to get myself a lightbox or create something similar to get tracing. I only have a mouse to draw straight on here and my hand isn't that controlled.
Hi Stribs
It's like a water balloon, with that much squash and stretch :) I would speed up the falling, and maybe let the ball "sploop" (yes that's a technical term!) past the uppermost point a bit, to get some overlapping action going. You wouldn't do that with a ball that was less flexible though.
Definitely play around with different weights/textures. Basketball, golf ball, bowling ball, you name it.
liebestrauma - http://rach3.animationblogspot.com
Haha, I'll Sploop that ball all over the page! Thanks Rach.
I hadn't really researched what I need to be doing, so hopefully my next attempts will have a better look to it.