Project 3: Character Studies

Character studies by Jamie Noguchi from his sketch blog Angry Art Monkey

David Hockney's costume designs for Mozart's The Magic Flute (click for larger view)

Kiwi studies from Jennifer Harlow

Herodotus Studies by Miles

PROJECT 3: Character Exploration
1. Pick five of your silhouette studies and re-do them based on the feedback you got in critique. Post your before-and-after silhouettes to the blog with a brief write-up on the revisions. Did the work improve? How? Was it easier to see your work with more "gestalt" after you had some time away from it?

2. Create 5 characters and do a minimum of 10 studies of each character for a grand total of 50 drawings. You may use any medium or combination of media you wish. If you are doing characters with a recognizable gender, do a mix of males and females. Don't draw the character in the exact same pose each time; try a variety of views/angles/actions.

3. For each character you create, find at least one visual reference (minimum 10 total). This can be for any aspect of a character - pose, hair-style, dress, hat, wings, paws, eyebrows, weapons, vague inspiration, mood, color, visual approach pointers - anything. Post your visual references on the blog.

Preview of next week's focus. Advanced Character Studies!
Steve Hammond - SOU Alum and texture artist for Rhythm & Hues. Check out his flatbook.
Alex Munn - Lead background artist for Diablo II - general super star.
Daarken - Photoshop character design painting demo by  - Character artist for Warhammer

REFLECTIVE ESSAY:
Work habits. Keep track of your studio time. Write about the process of making the drawings. How did you deal with the challenge of making so much work? Was it difficult to draw the character in different poses? How did you solve this? Did the character evolve/change as you drew?


DUE DATE:
We'll take a look at all this goodness on Monday, January 27. PRINT 'EM, PEOPLE.

GRADING
I'll be using the following rubric to assess the project. 5 categories, maximum of 5 points per category. Click the image for a larger view or click here for the .docx file.