Notes

Drawing workshop: advanced figures

-1. Facial Expressions
- Materials beforehand: Have screenshots of cartoon expressions open for reference (use Aaron Blaise)
- Emphasize simplicity and how the tiniest changes to expressions can change emotion
- DONT BE AFRAID TO EXAGGERATE
- say that in your opinion this is the hardest and most important to master in comics
- First teach how to draw heads, then teach them about the expressions
- Eye crinkles, eyebrow creases, mouth placement, dilated or shrunken pupils, etc.
- If time, explain how expressions are drawn best in cartoon movies and such and ask if there are any disney movies they would like to copy expressions from
- say that if you dont watch cartoons anymore then youre uncultured /j
-2. Drawing bodies and dynamic poses
- im still working on this part myself so dont kill me-
- Draw beforehand: A 16 box w/ a doll figure inside, ready for body curve drawing
- draw beforehand: two body models for comparing unrealistic bodies and realistic muscle bodies (see 2nd to last step)
- draw the 16 box diagram w/ them, then use the pre-drawn version to draw body curves to compare w/ the diagram
- first draw stick model, then add boxes and ball joints
- Now explain that although this helps draw accurate figures, its not a very realistic way to be able to continuously draw figures repetetively in comics and such. However, its a good reference to have while trying to create expressive poses.
- Show the various poses from the video, basically blobs and tentacle arms in dynamic poses. Draw out the human figures from them and explain how the parts correspond with the 16 box diagram.
- DONT OVERCOMPLICATE OR OVERTHINK IT (as a perfectionist i have a lot of trouble with this)
- explain the option of the stick figure method.
- DONT BE AFRAID TO EXAGGERATE POSES
- use the dynamic reference from the video in the second part, and explain how drawing individual joints and rectangles makes the pose stiff and confusing.
- struggles of drawing the hand
- practice drawing muscles, even if it looks weird
- explain that something you see people doing is making everything all fluid and curvy, with no sharp edges or straight lines. expalin how muscle drawing is supposed to be the opposite of that
- Find references of different figures to draw and practicE
-3. Clothes
- draw beforehand: two body models to compare how people usually draw clothes and how they should actually draw clothes
- draw beforehand: more body models to draw different types of clothes and the ways they fold (reference each point to see)
- human body is round, so cloth lines should also be ROUND instead of STRAIGHT.
- Explain how folds occur around: neckline, shoulders/armpits, elbows, wrists, waist, chest, knees, hips, etc.
- explain how baggy clothes (LIKE HOODIES) will have way more folds than normal clothes
- draw folds with TRIANGLES.
- Explain how to draw sleeves and pants with circular ends in order to draw accurate clothes
- Explain the dynamics of skirts in the same way in case anyone wants to draw those
- Types of clothes to draw: t-shirt, dressy fancy shirt, hoodie, cargo shorts, leggings, sweatpants, jeans, skirts, maybe a onesie...?
- 4. Hair
- This might be a more risky topic, since there are different hair types regarding ethnicity and im not skilled enough to be able to draw all of them yet.
- I dont want them to think only one hair type is acceptable in drawing so i might rush over this one
- just compare how hair that lies flat is worse than bouncy hair full of life
- explain point of origin
- then draw a few examples and move on
- include pony tails, braids, and curly hair
-5. The homework hehe (ONLY DO THIS IF YOU HAVE TIME LEFTOVER)
- find any reference in regards to a famous movie, show, cartoon, or whatever, and copy a dynamic pose using the method I gave. Challenge yourself and make the expression more emotional, change the clothes and hair, and then if time, present them, if not, its homework.