I've been talking more about process lately. I got home from dinner tonight and decided to doodle around in Flash. Normally I rough out a gestural pose of some sort—whatever comes to mind at the time. I then turn on what's called "onion-skinning," where you can see a ghost of the previous frame. The gesture appeared to be a grief-stricken figure, and ended up becoming a tormented beast.
I normally try to limit the amount of steps from a thumbnail or loose drawing to the final picture, as I find that life gets drained with each iteration. The final rendering is more line-conscious. Something about the weight and energy of the figure is lessened. The gesture is all about loose curves, blocking out the form, and implied movement. But it lacks definition. And don't get me wrong; I like the final drawing. But it is all about me obsessing over detail. Interestingly, the middle step is a mixture of both extremes.
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3 comments:
Fascinating set, Bob. I see the logic all the way through. The sense of weight on the back foot in drawing number one is lost, but it could not be otherwise, as the language of the third requires the standardization or equalization that we expect of a cartoon drawing. As I am moving away from digital tools as a mode of generalization (to my surprise) it is fascinating to see that gestural sense caught in a tablet drawing. Great job.
Oops. The word "generalization" should be "generation." Typing too fast.
Yeah, it was one of the moments where I got to the end, looked back at the beginning, and noticed an obvious progression.
I think most of us look at our original sketches and see something raw and energetic that doesn't always make it through to the end product.
Oh, and I couldn't be a a bigger advocate of the tablet/Flash combo. A no-brainer for digital animation (of course) but also a great brush-like drawing tool once you get the hang of it.
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