Post by toonMom on Feb 25, 2005 9:28:38 GMT -5
This came up in another thread and I thought we could start a discussion here.
Don said:
Don said:
toonmom- i find it hard to put into words my approach on the 3-d look thing, but i'll give it a shot.
first, i often try to picture someone with their head tilted at least slightly one way or another. when working from photos, you don't always have that luxury, but where i can, i try to draw someone on a different angle than just straight 3/4. as you can see in this ice-t example, i've drawn him with his head tilted slightly up, looking down at us. the angle i use is often determined by the attitude i hope to portray. rappers almost always have that angry-at-you attitude, so having him looking down at us seemed to work.
okay, now i start drawing. however, rather than just starting to hash out details right off the bat, i very lightly sketch out the basic head shape, with a centre line running down where i want the centre of his face to be (in this case, i wanted him to be turned 3/4, so that centre line was sketched halfway between the middle of the shape and the edge), and an eyeline- a line the subject's eyes will be drawn on. in portaiture, that eye line would be in the middle of the head, of course, but since i wanted to show a big forehead on ice-t, i of course put that line low in the face shape i had sketched. it is very important that these lines be lightly sketched, not only because you don't want them seen in the final drawing, but also because you want to give yourself the freedom later into the drawing to change these if necessary.
now, this eye line is where the three-dimensional look really begins. since i wanted him with his head tilted slighly upward, i didn't draw that line straight across. you need to think of that first shape you sketched not as a flat shape, but as one with depth to it. it's the difference between, for example, drawing a circle and drawing a sphere. looked at straight-on, a ball with a line across it will look like a circle dissected by a straight line. if you tilt that ball slightly up, however, that line becomes a curve. that is how you have to see this eye line. then, start fitting the features onto the face around those guide lines, remembering that features you want centred on the face should be centred on your centre line and the eyes should stay on that eye line. since the eye line is curved, one eye will usually be drawn a little lower than the other.
you also need to remember that as features turn away from you, they will seem to change shape. eyes especially. also, remember that because the face is not flat, some features will obscure, or partially block the view of, others. see how ice-t's right eye is just partially hidden behind his nose. and because his lips stick out, they hide the right corner of his mouth. sometimes this effect can be helped along by taking the concept of starting with lightly sketched shapes further by breaking down individual features into their basic shapes. for example, i could have (actually, i might have, i don't remember) started the mouth area with a lightly sketched semi-sphere stuck on the the face shape, to help me visualize how far out the lips had to be drawn from the face. it's like sculpting, but in 2 dimensions. it's a difficult concept to put into use, and will take a lot of practice. i'm still working on it.
i don't know how coherent any of this is, but if it helps anyone in any small way, i'll feel good about that.
first, i often try to picture someone with their head tilted at least slightly one way or another. when working from photos, you don't always have that luxury, but where i can, i try to draw someone on a different angle than just straight 3/4. as you can see in this ice-t example, i've drawn him with his head tilted slightly up, looking down at us. the angle i use is often determined by the attitude i hope to portray. rappers almost always have that angry-at-you attitude, so having him looking down at us seemed to work.
okay, now i start drawing. however, rather than just starting to hash out details right off the bat, i very lightly sketch out the basic head shape, with a centre line running down where i want the centre of his face to be (in this case, i wanted him to be turned 3/4, so that centre line was sketched halfway between the middle of the shape and the edge), and an eyeline- a line the subject's eyes will be drawn on. in portaiture, that eye line would be in the middle of the head, of course, but since i wanted to show a big forehead on ice-t, i of course put that line low in the face shape i had sketched. it is very important that these lines be lightly sketched, not only because you don't want them seen in the final drawing, but also because you want to give yourself the freedom later into the drawing to change these if necessary.
now, this eye line is where the three-dimensional look really begins. since i wanted him with his head tilted slighly upward, i didn't draw that line straight across. you need to think of that first shape you sketched not as a flat shape, but as one with depth to it. it's the difference between, for example, drawing a circle and drawing a sphere. looked at straight-on, a ball with a line across it will look like a circle dissected by a straight line. if you tilt that ball slightly up, however, that line becomes a curve. that is how you have to see this eye line. then, start fitting the features onto the face around those guide lines, remembering that features you want centred on the face should be centred on your centre line and the eyes should stay on that eye line. since the eye line is curved, one eye will usually be drawn a little lower than the other.
you also need to remember that as features turn away from you, they will seem to change shape. eyes especially. also, remember that because the face is not flat, some features will obscure, or partially block the view of, others. see how ice-t's right eye is just partially hidden behind his nose. and because his lips stick out, they hide the right corner of his mouth. sometimes this effect can be helped along by taking the concept of starting with lightly sketched shapes further by breaking down individual features into their basic shapes. for example, i could have (actually, i might have, i don't remember) started the mouth area with a lightly sketched semi-sphere stuck on the the face shape, to help me visualize how far out the lips had to be drawn from the face. it's like sculpting, but in 2 dimensions. it's a difficult concept to put into use, and will take a lot of practice. i'm still working on it.
i don't know how coherent any of this is, but if it helps anyone in any small way, i'll feel good about that.
