Here is the first draft of the main character in vector format. This is a 3/4 view only but with functioning eyes, eye lids and mouth.
I am not sure that I am happy with the eyebrows; this version uses a single line with a brush applied to the stroke. I am thinking about changing it to an enclosed shape.
I welcome any feedback. On Monday I will begin any modifications that need to happen so that I can proceed with creating a side view. My goal is to have the side view complete by next Friday. If I have a lot of extra time I will also work on a front view.
That looks awesome! The curvature on his left cheekbone makes him look a little bit chubbier than the original concept, but it works both ways. I agree with your thought that enclosed eyebrows would look good.
You may have already consciously made these decisions, but in case you haven't, now would be a good time to decide if and how you want to use line weights, like beefing up the spatial edges (similar to the concept drawing), and if you want all the lines to be black or if you want them to be a darker version of the fill colors.
It's exciting to see this project gathering steam again! :D
I included some variation in the line thickness for the beard, eyes, nose and wrinkles, but I don't remember if I did that for the actual head outline. It doesn't look like I did anyway, so I'll take a second stab at that.
Presently the outline colors are all black, but you are right it would look better as a darker version of the skin tone.
What are your thoughts on the colors? If you have any suggestions can you provide them as RGB values? Then I'll base the outline color on that. Or if you want to help with that as well it would be appreciated. I do want the whole thing to take place in the full light of day with a bright sun.
When I envision really bright sun, the kind where you'd have shots looking up at the sun and then have to wiping your brow, etc, I envision stark shadows. That is why I made the characters so dark and backlit with bright light in the earlier examples. It's like a simplified version of stark shadows, similar to Joseph King of Dreams. If you wanted to go more realistic, the shadows would be more accurately based on the location of the sun, and you'd probably have lots of little shadows on the various features of the character. Either way, you get into the extra trouble of animating shadows (probably with masking), which might be worth it to add to the mood, but also might not be worth it due to the extra work. What are everyone's thoughts? Shadows or no? And if so, simplified or realistic?
Also, I need to figure out colors for characters in the context of the background colors. So are you envisioning the whole environment looking kind of like this http://s1195.photobucket.com/user/AFMOD ... 0.png.html colorwise?
jahnocli wrote:I'd like to see a bit of texture in the beard, and the eyebrows look a bit odd, but other than that, I think it looks pretty good.
Thanks.
I had originally tried to texture the beard using your drawing as a texture, but couldn't figure out how to get it work once I had the mouth; so I went with the super-simplified version. I will see if I can add some lines in an effort to get rid of the flat look.
lwaxana wrote:When I envision really bright sun, the kind where you'd have shots looking up at the sun and then have to wiping your brow, etc, I envision stark shadows. That is why I made the characters so dark and backlit with bright light in the earlier examples. It's like a simplified version of stark shadows, similar to Joseph King of Dreams. If you wanted to go more realistic, the shadows would be more accurately based on the location of the sun, and you'd probably have lots of little shadows on the various features of the character. Either way, you get into the extra trouble of animating shadows (probably with masking), which might be worth it to add to the mood, but also might not be worth it due to the extra work. What are everyone's thoughts? Shadows or no? And if so, simplified or realistic?
Also, I need to figure out colors for characters in the context of the background colors. So are you envisioning the whole environment looking kind of like this http://s1195.photobucket.com/user/AFMOD ... 0.png.html colorwise?
I am in favor of stylized shadows rather than realistic; for two reasons. The first reason is one you mentioned; a lot of extra work. The second reason is because I want to be sure that any shadows do not distract from the expressions of the characters. Yes, I want it to look blazingly hot, but not at the expense of being able to read the character's faces very quickly. I suppose this can be addressed on a shot-by-shot basis. In live action movies, the lighting is often redone completely from one shot to the next. Since this contains no dialog, all communication is non-verbal and I want to make sure that poses and facial expressions read clearly.
Based on feedback, I made the following changes to the character:
- Sharper cheek bone (at the bend)
- Texture in beard: I basically just added some lines under his lip. I also added a simple shadow to see if that would contribute to the sense of depth.
- Redid eyebrows to make them enclosed
- Varied the line thickness of the head
I did the side view as an action with a transition from 3/4 to side. It doesn't really work all that well because I can't figure out how to hide the right eye and eyebrow. I also used a lot of points that just made it harder to transition from one view to the next. For the next character I will use much fewer points.
They eyes are in a group layer, which are in turn contained in another group layer for the character. What masking settings are required to make it work?
