HEY! THESE ARE GREAT!
I look forward very much to seeing them in action!
Kind of reminded me of this series Human posted recently in the Animation thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN6AVCf6 ... r_embedded#
Your zombie character and background have a really nice appeal to them. Good luck!
Character Chart
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Acochran_89
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I like the characters, although I find some details a bit strange to my taste.
1. The zombie's eyelids have too much of a line around. Maybe you should try a version with just one horizontal line where the lashes are, and switch off the line everywhere else. (Maybe this needs a seperate "brow line" too.) The "lid at bottom" position looks definitely weird, like some forgotten sunglasses. In animation every swithc between the two will give a weird irritating effect. Again, try something with two (!) parallel lines and nothing else. Maybe it's good to remember that the classical zombie looks much like a racoon: black emo eyeliner around each eye.
2. The other character is OK, although I'm not sure how that odd nose line will work in animation. Maybe make the nose and the mouth two separate lines? This way the nose will be more of an ovbject itself, like the zombie's nose. (Ever noticed that in most animated series all characters share the same nose? This ist the official species indicator. Female characters are clearly a different species. At least in these series.)
3. The background could be improved a bit. It's monochromatic right now, with not much contrast. Since both your characters have a dark body, they will appear as bright floating heads only. It's a good idea to always do background layouts with your characters included, this way you'll keep the acting area clean of distractions, and you get your perspective and sizes right.
Overall your characters have instant appeal, which is a rare quality. They make me want to see the animation. Keep on the good work!
1. The zombie's eyelids have too much of a line around. Maybe you should try a version with just one horizontal line where the lashes are, and switch off the line everywhere else. (Maybe this needs a seperate "brow line" too.) The "lid at bottom" position looks definitely weird, like some forgotten sunglasses. In animation every swithc between the two will give a weird irritating effect. Again, try something with two (!) parallel lines and nothing else. Maybe it's good to remember that the classical zombie looks much like a racoon: black emo eyeliner around each eye.
2. The other character is OK, although I'm not sure how that odd nose line will work in animation. Maybe make the nose and the mouth two separate lines? This way the nose will be more of an ovbject itself, like the zombie's nose. (Ever noticed that in most animated series all characters share the same nose? This ist the official species indicator. Female characters are clearly a different species. At least in these series.)
3. The background could be improved a bit. It's monochromatic right now, with not much contrast. Since both your characters have a dark body, they will appear as bright floating heads only. It's a good idea to always do background layouts with your characters included, this way you'll keep the acting area clean of distractions, and you get your perspective and sizes right.
Overall your characters have instant appeal, which is a rare quality. They make me want to see the animation. Keep on the good work!
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Acochran_89
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Acochran_89
- Posts: 203
- Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:38 pm
- Location: Lawrence, KS
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wellllll...lol I believe he DOES have hairs on his head 
Slow: When you were referring to the non-zombie character (sammy). With his nose, does it change anything that there's not any talking in the cartoon? There is a wide range of facial expressions, and if you notice, I take away the connecting line for some of the expressions. Or do you suggest that I take it away for all of them? The reason I added it is that (at least to me) it looks like it adds the illusion of having an "edgy" upper lip which i found to be part of the characters appeal, however, if it hurts the design then i will gladly remove it.
And as for the zombie. I'm having difficulty seeing what you mean for the "Upper lid" positions. As it is right now, the lids kind of have a droopy look, which is what I was going for, and just having the single line would take away from that.
Here is what I took out of your suggestions...maybe I took them wrong??
Let me know if you could. I only changed the two on the bottom left.
Slow: When you were referring to the non-zombie character (sammy). With his nose, does it change anything that there's not any talking in the cartoon? There is a wide range of facial expressions, and if you notice, I take away the connecting line for some of the expressions. Or do you suggest that I take it away for all of them? The reason I added it is that (at least to me) it looks like it adds the illusion of having an "edgy" upper lip which i found to be part of the characters appeal, however, if it hurts the design then i will gladly remove it.
And as for the zombie. I'm having difficulty seeing what you mean for the "Upper lid" positions. As it is right now, the lids kind of have a droopy look, which is what I was going for, and just having the single line would take away from that.
Here is what I took out of your suggestions...maybe I took them wrong??
Let me know if you could. I only changed the two on the bottom left.
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Acochran_89
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OK....after, much hard work...and countless redesigns...I've come up with some backgrounds on my own because like I said, the previous ones weren't working well with the characters, and my little brother is distracted with the vast world of "Fall Out 3". So this one of my attempts at designing background art on my own...which i normally fail miserably at.
It is much different than the other one..
but please let me know what you guys think
I placed the zombie in as reference, so you can get an idea of what it looks like with the characters in it.
It is much different than the other one..
but please let me know what you guys think
I placed the zombie in as reference, so you can get an idea of what it looks like with the characters in it.
It's OK. It is simple, which is a plus since you can concentrate on the characters. It is readable, not leaving the audience in doubt where all that happens. It is the same style as the characters.
Now for some possible improvements... I took the freedom to draw a bit over your BG, hope you don't mind.
Big areas in just one colour look flat and boring to me. I added a second colour to all those areas, indicating that there's some clouds which spread light on the brim of the hills. This defines the landscape and adds drama to the scene. The lighter colour is derived from your original colour like this: crank up brightness and reduce saturation a bit. Don't forget to add a drop shadow to your characters.
I like your trees' foliage. It's a simple but very effective approach. I took it a bit further: I made the dots a texture and cut them out via a mask to make the tree top shapes. (I did that in Photoshop, but it's the same in AS.) I didn't even make each tree a separate shape, as in nature trees blend their tops together as well.
Note that the trees have sharp edges now, especially at the bottom: think of roots diving into the ground.
You see that I reduced the number of trees and enlarged the stars. That's because small details like that will get lost on the TV screen, so why bother to create it in the first place? Note that there's no star in the clouds - of course not.
You should put a bit more variety into your grass (the three strokes bit). Make one stroke a different direction, have groups of two and four and five as well, and don't distribute them too evenly. Again think of reducing detail where it isn't visible: you only need grass on the front level, not on the far hills.
I didn't use any gradients here because they would make the scene mushy and plastic-like. Instead all colours have sharply defined edges, and I tried to construct them from nearly straight lines. This style is easy to do entirely in AS, which I recommend you to do.
Now have a look at your character again. The head reads nicely, but the body has the same darkness as the grass. If you lift the character so the body is over the light grass area any movement will be much better to read later. Think of this when you plan your scenes, it is a change in perspective as it lowers the horizon. (Maybe I do some sketches for this as well - you can bet that I try to avoid more urgent serious work today...)
Now for some possible improvements... I took the freedom to draw a bit over your BG, hope you don't mind.
Big areas in just one colour look flat and boring to me. I added a second colour to all those areas, indicating that there's some clouds which spread light on the brim of the hills. This defines the landscape and adds drama to the scene. The lighter colour is derived from your original colour like this: crank up brightness and reduce saturation a bit. Don't forget to add a drop shadow to your characters.
I like your trees' foliage. It's a simple but very effective approach. I took it a bit further: I made the dots a texture and cut them out via a mask to make the tree top shapes. (I did that in Photoshop, but it's the same in AS.) I didn't even make each tree a separate shape, as in nature trees blend their tops together as well.
Note that the trees have sharp edges now, especially at the bottom: think of roots diving into the ground.
You see that I reduced the number of trees and enlarged the stars. That's because small details like that will get lost on the TV screen, so why bother to create it in the first place? Note that there's no star in the clouds - of course not.
You should put a bit more variety into your grass (the three strokes bit). Make one stroke a different direction, have groups of two and four and five as well, and don't distribute them too evenly. Again think of reducing detail where it isn't visible: you only need grass on the front level, not on the far hills.
I didn't use any gradients here because they would make the scene mushy and plastic-like. Instead all colours have sharply defined edges, and I tried to construct them from nearly straight lines. This style is easy to do entirely in AS, which I recommend you to do.
Now have a look at your character again. The head reads nicely, but the body has the same darkness as the grass. If you lift the character so the body is over the light grass area any movement will be much better to read later. Think of this when you plan your scenes, it is a change in perspective as it lowers the horizon. (Maybe I do some sketches for this as well - you can bet that I try to avoid more urgent serious work today...)
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Víctor Paredes
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justiceleague
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Acochran_89
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wow guys, those are great! I really appreciate the help. Coloring of backgrounds, shading, ect, aren't really my strong point at all. I was never really an artist. And really am not that great at animating but I enjoy it a lot and love that you guys are willing to help.
Slow: Your tips are great and I will work on them a lot!
Mikdog: WOW! The coloring on that is great.
I really like the idea of the three shaded hills. It really added a lot! And the cloud streaks. Thanks a million guys!
My band is busy this weekend with gigs and such, so i won't have much time to work on this. But, it really is just something I'm doing for fun. No dreams of network play, millions of viewers. Purely fun lol, and if i entertain people while I'm at it then why not!?
Slow: Your tips are great and I will work on them a lot!
Mikdog: WOW! The coloring on that is great.
I really like the idea of the three shaded hills. It really added a lot! And the cloud streaks. Thanks a million guys!
My band is busy this weekend with gigs and such, so i won't have much time to work on this. But, it really is just something I'm doing for fun. No dreams of network play, millions of viewers. Purely fun lol, and if i entertain people while I'm at it then why not!?
Dude! You're partly colour-blind, you play in a band, you use Anime Studio and you have a brother? Are you my twin from a parallel universe? Ha ha. Good luck with this, hopefully you can put out at least an episode. The look is nice 'n round and simple and full. Even your brother's background has a nice charm to it.