COLOUR AND LIGHTING ATTEMPTS

   In the same lecture I had learned how to render art with the use of colour. Now that had been done, my tutor gave me multiple template images that I could choose from to practice the techniques I had learned. These template images were more complex than the sphere and thus, would challenge me more with the task of rendering complex lighting.

I had two attempts in this lecture to practice my use of colour and lighting. The first was just to practice the use of colour and the second was to practice the use of colour to represent light.

This first attempt had me using colour in a pre drawn image to understand how contrasting colours work. With shadows already pre drawn into the template image, the focal point was using the colour effectively. I already had experience in using colour, so I knew not to use solid colours entirely, therefore all the colours here are pastel, with the pre drawn shadows giving the impression of a lighting source.

    This second attempt was more of a challenge. I had to use colour alone in a blank template image to represent lighting. Here, both my skills in digital colouring and lighting where put to the test. However I wanted to re-attempt cell shading. Therefore in this image I used my preferred technique on the first Golbin and Cell Shading on the second goblin.

    Although not complete, the first Goblin came out pretty well (with a little assistance from my tutor). The shading below the nose, between the brows and most importantly the cheekbones are perfect. I replicated this effect on the arms and with success. 

    The second Golbin was more an attempt to refine my Cell Shading skills - an attempt that paid off. If you open the image in full you can see at this point, I have managed to significantly improve my technique. And by imagining one light source for the second Goblin, I managed to successfully render the entire Golbin.

          Overall, in these two attempts I managed to take what I had newly learned in the sphere rendering exercise, and adapt my knowledge to a more complex situation. I should now be able to successfully colour and render my art from now on - giving my art depth and character. Something all my work has been lacking as of yet.

NEXT POST: TASK 2 - BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOSHOP (HAND-IN)

LEARNING RENDERING TECHNIQUES

        Now that I had learned how to draw the body successfully when considering proportions and perspectives, it was now time to fill in between the lines, literally. The next step was learning how to use colour and lighting techniques to add some perspective to the drawing - to make them appear 3D in a 2D plain. The use of both of these in conjunction is the art of 'Rendering'.

I had one task that would demonstrate and develop rendering skills - to render two balls with two difference rendering techniques. This would develop my skills in colouring and lighting with the use colour. The result is below.

    The first technique is more realistic. Starting with a base colour, (usually the darkest shade) I would increase to a brighter shade. Whilst incrementally building up the colour, I would add layers whilst simultaneously turning down the opacity of the colour so that there would be a seamless transition between the multiple shades. The result is above - a smooth ball that ranges from dark to light to represent a lighted sphere. I believe this study was a success and is a personal preference of mine considering I am more of a Realism artist.

    The second study was an attempt at cell shading - a technique in gaming or animation that has a cartoon like appearance with its instantaneous jumps between shades. This is used often in games to produce a desired visual design whilst saving processor space. The study speaks for itself, but I have to admit it was a terrible attempt at cell shading.

    Now that I know how to colour and light an object digitally and found a personally preferred technique, I can apply it to my work to develop and therefore improve. 

NEXT POST: LIGHTING AND COLOUR ATTEMPTS

LEARNING LINE THEORY

          Today, as a sub-lesson, I learnt about Line theory and how the use of line art emphasises certain parts of the drawing - how commonly, it is used to highlight the sides of an object or person that has nothing behind it that isn't connected to the object in question. For example, the shoulder of a person would use such a technique as nothing could be behind it. That is, unless the person is wearing something that overlaps the shoulder - in this case, that piece of clothing would use this technique instead. 

My first and only attempt so far is below.

    With a little use from pastel colour also, I have highlighted the shape of the head and the face. The reason for using the same weight line for the face as well, was because I believe the shape of the face along with the facial features themselves say a lot about the character. This, with the additional coloured backdrop works effectively in contrast to the monochrome head - producing an effective study. One, that I shall adopt for most future work, when relevant.

NEXT POST: LEARNING RENDERING TECHNIQUES

LEARNING HEAD PROPORTIONS

        The first lecture of creative thinking introduced me to drawing the head. Through drawing techniques learned in class, the structure of the head, the position of the eyes, the nose, the mouth and ears became natural to draw through the use proportion. After practicing the head in its most basic form repeatedly, I could draw the head confidently - all I needed to add were facial features. Below is my attempt at drawing heads for the first time, ignore the main drawing on the first page, it was an ice breaker for the beginning of the semester to gain insight into our own ability up to that point. It is also important to note that the first page has been developed upon since thus, they are more detailed than they originally were. 

   Here I began with the basics - drawing a circle for the skull, then a trapezium that would eventually become the jaw. From this I was taught to draw a line that interconnects both shapes for the eye-line, as they land exactly half way down the head. Half way between the eye-line and the bottom of the head another line is drawn that marks the tip of the nose, and then finally a line is drawn in between the nose and the bottom of the head for the lips. From this you could draw the facial features at their basics and then place the ears in-between the nose and eye-line. I was told not to worry about having the ears protrude from the head, and it was an effective tip.

   As you can see I experimented with the shapes and sizes of the circle and trapezium that made up the head and came out with various characters distinguishable from one another.

   Next we were taught to draw heads from the side, which in terms proportion were identical to the front view of a head - the difference here was the original shapes that make up the head. Starting with an oval rather than a circle, and a line drawn down from the side of the oval (in this case the left-side), then upwards at an angle to create a triangle for the jaw line, the head from the side was almost complete. Finally through drawing a short diagonal line from the back of the head at the same angle as the jawline then continuing it on in the opposite direction to create the back of the head and the shoulder line. Again if you look at the the image above, I experimented and came up with more characters.

   As you can also see on the scan above, I was taught how to draw eyes successfully. This is something I still haven't mastered, however, regardless of my inability to perfect the eye I believe my attempts were admirable. My last quick attempt at drawing the head was to ensure both the front and side view of the head were identical in character, shape and proportion - this way when it came to character sheets I could develop accomplished pieces of concept art. This last attempt is below;

Finally we were given the task of drawing a full head utilizing all the techniques we had learnt in the workshop. The result is below.

After learning the simple techniques to get the proportions right for the front and side of the head . In all I learnt and practiced;

FRONT-VIEW OF HEAD

• Made up of circle and trapezium
• Eye-line falls exactly half way down the head
• Noise falls half way between eye-line and tip of the chin
• Mouth falls half way between the nose and the tip of the chin
• Ears lie between nose-line and eye-line
• Ears can protrude from head

SIDE-VIEW OF HEAD

• Made up of oval and triangle

NEXT POST: LEARNING BODY PROPORTIONS