drawing the characters

GuineaPro3 · Post by **GuineaPro3** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 2:54 am

Ive been getting the hang of the animation using anime studio 6, like the bones, the tricks, etc. and Ive done some good work too, but I'm just horrible at drawing the characters. That also goes for the scenery, the items, everything im just horrible at when it comes to freehand. Does anyone have any tips? Or is this just something that you get better at with time?

J. Baker · Post by **J. Baker** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:47 am

I have a tablet but I usually use my mouse to draw things. And I don't use the freehand tool much. I always use the add points tool. It's best to just take your time. All points can be adjusted if needed. And it may help to load a picture of your self, maybe in certain poses and trace over that. Hope that helps.

arfa · Post by **arfa** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 2:36 pm

Try using clipart. There are masses of it around for free - characters and objects. It is commonly vector so needs to be formated to get it into AS.

Useful for:

free artwork - use it as it is or trace

simple line drawing examples to study style/technique

idea stimulation - I just browse images and... an idea pops into mind

Importing as vector (AI) generally produces totally way tooooo many points.

I am with you in the dodgy freehand club

Tracing is one way I get started. For perspectives I use google sketchup (free). Point sculpting and massage is my main approach - start with a shape of 3 points. Add one or two, push fiddle shift - render - push fiddle shift.

I have really taken ??'s signature to heart. Something like "don't be a good artist that tells stories - be a good story teller that includes pictures[/list][/list]

GuineaPro3 · Post by **GuineaPro3** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 4:36 pm

thanks for all the help, i really appreciate it

artfx · Post by **artfx** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:31 am

It's a good idea to practice with tracing. I would recommend tracing simple line drawings or cartoon characters. The reason is that the more you do this, the sooner you will get the hang of where lines should go and be able to do it freehand without the reference.

Drawing in Vector is not as hard as it may seem at first. In fact, there are some great advantages to doing so. Most apparent is the ability to adjust the points on a curve or the line weights even after you've drawn something. This means you can freely draw with the freehand tool, knowing it doesn't have to be perfect. You can fix it afterwards.

GuineaPro3 · Post by **GuineaPro3** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:20 pm