Week Thirteen: Animated Cartoon Character Concept

I know everyone was very busy with testing for many days. But you still managed to get some really cool drawings completed. For our drawing challenge last week, everyone became concept artists. Your assignment was to take an everyday object and bring it to life as a character for an animated movie.



First, you did study sketches of real-life objects. Shown above are drawings by Shaylah (left) and Keeley. Then you designed a character from an object, giving it facial features and the ability to express emotions. The wonderfully whimsical results are shown below.

There won't be a challenge this week, so you'll be able to spend time finishing your Obama portrait. REMEMBER: Keep sketching lightly and comparing your drawing to the reference picture. Try to use your shading skills more than dark contour lines. All of you got off to an excellent start last week drawing the proportions of President Obama's face. Can't wait to see the finished portraits! --Rob

Tiana

You did an outstanding job of converting your sketch of a hammer into a character!! I really like how you combined the realistic surface texture of the gray metal with the colored textures. Excellent facial expression! The way you drew the eyeglasses on both sides of the hammer head helps to make your drawing look 3D. Check the perspective of the two claws of the hammer. Are they drawn in proper perspective to the head of the hammer?

Jamee

We've got the rulers of our animated movie!!! Excellent job of adding facial features. You did a great job of drawing the characters' expressions. And what a cool hair style! I really like the way you drew the hat and coat with the flame cuff.

Shaylah

This is the most emotional spoon I've ever seen! Excellent work, Shaylah! You did a fantastic job of drawing the contour shape of the spoon and the details of the handle. You brought the spoon to life with very expressive facial features and costumes. Great job of using patterns and textures for the hat and clothing.



You did a really awesome job of drawing the cartoon bird! It's exciting when a student draws from one of my books. You did an excellent job of drawing action lines that show lots of movement in the drawing. Your line work continues to improve with each drawing! :)

Gage

Whoa, Gage!! You used a lean, bold line style to transform a hand shovel into a cool character. You started with an excellent study of the form of the shovel, and then you added excellent facial expressions to bring it to life. I especially like visual impact of the sad face.

Elvis

Elvis, this pencil rocks!!! (Or maybe I should say this pencil DRAWS!) You did an excellent job of transforming the details of a pencil into a lead-headed character. Nice mixing of colors on your picture. Great job of showing the different emotions. It's cool how you colored the hands and arms to match the body.

Keeley

Excellent contour line study of the spatula!!! And what a wonderful direction you took with your character concept! You did a fantastic job of creating three different emotions. The character's eyes are VERY expressive. I really like the different positions of the hands and arms.

Leif

Count Spatula lives at Highlands School!!! Fantastic line work, Leif!! Your contour line study of the spatula was well drawn. I really like the texture details on the handle. You did an excellent job of drawing the cast shadow--nice control in keeping it light! The vampire cape and eyes are are way cool. The bend in the handle brings movement and life to your character.

Doug

AWESOME character, Doug!! You did an excellent job of drawing the form of the light and the texture of the molded plastic. I really like the extra eye that you added. Your original study sketch is VERY well drawn. Your ability to look at things, and then draw them just gets better and better. Concentrate on sketching light guidelines before finishing with darker contour lines.

Zach P

EXCELLENT!! Drawing!! Zach!! This one is a BIG step to drawing realistically. Keep practicing this kind of drawing, your eye for seeing details will get better and better. You did an excellent job of capturing the textures of the vise grips. If you have time, it would be great to see you convert this tool into a fun character. :)