Week Twelve: SLV Sketchers Get Real

Highlands Highlight: (from week eleven, shown above) Tiana demostrates an excellent overhand pencil grip and smooth arm/wrist movement as she sketches guidelines for her Fernand Leger's drawing. Her bold lines emulate Leger's modern art style. Here's her finished drawing: Click

We had a new sketcher drop into last Friday's session and he got off to a great start. (Check out his dragon, shown below!) Welcome, Jamee! Hilda and I (and fellow students) will help you catch up on the basic skills.

Your sketches from last week are shown below. For the next several weeks we'll be exploring ways to draw realistically. I'll also help each of you develop your own interests and styles such as abstract drawing, cartoons, drawing from nature, anime/manga, etc. This is your opportunity to use your drawing skills in exciting, challenging ways!













This Week's Challenge: Pixar Studios (Monsters Inc., Cars, Wall-E) has just hired you as a concept artist to create a character for a new big-budget animated movie. Your job is to design a character from the realistic object you sketched last week. Make your object come to life by sketching facial features, arms, legs, costume (if you like). A hammer can become a hero. A wrench can become a monster. Get creative! Have fun! Your character will be in the movie with other students' characters. So, talk about how the characters would interact with each other in a scene. Make quick sketches of your character expressing three emotions: happy, sad, angry. If you'd like to add color, go for it! (But only AFTER you've done sketches of your character's emotions.) If you have time, select another object from the classroom and create another character. Note: Don't draw on last week's object sketches. Start new drawings of your object when creating your character.



To help you with ideas and sketching techniques, here are some examples of animated character sketches:

character model sheet

storyboard sketches

old Disney sketches

Wall-E sketches

Draw out your imaginations, SLV Sketchers!

And for those sketchers that have extra time and are feeling particularly brave, you can get a jump start on our next challenge. Drawing hands (Elvis's favorite challenge)! Here's the reference picture of Leonardo's drawing: Click

Can't wait to see your animated movie characters! --Rob

Elvis

Beautiful drawings Elvis!!! Your contour lines show the natural-looking edges and form of the lilies. The curved lines you drew for the edges of the leaves are VERY life-like. I especially like the contour lines and veins that form the leaves. The composition shown below is fantastic! The contour lines and tones of the flowers in the foreground are very well drawn. The fence and mountains in the background give your drawing lots of depth. :) Keep drawing realistically!

Tiana

This picture is fantastic, Tiana! It's a great example of how to draw the realistic form of an object. You've done an excellent job of drawing the curves at the top and bottom of the wafer tin. The curved lines of the lid match the curve at the bottom, making the tin look 3D! I really like how you included details of the package design and logo. The gray tones work nicely to balance the composition. Take a moment to check the 3 lines of words below the Ferro logo. The lines of words should be on a curve that matches the curved line at the bottom of the tin. Do they match?

Gage

Excellent composition, Gage!! What sets this drawing off is the natural curve of the flower stems and the contours of the leaves--VERY good line work! I like how the horizon line is defused behind the water, and the distortion of the stems give the illusion of water. The subtle background shading gives lots of depth to the drawing. Very nice details in the flowers and use of color. The cast shadow is a nice realistic touch. You changed your usual drawing style for this one. :)

Shaylah

Now this is a realistic-looking stapler!! Wonderful observational skills, Shaylah. You took the time to measure accurate proportions and perspective. The perspective angles of the base of the stapler are correct. :) What's really cool is how you drew the curved bottom edge of the handle and shading underneath the handle, making your drawing look 3D. Overall, you did a great job of shading. The highlight, where the top and side of handle meet, is a nice touch.

Keeley

Grab the pasta, turn on the stove, this pan is ready for cooking! You did an excellent job of drawing the curved metallic surface, inside and outside of the pan. The details of the handle are very well drawn. The cast shadow of the handle does a wonderful job of showing depth in your picture. The highlight on the handle is a nice realistic touch. Compare the curve of the closest top edge of the pan to the bottomedge curve. Are they the same?

Jamee

Whoa, Jamee! Your Picasso still life is awesome! Since this is a copy of your still life, we're unable to see your superb use of color and realistic shading. Overall, the proportions of the pitcher, apples, and plate are very well drawn. Your contour lines and careful shading make this composition look 3D!

Lots of cool details in this drawing!! You've done an excellent job of combining patterns and textures to create a highly stylized composition. I like the balanced combination of curved and angled lines of the dragon. You've created depth with an interesting foreground and background. Might be interesting to develop the dragon character further by sketching different positions and actions.