3.21.2012

032112_a return!

Good news everypeople, I've quashed my self-doubt for the time being and I'm back to making work. Being unproductive sucks a lot and I can't really afford that right now. Crap has been dealt with and I'm on a good streak now.
Okay so, to set a context for your critiques: These are pieces that I'm working on for my Pixar art internship portfolio. I started doing all these little thumbnails for character ideas based on the sort of stuff i've been doing more recently in painting and then when I tried taking it to paint it just didn't feel like me.


So I switched gears and started painting this astronaut stuff, thinking I could keep playing with shape, which I know has gotta be important to those guys at Pixar, but also play more with color, which I feel is my real strength, and possible work with doing some rough color keys.



Speaking of color keys: http://louromano.blogspot.com/2009/06/up-color-script.html These are a bunch of color keys done for UP. They're super simple and at times they have some really weird mark making which almost can come across as clumsy, but boy do they tell a story. And how the color transitions throughout the
whole thing is really elegant. 
I think I like the idea of continuing to explore color keys for my portfolio, maybe attempting to demonstrate some really quick, succinct storytelling in just a few panels.
Anyways, your guys' critiques were super awesome last time and I feel waaay lost with this work at the moment.

eth.

7 comments:

  1. those faces for the red nose guy are really nice! and yes, flaunt the colors! I dunno about the sketches on the expression sheet though. they dont feel as confident as some of your other stuff, but on the plus side, they are pretty easy to read. hope that helps! :D

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  2. I agree, the expressions of the little spaceman are at first really appealing, but when i look at them to long they make my eyes a little "fuzzy" I think that might be an issue of there being the same amount of resolution throughout the face? most animation character designers say that the sharpest part of a face or character is usually the eyes, because thats where you're eyes want to go anyways. so maybe tighten up the pupils? darken them? little glint of reflected light ? I dont really know, but I can say that my eyes aren't drawn to his, which is usually not a good thing.

    other than that, i think the color pallete and the actual design of the characters is great. This makes space look very non threatening and "soft" which is great for most pixar related stuff

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    1. That is very insightful and something I'd have never really thought about. It didn't occur to me that that's something they would look for. I could definitely sharpen those up! Thanks Fluke!

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  3. I think you are correct in assuming that shapes are important to Pixar. Clearly defining their characters with simple shapes has been a key element in their designs. Color is also extremely important, which I have said before and still believe you have a pretty awesome grasp of. Now I may be talking out of my ass here but it seems that above all of that, story and emotion are the most important elements to pixar films.Over and over again in interviews and articles story trumps all. I know you are really trying to push design and color which are obviously important but if your main goal is crafting a successful pixar portfolio story should drive everything. Your color keys and facial expressions should be dripping with mood/emotion. Now again I'm probably not the most knowledgable person on the topic but a pixar portfolio that let story take a back seat would seem to be extremely detrimental to the artists chances. All of this is probably know but it doesn't hurt to be reminded :)

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    1. I think you're absolutely spot on with that. Now I just have to find a way to tell tons of story in just a few portfolio pieces. :\ Thanks for that insight though. I'll be pushing it.

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  4. "All of this *you probably know but it doesn't hurt to be reminded :)"

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