Heather Wiggins Art and Animation

Monday, 9 February 2015

Cadi Face Design

So this is the first coloured image of my character. I've done a few sketches of her so far but I thought it was important before I carried on to get a good face design done as that is often the main focus of a character. I'm quite happy with the final design although i did go through a lot to get this one. I really like the way I've painted the face. I'm really inspired with the way Laika create the faces of their characters using 3D printing. It's a great innovative way to create really detailed characters with lots of personality. It's also great for me as I have always struggled to sculpt small fiddly designs (being the main reason I didn't go into stop motion) and now by creating the sculpts initially in the computer using Zbrush it means I can work on a much larger scale. I tried to add a lot of detail and texture to the face in Photoshop, using a range of smoothing and texture brushes to get the desired result. The main thing I'm not happy with is the hair. I definitely want to make it seem more realistic while keeping it stylised and I think thats something I need to work on.

Patience

On Friday I managed to delete my afternoons work by accidentally pressing don't save when closing photoshop. I was so annoyed with myself and it messed my weekends schedule up meaning today instead of getting on with something new I had to go back and redo work I had lost. While doing the work I realise how impatient and frustrated with myself I have become, even though everything was quicker the second time round.

Today I finally managed to take a step back and understand the advice I've been given off many people. I need to be more patient with myself. Everything I do recently I expect to be done with in a certain time frame yet also to a high standard. I've been putting so much pressure on myself that I'm even frustrated when I make mistakes such as deleting my work. Everyday I watch instant TV on Netflix, I become agitated over loading screens and sometimes I'm so busy I eat ready meals rather than cooking my own food. I expect everything to be instant and I think my BA drummed the urgent mentality into me. Now on my MA I need to take a step back and have fun creating work that is of a good standard rather than churning out art and never having the time to have fun and reflect objectively.

This weekend I've spent a lot of time developing my character Cadi and really trying to nail the design and style. This has been a huge challenge for me as I have never designed for stop motion before. I've learnt a lot from stepping back and being objective about my work particularly about the way the face is constructed and how to stylize that construction. Having more patience and allowing myself to make mistakes is definitely the way forward.

Monday, 2 February 2015

Cadi Character Design

I've been working on the design of my main character over the last few days. I want to try out different styles but this is the character so far. I like the age of her and I'm fairly happy with how the design is coming. I need to add more details and finalise the design now.

Sunday, 1 February 2015

Anatomy

Recently I decided to start taking my anatomy more seriously. I've been trying over the last six months to improve my knowledge of anatomy through books and a lot of drawing exercises I've set myself after feeling I had a lack of training in that area. A friend of mine reccomended that if I'm serious about learning anatomy I should take the 'Anatomy for Artists' online course with Scott Eaton. I'm on week three and I've learnt so much already, I would definitely recommend it. Each week Scott provides a number of video lessons to watch along with PDF's, x-rays, artists images and more all of which really give you an in depth look at anatomy from an artists perspective. I feel a lot more confident in drawing characters already, and its going to be a major help in my Zbrush sculpts. The course is a lot of hard work and definitely requires time and dedication, but hopefully by the end of the course I will be a much better artist!

http://www.scott-eaton.com/anatomy-for-artists-online-course