Art Portfolio - Character proportion drawing

 During week 5 we have to create our own character design. I have little experience with establishing that kind of task because I created some of them in the past when I attended Middle School. To be honest drawing people is my favourite thing to do even if my works do not always look exactly the same as the person which I tried to draw but I am not disappointed or sad as the result of it, because I know I tried my best. I am sure that after some time I will develop my drawing skills to this level when every person will look the same on the paper like in reality. 

A little bit of history 

The perfect human proportion should include nine head in standing straight person, this is what Romans invented a long time ago and is called Canon which was used by renaissance painters. Canon was mathematically counted and used not only for creating a perfect human body also it was used for architecture and beauty. The best example of this is the statue of Octavian August from Prima Porta

Octavian August from Prima Porta

Later Leonardo da Vinci created Victuvrian Man which was based on Vitruvius body canon which was described in Book III - De Architectura. For me who tried to understand this, it is too complicated.

Ceasariano (1521) Victuvrian Man

da Vinci (1490) Victuvrian Man

I think Leonardo did not completely represent Victruvius's proportions of the body. The fact is that he includes his own whole knowledge about human anatomy which he develops during measuring and work on dead bodies of convicts in Milan but because of the topic of his work it may confuse viewers.  Till today Victorian Man work is taken as a base for creating an ideal human body which is used in creating superheroes in the cartoons such as for example Superman.

Superman from 1996

 

How useful are the human proportions in my subject area?

Establishing characters is the most important thing in creating animation.  Building and developing a character is not just connected to figure construction. Every character has its own personality, shape and characteristic features. During creating characters we have to focus on all of it. In animations, we can see a lot of various ways in creating characters, every studio has its own style in which they created the figures what let us know where this movie is from.  

Nowadays people do not focus too much on perfect proportions like used to. Creating something with not matching body part such as too big hands or foot give characters unique. In my opinion, a human proportion is important but not the most important we have to strike a balance between every part of character because if we overdo with something our figure may not look well as we want it will be just ridiculous. 

I can agree that sometimes people create that kind of characters but they have to be put in a really good arrange background and story even if it has to be funny. The balance between characters, scenery and story is something that is hard to do and the authors have to through the trouble for making it perfect but it is only my personal opinion. 

Inspiration for my character is my favourite characters from animated movies such as Edna Mode from The Incredibles - I do love her unique personality. She is a fashion designer for superhero outfits with one rule no capes. Her sarcastic and self-righteous character and worship for danger in my opinion make her one of the most special and fantastic figures in The Incredibles movie.

Edna Mode with Jack-Jack Parr

Edna Mode testing a new superhero suit 

Edna Mode looking at Mr Perr

The second one character which I was inspired by is Mulan from the movie on the same title. Her love for family and courage make her a China hero in times when a woman was seen only as a wife and mother of children. This movie is my favourite among Disney princesses because there a woman choose a patch which one she wants to go without the man who will always rescue her like in other Disney princesses movie. 

In my family, this is something that woman have to live being helplessly dependable on the man who always decides about everything but I do not want to end up in that kind of relationships that's why when I was little this movie showed me that I can decide by myself too and being mother and wife is not the only role which woman has to play and love is a patch full of trust, conversation and compromises. 

Mulan coming for a meeting with the Matchmaker

Mulan, Mushu (dragon), Khan (horse) and Cri-Kee (grasshopper)

Fa Mulan and General Li Shang

During creating a superhero character which I made using software Photoshop I wanted to show a self-confident person with a little bit of a malignant personality as Edna which I tried to show with a smile and body pose. From my favourite character from The Incredibles, I was inspired by her hair too. From Mulan, I took a fan which my hero will use as a weapon, clothes which they wear in the military camp (lose tunic with a scarf) were the inspiration for creating my character outfit. 

Firstly I draw an outline for my illustration using black colour and a basic Photoshop brush - Hard Round. Almost all my work was madde using this brush. 

Next, I started to fulfil drawing with colours all image is in black, white, red, beige, green and yellow in different intensity. The dress I made in red colour but the end of the dress have little black-white patterns which give a more unique character to created a superhero outfit. I started from above of the clothes and then all below.

Added some shadows on the skirt because without it, it looks flat.

Adding a belt with a huge gold buckle with a pattern that imitates a snail shell.

Colouring skin was the easiest part but finding the right one colour was the worst part of all drawing. But when I find the right one even shadowing it was easy.

These dark pink part are knees I wanted to somehow mark it because without them legs look like pair of baguetes. I made it using red colour from the skirt with a lower opacity of 23%. Shoes were the first one-part when I added shadows and highlights because of it I added them to every part of my drawing. 

In the middle of work was a fan which I colour with green. Thank's to it I learned that if I put a lighter pencil on the graphic tablet I do not have use lower opacity because it has already a softer and lighter colour.

Colouring face was pretty fun, all of my drawing was made by randomly put colour from these five black, white, red, yellow and green, what is the most surprising it suits really good. Hair making is something on which I have work on but not the only one things.

In the end, I added wings because I wanted to create a superhero with visible power. I made them linear because I did not want to overshadow the foreground. 

For changing the flattest part I added dots which imitates freckles on the skin and some kind of pattern on the dress. To create it I used my favourite brush from Photoshop which name is Spatter Brush.

Here is the final effect 

I added soft pink on the background and some shadow on the floor which gives more space illustration.

During drawing my superhero I started to more admire people who use graphic tablet everyday and create such masterpieces. I have still lots to learn but I think I am on a good way to someday draw as good as a proffesionalist. I am hopeful because everybody had to once start. 

References:

Anonim 1st century AD Octavian August from Prima Porta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_of_Prima_Porta#/media/File:Statue-Augustus.jpg [Accessed 17.02.2021]

Leonardo da Vinci (1490) Victuvrian Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvius#/media/File:Da_Vinci_Vitruve_Luc_Viatour.jpg [Accessed 17.02.2021]

Cesare Ceasariano (1521) Victuvrian Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvius#/media/File:De_Architectura030.jpg [Accessed 17.02.2021]

Vitruvius De Architectura https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_architectura   [Accessed 17.02.2021]

 

Common Sense Media (1996) Superman https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/superman-the-animated-series  [Accessed 17.02.2021]

Disney (2004) The Incredibles https://disneynews.us/character/edna-mode/  [Accessed 17.02.2021]

Disney (2004) The Incredibles https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/movies-tv/news/a39994/this-super-dark-the-incredibles-theory-will-change-the-way-you-see-the-movie-forever/ [Accessed 17.02.2021]

Disney (2004) The Incredibles https://favim.com/image/6478033/  [Accessed 17.02.2021]

Disney (1998) Mulan https://www.popsugar.co.uk/entertainment/photo-gallery/45095207/image/45094925/Mulan-1998 [Accessed 17.02.2021]

Disney (1998) Mulan http://silverscreencapture.com/movie-review-mulan-1998/ [Accessed 17.02.2021]