Aeon's Scrapbook

[Ben Wilson]

Ok so this is the first post of my new scrapbook. It is my entry to this months character competition.

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=201&pictureid=932

Any critiques are always welcome. Btw, how do I actually officially submit the image? Do I just add it to the competition forum along with my description?

[arif]

Ok great ..you made it..........

i have no critic at all as i like it....only has some suggestions that you could draw some more of your elephant..and submit one......

Regards,
Arif:laughing:

[Ben Wilson]

I could do some more poses couldn't I? Yes, yes, I shall. Watch this space :)

[johncbeggs]

great drawing Ben, and now we can all recognize you with your pic up!
I like the eyes of the elephant the most, deppressed and saggy :laughing:

[Ben Wilson]

thanks john! :D

[lavallelee]

ya great drawing, very cool aeon :D

[Ben Wilson]

Thank you lavallelee

[Ben Wilson]

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=201&pictureid=937

I've decided to focus my attention towards drawing characatures. I've always loved them. I think it's incredible that a drawing can be instantly recognisable. This is really my first real attempt at doing this so I probably didn't quite capture him properly. If you can tell who it is then I did my job right. The body helps a lot tho lol. :)

Not sure if you can really see this in the image here but I varied the line thickness as well to give it more interest, I find that this really helps a lot in giving it more of a punch.

[Ben Wilson]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__MDBKkmCDus/S6a-FJ7cq2I/AAAAAAAAABg/H-GKvW1lyww/s1600-h/waltDisney.jpg

This is a higher res version linked from my blog

[OwenWelsh]

Hi Aeon,

Welcome to the forum's. I really like your elephant illustration. I love the expression and the proportions of the elephant. Since you are doing a bit of storytelling in this drawing, which is very cool, you might want to move the bottle of whiskey outside of desk/elephant silhouette. I didn't see it until closer examination. I understand you're trying to hide it...Excited to see more.

Owen

[Ben Wilson]

Hi Owen,

Thanks for the kind comments. You're right, it does get lost within the elephant. But this is a tricky situation because where would the bottle go if it were to be outside? Probably the best place would be under the desk. But there isn't a lot of room for a bottle to go there, at least not one you could clearly see. I would like to keep it hidden as if he's having a sneaky drink where no one can see. It would be too much to place it on the desk, unless he really didn't care but I don't think he is quite at that level of apathy yet. Having it outside the silhouette would make it read better and it would free up the problem of the elephants stomach pushing against the desk. I'll do another variation on it and see how it looks.

[Ben Wilson]

Actually, I've had an idea. I'll try placing it behind the pile of paper. It will be his maginot line from the kids. I'll leave a gap so that the bottle silhouette can be seen clearly and this will also help his trunk become more free from his body too.

[jeremyhopkins]

Great work! I think your elephant will make a great character for the contest! We haven't put up the final submission thread yet but we should do that. The contest ends soon.

[Ben Wilson]

Thanks Jeremy, I have some changes to make to it. But it should be done in time, if not I'll submit this version

[Ben Wilson]

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=201&pictureid=955

This is my final submission for the competition. I don't have anymore time to spend on it so this will have to do. The silhouette is quite poor I'll admit but I think it reads ok as it is. I added subtle stuff like bounce light off the board onto the elephants back and some noise and difference clouds on top to give a more noisy dynamic feeling.

[lavallelee]

i like the lighting you added and shadow

good character :)

[Ben Wilson]

Thanks lavallelee :)

[zanekohler]

Yeah , Awesome job. Has really good feeling to it.

You do this all digital or just the coloring?

Can't wait to see more!

[Ben Wilson]

Thanks zanekohler, glad you like it. I drew it on paper and scanned it, then I did the colouring in Photoshop

[zanekohler]

Very cool. I like how you have a good balance between keeping the pencil lines natural and the coloring. I think it is very easy when coloring in photoshop to make the end result look too "photoshopy"....You did a great job making the color feel natural.