C. Siemens
07-05-2010, 03:45 AM
I'm sure we all have our own drawing habits and preferences and since I'm always interested in the persons behind the drawing, care to share yours?
Subjective observations I've made about myself:
There are some who enjoy looking at finished drawings and animation more than actually drawing them. Personally, I'm not one of those people. I enjoy the process of drawing just as much, if not more. I can spend two or three hours on a drawing, then let it sit for a day - and trash it, meaning I enjoyed doing it but not the ultimate outcome.
I also keep very few of the drawings I do. Some say that's not a good idea because being able to go back to past failures helps to improve in the 'now'. That's true for me to an extend. However, since I can't look confidently at drawings I made over a year ago I'll end up with more than enough "bad" examples as it is, even without keeping the very, very bad ones. (Also, I'd be short on storage space by now if I kept them all.) Overall, the scribbles, sketches and drawings I keep must have at least one redeeming quality in them. I'd say my good/bad ratio is one or two out of ten and even the "good" ones might get sorted out over time when I crop my collection.
I don't keep a sketchbook although I sketch a lot. I keep a collection of loose pieces of paper in a box in my desk. It's very rare for me to sketch on the fly. When I see something interesting when out and about I try to keep an image of it in my head which I later put down on paper. Drawing to me is the one place other than dreaming where conscious observation and subconscious influences meet most closely and where the boundaries between the two are most blurred.
Incidentally, I don't remember my nightly dreams often which I believe is because I get a lot of it out when drawing already.
I enjoy animation but I'm very fond of clean-up, too. It's an animation art in its own right and when done well will enhance ruff animation instead of "just" preserving the essence of the ruffs.
I have the most fun putting raw, sketchy energy into the first passes of animation but the thing I like second best is going over scribbly ruffs and picking out the few, crucial lines that actually define what's supposed to be going on on the screen. I firmly believe all animators should spend some time doing their own clean-ups and inbetweens (not just tie-downs) or do it for others for some time because there's no better training for keeping volumes and constructions together and continuous.
Subjective observations I've made about myself:
There are some who enjoy looking at finished drawings and animation more than actually drawing them. Personally, I'm not one of those people. I enjoy the process of drawing just as much, if not more. I can spend two or three hours on a drawing, then let it sit for a day - and trash it, meaning I enjoyed doing it but not the ultimate outcome.
I also keep very few of the drawings I do. Some say that's not a good idea because being able to go back to past failures helps to improve in the 'now'. That's true for me to an extend. However, since I can't look confidently at drawings I made over a year ago I'll end up with more than enough "bad" examples as it is, even without keeping the very, very bad ones. (Also, I'd be short on storage space by now if I kept them all.) Overall, the scribbles, sketches and drawings I keep must have at least one redeeming quality in them. I'd say my good/bad ratio is one or two out of ten and even the "good" ones might get sorted out over time when I crop my collection.
I don't keep a sketchbook although I sketch a lot. I keep a collection of loose pieces of paper in a box in my desk. It's very rare for me to sketch on the fly. When I see something interesting when out and about I try to keep an image of it in my head which I later put down on paper. Drawing to me is the one place other than dreaming where conscious observation and subconscious influences meet most closely and where the boundaries between the two are most blurred.
Incidentally, I don't remember my nightly dreams often which I believe is because I get a lot of it out when drawing already.
I enjoy animation but I'm very fond of clean-up, too. It's an animation art in its own right and when done well will enhance ruff animation instead of "just" preserving the essence of the ruffs.
I have the most fun putting raw, sketchy energy into the first passes of animation but the thing I like second best is going over scribbly ruffs and picking out the few, crucial lines that actually define what's supposed to be going on on the screen. I firmly believe all animators should spend some time doing their own clean-ups and inbetweens (not just tie-downs) or do it for others for some time because there's no better training for keeping volumes and constructions together and continuous.