#ive also been meaning to try to do simplified character designs to work with shapes even more... just havent had the time

[pontsalin]

hiii if your comfortable, could you possibly walk us through what designing a character is like? like the steps you go through? i really admire your cahracter designs and since its something i struggle with, it'd be nice to know your process :]

Oh boy, my process is a bit of a mess, but I'm going to try my best to say what goes through my brain.

I redesigned Lizzie like 5 times in the past few weeks because I couldn't find a design that was appealing, so I think she's a good one to talk about.

Since we already have a base (read: personality), I usually start with a pose that fits their personality, then figure out clothes. I settle on a body type before hand (that's something purely from headcanons, making an original character is more chaotic to do)

The first one that I did has a very awkward pose, the silhouette isn't clear and not really telling of anything on her.

Silhouettes are very important (and why character designers start by doing that first instead of... jumping in like I did)

You should be able to get who it is, and what their personality is just from the silhouettes, plus have it clear enough that you get the pose (empty spaces are really important! it helps the understanding of the picture and pose)

Going back to Lizzie, I restarted all over again (2nd design in that first drawing), got rid of the buns, kept the same dress. Pose is nice, silhouette passes, but I thought the simple dress just?? Did not fit a giant fish goddess... So I took the pose and restarted the clothes all over again (I loved the dress, but its just ehhh on her)

So for clothes inspiration, Pinterest is your best friend honestly. I have a complicated relationship with Pinterest, but for finding inspo it is literally the best thing. (I've also been using ArtStation a bit more lately though). Make pinterest boards for characters, or at least different boards for general vibes . You can also make moodboards for every design you're doing. (I often do these, or at least slap my reference pictures onto the canvas, but I won't show them as I sometimes use art and don't want to repost stuff)

I did a mix of like several clothes / character designs that I found cool, then did put them all next to each other to see which one I liked more.

Now we can jump on the second important thing: shapes!

If you've watched like any youtube tutorial on chara design they will tell you this: cercles are soft and kind, rectangles are rough and sturdy, and triangles have something mischevious (its often linked to evilness as well). When you design a character, you should write down next to them like 2 to 5 words that describes their personality, and associates those traits with those shapes.

Though do not be afraid to mix up shapes (especially if you tend to have a more realistic art style); if your character is kind and generous, them having a few squares isn't going to ruin everything.

My Scott design is very triangular, but he has a few squares and circles to break it a bit.

Fish hybrids would usually be triangular as well, but by giving soft edges to him, he ends up looking much .. well softer.

I won't describe everything there, but you get the idea (I hope).

While I did end up chosing her clothes by asking people, I do think its worth looking at Lizzie's shapes.

I draw her face very round, same for her eyes , and the two bottom rows makes her look too... serious? Like it isn't the Lizzie that tries to scam everyone. I chose the 2nd one mostly because the 1st one had too simple clothes (what I was trying to avoid), but I know many people liked the 1st one better.

I just really like my clothes to have tons of details. Which can be a flaw? But my biggest inspiration lately is League of Legends, so I enjoy adding unnecessary details that would look cool in a splash art I will never draw.

Yay! We got a proper sketch now! Unfortunately my color picking process is extremely chaotic. It consists of finding a base color that I color pick from an art that I like (usually the skin color), then basing my whole palette around it. I can only suggest to not be afraid to color pick from art that you like, and before putting proper base colors, messily put the colors that you want, they might not all end up looking good next to each other and you want to easily change it. I would suggest to learn color theory as well, but I'm not going to lie I've always winged that part lmao

Hope that could be of any help to you anon,

[purplequay]

any tips for body posing? ive been meaning to do some more exaggerated posing but im a bit stuck

references and nondetailed humanoids, my guy!!!!!! i have found that i am better at practicing poses when i am not doing it on any humanoids with actual character design but rather on blank slates !! they do not have any details i need to keep in mind when drawing them, plus i simplify their body shapes a ton, which helps on actually practicing the poses and not the characters, if that makes sense. so remember to work with simple shapes. also if nondetailed guys are not your thing, try practicing poses with the character you find yourself drawing the most !! try practicing interesting poses you can imagine them doing

heres me trying to draw some poses rn quickly !! make sure to simplify everything as much as you can to help you draw easier/quicker and just start drawing silly guys! what i like to do when im bored and just wanna doodle is i start drawing these guys and slowly try to come up with poses for each of them that'd fill up the empty space the others r creating !!! its funm

[thehazefilmreview-blog]

Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker, Or; The Illusion of higher threats

The Earth turns, the sun rises, cancerous cells spread through the body slowly destroying the immune system eventually leading to terminal organ failure; and Disney releases a new Star Wars film. Yes, The Rise of Skywalker is here and while watching it, I echoed the remarks that director and writer J.J. Abrams (Star trek (2009), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)), expressed in an interview with Vanity Fair prior to releasing the film: “Fuck it”.

Now, with that sentiment I in no way mean to say that The Rise of Skywalker is a terrible film. The cast and crew are extremely competent and lots of talented individuals worked on the movie. Abrams and co had quite the ordeal when The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017) divided most fans on the subject of which direction should this newest Star Wars trilogy should go. And I'm Happy to report that Abrams did the safest thing that anyone could have done under these circumstances, and produced a film that shouldn’t leave a bad taste in most people's mouths, yet also fails to leave any long lasting or unique impression at all.

Now, if you’re reading this and you think The Last Jedi can do no wrong, (in which case; Hello Rian Johnson, what are you doing here? I quite liked Knives Out), then The Rise of Skywalker will certainly feel  like a film that counters everything its predecessor set out to accomplish in favor of a far more straight forward Good vs Evil, Final battle (safe) ending to a franchise, and with all jokes aside, I do consider a film such as The Last Jedi to be a superior film in the way of themes and story ideas. Rian Johnson had a vision for a Star Wars Film that would shake the foundation of an old familiar universe, and J.J. Abrams said “Fuck it. I’m going to do the thing that feels right because it does, not because it adheres to something” and then Disney gave him a very large amount of money then asked him to write in different coloured storm troopers with cool axes for a new toy range they’re going to release.

The film’s plot centers around our characters trying to locate our saga fan favorite villain, The Emperor (played loving hammy by Ian McDiarmid), who has supposedly still alive and has been pulling the strings in the background over the last two films. straight off the bat this point screams Abram’s “Fuck it” approach to The Rise of Skywalker, instead of developing its new villain further (Snoke from the previous film, or Kylo Ren portrayed by Adam Driver), it decides to bring back an old villain to try to fill the “generic Evil person” shaped hole in the middle of the script. Also returning is the theme from The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015) of Rey’s identity and what her real lineage is; again, a plot idea that seems as if Abrams is trying to connect this new saga with the safe original trilogy without the risk of bringing too many new ideas.

The story jumps forward at a break-neck speed from beat to beat and doesn't really want you to think too much about what you've just seen, which leads me to what I really want The Rise of Skywalker to remembered as; a tool to show people how not to write threats in your stories (or as an example on why you should probably plan a trilogy from the very start and not have someone come in the middle meaning you has to retcon that shit). The Rise Of Skywalker, in script and story terms, is trying to trick the audience into believing this is the threat of all threats for the final film in this trilogy series, but the film fails to truly raise the stakes that we set out in the original Star Wars IV A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977) by making the solution to this final problem so much easier in comparison. I call this theory The Illusion of Higher Threats (registered trademark, do not steal).

The illusion of higher threats is the idea that, in story and screenwriting terms, an event is held up as being of higher importance and a harder mission for our character then previously encountered (I.e. in previous films or stories), but the threats solution is much more simplified that the “larger threat” title is null and void as the solution is easier than what are protagonists had to endure the first time around, thus not increasing the stakes from the previous adventure/story line. In the context of The Rise Of Skywalker (without giving too much away of the ending), the films script seems woefully devoid of increasing threat since A New Hopes’ Death Star back in 1977, with Abrams and Co attempting to trick the audience into believing the this encounter with the Emperor is somehow far more dangerous and grandiose without really earning it or allowing the audience adequate time to actually think about what is going on in the script. Abrams needs to be sat down and reminded that sometimes: less is more.

Overall, the film looks brilliant (but with $275 Million pumped into it, that’s no surprise), and has some nice performances from our main characters. But the film feels so distracting with how it tries so desperately to get away and retcon elements introduced by Johnson and George Lucas with his prequel Star Wars trilogy, that the film comes off as disingenuous and pulled out of nowhere rather than someone's passion project or carefully planned, interesting addition to a franchise; feeling satisfying to some, but soulless in design.  

Grossman, Lev . (2019). Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Ultimate Preview. Available: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/05/star-wars-cover-story. Last accessed 04th Jan 2020.