Character Design for Animation and Games Week 2a: Anatomy, Heroes, Photoshop Painting

Photoshop: Save, Export, and Submit: 1.Create a work folder in the Thaw space: Yourname_work (no spaces: underscore or humpCap. Use only letters and number, never start with a number). 2.Save your Photoshop.PSD work files, so you can make revisions later. 3.File/Save As:.PNG or.JPG file (creates single file with all layers collapsed, much lower size). Name yourname_hw#a.PNG (or.JPG) 4.Open new.PNG or.JPG in Photoshop, Edit/Image Size: 72ppi, 12” x 12” (will be smaller than PSD). 5.Upload result to Piazza in the homework # folder

Homework Review: Monsters and Villains Critique Topics: To offer meaningful feedback, consider the topics from last week: (1)Contrasting forms. (2)Clarity in shapes. (3)Pose. (4)Clear Character Intent (powers, goal) and indication of “flaws.”

What Makes an Engaging Hero? Beyond the fantasy of extraordinary abilities: Obsession/Blinders Tragic Past Believable motivations Fatal Flaw Focus of Affection Recognizable human desires

FLAWS: Arrogance, Tragic Past, Obsession, The Cost of Heroism, Blind Compassion, Cursed

Style Versions: Captain America Changes over time, medium, and artist

Style Versions: Captain America Changes in Secret Identity

Style Versions: Young Justice

Style Versions: Big Hero 6

ANATOMY: How do inside structures determine the outside form?

Muscles Origin and Insert to move limbs

ANATOMY: How do bones define form? Bones offer flexible frame

ANATOMY: How do bones contribute to pose?

ANATOMY: How do bones shape pose?

ANATOMY: Muscle Structures = Edge Loops

ANATOMY: Super Proportion = Exaggeration

Fashion / Costumes: What does the outfit say about the character?

Fashion / Costumes

Fashion / Costumes: Costumes ARE fashion. Skin- tight spandex is always a lot less interesting than the shapes created with layers, straps, and pouches.

Fashion / Costumes: Fashion indicates cultural affiliation, social status, physical confidence, and intent. It offers a window to the question: “What do you intend to do today?”

Fashion / Costumes: A character’s outfit should be at least as researched and iterated on as their anatomy. It is the textured skin seen by the outside world and the new shapes imposed on the body. Small variations, like the shape of a hat, can make big changes to the feel of the character.

Fashion / Costumes: How do characters define and redefine themselves with costuming? David Robert Jones David Bowie Ziggy Stardust Iggy Pop Thin White Duke

Superhero Costumes: Practical Considerations Jack Knight/Starman: An ordinary person of great bravery + power rod. Loves old things (owns shop). Leather jacket for warmth while flying, + flexible motion (association with pilots). Goggles to protect eyes from bright rod blasts. Collectible “Sheriff” badge, for authority (connected to love of old things).

EXERCISE Part 1: Choose a Character Choose a hero or villain character that you like. Consider an interesting costume/fashion, where the shapes it makes on the body are distinctive and recognizable. Consider comic book characters or characters from games or animation. Find a good full-body example online, and copy to your Thaw drive. We will use this character for our exercise.

Exercise Part 2: Couch Line Art Create a couch that closely reflects the shapes and details of a popular character concept: 1.Create a new PSD file: 20”x12”, 300ppi. Copy/paste the character reference image to the left. Identify the key costume/body/weapon forms and details. 2.Set your brush: solid circle, pressure=on, 100% 3.In a new layer on the right, thumbnail at least 6 couch silhouettes that use these forms. Consider your base couch shape (thick/squat base vs tall thin legs, wide dominating couch vs short loveseat, etc ) and enhance with shapes from your character. Adjust armrests, cushions, backshape, legs, and the connection to the ground plane. 4.Choose your favorite silhouette and in a new layer draw quick line art to fill the right side.

Photoshop Lesson #3a: Color BASIC COLOR THEORY: Paint Color = subtractive Digital Color = additive Elements: Hue = color choice Saturation = amount of color Value = shade (brightness: White=255, Black=0) Top Industry Primer on Digital Painting:

Photoshop Lesson #3a: Color BASIC COLOR THEORY: Color Wheel: Analogous: Complimentary: Split Complementary:

Photoshop Lesson #3a: Color BASIC COLOR THEORY: Color Context: Temperature Contrast Effect of Grays on Warm vs Cool colors Top Industry Primer on Digital Painting:

Photoshop Lesson #3b: Shadow

Photoshop Lesson #3c: Painting BASIC PHOTOSHOP PAINTING PROCESS: Blending modes: Set line art to Multiply. Color Picking Palette from chosen painting/photo/animation frame. Paint: Separation Painting: Fill hues in Color layer and shades in Shadows/Highlights layers, blend (all below line art). Traditional painting: Paint all color elements (hue and shadow) in one layer, below line art.

Exercise Part 3: Couch Color Painting Create a couch that closely reflects the shapes and details of a popular character concept: 1.Create a new layer BELOW your line art for color painting. 2.With your brush solid, 100%, and large (50-200), quickly colorpick from your reference and paint all main colors. How fast can your throw down all major colors? 3.With a smaller brush, refine your edges. 4.Set brush opacity to 30%, set color=dark blue or purple, and paint shadows in layered strokes. Practice Traditional Painting: work in one layer to paint all color elements (hue and shadow). Similarly, set color=white-yellow and paint highlights.

Homework #3: Heroes 20 Hero Silhouettes. 1 final “polished” Hero-in-costume drawing. Post to hw3 folder in Piazza by noon Thursday: piazza.com/class/ippn0kwpb904xh piazza.com/class/ippn0kwpb904xh

Post-Class Viewing: Venture Bros s2e5 or s3e9 A satire of the hero-villain dynamic. In this episode, the selfish protagonist of the story is selling his late dad’s super-inventions.