MermaidShells

villainoustyrrany:

corischaracters:

I get so annoyed because there are no good hoodie tutorials that I decided to try and make my own. (note TRY.)

The reason they’re so weird to draw is because they are different depending on how thick the material is they’re sewn with, and the amount of fabric used in sewing. There are SO MANY different ways for a hoodie to work! In fact there’s totally different types of hoods, so there’s no one specific way to draw them. In this mini tutorial I’m going to highlight the main three that i saw floating around on google images.

The first type of hoodie is the “high and tight” kind

The fabric on this guy’s hood is thicker, making the fabric more stiff and it sort of curves in higher up on his head, like this

It’s also a smaller hood, so its clinging closer to his head.

Also take note of how the hood doesn’t just end with the edge of the fabric, but it goes up to where the top of his hair is. This happens when the hood is pulled far forward or they’re bending forward, because then it can drape down over their face.

The other two types are the limp and tight ones and the drapey ones:

Limp and tight don’t really have a curve outward because the fabrics tight, so the edges dont move outward. Also, the limp kind have more oval-shaped openings in the front, so the fabric goes to the top of the head.

The drapey ones are sort of adventure-looking and they flare out near the bottom as apposed to the top or middle. They have a lot of fabric used and are probably the hardest to draw (for me anyway). Lots of folds and movement.

generally hoodie fabric goes like this, outward from the face

it doesnt fold down like normal fabric unless its the limp kind like this

So, that’s the front. As far as the side view of a hood goes, it generally looks like this.

The folds go down towards the rest of the hood and the back a bit, and the fabric covers most of the side-view of the face. Notice how there’s only a little bit of the front of the face showing. You cants see their ears! Even if its a drapey hood, it looks like this (with probably some exceptions depending on the weather and how the hood is being moved). Also, if the hood isn’t very tight there’s usually a bit of a “bump” or space at the back of the head like above.

But that bump’s only there if they’re trying to let you see their face. In hoods that are pulled all the way forward like this

there’s no space at the back, because the fabrics all forward. Spooky.

Another thing to consider when drawing hoods is how they’re deciding to wear them. A more shy person or character might have it forward more, which will in result make the hood look tighter and hide their face more.

And of course, the most important thing to think about when drawing hoods is “how is the fabric moving”? There’s plenty of different ways for the fabric to move, depending on how their head is turned and what they’re doing. Here’s a few good reference pictures I just found.

Oh, also, when people turn their heads, the fabric moves by a focal point

Her body is facing one way, and her head is turned the other, which makes the fabric tilt itself like that. This is on the drapey hoods only usually.

Just always remember that all the hoods very from hood to hood. You might get a sort of drapey one that looks like the tight ones, or maybe a gradient between the three i showed you, or even something weirder. 

This is just me covering the basics as best I can, and if you feel the need to add anything, feel free!

Images found on google, I don’t own them.

i love you

coelasquid:

I had a couple people asking me about mouth charts, so here goes. I want to preface this by saying that as with everything in art, there isn’t really a “right way” to do them, there are just things that work and things that don’t, and it’s important to understand why the things that work do and why the things that don’t… don’t. Personally, I find it extremely distracting when the teeth pop on and off and create a strobing effect like this;

Again, there isn’t a “right” way to do mouth charts (because some of the best comic effects come from really goofy, unrealistic, or overly detailed mouths) but if I had to guess I would assume this style of mouths came from thinking of the characters as static illustrations before considering what they would look like animated. When you look at a Family guy illustration (such as the ones used in marketing and merchandising), they don’t put any teeth in the mouths

So (and again, this is just an assumption) I think what happened was they decided they liked the imagery of smiling toothless Peter and decided to preserve it by only adding teeth when absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, that makes for distracting speech animation. They probably don’t think many people care that much (which I’m sure they don’t) and have decided it’s more important to make sure he looks as much like the stationary model they decided they liked as possible at all times (this is also the reason you don’t see the same deformation and antics that you used to in shows like the Simpsons).

I think the thing to remember about teeth is that only the lower ones will (realistically) move in your skull. Obviously cartoons aren’t bound to realism and there are plenty of situations where you could throw that rule out the window, but for the sake of learning the rules before you break them; Upper Teeth Are Rooted In Place.

(these are kind of scribbly but I guess they communicate the point)

People have all sorts of different mouths, some people primarily show their upper teeth, some people primarily show their lower teeth, some people are really toothy and show both sets, some are really tight-lipped and you almost never see their teeth at all (there’s a great bit on this in the Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams), but the difference will always be in how the skin wraps around the skull. The lower jaw moves independently of the skull, fleshy parts of the mouth can move independently of the skull and lower jaw alike, but the upper teeth remain anchored.

There are a lot of different ways you can go about doing a basic mouth chart for a character. Almost any animation book worth it’s salt will outline the shapes you’ll need to start with (like this page from Preston Blair)

I’ve worked on shows that had cycles of everything from ten (the absolute minimum that will hit all the phonemes) to twenty mouths for each emotion. Here’s a (somewhat lopsided) chart I made for Blue with 36 frames (18 happy, 18 sad/neutral)

You can get by with one mouth per phoneme, but you can run into problems easing in and out of vowels that way (for example the “sh” that leads into “shoot” is not the same shape as the “sh” that leads into “sheet”) I usually figure out my chosen pallet of mouth shapes, so to speak, like this;

INB just indicates where I would add mouths to ease from one shape into another, how many you add depends on how smooth you want it to be. It gives you something a little like this;

I just kind of slapped this together in an hour or two a while back to test out the mouth, but it looks a little like this when you actually use it to animate with

Again, I cannot stress enough that these are not hard and fast rules and there are as many ways to animate a mouth moving as there are animators to draw them, but this seems to be a decent way to go about getting a solid selection to use for casual conversation that doesn’t pop and strobe.

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment:

To the anon who is looking for references on writing characters with limited/no sight, I’ve been developing and writing two characters who both lose their sight completely for about six years now, and have wracked up some great information over the years!

One awesome reference is the 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Blind Characters ebook, written by Stephanie Green. It’s only nine dollars, and completely worth it. It details a lot of the things that sighted people assume, or don’t even think about. It also has tips for further research, and where not to get your facts. A must for anyone writing visually impaired characters.

Future Reflections, a magazine for parents or teachers with blind children, is also a really good one! The subscription is free, too. For example, there’s a great article on blind cooking in the 1985 July-September edition that i found particularly helpful, because one of my characters takes up cooking after being blinded. It’s great because it’s written for sighted people looking into a blind child/student/person’s life, so it’s ideal for the sighted writer getting a feel for their blind character’s world.

I would also visit the National Federation for the Blind’s website, and poking around other country’s sight-loss associations wouldn’t hurt, either!

There are plenty of other resources out there, but the absolute best source is someone who deals with legal or complete blindness themselves. I’ve found that most people that have a visual condition don’t mind answering questions or helping you out (as long as you’re polite, which, duh), because there are a lot of books out there that represent blindness with a lot of inaccuracies, and that can be frustrating! It’s like a POC dealing with constant racial stereotypes, or a gay person dealing with constant Kurt Hummel characters, except there’s even less mainstream representation through blind characters. Keep in mind, however, that everyone’s experience is different, and speaking to just one person might not cut it! Multiple opinions are always better than one.

If you don’t know anyone with visual issues of the top of your head, you can visit your city’s blind and visually impaired association; most well-populated areas have one. Speak with professionals and visually impaired people alike. And, when all else fails, read blogs! There are plenty of blogs written by people that have been blind from birth, or blind due to illness/accidents. A lot of details about guide-dog training and handling, problems with school systems, courteous methods of aid, and awful inconveniences all in raw, cite-able, interactive corners of the web!

But, as you probably know, it’s important to keep in mind that, just as a person with visual impairment is more than just their impairment, your blind character is a character first and foremost! Don’t ignore development or characterization and cover it up with disability stereotypes! That only leads to more harmful misrepresentation.

I have plenty more sources, if anyone would is curious or would like to inquire about them. Thanks!

Morgan

PDW - TOSHI

sairobee:

I’m a big fan of film scores, and every year or so I get a bee up my bonnet to share my favorite tracks from my collection. So! Here’s 2012’s list, conveniently categorized according to the mood you might want to evoke. Enjoy!

FUN/JOY

• WALL-E — Thomas Newman (WALL-E)
• Forbidden Friendship — John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon)
• Dead Already — Thomas Newman (American Beauty)
• Discombobulate — Hans Zimmer (Sherlock Holmes)
• Possibility — Thomas Newman (Pay it Forward)
• First Date — Thomas Newman (WALL-E)
• To the Stars — Randy Edelman (Dragonheart)

ROMANTIC

• Juliette is Happy — Niall Byrne (Cairo Time)
• Your Hands are Cold — Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Pride & Prejudice)
• Latika’s Theme — AR Rahman/Suzanne D’Mello (Slumdog Millionaire)
• The Sacrifice — Michael Nyman (The Piano)
• Define Dancing — Thomas Newman (WALL-E)
• Lovers - Flower Garden — Kathleen Battle/Shigeru Umebayashi (House of Flying Daggers)
• Married Life — Michael Giacchino (Up)
• Together We Will Live Forever — Clint Mansell (The Fountain)

HAUNTING

• Iguazu — Gustavo Santaolalla (Babel/Deadwood/24/The Insider/Friday Night Lights)
• Anne Dreams of Her Childhood — Trevor Morris (The Tudors)
• Justin Calls Iris — Jeff Beal (Carnivale)
• Ghosts — Thomas Newman (Road to Perdition)
• While Waiting — Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
• Song for Jesse — Nick Cave/Warren Ellis (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford)
• Pruit Igoe & Prophecies — The Philip Glass Ensemble (Watchmen)
• Revenge — James Horner (Legends of the Fall)

TRAGIC

• Life and Death — Michael Giacchino (Lost)
• Any Other Name — Thomas Newman (American Beauty)
• Tarr and Irina — Alberto Iglesias (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
• Ashokan Farewell — Jay Ungar/cover by Doc and The Lady (Ken Burns’ Civil War)
• His Name was Michael — Jeff Beal (Carnivale)
• More Prays — Trevor Morris (The Tudors)
• Valley of the Shadow — Thomas Newman (Little Women)
• Elysium — Hans Zimmer/Lisa Gerrard (Gladiator)
• Brooks Was Here — Thomas Newman (Shawshank Redemption)
• Syriana — Alexandre Desplat (Syriana)

MELLOW

• George Smiley — Alberto Iglesias (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
• The Ludlows — James Horner (Legends of the Fall)
• Theme for the Diving Bell and the Butterfly — Paul Cantelon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
• Melville’s Grand Armada — Brian Keane (Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World)
• The Grey Havens — Howard Shore (Return of the King)
• We Don’t Have to Think Like That Anymore — Cliff Martinez (Solaris)
• The Artifact & The Living — Michael Andrews (Donnie Darko/This American Life)
• Panoramic — Atticus Ross (The Book of Eli)
• Time — Hans Zimmer (Inception)

EXCITING

• Romani Holiday (Antonius Remix) — Hans Zimmer (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)
• Chant — Hans Zimmer (Black Hawk Down)
• The Way of the Sword — Hans Zimmer (The Last Samurai)
• Agent of Chaos — Hans Zimmer/James Newton Howard (The Dark Knight)
• Molossus — Hans Zimmer/James Newton Howard (Batman Begins)
• Mombasa — Hans Zimmer (Inception)
• WALL-E’s Pod Adventure — Thomas Newman (WALL-E)
• Those We Don’t Speak Of — James Newton Howard (The Village)
• Psychological Recovery … 6 Months [2] — Hans Zimmer (Sherlock Holmes)

EPIC

• The End of All Things — Howard Shore (The Return of the King)
• Roll Tide — Hans Zimmer (Crimson Tide)
• Isengard Unleashed — Howard Shore (The Two Towers)
• Kaneda’s Death, Pt. 2 — John Murphy (Sunshine/Kick Ass/The Walking Dead)
• Death is the Road to Awe — Clint Mansell (The Fountain)
• The Battle of Kerak — Harry Gregson-Williams (Kingdom of Heaven)
• Mind Heist — Zack Hemsey (Inception Trailer)
• Helm’s Deep — Howard Shore (The Two Towers)

… AND ROLL CREDITS

• So Was Red — Thomas Newman (Shawshank Redemption)
• That Next Place — Thomas Newman (Meet Joe Black)
• Under the Stars — Hans Zimmer (The Lion King)
• The Great Work Begins — Thomas Newman (Angels in America)
• Road to Perdition — Thomas Newman (Road to Perdition)
• The Battle is Not Over — Jeff Beal (Carnivale)
• Now We Are Free — Hans Zimmer/Lisa Gerrard (Gladiator)
• The Return of the King — Howard Shore (The Return of the King)
• The Book of Kells — Bruno Coulais (Brendan and the Secret of Kells)