ART-ICKLES

170 • 15 TIPS FOR BETTER CHARACTER DESIGN WITH DAVID MELLING : AN IMAGINEFX ART-ICKLE

A look at an ickle article entitled ’15 Tips for Better Character Design with David Melling’, from issue 201 of the art magazine ImagineFX.

This was such a cool article to study from; not only is it full of cute characters, and beautiful images, but it’s bursting with character design wisdom bombs too!

Some of the topics include:

Character Connection and Relationships,
Gesture Drawing,
Character Sheets,
Character Design Body Language,
How Everything has Story,
A new Fun Drawing Exercise called Sequential Drawing,
Anthropomorphic Design,
Exaggeration,
Expressive Silhouettes,
Being Open Minded,
How Keywords are Key,
Mickey Mouse’s Ears,
Silent Narrative,
and we have some Kitty Kisses :)

The thumbnail for this episode shows the character Ruffles by David Melling.

Hope you enjoy this one.

THE SO FREE ART PODCAST

155 • GESTURE AND POSE WITH IDA HEM PART 2 : AN ART BOOK ART-ICKLE

The second part of our look at the ickle article ‘Gesture and Pose with Ida Hem’, from the Art Book ‘Creating Stylized Characters by 3dtotal Publishing’.

Last week we looked at – What is Gesture?, Squashing and Stretching, and Building up from a Gesture; this week we look at the rest of this ickle Gesture and Pose with Ida Hem article, which covers Capturing Gestures, and Exploring Personality & Gesture.

Topics include:

Reference vs Imagination,
Questions to Ask Yourself as you’re Capturing Gestures,
Balance between Opposites,
Simplifying Lines,
Visual Flow and The Line of Action,
Comparing Good and Bad Character Poses,
Why does America use Z’s instead of S’s?
How Less is More,
How Knowing What to Exaggerate is Key,
Technical vs Feeling,
Shifting Characters Weight via Contrapposto (Counterpoise),
And lilDENNiS starts humping Kitty.

This was such a fantastic article to study from, hope you enjoyed it :)

THE SO FREE ART PODCAST

154 • GESTURE AND POSE WITH IDA HEM PART 1 : AN ART BOOK ART-ICKLE

What is Gesture? Let’s find out, as we look at an Art-ickle called ‘Gesture and Pose with Ida Hem’, from the Art Book ‘Creating Stylized Characters by 3dtotal Publishing’.

This is part one of two, and focuses on: What is Gesture? Squash and Stretch, and Building up from a Gesture. Next week we’ll be looking at the rest of this ickle Gesture and Pose with Ida Hem article, which covers Capturing Gestures, and Exploring Personality & Gesture.

Topics include:

What Do You Think Gesture Is?,
The Line of Action,
How We Don’t Like Stiffys,
How Gesture helps to create powerful Silhouettes,
How Shapes Tell Stories,
Bert Dodson and Trigger Words,
Becoming the Character by Physically Posing,
How Squashing and Stretching is like Pinching and Pulling,
Comparing Good and Bad Poses,
The process of Building Up From a Gesture,
lil Art Tip of Visualising String being Attached to your Characters,
Exaggeration is key for Dynamic Poses,
Facing Your Art Fears,
Body Language,
Shifting Characters Weight via Contrapposto (Counterpoise),
What Are T-Poses?
And there’s a click review of the book ‘The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho’.

I learnt a lot studying from this article, hope you do too :)

THE SO FREE ART PODCAST

150 • PAINTING WITH GOUACHE WITH PERNILLE ØRUM : AN ART BOOK ART-ICKLE

Mermaid time, as we take a look at another Art-ickle from the Art Book ‘The Art of Pernille Ørum’, this one’s called Painting with Gouache.

Last week we studied a Pernille Ørum art-ickle called Clean Character Design, which was a Digital Drawing Process, but this time we look at a Traditional Painting Process, so one of the main topics is comparing Traditional and Digital.

149 • CLEAN CHARACTER DESIGN WITH PERNILLE ØRUM : AN ART BOOK ART-ICKLE

lilDENNiS and Kitty help us go through an Art-ickle called Clean Character Design, from the Art Book ‘The Art of Pernille Ørum’.

Not only is the female character Pernille Ørum creates beautiful, but so is the art-ickle itself, and her drawing process.

Topics include:

Starting with Sketching instead of Writing,
Subtle tings are Powerful,
Having a Playful Process,
Taking Risks,
The Importance of the Base Colour,
Working from Simple to Detailed,
How Character’s Props tell Stories,
Having Fun while Drawing,
Planning your Drawing Process,
Colour Thumbnails,
Using Multiple Layers,
Making it Up while still Following the Rules,
and Kitty Dies :)

Hope you have love this one!

THE SO FREE ART PODCAST

144 • 3 COOL FEMALE SHOJO FASHION LOOKS : AN ART BOOK ART-ICKLE

Time to look at a fun and inspiring Art-Ickle, about 3 cool female Shojo Fashion Looks, from the art book Shojo Fashion Manga Art School by Irene Flores.

The 3 cool Shojo Fashion looks were 1. Susan the Queen of Drama, Odessa the Socialite, and Trey the Girl Next Door :)

lilDENNiS loved this one, which included topics like:

Connecting with Characters,
Balance between Story and Visuals,
How lil tings can have a BIG impact,
Character Sketches,
Alternative Character Designs,
Expressive Hands,
Colour Combinations,
Drawing Fabric Folds,
Showing Emotion in your Art,
and we have a new theme tune for the new year :)

Hope you have fun with this one!

THE SO FREE ART PODCAST

141 • IMAGINEFX ARTICLE ‘THE A-Z OF SCI-FI ART’ PART TWO

Part two of an Art-Ickle from issue 65 of the ImagineFX Magazine, entitled ‘The A-Z of Sci-Fi Art’, was the topic for this weeks episode.

This episode covers N to Z, and was so much fun. I wore me lil Mass Effect N7 Dress again, and it was fitting, tight fitting lol, because one of the Artist we look at is Brian Sum who worked on Mass Effect 2 :)

Some of the other topics include:

Mixing Nature and Technology,
Designing the DeLorean from Back to the Future,
lil Art Tricks,
How Hands are Expressive,
The Psychology of Art,
Mass Effect Mako,
Coolness and Functionality,
Subtle Cues of Human and Animal Emotions,
Being Mindful in your Art,
Designing Sci-Fi Weapons,
Keeping it Real,
Video Game Art,
Creating a Sense of Scale,
and Morti does some dancing :)

Hope you like this one.

THE SO FREE ART PODCAST

140 • IMAGINEFX ARTICLE ‘THE A-Z OF SCI-FI ART’ PART ONE

An Art-Ickle from issue 65 of the ImagineFX Magazine, entitled ‘The A-Z of Sci-Fi Art’, was the topic for this weeks episode.

This is a beast of an Art-ickle, so I’ve split it into two parts, with this episode covering A to M, and next week finishing it off with N to Z.

Really enjoyed this one though, and I even wore me lil Mass Effect N7 Dress to get in the Sci-Fi mood :)

Some of the topics include:

How to Create a Sense of Scale,
Mixing Reality and Imagination,
The Importance of lil Details,
Different Art Styles,
Reusing Assets,
How Everything Has a Story,
Combining Traditional and Digital Painting,
Always Thinking about the Viewer,
Having a Greater Appreciation of Designing Vehicles,
How Nothing is Ever Wasted,
Keeping it Simple,
How the Foreground and Background are both Important,
and we give the Mole a name :)

Hope you like this one :)

THE SO FREE ART PODCAST

131 • SKETCH EVERY DAY ARTICLE ‘ALL IN THE EYES, WITH SIMONE GRÜNEWALD’

An Art-Ickle from the Sketch Every Day Art Book, entitled ‘All in The Eyes, with the artist Simone Grünewald’ was the topic for this weeks lil podcast.

This was really fun, lots of tips and advice about sketching Eyes, how you can Guide the Viewers eye by Changing your Characters Eyes,
How Sketching is like Sculpting, because you’re simply Playing with the Shapes, and there’s quite a bit about facing fears.

Some of the other topics included:

The power of Eyes,
Mistakes made things Unique,
How Art is all about Facing Fears,
lil tings can make a Big Difference,
Everything’s Related,
Playing vs Following the Rules,
Practicing Bad Habits,
Sketching Eyes,
Difference between Male and Female Eyes,
Optical Illusions of Drawing,
Simple is Sometimes Better,
The Importance of Why,
Awareness,
and we have a Paper Mouse join us :)

Hope you like this one.

THE SO FREE ART PODCAST

124 • CDQ ARTICLE ‘DESIGNING FOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS WITH JULIA CHRISTIANS’

An Art-Ickle in Issue 6 of the Character Design Quarterly Magazine, entitled ‘Designing for Children’s Books, with Julia Christians’ was the topic for this weeks lil episode.

Really enjoyed this one that focused a lot on having fun whilst designing your characters, because if you’re having fun, the character will appear to be having fun, which will result in the viewer having fun too :)

Some of the other topics include:

Experimenting with your Designs,
How Art is all about Playing and Having Fun,
Curiosity,
Using Accessories to Create Fun Silhouettes,
Creating a family of Characters,
The benefits of Sketching,
Asking your Character Questions,
How your Character must be Functional as well as Engaging,
Thumbnails,
and I slurp on a Hot Cock-late :)

Hope you like this one.