Drawing II, Week 13, Characters

Creating the Universe, graphite drawing by Kim Schrag

Developing Your Own Characters

In class-studies

Use a variety of materials: pencil, pen, ink and brush, charcoal, graphite, blending tool, colored pencils.

Try these approaches:

· stick figures

· scribbles figures

· cylinder

· combined shape figures, collage

· clothed figures

You may include figures interacting with other figures and objects.

Try to do 100 quick sketches. Let them come out of your imagination. Don't think too hard. Just let it happen.

Homework

Invent an environment. It can be simple: horizon, sky, and land or complicated (city).

What to include: characters, interesting poses, clothing, interactions between figures and objects.

How many figures? It depends on the size and scale. The smaller they are, the more you should include. Large figures? At least 5 with clothing and detail.

Materials: whatever you want to use. Think about line quality, contrast, and value variations. Use the largest paper you can.

Document: Photograph your studies and your final drawing and post to Week 13, Characters. in Blackboard. Also add to the Week 13, Character blog in Blackboard.

It is interesting to work with the human figure without having a model, but you may feel intimidated because you don't have a reference. The exercises that we will do today are designed to let you play with developing characters in action, using simple structures and shapes. Lines and shapes that are drawn freely without an emphasis on correct observation can often suggest characters that can be developed.

Tompkins Cortland Drawing II student examples - 100 poses

Homework

Develop a drawing using multiple figures in an environment. Think about the relationship between the figures. What are they doing together? Consider clothing variations or have everyone wear the same thing. Develop an environment, (it could be abstract) or have no space between the people. Add color and value and details. Activate the negative space with color, value, pattern or texture.

Here are some suggestions. Add to these ideas and brainstorm your own lists too.

· Relationship

Pyramid of people

Acrobats

Teams

Workers

Parade

Standing in a line

Family

· Activities

Flying, running, climbing, swimming, building, shopping, sleeping, reading, walking, painting, eating

· Where

In a park

In a city

In the forest

In a skyscraper

In space, outer space, underwater, underground

In a storm

On stage (behind the scenes), theatre

At a Concert

· When

Day, night

Winter, summer

Past, future

· Scale

Tiny people, or gigantic people next to regular sized objects

· Space – point of view. How far away are they? Above or below?

Tompkins Cortland Drawing II student examples.

Invented Figures in an Environment.

Thanks to TC3 students Vic Rice, James Willis, Amy Callahan, John de Forest, Marli Hammond, and Zacc Charvolin for sharing their work here.

Work by Kim Schrag

These are examples from my sketchbooks. When I first decided to include people in my artwork, I started keeping a journal. I drew in it every day. I did this for several years and eventually had about 7 journals of sketches. They were very simple sketches and I was most interested in what would develop spontaneously, so I was very free with them. If they didn't work very well, it wasn't a big deal.

Some of my sketchbook drawings have developed into paintings. The next two are from a book I made called, In the Distance, Small Beings. It is about looking at humanity from distance.