Animated Portrait

[AlcopopStar]

Hey guys,

I did this test animation a little while ago



I since then have been planning to make a higher quality more complex version, just as a kind of exercise to break into animation and see what I can do.

I might ask for this thread to be moved to the animation section eventually, but for the moment i'm just trying to get a polished look down that I can then get moving. (so I don't find myself wanting to change the style on the 5th frame or something). Here is what I have so far:



latest update:


A little rough but I think you can kind of tell what i'm going for. Really looking for some structural or style crits if you have them, I want to get this portrait down before I move on to, well, movement.

[PixelPiledriver]

Some quick thoughts:

The timing feels mostly even.
There's no real divisions between the actions.
Some boiling here and there, especially in the hair and shoulders, watch your volumes.
Good drawing overall.

Will post some more thoughts later when I have time.
Could do an edit if you like.

[Gil]

I recently watched this and found it somewhat decent to teach people how to draw a head turn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQjfVVWk_cE

Basically:
- Curve the turn, don't go straight left to right, but in an arc (left, down, right)
- Adjust timings. You're animating it all in 1/2

[AlcopopStar]

Yeah you are both 1000000% correct on the timing of that animation. I feel a little embarrassed actually, it's stuff I knew about but just did think to put in.

You reminded me of a post david oreilly made a while back


I'll certainly be keeping this in mind!

Thanks as well @Gil for the video that was super helpful.

So yes, when I get to the animation part that's where I'll take it.

Until then i'm still trying to figure out a consistent style and design to go with. Here is an update on that front,

Clothing next.


Okay so an update:



I wanted to design some clothing and more or less used that as an excuse to study / crudely mimic Syosa. In the end the clothing design was kinda dull and rushed because I have a million other art things to do, but i'll certainly come back to this idea. As a consequence tho the portrait has some new colours and I feel like these are working a lot better, but still not quite there. a bit of polishing left on both pictures. I think i'll add an idle animation to the figure and the head turn to the portrait. sorry steam of consciousness post it's 2am aaah.

[Gabriel]

The abdominal area is a bit long, which in turn makes the hips a bit too wide, as well as the arms a bit long. Also, the abdomen becomes a straight on view without much of any twisting shown, which contradict the leg position. The clothing does cover it a bit which makes it less noticeable, but it should still be addressed. I've made a quick edit to show the changes.

[AlcopopStar]

Thanks Gabriel you were right about the long torso.

Fixed that up and added more general stuff


Pretty much ready to call this done, I'd love to add animations to the whole lot but i'm going to have to put those ambitions on hold while I work on another project for awhile. Thanks for your help everyone!

[Manupix]

I love the little one =)

Doesn't look quite finished to me though. Some readability issues remain (small one's hands, medium one's eyes), lines are still a bit messy.
There's a glaring case of banding in the portrait's right eye (hers); her ear anatomy is questionable!

[AlcopopStar]

Cheers Manupix, agree with everything but I can't see the issue with the middle ones eyes tbh


Also I added a bonus littler one.

[Decroded]

here's a few quick take-it-or-leave-it ideas based on initial impression

[AlcopopStar]

Thanks Decroded, great changes, the right changes in fact, the only thing I disagree with is the coloured outline.

Kind of brings me to an odd question though, what's the etiquette to follow when someone makes "correct" changes on a work that size? I mean there is only so many pixels to push around, and the AA falls pretty much where I would put it.  Apply the edit with different details for the sake of not copying is like closing a door on where those pixels could be.

It's something i've always wondered about.