Class 5 Tues Jan 31

Drawing Exercise
Project 1 : Character
Process Demonstration
Work Session
Assignments:

Reading: Manovich pp.49-61
Project 1 - Sketchbook: 12+ sketches

Announcements:

Crossman Gallery: Guest Lecture - Beauvais Lyons Tues Jan 31 6pm
Roberta's Gallery (UC): Just Be Yourself Exhibition Opening Wed Feb 1 3:30-5pm

Time Wasters:

Shape Language: Intro Round Shapes - Brooke Eggleston

In Class Drawings

positive

Negative Space Drawings - 2x15 minutes
what is negative space?
figure ground game
example drawing source

Additional Reading: Basic Shape and Character

shape

As we begin to work towards our first project, it is important that we also develop our understanding of how basic shapes can relate to character shapes. The above image comes from an article called The Aesthetics of Game art and Game Design written by Chris Solarski (we also have a PDF version available on our course website). In this article, Solarski goes into detail about how the fundamental building blocks for character development are related to the basic shapes Circle - Square - Triangle.

Circle: innocence, youth, energy, femininity
Square: maturity, stability, balance, stubbornness
Triangle: aggression, masculinity, force

If you are interested in the example from our time waster and Solarski's ideas about character design and aesthetic development, you should also consider looking into his text Drawing Basics for Video Game Art. In this book his ideas are developed a little more fully with a focus also on the basics of drawing and observation.

Project 1 Introduction

Please review and refer to the updated project description on the Project 1 Page. Project one will be spread out over several weeks. There will be a few opportunities for feedback including at least one formal "In-Progress" critique. It is likely that some work will need to be redone or redeveloped and that your work is flexible with feedback and questions. With additional time - it is expected that students continue refining and exploring visually by creating more work. You are encouraged to do more than the minimum requirement and then select the best work for submission.