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[scutheotaku]

First of all, sorry if this is in the wrong place. It's the only place that I saw that fit my topic.

And here's my problem : I suck at drawing characters. Well, at least for the type of game I'm making (think early Monkey Island or early King's Quest style). I can draw an alright Left/Right walking animation, and I can draw a decent Up/Down idle animation, but when it comes to Up/Down animated or anything 3/4 (Up-Left, Up-Right, Down-Left, Down-Right) I am lost. So basically, my question is two-fold- Do you guys know of any good tutorials for this type of art and perspective (any tutorials or templates I can find are either terrible, or they're are of the JRPG style), and do you guys have any tips?

Thanks!

[Oliver W]

Hi scutheotaku. I don't like it when no one replies to my messages, so I thought I'd post. Though I'm afraid I probably won't be of much help. I think no ones replying because the question is too general. Basically you're asking how to draw an animated character, that topic has entire sites and university courses dedicated to it. Learning to draw and/or animate takes a long time.

Some things come to mind; Look up a book called 'The Animator's Survival Kit' by Richard Williams. And I think what you're refering to are character turn arounds, like these;



And these;

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UriiWxKUSXM/R93fa5eDGeI/AAAAAAAAAE0/eSEhPlltVm0/s400/Mokey%2Bturn%2Baround.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hqBfU66CcMY/SQroqTj8I5I/AAAAAAAAAIk/0RCOY1AafDQ/s1600-h/turnaround+copy.jpg

http://bbunnystudios.deviantart.com/art/Character-Design-Turnaround-108449547

http://www.joannabarnum.com/gallery/albums/characters/moxy.sized.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/101427119_d6a940b9c7_o.jpg

http://gorillaartfare.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/bee-nonie-turn-comp.jpg

The key words are turn-around. Also youtube is good for drawing tutorials.

[Akusa]

Here something i found really helpful:

dont think to much, just do it! For myself i find 3/4 perspective much easier then front or side because the figure does not look flat. But just thinking "i cant do this" wont get you better. No one expects you to have Monkey Island 3 quality, if you can do it, everyone will praise you but if you dont get this level, its okay too.

Then ofcourse there is the good old rotoscoping trick. Grab your webcam and film yourself from all directions with basic movements then trace it with the shapes of your character.

Here some films nearly completly done in rotoscoping:

Fire&Ice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz-yLWGaIxM

Lord of the Rings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3SbF5EUz3g&feature=PlayList&p=01E2681E1B15DCE2&index=3

On the LotR version you can see how good they modified for example the hobbits, played by real people and then rotoscoped as something other.

Ofcourse you could also use 3d models today for rotoscoping but then you need at least some knowledge of the 3d suite you use.

[HelLRaiseR]

Of course, 'The Animator's Survival Kit' is the best work (in my opinion) , I'm going to recommend you the "Animated version". This is a edition that consist in the book and 16 DVD set with a lot of examples.

Other good work is the book "Cartoon Animation" by Preston Blair.

You can see a on-line version of this book here: http://www.krishowald.com/intro/main.html

[scutheotaku]

Thanks guys, this really helps