Friday, October 9, 2009

Much to View at the Mall

I have an assignment every week in my newest class at AM, Principles of Animation, to go somewhere and sketch people. I wanted to go to the park, but I feared mothers would call the cops on me and I'd have some serious explaining to do. So, not being interested in having mugshot online, I turned my attention to drawing at home. I had decent results, but I was staging everything so it wasn't natural. Every pose looked like I planned it that way and I wasn't discovering any nuances of movement. Where was the character? The life? The interesting "stuff"?


Well, I had the opportunity to find all that and so much more when my wife asked me to go to the mall with her one night. I love to crack jokes about the people where I live, but, let me tell you, observing them in their natural habitat and really watching them... well... let's just say it's given me plenty of ideas if I want to create some funny animations. For example, there was a dude who was obviously not interested in being at the mall. He was there to push the stroller and wait, "patiently", outside the stores while his wife apparently bought nothing. I sat at a table and observed him, trying not to be too creepy and found that this guy had an odd stance. He kept his weight balanced from left to right, and even front to back, but he arched his spine so much it looked like he was sticking his crotch out as far as possible (and I was worried about sitting at the park sketching... ). It was bizarre to me. Was it comfortable? I suppose for him it was, but when I tried to reenact it, my lower back was shot in seconds. Hm. Maybe he had heavy stuff in his pockets pulling him forward... aaaaanyway...



So I came out with some great sketches and felt like posting them here. I admit, I have been doing graphics on my computer so long, I have lost my edge with drawing... but I'm getting it back more and more each day. I took a character AM gave us, Stu, and translated the drawings to 3D. It was pretty fun. I kept finding myself thinking about the people I was posing and what they might be thinking at that time... I quickly passed by "Heavy Pocket Guy" with a shiver.



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