Pre-production Getting to know my characters Through drawing

So at the beginning of last week I had begun story boarding one of the story's generated for my project. However I stopped when I encountered a crossroad for where the story could go considering the scope of the story. On Tuesday I discussed this with my project supervisor along with showing the green giant thumbnails.

Some of the conclusions drawn were that i might be jumping into story boarding to soon along with deciding with picking 1 or 2 story's that could stand on their own from the wrest and take them forward.  There are two story's that can be stand alone based on their concepts their titles being "First meeting" and "Games night", But "Games night" is the only concept with a complete first draft of the story beats it also has scope for development of the setting it is placed in that can affect the outcome.  for example changing who's room the animation is taking place in will affect Mary's and Lilly's sense of space and atmosphere within the room.

However, It was recommended that I focused on drawing my characters because my project has begun to or has lacked in the visual aspect another advantage of doing this was allowing me to get to know my characters better. Another part of this exploration was considering the story beats and drawing some of the scenes the character would be in.

Until today I have focused on this task aiming to draw both character together or  individual under a setting based from one of the story concepts. while also fighting my habit of only drawing the face. In the past I rarely drew full body character this was a task set upon me for my next meeting.

The task itself brought back some of my confidence toward my drawing and finally breaking me away from the balloon stick-men. I noticed my style generally suits drawing Lilly it also allowed me to identify her main source of expression, This is within her Eyes and Eyebrows. 

Mary on the other hand I struggle with, The expressions I want her to show are not quite in my ability. so this is one area will have to develop.
During a meeting today my supervisor suggested that I focus on Mary's full body pose and her expression as my attempts to draw her mostly focused on getting her personality from her face, While she is the type of character who's body would reinforce her personality. Another note taken was her hair style and cloths at this time she looks far too similar to Lilly and others people may not be able to identify them, These should be worked on for over the next few days.

 

So after conducting this task a Pre-production has allowed me to understand some of the key elements to these characters, Lilly can have a strong influence from her eyes and eyebrows. The process also allowed me to identify one of the reason i had be struggling to draw certain areas of the face, while the neck would some times feel off. I cant rely on the same principles of expression with Mary despite her having a very expressive face, Her body posture and gesture will enhance her expressions. Also her design isn't portaging her wild and outdoor side these can be redeemed in both her clothes and hair. I have finally managed to get past the shoulders and begin drawing the torso and arms though this and the lower body still require more refinement.

Concept Development - Inspirations and Interests

One point to note is that Life drawing is referred to as a good tool for practicing anatomy and developing drawing. However previous experiences push me away from this kind of practice. This being because people and realism do not interest me when it comes to drawing. When drawing from live/real reference the only point i take an interest and engage in is the eyes. My particular interest in animation comes from the exaggeration of characters and i am able to identify my lack of interest in photo realistic animation.