Week 5 Art Challenge: Weight Watchers Anonymous

Artists, for the most part, adhere to their cultural definitions of "beauty" when drawing human or anthropomorphic figures -- mostly, that means we draw slender people, because slender people are pretty, and we all like to look at pretty people.

This week's challenge to to cast off your cultural shackles and draw figures to tip the scales in the other direction! No rules other than to draw fat; it can be full body sketches, studies of rolls in particular areas, fully rendered and finished work, or speedpaints of fabulous flab. We'll make this another two-week special, since that seems to be easier on our schedules; that makes it due on Wednesday, September 22.

Apologies for posting a day late. Totally spaced out that yesterday was Wednesday.

Week 4 Art Challenge: Weapon of Choice

Week 4 Art Challenge: Weapon of Choice

It seems a few of us got a bit swamped for a bit there (myself included), but I want to make sure to keep the prompts coming. :)  I'll be posting my Week 3 assignment later today (and my Week 2 soon-after...  I wasn't happy with my first pass).   

This week's (Thursday to Wednesday to Wednesday) challenge/assignment begins with hand-prop silhouettes for study, and moves onward from there!

The warm-up exercises will be to draw a variety of hand-prop silhouettes (black on a white background) from various pre-existing media, including anything ranging from comic books, movies, games, or else-wise.  The emphasis here should be on media where the prop itself comes from a strong cultural background that is apparent in the style of the prop.  No bland traditional scimitars, for example, but fantasy swords? Perfect! Complex hand-cannon? Awesome! If you like, take notes on your observations.

The challenge is to create one original weapon for the fantasy/sci-fi world/culture of your choosing.  Try to take it beyond a sketch and leave some time to either model it, render it, sculpt it, whatever it takes to really "sell" the cultural tie-in. 

Due: Wednesday, September 7th. (So a little under two weeks so stuff doesn't start piling up.)

Week 2 Art Challenge: Character Design

This week's challenge is about character design. I can't wax quite as eloquently about it as Kymba did about the concept of silhouettes, but I can tell you that it's going to be an important thing for all of us to be able to pull off. Sometimes they are easy, coming to you and demanding to be drawn or written and not leaving you alone until you commit them to paper or pixel, but other times they are more shy or stubborn, or we just plain can't get the creative juices flowing when someone else asks us for a certain type or character.

This week, I want us to drift a little away from our normal character types. Pick your favorite reptile. Pick a fish or an insect. And think of a number between one and ten -- you got it? Write it down, no changing your mind! Now think of your least favorite job, something you hate doing, or something you would hate to have to do.

The number is the relative atmospheric pressure at which your character lives, with "normal" in this case being five -- if you picked less than five, your character lives in a low pressure environment; if greater than five, s/he lives somewhere with greater pressure. Draw some characteristics from the animals you chose. The job you hate? That's his/her job!

Draw at least three quick concepts, then take your favorite and develop it into a fuller drawing with turnarounds and some facial (or whatever!) expressions.

Sorry, no sample from me. That's your job!

This challenge is due on Wednesday, August 10.

Week 1 Art Challenge: Silhouette of a Hero

Week 1 Art Challenge: Silhouette of a Hero

Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 12:28pm

Some highly motivated friends and I have opted to start up a sort of weekly challenge amongst ourselves in order to prompt us to be further productive and improve our art and I thought I'd share it here as well. :)

This week's (Wednesday to Wednesday) challenge/assignment is all about silhouettes! How we "read" various figures and interpret how they fit into their individual worlds is often highly related to their silhouettes.

The warm-up exercises will be to draw a variety of loose character silhouettes (black on a white background) from various pre-existing media, including anything ranging from comic books, movies, or games.

The challenge for the week is to create three original "Hero" silhouette figures who appear to inhabit the same world. One should be an intelligence based hero, one should be a strength based hero, and one should be a dexterity/agility based hero.

Due: Wednesday, August 3rd.