story board/anime mess-about

[simdel1]

lately i've been inspired by story board artists and wated to have a go. i've also been inspired by manga/anime recently too. im not a big fan of the cutesy, over exagerated anime, but the more realistic (gto style) stuff looks good.

the official reason im doing this is because i think it will develop my skills as an artist. the ability to just knock up a scene straight from your head is a great skill to have. i also want to expand my drawing vocabulary. at the moment i can basically only draw cars and it would be great to draw people, buildings and other things too. even if its only on my concept car sketches.

so, my plan to combine all of these learning objectives is as follows. write and draw a comic book in a realistic manga style depicting a young mans quest to become a racing driver and his racing once he gets there. theres cars, people, perspective, action, drama, and sex (grid girls, lol). everything you could possibly want!

this frame is going to be like frame 20 or 30 ish in the comic. i tackled it first as its relatively easy (compared to some of the other challenging frames i intend to do anyway). its quite obviously a grid on a race track. took me almost 2 hours to do. which aint bad considering. the car on the left is a 911 gt2, on the right is a lotus exige s2. the 911 roof is too far forward, that will be sorted later. also, the girl is too big in scale with the cars. again, this will be sorted later. lots more detail and finishing work to be done on the line work, then its colour. frame is 370mm by 140mm roughly. appologies for not scanning it.

i'll keep you guys posted with progress.

[knightvision]

Originally Posted by simdel1

the official reason im doing this is because i think it will develop my skills as an artist. the ability to just knock up a scene straight from your head is a great skill to have. i also want to expand my drawing vocabulary. at the moment i can basically only draw cars and it would be great to draw people, buildings and other things too. even if its only on my concept car sketches.

Hey mate you're just in the same phase I am. Beeing an artist means drawing everything... when you really can draw good, you can draw everything.

Girls are so hard to draw.

Good luck with your comic. Your progress might emphasizes me to start one too.

[stuffbyalex]

Everything looks really good. i like the perspective. She needs some hair though.

Alex

[bonzelite]

simdel, that frame is "ok," but you need to exaggerate the perspective of the car's rear ends, bringing them closer to the viewer: make the camera on the ground, with a wider-angle lens, like an 18mm. this will bring the viewer "into" the action rather than how you have us "outside" of the action.

right now, the cars are too far from us to make the frame feel that we are part of the drama. and the camera height you have chosen is about even with the tail-lights -too high for this type of a frame: lowering the angle will create a "heroic" dynaminsm to the scene. you want to push the envelope that these are competitive machines, in a tense face-off about to cut loose.

the girl is pretty good so far. and you draw very well. you need to work on exploring the camera and the frame. storyboarding is not really about the drawing, per se. it is about telling a story visually with a camera. think of yourself as a photographer.

by the way, i am a storyboard artist.

[simdel1]

Originally Posted by bonzelite

simdel, that frame is "ok," but you need to exaggerate the perspective of the car's rear ends, bringing them closer to the viewer: make the camera on the ground, with a wider-angle lens, like an 18mm. this will bring the viewer "into" the action rather than how you have us "outside" of the action.

right now, the cars are too far from us to make the frame feel that we are part of the drama. and the camera height you have chosen is about even with the tail-lights -too high for this type of a frame: lowering the angle will create a "heroic" dynaminsm to the scene. you want to push the envelope that these are competitive machines, in a tense face-off about to cut loose.

the girl is pretty good so far. and you draw very well. you need to work on exploring the camera and the frame. storyboarding is not really about the drawing, per se. it is about telling a story visually with a camera. think of yourself as a photographer.

by the way, i am a storyboard artist.

thanks for all the comments. very helpful

i may have a go at re-doing that frame, but i probably wont get round to it. i have lots of other frames where i can think a bit more about the angle though. i'll deffinately take your advice on board when i do the others

i've seen your stuff around actually. you're one of the people who contributed to getting me interested in this type of work!

[bonzelite]

Originally Posted by simdel1

i've seen your stuff around actually. you're one of the people who contributed to getting me interested in this type of work!

that is good ---welcome.

you have a long journey just ahead. if you commit now to this lifestyle, you will be way farther along in your path than most. doors will open for you.

prepare to live in new york, chicago, or los angeles. pick one.

[simdel1]

Originally Posted by bonzelite

that is good ---welcome.

you have a long journey just ahead. if you commit now to this lifestyle, you will be way farther along in your path than most. doors will open for you.

prepare to live in new york, chicago, or los angeles. pick one.

well, i think this will just be a hobbie for me. im studying engineering at the moment,so my excuse is that this will be good for 'idea communication'.

[simdel1]

Originally Posted by knightvision

Hey mate you're just in the same phase I am. Beeing an artist means drawing everything... when you really can draw good, you can draw everything.

Girls are so hard to draw.

Good luck with your comic. Your progress might emphasizes me to start one too.

sorry, i forgot to reply to you first time round for some reason!

yes, people are one of the things i have always had difficulty in doing. i overcame this problem when i was doing art at school by avoiding having to draw people all together

i'll have too keep the progress coming then. it'll be a first if 'I' inspire someone to try something new

[lotuz]

that's cool

[simdel1]

a little bit of progress for you guys. i resized the lotus and the porsche, then did a clean overlay. this was then tidied up with french curves and coloured with graphic artist markers. it was then scanned into photoshop and the airbrush tool was used to add smooth garduated sections on the body, road surface and the sky. the background has been lightened a lot so as to avoid taking attention away from the car, which is perhaps too light. i would have used my pastels to do the graduated stuff, but i've lost them. wheels still need to be done. until i sort out a way of doing perfect elipses im not going to try them. Theres still a lot of stuff to sort out. i've also simplified certain details such as the lights as i felt excessive detail was unnecessary for work of this type. im not sure whether to outline the drawing or not. my instincts are telling me not to.

progress will be a lot slower now as im now concentrating on uni revision, but hopefully i'll get this frame finsihed by the end of the week at least.

C and C as always

[asaenz]

Wut up Simdel1,

That second frame looks awesome, professional looking too.

That is pretty cool how you are doing story boards.

I am not sure what you are studying but I recommend going to a book store and checking out story board art. Observe what the experts are doing/ how they portray action/angles and what not. As a matter of fact I think the TFTF movies have story board art on the dvds check that out, perhaps get some Initial D dvds too and pause and watch how they portray action.

Good thing you have Bonz the help you out too.

al

[simdel1]

Originally Posted by asaenz

Wut up Simdel1,

That second frame looks awesome, professional looking too.

That is pretty cool how you are doing story boards.

I am not sure what you are studying but I recommend going to a book store and checking out story board art. Observe what the experts are doing/ how they portray action/angles and what not. As a matter of fact I think the TFTF movies have story board art on the dvds check that out, perhaps get some Initial D dvds too and pause and watch how they portray action.

Good thing you have Bonz the help you out too.

al

thanks al.

i'll definately give those a look. i think i know someone who has a TFTF dvd, i remember taking the piss out of him for having it, lol.

yeah, its great having bonz here. at least i know im heading in roughly the right direction

[bonzelite]

in making a career of drawing storyboards, i must be able to draw anything, at any moments notice. sometimes i don't even know what i will be drawing until i arrive at the meeting.

i have weaknesses and strengths, so i must focus on what i am weak at drawing more than what i am good at. otherwise, i am typecast into a 'box." this can be good and bad. commercially, storyboarding-wise, it can be bad because it may limit my jobs. drawing women, people in general, is difficult for me. i can do it well, but i must suffer more to get results. cars and food are very easy to draw.

for my own company that i am starting, visual homage, it is good because i WANT to be typecast as the guy who draws awesome cars. if you need any help developing your story visually, post here and i will drop in to help.

there is a new film coming out, "stealth," that i worked on. i storyboarded many of that films action sequences.

[simdel1]

Originally Posted by bonzelite

if you need any help developing your story visually, post here and i will drop in to help.

there is a new film coming out, "stealth," that i worked on. i storyboarded many of that films action sequences.

thanks! i really appreciate your input. its going to be a steep learning curve, but i think i'll enjoy it.

i'll see if i can watch that film.

[knightvision]

@ simdel: the closer look at the lotus is great. Awesome reflections.



@bonzelite: Yeah this plane looks pretty good so far. I guess it's this one right?



*illustration by bonzelite*

Hope this move comes to Germany!