Sunday, January 16, 2011

Sunday Stretch Sketch


Warming up this Sunday morning. I've got a lot of kids to draw this month.  Here's a simple exercise to do. Help vary the shapes of your characters. Shape and posture- gesture and tilt help convey character. Angles- softness- it all helps quickly communicate personality in cartoons.

I made a grid- and then with out any thought- any planning- scribble in some shapes. Then make someone out of each shape.  Think about who you know- celebrities - hairstyles - clothing - flip thru a magazine. But don't look at anything when you do it. This is just an exercise. Nothing need be perfect. These certainly aren't. It's about being loose and letting go. Use the force Luke.

Colleen Madden and I must be psychically linked. She was doing the same thing this week.
Colleen's blog of fun stuff!

Further proof that it's good to fool around. Draw for fun. You don't need a final product- always.

14 comments:

Andi Butler said...

Fab! Great idea to loosen up, I'll try these. Thanks Girl!

a : )

Diandra Mae said...

Shut the front door. Tell me you did NOT take that yearbook design job!

I love your kiddos, though. You are so good at people!

Kelly Light said...

Gah! no! I have a leveled reader that takes place in a school

Amy Farrier said...

Kelly, you are such a master at this! Love all these different characters. And I'll definitely try this out, since it's one of the skills I need to work on.

Kelly Light said...

Amy- you're such a beautiful designer- I want to see yours!

Joy Steuerwald said...

Um, Hello, these are AWESOME!! So reminds me of exercises we did in my animation classes in college. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Girl, you've got MAD skills! I can tell you have so much fun drawing cartoons and are great at creating different, unique characters full of life! You really inspire me, Kelly. Thanks!

Kelly Light said...

Thanks Joy!! - I wanna go back to animation school!

Anonymous said...

These are all SO awesome. You pull off such wonderful expressions and they really come out of the character really adding so much and tell a story.

Jenn Bower said...

Really great idea and post. They all look fab. I love your characterization.

Diandra Mae said...

Whew! Mucho relief. :) I can't wait to see some of the art! Yay for readers!

Angela Matteson said...

Excellent! I love this idea for creating variety. I need to try this muy pronto!

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

So Cool with a capital "C"! I really gotta try this exercise during my surgery recoup period coming up. Thank you!!!!!!!

Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

Leeza Hernandez Illustrator said...

These are excellent - what a great idea for an exercise. I might have to give this a try. I'm always doodling the same old poses and shapes. Thanks for sharing Kellers!

elizabeth said...

This is an excellent exercise. I might give it a try sometime soon. Thanks for the inspiration!