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2D character design workflows, Leyendecker did studies?! And updates on my Gumroad tutorial


Hey hey!

Incase you're new around here, I'm the guy on social media (specifically Instagram) that likes to share his learnings around art and character design.
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And below is my bi-weekly newsletter that includes:

  • Curated resources I've found useful around art / digital art and character design
  • Curated resources I've found useful around the art of learning how to learn
  • Thoughts / ideas I'm pondering
  • Behind the scenes of content creation
  • The occasional update on courses / tutorials

And if already knew that, great to have you back again!

Let's waste no more time and get stuck into it shall we?

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Resources

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Post (Facebook)-
The masters did studies as well! ​

This was an eye opening post about J.C. Leyendecker (one of my favourite illustrators) showing his 'behind the scenes' studies for one of the covers of the Saturday Evening Post.

I used to always think that masters just went straight for it and hit it right the first time, and although this may be true for some, it's nice to see the 'working out' behind his final.

Definitely worth a look.

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Post (IG Carousel) - Drawing over 3D models​

This is an awesome little post by another one of my favourite artists and character designers Shiyoon Kim of Big Hero 6, Into the Spider-verse, Zootopia you know... those little productions.

Here it shows how he gives feedback to the 3D modellers and Animators by drawing over a screenshot of the 3D model. Pay attention to his notes, I find them the most interesting.

I haven't seen this type of insight shared anywhere else and thought it was pretty cool!

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Post (IG) - More acting, less anatomy​
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This is a fantastic little post by Norm from Griz and Norm's IG.

He talks about how this is one of the things he has to remind himself of when storyboarding.

- "Don't slow yourself down by making everything nice"
- " Keep it loose, move forward. Revisit on a second pass"

This is a fantastic reminder for myself when it comes to gesture, as being too structural in the initial sketch phase is a habit I'm aiming to break.

If you haven't followed them yet, definitely one to watch. They're a husband a wife team that are feature animation artists at Walt Disney Animation Studio.

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Post (Facebook) - Straights and curves​

I love posts like this, very 'simple' (or so it looks) and many will keep scrolling. It's sometimes the subtle notes with the scratchy handwriting that bring the most value.

This one talks about when to use straights and curves showing arms and legs as examples.

Shape design is something I've been more conscious of lately. It's all well and good that I've got the anatomy feeling solid, but if the shapes are boring, what's the point!

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There's also some nice hand simplification to study from. One to throw into the 'character design reference' folder for sure.

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​Youtube Video - Stylised Character Workflow in Blender

If you're at all interested in getting in to 3D sculpting or modelling (as a 2D artist I think it's a fantastic idea if you are) and are particularly interested in Stylised 'Pixar' type characters then this is the video for you.

I watched this years ago when I first was starting to dabble in blender, and most of the things he mentioned were completely foreign to me, so if that is you right now, don't sweat it.

It's a complete overview of how Julien Kaspar (3D Artist / Crash Test Dummy @ Blender) takes a concept from idea to full production ready character model.

It's a 28 minute video and is a great watch to get a feel for the 3D workflow in Blender.
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I watched this as a refresher recently as I've begun to jump back into 3D and was surprised how much I understood/could actually utilise from this video compared to how I felt just a couple of years ago.

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Art study thoughts - Small, bite sized sandbox experiments

One thing I've been pondering as I've been diving back into the 3D sculpting/modelling world is if I were to start again, what would I have done to speed up the learning curve now I have a better understanding of things?

One thing would be to do smaller, bite sized experiments on different topics so as to grasp the concepts quickly and then use them in a larger effort.

For example...

If I wanted to understand how to texture paint, instead of first sculpting a full head, then trying to UV unwrap it, then trying to figure out where all the buttons/features for texture painting are, I would have instead just experimented on a sphere first to grasp the whole workflow quickly.
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Doing all that extra work kind of 'raised the stakes' in my mind which had me wanting to make less mistakes (mistakes are crucial when learning new things) and it also increased the complexity of what I was trying to learn.

Now this is just an example with learning 3D sculpting/modelling but I use this as a tool for any skill, artistic or otherwise.

Other art related examples where you could shorten the learning curve could be...

  • Anatomy - Focus on studying one bone, joint, muscle instead of the whole figure at once
  • Rendering - Make a sphere look like it's sitting in 3D space vs tackling a full body/head
  • Style - Identify one aspect of an artists style you like and apply that to a small study of your own (a hand, head etc)

Now I'm not talking about only doing small, bite sized studies forever, I just find it useful if I'm completely new to a topic, or it feels a little daunting.

After you've got a grasp of the thing at a manageable level, go wild! Utilise the new skill, idea or technique you've picked up on anything you want.

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Updates​

The launch is inching closer and you'll be the first to know before the public announcement!

A couple of notes on what's going to be included in my first every tutorial release...

  • 7+ hour walk-through video broken up into digestible chapters based on this IG post​
  • 40+ page Field Guide (PDF) that allows you to study away from the videos (something I personally like to do from time to time )
  • Original Character Illustration PSD file
  • The Walk-through PSD file
  • Procreate techniques video that maps to the ones shown in the walk through using Photoshop
  • The full original recording video (no voice-over)
  • Experimental bonus 3D modelled anatomy study images
  • limited time (**48 hours post-launch** Sketch Note Collection from Mar 2021 - Aug 2022 )

I'm thinking about doing a little launch stream as well to celebrate. Maybe a little live painting session could be cool!

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All my time is being spent getting this out asap and can't wait to hear what you think!

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Well, that's all from me!
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Hope you've been smashing your art goals recently.
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And as always, stay consistent, use reference, have fun with it and remember, it’s only pixels baybee!
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I'll see you in the next one.

Cheers, Ben

Learn my process for stylized digital art

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This is a 7+ hour real-time walk-through filled with actionable, in-context explanations of my thoughts and techniques.