Visual Storytelling

STORY TELLING

I started exploring story boarding in 2013, and then picked it up again in 2014...I don't see films in the same way anymore! It's my favourite aspect of art exploration so far - it is all about visually communicating an idea, and essentially comes down to problem solving..

There are many aspects to this. Sometimes you are working from a script (not shown here), and sometimes you need to come up with a story on your own...

Miles to go before I sleep.

Brief 1: Hulk vs Superman. One has to win. Tell the story.

Brief 2:  girl unwilling to go to school until she gets her coffee. I expanded that to include moments of exaggerated drama that is characteristic of this girl.

Color scripts are another way to visualize your story. This one was done in pastels and illustrates the  tragic story of Lucy Gray.

A new perspective

Formal training

Formal training helps in laying down a foundation, but it is practice that strengthens it...There's no secret to great drawing skills, as I have come to learn...it's a lot of hardwork - are you up for it?!

No study of art is complete without understanding perspective. When I first explored this  formally, I was also playing around with Sketchbook pro for the first time...so, you should probably excuse the hatching and grey tones!!

Observational drawing

Drawing from life is a great way to get that mileage into your art...Also, it's a great place for ideas for the future -

 Let the world inspire you! Observational drawing from life is a great way to get inspiration , and hone your drawing skills.

 The challenge is to try and capture a face or a gesture within a few seconds, it helps you look out for the most defining characteristics of that person or pose...

 day out with other artists

 children playing

  from a festival in rancho cordova last summer..

Designing characters - going back to basics

Process is important - you dont arrive at a design without taking those baby steps first.

Start from the basics

Here you see paper cut outs, and left hand scribbles leading to the top-left design - going back to basics to get a fresh design.

Here's my initial process while designing a game show host and an audience member

Just to clarify - these dragons were done before the dragon movies came out - I was tired of seeing people draw the same old fire breathing evil, snake like dragons around me..In my world, they'd be more varied...side note : I loved the How to Train Your Dragon movies!

Here's the boy that appears in the above shot - a little more fleshed out....

Evolution

Just like we evolve, our characters evolve through the process of design:

Story telling through your characters is a great way to understand them!

Exploring expressions

When you are satisfied with the character, explore their expressions and develop a chacter model sheet. here's one sheet from an original design of mine: the feedback was that the glasses are probably too difficult to animate, but I liked the fact they had a persona that reflected the character's moods..

Nikhil's art journey

Dabbling in watercolors and pastels - the beginning.