Chapter 2 Assignment
Chapter 2 Assignment
This lesson is premium only. Join us in the full course!
7:36

Fundamentals of Character Design

Chapter 2 - Designing From Life

Chapter 2 Assignment

936
For this chapter, start by filling your sketchbook with 5 to 10 pages of figure drawings. Really practice experimenting with shape and form and applying design elements. From there, do another 5 to 10 pages of coffee shop sketches. Design the form from what you’re seeing, and don’t forget to add to what you see. Finally, design the adjective “depressed” using only curves. You should end up with an ambiguous, undefined form that still describes a personal narrative.
Newest
Jason Hald
27d
@reza_jozani
@neir
8mo
Here’s reference pic with the drawing
Mark Bustin
Hey @David Colman hope you're well! Design From Life 3.0; Focusing on all of your feedback, with extra attention paid to the balancing of straights and curves. I can clearly see now that knowing the real human figure will bring out better cartoon characters, 100%; during this round of work I experienced many design problems where I wish I knew the figure better so I could solve them easier. I think I'm getting it :) but I'd love to hear your thoughts, cheers! PS. I got a bit carried away rendering some of these designs, I promise I wasn't falling in love with my work, I was just excited because my designs were looking cooler lol. Also, those are pool cues... I imagined those characters as opponents in a pool tournament haha Thanks
@nothanks
1mo
These are really great. I especially like the weight lifting guy.
Marco Sordi
Love it!!
Mark Bustin
Hey @David Colman, here's my re-submission for this chapter's assignment. I wrote down your feedback on stickynotes, stuck them in front of me while I studied and drew, and rewatched Chapter Ones' 'What Is Design?' lecture with more focus. I've been studying J.C. Leyendecker's anatomy from his book and have found a lot of inspiration from Carter Goodrich in particular, but also Bill Pressing, Hans Bacher, and Brandon Ragnar Johnson. I think I've improved but what do you think? I would love a critique, cheers!
David Colman
Some nice flow and simple silhouettes but lacks balance of straight and curves even the work you are inspired by has some evidence of curve and straight balance. Pressing is very curve but he has structure in those curves that I am not seeing in your form design here. And watch your balance- push your shapes but make sure there is a balanced relationships between your exaggerated shapes. Pilot above A is falling over and B all you did was add a larger head but look at how he feels top heavy and his torso and legs are same height. You have to counter one push with another. Hope this helps...
Mark Bustin
And finally, my attempt to design the adjective depressed using curves. I had a few goes at this. I'm thinking of it as heavy and hanging. I tried to add some movement in there to make it seem as if it was trying to escape itself. And also some overlapping areas to try and get a sense of sheltered and scared. I'd love to get a critique on how I went with this exercise, the way I thought about it, and the design elements I used to convey it. Thanks :)
Mark Bustin
My coffee shop sketches for this week. They were all done at the beach or park so lots of sunglasses this time round. I definitely feel I'm gaining traction with these but still very much a 'you win some, you loose some' kind of situation at the moment, so some I love and some I'm like, oh dear that is a bad drawing lol. I know for sure from these I need to study the face more, when it comes to making up ears, mouths, and noses after the person I'm drawing has disappeared, I always draw the same basic things Would love a critique on how I'm going :)
Mark Bustin
Hi @David Colman here's my Design from Life figure drawings for this lessons assignment. I'm striving for good design and energy as you've described in the videos, trying to capture the movement and really feel the pose. I would love a critique on how I've done and way's to improve. Cheers! :)
David Colman
Good draftsmanship but lacking form design. Too worried about contour and not thinking about how you layer your shapes together. Use of more overlaps and try finding a shape vocabulary that speaks to you. Definitely something that at least introduces some contrast like straight against curve. The drawings are good but lacks in form design. You have the basics now design those forms- look at how JC Leyendecker designs his anatomy...
Sita Rabeling
Figure drawings from a live drawing session, with elements of crossed/open, straight/curved/triangle, high/low. All poses less than 10 min, in the 4th image 1 or 2min. (The coffee shop sketches I would have to do another time.) Last drawing is the 3rd part of the assignment: the adjective ‘depressed’ expressed only with curved lines.
Jesper Axelsson
I haven't taken this class, but since these are figure drawings, I thought you might appreciate reading this reply https://www.proko.com/s/rV2c, and what it led to and the critique after that https://www.proko.com/s/xr6J Cheers!
Linus Lehmann
Here is my submission for the week two homework. The first pictures are the design-figure-drawing-attempts. I found it quite difficult, but it helped me to think more about design. The next one are my depressed shapes. The last twelve drawings in brown and blue are some sketches of people in the city. This week i would walk arround and whenever i saw someone interessting, i would try to memorize as much as possible. Then i searched for a place where i could sit down, and then i would draw them. This week i took more time on each city-drawing, trying to give thought to every detail, trying to implement some design rules. I think they turned out a lot better than the ones from last week. I am very happy with the course, and very exited and motivated to start with week three tomorrow. Any feedback would be highly appreciated.
@carlwatkins567
If anyone needs figure references to draw I use a website called quickposes, it has a lot of good stuff https://quickposes.com/en Also line of action is another good one: https://line-of-action.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing It might help with the assignments
@emmahubner
For these I did a mix of digital and traditional media. It was fun to do the only curves “depressed” artwork. Any feedback is appreciated, thank you!
Brandon De Garay
I was feeling great doing the abstract sad forms, it was just going with the flow and I loved it
Antonina Babicheva
Hey! I've finally completed the 2nd assignment: 1)Figure drawing without (or almost) design as a warm-up 2)Figure drawing+design based on it 3)Depressed shapes 4)Sketching from life, photos and videos. I have a problem with sketching from life: I'm kinda slow, I can't observe and design at the same time (+super shy). @David Colman do you have any advice on how to practice this skill (I mean, something extra to just go practice :))? 
David Colman
Looking great. Honestly there is no magic answer. It comes with time. Just focus on capturing the natural gesture and acting... Then later go back in and try to design from that observation sketch. Over time you will be able to design characters from life on the spot. Eventually you will get over the shyness but it takes some time.
Bokdan0
3yr
Hi, I have completed my second assignment and I'd like to ask you for feedback. I'm still very fresh in traditional art and feel a bit more confident digitally. 
David Colman
great
Matt West
3yr
Here are the rest of the drawings from the Chapter 1 assignment.
Matt West
3yr
Here are 10 out of the 16 pages that were from the Chapter 1 assignment. What I had used for this assignment, was graphite, gel pen, and non-photo blue colored pencil.
Samuel Lemons
Here is the rest of the assignment.
Samuel Lemons
Sorry about posting in the wrong tab.
Bokdan0
3yr
@David Colman Hello. You have mentioned that you will upload references for figure drawing but I can't find them in this course. Can you please take a look at this problem and check if they are uploaded?
David Colman
Hi. Unfortunately this is a re release of an online course and those materials are not provided at this time. Apologies for any inconvenience. It really is just referring to models and going out and drawing from life. That type of reference is available from many different sources - online and in person
Use Code BLACK20 to Save 20%
Full course
You will be given unexpiring access to watch the videos online .
View course details
Give a gift
Give a gift card for art students to use on anything in the Proko store.
Or gift this course:
About instructor
Illustrator working in film as a designer and storyboard artist- known as the "animal guy" for my passion for doodling animals. insta @davidsdoodles
Help!
Browse the FAQs or our more detailed Documentation. If you still need help or to contact us for any reason, drop us a line and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!