In modeling design, because of the creator's accomplishment, his own quality and his grasp of the story, the characters he painted often have some obvious personal colors. Only after communicating with other crew members, especially after listening to the director's explanation of the film, will some new ideas come into being. In the design of character modeling, we usually divide it into two steps: first, the stylist creates it himself, that is to say, when we get the modeling task, we should study the script ourselves, grasp the key characters in the play, and find out some factors of the modeling in the play, especially the development of the story and the fate of the characters. It should be said that the creator of character modeling must be familiar with the script. In other words, after the creator is familiar with the script, he must first draw a sketch and submit it to other members of the crew for discussion, especially to the director for review. After the director expresses his views on modeling, the stylist will carry out secondary creation or secondary processing, and the secondary creation and processing will be revised, mainly to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses and correct his own shortcomings in understanding the characters in the play. For example, in Tom and Jerry's cartoons, what we see is the cuteness of the mouse and the stupidity of the cat, that is to say, these two characters have clearly distinguished their personalities in modeling design. The mouse we see is a very ugly impression in life, but in Tom and Jerry's cartoon, we see the image of the mouse as very kind, very smart and very brave, and it can save the day and get twice the result with half the effort. Where's the cat? It just has the opposite effect to mice. So hundreds of episodes of Tom and Jerry make audiences all over the world never tire of watching it, which is also its success. In addition, in our domestic cartoon "Three Monks", we will also find that the characters' modeling is very successful. For example, among the three monks, we can see that the tall monk is thin, a little hunched and has small eyes. You can tell at a glance that there are many bad ideas, while fat monks are short and short. When we see the shape, we will think of his clumsiness, his fierce posture and his cunning. When we see the young monk, we will be recognized by his innocence, his cuteness and his simplicity. Therefore, in the plot development of three monks carrying water until there is no water to eat, and everyone goes to put out the fire when there is a fire, the audience sees not only the development of a story, but also three living characters, that is, three personalities. These three characters are just like the director Ada said: "Without the role design of Mr. Han Yu, there would be no success of the three monks today." This shows the importance of character modeling in cartoons. In the ink cartoon "Little Tadpole Looking for Mom", we can also see that Mr. Qi Baishi's Chinese painting art comes alive in the cartoon. Although it is only a few black and white paintings, it shows us the cuteness of tadpoles and the kindness of frogs. Therefore, the design of some characters in comics is the key link in the early creation of comics.
In the process of creating some animation shapes, we must pay attention to other influences and other links. In the process of cartoon character modeling design, we must pay attention to the accumulation of life when studying, and learn to absorb nutrition from other art categories and increase knowledge. For example, in our Peking Opera art, we can learn how to draw lessons from the influence of Peking Opera art by classifying the facial makeup of Peking Opera characters. We can also absorb nutrition through folk art "shadow play", through the movements of some characters, the shapes and colors of characters, and some very humorous dialogues. This way of nutrient absorption is essential, and there will be a qualitative leap with the accumulation of quantity. Especially now that computers have entered thousands of households, we can see the latest works in the world online, which is a good condition for our artistic accumulation. For example, Toy Story in the United States and Dunk in the Air with live action and animation. In these films, we can see that their characters have very distinctive characteristics, that is to say, they meet the requirements of the role, so that we will associate with his image when we see it. Because the audience is mainly or mostly children, we can't ignore this factor and create at will, but also distinguish it according to our audience level, that is, their appreciation habits. If we design without considering the audience's appreciation habits and needs, then no matter how artistic and novel your formal style is, it will not have a good effect. Of course, character modeling is constant, but it is ever-changing. Just like the American movie Mulan in 1998, others borrowed some characteristics and colors from the East, including the design of characters' movements. Therefore, the character modeling is not completely centered on his own preferences, and he should also create from the characteristics and characteristics of the characters in the play. In addition, animated films can be roughly divided into two types: art films and commercial films. What we talked about earlier is mainly commercial films, while plastic arts are often diluted in pure art films, that is to say, some plays have no plot at all, his modeling is incoherent and sometimes absent, and his modeling is random, which is the inspiration generated in the process of improvisation, so for cartoons like this, we mainly grasp the special significance of the film, and the special form has special feelings.
In our research, commercial animation modeling design is a key link in our research on modeling design. Only by mastering the rules of role modeling design can we become a qualified creator of animation role modeling design. Therefore, only by understanding this creative law can we create cartoons as a whole and make them more personalized and artistic. Exaggeration and deformation have been widely used in ancient paintings, such as the flying of Dunhuang murals, the splash of ink by Liang Kai in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the figures of Badashan people in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. As for the shadow play, puppet, paper-cut and woodblock New Year pictures in China folk art, due to their production,
Today, the main features of animation modeling are exaggeration and deformation, which are completely different from those in previous art forms. Here, exaggeration and deformation can make the characters (or animals) in the painting more vivid, more typical and full of emotion, and have the function of strengthening narrative and emotional expression, as well as the exaggeration of head, expression, body, clothing and movements, and even the exaggeration of environmental mirrors and natural phenomena. According to the creator's idea, the natural form is modified and deformed, and in the visible rhythm, an exaggerated and vivid form is pursued. In short, it is to give full play to artistic imagination and creativity, thus shaping an artistic image with formal beauty and ideal beauty, and making it more novel and unique.
The appearance of the concept of modeling design
The frontal design of character modeling is the conception of the whole character image in the script, and it is also one of the important tasks of the creation of lens visual representation.
Characters generally refer to people who are representative or have outstanding talents and wisdom, or refer to people's appearance, manner and spirit. In comics, it refers to a typical character with special personality in a concrete environment composed of people and things. Typical characters are the main body and core of artistic images in the lens, and characters and events are important factors in cartoons. Most cartoons depict characters, shape characters, reflect social life and see through the connotation of scripts by describing characters, their activities and their relationships. An excellent cartoon has successfully created typical characters, reflecting the social life in a certain historical period or the nature of a biosphere. A perfectly designed character image will be a typical cultural carrier of individuals or groups in cartoons and the key to the ultimate success of the film.
The design of figurative characters is based on literary scripts, and is conceived and created according to the typical characteristics and requirements of the characters' professional identity, age, appearance, class attributes, national customs, cultural accomplishment, personality and emotion, and the temporal and spatial changes of stories.
The overall image design of the characters should conform to the authenticity of the script and life, the scene and personality characteristics of the characters stipulated in the story, the modeling style of the lens space mirror, the law of comic creation and the unique technical requirements of comics.
While conceiving the overall artistic image of the characters, designers should put the characters in the overall artistic design of the whole film (that is, the director's creative intention) and the spatial modeling design of the lens ring mirror, and draw the scale diagram, perspective views from various angles, facial expressions, hairstyles and so on. , design typical trends, design clothes, hats, shoes and socks, decorative items, personal props and other specific images.
The design of character modeling should not only have the surface and external image content of the character, but also have the hidden inner content of the character's thought and temperament. At the same time, the characters in cartoons have the artistic characteristics of cuteness, funniness, temperament and humor.
Designers should also fully consider its commercial value when designing modeling, so that modeling can become a symbol of goods, and toy R&D and production will lay the foundation for future diversified development.
The main basis of role modeling design
1, life prototype, material observation.
2, animation theme, genre, style, style, etc.
3. The overall artistic conception of the director and the written image provided by the screenwriter.
4. Various factors of characters, such as age, occupation, gender, identity, nationality, economic status, mental state, beauty and ugliness of mind, and fate of life.
5. Development and market research
Third, the characteristics of character modeling design
Modeling design is in harmony with nature, and modeling design should be very realistic in realistic cartoons. Because there are often some close-ups in cartoons, even facial muscles trembling, frightened eyes and some details of headdresses and necklaces will be shown to the audience through lens images. Therefore, the design of modeling should be nuanced.
In the process of cartoon production, the relationship between characters and shots is multi-angle, including detailed close-ups in specific situations. Therefore, the image needed for animation design should be the main shape in all aspects. Including the head, face, waist, hands, feet and even other parts of the human body, should be designed according to the personality characteristics of the characters, emphasizing the whole-part-whole.
The world in comics is constantly changing. The intensification of contradictions and conflicts and the reversal of characters' changeable fate and future all cause different reactions of characters' internal factors and different changes of external forms. Normal physiological movements and some abnormal physiological movements in cartoons are reflected by the movements (morphological changes) of modeling in cartoons, which requires designers to fully consider when designing modeling.
The costumes worn by characters in cartoons are not only an important means of role modeling design, but also an important part of role modeling design. Character costumes can directly reflect the identity, age, professional habits, hobbies and other characteristics of characters, and show the specific national characteristics, regional characteristics and the flavor of the times of cartoons. The style, color and decoration of clothing must be unified with the tone of the space environment and meet the requirements of the script, so as to realize its significance and value in the overall artistic effect of cartoons.
A shot picture is generally a group of pictures under dynamic conditions, including the time-space transformation of the picture, the change of rhythm, the composition characteristics, the expression of modeling language and so on.
While understanding the style and color of clothing, the design should also strengthen the contrast relationship of clothing on the basis of mastering the style and color, that is, the overall contrast relationship between main characters, protagonists and supporting roles, individuals and groups, and groups and groups. The most important thing is the comprehensive contrast relationship between clothing style and materials, clothing complexity, lightness, simplicity, elegance and vulgarity, tradition and modernity, illusion and reality.
All kinds of contrast relations of figure costumes have unique visual and artistic characteristics, and all have unique connotations and expressive significance. Designers should also communicate with directors, scene designers and draft designers, so that they can master this basic means and apply it to the scheduling of shots and characters in the moving state. Strengthening this contrast in the process of time-space transformation is very beneficial to the characterization of characters and the participation of the audience, and it is also the key to grasp the style and quality of the whole film.
Fourth, the design of personal props
When we appreciate cartoons, we can often see plots and items directly related to the characters that the characters carry or hold or appear in other ways. They often enter the scene synchronously with the characters, telling not only the things around the protagonist, but also themselves. Even when the image of the protagonist no longer exists in the picture, objects continue their lives. These items are often called "props" carried by characters. Props can not only show the status and interests of the characters, but also symbolize their hearts. They can portray characters in many ways and at many levels, and they can become "materialized" roles of people who don't play.
Props come from life and are essential basic means and conditions for human survival. They are either tools for human beings to struggle between heaven and earth, or weapons for self-defense and firearms that infringe on others, or handicrafts to decorate their bodies, or daily necessities necessary for human life. Personal props often appear in the world of lens modeling. With its beautiful modeling, concise application and common appearance, personal props participate in the material life and spiritual life of characters, and are also very typical daily utensils.
There are many kinds of personal props, which can be divided into metal, cloth, paper, animals, medicine, porcelain and jade, leather, electronics and so on. According to the system, it can be divided into pure practical class and decorative class. Pure practical props are associated with the surface of the object, which has the dual functions of depicting the expression of characters and rendering the atmosphere of the environment. Decorative props not only have practical value in life, but also directly participate in the contradiction between drama and emotion, which has important expressive force and unique aesthetic significance.
From this, we can see the obvious characteristics of props in three aspects:
The number of pieces is small, the volume is small and the types are diverse.
It has a strong flavor of life.
It has both practical value and aesthetic value on the screen.
At the same time, the design of personal props is also very important, not arbitrary. The design of personal props should be based on the scene specified in the script, the character characteristics of the characters, the character design of the stylist and the overall intention of the director, and also conform to the characteristics and laws of the identity and life needs of the characters, with a strong sense of the times, history, national characteristics and regional characteristics.
Props are closely related to the plot of the characters, and the straightforward and implicit modeling language sometimes directly affects the lens play. Therefore, designers attach great importance to the modeling design of props, strive to cultivate the overall modeling consciousness of characters, strengthen long-term life accumulation and cultural accomplishment, and study the creative law of animation modeling art, so that the point, line and painting of modeling become an organic whole.
Section 1 Realistic Modeling Design
When we do animation modeling design, we should first determine the style of the film, first understand the characters in the script, then refine and summarize the characters in the script, and then conceive from several angles.
Age of the characters: Because the age of the characters in an animated cartoon must be taken into account by the styling design institute, rather than drawn at will, in the process of learning from the styling design institute, we will see baby, child, teenager, adult, old, ignorant, clever, beggar, arrogant and so on in the following examples. Then, you must learn to exaggerate when you create. For example, in the paper-cut "Huluwa", the characteristics of Huluwa are very distinct. In addition to considering nationalization, the courage of Huluwa and these characteristics of children are vividly displayed. In the cartoon of Notre Dame de Paris, the image of "eccentric" is ugly in appearance but kind in heart, and hunchback is one of his external typical characteristics, so when we see his appearance, we mainly consider the typicality of this character, so most of us will see that the main characteristics of the positive role are elegance, kindness and handsomeness, which means that most of the characters in the cartoon appear in the form of Facebook. Realistic modeling design is often based on this, because realistic modeling is very common in conventional commercial cartoons. Of course, realistic modeling is also divided into two parts in our creative process. Some of them are purely realistic, such as the Japanese cartoon Princess Ghost and our domestic cartoon Miss Prairie Hero, including Snow White in the American movie Snow White. These characters are more realistic. This kind of modeling often has a prototype of a character in the process of creation, and the creator exaggerates and changes appropriately according to the prototype of a certain character. There is also a kind of modeling with realistic external characteristics, but they are all different from real people, such as hunchback of Notre Dame de Paris, making a scene in Heaven, the Lion King and so on, including the three-dimensional cartoon Toy Story. In this kind of modeling design, we still classify it as realistic modeling. Realistic modeling is often represented by realistic themes or science fiction themes. In the domestic TV series "Big Head Son and Little Head Dad", this big contrast between their father and son left a deep impression on the audience. This cartoon can arouse the audience's goodwill and get the audience's approval. The modeling design of the characters in the film also has his unique side. In the American film Beauty and the Beast, we can see that the image of beauty is more real. Through the protagonist's every move, of course, there is something in between in the modeling of an animation, which is both realistic and exaggerated. Let's take beauty and the beast as an example. The shape of the beast is a likeness. Although he landed on two legs, he still has the characteristics of an animal. Exaggerated shapes like this are also essential in comics. When we study realistic modeling, we must first respect the characters provided in the script, and we must play and create on the basis of the script. Realistic modeling is true and reliable, which conforms to the general appreciation habits of the audience, and can express the feelings of the characters in the script and expand the theme of the story. In addition to children, the main audience of animated films is adults with children, so its audience level often needs to take into account many aspects. In modeling design, it is often more realistic and realistic, and we should also respect the types of lazy, smart, stupid and cute people mentioned above to design realistic modeling. If we can see that a person is stupid by looking at his appearance, what are the characteristics of a stupid person? We tend to use a common feature. First, we are fatter. Because he is fat, it is inconvenient for him to move. Because the activities are inconvenient, it gives people a clumsy feeling. Secondly, stupid people often have small eyes. Because they are fat and have only one crack in their eyes, they are not very clever. And they tend to have big bellies, slow movements and underdeveloped brains. So a character like this often gives people a clumsy feeling after coming out. In the process of animation modeling design, we must follow its creative rules and rationally use the artistic creation rules to create animation, especially in character modeling design, to give full play to the role of creators.
Section 2 anthropomorphic modeling design
Anthropomorphic modeling design, we usually refer to those animated films with animal themes as the main theme, and some with plant themes as the main theme. It is based on some main characteristics of animals and endows some people with personality, even behavior and expression. The movies we saw included the lion in The Lion King, the beast in Beauty and the Beast, the snow child in the domestic animated film, the alien DuDu in the Adventures of Xixi Guagua, the rabbit and pig in Good Neighbor, and so on. The shapes in movies like this are all anthropomorphic. The so-called personification is to personify things or animals that are not people. Most of these films focus on children, because children like animals and animals are children's partners. Therefore, when we create this type of film, we should not only learn its laws, but also master the external characteristics of animals. For example, the difference between a horse and a donkey, an elephant and a camel, a monkey and an orangutan, and a big white rabbit and a big white bear, you have to learn to sketch yourself to grasp the law. After mastering the external characteristics of animals and humanizing them, we will see a living animal kingdom. We will see a wonderful world when animals are anthropomorphic or inanimate, and this exaggeration is often seen in animation creation. Therefore, anthropomorphic modeling design is something that we often involve in TV dramas, such as a stupid cat, a big-faced cat with a blue mouse, and a humming pig, all of which are anthropomorphic animals. The anthropomorphic modeling has the following characteristics: first, the modeling should have the obvious characteristics of animals; The second is to humanize the five senses, with emphasis on hands and face; Third, it conforms to people's normal appreciation habits. When designing anthropomorphic modeling, we often meet a designed figure, but find that its characteristics are not obvious. In this case, we mainly ignore other angles when designing character modeling, that is to say, we ignore some special changes in the external characteristics of the character during the movement, so we should learn to draw multiple angles when designing the modeling, including its back, side, three-quarters of its back, three-quarters of its side and even overlooking and looking up, its typical movements and typical expressions, which are all to be mastered in modeling design.
Section 3 freehand brushwork styling design
Freehand brushwork design, we mainly refer to some shapes with strong personality in comics, which we call art films. In this modeling, we don't insist on what it must look like. We just change the image of the film and give the audience some associations when the film is shown. This modeling factor is often integrated into animated films, and its modeling is often impromptu and random. These shapes are improvised in the process of film creation. For the design of freehand brushwork style, we often mainly grasp the overall style of the film. Most of the films of Canadian animation artist Mike Carralon are freehand brushwork style. This freehand design has appeared in the works of Ada, an excellent animation director in China, such as Thirty-six Characters. This design is very important, because of your accomplishment accumulation, artistic practice and unique understanding of movies.
Section 4 Steps of Role Modeling Design
After we got the script to analyze the characters and understand the plot, we started the specific drawing scheme of the character modeling design. When drawing, you should first choose the tools suitable for your own use, such as charcoal pen, pencil, writing brush, etc. And when choosing paper, you often choose something that can set off the picture effect. Of course, all these should be submitted to the director for approval after painting. When designing, it is best to draw some pictures and renderings suitable for the final completion. There are usually some light colors drawn with pen lines. After the tools are ready, you must sort out what you need to draw and its order, so that you can check yourself when you draw any link. For example, to understand the relationship between the protagonist and the supporting role in the story, play more and play less. In addition, animation modeling is the pursuit of simplicity, not what I like to draw. Because one more line in modeling will increase the workload for future work. For example, the American cartoon Tom and Jerry, we will find that their characters all use four fingers instead of five. Why? Just to save a line. So this also shows that the design is well-intentioned. If you don't master the rules of animation creation, there will be some difficulties in preaching when modeling, and the work will not be very successful in the end.
Human head design
When we design shapes, we must first distinguish the heads of characters. We know that the most important organs of human beings are concentrated in the head, and the head is the most difficult part of the whole human body to draw. Usually we don't look at people's limbs, but at their faces. Therefore, when we draw an avatar, we should master several main parts of it.
We usually use circles to create characters' heads. The circle is an image that people can understand at birth, and the circle is the most common and easy to master in all things. We temporarily summarize the head as a circle, and then draw the center line on the basis of this circle to distinguish the direction, volume and the main parts of the later modeling.
On the basis of the circle, the chin part can be distinguished. In the past modeling design, we often neglected the modeling of chin and simply replaced it with a circle, so that the animation image in the future was somewhat attenuated because the head was too single and the expression control was not rich enough. We tried to quote the characters in Mickey Mouse Donald Duck. We can see that his head is mainly a big circle, which mainly solves the part of the skull, and at the bottom of the skull, that is, the chin, he has another shape, so that when the chin speaks or makes special expressions, this irregular circle can be greatly deformed, thus making the expressions of the characters varied. When designing portraits, we should not only learn to observe each other with circles, but also pay attention to drawing five senses, such as eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, ears and even hair, which cannot be ignored. We should consider the gender and age of the character you draw, his weight and even his preference in the play, so as to make the shape clear at a glance, whether it is a scholar, a bookworm or other types. Only the more thoroughly you analyze the characters and understand their basic shapes can your character design succeed.
Second, the body design
Let's talk about the body part without the head, that is to say, after removing the hands and feet, you can see the arms and legs including the knees. Why do we say the body is a single part? Mainly because we pay too much attention to the characteristics of the head, thus ignoring the design of the body. When we design the body, we often draw empty pictures, and the sense of volume is very weak, especially when the characters are doing particularly big movements. If the shape design is not accurate, it is difficult for the original painter to show the specific scene and personality of the characters. General body design is divided into two parts, the upper part refers to the pelvis, including the chest and pelvis, and the arm includes the upper arm and the lower arm. In general modeling design, our action roles are usually designed to be long and short legs, with emphasis on the upper body. If we want to master this feature, why should we focus on the first half? Because we mostly use the top half when designing the lens, we should focus on the top half when designing the fuselage. If a body does not pay attention to its own posture characteristics and only considers the head design in the process of painting, it will feel top-heavy. We can see some good places from the modeling design of some characters, but there are also some shortcomings.