Cartooning 101

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bupaje
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Cartooning 101

Post by bupaje »

Figured I'd start a thread to be able to ask some questions about cartoon art.

1. How do you decide what level of detail to draw objects in? Aside from some simple pencil toons most of my recent drawing has been in trying to achieve photoreal type textures. I see several neat animations here where a lot of the items like background buildings, trees and even the buildings are relatively simple -in some cases just a hint of the outline without the internal complexity of drawing every detail.

Is this just a stylistic thing or are there some general rules? I started last night to draw the front of a building I want to use in an animation and over the course of a few hours I eventually got off track and making it more and more 'real.'

I am just going to show the walk to the building, up the stairs and in the doors -if anything the doors will be the main focus with enough detail to to let them know it is a museum; I guess I don't really need to draw every brick but trying to figure out what I details should draw and which don't need that detail is tough.

2. Color? Similar issue with color. Trying to decide how to 'simplify' the color or move away from the photoreal type art but still have that rich style I see here and elsewhere. I guess some of this is just innate style but if there are any general tips I'd welcome hearing them.
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stephen
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Post by stephen »

I'll answer question 1 with respect to Art in general, I'll leave it to others to answer with respect to Cartoon Art.

One thing I can say for certain is there should be less detail in an object that is in the distance than an object that is close up. This is one of the depth cues for vision. Also objects in the distance should have softer edges, and their colors should be colder. Objects close up should be more detailed, have sharper edges and relatively warmer colors.

As for how this applies to Moho, I can not say with certainty, since I have not tried this yet. My gut feelining is that I don't think you can draw an object detailed for closeup and simply scale it back to the distance for distance shots. I don't think that all the detail that should dissapear will dissappear automatically. So it may not work to draw one version of a building that you zoom up to, or move the camera closer to as your character walks towards it. You may need to draw two versions of the building and blend from one to the other as you move closer. You can animate changes in color in Moho, and I believe that animating Layer Blur can give the effect of edges sharpening up.

Stephen
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cribble
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Post by cribble »

stephen wrote: One thing I can say for certain is there should be less detail in an object that is in the distance than an object that is close up. This is one of the depth cues for vision. Also objects in the distance should have softer edges, and their colors should be colder. Objects close up should be more detailed, have sharper edges and relatively warmer colors.
I think that backgrounds should be simple and nothing too interesting, otherwise it could take the focus away from the main character. But to make the colours more colder or washed out might make the animation have a certain mood... even if its meant to be a funny cartoon, so i don't really agree on washing out the backgrounds unless you you're trying to create a mood. But i do like the idea of making the objects close up more sharper and envolved, I wouldn't mind trying this out sometime.
--Scott
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bupaje
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Post by bupaje »

Thanks you both for the feedback. I think I can probably simulate that less to more detail using additional layers for the close up details and then fading them in as I approach. Mmmmm... now that's an idea for Moho, its got 2D bones and particles, maybe it will get 2D LOD (level of detail). ;)

I think I also can just draw more detailed close up of door as you suggest and cut to that from base of stairs -guess I don't have to show every boring step up the staircase.

I also think I can try the color thing though it might be easier if I add a 'color correction' layer on top of each layer and use the layer options and opacity of this layer to gradually make the underlying layer brighter/dark etc as I approach or retreat.

I found a reference to a book on the net as soon as I realized that backgrounds are called layouts; anyone have any experinece with this book or this author?


Animation Background Layout: From Student to Professional
by MIKE S. FOWLER
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