Welcome folks with another great tutorial with me Mitali P. Just to let you know that  I’d be joining the Bramhaa team from today to share some things that I have learned on my way with you…  I am a student of character animation and sometimes I draw as a personal hobby.

It has been a long and tedious way till here, but let me tell you this… every result is worth it, so pack your backpacks and join me on the adventures we’re gonna have!

… Now,   Did you ever have this idea/character roaming in your head for too long, how you wish you could only draw it to life? but only if you had this secret ingredient to make it…
I searched far and wide for this secret ingredient until I saw Kung fu Panda.. [there is no secret ingredient to it]  it’s just practice and perseverance!

So long Miss talk it…. where to start? ?

#1 Passion…
”B- But I thought….”      I can almost see your faces in amazement.. Yupp! neglected and left aside… a fuel that’s gonna light your fire when you’re down.. you have to burn for it, you have to crave for it!  you can’t sleep without it!

#2 Exposure…
Read, see, observe.. what’s worth taking.. what’s around you.. what’s in you. Watching blogs and sites such as deviant art.com can really start you up and start with a strong basic foundation of what you wanna do, you have to know where you want to reach up to…

Tip: make folders.. like guns, girls, armor, villain etc for references
Tip: make an deviant art account.

#3 Practice and dedication…
So you’re ready, eh?  Are you? Then be ready to take hundreds and thousands of critiques and be able to carry on… be there to practice.. nothing comes easy especially art, be ready to be criticized till the point that you crave for critics… so you thought criticism was a bad word, eh?
But there are certain myths that I’d like to bust before I move on..

You can draw if it’s in your genetics… duhh
Many a times I hear people saying, ” Oh she can draw well , you see her father and grandfather’s an artist…”  I have never heard such a thing being an obstacle for anyone, sometimes being able to see someone draw can be helpful but it’s almost helpful as watching a fire miles away and getting warmth from it.. remember Birbal kids?

It’s too hard
Yeah, it’s not hard but little by little, everyday you will do it.. don’t let go.. if I post some of my earlier works.. you’ll all gather round and laugh at me! [so I'll not post it]

You see, I’m not creative kind of person…
Do you remember scribbling away happily when you were a kid.. but something happened.. at some point your logical brain said.. it doesn’t look like I want it to be… I won’t draw anymore!! yeah that’s what happened…Grab the pencil/eraser, bring back the child within you and start with us!
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The numero Uno!
Scribble your way to top!

Start with some paper and pencil sit in a comfortable position and get ready to scribble!!

Scribbling is something like doodling.. but with more concentration and defined shapes.

All you have to do is free your hand on paper and get used to the pencil..most of the times my hands and wrists would hurt , so I think this strengthens the hands, wrists and fingers as well draw anything.. shapes, sizes, and curves and straight lines, of course!

Avoid doing this..

Avoid scratching...

Avoid anything that is not rhythmic… I know this is obvious but many of them do it..

Your pad should look something like this..
circles, curves, lines, rhythm, ovals..and curls

something like this.. but you can add your shapes as you like...

Not only you enjoy this... it's a good exercise

This is more like a warm up before an exercise, and it will get better.. try to get those circles as circly as possible… exact and of same shape.. these dudes are gonna do magic for us later..

As I know.. this exercise is to be continued till the end of your life if you’re an animator..don’t get disappointed, just imagine your idol such as Jackie Chan or Rocky Balboa training, this is your training…

Remember to warm up before every drawing that you make… it will improve your quality and confidence in drawing strokes …

Now try varying the stroke pressures as you move on…
something like this:

Try to get control over your strokes and imagine the stroke on paper before drawing

try with lines.. try with curves..

Tip : try not to get carried away with other thoughts and let your circle become misshapen lumps or whatever!

Oh you like it, don’t you!

That’s it for today, the most basic but a magic ingredient for a strong foundation in drawing!
Hope to see you scribbling, guys!

Please feel free to add any comments and critiques.. this is a way of showing that it has helped you in some way…

You can check Mitali’s Blog and her works here

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You might have heard that, drawing not at all will matter in 3D animation as it have ready models and all. But let me tell you one thing, if you wanted to be the studio Animator (one,who makes animation films or series)  you need to learn drawing skills and it is very much necessary for your career to progress.

Don’t loose your hope because, I wanna tell you something about me that, I was the worst in drawing in my school. After that when I joined engineering college, my engineering drawing made me habit of scale and pencil and from then I thought it would be impossible to draw free hand for cartoons. But then I came to know the some books of masters which taught me some basic fundamentals and tricks in drawing which made my drawing possible. In just 2-3 days of reading and practicing  my skills in drawing increased dramatically. And you know what ? – I am sure you’re better than me.

But, where do We need it in 3-D ?

Well, Its not about 2D or 3D or any other dimensional graphic, its about expressing your visualizations to communicate. Drawing is language to animators where they can share their ideas and improve it on paper first then it goes to computer graphics. Your visualization can’t directly drafted in computers, it needs to be drawn on paper first.

For 2 D artists, it takes 1440 drawing frames for a one minute scene in the classical animation, but now these softwares like flash creates automated in betweens which reduces tons of drawings in computer graphics.

For 3 D artists, also they don’t need to draw  each scene, just to express your visualization first on paper, makes it best and improved one in computers. You need to draw very few times, but keep in mind that even a rough drawing skill will improve your ability to visualize and produce best of your work.  Also modelers in 3D needs drawing frequently, not the animators.

Okkkaaayee, So where to begin now ?

Oh, come on don’t be afraid that, you have to draw, You’ll have fun, trust me.(You can kill me if you would not enjoy it !!!)

So you have to begin with following books :

How to draw New Style Retro Characters – by Christopher Hart

This is a small book which teaches you some of the basics and advance drawings in Retro style cartoons (e.g. Kimpossible, and Ben Ten ) which are mostly used in computer drafted 2D animation.

How To Draw Anime For Beginners (Muto – Anime )- by Le Trung

another outstanding book which teaches you to draw Japanese named Muto Anime or Magna cartoons  (e.g Dragonball Z) which are very famous for their actions and detailed drawings. You can even learn advanced techniques for drawing in it.

For Classical Animation of Disney : You can refer ‘Animators Workbook’ by Tony White , and best Animation book ever – ‘Disney  Illusion of Life’. These books also have some principles of animation and drawing which increases your theoretical knowledge too.

But first I suggest You to go through the above two books, which increases your drawing quality and confidence. After that if you wish you can refer these for Disney books.

So that’s how the way leads for you and drawing is your next task to do, to  reach the Hollywood Studios’.

Visualize -> Draw -> Create ->Animate – And this where the complete joy of Animation resides.

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