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RELEVANCE OF CARTOON CARICATURE IN CHARACTER DESIGNING FOR ANIMATION

Shoubhik

Introduction : The dictionary defines caricature as a representation, especially pictorial or literally, in which the subject’s distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect.

Now, the key difference between caricature and drawing a portrait of someone is the intentional distortion or “EXAGGERATION” of the subject in caricature. Hence “EXAGGERATION” is the thing to look out for in caricature.

So, a more animation friendly definition of caricature is – It is the art of Exaggeration which helps the Artist to impart a certain “Humorous Quality” to his/her human/animal subjects and even to his/her background locales as well !

 

  • Visualising Caricatures : In order to do a good caricature you have to know and understand what it is you’re drawing! Look at pictures of people in magazines and look at your family photo albums. Stare at people (NOT OFFENSIVELY OFCOURSE !! HA HA !!) as you pass them on the street. Look at faces and see if you can visualize a caricature of that face. Study your subject and look at the face from as many angles as possible. This is why drawing from life – when the person being drawn is sitting right in front of you – is infinitely easier than drawing from a two-dimensional photograph. Being able to see the person “in the round” is best because you can get a “whole” sense of the person, rather than a two-dimensional sense that some photographer gives you. 

    So, the obvious conclusion is – it is the “Facial” or “Bodily” peculiarities of the subject that helps the artist to visualize the caricature of that particular subject.
  • How to approach Facial Caricatures : There is so much of diversity as far as human looks are concerned (Hats off to nature!!) and it is this diversity that constantly motivates the caricaturist to come-up with masterpiece caricatures of his subjects! Now, the steps involved in the process of caricature are as follows :-
  • Find as many photo-references as possible of your subject and try to get a sense of what they really look like. Notice the facial features in relation to one another, such as …

    a. Does the Hair recede and make the forehead look huge !
    b. Do they have an overbite and make the chin look small !
    c. Do their ears stick out unusually far from their head !
    d. Do their eyes seem too close together !
    e. Are their eyes horizontally aligned !
    f. Is their nose hooked or curved upward !

After this intense study of the subject’s facial peculiarities, try to visualize a completed caricature in your head !

Here is A Basic Question You May Be Asking :

How do I know which features to exaggerate on the face ?

  • How do I know which features to exaggerate on the face ?



Here’s an answer : You will know by looking at a face. If you have a mental picture in your head of what an “Average” face would look like, compare that face to the face you are looking at, and note the differences. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes the guy’s nose is just too large for his head. Or the ears are so large that she could flap them and fly away. Caricaturing isn’t always “Exaggeration”, it’s also minimizing features as well maximizing them. May be you are thinking “How can she be such a loudmouth with such a small mouth ?”

Look at the person and gauge the relative sizes of one facial feature. The features of the subject should only be compared to their own features. If you have two people in a drawing and the first person has a larger nose than the second person, don’t give the first person a large nose if he really doesn’t have one in relation to his own face.

Refrence Subject 

Subject Reference
 

Sketch Head :- 1. Capturing the Head of the Subject with Basic Construction Shapes
Head Sketch 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sketch Head :- 2. Then adding and exaggerating the facial peculiarities with all the details
Head Sketch 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Sketch Body :- 1. Capturing the body of the subject with basic construction shapes
Body Sketch 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sketch Body :- 2. Then adding and exaggerating the bodily peculiarities and also adding your own touch to enhance the humorous quality of the caricature
Body Sketch 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Final Rendered Caricature  !
Final Rendered Caricature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 to be contd.

 


 

PRE-PRODUCTION- FROM CONCEPT TO STORYBOARD & CHARACTER DESIGN

Hello Readers !  Here I am today to take you through the details & all the nuances of the pre-production stage of any 2D or 3D Animation Production. This is the stage where in a rough story idea gets refined, fine tuned & takes the shape of a script of a screen play first & then finally gets translated into mind-blowing visuals in the form of a storyboard. 

This is the stage where in the fate, the destiny of a certain animated feature or an animated TV show is determined whether it will click at the box office & earn millions of dollars or become a super hit or whether it will sink without any trace !

Let us talk about the first stage which is "STORY DEVELOPMENT " (i) 

Our Grandmothers will always be the everlasting inspiration for us the storytellers.

The way our grandmothers used to keep us mesmerised and also enchanted by their storytelling skills! Granny - World’s best storyteller.Her voice acting, voice modulations, acting out each & every character of the story for such sincere yet innocent purpose of entertaining her precious grand children !

As we all know for ages the great film makers around the globe have stressed that it’s the story that matters !

So, whenever we talk about stories we also end up pondering over its source or the inspiration behind.

 

Now on story source :-   One world renowned film maker has rightly said, - We don’t have to hunt for stories if we start peeping into our day to day lives, they are full of interesting stories !

I totally agree with him !
Just think, a visit to a grocery shop [ or in the present day shopping mall ] or a day at work or a sudden phone call from a long lost friend - 

Don’t you think, these rough ideas do’ve the potential to become wonderful stories & later on potential film scripts !

Well ! you know what it’s all upto the Pre-Production Artists.

So, now let’s understand how a rough story idea gets fine tuned & becomes a strong script - 
To understand that, we need to first understand the Story Framework
Let’s take 3 very simple subjects -
A Dog, it’s owner & a chocolate cookie - & try to weave a sensible story out of these subjects -

So, let our story be called - THE COOKIE THAT CHANGED IT ALL and the moral is - EXPLOITATION LEADS TO SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES !

 

SEED IDEA Cute Dog, gets ragged by it’s owner & ends up eating him up !

PREMISE What leads to what! An elaboration of the seed idea!

EXPOSITION Expectant Dog pleads for a tiny share from his master’s chocolate cookie, gets ragged badly, loses his...

CONFLICT The owner’s constant denial of his dog’s pleading & begging for a tiny share of the cookie !

CRISIS The eventual loss of the dog’s temper makes way for the next component which is -

CLIMAX Brings a turning point in the story .

 

Now when we consider story telling from the point of animation it is always the visual story telling as we are dealing with the visual [medium] that kind of sets the bench mark.

Rough S/B DEMO :- 

Characters are sketched out with the minutest of details in the script but in words one. Now to visualise the characters from the script we need some reference. And the only option left is to ACT THEM OUT. That’s where Acting & Dramatics come into play - for cartoon animation. It’s the exaggerated acting which actually creates the humour.

FROM A ROUGH STORY IDEA TO A FINISHED SCRIPT

THE INSPIRATION: Whenever we think of stories and storytellers our grandmothers will always be the everlasting inspiration. The way our grandmothers used to keep us enchanted, literary mesmerized by their storytelling skills will always have an everlasting impression on anyone belonging to the storytelling business. Their voice-acting skills, voice modulations and their acting out each and every character of the story will keep inspiring us, the animation story tellers for ages! 

THE SOURCE: Great filmmakers around the globe have always stressed that it is the story that matters! So when we talk about stories we also end up pondering over it’s source. One world renowned director has rightly said –

 “WE WILL NOT HAVE TO HUNT FOR STORIES IF WE START PEEPING INTO OUR DAY TO DAY LIVES,THEY ARE FULL OF INTERESTING STORIES!” 

 

I totally agree with him! Just think, a visit to a grocery shop or in a present day shopping mall or a day at work or even an unexpected phone call from a long lost friend…………………………………………

 

Donyou think these rough ideas do have the potential to become wonderful stories and later on really good film scripts! ? Well you know what in animation it is the Pre-Production department that is entrusted with this crucial task of the tuning rough story ideas into potential animation film or TV show scripts.

THE PRE-PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT AND THE STORY FINE TUNING PROCESS: The Pre-Production of any 2D or 3D animation production is the stage wherein a rough story idea gets refined into a script or a screenplay first then finally gets translated into mind-blowing visuals in the form of a storyboard. Simultaneously characters and locations are also designed based on the story’s requirements. Now to understand the fine tuning process we first need to take a look at the story framework mainly consists of seven sequentially arranged elements and they are - 
SEED IDEA ; PREMISE ; EXPOSITION ; CONFLICT ; CRISIS ; CLIMAX ; RESOLUTION

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