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Meh Tumblr Art Refs Blog: Probably Unreliable Guides: speed lines

okolnir:

tay-bee asked you:

(lets see if i can word this right haha) for the smaller speedlines that show fast movement of a certain limb/weapon/etc (not background speedlines) do you have any tips on knowing where to place them or ways to draw them to show the movement?

I’ll be using panels from my manga Carciphona to explain what I do. Like all tutorials or guides from me, please use with caution!! Everything I know is based on personal observation and some vague memory of things I’ve learned, so they are educated guesses at best and I am sorry if any of this is wrong to the point that makes people cringe. It’s unfortunate I get asked to give tips because I have no education to back it up but I hope this is more helpful than deceitful……….

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To start: speed line is pretty much motion blur, that blur you see in photos of moving things. In line art such as b/w comics, the blurring is achieved through lines too, and that’s where all the speed lines come from, it replaces the sharpness of hard shapes/edges (ie blocks of shadows and fine line) with less defined shapes that are achieved by lines. the slower the movement, the shorter the speed lines, the faster the longer/more dense the speed lines.

1. speed lines over outlines

I’ll use this panel as an example even though the speed lines here depict more of an impact tremour or whatever than motion.
image

1a. Light speed lines: I think it’s ok sometimes to just slap on speed lines after you draw a static figure but maybe it’s just my lazy standards…in this picture there is some of that, like on the tree trunks that are not really moving. I put very small speed lines in various parts of the line so that there is sort of a uneven but still balanced speed line texture on all of the trees:
image
I erased little gaps at some parts of the outlines to make it not look so ridiculously lazy, and at parts that are farther away (eg at the letter A) the lines disappear altogether in favour of simply speed lines because I think that place would be farther away/more obscured and therefore should not be well defined enough to even have a crisp lined edge.

1b. Heavier speed lines: Sometimes speed lines over line art looks pretty bad, even if the width of the motion blur is small. It can be a quick movement, or it can be a not so solid object (clouds, dust, fabric, etc). In those cases, I replace the outlines entirely with speed lines:
image

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The arcs in these parts are sort of explosive waves that radiate outwards from the explosion. It’s not really anything with a definite shape, so the blurring of the edges should be heavier than the previous case.

Common mistake: mind the direction of movement. It is easy, especially when drawing background effects, to draw the long arcs, and then instinctively want to make the speed lines along those outlines. Despite the shape of the arcs, the movement is perpendicular to its shape, so the direction of the speed lines should reflect that, even if it takes you 10x as long to draw nicely.

2. Speed lines in shadows/blacks

I’ll use this panel as an example. the camera is zooming in, and the legs of the super close up foreground is in motion while being completely in shadow:
image

Blacks and shadowed areas are great places to lay speed lines. It’s like shading except with lines! It gives you lots of control over how the resulting shape will look like and lots of opportunities for texture.

2a. Shape distortion: the blur results from multiple images of a single thing being captured in the same frame, and the merge of those images sometimes result a distorted figure which most people perceive as movement. while it can be done with line drawings too, it’s a lot easier to do with shadowed shapes because you’d be thinking about the form rather than skipping straight to the contour of the distorted figure. In the picture above, because Kasga is running forward, I start the speed lines well inside the outlines of his legs because the light surround it bleeds into the figure of his legs. Similarly the speed lines extend beyond the outlines behind him.

For distortion over line drawing, pretty much picture if I had traced the shape of the shadow above and used that instead for Kaska’s legs. This sort of effect should be scarcely used and reserve for extremities of a figure or vast amount of movement, otherwise whatever you’re drawing is going to end up looking like jelly.

2b. Texture: while sometimes it is desirable to have perfectly parallel lines or lines that do not cross each other for speed lines, I feel like it’s situational and sometimes times that clean texture makes the comic look rigid and computed, or amateur (I don’t know why, it’s probably just a personal preference). While I do use a ruler to draw speed lines, I like to use it only to draw some guidelines so that I know the general direction at each given corner of the panel, and then freehand the rest. The result is texture at places where some freehand speed lines meet or cross:
image
You can tell which lines are done using a ruler and which ones are done freehand.

extra: You can express depth by varying the amount of blur each object has. The closer to the camera obviously the larger the amount of movement, but also in the case of moving body parts, the farther away from a joint, the more movement that part of the limb is going to go through:
image

Combined examples of both uses of speed lines:
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It’s easier to draw dashed lines by drawing a line then erasing parts of it, and the same logic applies to drawing gapped outlines in speed line situations. It’s easier to use white and draw some white lines on of the black outlines AFTER you’re done, than to try to achieve everything in one shot in your initial line drawing (In letter B)

imagesometimes the speed line effect can be done on screentones as well in combination with inking.

imagelol this is terrible BUT YEAH you get the point!

hope this was helpful! ;;

Developing your Characters and Making Them Interesting

eschergirls:

referenceforwriters:

Recently I got a message about a person struggling on how to develop their characters, as they normally wrote about already created characters—also about how to make them interesting and make the people reading your story actually want to continue reading it.

I’d say this is one of the main differences between fanfiction and original work. Writing fanfiction you already rely on the fact people know the characters—how they look (or are supposed to look), personalities, and backgrounds… unless you’re writing an AU.  There’s people that already like the characters and would (probably) be willing to read your story. Now, you focus on a good plot to interest them.

But then we are back on our original stories, our novels, anything we write. We have to create our characters from scratch—interesting characters that can fit and make our story flow. Because good characters can handle a poor plot, yet a good plot can’t handle poor characters. I guess this is all we do here, right? this is the bane of our existence as writers. 

Truth is, there’s no right way to write a story. And there’s no right way to develop a character! I tested this by asking you guys how you do to create and flesh out your characters. Every response was personal and different.

Sometimes it starts with the spark of an word, an archetype, a color, a trait, a flaw, a song lyric, a painting, someone you know in real life—then you go from there.

Here are some basic steps on developing a character, yet, you can do it as you see fit:

  1. You start with the personality. Once that’s done it’s relatively easier to know how they look like. You sculpt and pick virtues and vices, flaws and qualities—perfect characters are not interesting. When it comes to protagonists and antagonists, they’re neither 100% good nor 100% bad, because there is not fully good or bad people. Get what I’m saying? Round characters are the thing we’re going for. Take details from people in real life, if you want: funny habits, mannerisms, what makes people human. 
  2. Work on the appearance of your character. What’s their body type, their eye color, skin color, hair color, shape of their face/nose, if they have birthmarks or scars somewhere… 
  3. Pick a name as you see fit. This can be the first step depending on how you work. Is there a meaning behind it? does it show somehow their character’s personality? remember sometimes they are relevant to the setting/genre. 
  4. Flesh. ‘Em. Out. Think of hobbies and background. How’s the relationship with their family and friends, how they act around authority, what kinds of clothes they like to wear…
  5. Always remember: character development is an ongoing thing. You never “finish” developing your character, just like we, as people, don’t stay the same. 

That being said, be creative with it! Don’t imitate the way your favorite authors develop their characters- create your own way! your characters are all yours! Make playlists about songs that remind you of your characters, keep a journal for them- sky’s the limit.

Good links for you:

-Alex

I saw this on my dash from a friend’s reblog, and given that we had a post on Escher Girls recently about writing characters and their arcs, I thought people might be interested in this, and some of the links provided which go into much more detail. :)

chubbycartwheels: juniysa: Hey new followers! In addition to writing, I also reblog art and great writing/drawing tips.  This tutorial is incredible if  you are a character designer looking to diversify your  female characters. Adding weight to a character is not as simple as drawing a simple body and curving the lines; you have to know the body structure to get it right. I tried the second character from the left “Gwen” and was shocked at how close my sketch came to this tutorial.  A helpful guide for comic artists, character designers, and cosplayers alike.  Tutorial - Curves on Girls by *Ai-Bee These are cute.
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chubbycartwheels:

juniysa:

Hey new followers!

In addition to writing, I also reblog art and great writing/drawing tips. 

This tutorial is incredible if  you are a character designer looking to diversify your  female characters. Adding weight to a character is not as simple as drawing a simple body and curving the lines; you have to know the body structure to get it right.

I tried the second character from the left “Gwen” and was shocked at how close my sketch came to this tutorial. 

A helpful guide for comic artists, character designers, and cosplayers alike. 

Tutorial - Curves on Girls by *Ai-Bee

These are cute.

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