dancing with paint

How do animators create such iconic characters as Bugs Bunny, Stitch, Pikachu or the Disney Princesses? There are a wealth of ideas that can emerge in the creative process but the hands have to be loose enough to create the greatest range of wild, out-there, crazy designs.

One of the best exercises for animators and concept designers in training is the "shapes" exercise. Paint a lot of simple, abstract shapes on as large a sheet of paper or sketchbook page as you feel comfortable with.

Get wild. Make marks with your whole arm and a tool that can take a little damage, like a large round brush or an old marker with a broad tip. Play with the space - the shapes should not fit in a square. Make squiggles, tall or wide shapes, squished or stretched parts.

For this page I used a palette knife dipped in watered-down gouache and slapped it around the page, wiping off the paint like spreading butter. The paint was wet enough that I also tried blowing it around, creating splatters and little spaghetti shapes.

The second part is harder but also more fun. It's time for drawing! Lay a sheet of tracing paper on top of your shapes. With a pen (I use a brush pen like a Pentel or a Zebra, but any marker pen will do), start doodling over the shapes. 

Doodle, doodle, doodle! Let your hand wander and form shapes around the simpler ones of the paint. Don't try to think - your mind and pen should go at about the same pace. Sometimes it helps me to play energetic music or stand up while drawing; it takes the mind off trying to "think up" ideas instead of just creating.

If you're trying to make something more specific, it helps to have a lot of reference material and to practice drawing it out. Drawing your reference is called making studies, and it helps you create the muscle memory when you're drawing freely. 

In this case I wanted to draw characters from Philippine mythology and was researching the pre-colonial costume of a specific region. Luckily there are many locals rediscovering and bringing the culture to the internet.

Creators like Sharrie of UP Cebu, Karakoa Productions and Bamboo Princess have been researching and providing great material for history deep dives, but also great inspiration for period-based stories. In this case my idea was of gods creating the universe through dance and music. 

The flowing clothes of the reference inspired the designs and movements that I naturally began drawing over the palette knife marks. I tried not to overthink and go with how with my hand was moving - sometimes my wires crossed and I drew a dragon or spaceship instead, which I can always use for future projects.

You don't have to be an animator to enjoy this exercise, especially if you regularly draw or do art journals.  The Creative Bloq has a great step-by-step post if you want to try this for yourself. Happy trails!