Calling All Redwall artists! Redwall style art tutorial...

[Maudie]

Okay, so I've been working on some drawings lately, where I'm making proportions to use in my Redwall art, but I have so much trouble drawing heads. My bodies are coming along nicely, but the heads are hopeless. If some artists on here could make some tutorials, that would be splendid. And not just for me. Plenty of other people could use them to improve their drawings.

[The Skarzs]

Often what I do is I look up pictures of the animal I am drawing and draw based off that. Since animal skulls have definitive traits such as muzzle length, eye placement, ears etc. I find it easiest to go off the real thing. There are many MANY pictures of animals, and if you take a few minutes to look you will probably find a pic with the head in or near the position you wish to have it drawn in. (I've done it as a mirror to the pic sometimes, but that gets difficult.)

As for proportion, there isn't any taught way to draw an anthropomorphic animal in proportion. What I try to do is go with the human proportion scale: The body from head to toe is anywhere from 7-8 heads tall with the arms always shorter than the legs.

Hope I could be of help.

[Izeroth]

 I'm no artist, but occasionally I do sketches. I alway try to make Redwall animals look as close to real animals as possible. I don't know why; I just prefer it that way. On a side note, I'm not very good at doing creatures in action poses. What method would you recommend to capture action?

[Faiyloe]

@ Iseroth: Well seeing as you like to make your animals look realistic I would stick to realistic posses. Ones that the animals could make in RL. I would start by looking at references, lots of them. Little things like ears laid back, tensed stance, showing teeth.  I would also look up the skeletal structure of the animal you wish to draw. Then make a basic simplified copy of it using circles at the joints, rib cage, hips and skull with lines between to make the arms, legs, neck and spine. Then I would compare this with various poses in other images. At this point You should be able to draw the animal in any position you want. This person makes some wonderful tutorials she has several on animals that are found in the Redwall books.

http://tutsplus.com/authors/monika-zagrobelna

[pacificmaelstrom]

I don't think there is one "right" "Redwall Style". Every artist has a bit of a different take on it. Drawing anthropomorphic animals is generally done in two styles (or some mix of both) Which you choose is personal preference and even simply the kind of tone you want your pictures to have.

Style examples:

Spoiler

1. The human/animal hybrid. Here human proportions are mixed with animal traits. This style is exemplified by the disney movie "Robin Hood", one of my personal favorites. This style tends to be more cartoon like.


2. Real animals wearing clothes. This style focuses on making the animals look realistic. Small changes are made such as  to the paws, to enable gripping.



Specifically for drawing heads, i would recommend:
-try studing and copying other work you like to see how others do it.
-remember animal spines attach to the rear of the skull, not the bottom as in humans. Also, animal necks are shorter or longer depending on the animal. (Otters =long, moles = short)
-Practice!!!! Art requires lots of practice. Keep working and you will improve!

Here is an example of my personal work. It is a combination of the two styles, but leaning more towards the first I think. I made some notes:

[close]

[CaptainRocktree]

I don't think there is one "right" "Redwall Style". Every artist has a bit of a different take on it. Drawing anthropomorphic animals is generally done in two styles (or some mix of both) Which you choose is personal preference and even simply the kind of tone you want your pictures to have.

Style examples:

Spoiler

1. The human/animal hybrid. Here human proportions are mixed with animal traits. This style is exemplified by the disney movie "Robin Hood", one of my personal favorites. This style tends to be more cartoon like.


2. Real animals wearing clothes. This style focuses on making the animals look realistic. Small changes are made such as  to the paws, to enable gripping.



Specifically for drawing heads, i would recommend:
-try studing and copying other work you like to see how others do it.
-remember animal spines attach to the rear of the skull, not the bottom as in humans. Also, animal necks are shorter or longer depending on the animal. (Otters =long, moles = short)
-Practice!!!! Art requires lots of practice. Keep working and you will improve!

Here is an example of my personal work. It is a combination of the two styles, but leaning more towards the first I think. I made some notes:

[close]

Wow!! That is extremely helpful!! Can you do one on drawing the body and legs? Thanks!