Mentor Experiment: Week 3: Barry’s Critique

Above are my visual notes for Barry’s third assignment, focusing on body proportions. I think Barry did a solid job making the silhouettes for the characters read, by incorporating props to make the characters identifiable. In my notes, I have included some suggestions on exaggerating body proportions.

To convey intelligent characters, try lowering the horizontal axis line on the head, allowing more room for the “brain bucket”. To convey unintelligent characters, move that horizontal axis line closer to the top of the character’s head. With slender or tall characters, try making the legs long, or alternatively make the body and legs both long, with a slender (thin) face to compliment the overall figure.

For muscle bound characters, my suggestion would be to really place a visual emphasis on the chest and arms, making the other elements (head, legs, etc) smaller. You can exaggerate one part of a character’s anatomy to draw attention to their dominant trait, whether its intelligence or strength. How did you do on these exercises? Questions? Concerns?

Sound off in the comments below.

-Krishna