Sheridan Animation Portfolio 2015
Here are some basic guidelines and tips for Sheridan Animation Portfolio. I'm going to try and reexamine some of the strengths and weaknesses of some portfolios while simply give prospective students some examples and ideas for stronger portfolio building. I'm going to try and avoid the general concepts of the Sheridan Animation portfolio because there is much already outlined in the Sheridan Animation.
I'm also going to be updating this post as I go or adding different parts. As I'm busy with schoolwork and other jobs this is the best I can do under the time frame.
Life Drawing
Life drawing is focused primarily on structure and form. How well are you showing this in your work? Are you an experienced 'life-drawer'?
Often I find the challenge in most artists applying into Sheridan Animation (SHAN) is their weakness in lifedrawing. Some applicants often use very illustrative and abstract ways to illustrate the human form. For example, lots of scribbling lines or or simply too much line. You must try to be clear in illustrating the human body (anatomy) and the pose (expression, pose of the model). Moreover, I find students lack the understanding of the quality of work that their life drawing must be at. The core principles of the program (according to some students) relies heavily on lifedrawing for the first two years. Some students apply with very weak drawings skills into a program where its all about drawing skills. So it's important to get education on this as early as possible.
The only way to get better at lifedrawing is to practice practice practice. Find out more resources on how SHAN students illustrate anatomy and research how other artists (that work in animation) apply life drawing to their art.
Character Design
Design and building characters for the character rotation focuses on similar principles as life drawing: form, structure, creativity, believablity, and also general line quality. There is heavy competition in this category next to all other applicants. What to draw? What character's are good to draw?
Generally, its just about finding a creature or character that works and is believable. Find something that honestly works for you and really own that character. I've seen enough upright anamorphic and upright human male/female characters to see that [unless they're done perfectly] they lose marks in creativity. What am I trying to say? It's a character design assignment so give the character some character. Make it unique and powerful so that when anyone sees its they will be amazed.
Furthermore, traditional characters adhere to some principles of structural anatomy while some are purely designed well enough that the structure makes clear sense. Most often the case for Sheridan Animation we are looking at the most basic structural principles that give three-dimensionality to a character and in addition make a character anatomically correct. Simply put, you want to design a character that has the underlying designs of structure and form. These concepts like anatomy, structure, and believabilty are found in all creatures--real and make believe.
My only advice is to keep on drawing the character and practice drawing structurally with it and for all characters for that matter.
MORE TO COME
