Precision Training and Polishing Line Art

Last week I finished most rough enemy animations for the game Revenge of Teddy, so this week I have been able to continue on to polishing line art for them. As I usually prefer speed over precision, I seldom draw very precise line art and instead leave my drawings at a somewhat sketchy phase. I have therefore taken this opportunity to deliberately focus on improving my precision as I have polished the line art of the rough animations.

I went over each frame one by one and made a new layer over each where I drew the polished line art. As I began drawing the line art, I started with the main moving object (the arm in the teacher example), using it as reference to how thick the rest of the lines should be in that frame compared to that (for frames other than the first one, I also used onionskin to see previous frames as reference to the thickness of the line art).

When the main moving object was in high speed and surrounded by details that could distract and cause the animation to be confusing, I made the line art for it noticeably thicker and rougher compared to the rest of the line art in the frame. The thick line art contrasting with the thin line art prevents the two from blending together, making it easy to read.

Some thick line art for the quickly moving arm.

The thicker and rougher line art also helped convey the speed and power of the action. Thickness made the lines stable and strong, in other words gave it more footing and made it harder to move, which relates it to being strong. The roughness makes the lines seem more dangerous, as they brake the norm with sharper edges and unclear details.

To improve my drawing precision I decided to draw each different frame individually without reusing previous frames. The biggest challenge was to avoid creating a fluttering effect with lines that where supposed to stay still (the fluttering effect has been covered in a previous post). By getting myself used to drawing the same curves multiple times, I was able improve the speed of this process while still maintaining a somewhat precise consistency. The slight fluttering which I was unable to avoid did not disturb the main movement, as the fluttering was so small compared to the main movement.

If anything, the slight fluttering just makes the character seem more alive.

And that’s all for this week, thanks for reading!