Something I've been tinkering with since the start of the month has been this piece of fan art inspired by Disney's animated feature "Frozen".
In that film Olaf the Snowman's catchphrase is "Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" and Elsa the Snow Queen is unable to touch anyone without risk of giving Party B a pretty severe case of frostbite. I thought that there would be some bonding time between these two, since Olaf couldn't be hurt by her powers and she could finally open up to someone. Thats not what happened in the movie, which is fine, but I don't think Olaf actually gets a warm hug from anybody by the end, which left me... a little cold.
While this got off to a promising start, the challenge arose when it came to drawing Elsa on model with her long limbs and thin torso, especially when she's already in this usual "sit-kneel" position. After that it got kind of frustrating to continue to push this project so that it I could put something finished online and garner a great deal of attention from the film's fandom while it was still at the peak of its popularity, so I think I may give this one a rest for the time being.
Meanwhile, I've also gotten into the habit of daily warm-up sketches to help stay in practice and help generate inspiration. Here are some of the highlights from this past week:
There was a lot of buzz about about Jennifer Lawrence being the year's most bankable star and I thought it might be interesting to draw an actor when they aren't being "a character". Although I did feel a bit of my soul wither away and die after using TMZ photos as references.
What's crazy about my perception of Jennifer Lawrence is that I genuinely get the feeling that she is rarely wearing the same kind of mask that other actors do. She seems pretty genuine most of the time. Of course... that could be the mask. That could be the whole character. But she talks the way I imagine I would if I found myself walking around in the same celebrity circles she is.
ReplyDeleteOh... and nice art. I think maybe my comment made it look like I missed the point a bit. I have not seen Frozen yet, but look forward to it. Almost everything I've read/seen/heard about it is 95% positive.
And now reading that back over it sounds kind of flippant... I really enjoy seeing the nuts and bolts of what you do Erik... can you explain what the purples and blues and pinks are on the Frozen piece above?
DeleteIts alright.
DeleteThe various colored lines are all different layers. I usually start out drawing a very rough idea in light blue lines to get the general impression of pose so that I'm not rather than draw it in black so I'm not fully committed to those lines as I'll more than likely erase or draw over them later.
The pink lines are for Olaf's body to differentiate him from Elsa. After that I'll draw limbs and such in separate layers with another color (like purple or green) so that it'll be easier to cut out something like an arm or a leg so I can move it around to see which angle works best.
What a fun project! I really need to go see Frozen, hopefully sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteCertainly. Though if I'm going to continue, I think I'll want to get my hands on "The Art of Frozen" coffee table book to see if I can learn anything about the designs from behind the scenes material.
DeleteI recommend it. My appreciation for animated films has gone up since art school as I'm able to recognize a number of fine details I might not have otherwise noticed.
Very nice. The frozen drawings look pretty amazing. Like the Jen Lawrence basketball pics too. The one where she's shooting in particular. Just out of curiosity... what part of the body do you find the most difficult to draw?
ReplyDeleteThank you. It was fun to show off some peekaboo tummy in the shooting sketch.
DeleteWhat the most difficult you ask? Well, I was just thinking how this next week I may want to find a way to practice hands/fingers as those can be rather complex and challenging much of the time.
Makes sense. Looking forward to seeing more.
DeleteI was searching for some Olaf fan art and got here to your blog...
ReplyDeleteBy the time I saw your sketch I was listening to this track from the original movie score called "We were so close" -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wz2j6IJqRk and I think I felt exactly what you wanted to portray.
Thank you for that beautiful sketch, I hope we get to see the complete art someday.
Thats very high praise. Thank you so much.
DeleteIf this kind of fan art is bringing people like yourself in I may just have to do more like it.