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Problem Drawing Masks

Ngakunui

Entry posted by Ngakunui

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Recently, I've been trying to nail down how to draw the Mask Of Speed from the front, and make it look half decent. I've nailed down how to draw it from the side, and make it look wonderful but...

 

 

It looks absolutely horrid from the front. Really.

 

See, I've been practicing drawing masks and characters, as I'm scheming to create sort of a graphic novel based in Bionicle. Problem is; I draw that mask rather decently from the side, but I do it terrible from the front whenever I draw all these sketches I'm doing for practice. The protruding "cheeks" on the side make it look awkward, and silly from the front, and that's it's main distinguishing feature. And honestly, I've done EVERYTHING I could think of to make it look decent from that angle and still portray the character's personality correctly. I just can't.

 

So I figured I might as well give up on the concept on him having that mask. Unless any of you have any useful insight, it's becoming a rather necessary course of action. (And no, I can't just have EVERY frame with said character in it have his mask viewed from the side. That will become repetitive.) The masks I've considered giving him instead are the Komau, Pakari(however it's spelled), or Kaukau. Reasons being, I'm only willing to give him those, as past incarnations of him have worn them. I'm kind of leaning towards giving him the Kaukau, as I drew it rather well with that portrait of Gali I did- except, my character has no use for one at all(Do ice toa need to dive/ breathe underwater frequently?), and it would be silly to give him one. Mask of strength is more useful, as it allows for "HULK SMASH" type stuff, but it isn't suitable for his personality, as he's more of an agile/stealthy/intelligent/mysterious character. Noble Mask Of Mind Control is probably best suited for him in terms of personality and abilities- but I can't draw it well from the side at all, which certain frames would probably require.

 

So yeah, I'm kinda stumped. I could probably draw all the concepts down on a single sheet of paper and scan it to show y'all what I've thought of, but you know; I've kinda worn myself out will all these sketches of the same mask OVER AND OVER and stuff, so it'll be a while.

 

 

Any ideas?

 

 

 

 

-Ngakunui

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Nikira

With the front view of the Kakama, you just have to remember that angles are your friends. This is annoying, but it's the only way to get the side-bars to flow with the design of the mask itself.

 

kakamaangles.png

 

Basically three sets of angles that need to be nice and crisp and sharp - the lower corners can be tapered off, usually, because of the angle they sit on the curve of the mask.

 

With fitting it into a specific character... gosh that can be a tricky one, can't it?

 

Mask customization requires a good manner of tweaking depending on your style. With Kakamas, I find it easy to widen the 'mouth' area and/or shrink the size of the side-bars:

 

kakamashorten.png

 

Or something along those lines. Basically a smaller version that still can be recognized as a Kakama, but that doesn't crowd up the frontal facial area. This allows room for expressions and just general tweaking of the mouth area.

 

If you wouldn't mind, could you post an image or two? I'd like to see how you do draw the front currently, and how, by drawing it the way you do, feel it doesn't match the character. I'd love to help you out.

 

-Nikira

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