- ISBN13: 9780240809939
- Condition: New
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Product Description
Design creative characters inspired by real people. Let Mike Mattesi show you how to use life drawing to discover the poses, features and personalities which form the basis of character and then build, develop and ‘PUSH’ your drawings to new heights of dramatic and visual impact for believable characters audiences can relate to.
Packed with color illustrations and photographs of the models who inspired them. With step-by-step explanation of how the characters… More >>
Force: Character Design from Life Drawing
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There’s only a couple character design books out there. Most notably Creating Characters with Personality: For Film, TV, Animation, Video Games, and Graphic Novels. This new volume of Force takes on design from a more exploratory standpoint. One that can also lead to a foundation of more informed choices when working with Bancroft’s methods later on.
The text starts off with a review of the drawing techniques Mattesi laid out in the original Force. Not only the concepts of drawing with forceful lines and shapes, but also ensuring every aspect of your drawing make a statement about the subject. It’s that thought process that leads to interesting designs.
This book has no shortage of examples of experimental designs based off of posed models. Not only from the author, but also from several noted artists including Stephen Silver, Dean Yeagle & Ragnar. Each example includes explainations for the artistic choices made.
Flipping through the pages of this book you, you won’t find many of the tight, nailed down drawings you might expect from a character design book, but the principles Mattesi teaches build a strong foundation to create better, more interesting designs.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’d like to express my admiration for Mr. Matessi’s “Force: Character Design from Life Drawing” book. I’ve read Mike’s initial Force book many times over. I actually never intended to purchase this new book. When I saw the cover originally, I got the impression that it’d be equivalent to the other character design book by a different author (since I think there is only one other available at this time). I figured it’d be other artists’ drawings with a tidbit of info from the author. As time passed and I read other authors’ books that bored me to death, I thought why not, I’ll give it a go.
What I got… I got more of his first book. This is good because he refreshes your memory on the lessons taught in the first book, and then enhances it with new ideas and new procedures. I was blown away. The first 4 chapters refresh and recharge you on the idea of Force.
This book covers everything, and reinFORCES exaggerating and making up your own interpretation of what you see. In later chapters he shows you how to apply the same methods to architecture.
The first 4 chapters alone would have made a great book, and I’ll definitely read this more than once. Something about Matessi’s books just want you to tattoo the information on your brain. It is refreshing, and gives you a new perspective on art and life.
What I enjoyed the most, is the application of design and abstract art to his life drawing. This book would be a great read for a graphic designer as well. I even started applying shapes prior to illustrating to plan out my drawing, and it has improved my art so much.
Rating: 5 / 5
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3KJRFN0Y0I3VD Force: Character Design from Life Drawing is the second book that deals with life drawing by Mike Mattesi, the first being Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators. This book also talks about character design.
The first part builds on the concepts he has taught in the previous book, which are the handling of force, space and shapes of characters. It’s presented in the similar style, sketches with tips. For those who like the first book, you would probably like this one too.
The second part on character design. In addition to the sketches provided by Mike Mattesi, he has invited other character designers to contribute their work and thoughts. Photos of models are provided to them who then create their own style of work. Each artist then describes their characters in terms of acting and emotions, showing how they try to get ideas across to readers.
The guest artists are Rik Maki, Stephen Silver, Dean Yeagle, Jake Kazdal, Griselda Sastrawinata, Patrick Morgan, Ragnar, Erin Leong, Marc Perry, Teddy Newton, Steph Laberis, John Nenarez, Mike Daley, Phil Rynda and Deanna Marsigliese. They provide plenty of insights into their personal style, be it the cutout collages of Pixar artist Teddy Newton or the simple cartoon caricatures of Marc Perry.
At the end, there are also sections that talk about giving characters to architecture and animals. They are rather brief, but interesting nevertheless. For animal character designs, you can check out The Art of Animal Character Design for even more tips.
There’s no one way to how character designs are done. The approach of this book is to give plenty of ideas to get you started. This book is for anyone who’s looking to put more edge and style into their own characters.
(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)
Rating: 5 / 5
Any cartoonist or animator who feels that their own drawings are becoming stale or stuck in a rut would do well to read this innovative book by Michael D. Mattesi. While its title is “Character Design from Life Drawing”, what is really does is to introduce the reader to the art of spotting the distinctive features of any live artist’s model or photograph that can be exagerated or emphasised into a cartoon or caricature.
While the first few chapters on “shape with character” show this technique to extreme (I imagine this is to get the point across), the later ones on “costume with character” and “reportage with character” take a more measured approach and show how the main theory of this book can be put into practical effect.
In short, this is not a simple manual on how to draw cartoons aimed at beginners. It is very well illustrated and beautifully executed explanation of a way of looking at cartoon art that will kick-start anyone who feels they need an extra shot of inspiration in their own drawings.
Rating: 4 / 5
First, let me say I was an ignorant padawon when it came to drawing (I am a beginner with only a couple of classes). I bought a book that caught my attention – Force – Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators (even though I am not an animator). After a couple of reads – the force was finally with me! Very good book! You will learn a lot.
For M who says this book is bad for beginners, let me say the opposite. A beginner should grasp the ideas from this book (and the Force book) as he/she learns to draw. With these ideas floating around in the back of your mind as you learn to draw better, you will have a much deeper understanding of great concepts as you develop as a artist. I read these books and did not try to draw everything (the first few times through) or use them as a step by step guide. Instead, I read them to understand Michael’s ideas. They opened my eyes to understanding everything I draw better.
Overall – A++. I hope to see more from Michael Mattesi. Good luck and may the Force be with you!
Rating: 5 / 5