In pursuit of trying to become an animator, over the past two years, I’ve been drawing almost every day. Mindlessly drawing every day helped me improve a great deal, but I found myself hitting a plateau. My improvement had been thanks to the elementary schoolers I worked with, who served as great models; but also wanted me to draw various characters. Each character from different series had their own style and it forced me to carefully pay attention to the way different studios laid down their lines and shapes.
Wanting to get over this artistic wall, I started to look for other avenues for learning. I had been reading The Animator’s Survival Kit when I realized all artists look up to someone. Usually the artist studies under some person they really admire. For me, the first person I wanted to study under was clear as day. Lacking the funds, personal connection, or clout to be able to contact them directly I did the next best thing and went to one of their art exhibitions.
Better In Person
I had been following Ilya for years online, but to be able to go to the exhibit in Tokyo and see the works in person was better than I had imagined it to be. Seeing all the artworks on canvas or large prints grew my appreciation for the fine details that were hard to see online. I enjoyed my experience so much I had to take a piece of it home with me. It was my birthday around the time so I found it fitting to buy the Birthday Wonderland Artbook.
Sometimes when I reach a place where it’s possible to see people I’ve looked up to for years in person it’s intimidating. The feeling is like being so close to the sun that you’ll get blinded or burned. It reminded me of the time where I met my favorite musician, would I ever be able to achieve my dream? Putting my thoughts aside, I opened the book and studied the amazing animation designs.
It Was Eye Opening
I had already grown a deep love for Ilya’s work, which had a really graphic quality to it. The way he was able to lay down deep blacks and lay down shapes while leaving some areas of the canvas untouched mesmerized me. There were just enough lines to describe the shape and form of something, it was elegant.
There is some controversy around whether you should try and copy someone else’s work, but let me give you my humble opinion. Trying to emulate a professional’s style when first beginning is what you should do. Don’t claim the work as your own, and it is important to use aspects of different artists while creating your own style, but replicating a style for study purposes is acceptable. If you want to become an animator that’s what you should be doing as keeping a consistent look is important in animation.
The Study Begins
Although there are some inconsistencies this drawing turned out pretty good. I draw the eye a little lower and the body is a little too wide and long, but due to my history of always drawing portraits, it went well. To my luck, I had been practicing drawing profile views too so I was pretty pleased with the result as I did not trace this or use a fancy light-box.
The second drawing also went pretty well, the angle of the eyes is slightly different, which made the ear a little too small as well as her neck not being long and curvy enough which also threw off the collar bone shadow. Although this drawing turned out pretty great, I really struggled with the downward-facing angle, I had drawn a containment box for the image and misjudged the size. But I kept struggling and persisted through!
The third image is where I experienced the most growing pains. I really struggle with drawing the full body and as you can see the details in the image are a little fuzzy and misplaced. It’s the reason why I have decided to start drawing more images like this so I can try to improve at drawing bodies and the shape/form of the shadows. The slight turn in the head gave me so many struggles that I’m glad that I was able to see all the holes in my technique.
In the future, I will continue to draw and study more images from Ilya, but do full body drawings for a to sharpen that ax.
