WhoSprites: The Lost Who Animation Project.

[markhuk]

absolutely fantastic Garrett

these are possibly the best pieces weve seen from you yet

[tygerbug]

 Thank you Mark ... Marc.

[Nod]

Best lip sync so far. 

[tygerbug]

Every Whosprite begins with a quick sketch, done in ballpoint pen.

Like these ones, of 11th Doctor Matt Smith.





I put a photo or screen cap up on my screen, with a grid on it dividing it into 4x4 segments. I take a piece of Xerox paper, fold it into 4x4 segments, and draw. The segments are helpful in keeping track of the proportions of the character, although the proportions will be wrong at this stage anyway, as I'm just sketching.

I draw quickly and usually draw several versions of the same character in a row.

These rough sketches help me get my bad ideas out of the way, so I can see which photos will make good final color pieces, and which won't, for whatever reason. The best of the sketches are selected to be redrawn and inked. They will also have their proportions carefully corrected using the photo as reference - an important step in achieving the necessary realism. I used to do this last, but lately I've been doing it right after the sketch is done, so that the inked version has the correct proportions.

The sketches present my work at its most raw and unrefined. Still, it's clear to see which ones are best and will make the best final pieces.

[tygerbug]

Amy Pond, eleventh Doctor companion played by Karen Gillan.

[tygerbug]

Polly - first and second Doctor companion played by Anneke Wills. I've now drawn sixteen versions of her.

[tygerbug]

Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor - I drew eight versions of him tonight, as he was my main focus. I have now drawn thirty-five versions of Patrick, far more than any other character - and he is a bit difficult to capture. I enjoy drawing him but I find it difficult to capture that perfect drawing that really sums him up as an actor and as a character. He had a marvelously expressive face and there's no single standard Patrick Troughton expression - which is what you really need when drawing a sprite version of a character that can be built upon and then go through all the expressions. His finished animated sprites are incredibly complex pieces of work - the range of expression built into my Troughton Version 24 sprite is huge.

[tygerbug]

[Colonel Barker]

It's interesting seeing the process. I almost like the b*w drawings more..

[tygerbug]

These corrected drawings are based much more exactly on the real photo proportions of the actors - measured digitally, then again 100% hand-drawn.

Matt Smith.

(Victory of the Daleks)

Patrick Troughton.

     
(Tomb of the Cybermen)

Jamie MacCrimmon (Frazer Hines).

(The Enemy of the World)

 Using the sketch as a starting point, the photo is also traced carefully in Photoshop to pick out details that might have been missed and generally get proportions right. Both the sketch and a tracing are used as inspiration for the final drawing, superimposed upon one another. This is all just planning.

 Often it seems that something is lost from the original sketch, once the proper inked version is drawn. It might be back to the drawing board ... otherwise, when drawing the alternate heads for animation at least one head will be based on the original sketched head exactly.

Polly (Anneke Wills).
         
         
(Non-Who, then The War Machines)

Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling).
     
         
(Tomb of the Cybermen, then Evil of the Daleks)

[tygerbug]

Patrick Troughton. The Second Doctor. Version Thirty-two. Colored.

Reference was from Tomb of the Cybermen.

I went back to a reference photo I also used to draw Patrick very early in the project, as version 7 [and 20]. I always liked this look for Patrick and wanted an improved piece from the same reference. Hair and costume are taken from version 20.

Version 20 was from the same reference material, but came out quite poorly - I think because I was trying to simplify his face, make more sense of it. This time I included a lot more unusual detail to capture Pat's face.



Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon.

Reference from The Enemy of the World. Again this is from a reference image I've drawn before, very early on, as version 2 of Jamie.



Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield.

Reference from Evil of the Daleks. This was again based on a reference image I drew very early on, as version 1 of Victoria. Her body is a reworked version of a body for version 4 of Victoria.



Anneke Wills as Polly.

Her hair and costume is in a similar style to what she wears in the Moonbase.


I draw the hair [and everything else except the face] with the mouse in Photoshop, using either the brush or line tools. I scribble the hair somewhat loosely, working in as much detail as I can, mostly following what is visible in the photo. I then use the Median tool over and over [combined with brightness/contrast] so that the strands of hair develop black areas where they meet, and take on a particular organization and shape. I make areas of the hair lighter or darker using the dodge and burn tools to guide how the hair organizes itself using Median.

Once I'm done, the hair has a complex structure with nice areas of black rather than just a lot of lines.

[tygerbug]

Black and white:



Patrick Troughton. The Second Doctor. Version Thirty-two.



Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon. Version Seven.



Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield. Version Ten.



Anneke Wills as Polly. Version Fifteen.

[tygerbug]

Victoria Waterfield. Version Twelve.

Reference was two images from Tomb of the Cybermen. One for the face, one for the hair and body, to give her the appropriate Evil of the Daleks look.

I used the same face reference a long while back when drawing Victoria version 4, which was also a very good, and similar, version of Victoria - however, the Evil of the Daleks hairstyle came off much better this time.




Evil of the Daleks poster.

Here's a wallpaper size version.
http://orangecow.org/who-sprites2/evilodaleksposter1600.jpg

Full size version:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q4ABLS4E



I draw Matt Smiths now. Matt Smiths are cool.