Crazy Characters at SXSW - Day 2
Posted by: Varick Rosete on Tuesday March 13, 2007
Sunday. Day 2 and I’m feeling refreshed! Went for a run, had breakfast and ready to tackle the day’s workshop choices…
Okay, so I missed the first panel of discussions, but I made it to the second set with the Design Workflows at Work: How Top Designers Work Their Magic panel. Bryan Veloso, Jeff Croft, Veerle Pieters and Kelsey Ruger were in attendance. Unfortunately, I don’t think my drawing hand was. For my first session of the day, I’d have to say that I was a little tight. You’ve got to stay relaxed and fluid when sketching. Nail down the shapes and figures then begin to tighten as you layer and revise the sketch. Don’t consume yourself with details, otherwise you’ll get yourself stuck in a corner and then you’ll just want to eat your brain. Not a disaster, though. I think I was able to capture some likenesses okay.
Next on my list was checking out the Keynote from Phil Torrone of MAKE Magazine and Limor Fried. This was a pretty cool keynote about open source, hacking and the do-it-yourself (DIY) technology movement. That Fried is a sneaky one. And so is Torrone. This set definitely came through and I would attribute it to their relaxed, comfortable nature. Enjoyed drawing the Death Star Subwoofer Head Man, too.
Learning Interaction Design From Las Vegas with Dan Saffer was my third session. YES! Definitely feeling this sketch because I’ve broken out of the normal way I’ve been drawing and truly characterized this guy. I was going for a more simple Charlie Brown-esque feel body. Another great exercise! When sketching out characters, envision a style you would love to emulate and just go for it. Draw that character in that style.
After Vegas was Best Practices for Teaching Web Design with Virginia DeBolt and Stephanie Troeth. On a side note, I went to this session because I’ve got a couple of friends in education who teach interactive courses and wanted to know of these “best practices.” Virginia had a look that was easy to catch. Stephanie was a bit tougher. I think Asian people in general are hard to capture without them looking like usual manga-styled drawings. It came across alright though. Hopefully I won’t get in trouble for drawing in class.
My final session was Create a Campaign in an Hour with Jason Zada, Todd Purgason, Pablo Marques and Rick Webb . When it comes to sketching, I do think there is a need for some sort of concentration. I concentrate but I also hone in on what people are saying and try to bring that into the drawing. With these cats in this panel, though, it was very difficult to concentrate. This was such a great panel to witness the “magic in an hour” that I seriously had to get down the sketch quick, otherwise I would have kept laughing my ass off and got nothing accomplished. Being so animated as a person makes things so much easier to draw and these guys made it super easy. Thanks to Banana Guard!
So Day 2 comes to a close. Had some ups and downs but things like that happen. One shouldn’t take their sketches too seriously because they are just a starting point to something more.
Filed under: Design, nGen News
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