Character design, 2019

Classroom Cast

2019

Character design and acting study, personal project

Subin Yu (유수빈) designed this original five-character classroom cast and the accompanying acting study as personal work in 2019.

Lineup of five characters on a shared ground line: a tall elderly teacher in a purple dress holding an open book, a small blond boy in red glasses, a dark-haired boy in a striped shirt, a girl in a lilac dress, and a girl in a yellow pinafore. — The cast. Height, posture and costume introduce each one before a line of dialogue would.

Three drawings of the same girl: skipping with eyes squeezed shut in a yellow dress, standing with a worried open mouth in a white pinafore, and sitting on the ground pulling on a yellow shoe. — One girl in three moods. Laughing, caught out, giving up.

Construction turnaround (pencil)

Working drawings scanned at a small size. They are here for the construction, not as finished pieces.

Pencil side view of a girl in a short-sleeved dress and sneakers.

Pencil front view of the same girl, arms relaxed.

Pencil side view of a girl with a long ponytail.

Pencil front view of a girl with curly hair in a sleeveless dress.

I wanted a classroom that reads at a glance. One teacher and four children, and every silhouette had to be different before any colour went on. The teacher is tall and reaches across the group with a pencil and an open book, so the drawing has a direction. The children answer her in their own ways. One lifts her chin. One raises his shoulders. One glances sideways. One slumps.

The second sheet follows one girl through three moods. She skips and laughs with her eyes shut, then stands caught out with her mouth open, then sits on the ground pulling a shoe on. I was practising weight and timing inside a still drawing. The skip only works if she is off the ground.

Underneath is the pencil turnaround I drew first, with side, front and three-quarter views, to keep the proportions steady before the colour drawings.