Big but Graceful

That was the assignment I posed to Bobby Chiu's chuistream audience last night: draw a character who is both Big but Graceful, and it brought out some impressive results, especially considering the very short amount of time everyone had to do the piece and submit it. In the end, I chose the drawing below by Charles Santoso. Here's my note to the folks who submitted ( also posted on chiustream): 

Bobby, 

I'm going to go with the majority here on this drawing signed Chao. I like a combination of things about it and the fact that it works on more than one level. It certainly fits the basics of the assignment" Big and Graceful". Like many of the submissions, (including my own) there is a character delicately balanced on one foot. I think it's interesting and maybe a little alarming how many of us went to that exact idea. It's a good lesson for us all to try and think of an unusual way into an assignment and hopefully come up with a solution that no one else has. That said, the drawing here has a beautiful sense of volume, weight and at the same time, delicacy. I am also impressed by the added emotional layer in the way the face is drawn. There is grace there as well. When creating a character it's crucial that we consider not only what it looks like but also how it "feels". What emotion does the design evoke from the viewer? After all, the face will be the most important aspect of your design- it is what the audience will need to relate to most. 

Congratulations to all on doing such great work in so little time. And also congratulations to the two runners up. Great job, folks!

Good luck to all of you.

all the best,

Peter

On my last post, I also neglected to say that there was a prize for the competition, which was my own answer to the assignment which you can see above. I hope you like it, Mr. Chao.