Drawing Crowds

ChaosBurnFlame · Post by **ChaosBurnFlame** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:25 am

This has always been a weak spot of mine, the Crowd shot.

Anyone have suggestions on how to strengthen this weakness?

Robin Pierce · Post by **Robin Pierce** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:53 am

Draw a whole bunch of crowds.

ChaosBurnFlame · Post by **ChaosBurnFlame** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:02 am

Obviously I was asking for a bit more than that.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:15 am

I haven't done many crowd shots, but on the odd occasion I have, I've drawn the front row of characters normally, and the second and third rows I've been content to just do as an outline with a fairly dark fill.

For the style I use though, it's suitable. It won't be for everyone.

Des · Post by **Des** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:53 am

Basically, blobs with holes in a few places. The top panel has one of my crowd shots: http://www.damn-the-man.com/strips/ep01_p06.html
Just keep it easy and vauge. For the one above I just layed out a whole bunch of circles randomly, then connected them, added legs to the bottom part, some raised hands to the top and added a few spaces in between the bodies. Add a few lone sillouettes (i'm useless without spellcheck) to the outskirts and you're good to go. For small crowds I usually just keep to sillouettes bunched together.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:54 am

Aw, not bad. Replace the second l with an h and you've got it!

RemusShepherd · Post by **RemusShepherd** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:17 am

Here's my big crowd scene. The same art is copied on the next page, but with color.

Basically just circles for the heads, then hump-shaped blobs for the bodies. When colored or shaded appropriately, it doesn't look half bad, as long as the crowd is at a distance. Viewing these abstract shapes from closer just doesn't work too well.

I've done a few close-up shots of crowds by finding pictures of crowds online and tracing the figures. But I'd never suggest doing that.

Twotimingpete · Post by **Twotimingpete** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:19 am

haven't had to make a crowd so far, but what I'd probably do is somewhat similar to what some movies do. I'd draw a cluster of complete people then paste the cluster over and over. you can flip some of the clusters to make them seem more random. maybe do some other tweaking to make it all mesh well. but I betcha anything it'd work.

Black Sparrow · Post by **Black Sparrow** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:21 am

I just finished penning a bit of a crowd scene (as in, characters talking in a crowded marketplace). I tried to do the larger people individually, then just sketched heads and hair as distance from the "camera" lengthened. They all don't have to be that detailed, but I find the ambiance effect quite pleasing.

ChaosBurnFlame · Post by **ChaosBurnFlame** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:17 am

I've always tried the 'leaf' analogy... with... mixed results. Later tonight I'll try some crowd studies and post them. I may try playing with some screentone effects I created in Illustrator.

ChaosBurnFlame · Post by **ChaosBurnFlame** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 7:36 pm

Here is a small rough sketch of how I usually handle the composition of a crowd scene.

This is basically what I mean by the 'leaf' analogy, in which you show a rough blob of a form and occasional definition.

Mixed results indeed

KathleenJ · Post by **KathleenJ** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:42 pm

ChaosBurnFlame wrote: This is basically what I mean by the 'leaf' analogy, in which you show a rough blob of a form and occasional definition.

I'm a fan of that crowd method too. A few people fully defined, and the suggestion of the rest.

I also have a game I play with the few defined "extras" in a crowd. I think of somebody I know (friend, accquaintance, whatever), and see if I can make it look like them without a reference. It gives some interest to the task of filling in random never-to-be-seen-again characters.