Familiar Faces (Edited)

Every once in a while it's helpful to try my own take on a familiar face, rather than starting from scratch. Toad was tons of fun to draw, as far as form goes.
Stewie was taken straight from an online "How to Draw Stewie" from Fox.

The following are the result of watching every Harry Potter movie in the course of a few days. I really like the full body Hagrid, because he just looks so kind. I even tried my hand at tracing and inking with the Ron on the bottom. Man, that guy has the most distinctive face, and it's not easy to capture.






EDIT: I've since fed the drawing of Ron through a live trace and colour, and while it's not exactly pro, I like the results. Hey, at least I'm learning.

Emotions

One part of animation and illustration that fascinates me in seeing character express such subtly of emotion (and sometimes a complete lack of subtlety!). Here's some practice:
I was really going for a furrowed brow, but my knowledge of anatomy fails me. I really do need those life drawing classes.

Others Heads and Rotations

One of the hardest parts of drawing for me has always been drawing the same thing twice (in fact, it's tough because I get frustrated when it doesn't come out the same). So the idea of drawing a framework and building on that really appeals to me. Plus I think it makes my drawings more interesting to look at. Hey, is it me or does this guy look like he could fit in as a Jetson or on Yogi?
I love these three, and hey, colour is fun! A lot of my designs start off bald and I have to add hair later, but the woman (blue) looked way better bald so I added the razor for a laugh.

I should also mention that I've always hated drawing females (human or otherwise). Mainly it's I feel that not all women have long lashes and big lips. That, and I'm generally uncomfortable drawing boobs.

Preston Blair

Over at John K's blog, he offers what he calls the $100,000 Animation course free on his site. Basically it just scans from Preston Blair's book, teaching drawing from basic forms and geometric shapes to construct characters from the inside out. It's tougher than hell at times to follow along but it certainly has had some interesting results in my work.
It starts with basic head construction, using a 3D Egg for a head, adding guide lines, then drawing features according to those lines. It seems really forced at first but I've never been able to rotate a head as successfully as this before.


I love the old lady here (straight from the book) but that crazy punk/Fudd creeps me out.

First is a long time

So it's been forever since the last time I've posted. But that doesn't mean I've stopped drawing, it just means I've been busy. Here are some of the drawings I've done in the last few months.

Scientist

I drew a straining scientist pouring chemicals half a dozen times before I had one I was satisfied with. I think the biggest difference was size, and that by drawing this guy so much bigger, I finally managed to get the details I was looking for.

Sweatin'

This guy really should have been fatter. WAY fatter. I was going for the ridiculousness of a huge man on a tiny exercise bike (while trying to maintain some integrity in the bike's design) and I feel like I missed the mark. Maybe his head is just too big? I also really struggled with the sweat stains.

Granny

So for my next drawing I tried to do the exact opposite. I wanted a dynamic, organic profile with more detail and more exaggeration. Overstated, not understated. Now, this may not be my more prolific piece, but I like the old lady (even though I didn't get as much "old" out of her as I wanted). Even still, I'll bet she bakes really good cookies. Posture was a big deal here, as was her smile. And even though her neck is pretty scary, it works, doesn't it?

Hoodie

I've notice a few other artists who do very well with simple, highly-geometric character designs (specifically Scott Krutz and the way many of his characters have lots of detail, yet a simple profile/outline). So I decided to give it a whirl, but found myself continually adding little flares and details despite myself. Really the only place it came through was with the arm. Ah well.

Edgar Allen Pope

Okay, so I wish there was a story behind this one, but no such luck. I guess it was just a phrase that got stuck in my head, and one morning I couldn't sleep... you know how it goes. I really like this guy's hands, face and overall design (plus I love a good eyebrow), but that mustache still bugs me. And yes, that is a raven on his staff-thing.

Typist

Once again, I have been remiss in my updating (at least I've been drawing more than I've been blogging). This is just a simple sketch of a young lady at the keyboard. I guess I was going for more life-like proportions than I normally do. Either way, it's clean and simple, which I'm normally pretty good at. (Although a full profile did present some challenges, such as eye direction).

Foster's Monsters

Been watching a lot of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (makes me want to buy Flash) lately and decided to sketch out a couple of monster designs. Nothing fancy, but plenty of fun.

25th Pic!

Holy Crap! Colour! For this 25th pic on the blog, I decided to post something slightly different. This is a quick picture I did the other day at a group art event at church, where we were encouraged to paint/draw a little bit of our story. This one's far more political than my other drawings on here, but I think the colour makes up for that. Acrylic on Canvas paper avec Sharpie.

Short Man

Still sitting in the Laundromat, the owner looks over my shoulder and asks me if I'm a professional artist. I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or as just a polite thing to say to a customer. Either way he then said it looks like John Cleese, so I'm not sure he knows what he's talking about. Either way, I hate that the eyes make him look like someome from Family Guy, but I like his proportions a lot.

Beach Bum

This guy makes me happy. I was listen to a little Jack Johnson, doing a little laundry, and this guy showed up. I like big chins and bald heads, so this guy does well. I also enjoyed trying to go for "slim and trim" as opposed to skinny or muscle-bound. I also thought that maybe it should be a Ukulele, but I guess I decided against that.

Faces

Alright, so not very impressive designs, but good practice with looking up and looking down. Moving along...

Chubby Twins

I don't like drawing limbs the comes towards the viewer (foreshortening) and I REALLY don't like drawing the same thing twice. But after messing up the head on baby #1 (eraser malfunction) I wanted to take another stab at this one. Why can I draw chubby hands so much better than normal or skinny ones?

Rotation

One thing I noticed on the Iron Giant Model sheets were references on how to rotate the character's noggin, which is what I'm trying to do here across the top with my own character. MAN, that is NOT easy. The angry face on the bottom is mine.

Hogarth and Kent

Another drawing based on the model sheets from the Iron Giant. I like the Kent more than the Hogarth. I think it's the noses.

What Not to Watch

I really can't stand a lot of the shows on TLC. Not because I don't enjoy them, but because they SUCK YOUR LIFE AWAY. But they can be great fodder for character designs, apparently. This is just a quick sketch of whats-his-name from What Not to Wear, complete with his tight pants and odd hand gestures.

Hogarth Hands

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE the Iron Giant. I recently found a great website with scans of from the film and had to try a few. I found these hands easy enough to copy, but hard to do on my own. Practice, practice, I guess.

Naked Old Man

DEFINITELY one of my favourites. This old guy is NOT impressed with the bath he just received, and he Certainly is not about to be toweled off without a fight! I didn't intend to draw a naked old man when I started out, but that's the best part about just sketching whatever you feel like. The orderly's head was influenced by the art of Sam Logan, whom I read very faithfully every Mon, Wed, and Fri, and who has become one of my favourite cartoonists EVER.

Quizical Sherrif

Just a quick sketch, trying to break my usual molds of body shape and proportion. Also an attempt to produce a different facial expression (focused eyes/curious). Yes, Mike, I'm still struggling to put hats on heads.

Omlette Maker

Another one based loosely on me. Most importantly I was trying to work with light and shadow, but not very much because it scares the crap out of me (I'm still afraid of ruining my drawings, which I think just means I'm not drawing enough). As a side note, I ended up over-heating the pan because I stopped to draw this.

Monster Girl

So I started off with "How cute can I go?" and from my wife's response, I'd say this one nailed it. But then I was reading Invincible by the talented Kirkman and Walker and their character of Monster Girl was just too much fun not to try. Again, stance plays a big role here, but a giant jaw filled with teeth helps. I'm particularly proud of her, especially the hairy chin and her little claw-like hands. My wife, however, seems to prefer the original.

Punk Kid

Problems with my Scanner have delayed things a little but it looks like we're back up. This guy's neck is obscene, but I think it works. I also like the "I don't give a crap" stance he's sporting: pelvis out, shoulder dropped, etc.

Gentlemen

So we're watching Little Miss Sunshine (for the second time) and I'm doing some drawing during the movie, when this illustration of a philosopher with a HUGE mustache gets some screen time. That's how this one started, with the desire to draw a giant mustache. I was interested in showing contrast between large and skinny, which was fun, but I ended up with a thin guy that just annoys me. Maybe it's just the personality that I picture him with, or just the the annoying thing I assume he's saying.
As a final note, it's a COMPLETE coincidence that the face on the left looks A LITTLE like my boss.

"Athlete"

(Sorry, it's been a while since I had time to post)

This one actually started the other way up, but something about her posture insisted that she be upside-down. I like the simplicity of this drawing, her straining, clenching expression, and the fact that synchronized swimmers are funny. They try so hard! Just so we can see their toe stick out of the water!

Dish Boy Dave

This picture is a very loose self-portrait, including what is becoming my trade-mark "Big Ears". It also include a new way to draw eyes, a lot more action than I typically depict, and some serious influence from the comic "Blondie". Most importantly though, this drawing shows a clear example of another lesson Mike offered: draw light to start with, and don't be afraid to change things. Big things, even. This character for example started with a much lower stance, but the torso was too long and the legs too short. I showed it to my wife and she couldn't tell me what was happening at all (hopefully it's more obvious now).

And yes, I used to break a lot of dishes when i washed them. Now I wash much much slower, but at least there's no chips or breaks.

Engineer

Okay, so there are, a few things I'm noticing here. New pencil, obviously. It's a Derwent Chestnut water soluble, and it's a lot nicer pencil than the Laurentien pencil crayon I was using. Also the reason it's an engineer is because my Dad bought me the pencil (yes, it's true) and I hoped he would like the subject matter. The engineer is pretty basic. I wanted to try a new shape for the head (bean) and I wanted to focus a lot more on Background, since they TEND to be a little important. Man, I felt like I drew a TON of dials and such, but now it just looks so empty.