“An honest man is always a child.” ~ Socrates
I don’t have a great deal to say about these continued cartoon sketches other than to reminisce on my old childhood cartoon friends. Socrates said it best!
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Posts Tagged ‘cartoon’
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“I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.” ~ Walt Disney
When you have a character, it is very important to be able to draw the character from all angles. It is a good exercise to take a cartoon character and turn it around. One of the greatest tools for cartoonist is drawing on a ball. By that, I mean it is relatively easy for a cartoonist to turn a circle in space thus if an cartoonist envisions a line around which the facial features are placed, the construction of a face from all angles becomes an easy task.
I find myself in a somewhat classic cartoon mood lately and as I contemplate the era of Dinsey, Looney Toons, Tom and Jerry, and the like, I can’t help but be saddened by the fact that an era of animators and artists has been shoved aside to make way for flashy computer generated animation. I don’t mean to demean the art form that it computer generated animation if done well, but the magic of hand drawing remains near and dear to my heart.
“The nose of the Bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go” ~Winston Churchill
Fearsome, ferocious, and tenacious, the bulldog is a unique breed of dog which is fun to caricature and generation of cartoonist has done just this. I thought that in addition to my pencil drawing taken directly from my sketchbook it might also be interesting to punch it up with a bit of color. Drawing a classic cartoon style caricature is not really my style, but sometimes I enjoy shattering the mold and sampling an old school artistic vibe.
“Rabbit War” is a peice I created with the Goat-taur character designs I posted on November 4th and November 5th. You probably notice the striking resemblance of characters in the Goat-taur army to the characters I designed for the latter post.
As in most of my layout sketches, I seek to tell a story. In “Rabbit War,” a member of the rabbit Thumper’s family is being held captive by the evil Goat-taurs. The character Thumper is of course inspired by the Disney classic Bambi. It is up to Thumper’s family to save the imperiled member of their brood even while the Goat-taurs remains staunchly proud and defiant. These aren’t your Grandpappy’s Thumpers and they no doubt have a trick or two up their sleeves to overwhelm their mighty foe.
You have already seen the character designs, but I have gotten great feedback on sharing the visual development of these layouts. As always, it starts with a rough thumbnail:
I then go through the process of making sense of my scribble and begin to develop a rough layout which are merely bigger scribbles.
The thumnail is usually no more than 2 inches wide, but I blow it up more than 500% to begin the real sketching. Feel free to click on my rough layout to see a larger version.
This is departure in style for me. I was going for a cartoon network look. The miner is marching up the mountain to stake his claim. The donkey is burdened with the tools of the trade.
I intended to give the goldminer a determined look to find gold amidst the desolation. The donkey looks up at his master begrudgingly.
One of my favorite Fox cartoon shows is King of the Hill. Some of you may have heard today’s breaking news that the show has been officially canceled. The show is in its 13th year and has entertained me for virtually every one of those years. I am sad to see it go, but maybe it was more of a show for the George Bush era and thank God that’s over.
At least we will have until sometime in the 2009-2010 season to say good-bye. Here’s to our favorite redneck propane salesman. I’ll never forget when you told Beavis and Butthead to stop wacking off in your camper. How far you have come. Peace.