“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!
Comment
Posts Tagged ‘Sketches’
108 items.
“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.
“Vicious as a tigress can be, she never eats her own cubs” ~ Chinese Proverb
In this sketch, I was practicing my figure drawing and my dynamic poses. I started with a light blue pencil and then finalized the sketch with a black Prismacolor Col-erase pencil. I then scanned the sketch into Photoshop where I added contrast to the lines so that they would pop. For fun, I inverted color of the image and thought it was cool enough to show you guys.
I contemplated several different configurations of the two images, but I concluded that placing the image one on top of the other was the best. I like how it reinforces the wavelike flow of the image.
“For if in any manner we can stimulate this instinct, new passages are opened for us into nature, the mind flows into and through things hardest and highest, and the metamorphosis is possible” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“All good fortune is a gift of the gods, and you don’t win the favor of the ancient gods by being good, but by being bold.” ~ Anita Brookner
The Traveling Ancient is a giant explorer from a forgotten era who is rarely seen. He is so skinny he can hide behind a tree or be mistaken for one. What motivates his character is beyond mortal contemplation. I envision him as perhaps the last of his kind. If you were to come face to face with this being, he most assuredly has come looking for you instead of the other way around. When he speaks, you would be wise to listen closely.
The Traveling Ancient is not to be feared, but also not to be trifled with. He does not fear the future nor the trappings of technology. In fact, he utilizes them on his appendages and could if he desired exist quite seamlessly with the modern world. However, he chooses the ancient ways instead.
“It Came From Outer Space” is a layout sketch I am illustrating. I plan to digitally paint the sketch.
This layout depicts a farmer with his tractor who’s surprised to see a gigantic “cat”-terpillar alien crash landing into his humble farm.
I ask who among you cannot recall the words of H.G. Wells when contemplating alien invasions. I leave you with a couple of his quotes from War of the Worlds:
“We have learned now that we cannot regard this planet as being fenced in and a secure abiding place for Man; we can never anticipate the unseen good or evil that may come upon us suddenly out of space.”
“No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, *they* observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about the globe, confident of our empire over this world. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us. “
Here’s a brand spanking new piece of art. It is a pencil sketch layout about a kid who on Halloween night decides to go down river on a raft. He has decided he’s just too old to go trick or treating anymore, but Halloween remains his favorite holiday. There is something about it’s scary nature that appeals to a dark unshakable crevice of his soul.
He makes his way down the mighty Mississippi River when all of a sudden his raft hits a fallen tree and comes to a lurching stop. The boy finds himself in the swampy Mississippi river delta.
He’s lived his entire life near the Mississippi, but this is his first time attempting such a daring journey. A part of him now wishes he never had.
His raft is stuck and he has no clue where he is. Now alone, far from home, his only companion, a Jackolantern, strangely has enough ideas of his own. Ha ha ha ha ha…………
This piece is a layout that I’m going to finish as a digital painting someday. Hope you like it and Happy Halloween.