Also note: These drawings are NOT this dark in real life!! I just upped the contrast so that some of the blue lines might be visible... kind of in vain, because so much of it just wasn't picked up by the scanner. But you guys saw most of my construction progress, you know I used it.
I had a lot of doubts about pose 1 because I couldn't think of a way to make the silhouette more clear, but I actually think this one's face turned out the best. It's cute, though I don't know how satisfied I am with the eyebrows. Tom has spotted something appetizing, presumably Jerry.
Did I mention that I started this exercise trying to draw Jerry, and then I realized after a few days of frustration that, duh, I don't like Jerry. I've never liked Jerry. I always wanted him to get eaten. Probably because I like cats.
By the way, I used mostly Preston Blair's Tom for reference, with a teeny bit of Eisenberg to make sense of the muzzle. I like the big hands and feet, though despite my efforts to thin them up, they at places (particularly where the foot is curved) look too bulbous, still. John told me to watch for it, and I tried, but I think curled toes are too cute. I might go over them later...
I like this one's nearer hand. It wound up being a nicer form than my original silhouette idea was. The face, here, though, is the worst of these. It's too squished and lacks appeal in the eye area. I need to do some more hierarchy studies of squished, wrinkly faces... The eyes/eyebrows look bad in a way I don't know how to articulate aside from "ugly" and "amateurish." Yuck. #2 has slightly less bad, but still present, versions of these problems. Like I said, more facial studies needed.
This pose definitely came the farthest, I think. It's a lot better than my first version. Wowee, a functional silhouette!It's not exactly radical or crazy what I did with his face here, but it was the hardest of the 4 expressions to pull off (which is sad because it's pretty simple), but it turned out halfway decent. I like the nearer half of the muzzle-- it's really defined. The mouth looks clear. I wish I could say the same things about the eye area, though, again. It just looks a mess, and the more you struggle with areas like that, the messier the paper gets, and the harder it is to get a finer point.
Also, the upper hand looks like it's being supported by an invisible mound of some sort. I think I just put the arm that leads up to it too far down, so it doesn't make spatial sense.
Well, I've got an awful lot of work ahead of me, but I'm glad I finally "finished" these. I need to do more. Many more, until this is all second nature.
NEXT: A fun Howie Post composition drawing John posted!!
Tips:
ReplyDeleteGo easy on the clean up lines. Stay soft and flowing.Make the lines hold the construction together.
Watch that the fingers and toes don't get too balloony/sausagey: look at the drawings on the comics-fingers and toes
middle toe is higher than left and right toe in actual design. They aren't lined up like balls.
Thanks, John!! On the next go-around I'll use these.
ReplyDeletehey geneva
ReplyDeleteive been following your blog because i'm also trying to learn funny pictures making. I'm really jealous of your sturdy construction skills, and i'm trying to follow your advice about scanning in even the most basic inital shapes - it saved me a lot of time, trying to make sense of drawing that look bad, when the problem is inaccurate construction. I'm a slow learner though.
My criticism on this post's drawing are that they are a little stiff... probably because this is your first foray into independent drawing under the rules of tom and jerry - it's probably a lot more fun to be wacky and vulgar with the characters - it's real hard to stay in the character of the actual original show. The stiffness, however, also comes from the solid construction. i'll catch up to you someday, goshdarn it.
But i've actually commented for the first time just to agree with you - i also like cats and jerry is mean. i like him more now, but i had zero sympathy as a kid.