A Quickie For Gabe

Just a suggestion of some things my fellow-blogger Gabe could try with a cartoon idea he posted.

• I moved the window up and repositioned the father-son grouping.
• I added a black "floor" and a corner to the room.
• I spotted a few more blacks and put the caption in a word balloon.

It looks a little "stodgy" to me, but maybe it'll spark a good idea or two.

For what it's worth...

Retrograde Orbit

I actually brought my Preston Blair book out of its "undisclosed location" this past weekend! I took a few rough passes at a character construction and then started doodling. That guy with the limp-noodle head is my pal, Bernie.

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I also doodled a few different expressions using my favorite cartoon character:

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Finally, let's give it up for our special guest, fellow-blogger bardhol! He sent me this inspired "artists' jam" along with a couple of DVDs.


A fitting tribute to the passing of The Godfather of Soul, don't you think?

Oh, Man!

There's an entry over at JohnKricfalusi's blog that I find both inspirational and depressing. Here's a taste:

There is a reason for learning all these basic drawing tools I've been talking about. Once you understand your basic tools, you'll want to do something with them.

By themselves they have no meaning unless you apply them to some purpose.

If you just fill up sketchbooks with floating characters that look neat, that's not really functional. That's good for showing your friends, and it's good if you are studying how certain things look, but it won't help you do an actual job.

That's the next step - using your skills to perform a function.

I've been aware all along that these here sketches and exercises are but a means to an end. But what end? I have no illusions of "running off to join the circus" as far as being a professional cartoon-drawer. But what do I ever intend to do with all his? Hmmm...

I've said before that I am happy that I am able to make better funny drawings for my own (and my daughter's) amusement. Maybe that's pay off enough?

Also, in the ebb and flow of life I've been able to wrangle next to no time for my drawing pursuits. But isn't that true of so many things? When was the last time I've gone bowling, golfing or even been out to a movie? Sigh.

I'll keep drawing and I'll keep posting, as I am able, though...

Strip It Down!

A trap I seem to fall into when trying to draw a character is that I get all worried about achieving a facial resemblance and then ignore everything else.

So what I'm doing here, is I'm forcing myself to work on the rough, underlying construction. I'm having a problem with the bottom of the pear-shaped body. Mickey's butt is coming out too big and I'm not attaching the legs correctly.

I'm going to work on this and see if it helps. I will fight the urge to make a pretty, "finished" drawing because, after all, it doesn't end up that way.

Mickey #4

Here's what I'm calling Mickey #4.

There's a little too much negative space, as indicated, but I feel it's an improvement over the too little space shown in my previous attempt.

Of course, the hand is still problematic. That'll be a whole 'nother lessons for me!

Something I did was scribble out a page of Mickeys over the past week or so. These were done without much thought or reference to the model sheet. Perhaps I was trying to get rid of all my bad Mickeys on one sheet of paper. I dunno. It was probably more of a hindrance than help. But the damage has been done and I'm here to share it with you, the blog-reading public!



Also, my daughter made two requests:

#1 - Draw Pokey!

#2 - Draw a balloon with the number "50" on it.

So I did!

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TECHIE NOTE: I switched over to the "NEW" blogger this weekend. The result? The identities of all the nice folks who left comments since last Spring have been wiped out! WHY? WHO KNOWS? Sorry 'bout that.

Mickey #3

Here's a third pass at our ol' pal Mickey. Some things have gotten better, some things haven't. I think I blew the Line Of Action, here, as he seems to be floating in space at a weird angle. Posted below is the image from the original model sheet.

Ouch! So simple, yet...

'Nother Mouse Attempt

Yep - another attempt at that MM pose. It's an on-going thing, y'see...

UPDATED! Black & White Cartoons

I didn't do any cartooning last night. Instead, I stayed up 'way past my bedtime transferring a bunch of Black & White cartoons from VHS to DVD-R.

These were broadcast by the Japanese Cartoon Network and contain lots of silent and early sound era titles. The funny thing is, that lots of the "silent" cartoons were broadcast totally silent! No added music or SFX - just a static-filled dead track!

So, nerd that I am, I burned a CD-R of heavily-edited music tracks culled from some 78 RPM records and added them as a music bed whilst doing the transfers. Next thing I know, it's going on midnight and I have to get up at 5:15 am!

Guess I was "in the zone!"

THE NERD ZONE!

UPDATE!

Here are the contents of the two DVDs I mentioned above:

DISC #1:

1. In The Zoo (Oswald)*
2. The Mosue Exterminator (Krazy Kat)*
3. Policy & Pie (Captin & The Kids - Silent)*
4. Rag Dog (VanBeuren Sound - Official Films)*
5. Three Little Kittens (VanBeuren Sound - Official Films)*
6. Beaus and Arrows (Oswald) reissue title
7. Pests (Aesop's Fables) Stuart Prod. titles
8. Yokel Boy Makes Good (Oswald) reissue title
9. Little Parade (Aesop's Fables) Stuart Prod. titles
10. Bedelia (Screen Songs) NTA print
11. Aesop's Sound Fable cartoon (missing title)
12. Wonderland (Oswald) reissue titles
13. The Cold Rush (Felix the Cat)
14. Land Boom (Aesop's Fables) Stuart Prod. titles
15. Singing Saps (Aesop's Sound Fables)

*From PC Treasures DVDs


DISC #2:

1. Springtime (Aesop's Film Fables)
2. The Big Game (Aesop's Film Fables)
3. The Traveling Salesman (Aesop's Film Fables)
4. A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Aesop's Film Fables)
5. The Spendthrift (Aesop's Film Fables)
6. The Villain in Disguise (Aesop's Film Fables)
7. Jolly Rounders (Aesop's Film Fables)
8. Pigs in Clover (Jerry on the Job)
9. Cheating the Piper (Jerry on the Job)
10. Felix Gets His Fill
11. The Mad Locomotive (Jerry on the Job)
12. Windjammers (Aesop's Film Fables)
13. One Hard Pull (Aesop's Film Fables)
14. Cure or Kill (Aesop's Film Fables)

A Mickey Quickie

Here's a quick one I drew at the breakfast table this morning. I tried Gabe's suggestion of tracing the head to help nail the proportions. A little blah looking, but it's something I can build on.

BTW, Gabe, the date on the model sheet is 10-18-38, FWIW. Thanks for the tip!

Oh, Pooh!

Click image for larger view.

Yep! This is all I did, drawing-wise, this New Years weekend.

"Draw Pew Bear with a balloon!" was my daughter's edict. (Sometimes she says "Pew" instead of "Pooh." It's kinda cute.)

I did make a concerted effort to draw full-figure characters instead of the usual array of floating heads. That should count for something.

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR...