A Few More Monstrous Sketches

[tealin]

I was all full of noble intentions along the lines of 'early to bed, early to rise,' but after an hour gently napping I woke refreshed and ready to get on with my day. ARGH. Anyway, at least I can make a post out of it.

Cpl. 'Threeparts' Scallott - Just a very very rough thumbnail. Gotta love those really soft pencils. I think I will never be able to picture a doubly-peg-legged man as anyone but The Evil Pirate Captain Mel from Animaniacs. It's thanks to 'H.M.S. Yakko' that whenever I hear any of the Gilbert & Sullivan tunes used in this episode, the default words in my head are these crazy parodies, which include such lines as 'I am the very model of a cartoon individual/My animation's comical, unusual and whimsical...' WHY are no cartoons made like this these days? Where have all the good writers gone? They were so clever, and well-paced, and funny. It's all sitcoms now. ('I remember when this was all fields...' yeesh, I really am 82.) Are these things on DVD yet? Anyway, if you want to read some transcripts, you can find them here, about three-quarters of the way down.
A more finished one - done with the same pencil as the one above.
A Grey-Faced Soldier - More to capture the pose than as any sort of design thing. Jacket buttoned up tight despite the heat and face grey, apparently he's worse to see than an amputee.
Another Tonker - Like it says. How's this one? Indistinguishable from the others?
Thalacephalos - Blouse's 'Noble Steed' – I know 'cephalos' means 'head' but what does 'thala' mean? I bet it's something naughty. I asked my friend who knows Classical Greek but she didn't know. Tann? Also – this is the limit of my knowledge of horse anatomy. Makani made a turorial once, I should dig it up...
A Use for Onions - Polly has an encounter with 'Roundheels' Molly.
The maid drew closer. ... Polly raised the onions as a kind of barrier.
'I'm sure there's things you'd like to learn,' the maid purred.
'I'm sure there's something you wouldn't!' said Polly, and turned and ran. (pg 78)
Dashing - Blouse 'brushes up' on his swordsmanship.
Polly was no expert in these matters, but she thought she recognized the stylish, flamboyant pose as the one beginners tend to use just before they're stabbed through the heart by a more experienced fighter. (pg 75) Didn't have room for all of the sword, unfortunately.

I am so going to implement some of the things disneyboy recommended but his notes spent most of the weekend at the bottom of my roommate's car, so I didn't get to use them much. It will be done, though!

Comments

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

Indeed, what a lovely surprise! So impressive as always - I really don't understand how you pull any of it off and still manage your enormous workload. (You should figure out a way to parse your assignments out to your grateful fans - those who can draw, anyway - and have them sent back, like the shoemaker's elves, in payment for all of the enjoyment you give us! I sure could use some elves right now, I'll tell you...)I don't have the luxury of time to comment on them in depth today, but really quick first impressions - loved the new Tonker (all of your drawings of her are really superior), thought the fencing posture was terrific (but what do I know about fencing?), really liked both drawings of the double peglegged guy (I LOVE it when you go crazy with those soft pencils! The drawings are so much fun to look at because you clearly enjoyed making them - so energetic and fresh) - great face! I'm sure the crutch is in the book, but it would be entertaining to animate this guy trying to stagger around on just his pegs (how would he keep his balance?); the attitude of the maid in the "onions" drawing was perfect - although (brace yourself for a small comment) it seemed like the maid was drawn in a somewhat more realistic style, whereas Polly was very much in your classic signature stylization (long, narrow face, emphasized nose,"disney-esque" eyes, etc.) I thought both characters were drawn really well, particularly the maid, but I wonder if you should either bring the maid more into your style or draw Polly (just this once) slighty less stylized...Of course, I may feel differently if I look at it again after I've had a few more hours of sleep...Oh, and I liked the "soft-drawn" horse (horses are HARD - at least for me! I could dig out some notes Russ Edmonds made on horse animation for Home on the Range if you remind me ((woops! typed "hose animation" before I caught myself - slightly different!)) )...and...and there was more, but, I'm seriously about to pass out. More later when my deadline has passed (or when they wheel me off to the infirmiry - whichever happens first) - once again, I am inspired by your artistic passion and work ethic and I bask in your coolness. Except I'm worried about being responsible for ruining your beautiful drawings if you're crazy enough to actually implement my hasty notes - I guess I'll just have to trust you know which ideas are goofy enough to ignore, right? I won't be offended if you don't change anything! Seriously!

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

I looked at the "onions" again and I'm probably reacting more to the canted angle of the maid's head, which makes her face and nose look really different, proportion-wise(but the angle is perfect! no changee!), and her fuller lips (entirely appropriate - probably wearing lipstick) - and I think Polly might be a little more cleaned-up, with crisper lines - look, don't listen to me; my judgement is unreliable even when I'm not bombed out of my skull.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

YOU SPEAK TRUTH!

See, this is why I need you around, because I actually thought that while drawing – that Molly was way more realistic than Polly – but then I thought 'nah, I'll just keep going, no one'll notice.' How did I get to the point where I fell back on the old 'no one will notice'!? Now I know someone'll notice, so I must watch myself more carefully.

I think what happened was it was a difficult angle to draw, so I started getting all tense and fell back on life drawing experience. It'll be easy enough to slap another piece of paper overtop the old drawing and push her a bit, and just drop her in over the old one in Photoshop. OH THE DECADENCE OF COMPUTERS!

OH THE DECADENCE OF COMPUTERS!

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm glad it wasn't just the sleep deprivation talking (or maybe I'm really smart when I'm tired) - if I would have had more positive feedback experiences like this I might have kept teaching! It's still a lovely drawing - that is the great thing about digital drawing: you can save your every attempt, and steal exactly what you like from it and fix the rest - ad infinitum! Which is, unfortunately, one of the big reasons why, right now, I'm working at a fraction of the speed of paper :) - the temptation of endless re-do's is too tempting for my tiny brain - it's going to make me miss my deadline! Maybe I just need a lobotomy to solve all my problems...