A Weekend's Sketchbook

[tealin]

Whoo-ee, scans aplenty!

I went to life drawing on Thursday so there's nothing in my sketchbook for that day.
Friday's Sketchbook - some Filler Cats and an attempt at the Bandit Queen, who ended up looking a little like me, which is really ironic because there is probably not a more opposite character. (Except maybe Fifi the Frilly Fuschia Fairy.)
Saturday's Sketchbook - A rough sketch of the Bandit Queen, a study for the next page, some babies for a cunning plan of mine (which is not having babies; sorry, Dad) and a Bandit Queen head. TONY: The Bandit Queen is totally your kind of character! Please listen to the song and draw her, pleeeeeeeeeease? It's at 22:05 under the 'Listen' button here!

SUNDAY
Today doesn't technically count but I got nearly a week's worth of drawing done. Go fig.
Page One - They both go down together. (I am an evil, evil person for drawing this but ... I had to. The Decemberists play to my morbid streak!) Co-starring tulanoodle's dashing yet untrustworhty young man from a few days ago. And yes, it was the only thing on that page. Forgive the cropping; it's in your browser's best interest. ARGH I cannot draw pants/trousers. And it's not really something you can draw on the bus, y'know? Collecting faces is OK but collecting crotches and derrieres might raise some questions and possibly get me thrown off the bus, at the very least. I don't know anyone I'd feel comfortable asking to model for me, either. Haha, so far this is Reason #1 to get a boyfriend, but I don't know if it's quite worth all the trouble. O! I am a nasty spinster.
Page Two - Netspeak Man and Emoticon Woman. This was something I'd doodled in my sister's sketchbook a while ago and developed a very very little bit today. Not my usual style. I am not good at flat and graphic.
Page Three - My sister and I watched El Dorado this afternoon (say what you like about the movie, it always makes me want to animate) and then the making-of thing to see the 'It's Tough to be a God' recording session which is hilarious, and Bonnie Radford's face triggered the caricature switch in my head. I don't know how close I got because I didn't pause her, just worked from memory. Heheh, I wonder what this does to my chances of getting a job at her studio... Also, I love crows. Aaaand... a Milo-ish Harry-ish guy with glasses, for no reason at all.
Page Four - More Bandit Queen sketches, rapidly dissolving into No Drawing Skill Whatsoever, whereupon I stopped.

Comments

[buttfacemakani.livejournal.com]

LOL @ the pants thing! I TOTALLY know what you mean. But ya know, I just look. Look and memorize xD I mean like with anything else.. Like I don't even notice that I do it. I'll just be looking around the classroom at what different things and people look like, and then I'll snap out of it and be like "wow i was just looking at some guys crotch for sometime" or "so i guess i've been staring at this girl's butt for a while" xD

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

SO much to comment on here...too much...but it's 3:30AM in NYC, and my folks will be up around 6 am, ready to explore the city and wondering why I'm so groggy! One comment: I couldn't help notice the resemblance to you in the first and last sketches (of the Bandit Queen) even before I read your comments...is she your deeply-buried alter ego?;)
OK, I lied. A couple more: LOVED those crow sketches; gee, from looking at your baby sketches, I'd never guess you weren't longing to have kids! and: At what point, exactly, did you run out of "Drawing Skill"? It never happened on this page, to my humble eyes!

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

...from looking at your baby sketches, I'd never guess you weren't longing to have kids!

What, you mean the way they're screaming and squirming and being generally unpleasant? Or are you being sarcastic?

It's not so much technical drawing skill that was lost, it was all sense of proportion and aesthetics. :P

[yoodi.livejournal.com]

A hero's costume that says OMG WTF is just frickin brilliant......... XDXDXD *worships the netspeak man*

;D
Yoo

[salamandersoup.livejournal.com]

Hah! I'm totally going to drawing Fifi for you now. :) Lovely drawings, all of them.

[thefordmustang.livejournal.com]

The Netspeak Man and Emoticon Woman were great! I loved the WTF! It so totally does not fit the DC Comics stereotypes.

Your sister's handsome guy looks great in your pictures, too. It is so nice you both share characters. :-) (Emoticon woman to the rescue!)

You really draw so well- your dissolving images are 8,000 times better than my best.

Oh, I am a big fan of the Quest for Eldorado and have the DVD. I was so sad it did not make it. I think here it got so bogged down in political correctness that people just did not get the story was supposed to be funny, not a realistic depiction of life in MesoAmerica. Plus it was one of those great cartoons that tried to aim at an adult audience (such as following the spirit of the "Road to" movies that Bing Crosby and Bob Hope did in the 1940s), and that just does not work in the USA, sadly where so many people think animation is just for kids and get angry when there is near nudity and blood and stuff like that. Still, I love that movie and wish they could have made more 'Road To' adventures (plus Miguel and Tulio were about the hottest animated guys out there)

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I am of the opinion that they should make a remake of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead starring Miguel and Tulio... but then, the audience for that would number about three. It would rock, though. :D

[thefordmustang.livejournal.com]

Wowser!

What a great idea! That would just rock like an Earthquake. Even if it were three people it would be three very happy people!

[tony-cliff.livejournal.com]

Yeah, okay. I haven't been following you on this whole "The Decemberists" thing, but I'll check 'er out.

OMG WTF man and <3 Girl remind me of a drawing i saw on conceptart.org. I will see about finding the link and i will show it to you. Oh, and it reminds me of a cartoon that I also don't have the link to. Let me get back to you here.

[tony-cliff.livejournal.com]

Aha! Links.

The First: http://www.nic-klein.com/images/markopix/3idiots.jpg
(from this thread: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=62701&highlight=x-men)

The Second: http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2005-08-12
(even funnier if you've actually played counter-strike. Keep reading.)

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

HAHA! That comic was great. "Freedom! Also ow!" Excellent. I haven't played CS but I think I get the gist of it...

[tony-cliff.livejournal.com]

Also, you ruined it for me: I've seen your drawings! How am I to shake such an influence? He he.

[(Anonymous)]

Tehehe! Some of your cat drawings looks like my cat Chub-Chub!:D Truly that's his name. Oh, and love the Milo-ish Harry-ish guy. (Is Milo the guy off of Atlantis or another animated movie?) Ooh, you could try and draw Tulio and Megale (El Dorado in case a messed up their names that bad.) That is if you really want to. Yeah and if you have nothing to read, Heir Apparent or Thief Lord is good- it's also a movie now...Thief Lord, not Heir Apparent. Gives good drawing ideas. Keep up the doodles! :P

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Why should I draw Tulio and Miguel? There are about 2,654,193 drawings of them in the movie already!

Unless they appear in gag sketches... Heheh.

[http://users.livejournal.com/__lys_fleurx__/]

I LOVE El Dorado times infinity. it's my favourite movie, only behind Anastasia, which I love for the songs.

[lepitot.livejournal.com]

LOL! The Netspeak man and woman is hysterical!

Personally, I rather enjoyed The Road to El Dorado. I have it on DVD, but I don't watch it that much. I used to watch it all the time though, because the animation is incredible. But then...I bought The Iron Giant, and it sort of replaced El Dorado.

Jon

Drawing skills

[lumosart.livejournal.com]

Hey I wanted to ask you a couple of questions. I am generally more interested in drawing realism myself, but I do seriously enjoy all of your art, and I envy yuor ability to make things look really alive. Where did you learn your anatomy? Btw, I found you because I have a small but entirely too large obsession with Harry Potter ;)

Re: Drawing skills

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

I think Twirlynoodle is basically a great student of life - she kept a sketchbook handy always and has drawn the people she observes outside, on buses, in classes, in the cafeteria, etc., etc. for years, and started attending life drawing classes (with clothed and unclothed models) at her college and continues to attend similar classes (possibly sponsored by her work, or at a local college? Not sure) today. I could recommend some books but lot of pencil mileage is generally the only way to get there, IMHO.

Re: Drawing skills

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

^What he said. DRAW FROM LIFE!! A LOT!

I must make a correction, though: we never had clothed models at school. If we did, maybe I'd be better at drawing pants.

Re: Drawing skills

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

Really? No models in costume? Well, if you have to choose, you got the most important education (much easier to extrapolate how clothing might move over a figure than what might be beneath those mysterious folds and bulges!). Anyway, the solution to your problem is glaringly simple: just draw characters that don't have any pants on from here on out! Like a lot of people in Decemberists' songs, like Billy Liar!:D

Re: Drawing skills

[lumosart.livejournal.com]

Awesome! That would be great! All the books I have are generally anatomy books. To give you an idea of where I am, you can visit my lj page or go to http://lyvvie.deviantart.com

Re: Drawing skills

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

One book that jumps to mind that has helped me is Anatomy for the Artist by Stephen Rogers Peck - breaks down all the body parts into simple shapes and explains how they move in relation to one another.
I notice a real emphasis on having a very polished, fully-rendered appearance to your drawings. You might want to try (if you aren't already) doing more quick "gesture" drawings - always best from life - that will force you to focus more on the basic structure of the figures, their poses, attitudes, feelings etc.

Re: Drawing skills

[lumosart.livejournal.com]

I will definitely check that out. What materials do you use for your faster sketches?

Re: Drawing skills

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

I myself like using markers, because I can't erase them or go into much detail before the drawing becomes a black mess - it helps me focus on the structure rather than the technique. I really like taking a big pad and drawing with one of those big fat "magnums" that graffitti artists like - it makes me kind of unpopular with other nearby artists ("Dude - those fumes are killing my brain cells!") but it really forces you to keep the drawing simple and fast (if you keep the tip anywhere for too long, it'll bleed all over the paper!) I also like drawing with conte crayon, big pieces of charcoal, carpenter's crayons (the big fat kind), grease pencil (china marker) - I would experiment and see which medium works best for you (and what's appropriate to what you're drawing on - a small portable sketchpad, a big canvas, etc.). I find that mixing it up and trying new things I'm not entirely comfortable with often kicks my brain into overdrive - sometimes I like doing life drawing with those brush pens, or in watercolor or acryllic or oil (I suggest if you try this, limit your color palette and don't use tiny brushes).
Something I really strive for which you might already do yourself is, rather than meticulously plan a drawing and start shading in the upper corner and working your way down, is trying to make a complete drawing, a finished statement, no matter how much time I have to work on it. In ten seconds, you can put down enough lines to capture the essence of a pose, a action, an emotion - and then, if time allows, you can add a little more structure, more details, shadows, etc. A good life drawing, in my opinion, should stand on its own at any stage of completion (and mine often look their best when they're at their simplest and roughest - it's easy for me to work the life and spontaneity out of something)
OK, that's WAY more than enough out of me - have you already looked at Twirlynoodle's little tutorials on her web page? They are great.

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

I don't know anyone I'd feel comfortable asking to model for me, either. Haha, so far this is Reason #1 to get a boyfriend, but I don't know if it's quite worth all the trouble...

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA!!

Wow, that would be an expensive ad. ;)

I must object, though: what I need is a perfectly average clothed butt/crotch model. There are superhero comics for referencing the exemplary ones.

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

Hee hee - I'm glad you found that amusing (sometimes what sounds really funny in my head comes out kinda dumb, offensive, etc.). But I would suggest clarifying your last statement: an average butt/crotch for where? L.A.? Paris? Minnesota? Idaho? I don't know how the average nether regions fare in Vancouver, but in some parts of the states, you might need to start drawing on larger paper to capture the "average" butt and/or crotch.:)

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

-I just read the lyrics to "We both go down together" - what a self-absorbed little MONSTER! (the young man - not you!) Oooooh, that boils my blood! (yes, I know it's just a made-up song...)Your picture is chillingly perfect.
-Your "flat", websurfing superheroes were quite satisfactory (I could see them starring in some modern "Schoolhouse Rock"- type musical cartoon infotainment intended to educate 30+ ignoramuses (nothing like me) about how to communicate on the web
-Unlike most of my co-workers, I actually was pleasantly surprised by "El Dorado" - there are obviously some problems, but some real gems (and nice design work!) throughout - the bit when the shark eats the seagull is almost worth the whole movie all by itself! Nice to see an unabashedly voluptuous, hippy, non-white (and short!) female in animation for a change, too.