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The Truth Will Make Ye Fere
Gather 'round, children, it's storytime.*
Once upon a time, when Tealin was a budding would-be animator, she was told to put a design through its paces; take a character through a range of expressions and poses to work out the kinks and learn what made it work. And she did that! Oh, yes. And it worked. Her sketchbook was all full of that sort of thing. She even made a website out of it!
Then Tealin went to school. It was a school for animators. And she got to do stuff like that for assignments! The assignments were all on loose paper, and she was spending so much time on them that she didn't get to do the same sort of stuff in her sketchbook, but that was OK because she was still doing it and learning a lot.
After she graduated, Tealin got a job! This was pretty cool, especially because she got to earn her living by doing just those same things, all day, every day, on really fun shows! She was spending so much time on it that she didn't get to do the same sort of stuff in her sketchbook, but that was OK because she was still doing it and learning a lot.
One day, the people who gave Tealin things to draw came to her and said, 'Tealin, we would like you to do storyboards instead of design! Doesn't that sound like fun?' It didn't sound like fun, but she did it anyway, and after a while she got used to it and it was OK. But by then she had gotten out of the habit of doing design stuff in her sketchbook, and was just using it to hash out raw designs as quickly as she read the books and wasn't taking time to develop them any further at all! Oh no!
Then the Remembering Fairy of Animation Regret** came and visited Tealin and said 'You should put a design through its paces; take a character through a range of expressions and poses to work out the kinks and learn what makes it work.' Tealin thought 'Of course! How could I have forgotten?' So she picked the main character from the most recent book she'd read and started work!
In grownup speak now: I am woefully out of practise at practical design stuff so I'm having a go at William: he's got a number of great scenes, he's fresh in my memory, but mostly I get to nurture my narcissism because I AM WILLIAM. At least ... before his arc of empowering self-discovery. I hope I never need one like that and can spend the rest of my life hiding behind a pencil but now we're getting off topic.
More than a year ago I wrested an image of William de Worde from the blankness that surrounded him in my head and came up with this:
There were some things about the original design that I wanted to keep or even amplify. I wanted his hair to be all at the top, sort of ... like an ice cream cone or sea anemone or the end piece of a sushi roll with lettuce in it, something to that effect. He needed that long arisocratic nose. And I wanted to capture a certain sort of jaw – I've known a few people with it; the chin sticks out but there isn't much of a contour on the sides. It's not a matter of pudginess, it's just a narrow jaw that isn't any wider than the neck below it, so it's kind of one slightly curved plane from the cheekbone to the neck. (The first person that comes to mind who I can use as an example is John Cleese. Apparently I based the anatomy of William's whole face on Cleese's, on a structural level anyway.) The biggest challenge, though, was the hair. In my original design it was so unstructured that it was practically impossible to reproduce or turn around, so I had to give it some sort of appealing shape as well as try to convey that it was curly. I even decided to push my luck and try to make it look like the sort of hair that thins early and might even be already starting to go, like this picture of Prince Edward. I also took a stab at the costume here, thinking that an 1820/30s style high-waisted waistcoat/jacket ensemble (example) would be in character, but I haven't experimented much with that.
Anyway, out of this page I liked the one in the bottom right corner the best (William always looks most himself when he's startled) so I worked with that:
The smiling and frowning faces are fliped right off that previous drawing; the others are noodling around. You even get to see my atrocious sketch of the 'I'm trying to work!' William, lucky you.
I slept on it (not literally) then did these the following day:
Am I getting somewhere? I am sparing your eyes further torment by eliminating the very bad On The Ledge sketch ... we've already had one of those, no more until they get better.
These were the same day:
He had to share the page with Coffee Girl, hence the narrowness of the image file...
I wanted to make his mouth the sort of mouth that looks like a hole cut in the face (moreso than a 'normal' mouth which is, in its very essence, a hole in the face) – not much extraneous structure or sculpted lips or anything, just HoleMouth. Does this look like that? At all?
It is WAY past my bedtime, so I shall just throw this up on the dartboard of LJ – Any suggestions are accepted! Maybe not implemented, but at least considered!
*Did you know it's been more than ten years since Hunchback came out? That ought to be illegal, or something.
**glingle glingle glingle
Once upon a time, when Tealin was a budding would-be animator, she was told to put a design through its paces; take a character through a range of expressions and poses to work out the kinks and learn what made it work. And she did that! Oh, yes. And it worked. Her sketchbook was all full of that sort of thing. She even made a website out of it!
Then Tealin went to school. It was a school for animators. And she got to do stuff like that for assignments! The assignments were all on loose paper, and she was spending so much time on them that she didn't get to do the same sort of stuff in her sketchbook, but that was OK because she was still doing it and learning a lot.
After she graduated, Tealin got a job! This was pretty cool, especially because she got to earn her living by doing just those same things, all day, every day, on really fun shows! She was spending so much time on it that she didn't get to do the same sort of stuff in her sketchbook, but that was OK because she was still doing it and learning a lot.
One day, the people who gave Tealin things to draw came to her and said, 'Tealin, we would like you to do storyboards instead of design! Doesn't that sound like fun?' It didn't sound like fun, but she did it anyway, and after a while she got used to it and it was OK. But by then she had gotten out of the habit of doing design stuff in her sketchbook, and was just using it to hash out raw designs as quickly as she read the books and wasn't taking time to develop them any further at all! Oh no!
Then the Remembering Fairy of Animation Regret** came and visited Tealin and said 'You should put a design through its paces; take a character through a range of expressions and poses to work out the kinks and learn what makes it work.' Tealin thought 'Of course! How could I have forgotten?' So she picked the main character from the most recent book she'd read and started work!
In grownup speak now: I am woefully out of practise at practical design stuff so I'm having a go at William: he's got a number of great scenes, he's fresh in my memory, but mostly I get to nurture my narcissism because I AM WILLIAM. At least ... before his arc of empowering self-discovery. I hope I never need one like that and can spend the rest of my life hiding behind a pencil but now we're getting off topic.
More than a year ago I wrested an image of William de Worde from the blankness that surrounded him in my head and came up with this:
There were some things about the original design that I wanted to keep or even amplify. I wanted his hair to be all at the top, sort of ... like an ice cream cone or sea anemone or the end piece of a sushi roll with lettuce in it, something to that effect. He needed that long arisocratic nose. And I wanted to capture a certain sort of jaw – I've known a few people with it; the chin sticks out but there isn't much of a contour on the sides. It's not a matter of pudginess, it's just a narrow jaw that isn't any wider than the neck below it, so it's kind of one slightly curved plane from the cheekbone to the neck. (The first person that comes to mind who I can use as an example is John Cleese. Apparently I based the anatomy of William's whole face on Cleese's, on a structural level anyway.) The biggest challenge, though, was the hair. In my original design it was so unstructured that it was practically impossible to reproduce or turn around, so I had to give it some sort of appealing shape as well as try to convey that it was curly. I even decided to push my luck and try to make it look like the sort of hair that thins early and might even be already starting to go, like this picture of Prince Edward. I also took a stab at the costume here, thinking that an 1820/30s style high-waisted waistcoat/jacket ensemble (example) would be in character, but I haven't experimented much with that.
Anyway, out of this page I liked the one in the bottom right corner the best (William always looks most himself when he's startled) so I worked with that:
The smiling and frowning faces are fliped right off that previous drawing; the others are noodling around. You even get to see my atrocious sketch of the 'I'm trying to work!' William, lucky you.
I slept on it (not literally) then did these the following day:
Am I getting somewhere? I am sparing your eyes further torment by eliminating the very bad On The Ledge sketch ... we've already had one of those, no more until they get better.
These were the same day:
He had to share the page with Coffee Girl, hence the narrowness of the image file...
I wanted to make his mouth the sort of mouth that looks like a hole cut in the face (moreso than a 'normal' mouth which is, in its very essence, a hole in the face) – not much extraneous structure or sculpted lips or anything, just HoleMouth. Does this look like that? At all?
It is WAY past my bedtime, so I shall just throw this up on the dartboard of LJ – Any suggestions are accepted! Maybe not implemented, but at least considered!
*Did you know it's been more than ten years since Hunchback came out? That ought to be illegal, or something.
**glingle glingle glingle
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Or maybe you actually do mean something else xD Anyway, I love this dude! The second to last sketches are my faves I think (mainly omg because I suck at those down and to the side head angles like in the first one and yours is gooood D: )
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You find tilty heads difficult? You? But your draughstmanship is like wow! How does that happen?
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i dunno like, i'll try for a more extreme angle or something, but then it always seems to settle back into a more comfortable, not as extreme angle, which causes other parts of the head to get displaced and wompyjawed D:
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If I remembered "The Truth" better and had a firmer picture of William de Worde in my mind, I'd be able to give an actual opinion on this, but sadly, I cannot, other than the fact that he seems most William-like when he's frustrated, which you convey quite well. :)
Can't wait to see more!
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His mouth looks like the kind that never stops asking nasty, niggling questions. Very apropriate for Ankh-Morpork's first journalist.
I can't wait to see what you're going to draw on The Truth, it's one of my favourites. There's so many wonderful scenes in it that it's one of the few books I tend to re-read entirely, rather than skipping to the best bits. :)
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Yes indeed, and in my opinion that quite defines William. ;) He ís the son of Lord de Worde, after all, and even though he has a job it's not much of one (well, until he founded the Ankh-Morpork Times and had to 'feed' the press) and I think he's actually quite a chip off the old block. But then I don't like William much - I read Going Postal before The Truth, and when you compare the two (both set in Ankh-Morpork, both with original main characters who meet the usual A-M main characters (i.e. the Watch and Vetinari) but aren't part of that and both about the 'rise' of a kind of public service) I always find I like Moist much, much more than William!'
But I really like your drawings here. The shorter waistcoat just *works* on William.
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Alright, I'm going to take this as 'more Going Postal drawings will come' and nothing you say will convince me otherwise. ;)
The Truth and Going Postal are rather similar – in fact, when my roommate first read GP she said it was 'just The Truth but with beaurocracy.' (Oh, but how much more!)
Quite! The only thing TT has going for me are the scenes with Wuffles (wiieh), Drumknott-showing-character and arguably the most, well, at least original if not intelligent Patrician-overthrowing attempt so far (although the one in Feet of Clay was pretty good too). Shame really that would-be overthrowers always forget about Vetinari's terrierS. ;) (And I now tend to count Drumknott with them too, besides Vimes and Wuffles. Good old Drumknott.)
Would that PTerry hurried up with Making Money... :)
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NEED MAKING MONEY NOW.
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I just hope Making Money won't be "Going Postal Redux". You know, like...
Moist: Hi, I'm Moist, this is my second book. Previously, I was a con-artist but got, well, reformed by force and I'm now the Ankh-Morpork Postmaster. Also, I may or may not be married to (former) Miss Dearheart, who's father invented the Clacks. I'm actually pretty important in Ankh-Morpork when you think about it.
Vetinari: alright, the city needs a mint. Lipwig, get to it.
Moist: but -
Vetinari: tyrant.
Moist: X^( *gets to it*
Bankers and other important people: okay, we don't like this. Let's put a stop to it.
Complications: *ensue*
Moist: bah.
Vetinari: sort it out yourself.
Moist: bah again.
Adora Bell Dearheart: *shows up for some romantic moments/emotional growth for Moist*
Complications: *ensue even more, building up to the grand finale*
Moist: *triumphs through some amazing con-artisty way*
Bankers: WE HATE YOU.
Vetinari: and NOW I step in and order people around so things will resolve the way I want them to.
Bankers: WE HATE YOU EVEN MORE.
Vetinari: *recycles arguably his best line from GP* Tyrant, remember?
Vimes: I show my face so people will know this is Ankh-Morpork and my fans will be happy.
Vetinari: I already covered that first part. Alright, problem resolved, everybody happy, go home now.
Moist: yay. *goes home*
END
EPILOGUE
Vetinari: this city needs a railroad/water supplying service/telephone-thing service/whatever. Hm, who to ask for that..?
And then the sequel is 'Making Water' or something. ;) (Hey, I'm Leonard of Quirm when it comes to titles!) Of course, knowing Terry Pratchett it won't be anything like that, because it'd be very depressing if it did. If only he'd hurry up writing it... :)
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You are brilliant, brilliant, BRILLIANT! Genius, I say!
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By the way, it did gave me an idea... could you perhaps draw Vetinari with a badge with says 'Tyrant'? Please? I'd be ever so grateful! :)
('t would save him a lot of trouble, me thinks, and other people would know where they're at. ;))
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I'm making a mental note to not go into animation now, though Oo; Those Faries dont sound like much fun.
ALSO: William is WONDERFUL. Just how I pictured him. I saw a display of Terry Pratchett books in my bookstore the other day and immediately thought of you.
Keep it up, darling. :D
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Aha! Thank you for finally explaining why my math professor's jaw looks so odd. My math professor in general looks and moves like a cartoon character. I could swear he moves by being hand-animated frame-by-frame by a team of ninja animation angels - he has a quality of bouncy disjointedness in his movements that makes him look like he could be a Toon in Who Shot Roger Rabbit or the Animaniacs... he looks like he's going to break Newtonian law any second and bounce off a wall or pull a giant hammer out from behind his back.
William's nose and chin=my math professor's chin and nose.
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I like the last two the best, though I'm not sure why. I think inside William is rather insecure and his aristocratic background makes him a bit restrained. Call it cliché, but I imagine him a bit like Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane in "Sleepy Hollow", though not quite as prudish. In the last two sketches, particularly in the one where he's writing, I can see some of those things that I see in his character. You've drawn him expressing a wide range of emotions, but with William, I see his character shining through best when the emotions are more subdued. Less is more, if you will. Of course, that's just my opinion, but perhaps it's something you can develop further in your designs.
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YES! That is EXACTLY who he is! Yes yes yes!!
I'm glad I have 'permission' to draw more restrained poses ... when I was trying to think of expressions to draw, and they were all coming out really repressed, I was thinking 'Argh, push it, girl! You never push it enough!' But now I know I was just doing it right. ;) He always seems to want to tuck his chin in...
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I really love the second to last one, looking up from writing. And above that, the one on the far right, the sort of "I have to correct you but I am afraid you'll kill me" expression. Or possibly the "You are so full of it" expression. It could go either way. ♥
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IT'S ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD! ICON JOY!!
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Which would be fine if I was drawing Eddie Izzard, but I'm usually not.
Also, for some reason the drawing once you'd slept remind me of Lackadaisy. Except, you know, he's not a cat.
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AND Making Money?! ANOTHER ONE WITH MOIST?! How does life get any better?!
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Sorry if I was a bit of aggressive, but i'm french, so it disturbed me a lot ;)
I make a lot of mistakes in english though...
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OOHHHHHH.
[groan]
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Hmm...I may be prejudiced, because I saw it before I actually read the book, but I actually really like the first picture you did of William--like I said, I saw it before I read the book, so when I was reading the book I kept seeing that picture. There's something about it that the others don't have. I can't really figure out what it is, though. I wish I could explain it.
I'm sorry. I don't want to sound like I'm knocking the newer drawings. "I'm trying to work!" William made me laugh. I know that one isn't as "clean" as the others, but his expression is great.
By the way, after looking at these sketches, I've come to the conclusion that you might be channeling Conan O'Brian's hair.
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Blood? (Just kidding)
No, I think I know what you mean; the later ones make him look a bit more ... er ... slick, whereas in the first one he still looks a bit more naiive and flustered. Interesting observation – I totally see it now. I wonder how much is dependent on expression and how much is built into his design.
As for the hair, I may be indirectly channeling Mr O'Brian ... I know I took direct inspiration from a background character in Iron Giant who everyone says is a caricature of him but he has entirely the wrong face shape. Hang on, I'll see if I can get a screencap. Here:
Looking back at him, his hair doesn't look all that much like William's ... at least no more like his than any number of other characters.
Cor, that movie is awesome.
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There was another history show presenter (maybe he was the same one?) presenting a show about the Battle of the Boyne (I think) who would be a similar candidate.
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I've actually run into people who looked just like characters I made up, which is one of the strangest things (I think) that can happen to a college student who wants to be a writer.