I prefer to think of style as something that is constantly evolving and not a conscious effort. You fall into habits and typically draw what you know. Lately, I've been thinking about what I'm not good at drawing—for new territory to explore. I've never been particularly happy with my ability to draw girls or women. But I've always admired all these cartoonists and animators that can whip out fun girl characters (both past and contemporary), so I'm studying. Here's an early design, definitely inspired by what I've been looking at...hopefully with a twist of something that is my own. Weird, because I started out saying that style shouldn't be conscious, but sometimes you need to dive in and see where it takes you. That's how you grow as an artist, anyway.
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7 comments:
Good stuff Bob! Is that flash for inks and colors? I've been trying to break up my habits a bit lately as well, and have some scratchy pen and ink drawings to show for it. Next part is hitting them with watercolors or something. This looks great man, hope to see you sunday!
Hey George! This is all Flash...anything you see of mine that has the brushy/varied line work is Flash. I can't wield a brush to save my life. I ink my comics with a nib...if you look at my ARGH comic you'll notice the difference in line quality. It gives a certain amount of a variation...but I can only do this slicker line in Flash. I guess that's something else to work on...practicing with a brush!
Looks like you have the same problem I do, but you're actually doing something about it! I can't draw chicks so save my life, I really like the one you drew. Guess I should follow your example and try out a few, good job!
Hey Bob! Thanks for your good words, I'm glad you like her. I misread your comment for a second and read that you were about to be tackling the drawing girls..lol!
It's funny, I've always had difficulty with drawing men, and I have found many people have a tough time drawing the opposite sex. Perhaps it is just innate knowledge of how our own bones and muscles work, etc. Some masters of the female form to look at would be Audrey Kawasaki, Claire Wendling, and Marguerite Sauvage. Good luck, looking forward to seeing more!
Thanks David and Julia!
I'd like to figure out a way that comes naturally to me, so I can more easily invent female characters.
Julia--I think if we were to poll the illustrator electorate, we'd find its pretty common for artists to have a hard time with the opposite sex. You draw what's familiar to you.
This weekend I was looking at the work of Daniel Krall and Katie Rice, and decided it was high time I try and figure this out. I think the Spumco influence is pretty obvious here, but that's what I'm studying. I'm hoping to arrive at something more original over time.
Bob-
Although I really love the design, I feel like it's 90% Spumco-ish and 10% Bob flynn. You have such an amazing sense of design, so keep pushing YOUR women how YOU would like to draw them. Don't worry about how others draw women. See you on Friday!
Hey Dave! I consider her more of a study. An experiment. I appreciate your comment, though...as it's a good reminder not to veer too far away from what I naturally do best.
Loren just said the same thing to me as she was peaking over my shoulder. She reminded me that I did a character called Rachel for a set of illustrations (on my website). And I did do a lot of women characters for the Powder and Glory animations.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by the ole blog! I'll post some more girl sketches soon. See you on Friday.
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