I'm not sure if anyone remembers the other day when I mentioned that cartoonists often leave out the area on the head between the face and the back of the head and jaw.
Well I do it myself when not thinking about it.
I drew this while watching TV in the dark and was concentrating on Anderson's positive features-the shape of his head, his eyes, nose, mouth chin and ears. I drew the head shape first then filled it in with his features. Mistake!I didn't leave enough room at the left side for the negative space. Many of us have a tendency to leave out spaces in our drawings. We just fill the silhouette up with positive shapes.
On a 3/4 head we think that both sides of the head are the same shape and that is completely wrong. It's only the same on both sides when you look at a head straight on. When you see a 3/4 angle then the one side of the head is made up of different parts of facial anatomy than the other. They aren't mirror images. Cartoonists tend to draw the cheek and chin on both sides of the 3/4 head - which is wrong. we only see a sillo of cheek on the farther side of the face. On the closer side, we see the jawline, the temple and a lot of space between the face and the back of the head.
I knew I made the same mistake on that drawing of Cooper I posted the other day and felt terribly guilty about it.
So over pizza I redrew him from memory, being careful to map out the space at the left side of the drawing. I still didn't leave enough room for the jaw. When I do a final model, I will use construction and get it right.
This morning over breakfast I dashed out another and realized a secret about Anderson. He has no eyebrows. If you leave them off altogether it looks more like him.
He also has a very interesting skull shape in profile, something like the above. It's a crappy drawing, because I hadn't drawn his profile before, so I'll get at learning a better one soon.
Here I tried drawing another news personality from memory. Can you guess who it is? He reminds me of a Gerry Anderson character.
Speaking of caricatures, Marlo is much better than me and she is selling her wares over here. Be the first on your block to pick up a nice print!
www.marlomeekins.blogspot.com
19 comments:
The profile looks like Mr.Spock! original "Star Trek" movie out soon!
At least yours looks funny, even when it was odd looking. I drew Puffy AmiYumi cause I still have Japanese disease. It looks kinda like them but it's not fun i don't think.
Hi John
So, do you have to draw the shape of the head first and then the features, or the features with the shape of the head at the same time?
Do you have a permanent dent in your hand from drawing so much?
Is that other news personality Dan Rather?
Drawing the sillo first-- Comparable to drawing speech or thought bubbles?
When I was about 8 years old, there were several other boys forming a drawing clique and they wouldn't let me join. One day, I noticed their speech bubbles had the text climbing up the sides, or spilling out onto the background. I had just figured out that you had to write the words first, THEN draw the bubble, and I showed off this skill to them very often. Needless to say, I turned them down whenever they asked me to join, the jerks.
I think they listen to hip-hop now.
Charles Krauthammer!
(He's partially paralyzed - that's why he looks so weird.)
D.L. Hughley doesn't have eyebrows either. And he has a giant blotch on the side of his face. CNN sure likes eyebrowless people.
Are you making a toy of Anderson?!!
I dunno about all tha construction voe-dee-o-do, but that first drawing is a damn sight funnier!Hunch!
I'd say that is Morley Safer, John.
Hi joHN,
I hate to post unrelated comments on here, is there some place else you rather me posting?
here's my first attempt at Mickey,
I did my own analysis but I'd appreciate if you could give me some tips.
http://myanimationstudies.blogspot.com/2009/02/rubber-hose-lesson-1-mickey-mouse.html
By the way is Mickey OK, I only chose him because he's a generic character.
So John, Is it OK to not use construction on every drawing I do? (such as your caricature of cooper)
I try to draw even my roughest sketches with construction, Is this a mistake? should I first draw a sketch without construction, and then draw it again with construction.
Whenever I see Anderson Cooper on TV I think of those aliens from the movie "This Island Earth" Not that he looks like them, but he has that "you're not one of us, are you?" qualities that is immediately off-putting.
Where's her gspot again?
Okay John. I admit, this has nothing to do with your post once again, but I did really enjoy the discussion of Anderson Cooper's face and eybrows. I guess I will keep writing until you send George Liquor out on the streets to rough me up.
Anyway, In your header graphic (new_donaldbastard.jpg), it's a great pose, but the arms and legs have twinning to a degree. What's your take on this? Why does it work despite that? Is it because one leg and arm are farther back in space?
Thanks in advance. Sincerely, Fun.
One thing i always notice about your caricaures john....youre a master of ears....the ear always tends to be ignored and a generic stock ear is slapped on most peoples caricatures
every caricature ive seen you do, the ears are just as unique and interesting as the rest of the drawing.
just an interesting observation.
andy rooney?
And here I thought the original caricature was straight on, just slightly and amusingly askew.
I'm sad to say, I make that same mistake quite a bit. Oh well, live and learn!
Actually, I WAS the first on my block to buy a print of hers. I'll probably be the only one on my block to buy one.
She's popular in the ghetto, but not for her art.
;)
- trevor.
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