Saturday, May 15, 2010

Walt Kelly Principles and Skills

It's easy to get distracted by Walt Kelly's beautiful linework and crosshatching and not see all the underlying principles that are part of his style.

He has a lot of attributes underneath the lines that are equally impressive: Like cuteness and appeal.He draws very appealing eyes.
He is good at compositions. I love the contrasts in the buildings below. Very tall against very thin.
Strong lines of action.

Opposing poses. The characters look alive, organic and in the moment.
Nice tongue-hatching.
Natural looking asymmetry (the features-eyes,etc.-are not the exact same shape and size on either side of the characters)

http://comicrazys.com/2010/05/10/the-cow-jumped-over-the-mood-the-pogo-stepmother-goose-book-1954-walt-kelly/

You can find lessons on all these concepts at:

http://johnkcurriculum.blogspot.com/2009/12/disney-principles.html

http://johnkcurriculum.blogspot.com/2009/12/composition.html

Oh and thanks to the latest contributors: