COMPOSITION 9 For Layout and BG artists - study other artists

OR I'LL EAT YOU

MILT GROSS

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SHANE GLINES' SITE!!!
everyone sign up at Cartoon Retro to see tons of great cartoon compositions!

HARVEY KURTZMAN

HANK KETCHAM

FRANK FRAZETTA

OWEN FITZGERALD

more George expressions

if you copy these, try building them up carefully with construction, so that we really feel how the forms are wrapped around the poses, and that all the shapes are interrelated.

smile affects the cheeks, cheeks affect the eyes

body flows along line of action

flesh feels like flesh, soft and meaty, stuck to the construction and pulled along the line of action

George with specific expressions

Here are some subtle George expressions. The first 3 show George in a calm self assured in his own righteousness (also called rectitude) sort of way.
The pose above adds a bit of cocksuredness.
George calm and sure of himself.
Here's George with some sympathy towards God's creatures, as long as he knows they accept their place in the cruel arbitrary order of things.

George is a multi-shaded personality. He is not always a raving, psychopath as the hippie ladies thought of him.

In order to storyboard or layout scenes with George, it's important to be able to feel his many sides. This whole page shows some similar attitudes with subtle differences of states of being.

Note that these all use the same construction as his simpler expressions. The cheeks work the same way as cheeks do in old cartoons, Preston Blair and such...the same physical mechanics applied to a specific design.

Meet Me At The Pasadena Toy Show This Sunday

http://www.vinyltoynetwork.com/

300 E. Green St.
Pasadena
91101
Pasadena Convention Center

See all the latest collectible vinyl toys. Hobnob with all the sellers, buyers and big shots in the Vinyl world.
Buy toys and rubber pants.

I will be doing signings and maybe if you are lucky, the amazing Jim Smith will be along too to kiss your babies and draw pictures on them. We will be at the WheatyWheat tables.

Storyboarding George Liquor- rougher, simpler drawings

You don't need to be totally "on-model" to storyboard my cartoons, but you need to capture the essence of the characters. The basic proportions and the attitudes. You can leave out details, as long as you have clear posing and acting and continuity. See how clear the silhouettes are too.

These links may help you if you are a storyboard artist and are interested in working on the show.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/12/raketu-web-page-design-and-cartoon.html


http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/12/raketu-universal-instant-messaging.html

Need Artists Soon. Can You Draw A Republican?

HOW TO CHECK YOUR COPIES:

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/05/animation-school-lesson-3-how-to-check.html


It's been about 28 years since I first drew this guy.

Well I found a sponsor to produce 40 minutes of George Liquor cartoons. No dirty hippie ladies this time. Real men who think George will help promote a decent society of upstanding Americans.

DO YOU NEED A JOB DRAWING DECENT CARTOONS WITH POSITIVE VALUES?

I'm going to need an assortment of talent to help me. I'll do a few posts to tell you which jobs will be available and what skills I'm looking for. Today, it's storyboard and layout artists who can adapt to my style.

I won't have time to train people on the job. But I will help you learn to draw the characters on my blog.

I'll need folks like Hillary, who can sit down on day 1 and start to produce functional and entertaining cartoon scenes. If you've already worked on my cartoons, then you will have a big advantage. Anyone who can show me that they already can draw my main characters will make it much easier for me to make a show that will be successful.

The best way to learn to draw a character is to start with the head in neutral expressions, just to learn how he is built.

GEORGE IN NEUTRAL EXPRESSIONS

3/4 VIEW

Some of my characters are extra hard to draw. George especially, so I would start by just learning to construct his head in simple expressions-smiling, or just neutrality.

I'll do more posts, next George with specific expressions, then one for George's body and body poses.





I wouldn't try to draw wild poses or really specific expressions of George until you can already just draw the construction of his head. That's enough of a task by itself. Don't try to be Rod Scribner the first day.
Things to note: There is a lot of space behind George's facial features. Behind his eyes and mouth, you can see his jaw, his cranium and his neck. Many young cartoonists will cut off the cranium and neck or draw them too close to the face.

Remember that a face is at the front of the head, and there is a lot of space between your face and the back of your skull.

You also need to leave space above his eyes - between the top of the eyes and the bottom of his brush cut. That's where his eyebrows will go, and they will need some flesh space in order to move up and down to make expressions.

FRONT VIEW

PROFILE

On the profile you can see that the front of his skull is higher than the back of it. His head slopes backwards. It's very tricky to draw, but is important to his Republicanism.


If you draw this bugger, then post a link in the comments. Once I see a few folks who can draw his basic construction, I'll do a post of george with more specific expressions. Then Jimmy and Sody.

STORYBOARD STYLE VS. LAYOUT STYLE drawings

Storyboard artists don't need to draw the characters perfectly "on-model" or clean, but they do have to understand the core of the characters' look and personality.

Layout artists need to be tighter and make the continuity of poses "flippable" for the animators, but they don't need to be perfectly clean like the drawings above. Just a good pencil line that an inker can interpret.

Of course, my first choice will be professionals who have done storyboards and layouts, but who knows maybe someone out there is just a natural, who easily draws good poses and construction.

QUESTIONS?

Ask in the comments and I will try to answer.