Chloe Kaspar Kalamities

Many doodles and drawings have gone down, some better than others.







I like the top one (reproduced above) better.. it felt more dynamic, then again, maybe the other one has a more focused expression. Then again again, maybe I'm committing the cardinal sin of changing them arbitrarily.





I studied these Tom Oreb rabbits alongside Kaspar because they seemed to have a good balance of angles, relatively straighter lines, and curves, whilst still feeling organic. I find keeping my hand in studying something good helps me be less spazzy when I draw 'my own' things. I naturally tend toward abundant curves and waves, so I was just making an effort to be more balanced.





Hand probably not far apart enough, stretch not tense enough:





The arm probably could have been more solid and manly, and it's gone off the edge of the page too. (My scanner's not quite big enough for this animation paper)





I preferred the way the nose nestled in the central one of these: (By the way I work from right to left, I'm left handed, so often the worst and more primitive ones will be on the far right)





And I did find the arms on this one tricky to interpret





These were a bit poor, the middle one looks like a monkey, too symmetrical and boring. Also, the tug has become a bit slack:















Liberties taken, and failiure in the middle. Left one less even out, prob a step too wrong though:





And with bunnies:





I seem to be spreading him out and making him wider than he is tall. I guess this is me tending to slightly caricature his girth in an effort to avoid toning him down.





More shite, messy and doodly:





I did more perhaps too pointless to post.

MORE KASPAR STUDIES + CORRECTIONS

I have drawn the same poses again to try to fix the mistakes.

I hope it had improved. I will draw more Kaspars tomorrow.

thanks for the advices Professor.

More Kaspar studies.

I don't feel that I am getting it right.. it seems to me that is better than the first ones that I made.. but still is not as funny as the original layouts..

I analyzed the emotinal statement and read the story a couple of times in the "JK STUFF" blog to see if I get what is going on in the drawing.

my self critiques are:

first one - there is a weird angle in the chest (I just saw it now) that goes in the oposite direction of the original drawing, the eyes are too separeted, and the hands are too high, the underware needs to be more organic.

second one - I think he has too many circle shapes in my drawing, maybe it would look better it he had more straight lines, specially from the chin to the belly. The hands are very diferent from the original, I don't know if is out of his model.

I will keep drawing.

abç
davi

Assymmetry, Structure and Style all together

How do you take a scribble like this and make it look solid, while retaining the expression and style?

Well first, analyze it emotionally.
Kaspar is proud in a satisfied sort of way. He has completed a dastardly mission of tearing socks and has gotten away with it. His expression is confident as he gingerly puts back a destroyed sock.

Then analyze physically how that expression and pose is visualized in the rough:

His body pose is somewhat squarish, with the body leaning slightly back to the right.

His arm is in a soft kind of almost S curve.
His eyes are asymmetrical but have to fit into his facial structure.
His smile is off to one side. It pulls his nose and upper muzzle with it.
It pushes the cheek up with it.

His arm on the left (and shoulder) is raised - the other arm is lowered and at ease. That hand points to the drawer of misdeeds.

Are there mistakes that can be corrected? - the nose should be pulled along with the muzzle instead of being in its normal middle position.

All the wiggly hairs have to be ignored while drawing the construction.

OK, now you're ready to draw the structure of all this:



Here's a great article about how unnatural symmetry is:

http://www.upscale.utoronto.ca/GeneralInterest/Harrison/Parity/FaceStudy/FaceStudy.html

Welcome

Hi folks.

I decided to do a private blog for the cartoonists who are really serious about learning to draw funny cartoons.

If you have been invited, it means you have already shown that you are serious by doing many of the lessons and applying the critiques. It also means I think you are very talented. The combination of natural talent and actual study of real principles will make you functional.

FUNCTIONAL is much more important than mere talent. It means you can get out of your sketch books and into actual cartoon making - with stories and characters and personalities and continuity.

There are certain skills that I need to make my kind of cartoons and here are the main ones:

Construction:

This is number 1. All other skills will be made easier if you conquer this.

You need to be able to draw characters that can turn around in space and that have perspective.

Line Of Action:

Each character should have a definite direction in his or her pose. The construction flows along the line of action.

Hierarchy:

This is an extension of construction. It means you have a structured plan for
anything you do - a story - a character -a composition - a song - and then that structure has levels of parts that fit within the structure without contradicting or cluttering the main idea.

Composition:

Your characters should fit within the background in a way that:

1) draws the attention of the viewer to what's important in the scene,

2) is appealing for its own sake

You should be able to see the overall composition easily, whether you have a lot of detail or only a little.

Appeal:

I like cartoons that look nice, are cute even when they are supposed to be gross or funny.

Part of appeal comes from good construction and drawing skill, part from natural flair and talent. The combination of the 2 is unbeatable.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2008/12/disney-principles-appeal-1.html

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2008/12/appeal-in-ugliness-basil-wolverton.html

Style- angles against curves- variety of shapes, asymmetry:

Style isn't drawing flat, like so many cartoon studios today think. It's having control over a variety of types of shapes, contrasts and the other principles of control. When you have control over everything, then your personal style can shine through.

______________________

Part of my reason for giving away free training is selfish. The kind of cartoons I make require these skills, and I can't afford to teach them during a production. Cartoon budgets go down every year and so I need people who already understand what I'm looking for and are functional.

I always want to do layouts in my cartoons - it's what separates my cartoons visually from so many others, but layout is mostly not done anywhere anymore. Nowadays, they just design the characters from a couple different angles, take them into Flash and then move the still pieces around like paper doll puppets. I can't make my kind of custom stories and acting using that system.

I need talented and SKILLED people to help. It's worth it to me to help out before a production begins, but it will be up to you to practice and apply and critique yourselves according to what you learn. I will give some critiques and everyone here can learn fro each other's studies.