Comic Cover Study

Here's my try at this Mickey Mouse Cover.

Eisenberg Layout Study.

I'm not good at backgrounds and layout, so I decided to do some studies of this.

Emotional Statement:
- The cat is looking something that he likes from the window.

Observations:
- The six main elements on the picture are:
1.- Ground.
2.- Store
3.- Tree
4.- Fence.
5.- Cat
6.- Bird
- The cat is not in the middle, is more to the rigth and down.
- Big contrast between the cat and the store.
- The store is the biggest element in the picture.
- seems that the tree breaks the monotony of most straight objects, it also have the same inclination as the cat.
- the foliage of the tree points to the cat and this in turn points to look at the bird.
- there's big neg space between the tree and the cat and not much details in the elements.


this is the 11 drawing.
Is very difficult to make all the details on a small paper, so just leave it simple just to see de composition. I guess that this was drawn on paper larger than letter size.

Hey Look! Kurtzman Composition Study

Observations:
- The guy isn't standing right, is slightly curved to the right.
- The Vanshing Point of the river it's separated from the character.
- The Horizon is not in the middle, is slightly more up.
- The mountains are not equal, they are simple, organic and asymetric, drawn with more "straight" lines that made good contrast with the river and the character.
- The logs follow the perspective of the river, the logs that are closer surround the character, they are grouped into blocks and each is placed at different angles giving a more natural look to the image avoiding monotony.
- the arm holding the rod is free of logs leaving room to read better shape.
-The log, where the character is standing, is not in a straight line, is diagonal avoiding the monotony.
- There's lot of negative space surrounding the character.
- The mountains also have different sizes avoiding monotony.
- Is constructed with Hierarchy.

Basil Wolverton study

I've never did an study from this guy. It's pretty scary for the first time, it's so great.
First, the verbal analysis:
-BIG head
-BIG Teeth
-Little face
-Little body
-Long hair vertical, which breaks the monotony with the horizontal teeth.

Level1:Level1_check1:

this first step always came out pretty stiff. Im doing it with some fear.
-The head was too little, so the body.
- the upper part of the cranium, where the upper lip begins, it's smaller.

Level1_2:

Level1_check2:
-The back of the head it's more curvy in the neck. It forms an "S" that is attached to the neck.
- The upper lip goes up
- the neck has to be strongger
- the chest is bigger

Level2:

Level2_check2:

- The up hair is even more big. Im still a little timid with contrasts.
- more prominent teeth
- The chest is a little bigger. the right arm shows more.
- The inside hair form is bigger.

Level2_3:
Level2_check3:


- Upper teeth less prominent
- adjust the hair that falls and it's form.
- adjust the form of the cranium, more solid.

Level3:

Level3_check1:

- Nose is bigger and solid.
- Fix the eye line.
- more stronger smile, the whole expression fell because of this.
- Upper teeth bigger.

Level3_check2:


- Adjust hair that falls.

Final details:

Final check:

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Later I did this version by memory trying to apply the things that I noticed.

Eisenberg Tom & Jerry Study

Here's my verbal analysis for this study:

-Opposing lines of action on each character
-Tom has a backwards "s" curve line of action at almost a 45 degree angle
-Jerry has a backwards "c" curve for LOA
-Tuffy has a regular "c" curve for LOA
-Tom has a surprised look (not just in the face, but in his body as well, like raised shoulder's, big surprised eyes, raised eyebrows, raised knee, raised foot)
-Jerry has his eyes closed and Tuffy's are wide open looking directly at Tom
-Jerry is immensely happy to eat some fried chicken and Tuffy is happy with his cupcake
-Tuffy is raised higher than Jerry inside lunch pail
-Tuffy's on top a higher stack of sandwiches making him higher than Jerry
-Jerry is slightly bigger than Tuffy
-Jerry and Tuffy's torsos are each 1 and half heads long
-Tom's torso is 2 heads long
-Lots of space between ears and eyes in each character
-Lots of space inside each characters ears (very big ears)

I wrote down the analysis on my paper, but I thought it would be best to type it up here rather than for you to struggle through my handwriting.

So I first put in the lines of action of each character...


Then I put in the primary forms on top of their LOAs and checked my proportions...


Here I've put in the secondary forms and details on top...


And cleaned it up a bit, but not too much to loose all the underlying structure.

Cantinflas Composition

Update:

I need to study more on painting. I'm doing an analysis of Art Lozzi's backgrounds
That's next.

What do you think?

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I have this assignment, make a better background for this character, Cantinflas.
From what I learned on John K blog, this image has no composition, ther'es no negative space, everything is cluttered, no contrast, no design, no nothing.

I reorganized the picture, I give it more space for the character, more contrasts in the elements, better staging (I think...), more interesting shapes, flow...

What do you think?

One More

This one came out good I think. I did this one a lot quicker than the ones before.

I think could've made his feet a bit bigger and his left cheek more round.

Also make the guy in the corner a bit smaller.

Baby Huey Studies

Hello! I've done two copies of some Baby Huey comic book covers.


Here I wanted to feel the drawing out and combine that with my knowledge of the drawing principles so that my copy can look and feel as good or better than the original.


I tried to remember that certain contrasting objects should stand out more so they can accentuate the focal point better.


Below I mapped out some construction.

I should've included the guy's floating hat to show the overall shape.


Baby Huey is huge so I wanted to slightly exaggerate certain features he had to really show his hugeness.

I exaggerated his tummy area making it bigger and rounder, made his head a bit bigger and shortened his legs a bit.

He's not the focal point though. The big tire is what draws our attention the most, so I made it bigger than how it's originally shown.

I also took consideration of the proportions in the original so that my copy won't look too different from the original.

I accentuated the tire more by adding a farther perspective to the front of the car and made the duck guy driving it smaller.

I really wanted to instantly send the message that a big baby has immensely blown into a tire of a car that's smaller than him, which basically is telling you that he's a big strong baby and accidentally blew the tire too big.

This was a really good practice for accentuating the focal point while other objects surrounding it support it. This way I think made my copy look and feel as good or better than the original.


Below is the final drawing next to the original for comparison.


There's some stuff that needs some fixing.

I think I made the part of the tube in between his mouth and hand a bit too thick.

Raise the duck guy's hat a bit up so that the overall shape of the entire thing can be more noticeable.

Probably turn BH's head slightly more inward to his left side so that he's looking more directly at the tire.

I could've made the rear end of the car smaller to accentuate more the tire.

Other than that I think it came okay.


On this second one below I didn't really accentuate too much of anything here, but I did want it to feel and seem as good as the original.



Here's the final


The feel is pretty much there but I did tone down some things.

I made the ball on the ground a bit too small and tones down the focal point, which is the ball itself.

I could've thinned out a bit BH's neck and make it a bit longer

Made the truck seem more slim than the original in the body.

But I think it looks fine overall.

More Eisenberg - Tom and Jerry

Here's another Eisenberg study.

What I've done here is basically the same thing I did to the last Pixie and Dixie drawing:

-Make my copy better than the original

-and slightly change certain specific features on the characters so that their actions, along with their emotions, can stand out more.

This one was kinda tricky for me though, because I hardly couldn't find anything that I wanted to change from the original. To me the original is perfect the way it is.

But I figured I'd try doing some changes to it, so It seemed like a good challenge.

There was one thing that stood out for me as far as wanting to slightly change something from the original, and that was Tom's head. Not the head alone, but the placement of the head.

In the original he looks content, relaxed. Sitting next to the fire, catching its warmth, while knowing that there's peace between him and his two micey brethren.

So in order for me to make that emotion stand out more I had to change some of Tom's physical features.

1. I wanted his head slightly moved up at a northwest angle so it can seem less cramped next to the fireplace.

2. Elongate his neck more so that his shoulders seem more relaxed.

These changes, I thought, would add more to Tom's relaxed state.

So here's how I did the entire thing.

First, I put the overall shape where all the characters would fit in and added the fireplace.



I fixed my proportions and perspective (shown below), and added the construction to all the the characters. I also kept in mind of the small changes I wanted to make.

I added more to the fireplace for more solidity and added the overall shape of the logs. The pipe and pillow were also added.




I tighten the drawing more (below) and add more of the secondary features to the characters and objects.

I add perspective lines to where the bricks will be placed.




I continue adding more details to the characters (below), finishing up with Tom.

I put in the overall shape of the fire inside the fireplace and add the overall shapes of the fire and smoke coming out of the two ends of the pipe.



I fixed my proportions, add the final details, and here's the final copy shown below



Some parts look fairly accurate, but I think I made a lot of errors here.

Proportions are slightly wrong in some areas, especially Tom's head. The shape seems a bit more obscured than the original. Almost stretched I think.

I don't think I added more to Tom's relaxed state too. I think I just made his neck longer while everything else still feels the same. Now It just seems like he's trying to catch more of the fire's warmth.

I think I should've just relaxed more his shoulders, making them slightly less rounded at top, with no long neck and head being in the same place like in the original.

The rest of the errors are kinda minuscule:

-I made Tom's eybrows a bit too bushy.

-Made Jerry's head too circular. It's actually slightly egg-shaped.

-Had to make Jerry's belly more round

-Made Tuffy's nose the same size as Jerry's.

-Smoothed out Tom's torso where the bump is, where part of his rib sticks out

-Move the line on the backside of the pipe a little to the left.


I don't know, I might be wrong about this. I'd like to hear what you think.

More Pixie and Dixie

Hey, everyone. I bring you another Eisenberg study.


I wanted to try something a little different here. Instead of actually copying the entire drawing down with 100% accuracy, I wanted to make my copy seem a bit better than the original, which was the key thing for me to remember as I did my version.

Eisenberg is a true genius of cartooning and I don't want to make it seem as if I'm a better drawer than he is, which I'm totally not, but I felt like I could top his drawing a little by fixing a couple of subtle things. They're pretty much just different placements of objects in certain specific positions that would make the entire drawing read more clear.

I jotted those changes I wanted to make down on my paper:

1. I wanted to make the cowboy seem more proud that he's riding Mr. Jinx than how he's originally portrayed. He seems pretty happy that he was able to ride a cat, with him being a mouse and all, so I really wanted to make that stand out.

2. Make Pixie and Dixie's head less cramped together. Eisenberg, I'd imagine, had to do it like that in order for the other cat's word bubble to appear in the panel, but since I was excluding the word bubbles in my copy I figured I'd make both there heads seem less cramped together so that they both read clearer.

3. Adding more of of a curve to Mr. Jinx's line of action so that his pose had a bit more life into it. I also figured that that would add to more to the cowboy mouse's proudness.

Here's how I did the step by step procedure:

First I put down the general forms. All the characters together create one big shape. The chair was made into another.

I also added the lines that shape the wall and the floor and the two cats' line of action were added.

I checked them in PS and fixed the proportions

I then added the general construction of all the characters, but I still kept in mind of all the little subtle changes I wanted to make.

The muzzles, ears, hat, tail, arms, legs, hands, feet and fur of both cats are sub forms for their general construction.



I fixed my proportions and made the drawing a bit more tighter. I also added more details to the chair and mice

I put both saddles and straps on the two cats and added Mr. Jinx's bow tie.

Here I raised Mr. Jinx's bum more up so that his line of action could curve more and moved Pixie's head a slightly bit to the right from Dixie's.

I elongated the cowboy mouse's body to add more to his pride and tilted his head a little upward.

I still kept in mind that the construction and placement of the objects that weren't changed had to be accurate to the original and that the things that I changed had to fit with the construction of the characters in the original, except for the elongation I added to the cowboy mouses torso.


I fixed what I needed fixing and added the final details to the cats like eyes, nose, muzzle, fur, tie, ears, hands and feet. I forgot the other cats tail in this one.

I added arms and legs to all the mice.



fixed proportions


I notice when I finish a drawing that perspective is one of my biggest flaws.

As I kept building each character in my Eisenberg copy I noticed how Eisenberg doesn't keep the perspective on certain objects constrained. Well he does, but not by normal perspective standards. It's cartoon perspective, but with control. He knows how each object and character is rounded according to both real life perspective and cartoon perspective.

That's how I see it at least.



I build more details to all the mice as I continue to fix certain things.

I noticed Dixie's head is a lot more angular and Pixie's is more circular. That helps me realize that they don't look exactly alike. There are subtle differences in there head shapes (and eye shapes) that makes them seem more different from one another so they won't look like exact copies of each other.


And here's the final piece. I was able to arch more Mr. Jinx's line of action, show more pride in the cowboy mouse, and get rid of the cramped space between Pixie and Dixie's head.

I changed eye directions for both Pixie and Dixie so that one is looking directly at the cowboy and the other is looking directly at the saddle on Mr. Jinx.

I feel like everything now seems more clear while it still retains the same feel that the original gives.


There are, of course, some little mistakes in proportion like Pixie's head being little bit squashed on the right side as well as Dixie's, but other than that I think it came out fine.


Tell me what you think! I f you didn't understand something let me know and feel free to critique this.

I think I'm going to do a much more harder drawing for the next one. One with a good sense of perspective.