Eisenberg Tom

Verbal Analysis

- The LOA of Tom it's defined and it points to the mice
- Tom has a BIG rounded head, the mice are more like ovals.
- Tom's head is turned slightly toward us.
- He has one eye closed and one eye open.
- The eye that is open pushes the eyebrow up and this makes a wrinkle.
- the eyebrows follow the mechanics of the eyes.
-The center line of the muzzle is different from the head, It's a secondary form attached to the cranium.
- lots of neg space inside tom's head. There's also great space between tom and the mice.
- The back of tom's is curved, following the line of action.
- the spaces between the hairs are not equal.
- The three characters have different expressions, The three are saying different things.

Milt Gross Study: Doc and Ugly Lady

I like very much the characters of Milt Gross, they are very appealing and visualy interesting. It reminds me the drawings from another genius cartoonist, Guillermo Divito.


Verbal Analysis:
-All flows through line of action.
- BIG Head!
- Short legs
- Little body
- Little eyes
-Eyes have slightly diferent directions
-There's lots of space inside the head
- The smile is higher than the eyes.
- Big collar and straight, in contrast to the curved shapes
- BIG Tie
- Little hat with a complex and very interesting shape
- The features that sticks out make and interesting silhouette



- Defined Line of Action
- Big Head
- Big Chest
- Skinny legs

Head:
- eyes occupy a small portion within the head
- One eye is slightly bigger than the other and they don't follow the direction of the head (this is very subtle)
- broad forehead
- Big nose
- Big chin
- The ear doesn't have the tipical cartoony ear shape.
- Some features sticks out making an interesting silhouette.
- LOTS of negative space inside the head.


I think next I will try some of my characters using the things I've learned here. Sometimes I have "happy accidents" in which I'm close to achieving the appealing of Milt Gross characters and I think doing these studies, I realize that these characters have things in common that make them look like this.

A Simpler Exercise

I'm starting to think these full layout exercises are too much too soon. Esp. when a lot of folks haven't yet mastered their "guts" and negative spaces and contrasts.

I notice that everyone who has drawn this pose has:

Shrunk the negative spaces-both the ones in the air and the ones within the body and head

Toned down the line of action and pose

took out the construction: even his broken jaw should have a feeling of overall form, but most of the copies I have seen look like they were just drawn with a wiggly line and no form between the wiggles.

It might be easier for me to critique individual poses like this before we move on to complex layouts and setups with multiple poses and problems to solve.