Life Drawing: Charlotte

It's always interesting to draw contrasting body types, and Charlotte is very different from Heather, whom I profiled in my last post. Charlotte has a very sleek, angular body and her poses tend to be equally dynamic and angular, as opposed to the more rhythmic curves in Heather's poses. She must be double jointed as well, as her elbows can bend slightly backwards when her arms are tensed!



Charlotte's also a bit of the goth girl, with several tattoos and a lip piercing. This tends to influence me a lot when I take my more caricatured approach to the longer poses, as I really like to play up her large eyes, high cheekbones and almost "haunted" expression. She's actually a very shy, sweet natured girl, but I like to imagine her as some gothic heroine who would fit right in to a Tim Burton film!

Life Drawing: Heather

This is Heather, one of the life models we've drawn from often over the last few years at Visual Arts Brampton. I've posted a number of my sketches of her previously on this blog. Heather is a trained dancer who brings a lot of that dancing sensibility to her poses, particularly in the quick gestures. Her body type is soft and curvy, lending a rhythmic flow to her gestures, and always with a strong line of action.




I've never been that proficient with longer studies, I'm afraid. Part of this I attribute to not feeling completely in control when using a stick of conté. I often marvel at the sketches pinned up in the display cases at Sheridan, as the Animation students are far better versed on showing solid form through use of conté than I am. Anyway, here are some studies that I am reasonably happy with:




As a lifelong cartoonist, I'm far more comfortable with a pencil in hand, depicting form through outline, varying the line weight with pressure and angle. I also find that I'm happier when I give in to my cartoon sensibilities and caricature the model, as I can capture more inner life and personality that way. Here are some examples of the way I prefer to depict Heather:






Just a reminder to all of my readers who live in the vicinity of Brampton, Ontario, that the open life drawing sessions at Visual Arts Brampton are held every Tuesday evening from 7pm to 9:30pm. Please click on the link listed in the sidebar for more information.

More Doodles!

Here's a bunch more of my recent newspaper doodles drawn in blank areas of my daily Globe and Mail over a succession of leisurely lunches at my favourite local eateries. The oddly dyslexic Bell Canada ad pictured above seemed to offer up an interesting layout in which to fit a bevy of cute showgirls. It started out with just the one in the lower right, then led to one after another as my pen meandered clockwise around the page.


Uh oh, I think the guy in the above photo may be in trouble now that the gal's cartoon hubby has unexpectedly walked in the door! The family pets apparently never liked the rascal anyhow.

As for the following images, I believe that any product will sell better if the corporation hires cute cartoon gals to hawk its wares:




Aloha!

It's Doodle Time!

Usually I reserve this blog to just show my finished art, or maybe something in progress for a tutorial. Perhaps once in awhile though, I might post some of my doodles just for fun. Here are some recent doodles, mostly sketched while having lunch and reading my daily Globe and Mail at a favourite restaurant. After reading all the news I'm interested in, I'll start sketching aimlessly in whatever patches of bare space I can find among the pages of the newspaper.


My favourite subject matter is cartooning the human face, as I love to explore the myriad shapes, sizes, and relative placement of facial features on various head shapes. Admittedly, most of my doodles end up being of cute cartoon girls, as that is a subject I can never tire of drawing! The great thing about doodling on newspaper is that it is so completely inviting and tempting. Unlike doodling on clean white fresh pages in a sketchbook, which can be rather intimidating due to the commitment of the act, sketching on newspaper is just like getting more use out of something that was destined for the recycling bin anyway. Also, there is nothing quite so pleasing as the feel of a ballpoint pen on soft, padded newsprint.


I especially like to doodle because I feel I can draw completely in my own natural style, as loose, spontaneous and free of the constraints I might place on myself when drawing for a paid commission, particularly when the client is expecting something to look a certain way. When one doodles, there is the distinct pleasure of knowing that you are doing it just for yourself, not subject to anybody else's approval nor what they would be willing to pay for it. No, you yourself are the only one to satisfy and, heck, even if you don't like it, you haven't invested much time or effort in creating it. If it's good, maybe you'll file it away for future reference, and if not, it joins the rest of the newspaper in the aforementioned recycling bin.


More cute girls. (Hey, how did that one funny looking guy get in there?)


Often, these cute cartoon girls make an appearance right after I've solved my Sudoku puzzle. Could somebody please check to make sure I put all the numbers in the right place? Thanks...