COMEDIC FIGURE DRAWING / TECHNIQUES I'D LIKE TO TRY

For comedy drawing sessions I usually prefer draped models.  Sorry, I don't know who drew this. 

I don't think oddball contortions are the best use for a comedic model.

I prefer funny poses. There's always something about them that you'd never have figured out if you were just winging it. In this case (above), the angle of the feet. I like the clothing wrinkles, too. 

Maybe if someone held her feet up you could get something like this (above).

I like ignorant poses. 

As an experiment I'd like to try poses that are influenced by movies and animated cartoons I've seen. Somewhere out there, there's bound to be comedic male models who can do exaggerated public speaking poses like the ones Daffy Duck's doing here (above and below). 

The padded shoulders and gloves magnify Daffy's gestures so I'd try that on the real life model.

For a text, maybe fragments of one of Billy Sunday's prohibition sermons. Or maybe a poem. What do you think of this Walt Whitman parody (below)? 

AFTER WALT WHITMAN
by Richard Grant White

I happify myself.
I am considerable of a man.  I am some.  You are also some.  We
   are all considerable;  all are some. 
Put all of you and all of me together,  and agitate our particles by
   rubbing us up into eternal mash,  and we should still be some.
No more than some, but no less. 
O ensemble!  O quelque-chose!  O women!


Yes, women!
They look at me and my eyes start out of my head.
Women watch for me;  they do.  Yes, sir!
They rush upon me;  seven women laying hold of one man. 
O turnips!  O cucumber!  O beets, parsnips, carrots, O sass!

Geez, I'd kill to get a female model who could do poses like the one above.  The big butt is no problem. That's just pillows or towels stuffed into stretch pants. The hard thing would be to find a wig like the one above. Maybe a long wet rag might do the trick. Students can always make up the details of the long, funny hair, even if the real model's hair is short.

They can make the hands bigger than life, too.

Here's a pose that would require students to draw with a dark, "Sharpie"-type line...or, even better, a thick-and-thin capable brush pen. Charcoal or some other grey medium would be a great addition.

The idea isn't to copy the Olive Oyl reference slavishly but to make a funny, graphically stark and cartoony caricature of the live model.

FUNNY FIGURE DRAWING MODELS

So far we've talked about actors as art school models and dancers as art school models...that leaves only one more category that needs to be covered....

...FUNNY models.

If you're an artist and you're interested in comedy just imagine the giant strides you could make if you had funny models to work from: models who get it, someone who isn't offended if you exaggerate some anatomical flaw.

A good teacher will bring props to class that might heighten the effect: glasses, funny wigs, fake buck teeth, etc.

It would be fun to team up two draped models who have opposite personalities. An overbearing Marie Dressler-type (above) would make a great foil for a Mr. Meek-type (like me, above).

Grouches make great comedy models because they're good at reacting to things. They do great slow burns when someone does something stupid in front of them, and when they finally yell it's massive.

Hero types are fun to draw.

They could stuff their shirts with towels to get a funny physique.

Legs are always funny...even mens' legs...if they're wearing the right pants.

With baggy pants models you could tell a funny story using only leg poses....no part of the model's upper body would be visible.

Skinny legs would also work.

So would sexy legs.

The male model every cartoonist would like to have drawn was Eric Campbell (above), the villain in Chaplin's best shorts.

Sigh! The Campbells of the world are probably hard to find....or are they?

This (above) is what Campbell looked like when he was offscreen... a real nice guy, not at all like the bad guy he played in the films. Maybe you know a nice guy who can be converted into a good villain model.

A draped two model session, male and female, offer great posing possibilities.

They make for great romantic scenarios, too.

Just make sure they're different heights.

Haw! Here's a sketch idea for two models: the guy stumbles on a coin-operated robotic love machine and decides to try it. No, no, no...nothing obscene happens...but the girl's hands caress his head, play with his tie, squirt him with cologne, empty his wallet, etc.

I've already mentioned this but it bears repeating: nothing I've suggested is meant to displace classical figure drawing. The picture above makes an eloquent argument for the classical approach. I just think cartoonists would benefit from both types of drawing session.

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BTW: here's a fascinating animated short about art models. Many, many thanks to Kelly Toons for the link!!!!!!!!!

FIGURE DRAWING FOR ANIMATION CARTOONISTS

For the kind of model session that Theory Corner cartoonists might like, I'd I like to see a catwalk made of collapsible tables.

The model would walk on that.

If the model was a dancer, even an amateur dancer, that would be great. 

Of course the catwalk makes possible a dance that's also a walk. I see the individual poses as lasting no more than three or four minutes. I kinda like the idea of overlapping some of the drawings to get the effect you see above.

A catwalk makes it easier to do funny walks and eccentric dancing.

There's no end of funny walks.

Some walks and dances look better when more than one dancer does them. No problem. You just sketch in the clones after class.

Two models can become eight, as in this dance of Fosse's: The Rich Man's Frug."

Or one man becomes three. The choreography for a session like this could be improvised or planned. Me, I'd love to think of moves  for sidemen to do.

Poses involving animals like horses are no problem. You draw the model-driven rider poses then add the cartoony horses later. 

Or the cow.

If you had two models doing different walks at the same time you could combine the drawings in a sort of collage.

Remember to bring some tape.

ACTORS AS ART SCHOOL MODELS

Haw! I'm just kidding with the picture above, but it does serve to make my point...that female models dominate art school classes, and not just for the obvious reason. 

Female silhouettes follow lyrical, curved lines that begin at the head and follow through to the feet. They're beautiful, no doubt about it. 

Men, on the other hand, are lumpy. The parts just don't fit together.  Let's face it, realistic men are not as fun to draw as realistic women.

If more evidence is needed I refer you to the comparison above.

Now don't get me wrong. Art and artists need men. If you could boil all of art down to just one principal it would be the combination of force and grace in the same object or situation. We men are half that combination so we have an earned place at the table. Even so, the problem remains....how do we make men more fun to draw?

My own solution is acting. I picture gifted amateur actor-models working in twos, one male and one female. A story outline dominates the session.

It could be a comedy...

..or a drama.

Or some combination of the two.

A script is okay, but I picture improvised situations based on a loose outline, spoken dialogue only if it feels right. A whole story or fragments of different stories. The important thing is that whatever fragments are used,  they should lend themselves to visuals that are fun to act and fun to draw.

It would be fun to alternate comedy with drama, or solos with match-ups. I could see a male actor doing a solo variation a bit like Chris Crocker's "Leave Britany Alone!" Of course you'd have to change the timing to freeze some of the poses and give the class time to draw.

I could see a solo woman doing a sketch like Bette Davis's "I wipe my mouth" from "Of Human Bondage."

Probably the sessions I described would work best with draped models. I'm not sure amateurs could act with their clothes off. That's no problem because I'm not trying to replace classical nude model drawing with these actor sessions. Students need both.

Is that all? Mmmm...no, wait a minute, I forgot something: a good homework assignment for a session like this one is to have the students draw up one or two carefully finished drawings based on the sketches done in class.

I'm a cartoonist so I see this assignment done in a cartoon style like the one above.

  Lots of styles would work.

BTW: that's not my drawing above. I wish I'd copied down the artist's name.