If you're an animation cartoonist then it's your responsibility to learn how to draw your own mannerisms and quirks. Pay attention to the way people describe you! Things you do that annoy other people are particularly valuable! Don't stop slurping your soup, study it! Analyze the slurp! Forget about drawing at the zoo, that's for realistic artists. If you're a cartoonist then YOU are the weird and funny animal you ought to be studying!
I'm too sleepy to illustrate this with new drawings but here's (above) a few old ones that might help. The top one is how I feel when I'm talking to people in a restaurant. It's probably not the way I really look but cartooning is more efficient than realistic drawing at portraying mental states and it was fun to draw it that way. Anyway I had to analyze what I was feeling and what kind of personality I have before I could draw it.
Ditto with the second drawing. The first bite of pizza is sacred to me. You have to tune out the world and focus solely on the delicious food in front of you. I tried to...to... I can't type anymore. I'm falling asleep.......
Ha Ha! I illustrated myself way back in this old blogpost of mine.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've gotta say that caricaturing yourself is rather hard. You definitely have to step outside yourself and pick & choose what to exaggerate. Also, if you're rather ruthless in your depiction of others, it's only fair that you're just as brutal to yourself. But, in the end, it does make you a better caricaturist.
Hi Eddie
ReplyDeleteI think it's even better to draw your friends.
When you draw yourself it's hard to be honest. We cartoonists tend to be narcisstic. It's easier to caricature someone else than yourself.
Plus you can't really see yourself without a mirror and when you do use a mirror, you make fake faces, not the ones you make naturally.
Draw everybody you know! And compare everyone's mannerisms.
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ReplyDeleteI'd agree with John, But I'm afraid U. E. would ban me!
ReplyDeleteYou know what's really fun to draw?
Eddie looking into the little rectangular mirror he's propped up next to himself at his desk and making hand gestures while squinting as he draws himself.
...hmmm...doesn't that make you both right?
You still want to study me? I get to further my studies in Eddieology, right? YAY!
ReplyDeleteEverybody: Sorry for the inappropriate drawings. I didn't draw those for this aricle and they dodn't really fit.
ReplyDeleteJohn: Kali would be a great person to draw because she has a million expressions. I like the way she closes her eyes for punctuation when she talks. One of these days I'm going to change chairs while she has her eyes closed. When she opens them I'll appear to have popped to a new place. I can see her saying: "H...how...how did you DO that!?"
How do I draw my lisp?
ReplyDeleteI agree with john.But I won't stop drawing bad likenesses of myself anyway.
Kali is GREAT to draw!!!!
>How do I draw my lisp?
ReplyDeleteTongue.
;)
I gotta agree with everyone- Kali is TOPS for inspiration!
ReplyDeleteHey, speaking of drawing your colleagues, I did that just now. Check 'em out. B)
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