Can you take one more art school post? I hope so, because there's more to say about this.
I said before that female models are more fun to draw, and that's true, but for comedic drawing you'll need to know how to draw men...different types of men...and that means draped male models. Let's see what iconic types there are to choose from.
Well, there's the intellectual type (above). Bring a sheet for the toga and get a good caricature of the model's face.
Intellectuals are noble and are always lost in thought even when facing hurricane-force winds. Thinking poses are fun to draw.
Such a man always climbs rocks to get the eagle's view. Draw this pose small and add the rock later.
Intellectual types sometimes turn out to be evil, so you'll need a model who can do evil poses. Be creative with the lighting.
In a scenario like this one model can take both poses.
You'll also need models who are slobs. Have a wife-beater t-shirt handy in case the model didn't bring one. An accompanying female model would be nice for this. You could do a take-off of "Street Car Named Desire."
Slobs are fun to draw. It's a law of nature: the more refined and delicate your girlfriend is, the more likely it is that she has the brother from hell...an over-the-top punk rocker.
If your group can afford two models then try a romantic theme...the thrill of the first date.
I picture the girl as an Imogene Coca -type.
Do you dare try this? Yikes!
Could a funny girl model play a guy in some type of sketch? I dunno...maybe. I'd try a skinny female with an oversized, floppy mens suit. I love to draw wrinkles.
You'll need to know how to draw leading men-types. Chick magnets, too.
And heroes, draw heroes, but don't do the Marvel or anime-types...they're too common.
If you need a horse you can always draw it in later.
Muscular models are great, but it's hard to get double duty out of them if you can only afford one model and want to do Mr. Meek in the same session.
Remember, heroes have big jaws!
How do you find models like these? If you're an artist you probably know one or two versatile models who can do most of the things I've described here, and can even bring useful props. Some models like doing stuff like this.
I grew up in a normal area for the time. No crime to speak of, lots of framed pictures of relatives on the end tables.
All my knowledge about the world came from magazines and TV. Kids weren't supposed to look at adult magazines but they were on the rack above the comics and sometimes I'd sneak a peak.
It's a good thing I did. Only by doing that did I become aware of the true menaces that confront men in this world.
There was danger around every corner. The whole animal world was going berserk.
I was fairly sure I could survive a fight with crabs and lobsters, as long as a good, heavy stick was handy.
Quicksand I wasn't so sure about. Good grief, how do you survive something like that? Sometimes I had the uneasy feeling that school wasn't preparing us for the real world.
Eventually we kids discovered science fiction and that led to the realization that adults were clueless about what the real threats were.
The real threats would obviously come from test tube monsters and space invaders. Our old-fashioned parents were ill equipped to deal with this kind of menace so it was clear that my generation would have to step up to the plate.
I don't mean to imply that we kids were down on science. We loved it and fully expected to drive the first flying saucers in our lifetime. Of course, you want someone to share the thrill of flying with and what better companion for a boy than....
...a Blonde Bombshell! All the magazines were in agreement that women of this kind were hungry for men.
My flying saucer would be equipped with an endless supply of root beer and comic books. With those and a bombshell beside me I felt I was ready for whatever adversity life would dish out.
Gee, writing that was fun. Maybe I'll try to do something about my adolescence soon.
Start with a few normal drawings then drastically elongate the legs without elongating the body. Experiment with multiple station points.
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Try the reverse. See what happens.
How 'bout a male model with disembodied legs and stiff, over-size BVDs? You simply don't draw the upper half. Do a number of sketches on a single page. Make it funny.
BTW: that's not my drawing above.
The BVD model changes and emerges wearing two pairs of puffy pants so they get really thick. The shirt, on the other hand, should be small and tight. Glasses and fake nose if possible?
The model should walk around in wide circles, presenting his back sometimes. On some excuse he should bend over and pick small things up.
Another costume change. High stepping walking models would be nice for this exercize.
Some people are really good at this.
I can think of some situational sketches using high leg walks. In one the girl does the funny walk into sc. and casually talks to her boyfriend, who's reading the paper. The doorbell rings and he gets up to answer it, doing an even broader funny walk of his own.
Or...a lonely, alienated young man walks thru a crowd of extras (the same two models do all the crowd poses after the major poses are done) and everyone in the crowd does the same funny low-kick walks. He's the only one doing high kick steps...he's just out of sync with the society he lives in. He thinks "If only I could meet a girl who was just like me." Well, he does meet her, and she's alienated from the crowd, too. She's a high kicker just like him, only...sadly...it doesn't work out. They can't abide by each other's hats.
Well, it was just an idea.
Try some back shots. See if you can do some acting with the back. Make it funny. Be ignorant. See Jim Carey's back poses in the Elvis post I put up recently.
Try giving a female model the kind of proportions Freddie Moore used to like.
He liked thin women with slightly thick arms and short legs. If her skirt is thin use a fan to blow the skirt and hair.
Also try some low-rent, cheesy poses.
Make fun of classic art school posing.
I might be going too far with this one...funny in-air running and jumping poses (short poses) using under-arm ropes to support the model. Hmmmm....Naw!...most ateliers aren't equiped for it.
If you do figure out a way to make this work, I recommend that the male model wear an old, thrift store suit. Suits wrinkle funny. Oh, and have a fan on all the time for the model's sake.
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!!!!!!!!!
