Wednesday, January 20, 2010

NOTEBOOK DOODLES part R

I was trying to draw a character like the ones on kitchen cleaning product commercials in the 60s. I got the front view how I wanted it, but I had trouble with the side view.

I did the profile on the left 1st but realized I'd drawn her with a chin and she shouldn't have one according to the front view. When I drew the one on the right, without the chin it looked even less like her. I figured 10% of the problem was the mouth, and 90% of the problem was the eye.

I drew and redrew and never could get the eye how I wanted. I think the problem might be I'm going forward with the eyelashes instead of back and up, cat-style. After building up a gang of eyes, I took a step back and realized this drawing could be mistaken as creepy, and went with that.

Now I don't even know why I was so concerned with her profile view. I doubt I'd ever need it. It is frustrating I can't get it right. If I ever find a use for her I'll attempt her profile again. Maybe she's one of those characters whose faces only work in one direction, like Popeye and Dick Tracy.

4 comments:

  1. Hi K

    For my tastes i think the profile on the right works best...seems to work best design wise with your front on view. It seems more like the character you initially created.

    This kind of problem came up all the time when i was animating commercials.

    I have about 12 tapes of all sorts of animated commercials that i bought years ago from some place in Seattle i think....it's really the history of animated commercials from the fifties to the early seventies..a great period for all that stuff.

    Now i need to get it on DVD!

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  2. Chin or no chin, she's a cute little thing, isn't she?

    I like both profiles, tho i think with chin is 'prettier' somehow, it all depends on how you think she should look. Just because her chin isn't pronounced in the full-on doesn't mean she doesn't have a chin, IMO. ...just a dainty lady chin, not too big... all depends on what yer feelin'...

    my tip is, don't let your lines tell you what her face looks like, let her face tell you where the lines go. like the eyes, play with the chin line until you are satisfied...theres still middle-ground not explored as far as line sweep etc.

    just because a head appears square from the front doesn't dictate that it can't look spherical or triangular from another angle. and because you are creating a stylized character, you ultimately dictate those things, and who's to say it isn't perfect?

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  3. these are great! i think they have a nice retro feel that you are looking for. I also think that both profiles work fine. You can push your profile design quite a bit before it simply doesn't work. It doesn't have to be exact. IMO.
    It just needs to maintain the spirit of the character, and I think both your profiles do that.

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  4. Thanks guys for the visits and the ideas. Willy, when you get those tapes transfered you ought to get them up on youtube. sounds fun!

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