Tom and Jerry

Here's some sketches of Hanna & Barbera Tom & Jerry. I always remember in the 70's watching these two, with my brother, we would sit transfixed for six or twelve minutes depending on if it was a double bill or not, watching them now I still get that sense of anticipation, waiting for the moment when Tom stands on the rake (I remember trying this out in the back garden, don't ask me why ?) or the moment when Tom's head gets slammed in a closing window and his tongue flys out and he makes a noise like one of those party blower things that shoots out with a feather on the end.
 The classic period for Tom and Jerry was from 1940 to 1958, the first being Puss Gets The Boot, the animation on most of these classic period films was done by Ray Patterson, Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse and Irven Spence.
I remember we always used to loose interest if it was made after this classic period the ones directed by Gene Deitch are a total misunderstanding of what Tom & Jerry were about and don't get me started on the Chuck Jones ones, I think it all went wrong when they started to talk .

Dad's Army

Yesterday while watching Dad's Army I paused it and did these quick sketches, I'm trying to draw quicker while still retaining acuracy. Sit coms are good to study for facial expressions and charicter interaction. The expression on Walkers face is very sly and sneaky looking, James Beck the actor who played Walker died tragically young I always thought the show was never quite the same without him.

The IT Crowd

Here are some quick sketches I did from my tv screen, I'm trying to get specific atitudes, poses and expressions. I often find myself making marks that are just fudging and don't do much to describe the form, I still find hard to keep things in proportion I need to measure more, get rid of unintentional distortion that tends to make my drawings look like caricatures .

Red Hot Riding Hood

I did this quick sketch from a screen capture it really gave me some problems, the angle on the eyes was really hard to get right, I still don't think I've got them right and the left arm is way too long! Preston Blair who animated this charicter for Tex Avery was an incredible animator, she may be a caricature but he knows all there is to know about human anatomy, his book Advanced Animation is a must for anyone who wants to improve there drawing skills

Here's another attempt just trying to think in terms of form and construction I think might be an improvement.

Finally here a Bugs Bunny sketch I did a while ago not to sure about it Bugs is so hard to get right. It's taken from a Bob Clampett film Corny Concerto, it has to be one of the greatest of the Warner Brothers Loony Tunes no one else directed bugs like Clampett everything is on the edge of manic histeria.

I've been making some music

Here is some music I've been making, it's pretty lo fi sound quality done on audacity, it's not really songs more soundtracks to imaginary films. Rapid Share Link/ Zip File -  Don't Go Down To The Woods Today

Trying to paint like Caravaggio

I'm getting back to painting, trying to put the lessons learned in my life drawing classes back into my painting, I've been studying the work of Caravaggio, his use of light and dark to create drama in a painting. I started by painting the whole canvas with burnt umber, I think this is a better way to start a painting, get all the intimidating white canvas covered, this makes it easier to build up the skin tones and it acts as a mid tone.

Bugs Bunny

Here's some Bugs Bunny sketches I did yesterday
I've been watching a lot of the classic Warner Brothers Looney Toon animation lately. I'm a big fan of the director Bob Clampett his stuff is amazing I started pausing the dvd and copying individual frames, I think this might be a Rod Scribner pose, one of Clampett's best animators he  always seemed to draw Bugs with a lot of teeth and loads of furrowed brow stuff .  

Stuff with a bit more light and shade

Here is a longer pose, looking at it now I can see her hand isn't big enough I think I need to make more measurements, try and get more accuracy into my drawing get out of bad habits, observe more accurately .

Life drawing 5 minute sketches

Here are some of my 5 minute sketches

The five minute pose is a sprint with a pencil it's a good way to warm up and get your hand thinking, sometimes the the 5 minute poses work better than the longer ones, you can't afford to waste a line.