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1 January 2004: Click here
for 1 January |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Your December
1st 2003, |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Howdy all, ------------------------------------------------------ 1) The benefits of
keeping up with your hobby 1) Hope you state-siders had a great Thanksgiving! For most folks the Holiday season is a tough time for hobbies with all the other demands, expectations, and deadlines this time of the year always seems to bring. So I urge you to keep on practicing! Keep on drawing! Steal away 15 to 20 minutes every other day minimally. Researchers say that people who keep some attachment, make a commitment, and spend actual time to doing things they enjoy not only remain happier, but stay healthier! And with all the media hoopla about this years nasty flu, a little extra protection might be welcome. Drawing is good for your health :-) 2) The day after Arnold Schwartzenegger was sworn into office the Minneapolis Star and Tribune carried a great Associated Press photo (photographer: Eric Risberg) of outgoing Governor Davis shaking hands with newbie Arnold (you'll see it below). As soon as I saw it I couldn't help but think "what a great comparison shot - and what a great picture to learn from". What made it so good? From the perspective of profile and from the notion of "what makes people look different?" it was a great study shot. So today's communiqué circles around one thing: tightening up your powers of observation. The Game plan Here's the game plan. Take a look at the picture below. Read your way through the list of questions. Then do your best to answer the questions. The questions asked have all been covered in depth throughout the book. If any of the words or terms used in the questions look unfamiliar to you, open up the "Search" function in the e-Sourcebook (it's one of the options along the top border of the book). You may want to even print out this page then, walk your way through the list of questions. I've even included a link below for a much larger version of the same picture so you can get a closer look. In two weeks I'm thinking
about doing a caricature of these two. In the next
Communiqué I'll supply all the answers to the questions
and include links to where you can find out more. Without
further ado, here's the picture:
And here's the list
of Read your way through the
list, really take the time to answer them. If you do no
drawing, minimally picture yourself doing the actual
drawing - ask your self "if I were to draw this,
what would it feel like?"...so actually put your
imaginary pencil to your computer screen and pretend
you're drawing and working out all these comparisons and
contrasts. This actually put you into the brains
real-time observation mode, which is where every artist
or caricaturist needs to be. Now dive on in :-)... If you think about it,
this photo is a kind of a crooked "Vase-Face"
example - can you see the funky vase hid in there?
Compare the profiles feature
by feature: Look at the hairlines - it's thickness
(Arnold's is thicker); -Can you identify a pupil
or iris? (the colored part of the eye) or is your brain
"imagining" one there? Can you envision the general outline of the hair? Squint your eyes until you can see the hair as one shape - be especially observant of the hair border at the temples and around the ears. Where are the highlights in both hair dos? The Shadows? How does color of the hair influence both shadow and highlight? Who's skin is darker? Or is the contrast of Gov. Davis's white head of hair making his skin appear more tan than it is? Look at each ear. Who's
seems more tilted away from the vertical? Now look at the
detail in both ears. What can you say about the 3
drawable parts: 1) the overall shape, 2) the anti-helix,
and 3) the shadow area)? You'll probably want to use the bigger picture for this. Asking Specific Questions So, after going through with all that, do you kind of have an idea how you might draw a caricature of these two? After you approach a picture or a live subject asking the same kinds of specific questions, your brain will go to work and I guarantee, you'll cme up with your own hilarious ideas how to exaggerate these two. If you feel like sending in your exageration I'll happily post it for you - and it'll be included in the next version of the book. :-) Click Here for the bigger picture Watch for the next communiqué for the answers. Until next time, stay warm, healthy and Happy Drawing! Warmly, Jeff ---------------------------------------- |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Your January
1st 2004, |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Howdy all, here's the Answers to the "Exercise in Observation" communiqué from December first
-----------------------From December 1st: in black, answers in blue------------------------------- |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| January 1st, 2003 -
Answers ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
And here's the list
of Read your way through the
list, really take the time to answer them. If you do no
drawing, minimally picture yourself doing the actual
drawing - ask your self "if I were to draw this,
what would it feel like?"...so actually put your
imaginary pencil to your computer screen and pretend
you're drawing and working out all these comparisons and
contrasts. This actually put you into the brains
real-time observation mode, which is where every artist
or caricaturist needs to be. Now dive on in :-)... If you think about it, this photo is a kind of a crooked "Vase-Face" example - can you see the funky vase hid in there? Here it is (squint until you can see the shape of the "vase" - or negative space stand out):
and here's the vase by itself - see if you can't switch between seeing the two separate faces then seeing the unique shape of the the face: Compare the profiles
feature by feature: Look at the hairlines - and the hair's
thickness - right at the top of the forehead (Arnold's is thicker);
Look at the shape of the hair (note the double hump at the back of Arnolds head (he's got muscles there too), and the smooth military taper of Gray Davis's. Can you envision drawing them? How would visualizing the negative space around them make drawing each head easier? Here's a face-off comparison of both hair shapes (contrasted in Photoshop), the two lumps in Arnie's hair are numbered off to the right): Very similar to focusing on the "Vase-Face" between the faces, can you flip your focus around so you can visualize the the negative spaces around the entire head?
Starting to look like some kind of weird bat or Venetian Arches, or a swollen uvula (that little dangly thing that hangs down in the back of your throat) - when you're flipping visually between those two shapes, (i.e. between seeing the shapes as two heads and the blue shape) you're exercising different modes of perception):
Use what you recall about negative shape and note the shape of the each governor's forehead; ...more of the same.. Compare the shapes the eyes - and note especially these things about each persons eyes: Here's a close-up both Gov's eyes - enhanced again in Photoshop. Squint your eyes to answer the next set of questions...
compare the shape of the eye brows; - A little thicker in Davis - with seemingly more of an arch, rises proportionately higher on Davis too -What's the shape of the upper lid? Both eyelids are outlined here (roughly) Davis does -Can you identify a pupil or iris? (the colored part of the eye) or is your brain "imagining" one there? There's
the "black spot" or disc kind of thing evident
in Davis's eye - but to say "yes, I see an eye"
- it's a stretch of the imagination in both. But the
brain accomplishes that quite gracefully. In fact, when
the brain has to conjure up things that aren't really
there in the first place, the brain really gets excited:
a picture becomes more interesting. Who has more shadows in and around the eyes? I'd have to say Arnold and what's the shape of those contours that make the wrinkles around the eyes? Arnold has more of the angular "Crow's feet" sort of configuration where as Davis has more of wrinkle - especially under the lower lid. Can you see the lighter shapes of the actual skin of the eyelids? (Arnold has a rounder shape in the upper lid compared to Davis's. Davis has a more rectangular shape outlined. (Both Gov's upper lids are outlined by the eyebrows above and the actual margin of the upper eyelid below) Sorry about the repetition...See picture above - it's obvious (You
really can make out an iris and pupil in Davis's picture
if you look close :-) Also here I've outlined the
"Crow's feet" in both (see the picture
just above to see an unmarked view of the crow's feet in
both) : Who has the larger tip of the nose? Obvious
here: Whose nose is longer? Arnold's - and you can see Davis's lightly bulbous tip and Arnold's slightly curved down "very tip", as well as the small hump towards the root of the nose (which they both have, though Arnold's looks more obvious to me) - the "root" of the nose is where it comes out of the forehead. These are subtle things folks, but added together, supply you with all sorts of ammo to exploit in a caricature :-)
Check out the apron of the upper lip: who's is more expansive? (Do you remember what the apron of the upper lip is?) Here you can see the apron of the upper lip highlighted in purple (I don't know how it got be purple, it just got that way :-); and it's obvious the owner of the greater span is Gov Davis:
A better question might be to ask "what's the shape of light and shadow areas in and around the dimples, and how do dimples and dimple contours heighten a positive or "happy" look" (I quote "happy" because there's just a pinch of a suggestion of smirk in Arnold's smile. Is that just me or do you see it too?) Notice how Arnold's dimples (in this picture) are really two highlights with an hour-glass shaped or barbell-like (or even telephone-handle shaped) area of shadow. (Yes you have to use your imagination a little).
Here, the highlight shapes are outlined in yellow, the shadow in blue. Squint to make this more obvious. Shadow and highlight shapes, though we're very nearly unconscious of them under most circumstances (except for now while we're consciously pointing them out), are as unique to each person as are the actual features. Observe and capture those shapes and you'll add an immense amount of realism to your drawings. You can make this kind of observation about all shadow and highlight shapes. This fleshier tip, gives the illusion that the margin of the upper lip in a side view moves down as you move from corner of mouth to front most tip (like the tip of the lip just under the nose). And the truth is, it actually slopes down away from horizontal as you move left to right. How does the general line and direction of the lower border of the upper lip compare to horizontal border of the picture?
Davis has a prominent dip of the tip of the upper lip. This is actually the termination of the fleshy side of "Cupid's Bow". (Open up your e-sourcebook, open up the Search function and type in "Cupid's Bow" for more info.)
Look in
the picture above for Arnold: moving from left or right,
this contour angles ever so slightly downward over the
first 2/3rds of it then rises up or away from horizontal.
Look closely! What about the lower lip? And who has the underbite? Davis's LOWER lip takes off down at a 45 degree and then at an ever steepening angle as you move away giving the illusion of a pouty lower lip. Arnold's on the other hand, moves up with the upper lip until it breaks from the upper lip and you enter the area of actual pulp and curve of the lower lip. Look close above to make sense of this. Under bite is obvious... If you drew a vertical line straight down from the back corner of the eyes where would that line align in comparison to the...
Use the following picture to answer these. Measure right on the screen - ie do a sighting. The differences are subtle - but are real enough to exaggerate! (The eye notices these differences, but measuring and comparing nails it down when it's not clear.) Compare these distances face to face too (i.e. Arnold to Gov/ Davis).
What and how would you have exaggerated these distances in a caricature?
Whose cheeks are higher? Arnold's
certainly are more prominent. Higher? Hard to tell. Look
clsoe though - what do the shadows under the cheeks tell
you about the shape of the cheeks? Arnold's have much
more of a comma shape suggested. See that? Look close,
squint, back away from ur computer until this is
clear :-) I'll let you do this...ok, I'll bail you out one more time :-)
Hoo man, that's way too close! (Photoshop is evil...the macho man in me is being threatened...and yes, I'm straight.) It's a little easier to make out shadows that define the cheeks in Arnold, but back away (from your screen) and see if you can't make something out of Davis's. Look at how these areas were managed (as shadow shapes), in the caricature:
Can you envision the shadows as shapes around the lower margin of the jaw? They're pretty well defined in the caricature above. Now see if you can't find them in this picture:
Davis's drops just a little bit lower. Also ask yourself what this horizontal line intersects along the way - where does it intersect the hair? How far above the contour between the lips does it lie? What kind of angle does it form with the edge of the apron of the upper lip? (Did I catch you off guard? :-) And just for funsies can you spot the triangle in the space formed by the back of the ear, the blue line and the hair line (it's easier to see on Arnold)? Compare the angles the white of the shirt collars make with horizontal outline of the overall photograph...then with the vertical edges of the photo...then with the jaw. Use the
picture above - you can do it! We answered this above... Compare in each the profile formed from the bottom of the nose up to the top of the head (and draw it if you're feeling gutsy :-) Who's forehead leans away from vertical more? (sure it may be the tilt of the head in just this picture and nothing permanent, but the exercise is still to make the observation and 'answer zee ka-vestion' grasshopper :-) (translates: "answer the question")
Ahaa!
Another negative space exercise you say? I can't fool
you! You are amazing. By just observing the
negative space. Arnold's got more slope away from
vertical than does Gray. You see it right? No? Do a
sighting! (Don't know what sighting is? Go back to the
Archives and look in the Flash Quick reference section -
or use the search function in your e-sourcebook. Use the
picture again...make sure you look at the picture long
enough to see the shape pop into view... This is review from the Flash lesson on profile drawing: Is the distance from the back of the eye to the back of the ear roughly proportionate to the distance from back corner of eye to the bottom of the chin in each?
Can you envision the general outline of the hair? (I'm repeating myself again.) Squint your eyes until you can see the hair as one shape - be especially observant of the hair border at the temples and around the ears. Where are the highlights in both hair-dos? The Shadows? How does color of the hair influence both shadow and highlight? Here's the highlights in the hair - (can you spot the shadows? - squint until you see the darkest areas clearly):
Who's skin is darker? Or is the contrast of Gov. Davis's white head of hair making his skin appear more tan than it is? I think Arnold is darker in both respects - skin and hair. Look at each ear. Who's seems more tilted away from the vertical? Now look at the detail in both ears. What can you say about the 3 drawable parts: 1) the overall shape, 2) the anti-helix, and 3) the shadow area)? You'll probably want to use the bigger picture for this. There's a
certain amount of arbitrariness in this but it seems to
me Arnold's ear is more angled away from the vertical
than is Gray's. Which would be more caricaturable? With
his short hair, Davis's are way more out in the open than
are Arnold's. And that's certaintly more played up in the
caricature:
And speaking of ears, here's a little review:
By looking at the sport
coats and ties, can you make any speculation about the
rotation of the upper body in each? That is, is one
person facing the other more straight on, more square to
the other? Well this is hardly a fair question - they're probably shaking hands (with Davis reaching to grip Arnold's arm with his left hand...thus turning himself to lead with the left side of his body...I'm getting ridiculous here, but... And LAST question. If you were a wolf, what would the squaring of shoulders suggest about the social standing of each wolf in the pack? If these
two were wolves they wouldn't be wearing suits :-)
Asking Specific Questions So, after going through with all that, do you kind of have an idea how you might draw a caricature of these two? After you approach a picture or a live subject asking the same kinds of specific questions, your brain will go to work and I guarantee, you'll come up with your own hilarious ideas how to exaggerate these two. If you feel like sending in your exaggeration I'll happily post it for you - and it'll be included in the next version of the book. :-) Click Here for the bigger picture Jeffrey O. Kasbohm (952) 544-0657 Kasbohm & Company's YouCanDraw.com © Copyright, All rights reserved 1997-2003 e-mail: jeffkaz@YouCanDraw |
