It is funny where inspiration comes from. Christine and I were watching the show Once Upon A Time that features a number of characters from various fairy tales in the storyline. Neither of us were enjoying it, so we turned if off. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure why we bothered, considering I really don't like stories that use fairy tales as a jumping off spot, but we did.
So a few days ago, I started doodling the little angry guy you see above. I knew he was a dwarf, like from the Snow White story. Who knows why, but I did. I didn't question it, but just kept drawing.
I often draw characters posed as he is, with the camera looking down as it is and always find it challenging and never satisfying. Until now!! Not sure if you can see it but the I used two tricks to make it believable.
- I drew a perspective grid under his feet
- I shaded his knee caps and shins.
I know these tricks, I've known about them for years, but have I ever put them both together with a character posed like this? I don't think so!
So I drew him and then there needed to be something he was looking at and for some reason, a cute dog came to mind. Boy did he turn out cute! The eyes are great and I knew that back leg was going to make look right, but I think it worked 'cause I got the anatomy about right and the shading helped too.
And then there needed to be something beside the little guy, and what better than a treasure chest. I didn't know what to draw inside of it and then I figured light coming out would be most interesting and mysterious.
And speaking of inspiration, now the drawing has inspired me to think about a story featuring this guy, maybe a story about the other dwarves. Who are they, what do they do? What are their real names? what did they do before and after Snow White?
Oh, one thing that I don't care for is the hatch lines on the ground. I wasn't paying enough attention and should have lined them up along the grid better.
ReplyDeleteWell, that is true, James. Quite true.
ReplyDeleteCould it be?!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good drawing. Very good perspective and VERY cute dog! (The look on his face is perfect and so is his pose -- you even got the tricky back leg perfect! Most of all, I love his whiskers.)
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing to me is that you used a perspective grid but then didn't follow it! Nothing seems to line up with it (especially the chest). Maybe it was your "security blanket"? It gave you the confidence to do what you could do?
Good point about the perspective grid on the floor.
ReplyDeleteI felt like I used it for planting the dwarf's feet and the dog's feet, but then when I did the crate, I drew a square on that grid, but not along the lines, because I knew that would look TOO perfect - imagine putting a box on a tiled floor, lining the box edges to the grout lines between the tiles... BOOORING. So I purposely put the box not along the grid lines and then drew it up from that square drawn on the floor.