Asterix_dedication to Albert Uderzo

Asterix

24 March, 2020 - Albert Uderzo passed away.
Co-creator and illustrator for the comic book Asterix.

I loved this comic as a young teenager. I imagined myself been one of the Gauls. Invincible, able to take on the world. And I always loved at the end of the comic, you would have all the villagers coming together, to have a big feast. Even now I can still smell the roasting boar.

Great stuff. Amazing illustrator. Legendary.

Ranger Smith

Ranger Smith

Sketchbook image inked up in Clip Studio Paint, and coloured as well.

I rendered up the background elements in Sketchbook Pro, desktop version.

I had a bit of a play with the various brushes to get the effects which, overall I am very happy with. 

Having not used Sketchbook a lot, I found the brushes to be really great. Also I really liked the interface - very minimal. 

Preston Blair bear practice

This is another Preston Blair practice, again studying the construction of a cartoon head. I think this character is called 'Barney Bear'. 

Bottom left image I can see that I am way-off with some of the features compared to Preston Blairs original (blue-line drawing). 

I find I tend to pull my images towards the right - hence why I flip a lot of my images horizontally to try and correct this.

Other errors that I can see are lack of negative spaces between forms.

So whilst the image resembles Barney in some way, the only real features that were even close were the eyebrows, somewhat the eyes and the nose.

These are such tricky exercises

Mr Sophisticated

Mr Sophisticated

Another floating head sketch that I have inked up with body - in Clip Studio Paint.

Inking brush (textured pen), background texture was made with brush (Dry gouache).
Red nose achieved with Daub Low Absorption brush - DONE :)

Chewbacca and Han Solo

These are two of my childhood's fondest characters - Chewbacca and Han Solo. Flying around in space, dropping off cargo (modern day courier), visiting new galaxies at hyper-speed. Like...wow, yeah I'd be in for that.

I originally drew up Chewbacca in my sketchbook...another floating head, and then completed the rest of him in Clip Studio. I initially struggled with Han, as I couldn't get him to fit in with Chewie (in terms of looks). And that all important 'Appeal' factor. Hopefully I nailed it here.

Ink brush used is by the impressive Frenden, found here.

The actual name of the brush is Frendens Inker (tech pen).

It has this lovely thick to thin quality which is like butter to work with (if you know what I'm trying to say).

Can't recommend Frenden's brushes high enough.

Flintstone funny face

Flintstones

Loved the Flintstones (1960's) series as a kid, still do. Awesome character designs and beautiful backgrounds too (by Art Lozzi).

The above image comes from my sketchbook, just a floating head originally with no body. 

Image inked and coloured up in Clip Studio Paint.

This is not my take on Fred Flintstone - just wanted to try a random manly man character.

Oggy and the Cockroaches - awesome animated show

I haphazdly stumbled across this great little animated cartoon called "Oggy and the Cockroaches". Wow, it is such a great show. Funny, slap stick and the characters are super entertaining.

I really love the character designs in this show too. They have a lovely quality - how to explain? The characters have real appeal. I love the shapes for each of the characters, how they are designed (nice contrasts between shapes). And don't they just a little bit hark back to the classic look of toons in the 1940's. We'll, I think so. And they kinda remind me also of Ren and Stimpy too.

Much like Ren and Stimpy - Oggy and the Cockroaches also have those extreme poses, expressions, and that gross sense of humour. This I think also really adds to the appeal of the actual show. Considering that the characters rarely if every speak (more cat shrieks, baby cries and the like). 

Ok, time to check out some more awesomeness (poses and expressions).

Theses above images were found here Oggy and the cockroaches - poses - heaps more too!!!

The studio responsible for the show - also here Xilam

Bunny Rabbit Cartoon

Bunny Rabbit Cartoon

Bunny rabbit cartoon - inked in Clip Studio Paint.

I love Clip's brush engine - so nice to use. All the brushes and pens are so intuitive in this program. Highly recommend.

The actual above image was just a floating head in one of my sketchbooks. So I scanned in the head, drew up a body. DONE.

Egg Shape head construction

This exercise is an important step in the construction of a character head. Here you are changing the the perspective of the head and are therefore faced with many more challenges, to get it right.
I found that only when drawing the head in multiple angles could I start to see the importance of how forms on the face relate (and are connected to each other). And those connections are established by the all important guidelines.
Those all important guidelines - essential!!!