Drawing the Head

This month I want to talk about the human head. Cartoon heads tend to be geometric in shape. Since I'm a big cartoon fan. I wanted to get down the fundamentals. I've made some examples. This is something worth practicing. Watch your favorite cartoons and copy the shape of their head, and be sure to draw a line across the face, to represent the eye-level.  It's good fun, and there's no pressure to fill in the face with detail that will come later.

So you wanna draw!

O.k. I'm the first to say that I'm the last person to be instructing anyone on how to draw. But I thought I'd share some recent revelations that have hopefully finally hit home.

There is no Holy Grail for learning how to draw. For years I've searched for the perfect book, that would illuminate the obvious skill it takes to be an illustrator. You know the one. Just by glancing through its magical pages, I would instantly become a better drawer. But the truth I've had to accept is that, there is no such book.

The only way you become a better drawer is by drawing! It took me a shelf of "How to" books before I got the hint. Now these books aren't a waste of time, because they have showed me the artistic process for making Webcomics, Graphic Novels, Logos etc. But, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how many "Reverence Books" you might own. You still have to sit your ass in the seat and draw. However, just to show that I'm not bitter, I thought I'd share with you some of the books I've found useful:

How to Draw Manga: sketching Manga style (1)Sketching to plan
Great book as a how to, a reference, and figure drawing. Breaks things down pretty good. Too many books end up showing you how well the artist draws, not how well you can draw using their method.

Fantasy Cartooning-Ben Caldwell
I baught this book because I like this guy's style of drawing. Very Disney-But older Disney. It's Highly angular in style like Disney's Sleeping Beauty.
http://www.daredetectives.com/

Digital Manga Techniques-Hayden Scott-Baron
Only baught this book for the digital inking and coloring part. Serves it's purpose.

Drawing & Painting Fantasy Figures: From the imagination of the page-Finlay Cowan
One of the first books I bought when I started learning to draw. It's a good read. It gives a lot of discussion on process, not so much execution. But, it does give you assignments.

Dynamic Figure Drawing- Burne Hugarth
The images are quite dated but still and excellent book. The human body has a limited posing vocabulary. It's not infinite like people think. This book shows you just how far an arm can bend back without looking deformed. It also show you how to make your poses animated and not static.  

Anatomy: A step-by-step guide-Emmett elvin
Simplified anatomy, and worth copying the drawing that are there. Takes the scaryness out of how muscles fit together.

Drawing the Marvel Way-Stay Lee & John Buscema
Dated, but the section on gesture posing is great for all you comicbook hero drawer.

Comics & Squential Art-Will Eisner
It's a shelf must have. I think there's a lot of thought process in this.

Making Comics-Scott Mccloud
This guy knows his stuff and he gives you solid theory. 

First Day in the world of blogging

Today, my blog was born. Though at the moment, it feels more like I'm stuffing a message in a bottle. Then tossing it into the ocean. The web is pretty big, and my new blog is very small. None-the-less, I'm taking my blog by the hand and we will take this BIG ADVENTURE together...