Friday, February 19, 2010

Help from the panel of experts

'kay gang,
I'm hitting a snag on this drawing. I'm working on this evil little slob of a character and he has to have a ponytail. Now I've got other gestures of his basic shapes, but this action is the one that's jumping out.( anatomical inaccuracies aside...for now)

However...a natural looking ponytail is eluding me in terms of where to place it and make a well designed, yet functional ponytail. So what say yee?

Thanks in advance!

7 comments:

Brad said...

hmm yes i can see your dilemma. it seems like with his head in that position the only logical place to put the p-tail is where you have it sketched in. you could experiment with different head positions but i think this one is working well...

Abz said...

I really do you like sketchy work... I'm going to start following your blog. Us artists need to connect! ;) Hope to hear from you soon!

lincoln said...

Brad- I had experimented with the head position a bit, but I was trying not to lose the original gesture ( I'm in Walt Stanchfield land right now ). I'll keep playing with the head position still. The ponytail where it is too much the same size as the cigar and seems to frame the head a bit too much.

Abz- many thanks! one thing I've missed since art school ( I graduated in the lae 90's) is being able to connect on a frequent basis with other artists and get feedback and listen and learn. That's one of the big reasons for me to do the blog.

Oneiric said...

My recommendation would be to shorten it to about half the length, and cut some of the bulk. That would differentiate it in regards to size in comparison to the ceegar smoke. As far as position, perhaps coming out from the same spot, but curling to the left. It's obvious this guy is trying to compensate, so perhaps more the 'rat tail' than the thicker pony tail.
-Bido

Bridespie said...

Sir William!!
I think you're right about the size of the pony tail- I had started thinking about that on Friday. In fact, I googled some vintage greasy, late 80's Steven Seagal photos... he of the slicked back rat tail

Hans said...

Hey Lincoln,

The character calls for a sleazy rat tail, but this specific pose would hardly show it I think. I'm imagining this guy to be a Louie De Palma kinda guy, so he'd have a pretty sparse "ponytail". I'd do a few, maybe 3 more poses of this character, that'll allow his ponytail to be visible. Don't try to force it into this pose. Once you've seen another sketch of him where it's showing, you'll subconsciously know it's there and it'll be part of his character.

-Hans

lincoln said...

Yup Hans, I'm leaning towards that "Segal" rat tail, and you're right. There's no need to force something into this pose. I worked up several to this point, but I think a few more may get me there. I'm trying to avoid "poses" and do more with the acting and expression...still in Walt Stanchfield's land...