Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Cartoonist delight is a strange type of delight


One of the big issues with a "fine" artist turning to cartooning is how ingrained the standards of drawing become. Cartooning, of course, is not an accurate reflection of real life. Cartooning has its own set of weird rules, which I've written about several times. It's quite a task to unlearn standard drawing logic and learn the bizarre cartoon logic.

When I accomplish something "cartoonish" I get excited! Bushes with eyes and tails make no logical sense - nor do real human-like creatures hide "inside" bushes. In cartoons, however, this is the visual language and it all makes perfect sense. Drawing what I did here took a lot of letting go. I'm very proud of my glaring bushes! (Even if I got the visuals and dialog switched by accident - but it doesn't impact anything so I am not bothering to change it.)

This two-panel success more than makes up for my immense comic failure that comes in panel 3 of this strip, when my attempt at a three-way split screen just doesn't work. The only thing that can save it is something I've mostly avoided - TEXTURE! These last few strips are going to feature occasional forays into the advanced level of cartooning! Of course, when I use these techniques it is to avoid the EVEN MORE ADVANCED cartooning techniques of action shots!

Anyway, at this point I've sketched into strip 56. Chances are I'm done for the night, but I hope to finish sketching 56 before unconsciousness. I fully intend to finish sketching and lettering the arc tomorrow, or later today if you want to be technical. (Two wordless strips will help that.)

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