DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 11

"Oh for goodness sakes!!!" Ruth has often been overheard in the locker rooms to exclaim after finding his locker in disarray; and he seems to expound the same here... It was little known in his day (and fairly well hidden by the press) that Babe had a great sense of empathy for his teammates, and would often feel pity and compassion for those colleagues who's lockers were also disheveled; he was notoriously full of ruth. However, there were those from other teams who claimed Babe was rather insensitive and callous, and thereby ruthless, but of course this makes no sense at all. No one in New York ever found a baseball card of Babe Ruthless in their tobacco. And if they did they wouldn't be allowed inside anymore. (wherever that happened to be at the time) Here I have him craning his "neck" and looking quite nonplussed at Lee's presence on the scene. His eye was a particular joy to explore.

















© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Here is the eye again in case you missed it the first time around. Note how the pop of the eye is fighting the folds of age; nice argument.




© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

I exchanged the accordion nose for one that is more evocative of Joe's real schnoz... you can still see the original planar structure underneath, but now the roads turn sharply where all the cartalige meets the sinews. The shoulders are blocked in, and the sternocleidomastoid has been reduced to a manageable level. (now when he turns his head quickly, he will no longer need to worry that his nose will snap off).

















© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Details, details, details. Just straightening out Reggie's glasses so they don't curve with the form of his roly-poly head. Now we have pleasing contrast. Those glasses are "oh-so-'70s" aren't they? Brings to mind Luke Skywalker, Watergate, and of course Elton John. Elton influenced the look of baseball here much in the way Charles Schulz influenced the Beatles in the '60s. Think about it.











© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 10

I have done quite a number of drawings in a row of Dimaggio's head, (56 to be exact, I tried to do 57 but for some reason it eluded me). The previous incarnation was fun, but it's rubberiness didn't jive with the other heads, and so I thought to bring Joe in line with the rest. Directly below is the state of the art as he stands now; hopefully I have blended the dorky with the classy which is how I feel about him visually. One cannot be blamed for wondering if (due to how I've drawn him) he can fold up his nose into his face before he goes to sleep at night. hmmm... The little Marilyn in the corner was a distraction from the rigors of the job, as I'm sure she was for many men in the '50s.


















© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Below is where I started with the Dimaggio redo. Aside from the fact that he looks like a German official from the 1930s, I rather like this semi-stylized version of Joe. It doesn't really look a lot like him, but the angle is nice, and as you'll see, I strove to incorporate this perspective into a final caricature. Alas, to no avail.

















© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Here is my attempt at blending my new-found visual ideas into my old-found rubber-twisty comp of Dimaggio from a few weeks ago. Looks too forced, and the face parts don't agree with each other. If I met him on the street like this, I wouldn't agree with him either...

















© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

These two below were attempts at preserving the camera angle from the earlier semi-stylized head with his 'oh-so-important' goofy mouth. As you can see neither made the short list. The one with the cap looks like a cranky independent car repair guy, and the other looks like some frightening necromancer from Harry Potter (played by Willem Dafoe).


















© Richard Ewing all rights reserved













This is the closest I got to the blend, and it turns out that the forced perspective is compromising the length of his lower jaw. This keeps it from looking like Joe, and I've decided is not fair to the viewer (whatever that means).

















© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 9

A more finalized drawing of Mr. October done in August... am I being inappropriate? I slenderfied him from where he was in the earlier sketches, --he can be chunky looking (especially in Anaheim) but, one must admit, he was in better shape than the shape I was imposing on him. For silhouette purposes, I HAVE slenderfied his arms; likely knocked off about 12 pounds each...but he reads better. Don't expect many more home runs. Expect bunting. Lots of bunting... and forget about the eponymous candy bars; bunters don't get candy bars.














© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 8

I've never read where Lee personally did a 'Rebel Yell' --something he no doubt delegated to his many underlings, and the expression he's holding here is what one would imagine was his wordless command to commence a-yellin'... Anyway, he shows no love lost here amongst these particular Yankees I hope... (due in no little part to their odd army uniform?). Lee, for compositional purposes is relegated to riding a pony... This minuscule Traveller is yet another cheat, as will be the likely disappearance of stirrups -they complicate the area around his foot. Hopefully my shrinking of Lee's favorite horse stops short of becoming a Hobby-horse; last thing I need is a 'Rebel Yell' aimed at me...

















© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

I've been having to rework Ruth's posture to align him better with the others in the composition (see last image in this post below)... To the right here you'll see some simple attempts at where his body goes. I'm looking to have him crane his neck at Lee, which is rather challenging as I could find absolutely no reference on Babe Ruth's neck. I've decided he doesn't have one. Arguments to the contrary are futile. I've taken the liberty to gift him a neck so he can at least once in his life enjoy a good craning. Still it's a stretch. ...Sorry.













© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Below looking for an improvement on Jackson's posture as well as 'camera angle'. Jackson number two is on the short list.





© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Here's an idea on where things (they) stand, currently...











© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 7

This is probably less painful than it looks, (however Dimaggio's expression here, out of context, belies this assumption)... Here I have the Yankee Clipper positioned so we can at once look up and down at him. This is likely quite close to his final positioning; his eyes are not correct yet, the number is too high, (although I like his shoulders) his nose needs work, and I'm toying with including a floating left eyebrow. An illustrator's work is never done. I may cheat and keep the number on his back high as I like the look of it there; most of it will be cropped off. If you look closely you'll see the crop marks. Might have to soften the chin.

















© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Below is an earlier run on Joe that just wouldn't land.

















© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Here is a fine tuning of Reggie, where I'm blending the sunglasses and eyes into a final cohesive argument. It may seem that the glasses are winning, but as in most arguments, it's the subtle undertones that carry more weight. You got a problem with that?
















© Richard Ewing all rights reserved