Visual Cogitations™: DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 10

Friday, August 21, 2009

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).