DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 14

After about a 7 month hiatus, I am finally landed enough to start the inking process for this quadrocoil... (for those of you new to this blog, you'll need to go back to September 2009 and earlier in order to see all the preliminary toils for this illustration).
Below are a few scans of the final as it develops, I blocked in most of the background for Ruth first, developing the value to a mid range in which I began to add a lighter body. The head will contrast more than his costume. My intention is to have the body speak more softly than the head which caries the main thrust of the expression; the body language is contributing, but the head is Gladys Knight, while the body is the Pips... what a pip is exactly, I've never been able to determine. Sorry.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
The Jackson below was the first part inked. He's in the background, and will need to be in low contrast. I decided it might be wise to use a quill pen instead of my ubiquitous brush, and so far I'm pleased with the results. It's actually a mix of quill and brush; and by the time it was done I was ready to return primarily to brushwork. Quill for me is a bit slower than brush, and I felt I was driving with the parking break on...

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Coffee Mugs

When no one you know knows the folks you are drawing, there is a bit of freedom in interpretation, and the caricaturist can explore variations on what a head can be. Here the goal is not conveying a truth about the individual so much (it would be in most cases an applied assumption anyway), but rather a conversation between the marks made and the reaction the artist retaliates with. The end result often has some freedom to it; it is important, however, to maintain a voice in terms of some human attitude when arguing.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
I had a friend who took this concept to an extreme, the drawings were fascinating and beautiful, but were far from looking like the sitter in any recognizable way. He didn't care --it was a lot of fun, and the sitter was just a springboard from which he showed off his triple half-gainers and sideways crow hops. (always liked to break the rules).

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Coffee Mugs

Some from coffee houses, some from meetings. Can you tell which? (The two coffee folk look more satisfied...there's your hint). The drawings actually have a different line quality which is based on the varied tension each location engendered. This is likely subtle, and perhaps only noticeable to me, but now you know. Everything affects your final drawing.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
A real interest for me in immediate drawing with ink, is the inevitable corrections and changes of mind which never disappear. These become statements in themselves, as you can see my thinking that something needed to be larger than originally done, or there needed to be more of a movement to the left here or there...
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Below: "Garbage in garbage out."
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Thank you and enjoy.

Coffee Mugs

Some people are just easy. Chitty, chitty, chitty, chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter, choo.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Some folks are noisy.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Some folks aren't.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
With some you just can't tell..

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
And with some it's just as well.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Thank you and enjoy.

Coffee Mugs

A change in venue for most of these. Still a Peet's, but this one is in Seal Beach. VERY different group of targets clientele. The Orange curtain descended, and the attitude rose... Although it was somewhat uncomfortable there, I got a passel of heads I was pleased with, and here they are for you.
There was no let up from this lady. I tried to capture it.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
It's important to vary the line quality to match the attitude you're communicating. Here, below, you might notice the shift in energy and solidity.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Different day, different Peet's:

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
OMG!
Thank you and enjoy.

Coffee Mugs

At times, people have conflicting directions on their faces. This is far from a problem for the caricaturist...
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Some folk struggle to have a single cohesive direction... this forces a celebration of facial specifics in order to avoid a static line. The search is always on for a visual spark.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
It can be about body language,

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
or attitude and mood as well.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
thank you and enjoy.

Coffee Mugs

Children are even more challenging than women to draw...for many of the same reasons. If you overdraw you quickly accumulate years on the person until it's questionable whether it's a child or perhaps an effeminate man. It's an exercise in editing, you should only give your viewer features and facial elements on a "need to see" basis.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
In case you were concerned about the drawing below, it IS a drawing of a middle-age+ adult, and NOT an overdrawn child image.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Or maybe I'm lying. And this entire post is all overdrawn children...
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
It's likely, I'm sure, some of these men act childish sometimes... so who's to argue? A good exercise would be to draw an adult as you might assume they looked as children.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Which begs the question: Is the drawing below an assumption, or alla prima?
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Coffee Mugs

Sometimes the most interesting angles tell you more about the person than full frontal face-ity. Here most folks were in their own space. Good for the hunter...

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Gears are turning below.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
I would never even think of disagreeing with this lady below...

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Makes me want my own mug of coffee and paper.

Coffee Mugs

It occurs to me that, for a reason beyond my grasp, I do many more profile shots than front or 3/4 views. So as I drew today, I made a point of checking it out, I noticed that most everyone was turned sideways already, and this absolved me from the deed. Why are they sitting perpendicular to my view? No one will ever know, I blame the caricature gods here... The fellow below has a definite Dr. Seuss feel about him... had I shaded alternate brow wrinkles dark and light, we'd a had the Cat in the Hat for certain.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Below is a man with a satisfying secret.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
A secret this man below will never catch wind of...

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Thank you and enjoy.

Coffee Mugs

Contrary to what most people believe, in caricature --less is more. Ironic, as the word's etymology defines itself as: 'overloading', and 'to exaggerate'. And this is where some caricaturists fail, focusing too much on exaggeration, and not enough on editing and minimizing. (which in itself is a reverse form of exaggeration).
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Then again, some people have so much to work with, it's a shame to let anything go...

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Selecting the right view is important, this fellow's face was fierce and purposeful in the right profile, but when I moved to the other side of him to his 3/4 left angle, his face lost all ambition and intent. Perhaps the caffeine was wearing off...

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
...chumpish.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Coffee Mugs

Can't get enough of live caricature... it's performance art (in my own little private personal space) It does have its dangers however. The narrow fellow below was very engaged in what he had to say to his coffee-pal and was none the wiser...however, his little boy (say age 5 or 6) was firmly perplexed at why that bearded man in the bandanna was furtively and continually peeking at his father. As I sketched there was a real danger that the boy would alert dad to the scary man with the black book... It's hard to know what to do in this situation, the chicken-s**t solution would be to abandon the drawing and move on, but having a mere child determine your artistic course of action is not what my Uncle Ike would have defined as manly. One could try to fool the kid by looking intently at someone else while drawing implying that his father was of no visual interest to me at all...(aside from being dishonest, this course can lead to severe vision problems, or a grievously confused image on your page)... My solution was to look at the child intently and assume a wacked-out crazy-clown frump of a smile. Doing this might have led him to cry, and all would be lost, however, after a pause of a few seconds, the tyke giggled back, and joined with me in my conspiracy against his dad. I win.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
This man below, I assume, has no children...
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
...chumpish.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
This fellow (below) was just happy to be allowed to wear his new cap.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Below are drawings from a different day, it was all female this time around; harder to do as you need to distort while maintaining some delicacy. Good challenge as always.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
The last one here owes a bit to Anders Zorn... and I'm pleased to purloin.