More caricatures

I've been enjoying making caricatures lately, and making them quick (sort of).

Tim Burton: motivated by the news of the upcoming exhibit in Genk, i sketched this one on my sketchpad and left it half-finished until a couple of days ago, where I've blown it up a little bit and touched it up, adding the 'big f***ing Jackie-O glasses' (cit: Kevin Smith)

Quick warm up sketch. of my friend and mentor Serge Baeken.

Yet another "farewell present", this time for a colleague. The most caricature-y I've done so far. I'm ok with it, yet I think the original sketch got the likeness slightly better.

The incomparable Alan Moore, after Milt Kahl's Merlin form Disney's "The Sword in the Stone".

Portrait (ish)

The raison d'etre of this blog is still unclear to me.

The very little number of visits and reactions suggest this is nothing more than a message in a bottle, a "wafer offered to infinity" (or "endlessly offered", depending on how you translate this quote from the french movie Tous les Matins du Monde).

It looks like I'm still undecided about making this a place to share things I make, or things I discover or things I think.

A bit of all three, I suppose.

However, I had some fun with the following stuff I drew and I see no wrong in posting it here.

These are two group caricatures I did in the last 15 months for people leaving the parents council at my kid's school.

These were not meant to poke fun at them, but rather as an affectionate farewell present.

I looked to a lot of Mort Drucker to find inspiration, but he's on another planet. I would not even describe mine as real caricatures, but rather as slightly disproportioned portraits.

And since caricatures turned out to be quite fun, I took a shot to Harrison Ford, both young and old.

A few tips on how to approach caricatures are found on the website of MAD magazine's Tom Richmond, very recommended.

The next one is drawn after a from a photo by belgian photographer Sanne De Wilde. I'm kind of happy with the style. I love artist who can create a lot of texture and volume with biro.

This led to further caricature/pen experiments.

(good ol' Tim Burton needs extra work, even as a sketch is feels too inconclusive).

And for last, something definitely cuter, once again, inspired by the amazing work of Sara Ogilvie.

(This reminds me I'll dedicate one of the next post to women who inspire me).

Cal Arts Photo

This has to do with movies rather than comics, but animation has a special place in my heart, because it beautifully blends design, art, "color science" and visual storytelling. Plus, the sheer skill level of many animators is staggering.

It's incredible to see how many of the alumni that came out of CalArts in a relatively short period of time went on to a more than successful career in animation and film.

I often wish I could have been a student at CalArts in the 1970s, being classmate of Tim Burton, John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Geln Keane , Henry Selik, Pete Docter (the list goes on and on).
I think this is testament to Walt Disney's clarity of vision.

The man was a businessman first, and  in that regard he was a genius.

But Disney’s business model kept (and still keep, in my opinion) quality within the frame.

Of course the company will shamelessly squeeze every penny out of their properties, but on the other end it fostered and promoted new talents and new characters as well.


http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2014/03/calarts-animation-1970s-tim-burton

http://articles.latimes.com/1994-10-30/business/fi-56674_1_walt-disney