EBC - Fun with pencils - Vui với bút chì - Phần 2

You know, I’ve a hunch you have been itching to get into this portion of the book. Well, it is really going to be great fun to create little people of your own, doing anything you want them to. There is nothing hidebound in this plan either. Take it in easy doses for the fun that’s in it. Whether the folks you draw will ever bring home the bacon is a matter of circumstance and how clever you get to be. But it’s worth the effort to get that bang out of being able to do it. When you were...
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EBC - Fun with pencils - Vui với bút chì - Phần 2PART TWO PUTTING THE HEAD ON THE BODY 51THE COMIC FIGUREYou know, I’ve a hunch you have been itching toget into this portion of the book. Well, it is reallygoing to be great fun to create little people of yourown, doing anything you want them to. There isnothing hidebound in this plan either. Take it in easydoses for the fun that’s in it. Whether the folks youdraw will ever bring home the bacon is a matter ofcircumstance and how clever you get to be. But it’sworth the effort to get that bang out of being able todo it.When you were a very little boy or girl your brainchildren probably looked like these. If they did,you had a great deal of undeveloped talent, and ifyou have not been drawing ever since, it’s a realshame. When the little youngster starts to draw,he instinctively does a better job than he does lateron. He goes to essentials, a crude representationof the bulk without the detail. Soon he forgets thebody and starts drawing buttons and clothes witha face on them. Result: he gets discouraged andtransfers his attention to some pretty blond curlsor a new bicycle.In all seriousness, I say that Nos. 1 and 2 of themarginal drawings have great possibilities; 3 and4 still have hope. But 5 verges on those awful draw-ings in public places.52Now we start with something very much like 1 and 2.For want of a better name we shall call him“Doohinkus.” All we need do is add some sort of boxfor a pelvis, some pads for hands and feet, some ballsat the joints, and a straight line across for shoulders.We thus give him the following characteristics.Head is a ball.Chest is a ball.Pelvis is a box slanted out at back and in at the sides.The spine does not go through the chest ball butaround the back of it.The legs are not straight but curve in to the kneesand out toward the foot.Forearm is slightly curved.Chest ball is divided by a line through the middleand flaring lines at the bottom, like a Y upside down.The reason for the curve on the bones is that theythus become “springy” and shock-absorbing.Without those curves we would be nervous wrecksbefore we were in short pants or panties as the casemay be.Every limb is movable in practically all directions.The chest ball is fixed to the spine but the spine bendsin all directions. It can also twist or turn, so that thereis a wide range of movements possible between spineand pelvis.The human body is just about the nicest bit of me-chanics we have in the world. We can walk, run, jump,climb, stand erect, sit, all without any oiling or burnt-out sparkplugs. Our motor starts and stops once. Ifwe take care of the engine it will outlast any metalone. Let’s go! 53HERE WE GO!The proportions of your little figures may be varied in anysort of way. Below we show a variety of comic exaggerations.54WE START ON THE FIGUREWe shall start at once to put them into action. There will alwaysbe movement of the parts. Draw this page carefully and becomethoroughly familiar with the movement of each part. 55DOOHINKUS MOVES ABOUT. STUDY THE FRAMEWORK56PURPOSELY OFF BALANCE 57DO SOME OF THESE58TRY THESE, THEN INVENT SOME OF YOUR 59BUILDING ON THE FRAMEWORK60BUILDING ON THE FRAMEWORK 61A WAY TO SET UP THE ACTIONTake any jointed doll if possible, one jointed at thewaist. This fellow was a plain wooden art-store man-nikin. In order to make him exist for you as some-thing more than wooden chunks, I dolled him up, withpaint, putty, and a bit of hair from the bathroom rug.Then I got busy with my candid camera. He is a queer-looking little guy, a sort of cross between GrouchoMarx and a cigar-store Indian; but he is made of parts,and it is the appearance of these parts in action thatwe are interested in. In this way Doohinkus Manni-kin is better than a live model. The black lines onhim help you his bulk, just as they do on the ball.Take some of these poses. Start by drawing the frame-work in the approximate action. It is not importantthat you maintain the same proportions, and you cansubstitute any head. Change him to suit yourself, butwatch the positions of the parts carefully. Build oneach part as you it. Note whether lines at joints curveup or down, how the part is tipped toward or awayfrom you, you can exaggerate the action of the hipsand shoulders, as those actions were quite limited inthe mannikin. You can also, if you wish, render thelight and shadow on the parts.Tracing these, or copying without building, will doyou no good. But if you will “build” a dozen or so,you will be able to set up figures of your own, in al-most any action. The correct a ...