Cartoon Characters are People Too!

As I expected, the class got the joke and laughed politely, and then we discussed the drawing as if it were any other serious homework assignment. If only my harridan elementary school art teacher had allowed cartoons in art class, I’d probably have gotten all this schooling out of the way 30 years earlier!

Anyway, the teacher noticed something I already realized, which was that my character was way too stiff. Even after umpteen weeks of this class, and dozens of animation books imploring me to draw everything with a “line of action” in mind, I still have a tendency to want to turn every figure into a right angle. It’s a really hard habit to break.

So, I adjusted my figure a little, and re-inked it, digitally. Do you notice the improvement? Because there’s a smooth, imaginary arc from my back leg to my hand, it does a better job at implying movment, and the direction of that movement.

Really, I should be even more bent, but I didn’t want to reinvent the whole composition of the picture.

Of course, digital inking always looks a little flat compared to real ink, but I can always play with that in Photoshop:

Speaking of which, looks like a rainy day tomorrow, so I’ll sit in and finally finish Bob Hope!