Mice!

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Been goofing around with mouse sketches. Mice have been a constant inspiration for artists for years. There's Mickey, and all the other Disney mice of course, plus those of Beatrix Potter. And the  Merrie Melody cartoon rodents, and David Petersen's Mouse Guard. So it's not exactly easy to come up with unique-looking mice characters.

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Nonetheless, I'm tryin'...

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...and it is fun!

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This fellow pleased me--I feel like he is pretty unique. The sketch at the top of the post turned into this detail of a larger acrylic work.

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When I was a skinny little kid I had out-sized ears and got called "Mickey" for a time. So here's a less skinny self-portrait prelim in my own honor. I hope it doesn't look much like the famous fellow who inspired my nickname.

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Challenges and Surprises

http://tomsarmo.com/index.html

Character design sketch

Kept seeing the "Make the art you want to see" quote on Facebook. Guess it was originally by a fellow named Austin Kleon, and it was actually "Draw the art you want to see".

Just as repetitious ads and billboards make me want to scream with boredom, I get weary of clever quotes quickly. People complain about cat and food photos on Fb, but my top thumbs-down vote is with quote-cliches.

Still, Kleon's phrase sticks with me, because it is a challenge. Doing just that is not easy. 

In actuality, I try to draw the art I see in my head. It's never exact. But enjoyable nonetheless, because the drawings are different enough from the visions to keep surprising me.

And that's about it.

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Cruikshank Characters: Real and Refreshing

By George Cruikshank via http://tomsarmo.blogspot.com/

From A Comic Alphabet by George Cruikshank

I love character illustrations and character design, especially those that seem, like Cruikshank's, as unaffected and unpretentious as a sketch. I don't know much about his work process, but the figures seem drawn more from imagination than a reliance on resources.

Now I am all for using resources and do it all the time. It's an essential part of illustration. But there is something about work that springs direct from the artist's brain. Somehow, it reads Genuine.

I've always been intrigued by that, and also ambivalent--I mean, research and resources help make an illustration more convincing, right?  Still, this quote by the great illustrator Larry MacDougall resonates:

"What I like best is when the artist is making it all up straight out of his head, without the aid of reference or photographs. Drawings done in this way are the real thing, clear windows into the spirit and character of the illustrator."

(From the book Witching Hour:  The Art of Larry MacDougall  

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1556346301 )

I think that's why I love to sketch, and why other artist's sketchbooks fascinate way beyond their finished paintings. For me, it is during the sketching process that the internal critic is silenced--when it's not about what an imaginary (or real) someone might like or dislike or criticize.

But I digress. This post is mostly about a fellow who managed to make characters that seem to be "clear windows" into authenticity. I know these aren't Cruikshank's sketches--they are engravings made from his drawings--and that his original drawings were given over to the engraver for printing. But somehow they still retain the freshness of sketches direct from the head.

A figure from The Streets

It is oft written  that Cruikshank did not have much knowledge of anatomy, or even how bodies were put together. Maybe that's the reason his works seem so unpretentious.

Detail of an illustration from Oliver Twist

Look at the stance of Oliver!  It's got no trace of formula--doesn't need it.

Fagin in His Cell, from Oliver Twist

Probably my favorite Cruikshank. Perfect in every way.

Check out more of Cruikshank's work here http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/cruikshank/ 

and check out the work of Larry MacDougall, too.  Here's a link to his blog:

 http://mythwood.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!