Pencil Lines

My very good friend d7 suggested on my sketch suggestions post: “Cheesus, the god of cheese.” Here’s the result:

I know I said they were just going to be quick sketches, but really, this is what I was hoping for; getting an idea that would inspire me to do something fun. I really enjoyed this.

While talking with Dennis about it, the idea of Wallace playing the part of Cheesus popped into my head. It was perfect! What better person to play the god of cheese than the man that built a spaceship in his basement just so he could go to the moon for an afternoon to sample the local cheese? It was Dennis that came up with the idea of playing on the Sacred Heart imagery; he’s such a genius.

I used these pictures mainly for reference: Wallace and Gromit, the Sacred Heart, and Mary. This is the first time I’ve ever drawn Wallace or Gromit; I wonder why I’ve never done so before? They’re so much fun.

Oh, and those are supposed to be large circular wax-covered bricks of cheese floating behind their heads and serving as halos. I was going to put a Wensleydale label on them, but figured I was already pushing it enough as it is.

Here’s the original sketch:

Sketched it out on paper with pencil before scanning it. As you can see, originally Wallace had a beard/goatee to better match the Sacred Heart reference. In the end, though, I thought it took away from the fact of it being “Wallace” and not just a picture of Jesus in Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit style. Wallace can wear a wig and pretend to have hair for once, and we’ll just forget about the beard for now, hehe…

I worked on the line art in Painter X, which was actually much more frustrating than I thought it would be. I think the problem was that I was working way too large; the original resolution on this is ridiculously huge for something so simple. Also, the simplicity of the picture meant a lot of long, straight, and circular lines that were very tough to draw smoothly in such a high resolution. Just ask Dennis how much I was ranting and grumbling all the way through it! I swear I must have drawn, undo-ed, and redrawn every line in this picture at least a dozen times. Not my best line art ever, but it serves its purpose! I’ve learned my lesson for next time.

I ended up colouring it in Photoshop CS, since Painter X is still kicking my ass in that respect. Used one of Photoshop’s default brushes for the whole thing, which is a brush I really love the texture of. I thought it would be great to give it a painterly texture. I’m really happy with the look of it.

The rays were done using the polygon lasso tool; I just selected a bunch of “ray” shapes, feathered them a bit, and then drew inside the selections with a lighter brush to give it the look I wanted. I also inverted it and used a darker brush “behind” the rays to deepen the contrast. I like the effect it gives, and it’s quick and easy. =)

Anyway… I’m really happy it’s done (now Dennis can stop bugging me about it). This is the first coloured thing I’ve done in a long time, and I’m really happy with it. Yay!

For those who don’t know, Wallace and Gromit are the intellectual property of Nick Park. He’s rad. And for those who don’t know Wallace and Gromit; what’s your problem?! Go watch the shorts now!!

Not too long ago I came across Brian Oakes’ Caricatures Blog and I was enthralled and fascinated. I haven’t been able to get caricature out of my head since.

The thing about it though, is that I have no idea how they do it. How do they take a regular old face and turn it into something so exaggerated, so hilarious, and so compelling? It’s something that blows my mind.

Yesterday I was patrolling DeviantART and LastScionz’ deviation “Jelly On My Collar” was in my message centre. I had it open on my screen while I got a burst of energy to draw, and for a lack of any idea of what to draw, I just turned to his face.

It doesn’t look like him in caricaturist terms; I probably should have tried to make the top of his head rounder rather than square, and there are lots of other things I would change too. But I do like it, just in “cartoony portrait” terms. I love doing this kind of cartoony work; a lot of my old highschool and college binders and notes were filled with sketches and doodles of people with crazy, exaggerated features. It’s a lot of fun.

Anyway, just thought I’d share! Drawn with F lead in a mechanical pencil. Look, there’s shading too! How fancy.