My name is Jeff Mellem and this is my blog to share useful books I have read, quality materials that I have used, museums I have visited, and any other art related experiences. I am the author of Sketching People: Life Drawing Basics and How to Draw People: Step-by-Step Lessons for Figures and Poses.
The Getty Center is currently showing an exhibit on Édouard Manet’s later works, including his paintings Spring (which they purchased in 2014 for $65 million) and his award winning - though atypical painting - Monsieur Pertuiset, the Lion Hunter. They exhibit featured many of his famous paintings along-side illustrated letters to friends, unfinished works, and many of his flower paintings.
Honoré Daumier was one of the greatest caricature artists and and cartoonists of all time. (Balzac's said, "There is a lot of Michelangelo in that fellow.") His biting satire of the French government and bourgeoisie culture in the upheaval following the 1830 Revolution in France often got him in trouble with those in power. One political cartoon satirizing the corpulent monarch Louis-Philippe as a hungry giant gobbling bags of money fed to him by the poor lead to a six month imprisonment. Daumier’s style is highly animated and humorous. Even without the historical context, his drawings all have a sense of movement, strong characters, and usually tell some kind of story.
Carlos Huante is a character designer working in film and animation. His book Monstruo: The Art of Carlos Huante and it’s companion Mas Creaturas: Monstruo Addendum feature his monster character designs.
The Art of Tim Burton is a collection of the famous film director’s personal sketches of monsters and odd creatures. This imaginative collection shows a vast array of concept drawing for many of his most successful films, including Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland, and many others.
Little Nemo by Winsor McCay was a lushly illustrated and extremely imaginative comic strip that ran from 1905-1914 that centers around a young boy who goes on adventures in his dreams every night. His fantastic dreams take him to Slumberland where the king has ordered that he be brought to the castle to be a playmate to the princess. The journey takes months and along the way a huge cast of characters joins him including his close companion Flip the clown. Together they journey through the strange fantasy world full of imaginary creatures and wild settings. Each strip usually ended with Nemo waking up back in bed.
Great character design immediately conveys a lot of information about the character through visual cues. You should immediately get a sense of the character’s personality and know something about their role in the story. Character Mentor: Learn by Example to Use Expressions, Poses, and Staging to Bring Your Characters to Life by Tom Bancroft is a great book to help you hone your skills to design a great character.
Burne Hogarth was an American artist best known for his Tarzan graphic novels and his figure drawing books. In his book Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery: Solutions for Drawing the Clothed Figure, Hogarth shows what’s behind folds and wrinkles and categorizes them into different types of patterns. These patterns can be grouped by they dynamic forces that create them.
