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Showing posts with label Character Design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Character Design. Show all posts

Would you buy a used car from these guys?

Salesmen sketches 01Salesmen sketches 05I drew these a few years ago as a favor for a friend -- he needed some multipurpose "clip art" figures for his website. Don't think he ever used 'em, so here they are on my blog!
Salesmen sketches 04Salesmen sketches 06 Salesmen sketches 03Salesmen sketches 02
Click on the image below for the full-sized collection of Car Salesmen cartoonsSalesmen sketches small

Tex Avery - MGM Years 1942-55 - 41 Pages of killer Golden-Age Cartoon Model Sheets at ComiCrazys!

screwy squirrel tex-avery_model_sheets
Chris Lopez at ComiCrazys has given us all an amazing gift! FORTY-ONE sheets of classic MGM / Tex Avery model sheets! And they’re pretty hi-res, too! Go take a look at http://comicrazys.com/2010/02/20/model-sheets-tex-avery-the-mgm-years-1942-1955-various/

Fun Cartoony Character Designer Steve Lambe

Donald duck by steve lambe
Just discovered these wonderful images (and MANY more) on Steve Lambe's blog! Lots of great cartoon designs and fun drawings there at: http://www.lambey.blogspot.com/


How to Draw Hats - Men's Classic Fedora Hat

If you want to learn how to draw hats -- y'know...those 1940's detective-style fedoras that you see in the movies -- then take a look at these scans from a couple of old drawing books...

Old-school fedora hats can be kind of tricky to draw...and we have to draw a lot of them on Phineas and Ferb. Secret agent Perry the Platypus wears his fedora hat in every episode, so we end up having to draw hats from all kinds of angles a few dozen times in every storyboard.

Drawing the hat - How to Draw classic 1940's hats fedora

Click on the image above for FULL-SIZED page on How To Draw Hats


I recently found a couple pieces of excellent hat drawing reference that I shared with some other artists on Phineas & Ferb, and I thought I'd spread the wealth and share it with everybody else, too.

How to draw men's hats Drawing a fedora
"Draw the crown as if it fits directly over the skull, not the hair, no matter what angle is used for the hat. Some of the crown will not touch the skull because of the shape of the hat.
Center the hat on the face, using as your guide the imaginary line running from the center of the crown down to the chin."
Fedora How to Draw Hats tutorial - Taper of the crown
"Study the taper of the crown; Pay close attention to the correct angle of the taper of the crown as this is a style feature...The taper may vary with style changes."
How to Draw Fedora Hats - Brim and Face
One big reason that "how to draw hats" reference is so helpful is that you just don't see fedora hats very often these days. There's lots of great hat images in classic Bogart movies and other Film Noirs. I just watched The Big Heat a few weeks ago, and I couldn't stop looking at Glenn Ford's grey fedora (well, it was a black and white movie, so everything's grey...).
How to Draw the Hat on a Man's Head Fedora drawing lesson
How to Draw a Hat Fedora three quarter view
How to draw a Fedora Hat drawing tutorial reference drawings
Men wearing Fedora hats - Drawing reference classic film noir hats

Fizzies Vintage Cartoon TV Commercial - Brilliantly Simple Story and Design Work!

Fizzies are...efferVEScent!

(Click on the arrow in the player above to watch)


The character designs in this vintage Fizzies cartoon TV commercial are so appealing and the little song is so catchy I just had to share this one. Man! They really knew how to make commercials in the fifties! Kid-vid commercials today are so overly-amped it's ridiculous...but what kid wouldn't want to kick back and make a fizzy after watching this delicious animated spot?

Just listen to the crazy syncopated rhythm in this jazzy jingle:

  • They sparkle, they bubble, and quick as a ..wink...
  • You've got yourself a DEE-liciously tasty ... effervescent drink!

The story structure of this little cartoon opera is a joy to observe too;

Fizzies boy showing off cartoon canary in cage
The know-it-all big brother shows off his musical skills and haughtily demonstrates his fizzy-making prowess.

Kids making Fizzies vintage cartoon TV advertiisemnt

Notice the conflict: little sis is trying to grab the Fizzies package away, but the boy wants to show how cool he is.

girl grabs fizzies while boy is drinking Fizzies vintage animated TV commercial

While he selfishly guzzles the Fizzie he just made, the little girl snatches the Fizzies packet away and shows that she's just as smart and can make her own darn fizzie! She even gives us a wink to say to all the downtrodden younger siblings in the audience that Fizzies is the friend of the underdog.

girl winks as she makes Fizzies vintage animated TV commercial
After the boy chases his sister off-screen, the announcer comes in with the pitch!

Fizzies vintage animated TV commercial  boy chases girl

You've got to pay attention because the conflict is still unresolved. The pitch itself is a model of CLARITY. He tells you and shows you exactly what the product is, and why you must have it now. There's no color, so they SHOW all the fruit flavors with delicious cartoon illustrations of the grape, orange, cherry, lemon-lime, strawberry and root-beer flavors!
Fizzies flavors grape orange cherry lemon-lime strawberry and root beer
Finally, now that the sales pitch is finished, the whole family comes in to screen happily drinking Fizzies.

Happy Family drinking Fizzies vintage animated TV commercial

This is especially for the moms in the audience, demonstrating that Fizzies are the answer to all domestic strife. Brilliant.

"Get Fizzies...the new HAPPY drink!" Just GET 'em. I love the boldness of old commercials. They just tell you what to do.

There are TONS more like this at www.tvdays.com

Sugar Bear Character Design over the years

Dan Goodsell's recent post about Super Sugar Crisp's Sugar Bear reminded me that my first cartoon influences were all the awesome animated breakfast cereal mascots of the late sixties and early seventies.

Vintage Post Sugar Bear character design
Sugar Bear was always one of my favorites (along with Quisp, the Freakies, The Trix Rabbit and Cap'n Crunch), and now Dan has created a photo set of the design evolution of Sugar Bear! There are many diffferent design approaches, and each one of the artists really knew how to draw a cute and appealing cartoon character. Fantastic stuff -- go take look!


PS...Dan Goodsell is also the author of one my all-time favorite cartoon art books, "Krazy Kids' Food"
Krazy Kids Food Vintage Food Graphics Book cover

...and another great website devoted to Cereal Box characters is:

Topher's Breakfast Cereal Character Guide