More sea creatures in my sketchbook.
The Devil and Mr. G — blueboard (non-reproducing blue colored pencil sketch on bristol board paper).
Sir Toby Belch from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Toby Belch is like Falstaff. He loves his drink and his merriment and his hijinx, too. I have him with a tankard of beer, and he has his eyes closed because he is laughing. He is a jokester. He has a wide stance. He wears boots (according to the text of the play). His clothes and colors should have some similarity to Malvolio (in my mind anyway) because they both are from Olivia’s house. This would make some sense for acting out the play since you are dealing with lots of different people, and there is some confusion and role-playing and disguises (like lots of Shakespeare comedies), so if you can add an element of visual recognition, I think that would be good. So his sleeves will be like Malvolio’s and so will his collar, but his ascot is like a bib (another possible prop), since he likes to eat and drink. I took Star Trek’s Harry Mudd to be anther inspiration (himself Falstaffian).
Sir Toby Belch from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. He is definitely drunk and funny, Falstaffian. He should in some ways dress like the other people in the employ of Olivia (his niece I think), so he should have similarities to Malvolio in dress, but his outfit is tight-fitting, he is about to burst his buttons, because he is fat and drunk, and a loud-mouth. He is fun and fun to be around. He is Bill Clinton, and he is Dom Deluise, and Fat Shakespeare. When he doesn’t have a beer or mutton leg in his hand, his arms are a kimbo, laughing like the ghost of Christmas present in the Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol. He should be sleepy-eyed as if he is drunk, or close-eyed like he is laughing and guffawing uncontrollably. Final sketch to follow.
Working on a character illustration of Malvolio from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Going over some basics here that you can see in the marginalia. Flattish head with center parted hair. I definitely envision a Niles Crane from Frasier kind of look. He should be older than Olivia, but also he should be overly conscious of his appearance because he is aware that he is also below Olivia in class. He has to be wearing a tights / hosiery clothes for the yellow stockings bit to work, so I envision him as a butler but also with stockings and poofy sleeves and pants a la Elizabethan era. You can see the whole thumbnail to final sketch process at http://www.inkpuddle.com.
On the 10th Day of Christmas I drew some 12th Night sketches from Shakespeare. Random images I got while re-reading Twelfth Night. I suspect the Toby Belch and cross-dressing scenes will pop up again and again because they are memorable. The quotes and/or captions I have to sometimes go back and find and choose to fit what might have caused me to have the image I saw of the stage / scenery.
You’re getting 2 (yes, two!) sketches today instead of one. As if I actually post a sketch-a-day. Following up with my fairy tale theme (you can see more fairy tale related posts at http://www.inkpuddle.com), here is Rapunzel, doing what every girl does on a Saturday night, washing her hair. Of course, her hair care takes a little more effort than most women. I am not sure if I am going to add any more to this sketch or “finish” it. I kind of like how the pencil marks show how I laid out the stool she was sitting on, only to be covered up by her hair. In a way, it shows the “process” of this sketch, which I am a fan of describing and showing.
So, you’ve seen Mr. Henry, but now here is Ms. Millie. My dog is not the best model. In fact, she is a horrible model despite being a cute dog. She can’t sit still for more than a couple moments, and when she saw me looking at her intently, she didn’t particularly like that. So, these, by necessity, are gestural sketches in nature. In the upper left-hand corner is a more cartoon interpretation of the dog. She has some scruffy (but soft) fur around her head, and she has one up ear and one down ear. I think the upper right quadrant sketch captures her essence the best.
Mr. Henry - brown ink on brown paper sketch of the girlfriend’s long-haired, miniature Dachshund. His name is Henry. He climbed onto a footstool in order to get on to a rocking chair. Most of him was a clump of black fur, so I wanted to focus on the coloring on his face. The rocker and most of the rest of his body is unimportant background space. I am sure this won’t be the last sketch of this dog.
Part Two of Ravenlocks and the Three Bears. If you saw Part 1, it appeared that Ravenlocks was in a tight spot with three hungry and sharp-clawed bears finding her in their bed. But as you can see, she lived happily ever after.
