Assignment #1
When given this prompt with the skeletal potion required, I was a little bit anxious. I have had practice drawing people but never skeletons before this class. These past few weeks of drawing skeletons in class gave me more confidence to choose a figure that deterred from the typical human form and find something more interesting.
When initially tasked with this assignment I wasn't sure which character to choose. Nothing immediately came to mind. So I began my research on this assignment. I was able to visit my grandmother's house and searched for interesting figures. After some time I was able to find a troll doll and some Lego people. I started to draw the lego figure but realized what I was drawing was too simple. The skeleton for a Lego figure would be too similar to the actual figure. I felt like I needed to challenge myself more. So my attention turned to animated characters. As a big Tim Burton fan, my immediate thought was to look at some of his characters. Many of his characters tend to have exaggerated features, which I thought would be suitable for this assignment. Both Jack Skellington and Emily from the Corpse Bride seemed like they would be cheating if I was to choose either of them? Since both have very prominent skeletal features.
So I dug a little deeper into my childhood and thought about Who Framed Roger Rabbit and finally selected Jessica Rabbit. Her proportions are so extreme that no actual human could ever be shaped like her and lead a normal life. This realization made me want to stick with her. Gary K Wolf's illustrations exaggerate and have fun with the shapes and sizes of his characters. Because of this reason I thought they would be a good selection to choose from. Since they are so dramatic, I also realized that some of the references I would be helpful if they were similar to Jessica's torso. While not as extreme as hers, I was able to find some corseted x rays that helped. Through researching her skeletal waist, I able to learn about some of the historical precedences of wearing corsets and corset training. Even with the help of the corseted images, the ribcage was still the most difficult part. Her extreme hourglass figure was difficult to make look realistic. Through the process of drawing and erasing repeatedly, I was finally satisfied with the way that she looked. Another helpful resource was the artist, Alberto Vargas. His paintings are strikingly similar to the figure of Jessica. The pin-up girls he paints are in several positions that contribute to a better understanding of what her form would look like.
This assignment was a really good opportunity to expand upon my skills as an artist and to push myself further. It was also very fun and strenuous to think about animated characters and how their external and internal features would align with each other. I believe this thought experiment has also left a lasting impression on me because when I now look at characters or drawings, I now imagine how their skeleton looks like and how it works in relation to everything else.
I used colored and graphite pencils
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