From M K Brown to Charlie Brown
The Cartoon Art Museum also maintains a standing exhibition (it has a little Edward Gorey corner, for instance). They include the original pen line art for various cartoons, so you can see them as they were drawn, rather than as they were later reproduced in various newspapers etc.
Is there anyone in the western world who doesn't know Charlie Brown? Such simple, straightforward lines, from Charlie's huge round head, to the solid black stripes on his shirt: it all looks so clean and direct. But here's my photo of Sally, Charlie's sister, from the original line art, which was maybe eight inches across for a single panel:
See how jaggedy the lines are for her shoes, and the curve of her back? One of the hardest things is drawing a smooth curve in ink: you have to go at it with a flourish, and the confidence that you'll get it right in one. The other way of drawing curves (which I first came across in a perspective class that was as dry as dirt) is to draw lots of little straight lines at gradually shifting angles, which add up to one big curve. You can see Schulz's pen slipping/jerking its way around the shapes - and yet, when that picture is shrunken and printed, it'll look like the world's most confident curve.
I had no idea he did them like that. Bugger me.
Is there anyone in the western world who doesn't know Charlie Brown? Such simple, straightforward lines, from Charlie's huge round head, to the solid black stripes on his shirt: it all looks so clean and direct. But here's my photo of Sally, Charlie's sister, from the original line art, which was maybe eight inches across for a single panel:
See how jaggedy the lines are for her shoes, and the curve of her back? One of the hardest things is drawing a smooth curve in ink: you have to go at it with a flourish, and the confidence that you'll get it right in one. The other way of drawing curves (which I first came across in a perspective class that was as dry as dirt) is to draw lots of little straight lines at gradually shifting angles, which add up to one big curve. You can see Schulz's pen slipping/jerking its way around the shapes - and yet, when that picture is shrunken and printed, it'll look like the world's most confident curve.
I had no idea he did them like that. Bugger me.