Cartoonists who only draw their characters from the waist up

Jeffy · Post by **Jeffy** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 12:24 pm

i usually draw down past the waist, but most of the time i end up cropping that out for space concerns

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 12:50 pm

nothingspecial wrote:nothingspecial

I agree with you, I was just pointing out that fully realised pictures can still be effective in your average sized comic. There's not a great deal of his stuff on the net which is a pity, but he's one who successfully combines full body poses with his facial expressions. At least, for me he's the best. I still agree with your point though.

And I couldn't resist the quote

Leko · Post by **Leko** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 5:35 pm

This is one reason I like my satyr character. He's constantly getting into everything, and he's small enough that I can fit most of him into one panel when he's standing, and all of him if he's sitting or crouching. I constantly use him to make things look cooler. Once I drew him upside down, hanging from the ceiling. I liked the image so much, I used it for my newsbox image.

Other characters do stuff like that too, though in smaller magnitudes. For example, the butler is always standing, whereas Mikayla, Greg, or Tito are more likely to be sitting in front of a complicated piece of machinery, and Rich is usually carrying something. But I change them around a lot too. Of course, if the joke is almost entirely in the dialogue, it's hard to make the visuals varied.

Ida · Post by **Ida** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 4:49 pm

I draw legs whenever they're needed, which is another way of saying 'action sequences' - except if it's Io because her feet are so extremely easy to draw and she usually fits into the panel. Honestly, I would find it rather scary if someone attempted to do an action-adventure comic with only waist-up shots - though somehow I'm sure somebody has already done exactly that...

Ghastly · Post by **Ghastly** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 10:36 pm

My new action-adventure comic series is being drawn entirely from the waist up.

Super Pretty Comet Bra Team

It follows the lives and adventures of five well endowed teenage girls who use futuristic high tech lingerie to fight evil forces of Princess Underwire in Zero-G.

I have another comic planned which is only drawn from the waist down.

Happy Spanking Panty Club

And just think... I'm logging on all the freaking way from my hotel room in India and this was the most productive I could be while online.

Prettydragoon · Post by **Prettydragoon** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 9:05 am

What a horrible waist of talent!

Luprand · Post by **Luprand** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 11:01 am

*sends two floor toms and a cymbal falling off of a cliff*

. . .

*b-dum ching*

--Sij

Magius del Cotto · Post by **Magius del Cotto** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 1:02 pm

I'll just hop in here and agree with what most people are saying:
Even though I only have 2 camera angles that I'm good at (full-on face and profile face), I am trying my darndest to get as many angles as I can - when I can pull them off, of course. That's the fun of trying to pull off a fantasy epic right off the bat - starts off bad, but you get a lot of practice in angles that no one in any other genre would be pulling.
If I stuck with what I was good at, you'd get talking heads - literally (although my comic is pretty much 50% talking heads anyways...). Can't draw hands that well, my overall style changes more often than a kid changes clothes, and I have no sense of overall anatomy/perspective, but I'm giving them all a workout, and hopefully, by the time my comic's run through what I have planned (2 1/2 years of comics planned already, just waiting to be scripted and drawn out), I'll definitely have improved my skills 10 fold (if not more).
Magius out.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 1:10 pm

Magius del Cotto wrote:my overall style changes more often than a kid changes clothes

Only once a week, eh?

Magius del Cotto · Post by **Magius del Cotto** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 2:11 pm

Eh, couldn't think of a good analogy for it (it's not unheard of for it to change between panels - not good when I've got a full page, 5-6 panel update each and every day), so maybe...
More often than the cycles of the moon? (no)
More often than socks lost in the dryer? (no)
More often than faces on a clock? (no)
...
Eh, I guess I'll be sticking with my original comparison then.
Magius out.

Kirb · Post by **Kirb** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 3:52 pm

prettydragoon wrote:What a horrible waist of talent!

*Groans*

And just when I thought I had immunity to bad puns.

Luprand · Post by **Luprand** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 8:35 pm

Wanna borrow my pun mallet?

--Sij

Ida · Post by **Ida** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 12:02 pm

Dutch! wrote:
Magius del Cotto wrote:my overall style changes more often than a kid changes clothes
Only once a week, eh?

Y'see, that's where the magic is - once that kid decides to call itself a 'teenager', it will suddenly go from once a week to five times a day.

Leko · Post by **Leko** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:44 pm

Ida wrote:
Dutch! wrote:
Magius del Cotto wrote:my overall style changes more often than a kid changes clothes
Only once a week, eh?
Y'see, that's where the magic is - once that kid decides to call itself a 'teenager', it will suddenly go from once a week to five times a day.

Only if she's a girl. If the child in question happens to be male, frequency of clothing change could well decrease... unless he's decided he's gay.

Ida · Post by **Ida** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 1:32 am

Leko wrote:
Ida wrote:
Dutch! wrote: Only once a week, eh?
Y'see, that's where the magic is - once that kid decides to call itself a 'teenager', it will suddenly go from once a week to five times a day.
Only if she's a girl. If the child in question happens to be male, frequency of clothing change could well decrease... unless he's decided he's gay.

Point. So there's a little over 50% possibility that the analogy is correct. Or perhaps once a week WAS what he was aimiing for.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 6:31 am

It really depends. When I was a teenager, "grunge" was a new in thing. So we all changed clothes as often as Daria.

G-Lode · Post by **G-Lode** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 7:08 am

I think drawing legs really depends on which type of webcomic you are doing. But, adding in some full body shots and some different angles can really heighten the appeal of your illustrations.

I have really been practicing on legs and feet lately (not so much in my cartoon, as in my other random drawings and paintings). It takes so much practice to make them look like they are positioned correctly and even more so supporting the weight of the character.

The newest filler art I used is a good example. I drew Fran, from Final Fantasy XII. Her legs are almost a work of art compared to my normal leg-drawing abilities.

Click my banner to see!

Glassheart · Post by **Glassheart** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:28 pm

I think that is the weirdest thing I ever heard of. I do think it matters, at least it does to me. I think it looks only final and complete with a whole body. Even though it kind of limits you to the drawing, it a very unique and intresting idea. Unless these artists paint human beings, it will not look that unique anymore to me.

Eunice_P · Post by **Eunice_P** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:40 pm

I love drawing hands and legs!

Hmm... I think I would be one of those really rarest people on the net who would say that.

But I hate to admit that I do leave out a plenty of my character's leg.

Anywherebuthere · Post by **Anywherebuthere** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 1:02 am

I normaly don't draw legs unless my characters are sitting down, simply because most of the time I don't have the space to fit legs in. You may see SOME leg, but the space normaly isn't there for full on body shots.