Sketches Are Almost ALWAYS Better...

So my Bulldog tests continue. Seriously, these are mostly just a weekly test of new mediums, papers, and styles to see what works best for me and for other projects. But they are fun to do so we venture on, fearless illustration lovers!

This week UGA plays the University of Tennessee. Should be an excellent game. (Although I may not be able to watch it. The Paintmonkey has an informal class reunion to go to. Ah well...) But here is this week's entry:



Getting happier with them.

So here is where today's post title comes from. Almost every artist will tell you that the sketches done for almost any piece of art whether it be illustration, painting, or cartoon are almost always better than the final version. Whether it is the pose that you just can't get right again, or the composition is just a LITTLE off, or whatever other tiny little imperfection that does not allow you to get it just exactly the way you liked in that first impromptu sketch, it is just NEVER the same. It is...maddening, quite frankly. Compare the finished cartoon up above to the sketch here:



See? Looser, more dynamic, just a more fun representation. But I am not TOO upset at it this week. I had to fit the new Dawg into a drawing I had already started. I just wasn't happy with the way the legs looked in my first drafts. Then, while at work, and for entirely unknown reasons the way the legs SHOULD look just hit me. Out of nowhere. It happens that way sometimes.

So that is why finished drawings are almost never as good as the sketches which spawned them.