[professorcrazy]

I am now carving (attempting to, anyway) a figure of the cartoon talking dog, Brian, from the cartoon, "Family Guy". I got a picture off of the internet, drew it onto a piece of basswood, carved the outline of it, now I am in a quandry of sorts as to perspectives and geometry. Sometimes when I try something like this, it can be tricky to figure out which part of the drawing should be first, second, third in depth. I've done Hermione Granger from a drawing I did off of the 'net of Emma Watson as her, from Harry Potter flicks, and it came off okay--this was for my eleven year old daughter--but, she was not, of course, a cartoon, and she was facing fowards, not kind of to the left, as is Brian.
The figure of Brian I drew has a head and snout that faces to the left, though both eyes face forward, and are set right beside each other--the famous "two eyes on the side of the head" cartoon sort of way to picture characters.
His left arm seems to be facing the front of the drawing, yet logically it also needs to be at the side of the dog, so I guess that the dog's body is facing in a different direction than the dog, to the right at an angle, and somewhat forward. Both feet seem to be facing foward, but the toes point to the right.
To sum up, Brian is a dog that faces (bodywise) in an angled way to the right, but foward enough to view its dog collar and tag, and all toes on both feet. His eyes face forward, though his head is to the left. His left arm faces foward, but seemingly contradictarliy, at Brian's side, as well. His right arm is barely visible, because it is, I guess, to a side part of him that can't be viewed well.
I've got the snout angled to the left and the front. Not sure what to do about the eyes, or the arm situation. Eyes logically go on either side of a nose, not both facing foward whilst the nose is angled off to the left. I would like to maintain to as much degree as possible the rough picture and outline I've so far carved, but to place the eyes in a way to physically agree with how eyes ought to be placed--and the arms--and keep the pose and drawing correct to the original cartoon is difficult, and may prove --I hope I don't have to force myself to admit it--well, impossible...any suggestions would be appreciated.
Also, I generally find it usefull to try to get as many pictures of what I'm trying to carve at any given time so that perspective problems are kept to a minimum--but, if anyone has helpful hints as to doing away with this problem when a single view of a person, animal, etc., is all that is available, please let me know.
Thanks!

[rick-in-seattle]

I have to admit I did not read your entire post.

My experience with carving cartoon characters is:

Elmo
Daffy Duck
The Comic Book Guy - from the Simpsons
Heckle & Jeckle
Popeye
Quick Draw McGraw
and several characters without names

The main problem is that they are not 3D.
Get as many views as you possibly can and try to create a believable character.

Take the Simpsons characters for instance; there is no way you can carve them as they are pictured on the screen. Their mouths will not allow it.
What you see from the front is not what is shown from the side.

One possibility is finding a 3D character being sold as a shampoo bottle or plastic toy. Aside from that, use your imagination; sometimes it works.

[Old_Gord]

Why not do the cartoon characters in clay before trying to carve them in wood, many carvers do their in-the-round carvings this way, use any of the various types of modeling mediums that are available.

OG

[professorcrazy]

Thanks for the replies so far! I did look for other pictures and poses of Brian the dog, but, unfortunately, I found none with him facing directly forward. I chose a pose that at least showed his entire body, including his toes. I'd like to post pictures of some items I've carve, but our camera isn't working well with the new Dell we have now.
I know that carvers do often use clay--even Michelangelo used terra cotta models for many, if not all, of his sculptures--but, I am not really sure how well I could make one, and I also don't have any clay, not now, anyway. But, I'll admit, I never thought I was all that great at drawing until I developed a passing skill at it as a sort of necessity on my own--with the help of some books on perspective and art--to aid in carving--which I also took up on my own, as a hobby (though I've sold a few pieces). I'm afraid I might sort of suck at making clay figures, but I may not--maybe I just need to try it out, and deconstruct it, as I have with drawing and carving/sculpting wood.
I have made progress on Brian. I find that if certain body parts, such as the ears, shoulders, or nose, are situated where one can be relatively pleased with them, then other parts can be located fairly well in relationship to the ones you're happy with, and eventually, the entire figure can be completed.
This is what I'm doing with Brian the dog, and carving the dog upside down (parts of it, such as the back of the head and back of the neck) can be useful to aid perspective of the entire dog, or whateve else may be carved.
This is like a "trick" I've read about of drawing a figure upside down form a picture/photo--it works pretty well, to a degree.
A cartoon's "logic" is not the "logic" of the 3D "real" world, I know, but I didn't initially take that consideration into account with this particular carving--I think it will turn out okay, despite this--thanks again!

[squbrigg]

I don't know if this will help........but........I ran into a similar problem lately. I don't usually carve "in the round", up to now, so when I wanted to try to carve my dog, I photographed her first, then sketched her from all angles, and then studied all of the above. Still struggling to get it sorted out, but it's coming. As I get the basic shape, I can see what I have to do to fine tune it. Forget about detail for now, that will come later. Get the basic shape fixed in your mind.

Sorry I can't be more helpful, but then I don't even know who "Brian" and the "Family Guy" are , but the principals are the same.

Bob

[Just Carving]

I Googled on ' "Family Guy" brian ', and then clicked on Images on top so only images would appear. Then clicked on Large images (over on right side) to narrow it down to the largest images, and found a front view of a Brian toy figure from head to toe.

http://afigures.com/g/albums/Mezco/F...1/Brian-hi.jpg

Sometimes I get lucky when I do a search on the net for some help. It's easier than inventing the wheel.

If the photo is of any help, you can print it out and "break it down into smaller pieces". What I mean is draw contours of the highest to the lowest points of each area. An easy spot to start with is the muzzle. Draw a circle around the nose--maybe a 1/4" bigger than the nose. Now draw another circle a 1/4" from that. The idea is that each circle represents a contour very much like what's seen on maps. Each circle is larger in diameter but lower than the smaller circle. Once you have some circles on the photo, then you can add more, i.e. 1/8" spacing instead of 1/4".

This process is hard to explain but if you try it, you might see what I mean. Then you can do the torso, the legs, arms fingers, toes, etc. as if each one is by itself. Keep in mind when I say "circle", it could be an oval, or a series of straight lines and arcs, etc. depending on the shape of the piece you're working on. Once you've done this, then you'll have a better reference to work with. Then you can take a sheet of paper, and draw what you just created at the size that you want to carve at, you'll have a better feel for what is going on, and it will be good practice for when you sketch it out on wood.

Also, sometimes filling in the light spots and the shadows, using 5 levels of shading ranging from white to black (white, light gray, gray, dark gray, black) like what's used on portraits, i.e. police sketches, may help you to see the contours, i.e. shape and proportion also.

Turning the photo upside down will also help you to "see" better because you not concentrating on the figure, you focusing on the size and shape.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck
Bob

[Old_Gord]

Hey professorcrazy the reason I suggested modeling clay was that I know of one instance where another carver did something similar to what you are trying to do.
His character was the "Keep on Truckin" comic book character by Robert Crumb, guess it was the 50's and 60's when Crumb was quite popular with his "comic books".
Anyway starting with a singel dimension drawing of the character he did a small scale model using Plastilina , I saw pictures of the steps he did in modeling the figure, starting with a small wire armature and adding the Plastillina step by step, finally ending with pictures of the the carved figure in wood.
He claimed the model helped him even after he had the blank bandsawed out.
I've never tried this but I can see where a single dimension figure can be transformed into a 3 dimension figure by modeling, maybe you are talented enough to do it with just drawings but this sure looked like it could be a real good tool to aid woodcarvers when faced with starting out with just the one dimensional figure drawing, especially with acrvers who can't rely on their drawing talent.

BTW I believe Ivan Whillock did an article on clay modeling for carvers in issue 9 of the Carving Magazine.
I don't get this magazine, but if Ivan wrote it I'm sure it's informative.

OG

[Old_Gord]

Hey professorcrazy , guess I should check these things out before saying anything.
I didn't realize that "Brian" was a dog, heck if I did I could have volunteered my dog as a model, here's pic of her looking out the window, think she was looking for her boy friend the Spaniel across the street. Now there's a heintz thought Spaniel and English Bulldog.

OG

Picture removed Mar 3/05 , no reponse from person it was directed at so removed to save space, can be uploaded again if requested.

OG

[Gary M. Peiffer]

You may want to check out the internet or local toy store for a "Family Guy: Brian the Dog" action figure or a similar figure to Brian. I find that using an action figure of the carving subject, or a figure close to the subject, saves time and avoids the clay modeling process.



And of course, you can let the kids play with the action figures when you are done.

[Gary M. Peiffer]

Yup, just did a net search on Family Guy Action Figures....there is indeed a Brian the Dog as well as the rest of the Family Guy cast....