Sketching Willow

[avram]

A few weeks ago I decided I needed more practice in drawing likenesses. Also, that some successful drawings would make good portfolio pieces. I figured I’d start with some of the characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer — it’s a popular show, and I know the actors’ names, so photo references should be easy to find on the web. And they are; I found some Alyson Hannigan photos in no time, downloaded a few, noodled about with an abortive attempt, then promptly forgot about it.

Last week, a bunch of webloggers all did synchronized postings about Buffy; I didn’t hear about it till it was already done, so I didn’t join in. Ampersand did an entry with some attempts at a caricature of Willow; this reminded me of my own efforts. We exchanged a bit of email about it, but I didn’t get around to doing any more till yesterday.

Here’s the first sketch I did that actually looks anything like her. (My very first attempt looked more like Hillary Clinton; Ampersand had the same problem.) I think it has the makings of a decent caricature, though it looks like she’s about eight years old. That’s what happens when you emphasize the eyes and mouth like that. I was thinking along anime lines, and anime characters (the cute ones, anyway) generally look like children.

A few more tries today; this is the best of them. More realistic, though the mouth isn’t right. It’s really tough to do this with female TV stars; Hollywood interprets distinctive features on women as ugliness, and routes around them. I’m still working from one main photo.

Comments

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

The second one looks much more like Willow than the first. Yeah!