Mother Knows Best

I recently watched the film "Saboteur," and it had one of Hitchcock's favorite archetype characters: the dominating mother. Probably my favorite example of it is actually in the film "Notorious."

The dominating mother is not frequently used in stories, but it has incredibly powerful irony. First off, the mother image is usually one of love and life. A good mother is selfless in her care for her children, whom she literally gave life to. There are many cultures and mythologies which have some religious significance attached to the mother figure--often times connected with the creation of the world and/or the human race. This, combined with social etiquette, often gives mothers a sense of reverence and respect ("you don't talk that way to your mother!"). Mothers are often paired with images of life, plenty, and abundance because they are birth-givers. A good mother wants what is best for her children, but allows her children the freedom to choose their own path.

But these dominating mothers twist every aspect of these classical characteristics. These characters are entirely selfish, and grant false love and care only when they benefit from it. They gave life to their children--or high standing to their underlings--but her children are forever indebted to her for granting them this 'favor.' She is above everything, and rules over everyone with an iron scepter. She has wealth and abundance, but it is not because she gave birth, rather, she took the things she has. One of her greatest abilities is her knack for manipulation; she will twist her underlings into doing what she wants, because they think they want it too.

My favorite part about this character, is another level of irony. She remains in power mainly because she commands respect and obedience, which would be due to her if she were a good mother. Because of her position, she guilts her children into treating her like a birth-giving, selfless, loving mother. Everyone beneath her knows she's manipulative and selfish, but they won't dare question her because since she 'gave' them life or high standing, she can take it away. Though this mother is so obviously twisted, people treat her with love solely on the basis of the fact that she is technically a mother.

It's a shame that films, comics, tv, etc. don't use this interesting character type more often. In stories where it might be possible, for one reason or another, the character is much more commonly the mafia godfather character. You can always tell a lot about a person by how they treat their mother (guys especially). This is because when a person is around their mother, they are more prone to reverting back to their childlike/childish ways: ergo, their more natural state. Fathers have this same power, but it's much more obvious with mothers, probably rooting back to their birth-giving nature. Even good mothers have an incredible power over their children: no person of any standing doesn't cringe a little when their mother shouts at them, using their full name.

They're Not Moving, You Just Think They Are

I've recently picked up a commission to draw a dancing couple. I'm happy for this, mainly because I really love drawing dancers. Any type of extreme movement gives the body a lot of energy, but the illustrator is at a disadvantage because illustrations are static. Movement can--at best--be suggested.

Movement is a funny thing, because if you look at a still image of a person in the middle of just about any movement, but especially extreme ones, they look really, REALLY, weird. Reasons could be because weight is shifting, the basic body parts haven't arrived at their destination, or it just looks unnatural. The artist has to choose a part of that movement that not only tells the audience what the movement is, but also looks dynamic and interesting.

In these dancing sketches, I started developing a pose that is more towards the end of the motion: the guy is pretty much finished moving and is striking a pose, and the girl is pretty close to being done. The energy is high for both of them, but they are done moving. To create some more energy, and a more immediate sense of motion, I started playing around with the clothes they're wearing. Dancers commonly wear flowing clothes for this very reason.

Baby's got Back

You ever notice Iron Man's back? In the movies, the design of his armor gives his lower spine this vaguely inhuman curvature which is really slick. I couldn't find the perfect picture of this, but if you've seen the Iron Man movies a few times, you probably know what I'm talking about. Emphasizing this muscle development is not exactly common, mostly because characters are usually turned toward the viewer. It's also not common with male characters, because emphasizing an s-curve shape is much more typical with female characters (I'll probably get into that in another post). I think the reason it's done, though, is because 1) superhero type male characters are typically barrel-chested, and these muscles (the Latissimus Dorsi, according to my anatomy chart) are very important for that and 2) it gives the character a nice butt, which--let's be honest--makes viewers look.

My drawing was of the popular Green Lantern character Hal Jordan. He's turning to the side, but while I was drawing the picture, I thought of this.

Just CHEW the Scenery!

One of the traits that cartoons are known for is the exaggerated expressions. Daffy here is running in terror, obviously. Now, aside from the fact that ducks don't really run, or have hands, the main anatomical feature that is exaggerated is his mouth. No mouth--human or duck--can stretch that much. But that's one of the great things about cartoons: you can stretch and bend anatomy to heighten emotion.

This might seem restricted to the abstracted world of Looney Tunes or Disney. But the same principles can be applied to much more realistic styles of drawing. Though not to the extent of cartoon characters, realistic anatomy can be stretched or squashed to a minimal degree to communicate an idea. I've been applying this in my drawings recently, specifically with some Street Fighter sketch cards I've been working on. Here, Blanka's and Balrog's mouths are both open a little wider than the actual human mouth can stretch, and I pulled the lips at the corners a little further (theoretically adding muscles to the facial anatomy; I personally have some pretty flexible lips, and even I can't pull my mouth exactly like this). If you don't believe me, take a look at the reference photos I was using. Under close examination, you'll see what I'm talking about.

The purpose of this was to show some real rage in both characters. Bearing teeth is a worldwide human gesture to show anger: the more teeth you show, the angrier you can look.