Sketch O’The Week

January 2nd, 2008 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

merv.jpg

WIP sketch of recently deceased former talk show host Merv Griffin. This one was from a few months back, just after he passed away from a picture in one of the entertainment magazines. Obviously I never finished it so I never posted it here, but I thought it might be of interest to see an unfinished sketch or two every once and a while. You can see things like explorations of form and shape with the sketchier lines, and how the small suggestion of shadows and just the beginning of the rendering still produces a strong likeness if the initial drawing is strong. A good example of how you don’t need to render the crap out of a drawing to have it deliver the message.

Comments

  1. Philbert says:

    I may be weird (OK, I walked into that one) but I have always liked sketches and thumbnails better than the finished rendering. The “feel” is so much looser and spontaneous. I think I overwork stuff sometimes and lose the soul of the drawing. And frankly Tom, your pencils are a thing of beauty. As much as I love your finished work, there’s something about your sketches that is very appealing. Thanks for sharing them (I’d love to see more ‘unfinished’ stuff when you have a chance!)

  2. quikdraw4 says:

    I agree with Philbert. The Merv Griffin above is a pretty cool study in caricature technique.
    Great likeness! I watched Mervs show growing up as a kid. He and Mike Douglas (always the Irish guys with daytime talk shows) competed in the late afternoon talk show wars.
    Thanks for taking me back Tom and reminding me of the ugly suits we wore too lol. Remember “Garanimals”/ Clothing for kids patterned after animals so it was easier to get dressed.
    Sketch of the days are awesome Tom!

  3. Tom says:

    Actually I agree and also like to see the rough work an artist does… there’s a lot more of the thought process evident in them.

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