First Drawing - Illustrator Live Trace Frustrations - and a RANT!

So disregard that last post. This is gonna be a place to post drawings of mine.

And now here is the very first (and very unoriginal) drawing.

I've always been a fan of Hanna-Barbera animation... not particularly my preferred style of cartoons, but definitely a childhood favorite! When I was a kid I remember watching '50s/'60s H-B shorts on USA before dinner every weeknight! This was back in the '80s... so of course I wasn't even born when The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Yogi Bear Show first aired. But I'm sure over the course of my gradeschool years, I saw practically EVERY short to come out of that era.

Anyway, while I've always admired Hanna-Barbera stuff, I've never been one to DRAW the characters. So yesterday at work I took a stab at Huckleberry Hound. The first Huck I've ever drawn! I kept it in model... no stylized crap right now. I want to draw more H-B characters because it helps me analyze their style much more effectively than looking at pictures alone.

I know, he's limbless! I accidentally drew a thick line where one of his legs is supposed to go, and erasing it wouldn't have done any good, so I just enclosed the rest of the body and decided to make him appendage-free this time around.

I drew this using my Cretacolor lead holder with 4B graphite and some narrower leads for the finer lines. I'm not too happy with the way the thicker lines turned out... probably because I concentrated too much, so there isn't any good 'flow' with his outlines. Oh well, first try, just getting the hang of it.

So then I decided to try live tracing him in Illustrator, but of course I knew it wasn't gonna turn out right because it was graphite on paper. Had I inked this it would've been much smoother. Anyway I really just wanted to play with the Live Paint so here's what I got:



Doesn't look so bad from afar... but LOOK at it up close:


I'm not that satisfied. So anyway, I'm not gonna do the whole vectorizing of the pencilwork anytime soon... unless of course that's the look I'm going for.

Whelp, hope you enjoyed my first artwork post!


On a side note, I'd like to mention that I am saddened and disappointed to find out that Hanna-Barbera Land is being wiped out for a bigger, badder "Nickelodeon Universe" starting this year at Paramount's Kings Island (outside of Cincinnati). I've been to Kings Island every summer since 2000, and I always liked Hanna-Barbera Land more than anything else (well, with the exception of Son of Beast, ha). Meeting Snagglepuss, Quick Draw, Yogi... the H-B carousel that played actual H-B theme songs... but most importantly... HUCKLEBERRY DAIRY!!! Blueberry soft-serve. The absolute MUST-HAVE of novelty foods at Kings Island. Mmm, I can taste it now.

PLEASE, Paramount Theme Park bigwigs: if you're gonna eliminate a Kings Island institution (yes, I mean Hanna-Barbera Land) for rides and attractions themed off CRAP TV shows that are meant for 3-8 year olds, AT LEAST spare the Huckleberry Dairy. You're keeping the Scooby Haunted Mansion, right? It's not gonna hurt to keep one measly complementing H-B themed concession stand to go with it, is it?

I know I can't stop you from destroying Hanna-Barbera. Sniff. Weep. After all, it is amazing that Hanna-Barbera Land has survived this long (since 1992) in your Viacom-ruled entertainment destination. Tears. So please, if Huck's trademark frozen blue dessert has to be removed along with everything else I hold dear in that wing of KI, at least keep serving the frozen blue dessert in your park, sans the Huckleberry Dairy name. I weep at the fact that you'll probably associate Blue's Clues with it now (why do I suddenly think there's a very good chance this will happen?), if you do decide to keep it. After all, my wife and I will continue visiting your park every summer, so I might as well accept it and keep eating blue-hued frozen dairy product.

Although I am still crying over the fact that Little Bill is replacing Atom Ant's Airways. At least Atom Ant has longevity.

That reminds me. Hey Disney World... remember Mr. Toad's Wild Ride? It's not too late to change it back, is it?