This would have been great when we were all doing Halloweeny pics ..hehee she sorta looks like Rush Limbaugh.. hehe

ABC

What a horrible beast. Great facial structure.

nice!! i like the colouring...and the face of course :)

Hmm, if you're going for tougher, I think first thing you might wanna do is, get rid of some of the 'aged' definition in his face. You'd especially wanna lighten up on the wrinkling below and around the eyes, and the lines going all the way around the mouth (mostly that bit under the mouth). Another tip to making a 'tough' looking character would be to go for a more square-er face, especially in the jaws (widen them and making the angles of the jaw, sharper).
Hopefully this will help some :-/...

Thanks Gigandas - this is just a construction schematic, so the contour lines are there not to add character but just for me to establish a feel for the topology. By tougher I just mean not necessarily comedic or prone to caricature, as Don Knotts certainly is (not necessarily a tough character, but just some head with a very prominent skull which doesn't have any really exaggerated features). I'm hoping to find some way to establish the base for a skull-head from which I can get some sense of how to draw heads at different angles, but a Don Knotts head is kind of an odd one to start out with. I'd appreciate any help along the way with respect to anatomical correctness and perspective (digital alterations appreciated). The faster I can construct them without significant errors, the better.

I agree with Gig about tough guys often having a squareness of the face, that kind of hulking-brute look. But I think that wrinkles and such don't detract from a person looking tough; done a certain way, wrinkles and other imperfections can make a guy look wizened and tough. Clint Eastwood has had wrinkles for quite some time but with that squint of his he still looks tough as nails.

I'm really impressed by your dedication, comd. If you don't end up improving by leaps and bounds (good as you are already) I think it'd be some sort of cosmic crime. I can't really give you any advice on anatomy or such, but you might try asking Cloxboy about that - he draws tons of faces at all sorts of angles without references. IIRC, he did tons of anatomy drawings back in the day, so he might be able to guide you along the path to anatomical enlightenment. ;)

If people's faces were absolutely symmetrical, there wouldn't be nearly as much variety in what they look like. The imperfections and off-angle features are what make interest. Why be perfect?

Ah definitely, but I'd like to add asymmetry once I can draw things properly in perspective symmetrically, otherwise I'll just end up passing off my mistakes as asymmetrical features of the character. That works, but I'd like to be in more control rather than letting my mistakes dictate the look of the character.

This is awesome it is good to see something different and creative on this site once and a while. (8

this is very awesome! It's so creative, I love it! o.o

It's also very "zep"like..which is a really good thing.

Thanks danvincipollag. I want to be able to tackle some complex angles. This one was just a straight on shot, so I just tried to draw fairly symmetrical here. I still got the eyes pretty off. :( I noticed in the thumbnail for the earlier revisions that one was quite a bit higher than the other.

I'm still quite stuck at just drawing heads. I still have a long way to go before I can draw full-figured characters at any angle I want without creating a picture I hate.

For the antialiasing, it makes a huge difference in file size. I think I would have went past my limit already by now if I had turned it on.

That's excellent. I really like the style and the polish, well done. Looking through the versions was a pleasure, I love process. :)

this is very nice, is the gal on the left the same one from your piece "123"?

Thanks all. :) JoeNobody: no, she's someone else, but you know what they say about Asians! [JK - I'm part Asian myself] On the right is my sister and on the left is her friend in this picture.

you definetaly know how to swing your pen....i love your work

it's a nice change of pace ... great job

I am VERY impressed! Excellent work! But just what is it?

thats cool =) i'm betting it's.....i dunno

Oh wow! This is cool as hell, I like that it's somehwat sketchy, and the designs on the helmet and such are great! Kind of looks like some sort of turtle-kin. Great drawing.