Mort Drucker and seeing a person in full

If you've read me for any time at all, or ventured back into the archives, you know that I am fascinated with process. I love seeing how and where other people work.

Stumbled across this video of cartoonist Mort Drucker, known mainly for his work in MAD magazine.



Watch it if you'd like. I found it quite interesting. It's just a teaser to a longer video at schoolism.com. He talks about how he got started, how he works, shows us his studio. He talks about the importance of hands to a drawing. He also talks about drawing caricatures. Said that he needs to have a front shot and a profile shot of a person before he can draw a caricature, because if he has only one or the other then he can't know what the person really looks like.

That got me thinking about my writing. I have tried in the past to do quick character sketches of people I wanted to write about. I wanted to get to know the full person. I don't always finish them, and often I don't even start them. I am too eager to get to the fleshing out of the idea.

But after watching this video I wonder if my stories are suffering from thin characters. I mean, if the idea that I am trying to flesh out is mainly action, then all of the character I see is their profile as they run past me. If the idea I have is a little more heady then all I have is the character staring at me straight-on saying "Write my story." Either way, I don't know what the characters will be like when either they are forced into action or when they are forced to be still.

I think I tried to stretch that comparison to the video a little too far, so I apologize if it doesn't make sense. I am doing this quickly.I think it does, but it came out of my head so it should make sense to me.

Anyway, a new resolution. Fuller characters in 2010. Or paying more attention to try for fuller characters in 2010.