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Q for JB: Drawing Sasquatch

Printed From: The John Byrne Forum
Forum Name: The John Byrne Forum
Forum Discription: Everything to do with comic book writer/artist John Byrne
URL: https://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=33989
Printed Date: 26 April 2024 at 2:50am


Topic: Q for JB: Drawing Sasquatch

Posted By: Mark McKay
Subject: Q for JB: Drawing Sasquatch
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 11:05am

JB,

You seem to be pretty much the only artist to draw Sasquatch correctly.* It makes sense, since he is your creation. But it always seemed when he showed up elsewhere, other artists weren't getting it right to me. He usually looked too ape-like, or had a goofy looking face.

Is there a secret/method to drawing Sasquatch, maybe similar to your starfish "method" to drawing the Thing?

* I think board member Darren Taylor did a good job of capturing the character in the sketchbook thread. The torso is a bit narrow, but that looks like a deliberate stylistic choice rather than incorrect drawing.



Replies:

Posted By: JohnByrne4
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 11:45am

Saquatch's face is based on those troll dolls that were popular in the 70s.

No, really!

His body is not "gorilla" shaped, but more human, with wide shoulders and a narrow waist.




Posted By: Flavio Sapha
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 11:57am

Should his arms be longer than his legs?  Sure seems that way, sometimes.

I literally flipped when I saw Sasquatch for the first time.  It was in a Marvel subscription ad, the one in which he´s squatting and holding Marrina (which I prefer with the to ´r´s btw) and Aurora in each hand.  Simply the coolest critter ever.

Another big ´wow´ moment was when there was the short tale of his origin.  All the bits and clues JB threw in each story made Walter Langkowski the most interesting Alphan, to me.

I didn´t like the Tanaraq stuff, though.  

But then, what I really wished was for AF to have been a very 'status quo" book, sort of like "Dept. H is calling!  We´re needed, eh?"...



Posted By: Joe Smith
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 12:12pm

Loved watching him run. Could have had his own book, IMO. (I say that about ALL AF'ers, tho!)



Posted By: JohnByrne4
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 12:21pm

Should his arms be longer than his legs?

••

Yes. In that he resembles a gorilla. What I would advise people to avoid is the thickening of the middle and splaying of the hips that goes with the gorilla shape.




Posted By: Darren Taylor
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 12:28pm

Memory serving, Langowski used to be a linebacker, at college or something (?)

That's sort of how I saw Sasquatch from AF (aside from the arm length), like some well built guy wearing the massive american football shoulder pads!

 

 




Posted By: Ryan Maxwell
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 12:31pm

http://www.artofjohnbyrne.com/gallery/index.php?album=sketch es%2Fsketch-marvel%2Fsketch-af&image=sasquatch.jpg">

Click on the pic to go to the Galleries 




Posted By: Brad Krawchuk
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 12:38pm

Now that you've mentioned the troll inspired face, I can clearly see it in that character model sheet!



Posted By: Paulo Pereira
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 12:54pm

I think Mike Mignola and Dave Hoover were fairly on model with Sasquatch.



Posted By: Matt Hawes
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 12:58pm

How cool would it be if somebody put out a Sasquatch troll doll?



Posted By: JohnByrne4
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 1:09pm

One thing I could never decide on was whether Sasquatch's feet were like humans or like apes. So I drew them both ways!



Posted By: Flavio Sapha
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 1:19pm

THAT was confusing! 



Posted By: Peter Martin
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 1:38pm

Sasquatch was an interesting character, both visually and story-wise. He was out of the ordinary at the time, being so tall --  something that worked in the hands of JB who is always careful to consistently portray characters' heights, from the small to the large.

Nowadays this aspect is less remarkable, as so many artists just go crazy putting an enormous big man in every with no reason -- where the big size has become just a from of lazy exaggeration rather than the character literally defined as giant. So that you have what should be just big men having heads as big as another character's torso.




Posted By: Peyton Holden
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 11:39pm

If I rub him will I be lucky at BINGO?



Posted By: John Bodin
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 11:47pm

 Matt Hawes wrote:
How cool would it be if somebody put out a Sasquatch troll doll?


Paging Jodi Moisan, paging Jodi Moisan . . .


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Posted By: Ted Pugliese
Date Posted: 31 December 2009 at 9:05am

You learn something new every day...

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Posted By: Jason Ditzel
Date Posted: 31 December 2009 at 3:25pm

JB - when did you know that Sasquatch was really a bad guy?

Something about the eyes, eyebrows, and maybe the smile in the middle face that Ryan posted doesn't completely read as good guy.




Posted By: Mark McKay
Date Posted: 04 January 2010 at 9:39am

Just getting back to this after being offline much of last week.

Thanks for the answers, JB.




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