Here are some prelims for recent pics I've done, starting with the
"Witch Hazel" pic from my Cartoon Redheads blog.
This first one is a rough to get the feel of the overall shape of the figure. I establish the simplest outside edges first, and then carve out the negative spaces (such as where her legs part), like cutting into a pie.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht-RP1crW-hgDXPiRgbLefiRevI4vN7eGuy01f9fwHMHhmXPjNT0iefzEEj7IvWZAWb5_ex2QtU_wIPEkabbesCiOUvR0HzYFq_KIC5a8UsXyKAcHI4t5ktWVu-u9xDeLr5ZGS1bOaDgo/s400/witch_rough2SM.jpg)
I did this next one to give myself an idea of what the main lines would look like. As you can see, her feet didn't line up at first. I later decided that it would look better if the toes of both her feet all followed the same arc, which you can see in the final version.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCTUvD1YkXpbxW3i9dptFhx24nmC8Rzr-DQDZ2t1RBvKREifcMi1G0_4XtOSXYJ2Diy0od6e7x4jnaGoh-gh-W8pqydnIKFIWWc48KLALrA1SbfYa7RSG4Ol-jtvUuM7T8gGtQFsAQoTU/s400/witch_rough1SMa.jpg)
Here's my first attempt at her head, followed by the version I ended up with, in which I tried to make her look less "Sabrina" and more mischievous.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3zbbMNzHBrcXC5rMoBbFrbWKwl9sQu3DZLObooDkf2Da92DipSRxE_qDHpzHWlZRmKUAkVZr901y9mU35bxSjWuBaV_95sjQC7ooU-JFy0HgyOMo7szTlE7CMXplk-O3kgE8JqJXU0X4/s400/witch_rough3SM.jpg)
Here are a couple of hat designs. Chuck Jones's original design was more cartoony, so he got away with placing the hat on her head like a coin on an egg, but since my version is slightly more realistic, I had to figure out a sensible way to fit her hat onto the dome of her skull without intruding on her bangs or ponytail.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHOm-5QEMw6uQ3akhDm6perbTzFoAb32KZEf-hTUBme9iQrR51JM38oW98e0w2KhlRi47fPiuQVC3bl_XcUME7Undz0-tYCWf0Op_9CIDNGLNTTm7LGKG7-J5VV8taHADt9n1fdxLDkLc/s400/witch_rough5SM.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzXH4wjkavqpVlo0q-Jkwk6wjDLy3QL5tdd1MucPtsRU_CzRr9Vu_jwrA9MxoniDKD7JLBVM6mMBMpuuzjK9MPnq-3bXzmsxaDeF6GUvb98ZO19alxACtCIVlAXjySIlFKyRTz_jbfqgg/s400/witch_rough6SM.jpg)
And here's the rough of my Viveca Lindfors portrait. (I didn't end up doing a rough for the Lisbeth Salander portrait. The final versions of realistic portraits take longer than the finals of cartoon drawings, so I don't always have time to mess around with roughs beforehand.) In this rough, I'm getting a feel for the three-dimensional shape of her head, and the shadow pattern.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBmamMwaCeGr72KLfx45CfJ5eLIJN1ewj7JHj-a3FvryAfvPeHj1XRmngu-o8VpkTvBkqJec7ZnzqRH5pg-coIuD6fHUnA0Lmchab2LKcvjV61KY_ygtZkvow4mgIkXJJ7VBzYduCoAvc/s400/viveca.roughSM.jpg)
And that's that!