Conglomeration - Bartok

Foreword: References were consulted for all of these sketches. I referred to the motion picture film, Anastasia, the direct-to-video release, Bartok the Magnificent, and several model sheets on the Don Bluth Animation website. You can access the website and the model sheets here:

Don Bluth Animation Website: [link]
Model Sheets - Second Page: [link]
Model Sheets - Third Page: [link]

The character of Bartok is © Don Bluth and 20th Century Fox. I do not own the character, nor are the original drawings which I referenced mine. They are the property of the original artists, whom should be given full credit for the creation of the character, as well as the poses on the model sheets and in the aforementioned films.

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While searching for random character model sheets, I came across a gold mine: A Don Bluth website hosting a slew of model sheets of Bartok. Needless to say, I was ecstatic and immediately took to copying a healthy handful of the poses and expressions available to me. Some of the really charming ones I found were not in any of the films, so it was nice to learn more about the personality of the character through additional attitudes that the general public might not see (or find, in this case).

For the past three days now, I've been drawing this character, mainly doing quick sketches and focusing on shapes, attitudes, and expressions. The practice continues today. There's a reason why I'm doing this: to improve artistically! Pretty obvious, right? The thing is, I have a difficult time keeping things consistent and making poses look believable. Using Bartok as my "test subject" is a way for me to get a feel of doing a number of poses, squashes and stretches, and expressions while keeping the anatomical structure in check. That said, there is only one drawing in this jumble of sketches that I made up. You can probably tell which one it is....

You'll notice that two of the top panels have notes written all over them. While drawing the character, I would take notes on body configuration -- what goes where, how creases/folds in the skin add emphasis to squashes or stretches, how simply he's constructed, how little alterations can add that much more personality to a pose, and many other things. You probably won't be able to read them all, but you get the basic idea.

My style is round and kind of "cutesy", which can work for or against me if I choose to draw a certain character in my style. Of course, my style is going to show in all my drawings anyway, whether I like it or not, but there are a few instances up there where I abandoned copying the character's dimensions exactly and just kind of did my own thing. The sketch labeled "Experiment" is one example -- I rounded the head and eyes and made the wrists end in points.

All-in-all, this has been a great exercise... and I'm not done yet! My goal is to become so acquainted with Bartok's anatomy that I'm able to draw him in whatever pose I want without referring to model sheets or screen caps. This is a HUGE challenge for me, as I'm much better at rendering drawings and making them look pretty than making them strike strong/interesting poses or expressions. But, hey, I like a challenge, and this is definitely one worth taking!

-- Mitch

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Bartok is the property of Don Bluth/20th Century Fox.
"Anastasia" and "Bartok the Magnificent" are © Don Bluth/20th Century Fox.