Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Film noir sketches

I'm in the last stages of preparation for my next project, a noir crime tale that takes place in 1940's Hollywood. I've done all my book research but wanted to watch (and re-watch) as many 1940's-era film noir movies as possible, in an attempt to really familiarize myself with the clothing, hairstyles, decor and automobiles of the period.

Here are some of the sketches I came up with while watching such great DVDs as Out of the Past(my favorite), The Big Sleep, Gilda, Kiss Me Deadly, Phantom Lady, The Killers and The Maltese Falcon:
I suppose I should warn you, though… I’m not very good at drawing likenesses, so don’t even bother guessing who is supposed to be Robert Mitchum, or Rita Hayworth, or Ella Raines, etc., it’s no use...










Watching the movies has been informative and helped me recognize a lot of recurring themes in the film noir genre. One of the things I noticed while watching all these shows is that if you are a character in a noir movie, and you either double-crossed your boss, ran away with his girl, betrayed your gang (or all of the above)—and if you want to stay alive—DO NOT GET A JOB AT A ROADSIDE GAS STATION IN A SMALL TOWN. Just ask Robert Mitchum ( Out of the Past) or Burt Lancaster ( The Killers), they'll tell ya. Instead, try getting a job in the archives of the local library. You won’t find too many gangsters there…




4 comments:

MJ Fletcher said...

Great stuff look forward to seeing it.

Dan C said...

Thanks Marc, I'll post more stuff here as I finish it.

Craig Zablo said...

Love drawings like these! Well done!

Dan C said...

Thanks, Craig!