Fist Full of Peanuts

While I'm not a big fan of Peanuts, I do love the old fixed panel comics from the newspapers, which where practically invented by Charles Schulz. So today, I present this entry on the fundamental design elements of Snoopy.

And his lil' buddy Woodstock. Snoopy has a fantastically simple and elegant design. His weighted ears and nose help to balance his face, bordered with a smooth curve that brings the eye up over his head and down his nose. The simple cross hatching on his feet create enough noise with the dirt to partially frame the panel without drawing attention. The heavy variation in the line work gives all the shading and depth the image needs.

Woodstock, the small yellow bird, being much smaller has reduced detail to maintain an even weighting. Notice again his foot detail generates background noise to fill in detail without dominating the image.

Plus he sleeps on his dog house, which is funny.