Can you believe how much FEELING is in this drawing? And look how cleverly Watterson has reused the old "wheel feet" gag - instead of using it the way a lot of cartoonists do -in combination with a simple profile angle as an excuse to be lazy- he has drawn NON-REPRESENTATIONAL LEGS FROM BELOW IN PERSPECTIVE. I can't believe how clever that is!
I love how Calvin's expression above makes his statement even MORE horrible.....
Can you see the interesting use use of movement in this drawing? How about the sillos/neg. spaces?
Look how well drawn this is! Everything has the appropriate amount of weight. The angle is tricky, yet the perspective is extremely well represented. We can see that Calvin's features are wrapped around a clear shape - there is a subtle corner where the face and the side of the head separate into different planes, although the general, all-around shape is still basically round. Like a human head, Calvin's head is much narrower at the bottom, yet he doesn't always have an ultra-defined chin - only when his expression needs to be devilish like it does here. There is also an EXTREMELY important negative area on the upper-side of his head. Without this the expression would be totally unreadable. Calvin's overall line of action not only dictates his torso but also compliments the angle of his head, the direction of his eyes, the push of his shoulder and his grip of the balloon. the shape of the far side of his shirt frames the balloon. Together they form a curl of negative space that makes the drawing less cluttered and helps us see what Calvin is doing. The lack of detail on the balloon also contrasts with everything around it. It is easy to spot both of his hands even tough you can only see the fingertips on one of them. CLARITY!
Very subtle use of framing - look at the ball, the shape of his back, the direction of his eyes.
Opposing lines of action, clear use of space.
