Sketches of Heads

Arnold William Brunner's study of five male heads in profile and three-quarter view demonstrates the foundational character work that preceded modern comics. These rapid pen sketches—varying in finish from spare outline to fully modeled face—show an artist developing physiognomic types through repeated observation. The varied head shapes, facial proportions, and expressions anticipate the visual shorthand that newspaper cartoonists would systematize in the 1890s. By establishing distinct, readable character faces that could be drawn consistently across multiple panels, such studies became essential to the emerging sequential art form that would define the Sunday funnies and daily strips.