Waste Not....

I hate being wasteful. Whether it be food or supplies. That's why when i found some old Pastel Paper in my office, i decided to give it a second chance at becoming something more. I grabbed the first sheet and cut it into smaller pieces (for easy transport) and decided to draw this at home.

Just some things to keep in mind when viewing this: It was realllly late and i was drawing in the dark by the light of my monitor (don't ask!). I drew something really quickly in normal #2 pencil and used my trusty Itoya to ink it. Filled in the black with Sharpie and used a White-Out Correction Fluid pen to create the outline. Looking back, i think i would have preferred to use a Prismacolor White Pencil as it would generate cleaner lines but i'll try that next time.

If you look closely at the hand that is holding the pencil, you may find that it looks a bit odd. Well, since i was drawing in near darkness, i added one too many fingers. I fixed it in Photoshop. You can't tell but i also started to block in the black with a chisel point marker but the results were horrendous so i switched to the Sharpie which was faster and much more uniform. Well, the purity of the two blacks were not the same so i adjusted them to make them more uniform. And that's the extend of my computer alterations....honest! :)

I really liked the way this came out looking and may try more adding some other tools to my repertoire. I was greatly inspired by the art of Wade Schin. I bought his sketchbook and was floored by how such simplistically created art could look so full of depth. Google him and check out his work.

Simple Women

Simple women?? Isn't that an oxymoron? Just kidding (kind of). Anyway, this is the second half of those quick women drawings in an earlier post. I warmed up a bit then moved onto these. Each was drawn with the small wedge side of a calligraphy pen. Each stroke was meant to be quick and deliberate. You'll probably see lots of small mistakes but you have to keep in mind that this set was meant more for an exercise than anything else.

I really liked the way the blue one came out probably because the color acts more as an accent rather than an integral part of the art. Again, remember i only have a few Copic markers so you'll see a lot of blondes with green eyes. Maybe i'm just a sucker for them, haha. This whole set probably took me only 20 minutes and that includes looking for reference photos.

Happy Birthday....meh!

So this past Sunday was my new boss' birthday. A card was passed around in the beginning of the week and i was lucky enough to be the second one to get my hands on it. This meant that i had ALL this free space to play around with. I figured i'd do something a little more thoughtful than just writing "Happy Birthday" so i dress a pic.

I penciled it fairly quickly then inked it with an Micron pen. Then i used two gray Prismacolor markers to shade it. The markers are great for quick values (can't say it enough)! It should be noted that this drawing is about 1.5" tall. Pretty darn small but i was able to get a decent result anyway. If the card were on white instead of yellow, i might have added color but....well, it wasn't.

Some warm-up drawings

So i'm trying to get myself drawing on a somewhat regular schedule. Okay, so it's not really a schedule but more of a rhythm. I did some warm up drawings this weekend and actually pulled out my Copic markers. I haven't used these things in a few years but it kind of just comes back to you.

This was the first drawing. As you can see, it shows how unsure i am when i draw. That's just because i haven't been doing it in a while. I often see comic artist (especially at conventions) create an outline on a black & white drawing with some color and i like how it makes the art stand out a bit so i just tried it for effect.

This is the second warm-up drawing i did. I was trying to get more comfortable and fluid with my drawings so i had to keep telling myself not to care so much about the outcome and focus more on the strokes. The pen used to draw this is actually a disposable calligraphy pen. The chisel tip gave me a variation of lines that i really liked, especially in later drawings. Her head isn't exactly proportionate but like i said.... just warming up. I used a single color to generate the shadows and i really liked the monochromatic feel of it. If i were to create a comic, i'd like to make it monochrome. Just for mood and such.

So this last drawing is an exercise in using full color with the Copic markers. Again, i used the calligraphy pen and tried to focus on single, confident strokes. The more i kept doing this, the more confident and better i got at it. Little by little, the memory of how to use these markers was coming back. I worked on the top half of her first which is pretty evident in the fact that it came out so crappy. I didn't leave enough white area and used too dark a color for the skin base. I fixed this problem on her lower half and as you can see, leaving hot spots white makes a HUGE difference in how the artwork is perceived. I only have a few colors so until i get more, you'll probably see the same six colors over and over again. Sorry!

These drawings didn't take me long but i did work on them in the wee hours of the night by the light of my monitor. I will post a couple of the more final ones within the next few days.

Lipo-squito

So what some of you may notice is that my drawing style is pretty consistent but my art execution varies. That's just because i can't make up my damn mind!

So here is another entry to the 1 Up You Blog. I had the idea of how to defeat Betty Beer Goggles (see website) but i just couldn't draw it. Man, some of the thumbs i drew really stunk. Then my mind kind of drifted off as i was drawing and out came this version. The rough you see on the left is actually 1" tall. No joke. I liked it so much i scanned it in and increased by 600% or so.

I didn't want to ink with microns this time because i wanted a more organic feel so i just did really clean pencils. I scanned those in and just change the mode to black & white then darkened the lines to my liking. From there it was cake using the Prismacolor markers (which i love!!).

I will tell you guys one thing... When i print out the black & white drawings that i'm going to grayscale, i print them on color laser paper. Sounds weird right? Why print a black & white drawing on color laser paper. Well, i'll tell you. For me (just a preference) the thickness of the paper and the coating of it really make the markers glide on smoothly and prevent excess bleeding of the grays. If anyone has used Prismacolor markers, you know what i mean. The final version at the 1 Up You Blog has more details added as well as type so go check it out!!

Wicked Smile

      

Oh look! Another post so soon! Well this one was inspired by a drawing i saw in Francisco Herrera's artbook. I wanted to experiment with a different drawing style then added my own flair to it. 

Started off with semi-rough pencils that i scanned in and inked in Illustrator. I also created the flats and colors in Illustrator. I was going to leave the illustration with black outlines but thought the dark color was sucking some of the life out of her so i went for the softer colored outline technique. I used a combination of gradients and solid cuts to shade and highlight respectively. I added the background elements in Photoshop (just for effect) and.... well, there you go. 

I like the way it came out but the more i look at her the more i feel that it can be improved and tweaked. If i don't accept my drawings sometimes, i end up "tweaking" them forever so i'll just let this sleeping dog lie.

The KEGerator!! Dun Dun Duuuuun!

                    

So, i've finally uploaded something here. I fully intend to post more often. I actually have a few things to post. I actually want to post things as they get done but i've been a bit busy at work. That's why you see the three process images above instead of one at a time. This piece is for the 1 Up You Blog that i contribute to. 

I pretty much did some semi-rough pencils then inked using Micron & Itoya pens. The grays were done with Prismacolor Grayscale makers (which i love to death!). I might go back and vector ink the original pencils or just color the inks in photoshop. We'll see how motivated i am.

Some practice...

          

So I was surfing the net the other day and found a cool artist whose style I quite admire. He recently put up a list of supplies that he uses and being a person who always tries new things i thought i'd give his techniques a try.

The image on the left is an inking with a Speedball #102 quill. The original sketch was done with a normal #2 pencil. The image on the right is the same inking with a quick wash over it using Higgins Waterproof Ink (neutral gray). The paper I used was Strathmore Drawing Paper (80lbs.)

The main purpose of this exercise for me was to practice using more organic mediums rather than the computer. I like getting my hands into my art...you know, getting a little dirty. Yeah I do!

YAY! First entry...
Look forward to some decent drawings and maybe some semi-intelligent writing.....maybe...