Sketchy Saturday: Last of '11

Hard to believe this year has already come and gone! What started off as a year of struggle and strife turned into a year of reward and art. I'm completely passionate about art again and cannot wait to see what I come up with the next year. I already have some projects planned, but it's the unexpected that keeps me going.

My next year resolutions are short, simple, and sweet:
1) Less thinking, more doing.
2) Create more.
3) Take more pictures.

Otherwise, here are some sketches and experimental paintings - the last of the year!

Happy new year! :) Onward to 2012!

Sketchy Saturday: Marathon

I once heard an interview where Anthony Jones compared drawing to running. One could run daily and be considered a runner, but to be an Olympian - one must train and run for hours on end. He applied that same concept to drawing - one could draw all day and be considered a drawer, but to be a master artist, one must train and study for hours on end.

If this concept were to be applied to Paul Richards, I'm sure he would have ran to and from the moon at least eight times now. For those who don't know Paul, 87.67% of his time is spent drawing. I tried my best to keep up with him today. Even after I was tuckered out and exhausted, Paul was still drawing. What an Olympian.

Today's life drawing session went great. The model was beautiful but had a super skinny waist yet thick thighs. I'm trying my best to draw accurately, but sometimes I could see myself slipping in some extra fat for her. Also below are some sketchbook pages from today.

Workshop SF Review

This past weekend, I attended the Massive Black Workshop SF up in San Francisco. This was my first art related workshop I have been to, and boy, was it a doozy! Four days of high quality art, artists, and lectures, including one day strictly for portfolio reviews. At least 250 people attended, and there was always something interesting going on. Never has there been a prime time that human cloning should be allowed... I wish I could have been at everything at once!

One rule I made myself do is at the workshop to not draw. It seems odd, attending an art workshop and not drawing. In reality, I am grateful that I spent my time writing down as many notes as I can instead of getting lost in my own world, then realizing how much I've missed out on the present demo or lecture. In total, I have taken 30 pages of notes, but I won't be posting up every single note. Instead, allow me (along with the use of photos) post up a summary of the workshop. This is where I'll highlight on some key points that have stuck with me.

Full entry can be viewed after the jump.

Slumber

You guys may have noticed bits and pieces of this work in the latest post. I'm happy to finally be able to show the full and complete version. I've been working on and off on it for way too long, just glad that I'll be able to include it in my portfolio.

He's one of my oldest characters, a dream guardian, sleeping in the vast snowy land of dreams. You'll be seeing more of him (not like you're already seeing all of him, haha).

View on: CGHub or Deviantart as well

Some process images. 

Sketchy Saturday: Relearning

One thing I am starting to do when studying from life is having something to focus on, it helps me from feeling too overwhelmed (especially since the last time I went to life drawing was over a month ago). My focuses today was line and proportion, something I continually struggle with in my own works. Both can only be accomplished with a lot of patience and understanding.

While in pursuit of these goals, I've started to uncover some of the things I've already learned, yet forgotten. The torso is a key foundation and once that's drawn perfectly, everything else should be compared to it. Note where overlapping happens, don't just guess. Compare the torso to the legs and arms (I have a bad habit of drawing both of them too long). And always, always, always block in the head. 

Other notes I've made are in regards to the model herself. Most figure models have either a slender look to them or some extra weight. This model had a little bit of both: her back, arms, and legs were slender, but her abdomen was quite round. Plus, she did something I haven't seen a model do before, she would do the same pose but just change the direction she was facing. I've always wanted this and was excited when she started to do this. But after a while, it just became rather redundant. 

Overall, I felt it was a somewhat successful session today.

As a bonus, here's one of my favorite sketchbook pages as of late.

Self Portrait 2011

Holy carp, it's November, WHOA!

Anyways, I've always wanted to participate in self portrait day, so... here I am! Looking like a serious frumpy grump without my glasses, hah.

I have quite a few pieces in WIP limbo... Keep an eye out for them. :)

Sketchy Saturday: Two in a Row

We only have challenges in life so we may overcome them. At least, according to very tired and optimistic me.

Sketchy Saturday: Better Late Than Never

Keep missing my Saturday updates... But as the proverb goes: Better late than never!

I'm enjoying doing still lives with pencil lately. Mostly to build up my patience but learning how to work the pencil again has been lovely.

Sketchbook liter, characters characters characters...

Fiddling around with sketches in Photoshop. 

Thanks for your time. :)

ROSEY

Here we go, something more along the lines of what I see myself doing for the rest of my life - writing and drawing comics!

Luckily, my friend Paul Richards had put together a comic jam where the attendees had to create a three page comic. Definitely was a learning experience, both on how to tackle something I've been wanting to take seriously for quite some time and also the best way to communicate a story with strictly images!

Here are all three pages for your viewing pleasure: 

More to come, that's for sure! Thanks for your time. 

Sketchy Sunday: Spectrum

This one is for you, Matt!

It's been nice to have some old characters filling up my pages again. 

Attempting to rebuild my relationship with gouache. It's getting there... 

 

Life drawing from two weeks ago. I will never grow tired of drawing women!

Sketchy Saturday: Return to Figure Drawing

Today, I had the chance to attend a figure drawing session, where I learned that I am extremely rusty with my charcoal handling and model drawing. I could feel myself being pulled in different directions, but regardless, I had a great time. Towards the end, more of my knowledge started to return.

The session started off with two minute poses and time was increased to 5, 10, and a single 15 minute pose.