Sketchy Saturday: Mo' Monsters

Ahh, I'm still addicted to sketching out monster heads. I'm going to start taking some of these guys further, both 2D and 3D mediums!

Here's the start of a collaboration between myself and Juan "Amaakir" Alvarado! 

 Already started sketching out body designs. Juan will 3D model one of these guys and I'll texture him. The other two I'll save for when I get better at 3D modeling!

 In the meantime, here are some life drawing sketches I did at the airport or on the airplane last week.

Sketchy Saturday: Shut up and DRAW!

I'm in a little disbelief how much I've fallen out of the swing of things. A little update on my hand is that I have some nerve irritation in my arm and shoulder that causes pain. While it's not as severe as the tendinitis, it still hurts and I will admit that I'm a little over cautious to not draw when I'm in pain. This struggle between my need to draw and my need to rest has gotten me a little down, but I'll continue to do my best to draw while I can.

One of the ways to get back on the horse is to start attending life drawing again. Oh my lands, how out of practice I am. I felt like there was a rock tied onto my hand when drawing, struggling to capture both the pose and the likeness of the model. I could hear the inner-dialogue in my head constantly commenting on either how I need to look more, how I need to redraw something, telling myself I can do - and have done - better, and the occasional off topic thought. I had to tell myself several times "SHUT UP AND DRAW!" instead of constantly berating myself.

Even though I've drawn this model several times before, I can never master her face. Gah!

It's my goal in May to attend life drawing once a week again, along with starting another study schedule to get back into drawing.

As an added offering for not updating my blog as often, here are some monster and demon exploration going on in my sketchbook.

Sketchy Saturday: Slow Down

When this post goes up, I will be wondering the premises of Monsterpalooza! In the meantime, have a quick ramble about my life drawing from the last week.

I've been recovering quite well, mostly by going slow while I'm drawing and learning quite a lot by doing so. Mainly, it's important to do something right instead of doing something fast, which helped me begin to master the ways of the pen. As you should know, pens don't come with an eraser and trying to cover up mistakes will only lead to bigger mistakes. Drawing in pen helps me to select what I feel is important in a pose, and also slows down my mind to really think about what I'm seeing and how I choose to translate it. 

These life drawings are some of my favorites, I can't wait to do more sessions in pen! 

Also as an added bonus, two new trolls! Both are birthday gifts to some wonderful friends. I'm really sad how attached I am to these but am quite glad to see them go to happy owners. I need to draw some for myself next time, hehe.

Sketchy Saturday: Watercolor Pencil

Due to my wrist pains, I've been using a watercolor pencil to draw with and use a brush pen that has a capsule for water on it to darken my lines when I need to. It's training me to not draw so dark thus reliving tension in my wrist.
I also got a new sketchbook that I plan on doing looser drawings in. Moleskines are difficult sometimes because I'm scared to ruin the nice paper with bad drawings, but I plan on getting on to do more refined drawings once my wrist is better.

 

 

And today's life drawing session, I didn't get a chance to continue reading Michael Hampton's book but it's interesting to see last week's lesson merge into my current habits.

Sketchy Saturday: Breakthroughs

I somehow slipped into an impromptu hiatus, quite possibly to mentally recharge for some upcoming challenges. Regardless of the reason or excuse, I am back to drawing!

I finally cracked open Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing: Design and Invention last night to read the first chapter on gestures. How can something so simple such as only using curved lines instead of straight never occur to me, I do not know. Today ended up being the happiest with life drawing I have been in a while because of something so simple!

I'm quite excited to see what other aspects from his book I will pick up. What's great about drawing is that regardless of who you study with or what books you read, the mixture of the multiple sources combine along with your own individual taste to create something fantastic - something yours.

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.

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.

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. :)

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!