Here's a sampling of the some 40-plus illustrations I let loose upon the world:
Showing posts with label sketchbook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sketchbook. Show all posts
Friday, April 1, 2016
March of Robots 2016
For the entire month of March, I participated in the March of Robots sketch challenge: drawing at least one robot every day for 31 days, and posting the results to Instagram. It was a fun exercise, and my main goal was to explore different styles (both analog and digital), and really just try and generate work at a regular pace. I think I came up with a fairly diverse set of robots, and it was very cool seeing what other artists came up with. Tons of creativity and skill out there!
Here's a sampling of the some 40-plus illustrations I let loose upon the world:
Here's a sampling of the some 40-plus illustrations I let loose upon the world:
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Inktober 2015
Last year I participated in the "Inktober" drawing challenge for the first time, and while I didn't get to fulfill the drawing-a-day goal, I did manage to generate a number of images that I liked. Here are my favorites (originally posted to my Instagram account):
All of these pieces were drawn in a toned paper sketchbook, using a combination of pens, grayscale markers, and colored pencils. With each illustration, I tried focusing on worldbuilding and narrative, giving a glimpse of a larger story, which is something I feel these examples best exemplify.
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| Pit Stop |
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| Joyride |
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| Air Patrol |
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| Mechanized Parkour Racing League |
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| Arrivals and Departures |
All of these pieces were drawn in a toned paper sketchbook, using a combination of pens, grayscale markers, and colored pencils. With each illustration, I tried focusing on worldbuilding and narrative, giving a glimpse of a larger story, which is something I feel these examples best exemplify.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Galaxy Note 8 setup
Not too long ago I bought a slightly used Galaxy Note 8 off of eBay for surprisingly cheap, and have since been using it to do preliminary sketches and comps for my Geek Bar assignments. Combined with the Wacom Bamboo Stylus feel and an Otterbox Defender case with stand, it's a very comfortable and portable digital sketchbook setup.
The 8-inch screen offers a decent amount of real estate, most definitely when compared with the Galaxy Note 2 (which remains to be great for on-the-go sketching). The soft rubber nib on the Wacom stylus combined with the surface of the Otterbox's built-in screen protector makes for a drawing experience that feels like working with natural media; I'd say the closest analog might be felt tip markers. Good stuff, y'all.
The 8-inch screen offers a decent amount of real estate, most definitely when compared with the Galaxy Note 2 (which remains to be great for on-the-go sketching). The soft rubber nib on the Wacom stylus combined with the surface of the Otterbox's built-in screen protector makes for a drawing experience that feels like working with natural media; I'd say the closest analog might be felt tip markers. Good stuff, y'all.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Autodesk Sketchbook Mobile
Autodesk just released their latest version of Sketchbook Mobile today, and what better way to commemorate a new drawing app than with a cyborg portrait?
I really appreciate all the new additions to the program, they've genuinely elevated the utility of my Galaxy Note 2 as a portable digital sketchbook. Things like selection tools, smudge brushes, gradient fills, and guides are warmly welcomed. Unfortunately, even if you already own the previous app Sketchbook Pro, you'll have to pay to upgrade Sketchbook Mobile in order to access its full feature set. Still, it's only a few bucks... For the cost of a comic book, I can't ask for much more.
At any rate, great app, available on iOS and Android.
I really appreciate all the new additions to the program, they've genuinely elevated the utility of my Galaxy Note 2 as a portable digital sketchbook. Things like selection tools, smudge brushes, gradient fills, and guides are warmly welcomed. Unfortunately, even if you already own the previous app Sketchbook Pro, you'll have to pay to upgrade Sketchbook Mobile in order to access its full feature set. Still, it's only a few bucks... For the cost of a comic book, I can't ask for much more.
At any rate, great app, available on iOS and Android.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Bus sketches
It's sometimes difficult with the winter cold to sketch during a commute, but people in this season can be fun to draw, with their big poofy coats and draping scarves...
Monday, February 4, 2013
Space Miner
A new goal I've set for myself is to do more character design, so here's a grizzled old asteroid miner from the outer frontiers of space...
A lot sketchier than I've drawn in a while, but I'm having fun with it.
Ship sketches
Another pair of ship sketches, done up with ballpoint pen and a bit of gray marker...
Last night I ran across a new ballpoint pen that impressed me with its responsiveness; so much so that I went searching around the interwebz for some place to order a batch.
As it turns out, these Lexi pens originate from India; my wife Leah must have picked one up during her recent travels there. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a place where I can procure them stateside; I've emailed the manufacturer to see if they can recommend a distributor, or if I can order from them directly.
Last night I ran across a new ballpoint pen that impressed me with its responsiveness; so much so that I went searching around the interwebz for some place to order a batch.
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| The Lexi 5 |
As it turns out, these Lexi pens originate from India; my wife Leah must have picked one up during her recent travels there. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a place where I can procure them stateside; I've emailed the manufacturer to see if they can recommend a distributor, or if I can order from them directly.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Oldies but goodies
I ran across some old sketchbooks from a couple years back, and it was interesting to see how much my illustration style has changed over time; I can definitely see a progression. Here are a couple pieces that I only vaguely remember drawing, but which I think are pretty nifty:
I may have to go back to drawing with a ballpoint pen, especially now that I've been working with value more and more; I remember being able to do decent gradated work with them.
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| Some sort of cybernetic warrior dude, 2005 |
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| An adventurer named Annabelle whose backstory I don't quite recall, 2006 |
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| Paranoid guy, 2007 |
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Anne Bonny, Pirate
I attended the September session of Aaron Miller's Figurative Illustration Workshop last night, and the model this month was dressed as Anne Bonny, the Pirate Queen. She wore a great costume with a ton of accessories, like sashes and pistols and swords. It was an overwhelming amount of detail; seriously, I could have spent days upon days trying to capture it all. As it was, I constantly had to fight with the tendency to linger on every little area, and instead concentrate on capturing the gesture and form. Hopefully there'll be good photorefs made available so I can go back in and give the paintings some more polish.
It's been a while since I've been to one of these workshops, and it was pretty evident to me how out-of-practice I was. I definitely felt very rusty, and slow. Still, it was a nice opportunity to use Colors!3D on the 3DS XL, and for the most part it worked out fairly well... I have to adjust to the XL's larger footprint; my hand cramped a couple times while holding it. But it sure was nice being able to paint on a (relatively) bigger touchscreen.
Overall, it was a great figure drawing/painting session, as per usual.
Monday, July 16, 2012
New sketch batch
One of the things mentioned time and again in "Drawn to Life", one that's really made an impression on me, is the idea that gesture drawings are not about drawing "nouns" but about drawing "verbs". You're not just drawing a person, you're drawing an action... a person doing something, even if that something is just standing there, slouching about lazily.
As I've mentioned in my previous post, a good number of my commute sketches amount to the action "sitting down staring intently at a smartphone". I try to mix it up whenever the opportunity arises, though.
As I've mentioned in my previous post, a good number of my commute sketches amount to the action "sitting down staring intently at a smartphone". I try to mix it up whenever the opportunity arises, though.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Smartphone poses
More commute sketches, this time with a theme:
It seems that people on smartphones make decent sketch models, since they tend to stay in a fixed position for a long time.
It seems that people on smartphones make decent sketch models, since they tend to stay in a fixed position for a long time.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Out n' about
A smattering of sketches, mostly from my commute to work and back:
I recently picked up Walt Stanchfield's two-volume work "Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes" after reading about it on the Muddy Colors blog. Chock full of knowledge and great art, it's 800 pages worth of lectures on gesture drawing, storytelling, and changing the way you see. I've already read the first book cover-to-cover and just started the second, and it's genuinely been eye-opening. They can be hard to read sometimes– not because the books are poorly written, but because I find that every few pages I feel the urge to pull out my sketchbook and draw someone. Really good stuff.
I recently picked up Walt Stanchfield's two-volume work "Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes" after reading about it on the Muddy Colors blog. Chock full of knowledge and great art, it's 800 pages worth of lectures on gesture drawing, storytelling, and changing the way you see. I've already read the first book cover-to-cover and just started the second, and it's genuinely been eye-opening. They can be hard to read sometimes– not because the books are poorly written, but because I find that every few pages I feel the urge to pull out my sketchbook and draw someone. Really good stuff.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Toy Huntress
After far too long, I attended Aaron Miller's Figurative Illustration Workshop last night. This month's model was dressed up as a "Toy Huntress", adorned with the furs of plush toy animals. A neat costume, it made for an interesting and challenging figure drawing subject. We started with some quick 5-15 minute poses, which I sketched out with Sharpie pen and gray markers:
As always, a pleasant time. It felt good to be drawing again, I've been soooo out of practice lately.
... and then moved on to longer poses, which I painted using Colors! for DS:
Monday, August 29, 2011
The Sketch Challenges continue
Here are my G+ Artist Sketch Challenge entries for the topic "Ways Penguins Fly":
I can't emphasize enough how much I'm enjoying these sketch challenges (big kudos to Carsten Bradley!), and networking via Google + in general has been, well, a plus. Being able to interact with all these great artists on there has been incredibly invigorating, and definitely gives my creativity a big ol' punch in the arm.
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| The Frostfoot Flyer |
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| Totoro & Pen Pen taking the top for a spin |
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Matador
The model at last night's Figurative Illustration Workshop wore a matador's costume:
For the next session, our host Aaron Miller said he'd try to get a big poofy Renaissance costume for the model to wear. Fantastic!
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| Drawn with blue pencil, brush marker, and Sharpie pen |
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| Drawn with blue pencil, brush marker, and Sharpie pen |
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| Painted with Colors! for DS on the Nintendo DS Lite |
For the next session, our host Aaron Miller said he'd try to get a big poofy Renaissance costume for the model to wear. Fantastic!
Friday, August 26, 2011
New sketch challenge art
The G+ Artist Sketch Challenge has been responsible for most of my personal illustration output this past week, and it's been a lot of fun.
For the fantastically absurd challenge Gargoyles in Evening Wear Dancing with Famous People born on August 25th, I submitted this comic strip:
And for today's topic 80's Movies That Should Have Happened I submitted this drawing:
For the fantastically absurd challenge Gargoyles in Evening Wear Dancing with Famous People born on August 25th, I submitted this comic strip:
And for today's topic 80's Movies That Should Have Happened I submitted this drawing:
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
30 Days done!
Here's something I did for a daily sketch challenge, the topic being "Cartoons as Sea Creatures":
Here's today's entry for "Unsuccessful Monster Cereals":
And here's a sketch I did of an old man on the bus this morning:
I was looking at my calendar and realized that today marks 30 days since I made a formal commitment to draw at least once a day for a month. My posting frequency got a bit sporadic towards the end because of a heavy workload, but I still managed to eke out stuff.
Things I learned from these 30 days:
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| My Narwhal Totoro |
Here's today's entry for "Unsuccessful Monster Cereals":
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| Gamera Crisp Cereal-- Stays scorching hot, even in milk! |
And here's a sketch I did of an old man on the bus this morning:
I was looking at my calendar and realized that today marks 30 days since I made a formal commitment to draw at least once a day for a month. My posting frequency got a bit sporadic towards the end because of a heavy workload, but I still managed to eke out stuff.
Things I learned from these 30 days:
- I should have a sketchbook on my person at all times, because opportunities to draw abound
- I missed cartooning, I plan on doing more of it
- Google Plus is a great venue for sharing art with others. Great for networking with other artists as well!
- I used to not enjoy drawing with blue pencil because I thought it was too light... Turns out not all blue pencils are the same. Col-Erase for the win!
- I need to draw and paint more (Granted, I already knew that, I just realized it's something that'll always be true)
- I'm less afraid of ditching a drawing that isn't working, and start from scratch
- I'm more open now to getting things wrong being a part of my learning process. Failure for the win!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Sketchy sketch
Some robot and character doodles:
In other unrelated news, I believe Photoshop opacity masks have earned a place on my "These are a Few of my Favorite Things" list.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Loosening up
It's all about the journey...
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