Solektrodoll

Alright...so I will start of by saying something I should have a while ago. The references I used for these drawings were photos by another professional photographer...unfortunately, I don't know their name, otherwise I would give them credit and a link to their work, as they did a really great job. Having said that, these drawings are mainly intended as exercises in my growth as an artist, with the added bonus of being a gift as well...so these references are the best resources I have to work with.

Well...I could give you a long winded explanation to this process again...or I could direct your attention to the true instruction of what I try to base all my realistic art off of...The Drawings of Ron Lemen. Thankfully, Ron is gracious enough to post his tutorials and art online. Although it is about 20 times more informative to take a class directly from Ron...these drawing tutorials do a much better job than I at clearly showing the process I try to emulate. I would highly recommend their school, Studio 2nd Street, and taking classes from either Ron, or his wife Vanessa, as they are both masters at their craft. (see comments below for a link to the free tutorial)

Well, I will keep trying!

Peace.

Paige

So this is a redo of a caricature of a friend I have from college. I used to draw caricatures for people who lived on my dorm floor for their birthdays or significant others, and for Paige, I kept the tradition alive until about 2006/2007. She had recently posted one of the caricatures I had done in 2007 on her face book, and I was pretty ashamed of it. It must have been one of those things where I was rushed and thought, "alright, one shot and I am done." I am sure that 3 years from now (or sooner, I hope), I will probably think the same thing about this one...its the double edged sword of improving, but I wouldn't have it any other way. However, I am pretty happy with this one at the moment...and hope she is too!

Elektrodolls Caricature Illustration

Alright, so here is the caricature version of the Elektrodolls. I had a lot of fun working on this...it was quite a challenge for me, but nothing I couldn't handle. The above drawings are just a few of the many studies I did to try and gain the feel of what I am going for. I am still not quite there, but I am really quite happy with the result. I wanted the feel to be a mixture of humor, attraction, and action...all while maintaining a likeness. Each girl had her own personality...it was really though to try and see that through just a photo...so I hope I did alright.

Anyway...be back soon with more...Enjoy!

Quick Studies with Otis

Here's a little stocking stuffer for the art blog. This is my brother's dog, Otis. This weekend was a rare occasion where me, my brother, and my parents were all united again as my brother was playing in the Alumni Tournament at Shakopee High School. Although it will never be the same as it used to be, it was still good to be together again, and will probably become rarer and rarer as we age.

These studies were done from photos, life and imagination. There is one drawing of a back shot of a grey hound that was studied out of a book on how to draw animals. I used it as a warm up tool to help me try and understand the basic forms to deal with in dogs, and how they applied to Otis.

I plan on doing many more drawing of Otis, and hope to capture his personality better too.

Enjoy!

Andreita's Golden Birthday

Happy Birthday to Andrea Salinas! Today is her 26th, and Golden Birthday. Here is a picture of her with her hooping buddies...together, they are the Elektrodolls! They posses the powers of hypnotic hooping. Andrea is the founder of Elektrodolls, and also of Hula Hula Workshop. She and her group perform in venues all across Ecuador. She is a Hula Teacher, and Hula Aerobics Instructor too. Congratulations Andreita!

I have a bit of the process here...this wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be...I blocked everything in pretty quickly, and very rough. The majority of the figures are being swallowed by the atmosphere, so this was really more of an exercise in graphic sensibilities than usual.

I actually had this done since October, but didn't want to risk spoiling the birthday surprise. I have more art on hold as well. I have been pretty busy dealing with clients, and meetings, and submissions...mostly things that I am hoping are going to help me support myself and move forward in life...but these types of art projects will always be my favorite thing to do.

Anyway...the next one will be even more broken down into steps.

Enjoy!

Blue Goo

So, I did another of the abstractions...my airbrush skills are a bit shakey...and the brush itself is kinda jacked up...so this one isn't as polished...but still sellable. If I ever have a better studio setup, I would like to try this with more opaque paint, rather than water based. There are many possibilities to explore.

Make fists with your toes

Well I'll be...if it isn't Georgia O'Qweef herself.

So, I have done these paintings before...and from the long days this summer doing caricatures, I made some more (or was making some before customers came). These were inspired by an artist named Justin Moberg (I hope I am spelling his name correctly). I saw his airbrushed paintings in college and was really amazed by them. So, I decided to try a couple. I like his airbrushing better, but it was fun practice. The bottom face is a study of Alex Ross's...kind of turned out more like a statue.

This is about as abstract as I have been in my short life as an artist...and it is kind of relaxing, and kind of exciting as well. I like the relaxing part more though.

MA...THE MEATLOAF!!

Here are some more sketches of me and my parents from memory. I ended up deciding to bring this one of my mom to full color. I think this style works...I would like to experiment with some water colors.

Kind of Hazel

Alright...so here are my latest subjects. This is my cousin Joe and his girlfriend who I have not met yet. It was hard to judge how to caricature her from this one flash photo taken in a bar...and also not having met her, but I enjoy a challenge I guess.

I used a bic pen for the linear layin, plus a micron for any larger areas of black. Then I scanned and photo copied the drawing. Next I added some value with a 30% Warm Gray marker (prisma color). For the color portion, I used prisma colored pencils.

Enjoy!

Park Madness

Alright...so here we have, Mr. Bean...Ice T...and my self. These were all done this summer with what little energy I had at my job of 10 years at Valleyfair. The season is now down to just weekends. I don't really like that Mr. Bean anymore, but I would like to redraw him. Rowan Atkinson has a great face...and I think I would like to explore a more exaggerated expression of his. The Ice T is referenced from the '80's cult classic movie "Breakin'." For those of you who have not seen it...I suggest you do so, as it is quite funny. Plus, Turbo is a sweet break dancer.

The one of myself was actually done early in the year...when my goal was still exaggeration and not rubber stamping my way through a crowd of customers so I could use the bathroom. The hairline is a bit distorted...as well as the nose...but I am pretty happy with how the drawing feels.

This summer was tough...and having breathing and heart trouble really puts a damper on my creativity. It helps to write and talk about it...but I really hope to be well soon. And now I have the time to focus on better health!

I promised myself that I would take some pictures of some caricatures I was proud of...and I was proud of some earlier in the season...but I only acquired a camera recently, so the ones I snapped are pretty generic (or maybe they all have been). I am going to try and push exaggeration again this next weekend...we will see what happens and if my heart can take that excitement of an angry customer, and all that goes with that.

Weeeee!!!

Indeed

Well...this is try #2 for this pose...and guess what...it is almost exactly the same as the first try (sigh). It is a bit of a 3-point perspective, but even so...the head is too big. The hoop...still too wobbly.

On the plus side...at least I am consistently solid in the academic sense of drawing a convicing figure/portrait...but my eye still becomes lazy at times...even taking frequent breaks only helps so much. There is still some trouble I am having with the scale of the features in relation to the overall size of the head. I am most happy with the text logo on her shirt...it is simple and to the point.

Anyway...I guess failing is a part of the process as well. I know that I will redo this one again at some point...but for now, I am just going to move on to the next work in progress.

Enjoy!

Red Pencil

Enjoy

Kerplunk...

...kerplooey.

Well, it appears as though I just can't get enough of plain old red pen and pencil drawings...yeeehaawww!!

Sketchez

Sketches

Some caricature studies...the second from the bottom is a quick one of me from memory...the rest are celebs from photos

Aren't you gonna sign it!?

So this is the last of all 8 of my cousins to finally graduate from high school...I officially feel really old.

This is for his grad party. Congrats Wilson!

Pope

Little sketch I did...not sure if this is going to be the final background.
Enjoy!

Fishin' kid...

Alright...so this is one that I had done a rough sketch of a while back...I have had it at this stage for a while...but am still wondering where I want to take the narrative. I am kind of working in reverse order...which is my favorite way to create.

Grandma's quite the quilter

Here is a project that I was working on a couple months ago for a company called Urban Threads. They are an embroidery company who house a bunch of illustrators who make vector illustrations that are later translated into stiched patterns. I worked with an in-house illustrator who ended up taking the first design of the six samples you see on the bottom, and digitizing it in illustrator to the specified requirements of their machines. Then they sent me this bag with my design on it...check it out!

http://www.urbanthreads.com/pages?id=571

And also check out Taylor Smith's blog in my inspiration links...he works there, and is a very talented artist...thanks for the opportunity Taylor!

Sophia

Stuff

Alright...so the top page is more studies of Labyrinth, and then the rest are self explanatory. I draw heads a lot...and I like to keep the hair off until the end. I believe if you can draw a strong design without the hair, then the design of the hair will accentuate that well. I am trying to use more reference photos, as it is clear that my approach is at a stand-still. That is the best thing about art, you will learn forever.

Richard Pryor