St. Patty's Card 2011

So here is a personal project I did for our annual St. Patrick's Day party. Originally, I had wanted to do a cartoon of Otis, but my dad was the one doing the graphic design and mailing of the invitations, and he needed something sooner, and I didn't want to just crap out a drawing from any of the sketches that I did, because I am not totally set on any of them. I take personal projects like these just as such...personal.

I did have one cartoon sketch I did recently that I wanted to show...I still am not totally sold on it though. The invitation is a scan of a print, and the printer my dad has in his office, plus his really old computer, kind of knocked out a lot of the quality from the original drawing. His computer also doesn't have a CD burner or flash drive (in case you were wondering). We bought him the latest model of Mac last year for Christmas (or I should say 2 years ago, in 2009), but he never uses it. I guess when dads say they don't want anything for Christmas, they mean it.

Speaking of which, it is also going to be my dad's 60th birthday pretty soon. I can't believe that almost 30 years ago, my dad was already having his second child...me! And 30 years later, instead of a grandson for him, I have this drawing I did...on newsprint...because I am an artist...with no money...reaching around in the dark...wondering what the hell I am doing...

The bottom sketch is the higher quality version done for the card in charcoal and conte. I took a photo about half way through to show the "shadow mapping" phase. There was some damage to the drawing surface (again) from the bits of rock in the conte. Other than that, there are just 2 errors in proportion, and one error in rendering...I still really like how it turned out, and I plan to do more drawings of this guy. Everybody loves him!

More of Otis

Here are some more studies of Otis. His birthday is either close to, or the exact date of St. Patrick's Day. My family usually does a card for St. Patrick's, and I usually do an illustration. None of these studies will be used for the card...I will be posting that soon. The bottom drawing is a 3 hour warm up...his head was turning out very wobbly and ill proportioned, so I stopped. I still like it for many reasons, but it didn't make the grade for a finished piece.

The top drawings are an attempt to create something of a cartoon of Otis from my imagination. I still don't feel as though I captured him the way I would be proud of, but I may take some of these things to a finish later.

Kid Me

So this is a quick drawing of myself when I was young. I did this in 2009, and I can definitely see some errors in proportions. However, I am most dissatisfied with the way my left eye turned out. I should say too, when using conte, you end up running into bits of rocks and grog in the clay, and they leave deep grooved lines that cannot erase. You can see these going diagonally across my forehead and other parts of the drawing.

Cut the Cake

I apologize in advance if I have posted any of these drawings. This is a study done in 2009 of my parents from their wedding album. The fashion and style is so dated and interesting to me, as well as the fact that my parents look so young. This is done in charcoal and white pastel on 18X24 newsprint.

Partial Drawings

These two drawings are under 2 hours. The first is a drapery study done in about 20-60 minutes. The second drawing is another 2 hour drawing from open drawing at Studio 2nd Street. These were done in 2009.

Another from 2009

This is another 2-3 hour charcoal drawing on 18X24 newsprint. I really wish I was faster, as I liked how this one was turning out. Her right shoulder is a bit out of perspective, but I am fairly happy with the face and hands, which was and is always my goal for live drawing from a model.

The Biker

Here is another 2-3 hour charcoal on newsprint...18X24" This is one of my former roommates, Taylor Smith...you can view his art in my inspiration column.

We (Taylor, Antwan Ramar, and I) all worked at Lego Land doing caricatures, and we all biked there since none of us brought a car while we lived out in California. I really enjoyed biking along the beach when there was no rush. However, I really didn't mesh into the politics of Kaman's Art Shopes so well (which is an understatement), especially after working for Richmond Illustration. So the bike ride to work was often a dreadful one, and I usually opted to take the bus there, and then bike home.

Its too bad that I hadn't realized Taylor was going to model in his full Lego Land attire...the uniform looked like a rejected concept for Fruit Striped Gum...this didn't help your confidence as a professional artist, but I think we pulled it off pretty well.

None the less, I am glad to have made it through the experience, and to have met the great artists there...and the stories, oh the stories...(the horror...the horror...)

Drawings Past

2-3 hour life drawing. Charcoal on newsprint...2009.

Newsprint Drawings

So, I finally broke down and bought a new tripod after my last one was busted. I have a bunch of newsprint drawings both new and old that I am going to be posting. I hope to post one a day for the next week or so, unless I forget or something. These are a couple of recent studies from a month ago done in black prisma color pencils on newsprint. I took about 2-3 hours per drawing. My goal was to go as quickly as I could. I am going to do more of these, as I think speed is important.

Valentines Day

So here is yet another drawing of my favorite model...I am going for a looser look in the paints. I may end up coloring the other two designs. I like them all, and the photographer did a great job.

Enjoy!

Sole Mates

What's up? Well, here are some digital works, drawn in traditional pen and ink, scanned, and then painted in photoshop. The first drawing is a preliminary sample for a potential client that ended up going nowhere when she told me that she would pay me $35 per each page for her book about her dog. I may be desperate, but not that desperate...furthermore, I did this part for free.

The second one is a drawing for a friend. I found this photograph to be somewhat interesting...basically the guy seemed to have a character that I wanted to try and capture.

Anyway...enjoy.

Gangsters, Thugs, and Dames

Alright, so I did this while watching "Hoffa." It was an alright movie...Jack Nicholson was my main motivation for seeing it. I really like the genre of Film Noir. My favorite movies of that genre are probably Chinatown and Blade Runner. I haven't gotten into any of the old melodrama Film Noir. These drawings were loosely inspired by my idea of those time. I hope to do more of these, and finish them as well. It's been quite busy here lately...but I managed to squeeze in this descent sheet of studies.

Enjoy.

More Studies of Otis

So here are some more studies of my brother's dog, Otis. Some of these are revised studies from my previous drawings of Otis, but many are new versions. While I like many of these versions as drawings on their own...there are only about 2 or 3 that I really think resemble Otis. These are really fun to do, and a great exercise to develop as an artist.

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