Think McFly...think

Alright...so this is something that I was working on for our annual St. Patty's Day party that is hosted at my partents house...there have been invitations for each year. This is the second invitation that I have done...since I have no freelance at all.

The final illustration is pretty sellable, but I like my initial sketches more (as usual). As it turns out...even my parents had requests to look younger. I really thought that there was much more character and interest in the earlier sketches, but hey, they are my parents and I love them...so I reduced the jowels and shaved off some of the turkey waddle...and there you have it.

There are some things that I would do differently, but that will have to wait until the next time. I may add some detail to my mom's hair, and perhaps post the final card once my dad does the graphic design for it. Maybe I can dig up some old invitations as a comparison?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well...here are some conceptual stages leading to a finished work.

Sketch Dumperoo

Some things in the works...lots of editing still needed. It is hard for me to finish things after this stage. As an artist, sketching represents much more insight than a finished piece does...so I am always interested in looking at other artist creations.

Cha-Coal

Yet another sketch of the hoop master herself. I had actually finished this a while ago, but forgot to post it. I was also hesitant to do so, as the elipse of her hoop is done pretty poorly...but then I got over myself and posted anyway.

I think if you can draw an elipse, a perfect circle, a strait line, and perfect "S" curves, you can pretty much draw anything. For me, the elipse and the perfect circle is really tough...more so on a large scale drawing such as this.

This was done in charcoal and white pastel on 17X22 newsprint. I am trying to be as loose as I can, but still adhere to a tight representation of the subject. I think that the light source in her face became a little too diffuse, but I am happy with the drawing, and just happy to be doing any drawing lately.

I think I may try and indicate a little more of the inner workings of the ear on my next portrait. It isn't that I am unable render it out...it is just boring to me, and I feel that it brings too much attention to itself at times. I hardly notice when other artists render ears...unless it is a major source of observation...such as in caricatures...or if it is a back-shot of person's head, where the only features you can see are the ears. I guess it couldn't hurt though, but I figured if Steven Silver avoid it, why can't I?

Anyway...more soon