Art and other stuff

2010-01-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

For those of you who yearn to know what I look like but were too polite to ask, this is your lucky, lucky day. This is me about to draw on my trusty Wacom and you can see I take art seriously. Today I'm going to see how my new Epson scanner works out now that my elderly HP all-in-one went tits up last month. It's now in a happier place.

This isn't the Epson. This is the old HP. It pretty much killed all my midtones and washed out the darks so when I made adjustments they came out like the above.

I biggerized it so you can see the difference. Even my sketch lines and structure lines are in there and this was scanned on the Epson on grayscale at 600 dpi. The HP scan was scanned at the same resolution! I think I'll be happier with this machine. It's also on sale at Best Buy so GO GET ONE (Epson NX415). Rust in peace, HP!

Bridgeman gets his turn

2009-02-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

Ending off with Hogarth and getting into Bridgeman (from bottom to top) with some cloth studies and nonsense thrown in for good measure. I hear all the time that you can get into the habit of apeing a particular artist's mannerisms if you stick with just one source, so I'm drawing (hee!) inspiration from several sources to avoid cloning one or the other.

2008-11-23T19:42:00.000-08:00

What the rhino says. Art isn't for sissys! Of course I say that because none of you have ever seen me melt down in the face of a system error that wipes 3 hours of work because I was too enraptured by my art daze to think about saving. Fortunately I don't consider my art just too too prosh. My grandchildren won't mourn over this lost pixel or that missing stroke. In the end it all works out.

2008-11-23T19:31:00.000-08:00

Don't laugh. Chickens consider their first laid egg an epic competition. The feathers must be flying over at my sisters right now! God help 'em.

Aaaaaand of course more anatomy draws.

2008-10-23T20:23:00.000-07:00

Now I'm getting into this new Hogarth book. Dynamic Figure Drawing. This makes my third Hogarth and I might be getting an addiction here because when I see them in my local Borders I have to pick one up. I need to draw a little bigger so I can squeeze in the finger and toe details.

2008-10-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

It's a real boon for an artist to nail a commission where she gets to draw cartoon army sperm for cash. I tell you, this beats asking people if they'd like fries with their Big Mac. All this stuff is so I know how to draw things like weapons and tanks and uniforms. The little sperm guys are the soldiers and I'll draw them later. They get character sheets. The sperm guys are a battilion trying to get to the egg, but have numerous obstacles facing them, like birth control and erectile dysfunction. It's part of a card game and there'll be a character or vehicle or other illustration on each card, all stuff I need to practice drawing 'cause I've avoided drawing machinery all my life! Sorry but mech leaves me cold.

2008-10-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

Both of these are some Burne Hogarth muscle studies I did from 'Dynamic Anatomy' which puts the muscle groups in nifty, chunky puzzle pieces for easier recall when it comes time to put skin all over everything. I'm always underestimating how long it really takes to absorb this stuff into your very being. I'm constantly shocked at my own ignorance. It's extremely humbling. On bad days it's a little depressing, but I get over it.

One thing I get told a lot is I don't push my values enough. Look at the girl above and the one below and see if you agree I'm heading in the right direction.

I have a big weakness for Lucius Malfoy as played by Jason Isaacs. I did this cartoon of him and his son, Draco, for Halloween last year. I sure hope I can draw better hands this year! Even if they are covered up with Care Bear mittens. As lousy as this sketch is, my fellow Lucius fans adored it! Something about seeing a villain brought down by humiliation . . .

Sketches from 'The Slap Happy Lion'. Tex Avery is never more himself when a male character screams like a girl and lifts his skirts! Here's the original cartoon:

2008-09-29T23:35:00.000-07:00

Ignore this. I'm trying to add mileage to this blog so there's content, even if it's retarded drawings like the above.

Nano Wizard take two

2008-09-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

A little more light and a thumb now! I submitted him to the gang over at Concept Art and I'll see what they have to say before I call this done.

*edit*

This is very close to the way I intended it to look! (bottom version) Yay! I had to adjust levels a little bit to compensate for the difference between what my work area in Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro sees and what the Web browsers see. Now you can see his robes so he doesn't just melt weirdly into the background and some of the red sparkly bits in his spell show up better too.

Nano Wizard shows how to deal with Writer's Block

2008-09-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

I still have some fixups to do to get rid of a few funky lines on the robes and de-dwarf his poor thumb. It looks like his spell lopped part of it clean off! No wonder he has such an agonized expression. Probably finish the whole thing today and decide on some kind of border too.

Greetings and Art Wank

2008-09-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

Because I'm lazy and taking the easy way out when it comes to quickly adding content to this blog, I'm going to copy/paste some stuff that's in my LJ. Mostly spleen venting. I'll start with a bitchfest about what I think of badly drawn comics that edge out potentially swell art. Those who follow my LJ already know how much I hate crappy comics and Cathy certainly fits the bill.

Cathy is a syndicated comics character and might be getting close to 30 years old now. As far as I remember, she's looked just the same. Always facing the 'camera.' (if you don't believe me, try to imagine, or draw, her in profile or 3/4 view) Her plotlines are as follows:

Eat too much, feel guilty.

Shop too much, feel guilty.

Touch off her mother's overdeveloped protectiveness, feel guilty.

Try on swimsuits she has no hope of wearing, feel guilty and fat.

Get in mild tiff with boyfriend/husband, feel guilty.

This artist pisses me off because in all the years she's had this comic, she never bothered to learn to draw and make it appealing to look at. Look at her hands. They're distorted, epileptic spiders at the end of her stumpy arms. She doesn't have any real expressions. Guisewite can't draw anything in perspective so when Cathy walks toward us, the front foot bends like a sheet of paper. You can read Guisewite's confusion in the drawing itself. I hate this artist. She's making a mint and has a colossal fan base. She is like those very bad DA artists that somehow grow a following anyhow, despite themselves. Usually with the latter it's a combination of high drama and fanart. Cathy is anti-drama. My guess she is there because she has always been there, like an old man's corn. Universal Press doesn't have the heart to toss her to the curb and make way for fresh talent. For people like me who are working their asses off to get good, her comic says 'what's the point?'

Why is that saleswoman at a full-out sprint when she should be walking? And why is she walking at all? Everyone's on the same freakin' visual plane! Cathy is right beside her! And what the fuck is up with the foot? See? Bent up like a sheet of paper.

Love the way she mixes up the angles here. What artistry! What imagination!

The animals definitely challenge Guisewite's mad skilz.

Of course I couldn't vent like this without adding a touch of frosting to an already bitter cake. I give you Cathy in Profile from my own little hands:

I can draw better than this, honest!

Study of hot dude but with undies. I went wrong with his face because I was too busy trying to get Mr. Happy cradled juuuuuust right in those BVDs. Priorities people.

This was a Photoshop lesson I did on Concept Art. It was on blending technique and how not to lean on the smudge tool, soft brushes, airbrushes and their evil ilk. Those of you new to blogger can click on any pic to see it full size.