Sunday, May 31, 2020

Black Lives Matter

The protests and riots have gained ground, and it's infuriating how this country still treats African Americans.

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Seated and Feeted, 4

I had ideas that this would be very stark and simpler in rendering, but I'm enjoying drawing the details too much so I'm still not set on how to finish this sketch. But I'm tackling things a bit at a time.

Friday, May 29, 2020

For The Good of X 9, Revisited

Sometimes in retrospect the choices you made at a particular junction in time don't appeal to you anymore. This was the case with my friend Ben's portrait, which  emphasized a then-new focus on extremely developed obliques. 3 years later, the obliques are fine but not always a good idea especially with this particular pose. So I diminished them a bit and adjusted the painting.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Manspread In Window Colors

This is such a popular pose nowadays with the homoerotic set, and with good reason: focus, people! Thought I'd do another sketch based on a visual that popped into my head, but with colors I saw in the windows across the street from me, when I was at my window clapping for the 7 pm essential workers cheer that happens every night in NYC.

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Unca Nobs

I've been vidchatting with an online friend whom I've never met in person, but the pandemic has upped the ante on us interacting more. In the process of chatting one night, I was watching the light play off of his face and thought I'd do a sketch from a screen grab. This is the initial sketch.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Legion Vignette

I was just sketching and drew up some old Legionaires in a scene where it looks like they're back to back, gearing up for some sort of battle. Although now that I drew it, it feels weird that Timber Wolf is bracing that way since he is a close combat fighter...

Monday, May 25, 2020

Maritime Man


This was a spontaneously serendipitous experiment. I had followed a few Instagram links and ended up in a post about a living room setting, and in it was a piece by poster artist Paul Colin, which inspired me to do this kind of highlighting on a face, except I kept running with it and got this very loose sketch. I rather like it!

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Big Bow

Also known as Little Bow Pete. I followed links to some artists on Instagram and suddenly got the idea to draw a very painterly nude with a very couture bow tied at his neck. Don't ask me why. This is the pre-sketch layout so I can suss out the pose, anatomy, etc..

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Hands On


I have (yet) a another idea for a series that may or may not ever see full realization) of a series of nudes with some extra grabby hands.

Friday, May 22, 2020

Badass Inked 2: Mask and Hoodie



This was a quick finalization, using my original sketch from January as the basis, because while I didn't love hat entire sketch, the eyes were good. So I kept just those and kept the focus on them, by adding a hoodie (a la a Gruau I was inspired by) and the ubiquitous mask of 2020. I even sketched the face underneath but when I posted it on Instagram I didn't bother with it. I think it' stronger with the mask.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Tilt & Pose 8

Another revisited drawing form February this time, I liked the idea of the pose but I think the whole gay, come-hither pose was what was turning me off. As a photo it could work, but as a sketch I'm finding it tacky. Like gay illustrations in old 90s magazines tacky. Although taking his silly grin out is making it a bit more serious. Need to find an angle that fits...

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Coated 5

I wasn't happy with the shoulder line, so I retooled that and added more shading to his hair. I also thought camel was a more real color, but now he definitely looks very mainstream. Not sure I like that.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Coated 4

I was scanning through past drawings for abandoned sketches hat I could continue, and this one from the beginning of January this year looked ripe for revisiting. I abandoned the hoodie version and wen back to the original coat and tried to fill out the full figure down to the feet. Not keen on the styling since it's not high fashion enough, but it's a nice enough sketch.

Monday, May 18, 2020

Skirt Stomp

I've been obsessed with skirts, as well as long hair on guys lately. It's the fashion edgy look I've been espousing after years of loving (although I still do) a mop of curly hair on a guy. Anyhow, this is the start of a fashion illo that I'm still working out the anatomy and draping on.

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Pants Folds 3

I decided I don't want to pursue this watercolor direction that I often think of as my ultimate move so far as fashion illustration goes. I think it's become commonplace, and no longer exciting for me to do. So I am trying the style I did for my friend Philip's portrait, which is fresher for me, gouache-y, and more abstract.

Gymnos

Gymnos is the Instagram handle of the model who invited me to draw him online, via an online modelling group. I was busy chatting with my He Man Dress Drawers group before teh scheduled session so I was late to join, but I got in 2 good enough drawings (despite being tipsy from a cocktail!). So two entries for Sunday today.

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Editorial Hands

I wanted to do another panel for my editorial idea, and focus on the wrist details of a fave designer shirt. This is the first layout sketch.

Friday, May 15, 2020

Pants Folds 2

I'm in love with this guy so now he has to be perfec. Ugh, that's like shooting me in the foot—it can go on and on now until I either get tired of this and forget it completely, or I take forever to get him to where I want. Or I could finish him soon and well, hopefully the third option. This trial version, however, is not it.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Pants Folds

I have always wanted to do illustrated editorial stories and now I think is the time to create them and market them to various publications or sites since the Coronoavirus is keeping models, stylists and photographers from working together. So I wanted an edgy, long-haired rocker type guy but I wasn't sure of the outfit. All I know is his shirt and pants were going to be wide, and I got the idea for the folds of his pants from some online shots from Our Legacy's site.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Reclined

Another one of those pose images that popped into my head. But as soon as I started to draw it, the rendering warped what I might possibly do with it. It was supposed to be a foot-centric extension of the "Seated and Feeted" sketch but as soon as I drew it my focus went elsewhere. Well, for now it's anatomical study.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Seated and Feeted, 3

I really like this drawing but I'm not sure if it's to remain a sketch or be finished more in some way. So far I'm just fixing the anatomy and adjusting the position, but as far as the bigger picture (pun intended) I'm not sure yet.

Monday, May 11, 2020

Seated and Feeted 2

I loved the direction of the sketch so now I needed to refine it. I kept on tweaking the guy's face, trying to make him handsomer yet not wanting to relinquish the quirky, very traditional manliness of the original face. He ended up looking like a guy I follow on Instagram.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Seated and Feeted

Yes, I know that makes no grammatical sense whatsoever,but i felt apropos to the angle of this drawing. And I don't think I've actually drawn feet up this close and with this much detail before!

Saturday, May 9, 2020

Slouchy Silhouette

To draw a male fashion figure now, I realize, is to draw someone with bad posture. Kids don't stand up straight, and the models will echo that. Makes me think about how poses from previous generations look odd to us, when we don't know the context.

This is drawing came from looking at a photo from Lad Musician's website, and I liked the model and what he was wearing. I looked at the pic, studied the proportions, then put it away and drew this. I like the results as a study in modern silhouettes.

Friday, May 8, 2020

Project Projectra 4

I wondered if I might be able to design something more dynamic with a dynamic pose? And in some ways, I did, but I'm still not coming up wih proportions I like, that hard back enough to the originl bu also ransform and modernize it in a way that seems logical. And clever!

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Gimme A Hand

While sitting at my dinner table watching Hulu while eating a meal, I rested my hand on the table and thought, I should draw that. So I switched to procreate on my iPad and lightly drew with one hand.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Project Projectra 3

I tried by doing the old school thing and making her quaint original costume a sexier version, but i feels dated and really not fresh. But I'm changing up her features just a tad as I go so I'm liking the face a bit more.

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Project Projectra 2

I tried quite a few different options, but I figured to better understand the original costume, I might try o render it very faithfully, albeit with a modern illustration style and body type. So this is a rough fashion illustration style.

Hmm. I'm not sure if my vision of Princess Projectra should look like Sandy Duncan.

Monday, May 4, 2020

Project Projectra

Someone on Facebook found (yet again) my old sketches of Legionnaires that I had done in the early aughts. it's funny how they seem to like them despite their being so old and—for me—dated in my illustration style. So I thought I might try and do some updated Legion drawings, this time featuring one of my fav characters, Princess Projectra. But I wanted to redesign her old costume, but I am not sure how I can reinven thos tired old 50s super hero suit tropes of basically a bathing suit with a cape, gloves and boots. My initial idea was to make her cape more akin to a capelet, but that looks rather dowdy.

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Angles 3

Fleshing out the main face in this sketch. He strangely reminds me of the actor who played Phoebe Waller Bridge's neurotic ex boyfriend in Fleabag.

Saturday, May 2, 2020

So Dated 2

I changed the hairstyle and updated the form a bit to see if that could help...

Friday, May 1, 2020

So Dated

I was getting into a discussion online about sleeve and shoulder constructions, and I remembered the shirts that I wore a lot back in Manila, based off of a dolman sleeved blouse from our store that my mom had copied for us in endless variations. I just sketched it out really quickly and realized both the guy and styling I put in felt really dated. Nice for a 30 min sketch but a bit too old school. Reminds me a bit of one of my favorite model from the early 90s, David Knight.