Cropped and Lifted 5

It's kinda weird for me to be developing 2 views of the same pose separately, when maybe I should just do the crop and add the legs later, or perhaps finish the full body and just crop it. But they seem to be developing differently based on the view.

Cropped and Lifted 4

And the closer crop. I have the pose so clearly in my head but so far the marks are not up to par! Looking at this as I post, he might need to rotate his head one way, while the body goes rotating the other.

Cropped and Lifted 3

Trying to get the correct level of ease into this pose, but since I'm doing it from my head it's not coming quickly enough. Can't decide whether it's best as a full view or a 3/4 crop.

Bent, Done

I had started this drawing a couple of months back and it was nearly done back then, but I decided to get a reference from Ernesto when he came to visit this past summer. Fortunately it's such minimal detail it was just a matter of doing it, so I was able to finish it for posting to Instagram.

Desktop Sketch 5

Still haven't figured it out so more sketch studies on my desktop.

Desktop Sketch 4

I've been imagining what my own collection would look like if I did the same project I'm making my students do. Since I have a rather complicated idea in my head, I just started testing it out on my desktop blotter sheet that still hasn't left my desk.

Yoni, Quickly

I follow this online nude model account for artist's model Yoni Baker, and he offered a free, lifedrawing session to test out his new camera system. I replied, but didn't realize he was testing it at 12 midnight in NYC (he's based in LA I think), so I barely got anything sketched, especially since I've been so tired from the first week of school!

Subway Contraposto

I forgot about this drawing I did on the subway, and how I liked the form of the guy but needed to clean it up a bit. This is an initial stab after bringing it into Photoshop from my Procreate cellphone app.

Cropped and Lifted, 2

The I saw another photo from an email I get regularly (I forget which) showing a guy posed like this, and I liked the S curve action, plus it allowed for the short cropped tee left too. Options, options...

Cropped and Lifted

Troye Sivan's ads for the Gap showed him in a cropped tee that would lift and reveal his abs whenever he lifted his arms. I thought of capturing that in a sketch and this is the initial idea.

Desktop Sketch 3

I confess, I didn't really draw and photograph these bit by bit, but I just took teh shot of the 3 days I dres and removed the parts I knew I did that day, in retrospect. It still counts as my sketches for the day, just more calculatedly presented. I forgot to take shots by the day but this still works!

Desktop Sketch 2

It feels super natural to sketch and doodle with pencil and paper again, but I always felt like I wanted to hit Command Z, especially when I misrendered that back slope!

Desktop Sketch

I put a pink sheet of paper on my desk as a sort of desk blotter (an old school item for sure) and while waiting for something to load on my computer, I randomly started sketching on it with a pencil. Back in the day, I would talk for hours on the phone with my best friend in college, and whatever sheets of paper were nearby—the calendar next to the phone, a random note card, an abandoned magazine—would get doodled on.

Lulu-ish

I only recently discovered model Lulu Tenney and her beautifully odd facial features. I feel like her doll-like oddity is very modern and reminds me a lot of my friend Nuno Dacosta's drawings. So I am trying to channel her without actually copying her face.

Tuxedo Jacket Only, Done

I decided to get my friend Ernie, whom I recently noticed likes to wear thongs because they make his package look bigger even underneath his clothing, to quickly show me how it looks before and after. Anatomical accuracy was the excuse, lol. And it's true! While your balls may spread out, what happens with a thong is your shaft positions downward, which accentuates the length. In. way I needed a real person's usage to guide it, since many online pics of guys wearing them tend to emphasize a semi or more straining against the fabric.

Tuxedo Jacket Only 4

I adjusted both his body AND the canvas. I think it works better proportionally. Although I'm not sure I like his shoulders as is, it should be fine if I'm emphasizing them merely to hang the jacket. Frankly this looks like a mannequin pose, haha.

Tuxedo Jacket Only 3

So this is me adjusting his body. I realized I made him a bit long, but that's the fashion illustrator in me. Plus some men are long that way (I actually have a model, Craig D. in mind when I think that) but I'm not sure I want that for this drawing.

Tuxedo Jacket Only 2

even if his body is covered by the jacket, I still drew the full body underneath to give myself a sense of how I might or might not dress him. I always find that a thong can elongate the crotch if it's stretchy enough and the man is more turgid (clearly I've given this some thought and research!) but I wasn't sure how I wanted to present him, with or without thong.

Tuxedo Jacket Only

Well, not only. A jacket, and what I'm hoping will be a sheer, 70s style thong.

Happy Zoe Day!

It's my niece's birthday so I drew a quick cake and made a gif greeting.

Contemporary Hair

I've been drawing it for a while, but these tousled curl men's haircuts are kind of the main look right now in contemporary men's fashion, but I did notice how they tend to flair out in an inverted triangle the way they taper the backs (if you look from profile).

Soft Collar

I'm in one of my, "I'm not really inspired to draw" phases. So these doodles are just gonna have to do for now.

Hard Edged

I was experimenting with teh Guelph brush some more, for a harder edge style...and I don't like it. Well, the drawing. The style could be useful some other way.

Cat Lady Cats

 Was thinking how I could expand on the Cat Lady idea and draw more, but this is looking a little too 1950s De Patie Freleng.

Group Sexy 3

There are actually a few hidden figures that I'd drawn and discarded, but such is the nature of planning a layout. I thought of maybe combining both groupings into one continuous one, and there's merit to that idea. Not sure this is working just yet though.

Group Sexy 2

I wondered if this should be a series, but given the difficulty, I also wonder if I'm setting myself up to never finish them? My blog is littered with unfinished pieces!

Group Sexy

A series of photos from someone's Instagram post (I forget who now, I just look, absorb, get inspired and move on) made me think of a slew of naked men all posing in a group, and it behooves me to figure out everyone's blocking before actually drawing the final figures. It reminds me of a graphic I designed back in the late 80s/early 90s, for a mannequin collection where the owner of the company wanted me to evoke Tamara de Lempicka, and I decided to compose several of the mannequin poses in an impossible tableau.

Childless Cat Lady Cat

Did you know August 8 is International Cat Day? Well, when I realized that, I decided to make a Harris Walz tee shirt to commemorate...and maybe sell a few tees.

Edit: In case readers may wanna buy some (I altered the first print so it's not so red, as that's more a Repugnican thing), it's here: childlesscatlady.com

Stand and Tilt, Done

I finally decided, I am erasing and redrawing that entire head, not just the face. I actually tried keeping teh head but redrawing the facial features, but it was also the cheekbones and jawline throwing me off. And the ears! WHo knew ears could be so pivoatal? Anyhow, MUCH more satisfied with this guy. I also reduced his hand. I think I took the large hands idea a bit overboard.

Stand and Tilt 4

I am having the worst time with this face. Because of the tilt in his head I tried composing the face with the whole canvas tilted, and I wonder if that's why it's looking stiff and unnatural to me? His body I'm fine with but enhh, I have redone that face 4 times!

Contraposto Duo

I have sharp jagged postures on my mind. This time it was about a super skinny guy with long hair. I got the feeling down but not necessarily the drafting., so dunno where this will go for now.

Contra-POSE-to

I was thinking about model proportions while on the subway, and since I was heading uptown I had a few more minutes to kill while on teh train so I took out my phone and sketched on Procreate Pocket. It's finger painting, really, but I was trying to see if I could get the contraposto stance I had in my head, on the model frame.

Model Proportions

Continuing my study of the Studio Nicholson ads, I was intrigued by how Aleksander already had fashion illustration proportions, so it behooved me to change the scale of his head to evoke that. Strangely enough, I draw a shorter proportion as a default, when I should really lengthen the figures more than the reality, which is already longer than my own proportion!

Modern Model

 I was thinking about my post submission for First Friday and how it was so dated, but that was actually teh intent, to do a more classic look. I started thinking about my male models, as I was watching some ads for one of my favorite brands, Studio Nicholson, and the model they used, Joseph Uyttenhove, has a look I wouldn't normally draw but is very much what I think of as a modern male model face.

So I did an experiment: I turned the video off then tried to reconstruct his face from memory, to try and see what exactly about it made him feel modern. He has many of the hallmarks of what I draw already for my fashion illustrations: the large eyes, sharp noses and small lips, but this time I also thought he had a weaker chin, or at least, one that receded unlike the strong jawlines I'm used to from older decade style model ideals. That's the black and white sketch on the left.

Next I took screen grabs of his face from teh ads, and actually sketched from them roughly, and boy, was it an eye-opener: the proportions were completely different, and his chin is actually stronger, but coupled with  small pursed lips that are nevertheless small but fuller than the thin, Anglo mouths I've tended to draw as a default lately. What an interesting experiment.

Woman Yesterday, Done

Decided instead to go with a fashion illustration of a woman, this old school one I did a few months back. I tweaked her head and dress to allow for better line quality and contrast, but I like that she looks so immediate.

Badass Ink Brush Boy 4

First Friday posts are coming up for the fashion group I moderate on Facebook, and I thought I might use this guy as my post for the month, but I fleshed him out some more and I'm not sure if I'm loving him as a post sketch.

Stand and Tilt 3

Filling in the body now, but wondering if I actually like this? I feel like I'm composing it based on the underlayer working as an actual part of the sketch, versus something I would turn off later. Plus it's looking a bit...wan. Like, this is not my confident line at all. Ugh, process.

Stand and Tilt 2

 So I thought, should I use my usual technique and draw and erase over my actual marks, or do I try and do an overlay drawing with teh rough sketch as the basis, like I often teach my students? I thought about practicing what I preach first, but it's not MY preferred way to work since I like my specific marks and how to get them into a better place, something I dont know if my students can do right away. Still, I know other people work well this way so I thought Id try it. Started with a face, and shifting to the Ruffin brush for the "inks".

Stand and Tilt

I often get flashes of illustration ideas in my head, and it behooves me to put them down on a canvas as quickly as possible lest I forget. Since I had the guelph brush handy, I did a quick sketch of the gesture and attitude I had (literally) in mind.

Guelph

I decided to revisit the Guelph brush, a smooth Kyle Webster ink brush I've used before. I guess I was frustrated with the Ruffin sketches I was doing of my reclined friend, as I was not getting anywhere despite spending so much time trying to get his face right. At that point it was time to refresh and try something else. I was going for a fresher face with a realistic, less idealized profile, but he looks a bit too boyish for my usual tastes.

Reclinernie 2

I made nearly 5 complete portraits and none of them are working for me. Arrrgh, frustration! This is the latest one, dunno if it's the best one.

Reclinernie

I started drawing from another old pic of my friend Ernesto from a series of nudes I took of him a few years back. The old archives are usually a new source of inspo, but this particular one is a source of frustration because the angle of his face is particularly difficult to get right.

Fashion Flats

On Monday my friend Renaldo recommended me for a freelance gig, and today I started on it, doing digital flats for a client of his who wanted digital work versus the natural media ones my friend does. It's actually fun to do, as I'm technically (literally and figuratively) rendering each garment, and not just in a school setting.

Badass Ink Brush Boy 3

I adjusted his face AND his clothing. You won't see much of a diff from yesterday, but the fact is that I made several versions on varying layers, and this is the only one I desire to publish...

Badass Ink Brush Boy 2

I shortened his face and he does look more contemporary. The newer models are all kind of baby faced. This one is giving me Mitch Mogs vibes

Badass Ink Brush Boy

The Badass Ink Brush always smoothesns up my line while not making it too smooth. Although I think it makes me draw in a more retro way that perhaps the kids won't respond to. I'm constantly thinking of things like that, for relevance since fashion illustration is all about presenting the current fashion. His face looks a bit old since it's a more late 80s/ early 90s long face...

Retro Coat

I decided I would just start a new sketch and go fashion, and using the Badass Brush always changes things up for me—my marks get a chunkier feel, and I adapt my sketching style accordingly. This one came together quickly, although that coat is kinda neither here nor there. And it does have a bit of a retro feel.

Pants Off Poses 2

I thought of revisiting this guy and I did, changing a few arm details that I'm much more comformatable drawing from imagination, but then I kinda lost the plot and decided, okay, just that little bit, lol.

Spontaneous Inks

There's something very foreign about this drawing style that I spontaneously got into, sketching without lifting my pen for many of the features. It looks like it was drawn by someone else, though.

S-Curve Stretch

I had the idea to do a stretched man pose that was basically a thirst trap, but I got distracted with the face then didn't like the face,m so I abandoned it entirely (for now).