Gradient Eyes 2

It's always interesting for me to look at my own drawings again, with a bit of distance - whether time or space. What looked fine at the size I drew it seemed off just enough to bug me when decreased in size here on my blog, the equivalent to taking a few steps back and surveying the elements from a distance. I needed to move the nose and mouth over a skooch, and reduce the jawline accordingly, and I'm much happier with the subtle change.

Gradient Eyes

I saw a digital artist's magazine at a news agent tonight and saw a tutorial that I got a tip from. While they were doing anime/manga-style drawings, I couldn't go there tonight, but I took the eye shading technique they suggested and quite like the result (enormous dilated pupil notwithstanding).

Violets

Went back to my self portrait from a few days back, and started painting in Photoshop. I sometimes feel like such a fake when I don't necessarily know how to start work in the 'classical' way, yet I have to remind myself that working in my own way doesn't make me any less than someone classically-trained.

This is just preliminary color-blocking, but I kinda liked the effect and thought I should post it as is for today.

And yes, my hair is doing all of that.

Menus, Too

This is the third of the trio, inked.

Menus

My friend Rainer wanted me to do sketches of my Femlin-inspired nudie girls on our Christmas menus, since he's acquired a liking for them. I've been drawing these characters for years, especially in the past 12 years or so as the result of being trapped in a Citibank ATM vestibule one rainy day. The story was that since I had nothing to do while I waited for the rain to abate, I started taking out all these deposit slips (the ones with triple page copies) and drawing these bikini-clad women in the second layer, leaving the top one intact. The idea was that when people filled in their deposits and took out the second copy for themselves, they'd get a little surprise treat. I'd been doing it for years but have since stopped now that deposit slips are no longer in triplicate, or for that matter, necessary at all in ATM machines. Anyhow, I wasn't able to do it on Christmas eve, but did get to them a day after Christmas. These are the pencil sketches.

Tits The Season!

Well, I worked on it quite a bit this afternoon, going for a simpler illustration style. I'm planning on posting it on my Facebook friends' walls, but not sure how this would look on Facebook. MySpace no problem, but Facebok? Might be iffy. I also decided to drop the glowing nipples bit.

I also recolored a version to post on CBR, making her into Rogue. Thought that would be a funny play on the X in X-men, not to mention the mildly X-rated nudity.

Holiday Pin-up 4

Still fleshing it out (so to speak) but not entirely happy at all with the direction, and thinking I might have to abandon it. But I hadda do something, so I figured, I'd do it on Christmas Day.

Holiday Pin-up 3

The expression was there, but I didn't like her face at all. I always have trouble doing wide smiles - they tend to look too comicky and not like the René Gruau style I wish I could just churn out the way I imagine Gruau used to so effortlessly.

Holiday Pin-up 2

I wanted the pin-up to be stupidly risque, so I planned on doing a Rodolph take-off with a girl dressed as a deer with glowing nipples. Uh-huh, you read right. Anyhow, I wanted her to look like she was having fun being topless.

Holiday Pin-up

I wasn't posting for the past few days because I was working on a holiday pin-up style drawing, something I used to do a lot of back in the day. Frankly, I wasn't making much headway, plus there was so much Christmas stuff to do as well. Here's how it all broke down. First, the idea sketch, which I quickly abandoned doing any further, but at least I put down the pose I had in mind.

Working The Line, 2

A little at a time... especially when I can't get the energy to really get into it. Fortunately, some things are autonomic for me. Then I get distracted and watch movies.

Shmoo

I got back from a Christmas party I wasn't up to going to last night, but I'm glad I went. It turned out to be a good time, and I met some nice new people. But I got back and as I decided what to do about my drawing for the day, I thought to myself, I'm a tired old shmoo. So that's what I ended up drawing. Well, my own version.

Working The Line

I often post versions of my drawings that were colored specifically for posting. I usually keep my linework separate, so I can go back into it later and edit as necessary. I'll probably keep editing this until I'm happy with it, as I have to make up the body as I go along (I'm basing it off a photo I took of myself using my iMac's cam). It's looking like I planned though.

Off Kilter

I had an image for myself that was a little more dynamic yet off. My friend Bob would recognize my Robert Longo influences, but the intent is more about not showing happy, sad, or any particularly easy-to-define emotion.

Winding Down

Hosted a birthday party for my friend Peter tonight, and I haven't had that many people in my apartment since I first moved in here. It was fun, but prepping the place with all my stuff, I spent four days just cleaning and getting things in order. Tonight, I had to contend with the aftermath, and after getting a good chunk of the dishwashing done, I couldn't do any more cleaning and just had to throw on some quiet music and let the pen just flow whichever way it wanted. It's very linear - no thought, just a lot of instinct. So tired that whatever happened, happened. It's not so much a drawing as a release... I just happen to always draw human figures of some sort as a default.

Drunken Turn

When you've had one too many ginger martinis (and the strength I make it, that would be about 1), it's not necessarily easy to sit down and draw...

Lip Serviced

And I thought, maybe if I opened up her lips? Yes, three days in and I can't leave well enough alone.

80s Redux, 2, v2

Okay, I couldn't stand looking at that fishmouth and man chin, so I went back in and adjusted everything I could. Which is not to say I won't again (at this size, I'm thinking that upper lip is too low form the nose), but at least now I feel better about the profile. Better, not perfect. She's still a little jaw-heavy, but I remember that from the old fashion sketches of the late 70s / early 80s , so it's appropros. Oh lord, this constant retooling...

80s Redux, 2

I decided to download my CD of Manhattan Transfer's 1979 hit album extensions, and I was totally feeling the cover art all over again. Coupled with Twilight Tone and Shaker Song in constant replay (sue me, I was growing up then, I'm surging with nostalgia), it was all I could do NOT to do something 80s iconic. I apparently even gave her 80s model Monica Schnarre's jawline (but then again, because my illustration is so informed by the 80s, I tend to draw my women with very hard, bordering-on-drag-queen features, something I need to rectify to be relevant). Anyhow, this is all very Margiela now, so there.

Hand Drawn

My friend PJ was over the other night and we spoke about his lesson plans. I recalled how one of my favorite teachers back in Fine Arts used to make us draw our hands...well, basically, drawing our hand. I completely forgot to draw something last night so at 3 am or so I tried to make something. This isn't the best drawing, but, well... there you have it.

Can't Leave Well Enough Alone

So I tinkered with her face again. Better, I think. Sorry this is the kind of stuff that drives me nuts about drawing, the constant retooling.

Rogue Tits 2

That face was driving me nuts, and I realized as I adjusted features that it was just too wide and features too small or far apart. Funny, it looks fine for a small-ish drawing, but when I look up close, things just seem so... splayed apart. I think this one has lost a bit of the original cheerleader-esque quality, but the face is looking more balanced. Always a trade-off.

Rogue Tits

I'm doing that dance where I don't know what's wrong with the face nor how to fix it, although I did go back in and replace the image after I upoaded it, with a few corrections. I'm afraid it will be too much work. Her boobs are nice enough though...

More critters

There's something about an audience...

Blocked Out

I was so preoccupied with things yesterday I didn't even do my drawing for the night, so tonight I did two. The stretched out woman I drew reminds me of the X-man Rogue, so I thought I'd see if I could make it into her.

Snow Critters

I was looking at pics a friend uploaded online, from our time in the Berkshires last year. There was much silliness in that trip, and I figured, this photo could use some (more).

Pose-ibilities, 2

Planning another photo shoot. I rather liked this stance when I tried it out in the mirror, then I ended up seeing someone on MySpace in nearly the exact same pose! I wonder if I internalized it and forgot about it?

Aura

I finally googled what I was seeing late at night, and found that yes, I'm actually seeing my aura. It's that weird hazy, heat-like effect that emanates from pretty much everything around me (including myself) when the light is dim enough for me to defocus my sight. Supposedly you should be seeing it best off of living creatures, but I see them all over my room at night. The pages I've found all describe the same experience, from how I see things to what I see, so it's pretty spot on and somewhat comforting to know that what I've been experienceing for years wasn't part of my overactive imagination.

Does anyone else have this experience? Does this sketch look familiar?

Reverse Handshape

I was looking at my hand while in the shower, and I recalled how an issue of Dr.Strange left me obsessed with drawing hands from the viewer's point of view. I've always been fascinated with drawing hands, and I think I'm somewhat good at it. I didn't like this drawing too much though, until I brought it into Photoshop and reversed it out. Much better.

Playmate

I had something entirely different in mind when I drew this - I wanted to revisit an old sketch I never fleshed out (so to speak) , of a holiday themed pin-up who was more vixen than cheerleader. But how I drew this girl's face ultimately started directing the show, making her more innocent than planned. I like how her body turned out. I haven't paid attention to drawing women's curves in a while... well, in a way that wasn't fashion-oriented, that is. We'll see if I come back to this and develop it further.

Pear Shapes

I couldn't be bothered with sketching, so I picked up the pad next to me and doodled away. Pear shapes come to mind. Well, and maybe melons.

Thanksgiving Coma

Can't seem to do anything worth doing after all that eating. Turkey coma (turkoma?) in progress, so there's only so much I can deal with - namely adding a few newer details to the dreads gal from yesterday. Think she's done.

Dreads, 2

I often go back to sketches and continue them in ways I had never envisioned. It's my way of doodling - heck, a lot of the sketches on this blog are the equivalent of doodles, things I draw on a whim. Which is actually the point of this blog for me - to draw the way I did when I was younger, just for the sake of drawing. Sometimes no rhyme or reason, but some of those turn out to be the most fun. This one? Well, hmm, not so sure yet. We'll see.

Dreads

I thought about redoing the Calvin ad stance I drew a few days ago, but it ended up warping as I drew it... and suddenly the woman had dreads and was some kinda of Grecian alien. So I went with it. We'll see where it goes.

Self Styling

I've been going to the same hairstylist for the past 20 years, and Kevin knows I'll work with whatever he gives me. Lately though, I've been showing up with drawings of what I want (and by lately I mean the past 5 years) and it's always fun to watch Kevin bring the ideas to life. I'm planning on a haircut soon, and here's my current thinking. Yes, I want to fuck up my hair again.

Calvinism

A recent ad for Calvin Klein showed a photo of a model who was so sculpturally posed that I wanted to reproduce the S-curve linework in her stance.

Sasuke

I couldn't wait to see the next chapters in the Naruto anime, so I went online and ferreted out the manga on YouTube. Seems the next arc is about the character Sasuke, whose new look reminds me a bit of Rick Owens. So I did a quick sketch, although I didn't really follow the character's look very faithfully.

Patch

I spent the evening catching up on tv shows I had missed during the week, and was watching the (sadly) newly canceled Pushing Daisies. My favorite shows almost always get canned, and despite how fun it was, I couldn't see how much longer this show could go on (it has all the quirkiness of another fave of mine, Wonderfalls, so it was almost doomed form the start). Anyhow, Swoosie Kurts (sp?) has a character in it, and she wears an eye patch. While this isn't Swoosie, I was thinking of her character's look.

Gravity

I know it doesn't look like much now, but this is the beginnings of the next in the mythological series. Well, one of three I'm considering - gotta see how it works out.

Sleepy Sketches, 2

Sleepy Sketches

After working on quite a few projects, as regular blog readers of mine know, I usually have no energy for a sketch. I totally feel that creative energy, like emotions, are finite, and there's only so much you can have in a day, and they get allotted to whatever comes up first. This is the first sketch done after all the Mass/Gass hullaballoo, and after I still had some energy to do the simple sketch of Fatale.

Red

After all the detail of the mixed media pieces, I want something cleaner and simpler. The Fatale piece is headed there. Kinda film noir comics.

Aeolus & Ares

So here are the first two images in the mixed media series I've been planning and working on. I had hoped to have three up by the time I published anything, but this will do for now. If I wait any longer, the novelty of the style will be old hat, so there you have it. I wanted to transform my friends into super-heroes, but spandex would have been too kitschy. I have one more piece to add to this, but hopefully will do at least two more. For anyone who had been following this blog and wondered about these pieces, I'd be curious to know if the final pieces were what you might have expected. Hope they live up to expectations...!

Aeolus

This is the finished piece, based loosely on Greek gods, but done up super-hero style, as mixed media pieces posed for by some of my friends. This one is my friend PJ, as Aeolus, King of the Gods of the Winds. This isn't the final crop, because I think it's a tad busy, but I'll post both this and the Mass piece (which I decided will be entitled "Ares," the Greek God of War) together.

Gass, 2

This is Saturday's work since I posted the Fatale piece a day late. finally released the Mass image online (although I still feel a bit antsy about it), but I guess it's out there so it is what it is. This is the second in the series, and I'm feeling a bit more confident that I'm going in an okay direction. Still wish they were all as strong as the first piece.

Fatale

Needed to do something completely different from what I've been doing lately. Nothing like a simple drawing of some big-busted woman to break the monotony. Still a rough, of course. But I liked the idea of the draped neckline looping over the back into a sleeve and wanted to do the drawing to work that out. Easy enough.

Intentionally Muddy

This isn't necessarily my style (a few of my friends like Norman come to mind) but I like how it's growing almost organically from the photo I've based it on. It's not necessarily flattering, but that suits it just fine. The changes over the past three days might seem miniscule to the casual observer, but to me they're pretty pivotal. Small additions add both necessary definition of the image, as well as directional style ticks. I started with something rougher, that later made it very blurred out, and now I'm bringing back some harder edges and stronger delineations.

Unclear

Sadly...

...some people are less concerned with how you are beyond a perfunctory "How are you," before they begin telling you about themselves. And nothing else. I've had too many of those people of late. I'm tired of it today.

This drawing as done based on a screen grab from my desktop, while I pondered these things. Not finished but still rather indicative of the scattershot feelings running through me. I was hoping for a Dark Phoenix shadow effect. Must be my week for maudlin.