Sploosh Redux

Aaand here we go again with the splooshes...

Eyes All Aglow

My friend Dan posted some Children of the Corn type photo of kids with the caption, "tiny tots with their eyes all aglow..." which made me think of comicbook energy eyes, especially since I just watched (and rewatched) "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" last night. So this comicbook power-up look is courtesy of all that.

Didi and her friend Heron

Didi and her friend Heron didn't end up playing Hide and Seek for very long.

On A Whim. Again.

I completely forgot to post the finished Whim W'Him piece. Since the company already posted the pics online, I can now post them in totality as well. So, here it is:

And here's the next one I'm working on. Still figuring out if it will be the same feeling or if I should up the ante a bit...

Both photos were taken by the very talented Marc von Borstel.

Dita

Dita Von Teese appeared in Bravo's The Fashion Show this week, and I wanted to do a quick sketchy-sketch of her from the show because I just watched it on iTunes, plus I'm still a bit lacking in energy to do anything too involved...

Gobble Gobble

In celebration of Thanksgiving, I present Zenaida, looking good enough to eat. Well, okay, I just had this sultry pose in mind and thought I'd figure up a holiday tie-in.

New Tablet Test

Whenever I go work for a new company, I always request a Wacom tablet for my work Mac. Since no one else uses them in the office now that I work from home, I took home the newer model and replaced my 10 year old one. Man, I didn't know what I was missing! With almost twice the pressure sensitivity of my older one, this one was so much easier to sketch with - there was no lag time like I'd been experiencing lately, which I never seemed to notice before. Seriously, this was a quantum improvement! This was a 7 minute sketch based on a photo I downloaded as a reference.

Melissa and her friend Heron

Melissa and her friend Heron can't seem to find each other.

Scooter and his friend Heron

Scooter and his friend Heron spy each other through the sheer window panel.

Snowbimbo

I'm clearly not thinking creatively lately. Or maybe too much so.

Deer Santa

'Nuff said.

Help Yours Elf

I had to create a holiday promo to add an additional 20% discount to purchases made during certain weeks this holiday, so we came up with little coupons branded, "Help Yours Elf." I asked my designer to look for a good elf pic but then decided it would be far easier and quicker to just draw her one (which took less than 10 minutes). They seemed to like it.

Ships Big Image 2

I tried to flesh out yesterday's sketch a bit more, but didn't bring up the original reference piece. I think something got lost in translation...

Ships Big Image

I've been shopping Ships, a Japanese shop, online. I'm so familiar with the models they use since I've been shopping the site for weeks now. One model is their 'edgy' guy, with long hair and a lanky (well, they're all kinda lanky) figure. This particular pose got my attention when I clicked on the "Big Image" product enlargement feature, so I thought I'd do a really quick sketch of the pose. I think this must've taken about 15 minutes. It looks a bit feminine, but I think the Japanese actually like their men to be a bit more androgynous. Or maybe that's just my impression.

Have Yourself A Real Good Time

...is the phrase that played on my iTunes while I was drawing Zenaida, and she certainly looks like she's having fun! I thought it 's been a while and I should trot out my Venus of the Rice again...

Croaky

Today is day two in my post-creative letdown, after the other day's completion of my design project, so all I'm doing is online shopping. Again. Which leads to me thinking of men's fits, which resulted in this very general men's croquis.

Rinna, Sir Ollie and their friend Heron

Rinna, Sir Ollie and their friend Heron have themselves a snuggle.

Whim's Done

The piece I've been doing over the past week is finally done but I'm limiting it to a preview here until the company that I did it for releases the image themselves. Don't want to steal any thunder (or, for that matter, 80s neon anime splooshes). So much tecnhical stuff done that wasn't even drawing since this is a high-rez image for posters and such. But there was a lot of refining color fields and highlights that I drew in by hand, so I suppose that counts as drawing here. I was originally going to redraw everything in paths but felt like I should leave a bit of a hand in it so it doesn't come off as too 'cold'. The client liked it, so I'm glad of that. And now I'm tired. Ooh, I feel a haitus coming on...

Splooshes Again

I really should have been done composing the piece and actually just doing finishes on it, but you know us creative types - always adding and improving things. I felt that there needed to be just a bit more movement in this one area, so I added a new splash, which then necessitated a color shift, and subsequently added a new technique to the entire piece that I now have to retro-fit elsewhere to make it consistent. Oy.

More blobs and bobs and splooshes

It's nearly home stretch for the Whim photomanipulation, as I've vectorized nearly all the painted splashes to give them a cleaner edge. Vector work really isn't my thing, but I think it's the best thing for this series to get that hyper-real anime look I'm striving for. Next stop: color cleanup.

Splooshes

I wonder if drawing in paths counts as drawing? In my book, not really, but since I'm painting over my rough 'splooshes' in my Whim piece, I suppose I can use it as today's drawing. Especially since I'm really going at them and making them as perfect as possible. Damn, this process is a lot more labor intensive than just drawing them...

Impressions of Mihara

I was shopping online... again.... for Mihara Yasuhiro Fall items. Mihara is one of my favorite Japanese designers, and his Fall 2010 collection, which I didn't quite love on the runway, I'm suddenly desperate for now that the season is underway. Wonder why that is? Ugh. Obsessed.

Layering

There was so much happening today, what with working on the drawing as well as all the errands I had in mind for Sunday, that I needed to step out and chill for a while... literally. It was a very brisk Fall day today, so I started playing around with the layering effects I've been working on since last year, but adding some more color. My old skinny leather jeans are still good, but to make them more interesting I wore my black drop crotch sarouel shorts over them, with a double-layered plaid flannel shirt under my new quilted coat jacket, with bright turquoise socks and scarf to add some pop. I quite liked the effect, and got a few random comments on the street as well. Too bad I didn't take a picture. ;)

Whim

I've been working on a pro bono piece for the last couple of weeks that's fun because the group I'm doing it for is very creative. I got a groove going over the past couple of days (typically me, lots of prep, then most of the work gets done in the home stretch). It's still got a lot of refinement needed, but so far the 'client' likes it, so I'm happy. You'll notice my blobby~swirly elements that I've been playing with for the past couple of years, although they're particularly appropos for this piece because of the graffiti-painted background.

Matt and his friend Heron

Matt and his friend Heron seem to be having fan.

Wide and Cropped

I spent two whole days writing out a business proposal, and the last thing I want to do is work on anything. So I shopped for more pants on my favorite Japanese websites. One thing that happens when you do a lot of this kind of thing is you subtly narrow your focus to what strikes you. I'll still hunting down the pleated and baggy at the hips, narrow from the knees down silos, but now I'm considering the cropped versions that are maybe a bit flared on straight on the bottom... I dunno why, it's such a theoretically ugly silhouette, but I'm just so entranced with it. I really know myself and my instincts usually play right by me even when the rest of the country will look at me with one eyebrow cocked...

OMG I'm so tired I can barely render a face... I better go to sleep...

It's A Wash. Again.

I know I'm especially busy with actual work that stretches my creative muscles, because at the end of the day, I really don't have the energy to draw. Hmm, not sure that's such a good thing.

Desperately Seeking Pants

I get downright obsessive when I get my mind to something, and lately, I'm absolutely hunting non-stop for the next pants silhouette: pleated and loose at the hips, narrow and tapered from the knees down. I'm obsessed. I found a pair in Japan that I liked but they were all sold out of my size, and so I've been scouring various Japanese sites for the past two weeks hunting similar styles down. I. Just. Can't. Stop.

Oy.

It's a Wash

When I audited the fashion illustration class weeks ago, their exercise was to draw from a model, and to do the outline in the faintest gray then fill in the middle tones. It's something I have never done and I figured I'd have time to practice before going back to that class again, but I ended up trying it with the wash brush in painter. Definitely need to find some joy here, although not yet in these...