Catalog Croquis

One thing that struck me about Anne Hathaway while watching her change into numerous glam gowns throughout the Oscars earlier tonight was the fact that she doesn't represent high fashion (despite carrying it all of perfectly) so much as the more approachable America's Sweetheart mantle. She kind of makes me think she's the new Julia Roberts, all smile and teeth. She's not edgy at all, and while she looked beautiful in couture, she wasn't as ethereal as, say, Cate Blanchett, whose Givenchy look was a bit more divisive amongst the viewers at the Oscar party I attended. America doesn't really like High Fashion on its red carpets, and truth to tell, it tends to look wrong on such All-American fare as awards shows. So when I thought about drawing a croquis with Hathaway on my mind, the pose and look that came to mind was more JCPenney (not ironically a sponsor for the telecast) despite the overlaid Valentino original.

Fashiony Sketchiness

I tend to draw figures for figures sake and not for the the clothing, and I was thinking about designers who sketch and put a lot of fashion 'attitude' into their sketches but don't necessarily render their figures particularly realistically, so I wanted to try my hand at that. I often think I've lost my fashion influences, but in some ways, they never leave... the legs in particular have that stance that reminds of of fashion sketches, even if the poses change...

Izzy and his friend Heron

Izzy and his friend Heron didn't realize that their "leisurely tour of Rome" would be so exhausting.

One Minute Bunny

I challenged myself to just do a sketch in a minute, one minute in the Year of the Rabbit.

Leave Lines As They Lay

The experiment here was to draw a man's face without erasing or undoing the linework and accomplish it all in whatever strokes I executed. I got so far as the eyes, nose and mouth, byt by the time I got to the jawline, I had to Undo. Ultimately, it's an interesting experiemnt, but not much of a drawing.

Photo-based Sketch

I downloaded an image some time ago from a site I can't recall, and I think it was for a brand lookbook. The clothing wasn't so remarkable in my mind, but I did like the stance of one of the male models. I'm not sure what to do about pulling references like that - when it's an informal sketch that I just do for practice as I do here, do I need to reference the site and its photographer? I'm not sure what constitutes fair use in this case. In any case, I don't recall the site it came from, so that's the background info, and this is the sketch. It's a rougher fashion-y style that I've come to be comfortable doing - which is strange for me because I'm not sure where it comes from, other than wanting to use certain tools. Perhaps it's the genesis of my own style? Hunh. Fancy that.

Neckpiece

I'm bequeathing an old accessory that was given to me by a friend to a new friend, but I couldn't remember where I placed it to take a pic of it, so I did the quickest thing: I did a sketch.

Annoying Perfection

I got to the gym very late this evening so I rushed through the locker room to change, but next to me was this really good looking guy who made me slow down. I took one look at his hair and thought, nicely groomed but a bit 80s, in hopes of discrediting someone who seemed just too perfect at first glance (I can be bitter that way). Well, as soon as he started dressing up, I was enthralled, first by the bright red belt (contrast accessorizing!) on his navy, slim and cropped chinos (ankle length! He was gorgeous and fashionable!)(damn him), then by the perfectly-fitting, chunky shawl-collared pullover (which revealed heretofore unnoticed and enviable chest definition) and finally by his perfectly-matched-to-his chinos blue socks, all anchored by perfectly au courant neutral suede bucks. How I hated him and his perfection... which of course means I wanted to lick him really badly.

Breton

I had an idea for a sailor looking beefcake guy with a breton sweater look on. This is the initial pose sketch. Dunno if this is the final though...

Asha and her friend Heron

Asha and her friend Heron were glad to finish the marathon.

Enchantress 2011.2

What I originally thought would be an easy redesign isn't proving as quick as I'd imagined. I wanted something that looked more contemporary but still true to the original costume, but I also wanted to maintain the character's exotic identity, namely a Norse goddess who is also kind of a temptress. And I was kind of going more for an updated Gossip Girl kind of feel. Kind of a disparity, eh? This is the state of that design so far...

Enchantress 2011.1

Want to watch a movie tonight so I only decided to clean up her face. Really wanted to make her young and model-y (it IS Fashion Week in NYC after all) and I think I accomplished that. I even like her eye makeup in the inner corners of her eyes, a happy accident when I forgot to change colors when retouching her eye shape. I'll probably go back in later and clean up the asymmetrical features I see but so far I like it.

She doesn't look like but is kind of in the vein of Dianna Agron from Glee...

Enchantress 2011

I was watching an animated feature of Thor versus The Hulk, and the character of The Enchantress, who was always one I found interesting, played a key role in the movie. She had her classic costume on, and the short skirt and black tights seemed perfectly in step with current fashion, if the dress was tweaked a bit. So I thought I'd find a way to update it and make it more current. The croquis came along really quickly, but unfortunately the outfit still needs some figuring out.

Whoops!

I got so caught up with my dinner guest and cooking and cleaning that I didn't do a drawing until waaaay late! Well, better late than never, indeed. And it's Zenaida with an expression I've never drawn her with before. Now I need to sleep...

Valentine Mine

Completely unexpectedly, I received a Valentine today, from Australia where it's already the 14th. Now I don't get Valentine's Day anything, ever, so it was the quite sweet surprise. So this is for my valentine, Pete.

Sloped Back

I followed some blog links to the site of Anders Soelvsten Thomsen, and really liked a lot of his work. For some reason I'm always attracted to and drawing poses that involve the slope of a back, usually with a face looking over a shoulder. Maybe it's the S curve, and maybe because the pose can be fairly dramatic. This was a pose from one of Anders' photos that I just wanted to do a quick sketch of, because I liked it a lot.

Robbie

My friend Robert Geller took his bow in an outfit that was actually one of my favorites of his show for Fall Winter 2011. Robbie always has such an innate style that it comes through on his person as much as in his work, which is great, because the guy he dresses is basically himself. You can't fault brand dna that's as intrinsic as that!

Face Lines

I just wanted to do very quick, simple lines without making multiple strokes. The eye was easy enough, but I do confess that I did a few command+z strokes to undo a few lines in the nose and lips that I didn't think worked.

Water Bunny, Too

Just thought I'd add a few more washes to the leedle fluffytheeng.

Water Bunny

I found a website devoted to animal portraits, and this bunny image was just begging to be painted... since I wanted to see how I would do it in a watercolor. The fur was fun to render in light washes, although I could probably use more intense color/pigment next time.

It's A(nother) Wash

Playing with this watercolor brush is exciting - I'm especially fond of doing those darker red tones around people's noses and ears, a technique I've seen a lot in comics and other illustrator's paintings, but never could identify with because we Filipinos don't exactly get pink. But she does! This is just playtime, a watercolor doodle, if you will, no real attention to structure or form, just technique, so its definitely not a finished piece. Although there's an old drawing in my archives that can definitely stand to get finished with this technique!

Waterful

I didn't really expect much to come out of the sketch from yesterday, but I decided to only use a wash watercolor technique, not unlike one that I found so inspiring on Deviant Art recently (so many amazing young artists - I feel so... old). It was really fun, and not having any reference really made it even more fun! I should practice this style more often...

Simple Crayon

I actually programmed a web page today. I seem to be going back to my web work, so my creative juices are kind of wrapped up with design and not with drawing; as such I wanted to just do something quick and simple. Using the crayon tool in Painter made me want to keep things simple, especially since the tool gives a somewhat wet line, which I'm not used to and decided to focus on. Proportions aren't very realistic on this face, but they're stylized in a way that I like. He reminds me a bit of an old friend, Ryan, who has a similar teeth and cheek structure.

Bunny Forgot

I got caught up in my day so much last night that I thought I had done everything I needed to do, and forgot to do a drawing! Makeup sketch...!!

David (C) and his friend Heron

David and his friend Heron could have sworn they heard---Wait! There it was again! Something was TEXTING from underneath the rocks!

Happy Year of the Rabbit!

Kung Hei Fat Choy, Rrrahbeet!

I Love February 1...

...so far! While I slipped on sidewalk ice and had a nasty fall, I did however get two random job inquiries which hopefully will lead to more. So pretty happy about that. Oh, and got a pair of pants I was stalking on the net in Japan for over two months (finally!) as well as a pair of shoes I wanted since November that finally went on sale... and they fit and are perfect! All these things that have happened in pairs, on the 2nd month of the year? What's not to love? :)

Bobby 2011

I started this drawing almost two years ago, and I couldn't figure out how to continue it. I revisited it again today and just resolved to do a portrait, and not really think about any special linework, just to draw. Or paint. Or pastel, such as the case may be. And with that resolve, I felt no fear in editing out details I had painstakingly put down a year ago, because they just needed to be adjusted properly. So much freedom to just do what feels like! Hopefully that will make the portrait work out really nicely.