Elephant Pants

I was watching Project Runway's latest episode online, and the challenge was to create a70s inspired look, since the 70s has once again returned to fashion favor. I suppose Marc Jacobs' recent shows encouraged that, but the silhouette that immediately came to my mind was wide pants legs, or what we used to call elephant pants back in the actual 1970s. Perhaps this sketch is a mite too retro, but I wasn't designing, merely reacting to what was on screen. Still, compared to what they showed down the runway, I like my look a bit better...

I was channeling the illustration style of my mom's former illustrator Sony, whose looser style wasn't something I responded to growing up, but whose lines I can now appreciate over 35 years later.

7 Minute Croquis

I had screengrabbed some runway walk poses from style.com because I liked how the model's legs looked. I realized I didn't necessarily want to draw anything else but the line from the pose, at least for this entry, so I limited the time I had to render it. I hated the face and erased it last minute and changed it, so it's a pretty raw croquis.

Loose Fits

I was hunting down a particular brand called Won Hundred, and came across this product page from Urban Outfitter's UK site. I liked how casually loose this tee was, yet it still kinda showed the model's physique underneath via the drape. Wanted to see if that translated to a drawing. Again, my sketching was fairly loose, not really out for an exact replica - more as a point of reference for the pose and fabric, especially since I was going for a quick, sketchy, fashion-y rendering. Plus the crayon tool was really conducive to the sketchiness. I ended up reversing the shadows and highlights, just for the heck of it. I'm not sure why I ended up drawing him tilted, but in a way it's more dynamic...

Jil Sander SS2011

While I was on Style.com I decided to revisit my favorite collection from last Spring, Jil Sander. I haven't loved Raf Simons' menswear like I used to, and when he went over to Jil Sander, I didn't respond to his menswear either. However, I find myself falling in love with his womenswear season after season since his first collection for Sander. He really gets the purity of form that Jil stood for, and takes it further. I wanted to render one of the now-iconic peplum outfits he designed, but got waylaid by just doing a really simple face based on the runway makeup (with a few more pinks added in for good illustrative measure). This one was done using Painter's waxy crayon tool, which created interesting soft blending effects especially when layered over another color. I'm gonna explore this tool a bit more.

This particular model, whose name I do not know off-hand, has tiny lips in relation to the rest of her facial features...

Ferré SS2012

The new team of Stefano Citron and Federico Piaggi for Gianfranco Ferré showed their first collection for the house of one of my favorite designers back in the 80s. I always liked Ferré's hard-edged glamour, perhaps because it had a very masculine quality to it while still being much more refined than the equally strong Montana and Mugler at the time. This new team captured a lot of the strong lines Ferré was fond of, while bringing the house into the twenteens (I just made that up).

Anyhow, I selected a look that I thought would be fun to draw. Unlike what seems to be the fad for fashion illustrators nowadays, I used the photo as a starting point and reference for the drawing, but don't necessarily just redraw the photo. I don't understand how it's considered illustrating if all you're doing is copying the shot some photographer took, as I question how much originality there is in merely capturing someone else's shot and art direction. This was my reference , and as you can see, the pose is the same, but the angle is completely different. This was fun to do. It came fairly easily, although I certainly wasn't trying to make it perfect - just do it quickly. I can certainly see elements that can be improved, but it came really naturally. Does this mean this is my real style?

Torso, Fleshed Out Some More

I didn't pay much attention to getting a likeness of the model form the photo reference, but I thought I'd try just a little bit more (as opposed to not trying whatsoever prior). I'm trying to get into making more 'pieces' as opposed to just sketching and doodling whatever comes to mind. I look at the portfolios of Facebook friends and I get envious at how finished their displayed pieces seem... although I imagine they might think my own album of illustrations might have a similar level of finish. Who knows? I suppose I just want to make things I consider more finished...

Another Ana, 3

Getting a sense of where I might want to go with this drawing - I love the hair movement, but while I have an idea for the pose, I have yet to find the right balance for it...

Bong and his friend Heron

Bong and his friend Heron reeeeealllllly want a pony.

Torso, Fleshed Out

I decided to use pastels (well, digital pastels) since I wanted to try and capture the smoothness of the model's flesh. I'm having fun, and it's looking promising. I shaped the negative space of his briefs to reflect just how defined his obliques are as they insert into his groin - you can see how they distend the line of the elastic band on his underwear.

Torso

I was shopping on one of the ecommerce sites I frequent, and an underwear shot featured a model with the most amazing lower abs. He wasn't super-ripped like he works out constantly, but he was one of those guys blessed with a natural, lean body, and very emphasized lower abs. They were so sculptural, they reminded me of Greek statues. I wanted to see if I could capture the shape of those pelvic muscles.

Another Ana, 2

Cleaning up yesterdays details, but still not sure where this sketch may head, so I'm only doing a little at a time. There's a very 1970s quality about this kind of linework, reminding me of magazine illustrations from the time, or maybe the artwork of Filipino comics artists like Fred Carillo and Nestor Redondo...

Another Ana

I took a few photos of my friend Ana when I sketched her live. Everytime I see the scan of the pencil sketch i did, I cringe - I really think I got so much wrong. She says she loves it and I'm glad of that, but I'm hoping to make a better one, with a better likeness. This was the beginnings of it, but I'm uncertain about the layout. I may have to figure this out more...

Unzipping, 2

I just wanted to tweak yesterday's face a bit. I still wanted her to appear a bit mannish especially since she was wearing what could appear to be men's underwear-inspired, but I wanted to keep it all very soft and sketchy still... it's not a style I often do but I was inspired by seeing some other artist's looser work online. It's fun to do, certainly.

Unzipping

As I crossed the street to get to the gym, I saw a magazine page on the curb with what looked like a lingerie/women's underwear ad on it. It was a woman wearing panties and a tank top, but what I saw in my mind was a one-piece bodysuit with cutouts where a pantyline might normally be... so I made it into a zipper detail. It's nothing you wouldn't normally see if someone were wearing a normal panty and tank top, but for some reason as a cutout it seems more risqué.

Digital Pencil

I seldom ever use the pencil tool in Painter. I don't feel like it looks like pencil work. I wish there was a way to approximate pencil work more. This was a trial I attempted, but considering the shading didn't pass muster, I decided to leave it just as an outline.

Zenaida In Repose

I can't believe I've been drawing this character for over 20 years. All my other cartoon characters I've stopped drawing, but I keep coming back to her. Funny how that is...

More Lovelies In Latex

I did a bit more to the drawing I started yesterday because I didn't like her face - she needed to be less ethnic and more adult looking. And more of her!

Not loving the shadows on her face, but not sure how to render them properly. Right now, it's looking a bit stiff, like some of the X-men comics artists attempting a more noir look but looking a bit wooden...

Lovely In Latex

I was walking home from the gym and spotted a woman in a very sensible, almost schoolmarmish pencil skirt, and I got to thinking, how can I subvert such a plain Jane look? Well, in latex, of course! I love the idea that the miniskirt is actually part of the leggings which are part of the shoes, so there's a bondage undertone to how one would walk (or at least try) with this fetish garment on.

Maybe this is what the ballerina from my post two days ago wears when she's off stage. ;)

Tess and her friend Heron

Tess and her friend Heron know they look good in white, Labor Day fashion rules be damned.

Tutu Much

I worked 14 hours straight yesterday, from the time I got up until the time I went to bed, which was 4:30 am the next day. Ah, the perils of web design. But today, after answering a comment from a browser regarding an old drawing of a latex ballerina, I decided to revisit the drawing. I went a bit crazier than usual, playing with the accidental rose pattern in Painter's Image hose function. Since roses and florals in general are having a moment in fashion, it seemed right.

Supersizedsweatshirt

One of my favorite pieces at my friend Robbie's show tonight was a sleeveless hoodie in very 80s proportions. This wasn't the outfit it was shown in, but it's what I remember... especially after the After Party and a couple of vodka tonics.

Salmon

Forgot to draw something... arrrgh! This is a makeup drawing, inspired by a male model I saw at a show as well as at an after party - pretty stunning in person, this Frenchman. But the title has nothing to do with the subject, just the background color. I was in the thick of working on a website that has me consumed with production so this is definitely after the fact. Still, I think this brush tool makes for an interesting line - it makes me do more hard shadows.

Zenaida's Night Out

Thursday Night was Fashion's Night Out, so in honor of the evening I had Zenaida put on a skirt and get a bit groomed. Funny how adding on more clothing makes her look more vulgar, haha!

Floored and Trussed

I don't know why procrastination is so part of my process, but when I end up processing over 400 images for a website, I'm reminded why I delay working on big websites that I have to program myself. So while I had Photoshop up and running, I had no desire to create a new file and try and start anything new, hence the additional doodling on yesterday's doodle. But hey, can't make a new masterpiece all the time!

Floored

I spent a lot of time avoiding work on the website I have due, as is my natural process, and spent a good bit of time online with the Stavrinos group, debating the merits and authenticity of various pieces from his career. So while my monitor was filled with stuff I shouldn't be doing, I picked up a sheet of paper lying on my desk and doodled on that.

Illyana

I was reading an article by Joss Whedon on the new site for teen girls, Rookie. The writing in this blog is awesome, and it boggles the mind how accomplished its founder, Tavi, is at her 15 years (although considering she was the youngest blogger ever to be invited to haute couture shows in Paris, many great things are expected of her). My life seems to have revolved around pop culture aimed at teens a lot of the time, between my origins in comics to my obsession with Buffy, so it made me think of one of my favorite teen characters from when I was a teen, Illyana Rasputin. This started out inspired by a photo of Tavi herself, but it soon morphed into Illyana just by being blonde (and the fact that the drawing was destined to be a quick one). Anyhow, this was based on my memories of Illyana when she was drawn as a teenager by the late, great Dave Cockrum.

Wheeeee! Labor Day!

Whee for the extra day of a long weekend... Whee for the smoothness of the the sable brush tool in Painter... Whee for Zenaida as easy breezy as ever... Whee for having more time on a deadline for a website! Wheee!

Strawberry Blond

I didn't want to draw, but I also didn't want to work on the website that I've been laboring over for the past few weeks. So after perfunctorily checking my email accounts for whatever distraction I could, I came upon a link for some actor/handyman/model being interviewed on YouTube. It was the most annoying, stereotypical mememememe type screed, but it kept me distracted enough to draw something (well, doodle, actually) somewhat decent. He looks like some 30s-style lifeguard or something. Or a 'teens (as in 2011 and up) version of some retro 30s lifeguard.

Neko

I was watching a video on Japan's Cat Island on YouTube. Not teeming with felines as I thought it might be, but enough to make me draw a fat ol' puss similar to the ones they have in Japan (I didn't know they all kinda look as rounded as Maru!).

Heavenly Streaming

I opened up an old sketch again and tinkered with it. I really like this composition but don't really know where it's going. Ah, maybe it will just be one of those unfinished drawings that gets updated from time to time...

Pomped Up

I was so enamored of the sable brush I looked for an old sketch to gussy up a bit with the brush, and this one, "pomp," got a quick makeover. I do think it makes quite a bit of difference.