Queer Man's Erotic Drawing Salon

I went to a session of this ongoing drawing workshop tonight, for the first time in years. I used to go almost every week, but I soon got tired of the subject matter. But tonight I wanted to go do watercolors, something I have never had the confidence to do with nudes before. I think I did okay, but I only got two sketches that I like enough to post, and even those have their issues. Will photograph and upload them tomorrow when there's more light in my apartment.

Edit: uploads below...

Hate how the I rendered the tricep in this one, but the rest was fun enough. I think I spent too much time (as I often do) trying to get a likeness. But methinks - for watercolor -it was a great exercise.

Close up of the face. I was painting this one without any initial pencils whatsoever, and with that in mind, I think the face turned out well.

This was my first watercolor of the evening, and arguably the most successful, especially for 20 minutes. Here's a closeup of the portrait:

The initial warmup illustration for the evening, at 10 minutes. I was sloooooooow!


I have a feeling the subject matter just doesn't work for me anymore.Once upon a time, I used the lure of sexuality to goad me into drawing, but that's worn thin. Even after a two year hiatus, I wasn't as enthused as I'd hope I'd be. Ah well...

Aleph

I was trying to adjust the arm on yesterday's peekaboo drawing, but accidentally didn't save all the changes I made so after starting all over, I decided to leave it for the evening and draw another character from Global Frequency. Aleph is the hub, the network wunderkind who connects all the agents together in the series, notable for her chain-smoking, mohawked visage.

Peekaboo 3

I'd forgotten I'd begun this piece some time ago, and when I saw it again last night, I wondered what I was originally planning for the color scheme. In the end, time has passed, and I was inspired by the whiteness of yesterday's Tom Ford red carpet outfit, so that's what I did for this initial color blocking. It helps that I was planning on making her blond anyhow, if I recall correctly. And it may still change - I think I saw her clothing as orange originally, but I do like the contrast between these light, neutral tones and the dark shades I seem to favor of late - see Miranda Zero from two days ago.

I'm planning on turning this into a tutorial for the digital meetup that I sometimes attend, at the behest of its moderator. Laying in the colors usually shows me where the linework may need to be adjusted, as volumes become more evident, and adjustments may need to be made, as I've done here. And I think both arms may still need adjusting, but I'm done for the evening...

Ford Focus

Tom Ford, that is. I'm not exactly a fan of his work (I was never into Gucci), but I loved his cape and gown ensemble for Gwyneth Paltrow at the Oscars tonight. I thought it was something worth doing a sketch of, but let me tell you, do not try to paint quick-drying watercolors on quick-drying paper while trying to watch the Oscars at the same time. Distracted, I made so many mistakes on this one, but fortunately I can edit in Photoshop before posting to make it reasonably acceptable (not my fave overall, but it's tonight's drawing. Just don't ask me to show you the original. And no I wasn't trying to make it look like Gwyneth. ;)

Miranda Zero

I had been drawing something else but had an inspiration to draw a character from one of my fave comic book mini series, Global Frequency, which I had recently gifted to my friend Kevin for his birthday. Miranda Zero is the kick-ass head of network of agents assigned to clean up the world's messes. And she's got a killer haircut. I wanted to drawing to look on part Howard Chaykin, one part David Downton.

Nicole and her friend Heron

Nicole and her friend Heron realize too late the tragic flaw in Nicole's "let's have a lovely home-cooked dinner" menu plan.

Meetup Croquis 2

I had two more croquis on the scan, might as well flesh those ladies out. I rather like inking in Photoshop - the brush handling is much smoother and more responsive than it used to be, although I have yet to get the hang of whether or not they can get more sensitive like Painter does. I suspect it won't be replacing Painter just yet, unless it's a hidden thing I have yet to discover.

Meetup Croquis

I decided to ink some of the 2 minute sketches I did last Sunday - they weren't so bad considering the lack of time. My only regret is being unable to easily render the Japanese model's features.

Anime Dale, Done

I tried to get as many anime tropes in there as possible. Scarf? Check. Spiky hair? Check. Flowy garments? Check. Lens flare and glowy effects? Okay, I suppose, subject to improvement. But it's done for now. Voila, Anime mage Dale Cooper, i.e. Longinus (his choice of name, by the by). My, what a long spear you have, Mr.Cooper...

edit: A bit of a backstory: the reason for this whole anime rendition of Dale Cooper was an extensive conversation between myself and the nascent adult thespian (I've seen him in a movie - he really does act! ;)) about our mutual love of anime. So I tried to render him in such a way that he looked somewhat like himself while staying true to the style, admittedly with mixed results in the likeness department. But it was a fun project nevertheless.

While the anime mage Dale is here, you can see the somewhat less cartoony but no less spellbinding real life Dale Cooper via his rather quirky, arguably NSFW website, Dale Does Porn.

Anime Dale, Fabric

I've been delaying on this drawing a bit because after getting the likeness (or so far as I've mustered), now comes the crafting of the anime style. It's a difficult thing for me because it requires very clean color blocking, and my style is mainly more sketchy. So there's a lot of cleaning and shading in solid tones, almost like color by numbers, so it's kinda taking its time...and its toll. But it should look good when it's done... I hope. Here's a detail... still a work in progress.

February Meetup

Went to a Fashion Illustration Meetup again at The Center nearby, and our model was the ever sleek Tomo. I didn't do too well with my sketches, as many were unfinished or had glaring mistakes.
Two minute warmup sketches which I didn't like while I was doing them, but they look fine a day later... especially for 2 minutes sketches. This one below I had time to ink a bit, and then I went back into it during a lull and inked it a bit more, which I normally don't do because my policy is "Done is Done." When a sketching session is over, the sketch is done. It may not be finished, but it's done. :)


I went even further and colored it in in Photoshop.


I did have one or two elements I really liked, and one piece that I did like overall, which is this one with the heart sweater.

I used a small, square tip brush for the first time, and it was interesting how it affected my rendering style. It's different, I don't necessarily recognize it as mine, but it reminds me a lot of Bil Donovan (who I was channeling all the time I used my watercolors and inks, by the by). Which is not to say I have anywhere near the skill or talent he has, but I suppose it helps me to keep a goal in mind. :) In fact, the solid colors in this stocking and shoe combo (hated the rest of the painting) really made me think I was getting my Bil on. I'm so influenced, haha!

Anime Dale 6

Dale gets a bit more color via costume color blocking... I'll flesh it out later but I have the basic elements down.

Zenaida In Repose 2012

I think this might be the first Zenaida for the year. I wanted to draw a woman but after fashion week, I have NO desire to draw anything involving clothing! Besides, I'll have a fashion illustration meetup come Sunday, so there will be lots of that then...

Anime Dale 5

I didn't like the pose I cobbled together for the fuller-figured version of Anime Dale, so I erased it and started over. The last pose felt a bit timid and almost feminine, so I decided to give him a more heroic stance. And apparently, a skirt. So much for being less feminine. Well, okay, it's a samurai reference...

Angela and her friend Heron

Angela and her friend Heron never could resist a good bookstore.

Purple Wall

I imagine this rough sketch is of a guy leaning against a wall. I've been into the whole sketchy pencil line recently... although I'm not too enthused with this particular sketch. It was just something to do for tonight's post. Feeling lazy and just want to watch tv.

Love 2012

A bit of an advanced Valentine's Day Drawing, for my Faraway Valentine.

Facetasm

Eep, I was working so hard I completely forgot to do a drawing. Well, I long ago established I could do makeup drawings, especially considering the fact that sometimes I may have as many as a dozen new drawings on a given day.

But I was so busy with Fashion Week show attendance, as I went to about 4 different presentations at Milk Studioes near me on 15 Street. I was wearing a Facetasm quilted neckpiece, which garnered quite a bit of attention - I must have been photographed by at least 7 or 8 photobloggers, including Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist . Of course, since I was so damn cold and probably had a runny nose, I dunno if any of them will get published, haha!

Shapes

I went to my friend Robert Geller's show last night, and just wore a very simple outfit, because I'm feeling very clean shapes lately (especially after last Fall, when I went a bit haywire for color and pattern). I'm especially feeling black and blue, so I had a slightly oversized navy neoprene tee over my leather collared black cotton Robert Geller shirt and Geller leather jeans. No one took notice, but I felt right with what I was wearing, as it was what some of my favorite designers were showing in the runway for next year.

Toxic

I was on my way home from dinner at a friend's place when this image popped into my head. It was a darker feel, based on my mood - Fashion Week seems to do that to me, reminding me of people who, for one reason or another, are no longer in my sphere... but are prominent during this twice yearly circus that is NY Fashion Week. Add to that an online friend who didn't seem to pick up on my mood plus an acquaintance whose presence at dinner was a bit more in my face than I would have liked, and... well, you get the picture. There it is, above.

Anime Dale 4

Does the process of working a drawing bore you as an audience member? I obviously like to tinker when I do thinks digitally - there are just so many factors that affect how it will look on screen: full size, monitor angle, colors. Plus the minimal lines require that the lines themselves be precise. So I often find something wrong only after I've had time to walk away from something. Plus, I'm enjoying the heck out of this style... and the model has amazing features that I just love to draw. I really shouldn't spend too much time with this but I'm just thoroughly enjoying myself...

Anime Dale 3

I've gotten distracted by developing the costuming for our anime hero Dale C., although I still have to see if the resemblance is there...

Anime Dale 2

Continuing my anime-fication of newbie porn star Dale Cooper! It's hard, trying to make it a portrait and maintain a likeness, yet adopt a completely stylized look such as anime. Still, I can at least color it the way one would expect an animation cell... which is entirely a style I like anyhow...

Julian, Stella, George and their friend Heron

Julian, Stella, George and their friend Heron were eager for a photo op in the first big snowfall of the season... well, some moreso than others.

F.I.T. (Fashion Illustration Tonight)

I went to a fashion sketching session at F.I.T. under Professor Broadway. Taking my recent experiments further, I found myself reaching for my watercolors and not even wanting to draw outlines with a pencil first. I think the new style is coming along nicely, although I can certainly see where I'm cribbing techniques from David Downton and Bil Donovan. Still, as far as homages go, I can take lessons from worse. Will upload pics when I can shoot them in daylight - since I don't have a scanner, it will be better for getting color and detail, methinks.


Edit: Now that I've uploaded the pics, I'm wondering whether or not I even need to post all of these... but they're all significant in the way that I took chances when I did them - some of them I just began painting directly with no pre-sketch, and I'm allowing myself a backpat for being fearless enough to try new things. That said, I wasn't so enthusiastic about the models nor the clothing, but I suppose concentrating on one thing at a time (tehcnique, in this case) is enough of an exercise. Hopefully this means my style may go somewhere and actually develop...

Anime Dale

It's been requested of me that I render a rather comely young man in the anime style. After meeting him and sharing a nice chat over drinks, how could I not? I had originally shot reference photos of Dale Cooper but ended up using screen caps from a preview of his work online. I'm trying to find a balance between stylizing it in an anime style, or keeping his likeness, but let's start with a relative likeness and see how much the stylization changes it...

Messy Bob

Like with some of the other sketches I've posted on this blog, this is a detail from a bigger piece that I don't want to reveal yet. In the process of cropping into the detail of the initial facial linework, I started playing with tools like the palette knife and got a bit more playful with the coloring. It's messy, but methinks in a good way.

Tessie, Will You Join Us?

The ongoing inking of my "The Trial of Tessa" story continues... this time with a radically reinterpreted finished version of one panel from page 4. The sight gag of the Hellfire Club wenches looking just like Tessie was amusing, but I decided to up the ante with more provocative poses, somewhat rude bodyparts placement... and a wind machine. Above are the Before breakdowns... and After, full inks.

Peekaboo Too

I jumped in front of my cam and posed for all my life's worth to get a reference shot for this, haha! I still have to refine her tone (I want her long and super lean like Karlie Kloss) but I think I got the elbow down. It's a weird pose to begin with, this Broken Doll pose, but I like its languid quality... hoping I can capture it to my liking.

Peekaboo

I had a strong image pop into my head because of some fashion editorials I saw in magazines, and as I was drawing it, I looked at my reference photo file to see if there were any images I could use as references for the pose... and lo and behold, I had very very similar ones! I must have been filing them away in my head for later, and now, the files are so old I think I came up with them... until I'm confronted with the inspirations! Ah well... it's not where you take something from, it's where you take it to.

I seem to like these bowl cuts, don't I?

And congrats to me - this is my 1700th post! Insane when I think about it. I wish I had done a much more grand, finished sketch, but I do what I do when I do it.