Crayon Tryout

I bemoan the fact that I don't have a distinct style. Or at least, that's the way it appears to me. An astrologer once told me I can't settle for any old thing, always seeking out the new. Well, the fashionista in me thinks that's true and well and good, but the art director in me knows that that will make it hard to market my illustration skills, which, by the way, I never have. Guess I want to now... except I'm too damn versatile but I feel like I'm a master of nothing in particular.

Meanwhile, last night, all I wanted to do was watch old episodes of Wonderfalls, the one-season-wonder from Bryan Fuller. I love that show still, and it made me seek out more Bryan Fuller shows (in particular, the pilot episode of "Dead Like Me."). So I made a placeholder post for yesterday's entry and the next day ended up sketching a make-up (as in make up for not doing it) sketch of an email I got from an ecommerce site, thecorner.com. I liked the male model's profile and while I didn't try too hard to get a likeness, I did play with a different tool, namely the crayon brush on Painter. I like the wet effect, and the sketch ain't half bad. I may have to play with this tool more. Hmm, that last line sounds a little dirty...

Karlie Croquis

A photo I found online of Karlie Kloss posing against a mirror provided 2 different views of one pose, which was great for getting a sense of the different angles. It reminds me of my window display days where striking a mannequin was so much fun because of the way a pose can interact with the viewer depending on how it was struck. So I decided to do a quick croquis of the mirror image, which to me was more fun than the front view.

Robby 2

Refining my friend's features, and color blocking just to see what the silhouettes are like in volume. Sometimes when you draw lines, the colored version isn't what you expected... or for that matter, wanted. Lord knows I have so many examples of drawings that went awry as soon as I colored in the lines. But so far I'm actually having fun with this, as I can see Robby in the drawing... he's not looking as handsome as he does in real life, but that's just the rough pre-sketch.

Robby

This is a long overdue portrait of my friend Robby. I took photos of him 4 months ago back in December and I was feeling like I needed to do reeeally right by him, so I think I was daunted to start. But I have a few pieces all in the pipeline, and I figured he was as good a place to start as anywhere. So far the first lines are really easy, and it even looks like him to me, which opens up the possibilities of how I render this. If it looks like him to me just form the linework, I might be able to get away with something more linear...

Silly Bird

I reeeally didn't feel like drawing tonight. When in doubt, do something scratchy and silly.

Vincent and his friend Heron

Vincent and his friend Heron were thrilled - simply thrilled! - to be out in the country.

Illustreportage

I spent almost the entire day at a fashion photoshoot. The photographer and I were thinking of collaborating on a creative project together, and this editorial looks to be our premiere effort. Featuring one of my favorite male models today, it was a Spring/Summer cover shoot that I got to sit in on and sketch as it took place. As such the drawings are very quick and almost rudimentary, to try and quickly capture the essence of the shots and the session. I call it illustrative reportage, or Illustreportage, if you will. It was a very long day for me starting with this shoot in Williamsburg, then getting to Manhattan to get to the gym before heading into Brooklyn Heights for dinner before finally presenting logo designs to a client in China (via Skype). Which is my way of saying I'll upload shots of my notebook later. :)

edit: aaand here we are.

Quickie

I don't know if Im going to be putting any of the sailor accoutrements on him that I had thought the last couple of days. I think I like him just being built and naked and rough. Maybe not long-term material, but definitely worth a quickie. ;)

I scaled his head up a bit. Even if I know some super-tall guys with big body proportions, I wanted a certain scale relationship between his head and his physique.

Quickie Sailor 2

And here I thought this would be more of a throwaway sketch, but I rather liked how the anatomy turned out. I drew his pose, filled in the muscles, then went looking for a similar reference photo and found that i had actually gotten much of it right on my own... and then it just became fun sketching... I don't even know if I'll even clean it up anymore.

Quickie Sailor

I had Mad Men Marathon all night, finishing up the previous season episodes that I missed. So by the time I was done, I had no desire to draw... therefore this is a makeup drawing of sorts. I have so many temp projects that need realizing, but find myself procrastinating! Ugh. Anyhow, this is another new one. He's gonna be a sailor.

Mask and You Shall Receive

This is a sketch of a keychain I bought at a nearby store for $2.

Horny Beast

I'm designing a logo for a new client, and I thought I'd try drawing a rhino logomark. This one kinda sets a good tone, but I need to refine it some more.

Fashion Sketch Meetup, March

Had the fashion sketch meetup again today and I don't know if it's my inability to render the model's really beautiful, deep skin tone, or if it was the cramped seating arrangements, or if I was just off my game, but I had a hard time trying to render her face. Plus it didn't help when I wasn't sure about rendering her hair down... ah well, good practice. hopefully, there's a finished piece in my future after all this practicing.

Fake Clip Art

I've been designing logos all day (I worked over 8 hours straight) and I needed a crown as well as a shield emblem for some of the ideas I'm fleshing out. Ugly as they are, they qualify as drawings, haha.

Impala Hooves

I wanted the shoes to look very sporty, but in a weird bellbottom shape that seemed to merge with the pants so that they were part spat, part trainer, part Rick Owens elephant boot.

Impala

I had to go get some sort of scan for my leg that's been bothering me, and in the room there was an issue of W magazine, with an article on designer Phoebe Philo for Celine. There was a shot of a model wearing a plain shirt and slacks in a straight cut, wearing trainers. There was something so fresh about the whole look I decided to see if I could channel it into a superhero costume. I figured she'd be a runner, so I named her Impala. This is the beginning of the design.

Geoffry and his friend Heron

Geoffry and his friend Heron are both very valued clients of the barber shop.

Peekaboo 6

This arm was bugging me. I know it's supposed to be awkward, but it looked more awkward than I was comfy with, so I redid it (and redid it) then checked with different colors and had to redo some of those as well... things change so much with line and color. And I STILL need to clean up all the lines. Sigh.

Peekaboo 5

Cleaning out the linework is tricky, because it requires a level of precision that isn't necessarily my strong suit, plus it can drastically alter the fluidity of the drawing. I'm also experimenting with color schemes that could affect the outcome of the kind of linework (as well as the overall look of the piece) but in general, I'm moving along as planned. Hopefully to a finish soon!

It's definitely an old Nagel influence, albeit in a newer, more Me kind of way.

Slouchy 2

So I did a very fashion illustration-y wash on it, just to finish it off. I like how this tunrd out. Wish I had a whole slew of outfits to illustrate so I can explore this kind of look/aesthetic more. I'm definitely feeling an Asian illustration vibe - the Japanese and Korean manga artists love drawing more feminine men, and this is as soft as I've ever done a guy.

Slouchy

I was going for easy and natural, and young and modern, because I tend to draw the types of guys I used to draw when I was younger, which is to say an 80s ideal. If you look through this blog or have been following it for a while, you'll notice this is a recurring theme, as I try to make my illustrations keep up with the look of the times. I rather like how this fashion sketch turned out. I almost feel like he's an anime character.

Trying to utilize the drapery lessons I learned from the Society of Illustrators, but I find I'm going more on automatic when I draw the folds. Hey, but that's what practice is for... Also was inspired to leave it undone for now, not unlike the croquises (sp?) posted by my Facebook friend Miguel Angel, as instructional sketches for his students.

Peekaboo 4

I adjusted the arms for more realism because even if the awkward pose is kind of correct, I think it looked more awkward than necessary... especially after I added in the colors. Fleshing out the linework with color really does change how the drawing looks, and I had to retool it to fit the coloring. Even the hair is being laid in for future manipulation with color, so this is just a step along the way... along with cleaning up some of the lines...

Hurts

I love the look of the Hurts band. Their nearly Aryan haircuts evocative of WWII style, plus 80s-ish suits and white shirts, just look so smart to me. This drawing doesn't live up to their cool, but it was fun for a quick sketch.

Pants Folds

I pulled a pic of a pair of pants from the Lad Musician ecommerce website, and decided to sketch them to study the folds. I also tried using Photoshop 5.1's painting mode to see if it woould in any way replace Painter, but I have yet to find a way to work with it that seems like natural media. So I used the blur filter to soften the effects.

Lanvin FW 2012

There was something about the dresses at Alber Elbaz's FW 2012 defilé for Lanvin that reminded me of a pared down Lacroix. This lace number with the shots of color felt very Parisian in Lacroix's vein, but clean and modern pret-a-porter. So I thought I'd do a quick sketch in Photoshop. My woman is pretty much a woman, though, a bit more old school in her pose, maybe the same sort who would buy Lacroix even if she's wearing a look from Lanvin here...

It's kinda crazy how different the styles I've posted are in the past 5 days. It's almost like it's not by the same artist, is it...?

Piergiorgio and his friend Heron

Piergiorgio and his friend Heron are wondering why the flash didn't go off.

Bon Anniversaire

This is a quick birthday e-card for my sibling...

ChickieDuck and Bunny, her pet Kraken

After yesterday's duck drawing, I did a search for older drawings of ducks that I had done (it's a recurring theme) and came up with this one. I didn't like how I had colored Bunny, the pet Kraken, so I redid it tonight, just fer shits and giggles.

Rubber Ducky

I've been drawing intensively two nights in a row, so I'm allowing myself a "sorbet" course from drawing... which means quickly sketching some implausibly silly thing. And really, how silly is it for a duck to wear rubber boots?

Society of Illustrators Workshop

Two nights in a row I've been going to drawing workshops! This one was my first time ever at the Society of Illustrators mansion on the Upper East Side. Wow, what an inspirational place! All the walls were festooned with illustrations from so many amazing artists from the past century or so, and it was both humbling and inspiring.

Tonight's workshop was presided over by Michael Massen, who instructed everyone on how to determine how fabric would fall on a figure - stuff I have never learned formally how to do, and it was eye-opening. The practical advice explained and delineated exactly why folds fall the way they do, and how to render them - it was soooo goood to learn! I had never been taught how to render draping, and while I can draw it from a model, my own ad libbed renderings never seem absolutely right to me. We basically drew from nudes, then drew overlays to predict how the fabric would fold, and finally draw the clothed figure to see how our work compared to the reality. I felt really inspired by both the environs, the lecture, and the lesson. I was like a kid in a candy store (and at MY age!). And I think it shows in the sketches -- moreso than the day before at the Erotic Drawing Salon.

This was held this evening so like yesterday's paintings, I'll upload them as soon as I can photograph them in daylight.

Edit: Here they are, in order of the exercises, from nudes to projected draping, to actual rendering of clothing on the same pose. Sorry for the bad scans - it's been cloudy and the newsprint doesn't help. Methinks I need a proper scanner...

Besides the glamour of the setting (historical illustration greatness!), the educational setting and the presence of equally serious attendees (except for a couple of guys who kept talking a few seats beside me so much so that I wanted to shush them like at the movies), it helps that the model was a joy to draw. There was a female model too who would have been more helpful for me since I would like help drawing women's fashions more, but she was obstructed from view because of my positions near the stage. Still, I'd come draw the male model by himself anytime... what a physique.