Izz It You?

I thought I'd try and refine the caricature I made of my young fashionista friend. He has very distinct features that are easy to do in a cartoony way.

Sheena and her friend Heron

Sheena and her friend Heron enjoyed spending time together, but Heron didn't really care for shoe shopping since no one ever made loafers for anisodactyl heron feet.

Framed 4

After laying in the base sketch, now I'm going into the sketch, erasing out the rough lines and penciling in the final rendering. This isn't really a style of mine, but me trying to emulate a trend out there. I often experiment with illustration trends I tae a shine to, then sort of adapt it to my own style. Perhaps it will evolve into something that's mine.

Anyhow, this may not look like much, but there's a lot of erasing and retooling to start cleaning up the lines. Compare the cleaner lines/shading around teh eye and the nose, versus the moustache. This will take a while...

Lil' Wax and Izzee

My two young fashion-obsessed Filipino friends are such characters that as I was walking to the wash basins at my gym, I got a flash of them as cartoons and immediately knew how to do them. This is the sketch I made while watching "Top Chef" on iTunes.

Platform Position

I was waiting for the train tonight after having dinner over at a friend's place to watch the Olympics. A woman waiting for the train was standing a few feet from me, in almost a ballet pose, while scanning her phone.

Mixed Results

Trying to devise a style that incorporates live, quick sketches with a bit of digital post work. I'm not quite sure what media to use. I really want to paint the pictures in actual watercolor, except I sketched them back to back on paper that I think will bleed. Ah well, we'll try and see what comes up. This is a pic of my friend Robby resting between takes of his lookbook. It's a scan of my pencils but with color added in Photoshop 'watercolor'.

Naturally

I had an idea for a drawing based on a favorite photo, and thought I'd get a friend to embody it and do the pose for me, albeit nude (the original was a clothed shot). But in his initial efforts to emulate the look, the pose got a bit stiff and not at all relaxed like I wanted. However, after I showed him the shots, we were able to actually get pose down. Ironically it's a real strain sometimes to get someone to pose naturally. But I think we got it, and the best thing about drawing is I can alter things to my liking to make a better drawing.

Shape 7

My list of drawings to do is getting longer and longer everyday, and I have yet to finish other pieces that I thought were a done deal! So I'm revisiting this piece and hopefully making headway to finishing it! I'm also revisiting it because I'm afraid it feels dated, and I'm trying desperately to rectify whatever is making it so. The hair and shapes are already very 80s even if they're back right now, but I wonder if the rendering style is way too 'fashion clip art?' You know, the type of illustration you see posted in dry cleaning windows, of the 'fashionable' types that would represent chicness? Anyhow, I added some detail and removed some too, plus I made his hair a bit poufier, a la Andrew Garfield...

Framed 3

A little more work done on this piece. So many concurrent pieces! These inspirations reeally need to happen one at a time --my list of drawings to do is about 20 projects long!

Robby

Continuing my friend Robby's portrait, which I'm way late on. Plus it was his birthday today (well, yesterday, since I'm posting this past midnight!) so it's especially relevant. Still laying in the foundations before I refine the details (and make him look less stern!), but I think I got a good likeness already...

Corel Painter 12 test: Gouache, 2

So far I'm able to get somewhat comfy with the gouache brushes, but I'm not sure I understand the why or wherefore. Originally I had some fashion sketches I had doodled while watching Project Runway online, but I figured I won't put them online until I actually can flesh out the designs and totally own them. I did, however, draw them with a girl with this haircut, so I figured that's what I'll end up posting instead.

Corel Painter 12 test: Gouache

Still testing out the new Painter 12, and while I haven't gotten the hang of watercolors in it, yet, I did try out the gouache, and the effect of the tapered brush is kinda interesting, with its simulated splay of bristles effect. I I find enough interesting brushes to use, I just may buy this program after all...! Well, the application, and a ton more ram - it's still not as speedy as I'd like.

Playing With (Digital) pastels

An old friend mentioned he might stop buy, so I spent most of the evening anticipating someone who never showed. So by the time I got to drawing tonight, I didn't have the energy, so I just doodled in Painter.

Painter 12 watercolors

Just got wind today that Painter 12's new watercolor brushes were excellent. Well, it doesn't quite replace the real thing, but they do have interesting diffusing effects when you make a stroke. This was a quick trial just trying out any and all brushes I could see, just to see the effects. Might need to test it out more (on the 30 day trial)

Bil and his friend Heron

Bil and his friend Heron model the very latest in fashionable beach cover-ups.

Yuji

This is my friend Robby's stylist, who was at his computer at yesterday's shoot when I went in to hang and did a couple of sketches. I should have uploaded this yesterday but I use my old Canon to take shots of my natural media sketches and drawings, so I usually have to wait for daylight.

Pre Spring

I went to my friend Robby's showroom and did a bit of sketching. But since I ended up hanging out with a new friend all evening after that, I didn't have time to work on digitizing the pencil sketches so I'll have to scan those in later when there's daylight for my camera (hence the day late blog entry). In the meantime, here are two more sketches from Sunday's Meetup.

Fashion Model Meetup, July

Our monthly Meetup took place again today, and today we had our male model Ridge in summer gear. I have a few more sketches I haven't scanned because my camera sucks. I kept trying new things which weren't all successful, but as development, I'm doing okay - I like the exercises. Speaking of exercises, these were efforts at practicing some of the concepts that I skimmed through in Bil Donovan's "Advanced Fashion Drawing" book (which is probably why I'm painting a lot in his style). The practice helps me be more cognizant of actual illustration design choices the more I do it. Makes me think I should go back to school...

Tipsy Quickie

I'd been planning to do a Heron drawing all day today, but I couldn't dream up the proper caption for the photo I selected. And after coming from a dinner with friends, I'm too tipsy to come up with a proper idea, so I decided, I need to show me tipsy. Enter my zaftig goddess (and possible alter ego) Zenaida... clearly enjoying her wine.

Lesbian Locks

On the subway train the other day I noticed a very cute, somewhat boyish girl who looked like she might be a lesbian. Lesbians make the cutest boys, I think. She had a typical young man's hairstyle but for some reason her locks looked really defined, weaving in and out of each other not unlike the back of the guy's head from the drawing yesterday. So I tried to memorize her features for later, and this is the first sketch.

Hair Hath No Fury

I've been thinking in terms of graphic design for my illustrations today, and while I had scheduled to do a new drawing, I ended up opening this drawing from a few days ago (yes, still tinkering) because I felt like the ears and hair shape needed adjusting. Minor details, but things that would drive me crazy in the long run. And then I decided to do type treatments and a wry headline.

RG

My friend Robby emailed a few friends including myself, asking us questions about his brand. One of them asked, what is a distinguishing element of his brand? I immediately thought about his relaxed layering.

Framed 2

Continuing my sketch of my photographer acquaintance from the gym. I started out as I normally do just sketching very roughly and laying down the basis for the finished piece, then I realized I would have to do a lot of erasing as I would go back in to clean up the rendering. So I decided to do something new for me, which is to use the initial rough as a guide to 'ink' over on another layer.

Hair Lines 2

One of my current struggles is my love for very rendered, precise work, versus the immediacy of my natural, spontaneous line. I've noted how many people like it when I'm sketchy, and I wondered to myself if my natural style is antithetical to my ideal. Anyhow, this image isn't exactly like the one that popped into my head (I imagined something more graphic like a pop art chiaroscuro line shot in navy, violet and purple), but I do like how it turned out. I think this is done!

Framed

Several weeks ago I passed by an acquaintance at the gym, and I got struck by the inspiration of a very clean, simple image based on his features in his thick black prescription frames. It took a bit of doing to work out a time for him to pose for me, but eventually I got him to do so right at our gym's door. This is the initial sketch.

Hair Lines

On my way home from the gym this evening I was walking behind a guy from the local music store,and I noticed how his hair was swirled about from his crown in what almost looked like a single basket weave. I loved how orderly it all was so I thought about how to drraw it. This is a preliminary sketch, and if the image stays with me long enough I might just do one that's much more clean and finished - not that there's anything wrong with this sketchy version.

More Illyana

I've been tinkering. Maybe a bit too much. I've gotten to a point where I'm super frustrated with this drawing, even if there are elements that I like about it. I like the flow of the hairstyle, I like the softness of her features, I liked playing with the pencil stroke in this intentionally rough rendering. But as I started adding more detail I tried to make it a finished piece, when all it really needs to be is a quick doodle. Her face is reeeally assymetrical if you analyze it, and I spent so much time trying to correct it. But faces aren't necessarily perfectly symmetrical, and in trying to make it so, it just looked wrong, so I kept retooling and tinkering to the point of frustration. Ah well, done. Done is better than perfect.

In other news, I aged her a decade since the last version!

Illyana

My favorite characters in the X-men are all women. Storm, Phoenix, Rachel Grey (also Phoenix), Kitty Pryde and Magik, Illyana Rasputin. When she was drawn by Bill Sienkievicz, I was enthralled: here as this sylph like child whose power was actually pretty monstrous: I loved the dichotomy. She was the blond girl who looked like an angel but was actually demonic.

Red Hot Fourth of July

Despite the holiday, my comicbook shop was open for New Comics day, and while I only picked up one book today, I did read through the Avengers Vs. X-men issues that came out. One of my favorite characters, Illyana, fought the Scarlet Witch, and while she didn't win, it reminded me of how much I used to love this character. So while I was working out and watching Carly Rae Jepsen's music video, I thought I should draw Illyana with Carly Rae's hairdo...

Happy Birthday, Joanne!

Happy Birthday to my best friend - and fiercest artistic rival - from college. Maligayang Bati, PFWEH! ;)

Valentina

I was hoping to draw some fashion illustration based on inspiration from some of today's couture shows. However, while I have a specific technique in mind, I didn't have a look planned, and I thought I would find one just by sketching. I didn't, and went on a different tangent, just trying to make a woman's face that I deemed looked real.

I take great pride in drawing faces from scratch, because a lot of fashion illustrators nowadays draw just by copying photos of models. And while I recognize the skill in doing so, it doesn't make me feel it's very creative, or for that matter, original. I suppose I'm from the comic book school of drawing, where you figured out how to render a face, and draw them on your own. I think she turned out nicely, so I decided to name her and just be done with the pencil portrait instead of trying to do the full drawing (which I may still do once I suss out the model's styling). She kinda reminds me of Bruna Tenorio.

Fr. John and his friend Heron

Fr.John and his friend Heron will resort to pretty much anything to get more parishioners.