Pinup Tattoo

My friend Ernesto has been hankering for a pinup tattoo for years, and I've tried everything to dissuade him. Now I'm just going to draw it so it at least looks cute.

Bear With Me

So I'm being punny...

Autumn Colors

I got an idea in my head as I was walking home form the supermarket. This is not exactly what I had envisioned, but the mind wants what the hand might not deliver. Still, it was fun to play with the brushes in color.

2 Minute Duck

After a long night drinking and dining with an old friend, I'm in no condition to devote much time to a sketch... so here's a 2 minute duck.

Desmond 6

Because I keep dreading doing this hair, I have to force myself to do it, haha.

And I keep delaying...

Brushed Hair

I needed to take a break from the brushy menswear commission, but I ended up using the brush I had left selected anyway. Doodle! Plus my fave hair rendering - blown in the wind looking like sheets underwater...!

Next Layer 13

I rather liked the happy accident of removing the outlines on my painting yesterday and creating a soft edge. That, plus the fact that I had seized upon a workflow that included two separate brushes and two different tones of a muddy black to achieve a dark painted area unlike the Antonio technique, and more like Mats. Here's hoping my rendering has enough of me in it to be less homage and more unique.

Next Layer 12

One of the problems I'm encountering with the Webster brushes I haven't established the proper workflow for creating large fields of washes. Kyle had suggested I do it in a lower resolution first and expand it later. Problem is there's no lifting your brush to get a complete filed... although maybe there's a trick to it I haven't discovered yet.

Next Layer 11

The best part about digital illustration is how many revisions you can do. And when doing silhouettes as simple as the oversized shirt and drop crotch pants as I did yesterday, I needed to make sure it was clean and relaxed looking. For the latter, I decided to bring the arms in a bit closer - I DO have a tendency to make them stand at attention to display the volume... And you'd never know it but I revised the shirt more than a few times, adding detail and taking it away when I realized I wanted it to be as minimal as possible...

Next Layer 10

Got a couple I like today, although still have one more to do. I looked over the past few weeks of blog posts and I've really seemed to keep on this particular style - guess it's like a quick and easy doodle. Will have to mix things up more when I get done with this commission.

Blue Green

I think these quickie practice sketches should really be done in bulk. When yu see them here as one-offs, it makes them feel like they're somehow important for getting featured one day, but the fact of teh matter is that it just happens to be the one that day. If I was sitting near a phone babbling away, there'd be dozens of sketches happening...

Paired

Just a quickie sketch playing with the Wet & Wild brush. There's such a change in perspective when I use these brushes - it becomes so much less about precision and more about flow. Which is fun for me...

Next Layer 9

My clients still don't want anything too current or modern. Odd, considering their line can be perceived that way. So I have to make another sketch for the proposed triptych. 

Countour My Ass

I just love a good line sometimes, no shading needed.

Next Layer 8

The beard definitely gave me something to play with in this drawing... I imagined the model Henrik Fallenius posing for me (one could only hope...)

Next Layer 7

I still need to round out my sketches for Second/Layer's SS2014 tableau.

Mugler-esqe

I'm a little excied about David Koma's Mugler. I'm still trying to play with the visual and the clothes together, to see if old Mugler can merge with new. And old Mugler was all about the sexed up, hyper-glossy woman in a gay man's imagination...

Savor It

I was watching We Were Evergreen videos on YouTube and ran across one with the super cute Jack Savoretti singing with them. Never encountered this musician before but I loved his hair and his face. I decided to sketch someone based on his look, but not him necessarily.

This sketch makes me happy because I wasn't copying any photos, just drawing spontaneously, but I think he looks rather real. Oh yeah, I decided to make him somewhat naked.

Mugler 2014

I never responded to Formichetti's Mugler. For that matter, I never got into anyone else's version of Mugler than Thierry's himself... at least, until now. David Koma, the new artistic director, unveiled his first collection for Resort 2015 yesterday, and while there maybe could have been a bit of editing, I thought it looked really modern and well done. Was it Mugler? I'm not sure, but I certainly liked it. I loved the model he showed it on but wondered if he cut and showed it on a more curvy model if it would appear more classically Mugler? Not that anyone under 30 cares, because they probably loved the Formichetti version. But I tried drawing one easy dress in a more pinup style...

Marionette

I seem to be unable to do anything even semi realist when it comes to these watercolors, unless I start with a harder outline. Although maybe that's why I'm having fun.

Black Nipples

I'd say the title is pretty straightforward. But man, Kyle added a couple of great new blenders!  Still playing and experimenting with the newly updated watercolor brushes...

On Aging

I posted a video on Facebook of Whang Od, a Kalinga tribeswoman in the Philippines who is 92 years old, and so beautiful. She isn't pulled or young looking, rather she looks as old as one would imagine. It's not a common site nowadays with people trying to look young yet creating an appearance that is neither young nor old, nor natural. I tried to draw her from memory but got someone in their 60s as opposed to her 90s. There was something really beautiful about her skin, wrinkled as it was.

Mel and his friend Heron

Mel and his friend Heron intend to enjoy their tree-climbing exercise... at least until the angry Rottweiler loses interest and wanders away.

Fake Ink Strokes

I really need to practice my natural media again, but in lieu of pickup up a brush and water, I tried it digitally. This is the big Galliano Ballgown aesthetic that's epitomized fashion for so long, which I'm frankly over since it's not new, just retro. No reference for this at all, and just the number 6 Kyle brush. Could use some variation... But I'm still terribly sick so all things considered, it's not horrible. She looks mean though.

Summer Cold

I just wanna be convalescing in bed...

Creative Unitasking

I seem to be bad at creative multitasking. Well, not bad per se, but I prefer to concentrate on one project at a time... like when I design, I dive in, and when I draw, I focus on that. But when I have to do both at once? Well, one might suffer. As in, forgetting to post on time. Harrumph.

Next Layer 6

I do want to see where I can take this style, as it's something else I can offer. I do, however, need to make it more distinctly mine. This is a bit too abstract, when I just need simple, I think. But it's fun to experiment.

Desmond 5

I got caught up trying to catch up on my Sunday tv show viewing with Penny Dreadful, and I ended up going past midnight without making a post.

Anyhow, continuing my portrait of the lushly maned Desmond.

Striped

Wanted to render the shirt I was wearing today - I got so many compliments on it (as usual). Plus I wanted to continue experimenting with the Webster brushes - there are so many and I kinda want to know how to use them all!

Next Layer 5

I would have gotten to this sooner if my clients didn't fosit new last minute rush jobs (as opposed to their normal rush jobs). Not that I'm complaining, just pressed for drawing/ painting time. This one is the requested changes to the shirt and pants colors, which I'm still not fully on board with. Will look for another solution, I think...