Last Sketch of the Year

And she's kinda half-assed because I'm rushing before meeting friends for the evening. But I DO have an idea!  Maybe I'll realize it some more when I get back, but doubtful. Happy New Year!

Mark and his friend Heron

Mark and his friend Heron think that with some drapes and a red neon sign, this would be the perfect space for their new bordello.

David and his friend Heron

David and his friend Heron are wondering where all the people are.

Softer

I think I tend to draw hard-featured women. This was an attempt to draw a woman with softer features...

Long, Lean and Lanky

I just had a vision of this character (no doubt based on an amalgam of the many models I've dealt with in recent years) pop into my head. It's not quite what I saw, but getting there.

Why Not, Indeed

I saw a men's fashion editorial entitled Why Not, and I liked the hair of one model in one shot. Ironically, I didn't even paint the hair in this quick sketch.

Up Against A Wall

I found this pose from an editorial featuring one of my fave models, Matthew Bell. This sketch looks nothing like him (and wasn't intended to) but I did like the pose view from the angle we got, with the shadow showing another possible angle entirely. Plus I was experimenting with Kyle T Webster's bonus holiday brushes that I just got when I returned home. Fun!

Christmas Day

Christmas day was lazy and kind of a non-day. As we get older and lose family, it falls on us to make new traditions. I'm still adjusting to changes that have been a few years going now, and I'm still not certain what the final outcome will be. So a pensive Zenaida is kinda perfect.

Christmas Eve

And I am no where near any papers nor drawing implements so this is a placeholder til I am.

Edit: I decided on a festive Zenaida. :)

Nipsey and The Whale

The sentinels of Hudson! Or at least, I plan them to be.

That Other Look

I wanted to see if I could draw another view of yesterday's pose, although I really think I need to copy a photo to properly learn the anatomy, although I don't think I did too bad a job here...

That Look

 

That young man with some sort of concerned look. For some reason.

I do love the very indie comic brush look of this Kyle T. Webster brush. It's a lot of fun. Been trying to make my faces look more everyday than stylized...

Man in Parka

I've been thinking about the ubiquitous fatigue parka. It's a sign of being very au courant in terms of the current fashion, but at the same, time, I have no desire to wear what everyone else is wearing. Guess I'll just draw it.

Toony

I was watching the series finale if Legends of Korra and doodled this on a sheet of paper while doing so. 

Face Paint 2

I'm not even sure if I'll get to use this sketch but I suppose that's part of my process: creating fully- ( (or nearly fully-) rendered elements to compose later. But maybe this needs to be much less detailed and more like the other simpler pencil sketches.

Violets

Always loved how beautiful really deep black African skin looks, with their deep undertones of violet and indigo, which is why I love models like Grace Bol and Armando Cabral.

Flower Child

Putting finishing touches on what I thought was a finished piece, but it turned out I had forgotten a  few braids and wires and stuff, plus a tweak to the background washes.

Face Paint

I realize I needed to add one or two more elements to round out this editorial, even if it already has more images than some of the previous ones.

Posed and Composed

Finally done with the lone Behind-The-Scenes series series I covered last September! I always take a while anyhow since I like to think that after the rush of Spring promos within the month after a show, these drawings can extend the promotion time later when it's all died down and people have seen all the pics. Illustrations add an element of newness that can 'reignite' coverage of the show.

Will post the full images here once I show it to the designer, but for now, a preview.

Winter Walk

Yesterday's coat became part of a landscape. Not sure I love it, but it was a fun thing to do since I seldom ever do full backgrounds.

The Low Down

Hunting for a long winter coat that has to be just right... and a bit obsessed with the long, dark, full silhouette. So I experimented with a darker, looser brush stroke.

Brushed Aside

Having connection issues so feeling disconnected form the internet... which is making me feel disconnected, period.

Surf On Turf 14

I think I see the thing coming together now with these elements. Just cleaned these line drawings up to acheive reasonable likenesses.

Seductive Zenaida

Just because. But I was feeling the whole chalk pastel volume!

Surf On Turf 13

This one was done all today. I was trying not to do too much, but I couldn't help painting in more and more (I had to erase).

Stances 4

I'm designing some 'shady' characters.

Surf On Turf 12

Yet another part of the tableau...

Selling Marni 2

I can't seem to simplify teh portrait process. Even if it's just a fashion sketch, I want to get the face right... argh... likeness over style.

Brushy

Playing more with the Kyle T. Webster brushes, and one of my reference photos.

I often download photos of a great pose or face to refer to later, although I seldom ever copy them outright. This one was a great pose on a really hot guy, but what I liked about it was the counterpoints of the body parts and how he had himself positioned.

Ballpoint Butt

This was done in the Kyle Webster ballpoint brush, but it's a bit heaver because I multiplied it with another layer, but I also think it does a heavy line stroke more than y other ballpoint brushes. It DOES however, leave a nice blob of ink occasionally!

Surf On Turf 11

Adding another element to the layout... and hopefully not going to render the hell out of it but keep it simple. Whenever I draw out an outline, I tend to want to realize it in ways that might be more full than it needs to be...

Playink

Just playing, testing out some of the new Kyle T Webster brushes I bought. There's so many of them, I wish there were a way to label them or give the ones I like a special identifying color or something - there are just too many!

Stances 3

It's interesting drawing these. I have no trouble swiping poses from any resource (And I bought tons of magazines, as well as am swiping from ecommerce sites) because in the end, it's about capturing a vibe and not a face.

Stances 2

This time using Kyle Webster's pencil brushes. I'm not sure I'm seeing anything better than my usual brushes so far, but I'm only just starting with finding out about them...

Stances

Got a new commission and I'm a bit out of my comfort zone with some of the content, so I have to both sketch a lot of samples as well as immerse myself in research.

Happy T-Day

Upstate in Hudson for Thanksgiving so I'll upload a sketch over the weekend when I return home.

edit: So I decided to just go with the stances sketches I need to work on this weekend, because that's the project that needs tending. But I like the color blocking idea that I just did on a whim / accidentally...

O by H

I found a new designer via Instagram, O by H, and after perusing their look book I was inspired to do a really quick sketch in the style of Barnaby Ward. I did it with Ward's kind of 'naive' line but incorporating the sharp, unlined silhouettes that I've been favoring lately, which he has in his style too.

Hair Flow 2

I have not developed a technique yet for rendering hair that's this kind of style: lots of locks, and an emphasis on the flow of the waves and curls. I love this kind of hair - we didn't get it back home, and it fascinates me because it's got so much movement. I'm pleased enough with the skin, not so much with the hair or my attempt at matte nylon (the collar). Using the Webster brushes, I'm having to rethink my workflow, so soon after establishing one with the brushes I developed a technique with on my own. Ack.

Surf On Turf 10

I've been avoiding it, but I have to finish this up soon. And I did make a lot of headway finally! Now I just need to finish up the series with a few more sketches...

Hair Flow

I loved the hair styling on this model from a recent Lanvin menswear pre-collection look book. It's the kind of hairstyle that looks so fun right now, but I think 20 years from now we'll look at it and go, what were they thinking?? Ah, fashion. For now, it's fun. Plus I didn't want to work on any of my previous sketches so a new quickie it is.

Color Play

Pulled up an old sketch file and played with it, adding some newer colors and just playrimenting (yeah I just made that word up) with color combinations.

Thad 6

I can't leave well enough alone! Arrrgh. But I have to keep walking away and coming back... tonight especially. I just can't seem to see correctly now, everything is looking wrong. But of course, if I look at it tomorrow, I'll probably see a lot of what's right.

Thad 5

I'm liking where the paints are going, although I think I've gone a bit too portrait and not fashion illustration. That said, I intentionally left out finishing the eyes because my photo reference has the model bathed in a neon light, and I can't tell what his eye color is.

View to a Thrill 3

In comics, you can just draw a line drawing and it may or may not need to focus on a good face, mostly because it's part of a narrative. With a single figure image, like this, the face is all important to get just right since it draws the viewer in. And I thought the eyes could use some deepening here... image to come

Snarl

I remember when I just loved drawing this kind of a shaded face. It was emblematic of the X-men Storm and Phoenix getting their righteous anger and power on, and I fantasized about it for so long. Nowadays, it's lost its luster, but I think there's a twinge of nostalgia when I try to draw it again...

Thad 4

I seem to have some sort of art ADD, don't I, posting different things each day, spending bits of time with some then veering to others, never quite finishing anything? But I gotta, so I'm working more on Thad. Image to come (as soon as the bourbon wears off).

Man Bun

Decided to go natural with today's sketch and pulled out a sheet of cardboard and a pencil and just constructed a face. The hair came later...