Inktober 30—Nipsy

I wanted to draw a face in an ink style that was very stylized, because I examined some Gruaus on Pinterest and even if my memory of his work is a bit more realized and realistic, he had a lot of stylized, quick pieces too. I often hated it when comic book artists I liked did more stylized shorthand of their styles (Bill Sienkievicz comes to mind) but now I realize that we draw to be expedient sometimes (and I'm sure my old, evolving faves had deadlines they needed to catch up to).

Also, this is technically the last of the Inktobers. I labeled 30 even if my "Current Mood" piece is technically with an ink-like brush, but 30 Inktober pieces on this blog still feels right.

Inktober 29—Upshot

I was scanning images at work for mood boards I'm working on, and I liked a shot of a young male model looking in that oh-so-trendy way of posing down at the camera with his chin lifted up. I didn't want to draw it directly but then I said, I needed to copy it so I can actually draw he exact anatomy, and hopefully learn to render the parts in future drawings without such a reference. I already do it on my own, but it helps to copy actual anatomy from time to time (and actually do a presketch to understand all the volumes!) to practice doing various human features. In this kids case, it's his rather full, cherubic lips.

Inktober 28—Jakey 2

I retooled some of the anatomy in this piece, even going so far as to make a video of me taking my pants off so I can see if I got the anatomy right. I did for the most part, just needed to tweak a few details (by greatly reinterpreting my own body for this sketch—ah, imagination. So powerful, lol).

Inktober 27—Happy Halloween

'Nuff said!

INktober 26—Run, Ariel, Run

Thought I'd try to draw the costume I designed yesterday,"in action." It's definitely going to be difficult to interpret properly over panels.

Inktober 25—Ariel

My friend Justin asked me to redesign/re-imagine a costume I designed back when I was a teenager in high school, and I've come up with so many variations, from gritty, darker versions to completely out-of-character (for the proposed character) outfits that I've been thinking a lot about where to go with the asymmetrical parameters of the original. And it hit me that Kitty Pryde's code name then was Ariel, and a spacey, neo-futuristic outfit with no practical considerations whatsoever made more sense. It's supposed to be a fantasy, so go with something that's hopefully fantastic. So the impractical cutouts are exactly that, impractical, but this is supposed to be a futuristic fantasy, why ground it in reality too much? Besides, the concession to current athletic gear design (I based the style lines and seam work on the kinds of things you see on skintight, rather super-heroic athletic gear nowadays) is reality enough, I think.

Inktober 24—Smolder

I started out trying to draw an adult version of Kitty Pryde from the X-men, but based on how John Byrne and Dave Cockrum originally drew her, with a longish chin and a more prominent nose, and with her curly hair. In a way she's an older, more glam version of Kitty, but also much more modern, delicate despite the stronger features. Its that kind of model who is not a typical beauty in the classic sense, but very current. Or so I imagine.

Inktober 23—Chavvie 2

I woke up this morning and had to—ahem!—flesh him out some more. Although I struggle with leaving it as a fun sketch of finishing it out in a more controlled way.

Inktober 22—Chavvie

Or at least, what I imagine is kind of Chav-y. I wanted to draw a model-ish type guy wearing a trendy sporty-mixed-with-sartorial get up, exposing his penis. I think I drew exactly that (well, roughly. But he;s kinda rough trade anyhow).

Inktober 21—Yellow Face

Well, it's yellow1

Inktober 20—Drunken Scrawlings

I had been out with a friend for a night out at the museum and dinner, and I got drunk and didn't really want to draw but I did so anyhow, but I guess I was too out of it to post it. It's ugly scralings anyhow. But in the blog, any drawing counts!

Inktober 19—Strange Blue Monkey

I still don't know what a "brayer" is, but the Brayer brushes in Kyle Webster's (soon-to-be-absorbed-into-Adobe)Photoshop brush selection makes me think of those rollers for rolling ink on to canvases. Is that what they are? In any case, they made me draw this strange scene.

Inktober 18—Island Dude

His expression was the first thing I drew, then the hair, then the body, and then it just became this bro hanging out at the beach waving his friends over or something.

Inktober 17—Serendipity Sketch

I was only planning on doodling a bit after work, but I ended up really liking the finished sketch (serendipity indeed. And I got so caught up posting it on Instagram that I forgot to post it here!

Inktober 16—Fashion-y Styling

I was going through Fukcing Young's website and saw an edgy black model in an ediorial, and while this pose or styling wasn't in it, it inspired me to draw this look.

Inktober 15—Jakey

I saw a post for a made-to-measure designer's menswear line featuring model Jake Sanderson, whom I chatted with a few months ago about drawing, but that never panned out (they ofen don't). Anyhow, the designer featured him again but with different hair, and I looked at older pics and saw the curls that made me want to draw Jake in the first place. So I just sketched away inspired by Jake's look and let the lines lead me to the drawing. It kinda reminds me of Miles McMillan too.

Anatomy's all wonky. Bet I'll be tinkering with this one in the next few days.

Inktober 14—Saturn Girl

I dunno if this qualifies as Inktober work—although I DID use the Badass Ink Brush again, so it should count. It's just when you do it in red it just looks like a red line drawing with a brush. Oh, and yeah, just rethinking Saturn Girls' old costume but done up skimpy and modern, in that pseudo 70s way (where everything had holes and cutouts in odd places)

Inktober 13—Walking Men 3

Trying to just sketch them in but the fact that its digital make sme always question if I can nudge and redo things to make them a bit better. I really should embrace more of the spontaneity of the media...

Inktober 12—Walking Men

I was thinking of a menswear vignette with all these guys walking... somewhere. Two's a start.

Inktober 11—Walking Man

I got inspired by a few Pinterest posts on graphic design and went back to my Badass Brush Inker and this was the result. A bit clip art-y but maybe I can retool it to be more loose later.

Inktober 10—the Cafe At The Met Breuer

On a whim I went to see the Ettore Sottsass show at The Met Breuer last Saturday, and while I didn't love the show as much as I wanted to, I did enjoy just the idea of spontaneously going to a museum. I'm not much of a museum goer and kind of loathe to plan trips to them. But I do like showing up! Even moreso, I love the people watching, especially the view from above the Flora Bar, which is the cafe at the Breuer's basement.

Inktober 9—Croquis

I'm a bit too drunk to render anything more complicated...

Inktober 8—Shadowkitty

Been thinking of updated costumes for Kitty Pryde, and this is  just one of a few sketches I've been tossing about lately.

Current Mood 11.10.16 part 7

I can't believe it's almost a year since I started these drawings, and the mood has never left. it's diminished every so often, but never really leaves, and comes back with a vengeance. Funny how time flies.

It still counts for Inktober because I'm using digital ink brushes.I'm having a hard time finishing this because I can't get the hands right for some reason. And I love doing hands!  But these just have me stymied.

Inktober 7

I like this sketch so naturally I can't stop tinkering with it. I'm posting this mostly for the little improvements I made to the sketch, but am adding the rather ungainly color overlays just for posting variance.

Inktober 6

My friend and idol, illustrator Mel Odom, posted an old drawing online that inspired me to get a bit sketchy with  a drawing of a guy with deep-set dark eyes. Et voila!

Inktober 5

I'm not sure if this is the final one. I have two versions and this is the taller one, but there's something more sincere about the render of the older one. Ugh, I don't know.

Inktober 4

This is a re-imagining of an old costume design of mine. I like the concepts and the rendering, but I'm not sold on the design as a design in itself. Really pleased with the inking though. I love this Badass Brush Inker 1!

Inktober 3

The Black Queen lives (finally) in the outfit designed for her.

Inktober 2

I'm really going to try and do the ink thing all month. Here's the second entry (even if I did a lot yesterday). 

This one is of my costume that I designed originally for The Black Queen of The Hellfire Club. After I left the sketch xeroxes at Marvel, I don't think I ever drew this costume on Selene after Maddie wore it. I also realize that this is the 30th Anniversary of this design this year. Sadly, it would only be known and recognized by me, and possibly by the then-NewX-men's scribe, Chris.

Inktober

I was thinking I would post something very day on Instagram, but making something worth posting is a bit of a Stretch. Trying to post a new ink sketch everyday on IG will be a challenge, unlike here where I allow myself to do anything.