Matt C Portrait 3

NOW it's starting to gel a bit...

Matt C. Portrait 2

I always have a hard time starting things up, and then I get daunted because they don't look like the subject... and it's always harder in digital working from a photo than it is for me to draw live. With a live model, there's no photo to compare exact proportions to, proportions that one can get obsessed with... so this is the correctional sketch. Just watch, it will have to be adjusted once color is set in.

Matt C. Portrait

I'm way overdue to do my new friend Matt's Rick fashion illos, but I always like doing a full portrait in at least one drawing from a set, so this is the one. Well, the start of one.

Shirtdress and Bucket Hat 2

I've been distracted, and not drawing very much, so a color job on yesterday's bucket hat will have to do.

Shirtdress and Bucket Hat

Some friends posted a series of vintage bucket hat-accessorized fashion illustrations, so I thought I'd do one of my own.

Glen (Up) Close

I went to fellow artist Kung's fabulous loft in LIC and drew the beautiful model Glen.

Structure and Fabrics

When I worked out yesterday, I found myself observing the way a young man's shorts fit on his body, and how the flowy fabric draped depending on his pose—you know, basic fashion illustration stuff. I took note of how the drape formed from his butt in particular, because I would never have thought it would drape that way but it makes total sense. Ugh, I need to observe more and imagine less.

And structure!  The sketch on the left was me drawing an outline my usual way, without actually planning the form or the stance. But after looking at work by mid century genius Austin Briggs—and noticing his inclusion of a form armature underneath his figure—I tried a version with a rough skeleton underneath and it was indeed superior. You never stop learning.

Smooth Brushes, Unruly Hair

I'm still not sold on the new brushes I've been using (unconvinced to the point that I have not made an effort o remember heir names yet when I use them) but they've definitely made me draw in a cleaner, more simplistic fashion—very Carlos Aponte, to my mind. Hair boy on the right was inspired by a pic form a Matches Fashion email, but done up as abstractly as I did I feel like it transcended its reference.

Boxers 2

The brushes I've been using are all kind of smooth ink brushes, and I'm not sure yet how to deal with them, so my drawings have actually been a bit more simplistic.

Boxers

I upgraded my desktop iMac a few days ago, and I'm still getting the hang of both the OSX as well as the upgraded Photoshop I installed to coincide with the new OS (Adobe had sent out a notice that it was discontinuing the older version I had kept because of my staunch refusal to upgrade the OS, so I felt I had to make the switch). There are all these new brushes in it, and I've been dabbling a bit with them.

Raven Tressed 2

Believe it or not, one of Karl Lagerfeld's final Couture collections inspired the red smock overlay. I was thinking that the silhouettes in the Netflix 7 Days Out doco didn't look particularly flattering, but they were modern. Well, not that this is a great drawing anyhow—it's just a test. Although I did refine the croquis a bit.

Seated, From Behind

I love a facial 3/4 view from behind, and hat head position just informed the rest of the body. Again, testing new brushes.

En-Trenched

This is another Photoshop test. I think they improved the drawing brushes. I wonder if this is Kyle's doing? It's a bit too smooth and looks/feels digital, but it's still rather nice.

Be Seated

I'm going to try and do more multi-person tableaus. I'm feeling this is probably a nice segue to expanding my repertoire.

Raven Tressed

I was testing out the new Photoshop after upgrading my system to Mojave, and it was so buggy I was not enthused about drawing. Plus, I felt out of sorts with the new unfamiliarity, so this was just a quick croquis, again inspired by my Flair magazines.

Suitable Done

Lots of tweaks  (mostly in the shading and emphasis lines on the silhouette) and this is the final, 'published' form that went to Instagram. It's gotten a surprising number of likes, and I like it but don't love it. It feels plebeian to me. Ugh.

Suitable 2

It's funny how fleshing out the form changes it in so many good ways, but also in so many ways I don't like. I think I don't like my version of a charcoal smudge here, but that's just because it's digital and I haven't found the right digital technique yet. Or I haven't found the right technique yet, period.

Suitable

I was inspired by the issues of Flair magazine that I got to try and draw contemporary menswear styles. I always choose edgier looks and think I skirt by on that POV, but what if I have to do a simple GQ style image?

Ball Gown

After seeing so many Gruau's in the issues of Flair magazine that I got from my friend just 4 days ago, I seem to be inspired to draw 50s fashion illo women.

Club Chair

I was reading some old issues of Flair magazine that I had been gifted, and I had an image of a man sunk into a club chair, and I tried o map it out. Still not sure of the actual angle.

Wolfie

I was originally trying to draw Timber Wolf, a character from the Legion of Super heroes, but I didn't like the sketch Is tarted so I drew another figure on another layer that has nothing to do with the character. Maybe he looks a bit feral?

Stuart

I didn't exactly want to go to GayArt at The Center on Saturday morning, but my friend Mitch was making a rare appearance so I thought I'd muster up the energy. I got some good practice even if I didn't really love all my output.

Blue Profile

I was following a tutorial on how to draw a face. I never actually think of hte proportions in starting with a round and then adding equidistant lines for the nose, mouth and chin, but I found that in my own work I tend to do that automatically already. Still, the tutorial style turned out an easy sketch. I'll have to keep that basic in mind for the future.

Matt In Rick 3

A third pose. Not feeling these so much though maybe if I make enough a tableau will form in my explorations.

Blue Line Tab

I was watching Tab Hunter's documentary on Netflix and thought that the were so many shots of his beautiful face that were also beautifully lit. It inspired me to first draw Tab from one of the featured shots, but then I had a stronger idea for a sketch with similarly dramatic lighting, plus one of my older black-on-blue techniques.

Gouache Go-go Tilt

That title's the name of this brush I was testing out.

Matt In Rick 2

I'm not sure what to do with the literal thousand shots I took of Matt, as I have to franken-splice a pose together. Here's one tat I thought I could work with, but still on the fence about.

Matt In Rick

I had photographed a young man I met at an art opening because he was wearing head-to-toe Rick Owens and I wanted to do some sketches of him in his finery. This was an initial sketch idea.

Seated Tableau

I've been feeling uninspired by my recent drawings, so I think I need to step things up. This image has stayed with me for a while now (well, parts of it, and a few of them composed here) so maybe multiple figures could help get me out of my artistic doldrums.

Side Acion 2 (Done?)

I wasn't sure about some of the anatomy so I got my friend Ernesto to Facetime with me and get in the poses, and I think I got it to a place I like enough o post on Instagram. Who knows if I'll tinker with it some time later, but for now methinks it's done!

Side Action

I found a pic onlin with a clothed model, and I really liked he pose but wondered what it would look like nude. The man was originally wearing a short-sleeved shirt, so his arm was my main focus.

Cheekbone

I went to physical therapy today for my shoulder which I injured back in February, and while looking up at my PT while he was administering to my injury, I noticed how his cheekbone obscured his nose save for the tip and one nostril. I thought Id translate that into a drawing just for practice. I'm using the Vine Charcoal Detail brush here.