Angles 2

Trying to get the layout to look as dynamic as the idea I have in my head, although the angle is tricky since I'm creating multiple perspectives.

Old School White Queen

I started out drawing a man's face (or so I thought) and kept softening it until it started looking more feminine, but not quite right (she could be a trans woman!). I think the nose is the unpretty part, but it's also the part that feels like a 70s kind of beauty to me: borderline Jennilee Harrison (haha, remember her from Three's Company?), maybe Morgan Fairchild, but not as pretty as either of those women. But, that's what happens when you just play...

Yves' Hair

I saw a pic of Yves Saint Laurent from back in the 60s/70s and I was inspired to do a drawing highlighting his long but very fastidiously styled hair. Well, the start of a drawing.

Sitting Top, Done

I was drawing so much recently that I didn't just work on this one drawing for the past several days. Plus he kinda came together well, even before I asked my friend Ernesto to pose for me so I could confirm the anatomy that I had drawn from imagination.

Masked Shopper

My apartment overlooks a supermarket, so I can see the steady flow of shoppers who go there to buy their (overpriced) groceries. I saw an Asian woman in a black trench walking away from the store, and I took note of how her figure looked from my perch above her.

Angles

I always liked those fashion photos of multiple models walking in various directions. I'm trying to set up for an illustrated series o my own.

Hip-y Hippie

I follow a guy on Instagram whose screen name is Hopelessly Hippie or something like that, and he had a great photo of him shirtless and in a stance that showed a great sense of balance, with his pelvis thrust out yet in a way that still felt relaxed. This was a way to draw him as a reference without copying the photo, but just using the form as inspiration.

Philip 7, Done (?)

The question mark is up in the title to allow for the fact that while I think this is done (and I even have three versions that I presented Philip with to select from), I MAY still tinker with it to make sure the likeness is there. It'sa new face for me to draw, so I'm not sure.

Panels

Planning a possible series of fashion sketches, using panels as a backdrop conceit.

Sitting Top

For some reason I had the idea to draw another pantless boy, this time sitting down. I couldn't decide on whether to give him a tee or a tank top (hence the title, for his top) but for this one, methinks I'll just publish him nekkid. And I really like the sketch but wonder if peope might try to jack him because he's so jacked and lovely,hence the copyrights.

Half Nekkid Leap

Most viewers of my homoerotica know I love a pantsless boy. This one came about because I needed a break from all my Blueboys, but at the same time, I just sketched on another layer while working on said Blueboys. This might end up a pose for a dancer I want to sketch

Blue Boy 6

I tried so many variations of this face, and every time I walked away and came back, I saw something wrong with it that I wanted to adjust. Well, this was the final adjustent, and ironically, not the one I chose. In the end, I published yesterday's version on Instagram, but I do like how the midtones work in the shadows of this one

Blue Boy 5

More adjustments to his face, and hoping a change of background will change he way the features relate to each other. Ugh, I have so many variations, I dunno where to go with this sketch!

Blue Boy 4

Every time I get to a point where I love the drawing, I let i sit for a bit and then find ways I should correct i. This one is perfectly handsome and reminds me of Matthew Goode, but I'm wondering if his nose is a tad too long? I've noticed hat some European features have longer nose, and I've found myself studying the faces of men I find handsome and thinking, oh yeah, that nose DOES feel a bit too long! So while he is totally believable that way, I suppose I'm trying for an ideal. Also those sideburns are uneven.

Blue Boy 3

I think he's turning out handsome but I can't seem to shake the feeling that he could improve. I've gone through tons of changes, but a lot of them subtle—larger scaled eyes, smaller jawline, shrinking down the overall facial size. A lot of them have merit but when I'm creating a new face, it's hard to know when to stop. So I decided to play with effects (I imagine those to be corona viruses aloft on the wind!)

Blue Boy 2

It's always fun to work out an unknown face. It's essentially a doodle since I'm not really copying any photos or models, although I did spend some time looking at various guys and analying their features before shutting down the references and drawing. Now I'm tinkering a lot with the features.

Blue Boy

I had a vision of a guy with beautiful squinted eyes peering from behind a face mask, inspired by the expressions of a model I follow on Instagram. I wanted him to be peering form beneath a mop of hair.  This is the first of a set of sketches to start the drawing.

David In the UK

Life Drawing in the time of Covid 19! I had a lovely online life drawing session with David, who posed for me from his house in he UK. It was a 3 hour session with three poses and lots of conversation. I had opted to work in colored pencil in an updated version of my old colored pencil style when I shaded with multiple colors. I think it was something I could do because I was still working at my desk and had all my artist materials sprawled all around me, which was a first!

Fashion Sketch 2019 4

I had a lovely Zoom sesh today with my friends Lamont and Renaldo, two professors of fashion design and illustration whom I've befriended over the past several years. And it's usually a lot of gossip and kiki-ing over fashion. So I dredged up this old nugget from just over a year ago and tried to continue it, but I'm falling short. Hopefully I'll do so soon...

And because I don't like its current state, I don't want this to get out and have someone post it on Pinterest or some shit like that, in this WIP state and have people think I think this is a done piece!

Skype Nino 2

Just adjusting the face a bit, although a bit lost about the style. When I work in Photoshop I'm usually super precise, but it's a laborious, multi-edited style hat I'm not able to translate to the more spontaneous life drawing style and technique I'm used to.

Bad Friday

I forgot it was Holy Week and that it was Good Friday today. Even if I'm no longer observing being a Catholic, I still like to try and not do 'sinful' stuff on the holidays. Well, I completely forgot and then had a nude model session, which turned a bit more wicked sooner than I thought it would. I got a fun drawing out of it though. I blurred out the face because the model requested I not post this on IG, but I needed to post a drawing for today.

Skype Nino

A lot of guys are doing online sketch sessions, so I did one on Skype with my model Jose, whose screen name begins with Nino. It's tough drawing digitally via Skype!  I'd done it before with natural media but my Photoshop techniques don't lend themselves to drawing live—I think I rely too much on refining my line over time (as evidenced by most of the recent Philip versions) and I definitely don't love my line quality here. It looks too digital. Well, common digital. And Ididn't get a good piece after 20 minutes. Fortunately, I did some screen grabs so I can refine it further.

Philip 6

I think I should go with a simpler but more detailed line. Still not sure of the final layout though. Ugh, why am I so indecisive??

Philip 5

Aaand of course, after I feel like I'm in a good place, I refine it to the point that I think, I'm NOT in a good place with this piece. The likeness now feels like it needs to be tweaked, and I'm also questioning how clean I should go, or if I need more detail to get the likeness. I love the clean navy line drawing atop, but might have to redo that with a more detailed likeness, although not sure I should go as far as the more shaded version below.

Blue Black Man 2

This became a TV doodle, with me grabbing  my iPad and playing non-commitally with the sketch while I binged the umpteenth thing in the ongoing saga of our self quarantines.

Philip 4

I am pretty happy with how this is going, so I was making little line quality refinements along the way, shrank it down and then experimented with the background. Not sure how I am going to finish this piece for my friend. I know he likes more postery pieces, but I feel like my own work is much more minimal.

Phone Doodle

When I was younger, I LOVED talking on the phone with my friends. I would honestly be on the phone for hours, and I would also doodle while I was gabbing. The calendar my mom used to keep next to the phone would be filled with all sorts of faces and ladies and whatever I doodled on them, or went back to at a laer date to refine and draw on even more.

This week, sheltering at home in the middle of the worst pandemic New York has ever seen, I am trying to keep my phone bill down so I used my iPad to speak to my friend Kyle (so it was VoiP) and while we chatted, I sketched away like I did back then, albei on my iPad, which can obvi multitask. Not the best face, kinda mannish and could be refined a lot further...but hey, it's a doodle.

Philip 3

Finally getting more satisfied with the likeness, which is easier to see when you know the sitter well. It's funny how I'm viewing his face now more practically, and I notice things about him that are different from my mental image of him.

Philip 2

Using yesterday's brush, I tried inking over Philip's pencil and am definitely getting a Gruau vibe. Hopefully I can evolve the drawing into something more uniquely me.

Gouache Magic 2017

I decided to try and draw again with an old brush, Gouache Magic,  whichI had enjoyed using for several months a ways back. But in my search for brushes in my large arsenal, I found one with the same name but labeled with the year 2017. Now these Kyle brushes are always evolving, and some have noticeably different effects from the newer versions he creates, so being unfamiliar with this one I decided to try it.

I love how it actually feels like a soft charcoal line, and what started out as a useless doodle evolved into an interesting face that reminds me a bit of the Israeli and Jewish characters on the new Netflix show, Unorthodox, which I totally enjoyed this past week in quarantine.