Bent

I'm leaning into my current study of forearms and how they are drawn, and this pose popped up on my Instagram feed so I studied it, put it away then drew it from memory. I love the sculptural quality of it when done as a minimal line drawing, but not sure how to proceed. Might ask Ernesto to pose for me again.

Leaning In

I've decided I know what one of the sketch tests will become (sort of) and once I fixed his face, I knew I could finish up the rest of it. I like the pose of him turning and leaning to his left, and am wondering if I can finish it up for gay pride?

Ernesto P.F.

I've drawn Ernesto P.F. before, via Zoom from Mexico where he lives and works as a dancer. I had known him to be into posing for a lot of gay artists and photographers, but he's always discreet—never saw full frontals. But the other night he was gushing so much about some drawings I posted, and basically asked me if we would do more erotic illustrations of him. I never assumed he wanted to go there with me (I never assume anything in this world) but he started flirting with me and saying if we were in the same room I could take advantage.Huh.

Anyhow, the suggestion meant erections and cumshots, things I don't do for IG since they would never get past the censors, but also because it's not my brand anymore. Anyhow, he asked me for what ideas I might have if we do it and these were ideas I had. I tried to make it look like him nut those bodies are way too large, and he's a lot handsomer than I sketched. But that's what studies are for...

Test Sketches 4

I've had a mid-view image of a hot man walking towards the viewer for the past week or so, but I'm trying to do it in a newish way because I realized I had drawn what I have in my head but years ago, and it didn't really perform well on IG but I'm just trying to get the image out regardless.

Test Sketches 3

I was working out a walking pose with  specific model type in mind, but as I drew it, I realized I've drawn this exact pose and model before, and I was recycling my ideas! So I swerved, both metaphorically and visually, and had the model turn right. (our right)

Test Sketches 2

I decided I had an image in my head to draw, and the faces I had sketched weren't cutting it. Frankly, neither is this one but I'm giving up on it for now.

Not a Luna Moth, Done

This wasn't really a planned sketch, so where it went is where it went. And I'm kinda happy about it.

Herschels' Drawing Sesh

I joined my friend Leonard Cadiente at his new drawing group live mode sessions at the Herschel store in Flatiron here in NY. I was a bit frustrated with the model because she would fidget and change her pose willy-nilly. These were the warmup 2 minute sketches which I think are my best. When I tried to get more detail in, the model inevitably moved so much that I lost what I was drawing...

Finger Painting

I was trying to do a more detailed sketch on Procreate on my iPhone, but while there's a bit more detail, it's frustrating for me to work with since I'm so used to just gliding on with my usual workflow. I imagine this is a taste of how frustrating it would be to lose one's abilities whether through illness of old age.

Not A Luna Moth

 

I decided that teh Luna Moth image would have been too pale, and I really wanted the depth of shadow of a much larger Cecropia Moth, although I keep thinking a Hawk Moth might work in there as well.

Luna Moth

I thought of a drawing with a guy's profile showing a large Luna Moth tattoo on his neck, underneath his clothing. This is the initial sketch.

Retro Phil, Done

I guess I got inspired, or perhaps it was just fun and easy. But having a good photo reference just made it easier to draw for the fun of it. I do like how it turned out.

Test Sketches

I was trying to make a new piece with a particular angle for a model walking to the viewer, but I couldn't get it quite right.

Retro Phil 2

As I'm drawing this, I'm wondering why I never actually drew it before. And since it's so old (2016!) I'm wondering if I just didn't have the wherewithal, talent-wise, to see what I could do with it without making it a full-on, intentional illustration. I have a feeling that's the case, as there was a Photoshop document where I edited out the background, and nowadays I'm easily able to just use them as reference photos regardless of the actual photo. I'm planning on finishing this and looking Philip up and giving him a copy.

Retro Phil

I was digging around in my files to find old work for my latest portfolio update, and I found these old reference shots I took of a warm acquaintance, Philip, whom I've drawn but never fully finished a piece with. I wonder how he's doing nowadays.

Sheer We Go

I have an idea for a sheer outfit over a male figure (natch) but in my ink style. I've done it before for some fashion renderings for tulle, but haven't mastered it, so gonna attempt it again. But I got lost in trying to make the face then abandoned it for the moment, as I attend to weekend hangouts with friends...

Sweater Reveal 2

Yesterday's sketch was spontaneous, but there were a few little details I wanted to clean up, and I wondered if I needed the highlights on his face and background? This is a more pared down approach, but the details do make the drawing for me more...

Sweater Reveal

I went over to the FIT campus and spent about an hour just thumbing through all the latest fashion magazines there. Fashion mags are a lost resource to kids nowadays—many of them don't even think of them as viable sources of information because all their news and media is online. For me it's all about getting overwhelmed by all the newness. I look through everything, take note of things I like, then put them down. Later I'll be inspired and I won't recall where I've seen the inspo, or if I even thought it was something I saw or dreamt up. It's a way of recharging your creative bank. This guy came together really quickly after seeing all that fashion, and once again, even if there's an erotic bent, the feel was a fashion magazine editorial in my head. Hopefully that shows.

Mizrahi-esque, Done

If and when my digital drawing class at FIT gets approved, one thing I plan on teaching is how to make changes to your work so it still looks like it was spontaneous and immediate, even if you took an entire day to edit it. In this case, I needed to edit the face then move the head and neck to center it properly, as well as rotate some sleeve folds (I didn't change the marks, just manipulated them so the arm on the left looked more correct despite the fact that it's not actually drawn), as well as shorten the pants hem on the bent leg since that technically should be shorter than the straight leg.

Mizrahi-esque

Clicking through Instagram pages I saw a post on Fantastic Man's feed and fell in love with a pair of Prada square toe loafers. Then another link took me to a vintage video of designer Isaac Mizrahi dancing in cropped pants and loafers, so I decided to combine the two and out came this sketch. The face was the result of yet another link influence: a post by Male Model Retro showed an old male model with a more boyish face, such that it made me think, okay, let me channel this guy. It's kind of amazing how we synthesize our ideas based on our lives, as our lives transpire.

Dark Haired Man 2

Not loving his look, not as handsome as the guy in teh ad. Gonna work on his features and see if I can get something more amenable.

Ernesto Arms, Stretched

Another pose from the series of poses Ernesto did for me, now with more penis! But I'm not loving the marks so much so I might have to retool this.

Dark Haired Man

The new Amazon ad features a guy dressed like a Roman centurion, and he has  dark features and hair, and a a full beard. There was something really handsome about him and I wondered if I could capture those features from memory. This was the first pose I thought Id try (naked, of course)

After Atong 8

Now it's about a ton of minor adjustments—adding the right drape lines, removing the right drape lines, trying to make it a good representation of the blouse without hemming so hard to drawing the blouse that it takes away the attention...

After Atong 7

I found a blouse I actually want to draw into this piece. It's a bit weird to dress it after the fact since fashion illustration should be about the garment first and foremost, but in this case it was more about the composition. In some ways, I had a modern Maria Clara invisioned, because the pose and the need for a white blousey top reminds me of a Maria Clara image.

The blouse is a recent vintage Valentino that my friend Greg was selling in his vintage store. I always loved a cape/poncho, and this one had a slight ruffled flounce on the wrist end of the ponchoi shirt, which gave it just enough femininity. Although now that I've drawn it in, I think her hands are eay too small. Need to adjust that.

Ernestodragon 5

I decided the tail down version looked better trailing down one's back, so I finished that one up. Lots of scales! This reminded me of when I used to draw monsters for comics, a la Gil Kane or Dave Cockrum.

Ernestodragon 4

I'm having second thoughts about tail position, even as I've already started to refine all the details like the linework and the scales, etc. As a drawing I think it looks better with the tail up, but on a man's back, maybe the trailing tail works better? Ugh. Can't decide.

Ernesto Arms, Done

I got in just the amount of detail I wanted for this sketch, done in my fave Photoshop Kyle Webster brush. I could go deeper in the definition, but I still want my work to be lighter and about a nicely balanced line quality. I've realized as I prep to teach a possible digital illustration course that many iPad users just over render. Everything is so dense, I find little room to breathe when I see the works. Of course, I understand the tendency, as I often love seeing how far into realism I can take a drawing, but it's not truly me at this point. I like negative space and how it informs the actual rendered bits...

Ernesto Arms

Since I'm on a forearm rendering kick, I've asked my friend Ernesto to get into forearm-centric poses, and I rather like this one because it's full frontal yet not, and there's a tension in his rather formidable forearm muscles, particularly his brachioradialis (I just learned that name—never bothered before) plus his quads look really hot in this spreadeagle pose. I've loved doing bent legs lately, after my whole frieze series of men coming out of circular apertures..

Thin Scarf

I was following tags on Instagram, from a Russian model to his photographer, to another model in that photographer's feed, to another photographer from that model's feed, and noticed that the styling they favored was a thin neck scarf. I'd forgotten all about that, and it's kind of the idea for a v-neck shirtless vest situation (and I bought such a scarf back in 2017 and never really got around to wearing it that way). So here's my sketch of it, fairly realized since I got inspired pretty quickly.