Fishing For Fashion 4

NY Menswear fashion week is nearly upon us, so I figure I'd trot out my old fashion sketches from the past Fall shows. Here's to getting them done!

When Talent Fails You

I tried to do a portrait of my good friend Kevin, and I couldn't. We worked for over an hour and the final piece was just not good. Except for the eyes, it didn't look like him at all!  I'm gonna scan it tomorrow when I have better light.

Linda R.

My neighbor, a popular stylist who's got incredible personal style herself, and a 50k strong following on Instagram - allowed me into her home to paint her portrait.

Juuumpsuit

I had been working on this croquis, changing it around and shifting the heads, positions and attitude for several days (it started out as the sketch series 'Saunter' from the past several days). The body underneath formed really nicely and I'm a bit sad to cover it up in an article of clothing, but it's here to show off a juuuuumpsuit (as on actor said in a movie I can't recall).

Queer Man's Drawing Salon 7.15

I went in and drew some nudes again but I was so not feeling it. Took me a long time to warm up and I really think I need to do this more often but this venue might not be it. Every time I go, I just never feel it like I used to. I feel like drawing from my own models is so much better...

Saunter Over

All natural-like... trying to get a croquis that is all posey yet not too, specifically with the head angle. Not sure if it looks like too much...

Distracted

He looks like he's paying attention to something far away, which is what I was doing when I should have been posting on time. This is late, and I'm still feeling sick since what I thought was allergies last Thursday, but five days later and after a mild fever last night, I wonder if I hav another sinu infection? Distracted, yeah. I am.

Big Tuck

I've been into oversized clothing for a while but the whole longer line thing is getting played out too much, so the next logical step is back into high-waisted pants and tucked in lbig shirts. I feel like you need a Hollywood waist (as these pants used to be called) to accentuate the waistline otherwise it just becomes a big ol' dadbod blob.

Yogaboys 11

Still working on them but not really finishing these...

Scooter Gal Done

I have no idea what this style is but it's certainly an amalgam of styles now. It was never one I meant to develop but my friend asked for a pic of her friend in that style, in a scooter with a dog, which I never thought about when I originally did her quick portrait that inspired this. Still, it's done.

Bird Brainy

I went into an ooooold drawing I did of a magpie, and cleaned it up a bit for Instagram posting.

The Ives Have It

I got a bit preoccupied with financial issues so I forgot to draw and post. I was going to draw another duck but then I decided to be inspired by (although not actually draw) Penny Dreadful's Vanessa Ives.I didn't copy any particular photo, just the feeling of the character...

Head case

I got this image in my head of a retro spaceman head floating, but I can't seemt o draw the kind of face I want. I will need to rework this, if ever.

Yogaboys 10

One more outfit, so I'm figuring out poses. These contour drawings are so much fun to begein with but I'm a bit off  - these croquis don't draw themselves. I spend a lot of time correcting and course-correcting (as in changing the pose completely to something I can manage when the original idea doesn't work). I used to be so automatic with women, and I'm afraid to draw those for fear of what practice I've lost...

Yogaboys 9

A few revisions and a back view.

Howell Hair

I am quite enamored of the recently shown SS2016 collection by Brit menswear designer Margaret Howell, and I loved the hairstyles as well. This is a sketch of one model's look (although not of the model himself since this is more of a made-up face).

Scooter Gal 2

Trying to finish up this other personal request of a friend, but this one in a style that isn't really apropos for this particular character imagery, but I'll give it a shot. Image to come.

Yogaboys 8

Seems my friend wanted a back view and I'm fighting the urge to make this a super-tight, homoerotic butt shot. Hell, I can't even make it look too fitted like long boxer briefs because that might be too much too. Well, here's the initial sketch at least (which by the way is a makeup sketch for yesterday since I was at the movies and could not post where I was).

Yogaboys 7

I'd write "Done" if I thought this was actually done, but while I finished it, it's not perfect and I just know I will tinker.

Yogaboys 6

So I tinkered and made the figures more to my liking. Spent a lot of time doing anatomy I seem to have forgotten - I found myself doing reference poses in the mirror. Fortunately, while I'm not necessarily muscular, I do have some definition so it was something to extrapolate from...

Yogaboys 5

Finally making it plural! Poses / croquis to show off the various features of the outfits. The anatomies aren't right just yet, but I'm still tweaking. For some reason it isn't as instantaneous as when I use natural media... maybe because of the vertical monitor? Who knows.

Yogayboys 4

Not that you can see it but I spent an inordinate amount of time correcting his outstretched arm. I totally fail at drawing the anatomy of teh forearm and I spent a lot of time erasing and redoing it, only to end up with something simpler than before so as notto reveal any lack of anatomical understanding, haha. Plus I adjusted some of the shading throughout, so it counts, but I shall add another figure too.

Scooter Gal

A friend asked me to do a quickie gift for a friend of hers.

Yogayboys 3

I had fun drawing this guy. I started it out as a fashion sketch, but the proportions and feeling looked wrong for an athletic wear (well, yoga wear) sketch so I made him more 'normal' looking in his proportions and emphasized his physique. Plus there's a strange 60s scratchiness I seem to be adopting because of the tools I'm using, especially around his legs.

Yogaboys 2

Finally got my marching orders from my 'clients' (really, my neighbors) and starting this project. It's easy enough but naturally I'm gonna make it 'a thing,' I suspect, and expend way more effort and energy than is necessary! SO, I'll just start with a croquis.

Do LogoMarks Count As Drawings?

I mean, I AM drawing out the paths in Illustrator, but sigh, I really don't think they are. I consider them more graphic design. I'll sketch something up to post here as soon as I work out this one logo idea I've got going now...

Aaand I made a duck dressed as Galactus. Which is based on Galacduck appearing in some animated online videos about The Fermin Paradox. Galacduck was pretty badass!

Golfer

I've been designing all day so I usually don't have much energy for an involved drawing. I chose a pencil brush and tried it out with a few quick flicks, then liked how it handled and kept on going with very random lines that eventually became this 50s inspired illustration style of a golfer. Choosing a pink background might have swayed the subject matter too.

Fairy Lord

I'm too busy to devote any time to a real piece but here's a quick sketch rendering of the fairy adversary who is the main bad guy in the show "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell" which I've been following.

Stringbean

I had an image pop into my head while I was on the subway. I wanted to draw someone hunched over a bit, in the manner of today's super long, lean and lanky male models who once upon a time would have been deemed undesirable. I believe 'string bean' was an old school nickname for people who were too tall and skinny. But nowadays, it's one of the higher beauty standards!

Bump of Chicken

Can't believe I drew this and then forgot to post it last night. I was watching my Saturday anime shows early. Usually I do so before I go to bed, but last night I pulled them up at dinner time and I got lost in Kekkai Sensen ("Blood Blockade Battlefront" in English) and its theme song. When I went to research it I found it was by a Japanese rock band called Bump of Chicken. Now THERE's some fine Engrish right there! I was inspired by the lead singer's languorous silhouette and long rock shag. But I sketched it quickly and went back to watching anime so much so that I forgot to post. Aaarrrghh.

Croquis 2015

A friend shared a model comp card online and I really liked one of the poses and thought I'd adapt it as a croquis. Strangely, when I filled in the shapes of clothing just to see how it would work out, my legs weren't long enough, so I had to add an extra head  or so (heads being the measure of height and proportions in fashion croquis). My fashion sketching is rusty.

Rowers

What started out as a doodle became a doodle of guys posing as rowers... don't ask me why.

LSH

I'm having Legion costume flashbacks! Well at least Element Lad, which doesn't mean I'm drawing them so much as looking them up online and wanting to draw them. Ghen the actual drawing takes too much effort on this unfamiliar iMac...

Spritely

I was going for awkwardly natural and slightly bent. I rather like the pose, although once I had it I wasn't sure how to finish it.

Rough (Blue) Ink

I'm still not settled in my new computer, because I'm missing settings and files. But I'm slowly getting there, and as I do, I think I'll draw more and more. Right now, I feel like I'm avoiding committing to a real piece because I think I have this feeling at the back of my head that I might have to return this computer or something...

Anyhow, this is an experiment with the Rough Ink 1 brush from Kyle Webster. Totally lends itself to some quick, immediate linework.

Umar

I was just paying with the Brush Pen in Kyle Webster's Megapack, and it started looking like a woman of a certain age, then it morphed into Umar the Unspeakable (at least my own version) from the Dr.Strange books. Just a quick doodle, although the line quality is fun.

Gift with Purchase

I had the worst connection on Saturday so even my blogspot app could publish yesterday when I tried. So this is late. 

I was upstate in Hudson to support my friend Greg at his vintage clothing trunk show at a Hudson shop. We were doing fashion sketches of patrons if they bought anything. This was one of the SUPER old school sketches I did while waiting for customers. 

Flashback Femme

This is an older drawing that I did really spontaneously but today I thought of posting it on Instagram. But after I retooled what I thought needed work, I still didn't feel it was up to snuff. I'm not happy with the arms but haven't the time to check it against a proper reference…

Fashion Illustration Boot Camp 2

My friend, the very talented Lamont O'Neal, invited me to this class he was instructing at Parsons today, for instructors and a few friends. Any chance I can get to draw live with people as talented as Lamont I will jump to.  I found myself rusty in the first few sketches but by the time I got to the last I had a bit more confidence. Too bad it was the last pose!

Big Red

I got stuck in a mini Pinterest wormhole and got inspired by a few posters. This is me putting ideas down.

Layered

Had a vision of a menswear sketch when I spied a guy on the street and imagined something more than what I was seeing in front of me.

Another Brush Test

I pulled a back muscle at the gym today and so I am not in the mood to be in front of the Mac, especially since the angle of viewing the screen is what seems to be hurting my neck the most. So this is as much as I will do tonight...

Try And Find It

I'm trying to see if a favorite brush of mine was backed up. Ive gone through as many as I could find, but no dice. This si the guy who gets brushstrokes applied as I test each brush...

Whitey

I was looking for older sketches to upload to Instagram, because I'm not all that settled yet with my new iMac. It's like I lost all my tools in a burglary and won't start anything until I have replenished and recreated my toolbox. This sketch wasn't up to snuff when I made it as a trial for an editorial fashion job, but it was a test of my digital graphite techniques. Since it was just a pencil sketch, I thought I'd paint in some colors. Adding the white coloring really made it much more fun.

Sketchy Dude

I'm wondering if I lost the brush I developed that I've used for my hair series. If so, I'll have to try and recreate it, or if I can't make a match, I may have to end the series drawn with it. I'm hoping I can recover that preset file in Photoshop. If not, well... I've started tinkering with other pencil brushes. This is one such trial and I'm not loving how it renders too much. Back to the drawing board.

And then there's Zenaida

I'm in the thick of design work so have her for a night. I'm still not used to my new iMac and the default settings for brushes in Photoshop are really grating on me, I can barely draw!  Ugh, so out of my confort zone...