Hell Hath No Fury.

Well it’s Friday and here is a bunch of demon girls. The Model is Tasastock from Devientart.com who takes photo references for artists to draw. I had fun with these.

Dejah Color Test

Quick color test in Photoshop. I know she looks a bit red but that is on purpose as she is a red martian. This is not by any means what I would consider a final. There is a lot of clean up that I would do and the chrome jewelry would be a lot more detailed, but for a test I like it.

One thing that made me really happy about this piece is that when I had it in Photoshop and blown up on 24" iMac screen, I didn't hate the drawing. I typically am so self critical that seeing all the flaws blown up like that kills me but with this drawing I felt really good having it blown up.

Dejah Thoris Thursday!

This one is more of a facial study but it was fun none the less. I will probably make a full size illustration of Dejah Thoris (from Burough’s Mars Series) and this is a good start. I like her strong nose and eyebrows, it gives her a bold and exotic look. Dejah is an iconic sci-fi character that was the basis for most heroines after that (including Princess Leia - watch Return of the Jedi and try and argue with me).

I like the crown on this drawing but I’m not in love with the neck piece. Her jewelry will definitely need to be planned in advance, it is an opportunity to draw a lot of shiny metal so that should be fun. Finding the right pose is important and I am not going to limit myself with a pose that has the same profile of this. While there is something to be said for efficiency of using initial drawings, it can often limit creativity.

See ya all tomorrow!
Go Giants!
Patrick

Nekkid Wednesday!

Hey all! Well Wednesday is here and I have yet another post. This one was fun. I liked the pose because it had unusual lighting (bottom lit), foreshortening on her face and her feet were interesting and fun to draw.

I spent more time with the initial drawing this time before doing the pen work and I think the result is a lot better. I need to start playing around with hair more, Adam Hughes is a good example of where I want to get where drawing hair (well drawing in general really). The way he draws hair in particular though is very interesting, as though it’s a secondary character and not just an after thought. Hair can have a lot of personality and make a character very distinct.

One of my favorite all time illustrators is Norman Rockwell. If you study a Rockwell painting, you will notice that there are certain objects that seem to take on a personality of their own; a baseball glove, a policeman’s hat, a grease rag in the back of a mechanic’s pocket. This anthropomorphism adds story telling and depth to the art and draws us in to this world that Rockwell and other good artists are trying to create. Just because I happen to be drawing a naked woman in this case is no excuse to neglect that.

See ya all tomorrow
Patrick!

Tuesday Cheesecake

Well it’s Tuesday and so here is a cheesecake post! I chose this one because the pose was “very Gil Elvgren” (one of the great pin-up artists of all time). The photo reference was borrowed (such a nice term) from METArt.com which is basically a porn site with the occasional good conditions for drawing material. While the girls are quite lovely, they tend to be too skinny, overly photoshopped and prone to posing in too many crotch-shots (artistically lighted crotch-shots, but crotch-shots none the less). I’ll stop saying crotch now.

I like how the breasts and stomach came out in this drawing, there is a subtlety to it while still maintaining definition. Her face on the other hand I was not pleased at all. I would like to see it more rendered out with more detail on the planes of the face. I think part of it is that the drawing is a bit small (8 1/2” x 11”) and I did not build up the planes slowly enough and the face became over-saturated. This (once again) is a matter of planning, which is what this drawing basically is anyways - a pre-drawing. This is the point of a sketchbook: practice and working out a drawing before the final drawing or painting. If I ever do a final showpiece of this, I will probably do another study of her head only larger, before I tackle the final art.

The lessons I took away from this is to build up slower with my pens (especially in the face and other subtle areas), pay closer attention to the facial planes and plan ahead more.

See ya all tomorrow,
Go Giants!

Been a While!

Have not posted on my blog for a while ( I have been having allergy related health problems) so I will try and do an entire WEEK of posts!!

I got a new Canson sketchbook that is begging for marker drawings! It’s a multimedia sketchbook that the pages do not bleed through to the other side and I find that quite sexy.

Here is the first drawing I did using my trusty Copic Markers. I am not happy with the head on the drawing (it seems a bit big compared to the body). This is a prime example of me being over-excited to do the pen work on the drawing and not spending enough time on the initial pencils where I am supposed to work out all the portions and problems. There are two traps that an illustrator/artist can fall into at this stage: not spending enough time on the initial drawing or spending too much time on it and over-thinking it.

See ya guys tomorrow!