The Jester and the Mystery Lady

Two separate drawing sessions. Both had interesting costumed models.

First up is The Jester. Once again, I tried to approach the drawings with focusing on shapes and not the details. I literally had about 4 pages of drawings that were all over the place because I kept starting off with a shape, and then get right back into the details. So I didn't even bother scanning those.

In this first scan, the details are still kinda there, but it is much more simplified than the first pages.




Next up, The Mystery Lady.

She had complicated attire. Stripes on a tight fitting dress, a funky hat, and trench coat with dangling belt. Details, details, details! It was scary to attack this drawing with all that in mind, so I did my best to simplify. You will see more of the simplifications in the second scan.



Well, that is the end of that 6 week drawing course. I may not have much life drawings to post, but will continue to work on some other random drawings.

Cheezy, out!

The Old Life

Hey folks. Just a few life drawings done here at the studio during lunch. Models come in costume and we draw. Poses range from 2 minutes to 5 minutes. Nothing special, just quick sketches. I try to approach each pose a little differently each time. Just to see if I can find something new.







I like to draw more simplified, cartoony looking people, but when drawing from life, I don't feel like I can use my imagination as well. I tend to want to draw things just as I see them. And I don't do THAT very well. ;)

The Con

I'm leaving for San Diego Comic Con Thursday morning. I'm quite excited, as I have never made a Thursday trip down there. Seeing how busy it was on Friday AND Saturday of 2007, really made me not want to go this year. But I'm going free as a professional and I got a friend's place to crash at. Going on a Thursday also might mean I will get a full day WITHOUT literally bumping into my fellow geeks. :)

Anyways, I figure I could squeeze in another post of drawing before I'm off to the con. Some of these are just real quick sketches of fellow coworkers.

First up, "Swany Soccer Man"


Next, "The Daily Ritual"


Then, "Before Crazy"


Lastly, "Not To Be Confused With TaeBo"


I tend to not finish things. The goal is to revisit these, as well as my older posts, and color them. I love to just sketch things, but I need to get more familiar with color, which I think will help me draw less "flat" and get into creating my own light sources.

"The Con" title refers to Comic Con, as well as how I feel like this post is a con, or a cheat, in that these are not drawings that took a long time or had much thought. The first one took me like 15 minutes, and the last one with color took about 5 minutes.

Anyways, see you all at San Diego if you're going!

The Inspiration

Alright, so it's the 4th of July and I'm not out there enjoying nature and stuffing my mouth with freshly grilled burgers. Is that lame? Kinda. But I awoke this morning, felt good about not having to be at work, and just felt this creative boost of energy. So I turned on the fan, hit the light on my drawing desk, powered up my MacBook, and let Pandora play. Today's posts are not today's drawings, but something I worked on this week for a my budd Bert's 50th birthday. Anyone that knows me, knows I'm a huge Laker fan. But Bert is NOT.

First up, some sketches of how I want to capture his excitement. I suck at really exaggerated poses. I always end up sticking to a more "normal" pose, when I should really try to push a drawing to it's limits. It will be a process.



Next, I kind of decide on what I'm looking for in his pose. So I add the stars of the Boston Celtics. I took maybe 2 passes on them once I got the heads locked down the way I wanted. Used a lot of photo reference, doodles (most were too light to scan), and advice from fellow artist Kelly Matten. Thanks Kelly! :)



Here is the final piece with color. There was more added, like text bubbles, but that is something a little more personal that was framed for Bert. An inside joke. But as you can see, I wanted to break up the negative space around the players. They were all too evenly spread apart. Also wanted to vary their poses.



So, this is a fitting title for this post. The Celtics obviously had an incredibly inspirational win this season. Garnett finally got his ring, and I couldn't be happier for the guy. Pierce is also very deserving. Bert's 50th birthday is a big milestone for him, his wife, and his daughter. His party was a lot of fun. And on this day, we celebrate our day of independence.

WOW. I really never fail to be cheezy. I almost made myself throw up just now.

Oh, and as for TODAY'S actual drawings, they will probably go on my MySpace page. I use MySpace to post drawings of my fellow CSUF alum group, which is what I worked on today. So if you're on my MySpace friends list, check it out. I may still post it here as well.

The Lovely Break

Who's that co-worker? I'm planning a series of little drawings of my fellow co-workers here at the studio. I want to capture them at certain moments that not necessarily show the kind of person they are, but show just one aspect of them that sticks out to me. I guess I won't name them for sake of letting this be a mystery and not embarrass anyone. Unless I think it won't be a problem. :) With that, here is my next piece.


-This is the original sketch. I peered down from the third floor of the "condos" as they call the building I'm in. There are some couches, chairs, tables, table hockey table, and a round, red/orange circular couch. This friend of mine was just laying there taking a break on the circular couch as the sun shined down near noon. I thought the pose just really showed a great hour-glass form. In hindsight, I could've exaggerated the pose much more...but it is what it is. I drew it based on memory, roughly 2 weeks later.


-The finished piece. The great thing about her outfit, is the green against the red/orange couch was very "Nickelodeon". The couch is really more of a red, but with the sun on it, I took a little liberty with the color. I am still very new to coloring my pieces. I don't like the end results very much, but I feel like posting this will give me more chances at looking at it multiple times. I'm on the internet often and occasionally find myself on my own blog again, revisiting my art. I love how wild her hair looked that day!

The Idle Quickies

I haven't posted since my big rebirth of creativity. BUT, that's not to say I haven't been drawing! I have since, did a lot of little thumbnail "studies", posted 3 or so pieces on my MySpace page as part of my little group of CSUF Alums monthly drawing assignments, and I had 2 pieces of art shown at the Nickelodeon University Gallery which just ended I believe.


Title - Rediscovery: Baby Steps
This basically reminded me of my early years in drawing. It also gave me this visual association of a baby going from crawling, to taking small steps, to fully walking. The famous images of evolution was also an inspiration for the title.


Title - Rediscovery: Confidence
Personally, it was confidence in myself as an artist, getting back into form. The model also struck a number of poses displaying confidence. Sound cheesy, I know. Welcome to my blog.

And now, the actual Idle Quickies. The following 4 quickies are all from the same day. This was done roughly a month ago.

-This was the first incident of the morning on my way to the studio. Driving along Magnolia, I saw a rather big African American guy standing outside Walgreens. He had a plastic bag in his left hand and he was violently pointing and saying something to two employees who were positioned as if blocking both entrances. I tried to hear what he was saying, but I will never know.


-Just after the Walgreens, I saw this old couple at a bus stop. The man was obviously tired of the nagging.


-On my way home, this really skinny kid was wearing a over-sized t-shirt and baggy jeans. But he had this musical aura around him as he had his white headphones on, with an iPod shuffle clipped onto his shirt.


-And at the end of the day, I come back to the apartment. My roommate is in the kitchen with a glass of water. We always end up talking about movies and superheroes, and this night was no different. I remember him striking a pose as he was talking about Wolverine. I kept noticing the water in his glass about to spill. I also noticed his belly button. But at the same time, I was listening to everything he was saying. He was talking about the adamantium.

So, eventually I will clean these up and/or color them. Maybe a week at a time, or sporadically. Enojoy!

INCOMING!!!!

As you can see from my first post down there, I lack discipline. (that makes me giggle because of a celebrity prank call using Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie clips audio to fool people) Anyways, it's true. We all know how quickly life can just pass you by. I've come to sort of a new awakening in terms of finding my creativity again. Various things in life and work have pushed me back in the direction I've always wanted to go. So, without further ado, the first of many art postings! This is just a goofy thing I've always had in mind when I got around to posting on here.

This is my first shot at really using my Wacom Tablet...which is only 3.5in X 5in! But hey, I'm getting used to it. I'm very jealous at everyone using a Cintique at work. I've snuck in a quick doodle or two when people are away from their desks. :)